Dusk :: Fifteen

Visiting the park at dusk, staying after dark. The last ones playing.

With Infinity More Monkeys, a picture a day.

Just Bits of This and That

How do they do it? The hens kept molting and molting and molting, the coop looked like the inside of a post apocalyptic pillow factory, with feathers everywhere, and balding hens, scrappy survivors of something unspeakable, tragic. But in time for the long week of rain and wind, they feathered out, finally. They look plump and insulated, at last. Somehow they timed it just right. I am so relieved to see them this way, looking like actual chickens, especially since they still roost out in the open. Mad as wet hens!

And now that molting is over, there is energy for other activities, like egg laying. Production is still very low, but I am anticipating an egg boom, soon. In the hay feeder, under the mini-bot tower base, in the rabbit hutch, and in the goats' cottage... it's an egg hunt, every time.

Cafe con leche. I like to add coffee to my cream, otherwise, no, thank you. This picture tempts me to go out in search of pan dulce, preferably a concha.

Maria and I made tortillas, for soft tacos. That was Tuesday. I think we should have this dinner again, tonight. Taco Friday.

The Pacific, and palm trees, and bougainvillea. Other than my obsession with food, crocheting, and cat snuggling, you might never guess we are mid-January, winter, in an El Niño! Enviable, it's true. It may rain this afternoon, but we'll have our tacos to sustain us, and more days like this, pretty as a picture.

A land where palm trees sway. Not Hawaii, but it will do.

I cannot imagine walking without a camera. No apologies.

Cape honeysuckle, Tecoma capensis. Euphorbia, a cactus-like member of the poinsettia family. This is Euphorbia ammak. I've read the Sunset Western Garden book, twice.

Twice, but I cannot say what kind of salvia this is. It's very pretty, though.

A full wetsuit, another sign that it really is winter, here.

The red and gray shawl is finished! I made it very big. The biggest one, yet! Maria adores it, and thinks she'd like to wear it to school on the coldest day, slyly adding, "It will be just like going to school with a blanket, but not." As I wove yarn ends back into the piece, tying up loose ends, I saw that our old quilt needs some mending. Comforting rainy day work. I can imagine having company from Mister Foo, when I get to that.

Alex is finishing work on masks for a ballet. Crow masks, with beaks that open and close. It's quite an undertaking. William has a few things going, designs, plans, projects, ideas he's mulling over. He and Maria had a lengthy discussion about American Revolutionary war clothing styles, then favorite periods in history, followed closely by favorite dress periods, and then SteamPunk. Max finished sending his college applications, and is deeply immersed in Linear Algebra, which he described to me at length, assuring me that it is a very abstract and theoretical kind of math. I believe him. What he is most looking forward to is seeing friends over the long weekend, and playing MTG. I am sure Maria would love to see her friends, too. She'd also like to stay up late reading, take her roller skates to the park, and hang out with her brothers. Geoff is managing a new crunch-mode season, when the push to finish the programming of a new game demands long, longer, very longest work hours. Late nights, weekend time. {Don't hint: We want to take him out for a special birthday celebration. He thinks he's not that into his birthday, but I never quit trying to convince him he and his birthday are awesome, totally worthy of a bit of hoopla! But, yeah, we mustn't let on, or he'll get twitchy, and bolt.}

We still have fish, two platys, four Mollies. And those goats. Tasha and Ada stretch in the sun, and loll about. Their thick goats predict more rain, more cold, more winter. And our Ratty Rat, Hazel Nutt, who is even more food obsessed than me. In truth, it's her one redeeming quality: She's fun to feed. Otherwise, she is a bitey, suspicious Ratty Rat, who is likely to outlive us all. Chango sleeps near my head, and taps me in the night, reassuringly meowing. I want him to be there for always. And Foo, we know, is the center of all the world and universe. That's all, for now. Just some bits of this and that.

A Moment in Play :: Fourteen

Maria at play. This is eleven: American history, JAVA, ballet folklorico, reading two or more books at once, eating blood oranges, onion bagels, vegetable chow mien. Drawing. Long hair and big tangles, colorful socks, waiting for the next X-Men movie. A Junior Master Gardening student, a maker, driven by curiosity, happy friend, kind soul, willing helper, beloved. At play.

With Infinity More Monkeys, a picture a day.

This May As Well Be A Foo Blog

Sure, we craft, and make things. I've been crocheting every yard of yarn within an arm's reach. And there are chickens, goats and fish, here, too. We've posted on everything from Atomium to Zoos, and always, of course, chickens!

We dabble in deep thoughts, and other musings, but lately this Foo of a cat is front and center, wherever we turn. And so, perhaps what this blog ought to be is a Foo Blog. After all, it is this kitty, polka spotted and mischievous, this black and white and precocious Foo, that fills the memory card of my camera. As though standing on ceremony, Mister Washburn Foo takes his place, any place that pleases him.

It is because he does this, that he's earned an entire FB album in his name. Life of Foo. It is a soft, easy life. He is doted on most ardently. Petted. Forgiven. Indulged.

The shawl, he reminds me, is his.

This quilt. Maria's socks. The dining chairs, the stairs, and the grey Lego bricks: All for Foo. He may as well have the blog, too.

Winter Bare :: Thirteen

The apricot tree, bare. The red barn, the blue house. Some bits of home.

With Infinity More Monkeys, a picture a day.

Pause for Paws:: Twelve

With Infinity More Monkeys, a picture a day.

Blood Orange Breakfast :: Eleven

With Infinity More Monkeys, a picture a day.

Rest in Peace Mr Jones

Not wanting to believe the news I woke to, the news I do not want to accept, that I cannot write of poetically enough, that I dare not try to fathom... I went outside, looking for the beauty that is always there. Looking for reminders of why we don't crumple, or despair too much, lest we dissolve.

Happily I found little things, and glimpses that remind me that I love seemingly insignificant details, ordinary occurrences, life extraordinary for its habitual, routine nature.







Seeds have dropped here, and are beginning anew what their parents did... growing and blooming, dropping seeds. This makes me happy.

"Don't you love the Oxford Dictionary? When I first read it, I thought it was a really really long poem about everything."
~David Bowie

Mask Making :: Ten

After sketching, measuring, designing, rendering, milling, and gluing, comes sanding. Alex is making masks. Crow masks. There are more steps to come.

With Infinity More Monkeys, a picture a day.

Design Team :: Nine

William, Geoff, and Alex creating tool paths for the CNC machine, Frankenrouter, using Mastercam.


With Infinity More Monkeys, a picture a day.