Parading Around

The 4th-of-July neighborhood parade:

Tillie's future boyfriend?

See, they have a lot in common--a passion for watermelon and red t-shirts on the 4th and...wait, pretty much everyone here could be her boyfriend!

Home Economics

Home-grown tomatoes from generous neighbor's yard and basil from my own:

Emily and I baked apple pies using her new crust recipe (delish!):

This pie is made with filling from our canning fest last summer--made with fresh-picked Nebraska farm apples!

Summer Do and Doings

Documentation of cuteness this morning:

Gotta cool off:

Story time with Uncle Honus:

Four bandaids for one owie:

It's About the Plague

Tillie enjoys a good bout of Ring Around the Rosy. She loves to skip right to the part where you say "Ashes, ashes. We all fall down!" only she says it more like "Ashuh, ashuh. Wawe fah dah!" and then carefully sets her bum on the ground. Here are some pics from last spring when we were teaching her cousin about the technical aspects of RAtR--for example, 1) you must hold hands, 2) it's best if you walk in a circle with everyone going the same direction, and 3) falling down at the end is actually part of the process, not an accident.

No Boys Allowed

I have been doing some podcast science reporting with some new sound equipment, but my lovely office has horrible acoustics. The solution:

I insist that it is a make-shift recording studio, but Scott says I'm regressing back to my childhood, building forts out of cushions and banning stinky boys. I think I might need a sign...

Popsicle Massacre

And another bit of sweetness...Hazel!

Birds and Bubbles

Baby Friends

When I had a kid, one of my first thoughts was: When are all of my friends going to have kids, too, so that we can all hang out with each other's kids? Well, it took a bit of organizing and baby making, but it is finally happening! (Of course, taking flattering action shots of said scenario is very difficult.) My dear friend Ledia came to town with her son Wolf last month. There were many adventures:

Wolf dines with Tillie in the kitchen:

Camile invites us all out to an art fest (Hazel joined us, too):

Monkeying around in a restaurant courtyard:

Tillie and Wolf enjoy a good fence:

Discussion about owls (with the dearly departed John watching over):

Dining Alone?

No, there will be three dinosaurs joining me for breakfast, thank you.

Backyard Fun

A couple of weeks ago I was thinking how sad it was that no one uses our backyard, partly because it smells like dog poop, partly because of the horrible mosquitoes, and partly because of the crazy drunk lady who lives behind us and likes to cuss at us and other hallucinations from her back porch.

Well, it still has mosquitoes, drunkard cussing, and piles of dog sh*t, but now it ALSO has a splashing pool, a toddler cottage, and a sandbox. This all in addition to the mini garden and the kids bench my father in law so kindly put together for Tilberforce. (I was remiss in not crediting him before--thank you Stuart!) It is a veritable wonderland! We had lots of fun in it this weekend.

The handsome Dash comes to visit and generously offered to mow the yard while Tillie cleaned up the kitchen:

Tilstrom builds and destroys in her new sandbox:

Cooling off in the pool:

Ten Year Quilt

I've got such a serious backlog of quilting projects, it is very strange that I haven't yet blogged about a recent quilting victory. I finally finished the first quilt that I ever started--10 years ago! Even though I learned a lot about color theory the hard way, with some disappointing results, I think this is probably the finest handicraft that I will ever make. I say that because I accidentally made it too detailed and, due to a lack of foresight, decided to cut it out and sew it completely by hand. (Never again!) I now take many more shortcuts and attempt to get away with many more sloppy habits than I used to when I first started this cutie. Still, in spite of all the small problems I see, I like the way she turned out--super comfy!

Blue Bonnet

It's been forever since we took Tillie's bluebonnet pictures, but here is the result of our efforts to maintain local tradition this past spring. The adventure was barely a success. Not only did we get in trouble with the authorities for illegally trampling the Texas state flower, but Tillie didn't really enjoy herself. I think she must have read the sign that I missed saying "no flower stomping" or somehow otherwise sensed the impropriety of our actions. She did squeeze out at least one smile while playing with her hat.

Sticks and Stones

Why are rocks so expensive? I actually know why. They are heavy and nobody wants to move them because it will break your back to do so. I love a good rocky garden path, but man, I do not want to spend Home Depot prices on a bunch of rocks. I still mourn the loss of some beautiful stones that my friend Amy and I bought for my first garden path almost 10 years ago. They were reddish and broad and smooth and metamorphic. I had to leave them in Dallas, because, even though I was crazy enough to hire people to move them from Austin to Dallas, I could not justify paying someone to move them back and then store them for me while I lived in Boston. I will now be saving my pennies to replace them. I hope Tillie grows up to like rocks, too. She seems to think they are pretty cool right now.

Just In Thyme

I've been whining about not having a garden for a three years. Scott convinced me to do something a little more modest than my glorious farmettes of the past. He was right. $100 and 3 hours later, I have this:

Ain't she cute?! I added a little rock feature for Tillie to play in while I weed and observe photosynthesis. Plus, there's the lovely child's bench, which I just recently put together. I'm so excited about the sandbox, too. (You can see it in the background--looks like a tot-sized hot dog stand.) But, that will be finished once I've recovered from this effort.

Horse Play

Tillie's friend Wolf has been visiting from San Francisco. Last night they went crazy on the couch. I think it was Tillie's first time to really play (kid style) with another kid--so cute (and loud)!

First Tree Climbing

Tillie found a tree that is low enough to be the first she ever climbed.

Waah!

My clients hate me this week. I hate them back.

Cameras Not Allowed

Tillie would like to point out that Scott puts the papa in paparazzi.

Baby's First Juice Box

'Twas enjoyed with the reverence one theorizes a first juice box would be enjoyed.

Sweaty Little Soldier

Why does my baby always look like she is in a combat zone in Vietnam or Iraq? It's not even summer yet, and the minute she steps outside she begins to wilt. I need to get her a little air-conditioned space suit or something.

Limerickathon

[image from: http://cuteoverload.com]

One of my favorite blogs, cuteoverload.com, has been having a contest this week. I have been diligently trying to win a portable video game console for my sweetie. I've been entering five times each day, but alas--I'm not winning--grrrr! It is obviously NOT based on talent, because here are my submissions for the limerick contest earlier in the week (based on photo above):

There once was a cat roly-poly,
Who liked to play only monopoly
He bought up Park Place,
Built a house on the space,
And took my money surely but slowly.

Cosmo the cat, an orange tabby,
At monopoly was not too shabby.
He bought up the railroads,
Made money by the bucket-loads,
Until we sent him to gambling rehab-y.

Why of why did I play this orange cat,
When I knew he was very good at
The game of monopoly
And winning unstoppably?
Oh I wish I had said to him "scat!"

There once was a tabby named Finn,
Who played Monopoly with a grin.
He landed on "Chance"
And started to dance
'Cause he knew the next card would win.

There once was an orange tabby cat,
Who won whatever game he played at.
He challenged poor me
To a game of monopoly,
And now I’m as poor as a rat.