Dice, "feliz navidad"

ender is nestled in for the night. bless him. zander is preparing our cave for the cadence of the candles, their flickering flames dancing in the breath of our prayers over them, and the grand lighting of the Christmas tree!

" For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ". II Corinth 4:6

look at this trove, treasures untold

ariel was such a hoarder. when i was a little human, i went antique-ing with mama and came home with boxes: cigar boxes, cricket boxes, shoe polish boxes, anything that would keep my treasures, mainly rocks and coins, safe and secret. i was out of control. the madness wouldn't stop. I told myself I wouldn't buy a single ornament this year! But the sun was shining on this particular silver orb at an outdoor antique market. An ornament box I can keep cloves

in or this beautiful red and green gem of mine. Always looking to put my rock collection to good use again!

*etsy

here is also another idea i'd like to do with them. i think this is weirdly perfect for me. my rocks always made me feel that something was Great out there in the Beyond. To muse over each one and remember the word that would describe my rock to me as a child... Yes, i think for now, this would do my collection artistic justice.

First Present of the Year

Zander's Aunt Kim has been teaching me how to sew. I recently just developed my fine motor skills if that tells you anything about my clutzy fingers. Ender is way ahead of me. Interesting Fact: at 11 months I taught him how to use a fork and he taught himself how to carefully eat cheerios with it. Yes, a cheerio puff balanced precariously on one prong as it made its stressful journey to his gummy, pink jaws. He'd then snort through his nose with satisfaction. Nerd.

I hoard anything anthropologie gives away to their customers to carry away their pricey products in; bags, ribbons, these buttons. It was time to put them to appropriate use. So here's to Aunt Kim!

Fair warning to my family: This is not the last homemade present I will be giving out this year. Some of you should be legitmately worried.

And LASTLY! The banana bread recipe is stellar! <--- try it here. I use 4 bananas, only 3/4 c sugar and don't feel like you have to bake it to the full hour. I've had many a palate melt.

along comes isla

she's been there, she's done that. a funny pair these two. just a shy year older than him, she is the magic to his milestones. we now have a goofy looking 14 month old toddling around the house.

ender caught the croup from something, somewhere over Thanksgiving. For three weeks his white blood cells have been on the march and enduring some heavy losses. But when Ender woke up on Sunday morning with a twinkle in his eye, I knew his soldiers had returned victoriously.

he makes my heart feel like a bright red balloon, always wanting to rise out of its ribcage.

i dream red

red dress.red lipstick. red woods

someday, maybe, hopefully, for sure, i will be cruising along Highway One to the redwoods with katie, mama, and an airstream in tow

antannae

USDA Approved

can you believe that before this guy i hated blueberries. yeah. i know. but now, well now i eat them all year round!

oh community college, i'm glad i have you.

well, these are some classmates who plopped under the lights. these girls are actually quite quirky and animated. their reservation is an illusion.
i think this week our teacher wants to replicate the Twilight billboard. Say what?!

bean bags for a semi-french boy

When you look at these bean bags, squint your eyes just so, and you can recreate that old Hollywood glow, you know, the one that leaves you sour about your own mug, (that could just be me) AND ta-dah! I made couture bean bags. Why, thank you!

otherwise.... look here
the original dreamer and doer

a doozy from Moby Dick, i repeat a DOOZY

"Is it that by its indefiniteness it shadows forth the heartless voids and immensities of the universe, and thus stabs us from behind with the thought of annihilation, when beholding the white depths of the milky way? Or is it, that as in essence whiteness is not so much a color as the visible absence of color; and at the same time the concrete of all colors; is it for these reasons that there is such a dumb blankness, full of meaning, in a wide landscape of snows - a colorless, all-color of atheism from which we shrink? And when we consider that other theory of the natural philosophers, that all other earthly hues- every stately or lovely emblazoning- the sweet tinges of sunset skies and woods; yea, and the gilded velvets of butterflies, and the butterfly cheeks of young girls; all these are but subtle deceits, not actually inherent in substances, but only laid on from without; so that all deified Nature absolutely paints like the harlot, whose allurements cover nothing but the charnel-house within; and when we proceed further, and consider that the mystical cosmetic which produces every one of her hues, the great principle of light, for ever remains white or colorless in itself, and if operating without medium upon matter, would touch all objects, even tulips and roses, with its own blank tinge- pondering all this, the palsied universe lies before us a leper, and like wilful travellers in Lapland, who refuse to wear colored and coloring glasses upon their eyes, so the wretched infidel gazes himself blind at the monumental white shroud that wraps all the prospect around him. And of all these things the Albino whale was the symbol. Wonder ye then at the fiery hunt?"

two Jonathan Adler pieces that would sink my budget. in my earthly realm i cry, "i want, i want!"

i need to get a bigger bucket for my lists

heavenly friends

though ender is most like the monkey or the lamb, i snuggle in his fat neck roll and pretend he is a cub. little darlings.

i love this painting. its always there when i think of Heaven. i cannot CANNOT wait for the day when my small self can walk with the beasts and call them friends.

painting

ender's breakfast

plus, cheerios, scones, yogurt, cheese, & half of a banana.

but he remains to be a slender ender. he packs it in the belly.

planting by moonlight

i didn't even know there was such a science! apparently, though, during the new moon the lunar gravity is pulling water up causing seeds to burst ( a good thing here) and coupled with increasing light encourages root & leaf growth.
Plant your: lettuce, spinach, celery,broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and grain crops.

However, last night was a Full Moon, a favorable time for planting root crops.
and ender howled all day and night...figures.


So I needed to dig my hands into the dirt instead of his little kicking thighs (just kidding) and zander and I are late with our planting, and heck if we're gonna wait for another lunar cycle.


1. black tree
2. swiss chard
3. purple sage
4. spinach
5. red leaf lettuce
6. creeping wire vine
7. string of pearls

i thought, "once this boy turns one, we're done! done nursing! i will drop him off at the next available grandma's house and hop on the next available flight to new Orleans, Yosemite, the redwoods and beyond!"
unfortunately, ender brought the spirit of adventure to me and so i find no immediate need ditch that which is so good.

besides, its like his glass of red wine before bed.

and he only has one tooth. and that tooth has no one to consult with so it has no idea its purpose in life yet.

hilary k. brought me aboard and cut me a piece of some delicious Pirate's Booty, i've been hooked since.

i used to tutor her in espanol. loved it but for one thing... it was a summer of micro bursts. and, i kid you not, every time we were in the middle of a timed, online exam, wham! an intense monsoon would explode across the sky. and there i'd be stuck. it was dreadful. i think i might have cost her some answers (not that she was cheating, per se) because i was itching to get out!
i love being in our old home during a storm, one like tonight for instance. The wind could easily pick it up and throw it down on another wicked witch somewhere.

goodnight ender. you had a big day.

*Just close your eyes and listen, i'm not too fond of this video. Sweet, but i prefer my imagination.

..."enclosed by the walls of an old Abbey that contain a family clad in mystery, exciting, dynamic and mouth dropping gorgeous frocks. Oh, and their adorable and intriguing servants who appear more pure hearted and also more sinister than their masters." ~ a review

and i would be surprised if the trees didn't have their secrets too...

the long arm of summer is drawing back

on a dark and stormy afternoon ender and i found this fuzzy owl abandoned at a kiosk in World Market. It was so depressing,i had ender swoop down and pluck it off the shelf. i am starting to collect christmast ornaments that will take residency on the bottom floor of the christmas tree.

i would have loved to have found these guys too. by scratchcraft on etsy. sold.

september 9. & 11 months

worried.

 see his drum stick?  he mostly likes to hit the guitar and often i let him because God forbid i stunt his developmental growth by not letting him hear the sounds the the strings screeching in agony. 
he loves to dance in my arms too.  and he loves on me the old fashion way, cheek to cheek.  I eat it up because he rarely sits still to cuddle.

his current play list includes:

 I Saw the Light- Roy Robinson
Dream a Little Dream of Me- Mama Cass
Rockin Robin-The Jackson Five
1234 - Feist
Patty Cake- yours truly
Three Little Birds- Bob Marley
I've Got My Mind Set on You- George Harrison
Lets Live for Today- The Grass Roots
Don't Worry, Be Happy- Bobby McFarrin

When we are having one of those days, his play list completely changes his attitude.  mine too.   music and ender dancing is my therapy. 

and if we both wake up on the wrong side of the bed i immediately put in Keith Green singing about how going to McDonalds doesn't make you a hamburger. 

Oh Arizona.

there are so many layers to this state. i am so excited to celebrate.

"heat ma'am, it was so dreadful here that i found there was nothing left for it but to take off my flesh and sit in my bones." ~sydney smith

so just imagine then....

A Room with a View

Lens: Where Children Sleep click.

hello aunt abbie!

how is your day at the office? in this picture i am eating dog hair.

words are not necessary

tender is the touch

here ender poses with roses for adorable jocie k.

a note:

ender, I can trust. he's determined to examine things very closely.he isn't quite ready to destroy or take things apart yet. I think that is how his brain works. First he observes...,then he goes in for the "kill".
and by kill i mean a ginger touch with his pointer finger.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

these little friends have stolen our hearts.
ender hoots along with the owl.

hometown haboob

article here.

if only storms spared the people i could then totally and completely give myself over to being in love with the desert monsoons.

he did a lot of soul searching.
i know i can learn something from this little dude. to let a journey grow you.
he returned a babbling, crawling, mimicking extraordinaire.

ender has no idea, but he is the first member of my Girl's Scout troop! I'm hoping to recreate the adventure I had in my group with my dad. We were an ornery, hardy bunch led by dynamic, trail blazing women with support from our patient dads.

Ender's first patch: "Make it Happen!" (a re purposed cookie badge:)

*i'll sew it on his diaper bag so he can proudly show it off

the challenge: to successfully be a passenger in a Boeing 737.

the skills he will learn-

1) pop one's own ear

2) make friends with fellow passengers (a girl scout knows that the circle is round, it has no end, that's how long they want to be your friend)

3) memorize the flight attendants safety speech so you can tune them out the next time you fly

We'll start there for now. He is only 8 months old.

BON VOYAGE!

ender's dapper moose, in ender's cozy little den.

this used to be the arena, where we would battle it out, i added a few trophies. ender was a worthy opponent. he would attack me at my weakest. sleep deprivation, middle of the night scrimmages, public humiliation. I would counter his moves with determination, prayer and my secret weapon, zander. there were two of us and one of him, but oh was he a might number one.

regardless, we soon defeated our little foe and actually signed an agreeable peace treaty. He would sleep at night and be charming in public and we would let him room and board for free.

he is now one of our most loyal allies.

"A single rose can be my garden...a single friend, my world"-l. buscaglia
-no this is not true of me. this is zander's quote. he loves roses.

this particular bush happened mysteriously on our doorstep one spring day.
got to hand it to the rose, it has wooed me. i now want a kaleidoscope of roses. but of the darkest hues. all of them slightly touched by the matchstick.

what once was....

now is.