El Año Pasado

Last year.
I cannot believe it was a year ago.
We were in Barcelona, having driven from Paris,
through Belgium,
and the Netherlands,
zipping through Germany,
and seeing dear Switzerland,
popping back in to France
and then finally driving in to Barcelona... our original, planned destination.

**side note**
I read a comment on another blog about archaic bloggers... 'only bloggers who "still" write their own html code are archaic.' I am the archaic blogger, so when you see half a dozen links in my post, know that I am writing a lot of code. lol


Paella.
And tomato on toast.
And just being together.
Remembering that I enjoyed my time here with my mom, that I was eager to return with Geoff and our children.


My first time on Las Ramblas, oh, man... I was so messed up with jet lag, robo-exhaustion, and homesickness... all of those original posts are pretty raw. What a blessing that I could go back and see all of it again, feeling more confident and clear headed.

Seeing these pictures and recalling how much fun the children had... it makes me so glad we made this trip, and I can honestly say I am glad my Mom and I made our scouting trip too... we did good.


Yes, I am partial... I love Barcelona and Villarreal. So, yes I will be cheering for España!!! today!


I will also be doing laundry. Thankfully it will not be by hand.


The little knitting shop I discovered was as much fun, and help, as it was the first time I found it. A year later and we still have lots of wool to play with.


Ah, I don't know if I had a point in writing this post. Just feeling sentimental and grateful, happily recalling last year, our family together, our own little Friducha. Funny, it's even raining today, just like last year.

Worth Waiting For

June was a birthday month, and a very busy school month, so Alex chose to hold off a bit on having a birthday party. Considering how nicely his Lighter Than Air Faire turned out, I would say it was worth the wait.


Amassing all of our thrifted treasures from their usual spots throughout the Bird House was kind of fun. Alex was going for a Steam Punk and the World of Tomorrow vibe. Everything was gathered outside, for the big-screening of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.


Well, not everything... all the delicious pies were inside.

Jola helped me collect torches to ward off mosquitoes. Ruth brought three more pies, including her amazing strawberry rhubarb pie... that went fast! James and Eli oversaw Alex's slicing technique. Helen and Michael shared a beautiful bottle of their home made strawberry wine. Holly and I did side by side corn popping for movie time munching.


Geoff, Alex, William, Max, and I set up the big screen and got it ready for its public debut. And Izzy and Maria were filling up, getting ready for all kinds of fun.


After eating, running, exploring, and playing chicken farmers with Tesla, Temple, Trudy, Zelda, Zoe, and Betty, then Maria, Parker and Izzy staked their claim on the hammock... prime movie watching real estate.


I thought Suki knew the movie featured air-pilots, but her flight goggles were just Suki-random-happenstance.

It was fun meeting new friends, seeing dear friends, sharing with neighbor friends, making pie friends. I hope we will see Henry, Issac, and Andrea again before they head off to school.


It really is nice to be settling down in one place. We find ourselves feeling more at home everyday, and enjoying the pleasures of being part of the community we live in... like seeing school friends Andy D. and Andy C. at the Fair, and sharing interests, and activities, and play! with friends. Moving around so much, I think we were missing out. This is fun!


Jola was telling me that William gave her a good description of what Steam Punk is all about. Patricia and I shared garden tales. We made biergarten-movie night plans with Michael and Michael. Helen met the chicas, and she and I agreed it is good to find we share a love of chickens. Henry and Andy kicked around a soccer ball, Jola and Andrea were chatting, as were Rich and Michael. We were so happy Issac could make it... you never know where you can read Popular Science and have some pie on a Friday night, right Issac?

I'm just enjoying these happy recollections.


Whether at the Fair, in school, in robotics, Sky Consortium, at the Space Exploration Club, around town, or in our backyard... I hope these are people we will know the rest of our lives.

"Girl Feeding Hen"

He did it again. This photograph of a painting by Chris Opperman came by email. The girl is Maria, the hen is Betty, and once again Chris has left us amazed, and teary-eyed. And thankful... I am so happy he reached out to us last summer, that he is painting, and sharing his beautiful work with us.

If you have not read about Chris Opperman, please follow this link to my November 22, 2009 post about Chris and his paintings.

A Small Break From Domestic Duties

Technically I am cleaning the house, putting papers in our wonderful new filing cabinet, sorting our treasures, making our home shiny and right.

Shhh!

Don't tell anyone, I wrote this small post about our last days of June. I won't even write much… just post pictures from our impromptu Old Town visit with Ruth and Nick, then our evening at the San Diego County Fair Del Mar Fair. And for the sake of expediency I will not write an apologetic-defensive explanation for why Maria wore the same dress twice this week. I am okay with it.











It should be noted that all four of my beautiful children were in attendance on these excursions. But only one of them will *sign the media contract* and agree to make an appearance on Chickenblog. So, no pictures of them sampling pizza on a stick, or of all of them getting the twenty-five cent foot massages. That's okay. I have the pictures, and the memories, and they are all good.

Now back to the stack of... stuff at the foot of our bed.