This morning we are...

1. Discussing the difference between pants and trousers.
2. Talking about bonnets, boots, loos, candy floss and why "fanny pack" might not be the best way to refer to a tote bag worn on a belt.
3. Talking about how airline workers are under a lot of pressure and might sometimes be a bit testy, and about how we can be Extra Nice to make their lives easier.
4. Eating waffles with blackberry jam.
5. Anticipating throwing eight (more) bags of mulch on the garden this afternoon.
6. Wondering what the Vegan Special Meal on the plane will be like.
7. Feeling extra grateful for Tess, who will be giving us a red-carpet welcome on Tuesday.
8. Crossing our fingers that our bags haven't bulged too much to be considered carry-ons.
9. Crossing our toes that we make the connection in Chicago.
10. Wondering if we will see any Important World Leaders at the airport.
11. Relieved that Grandma has invited us to dinner tonight (and grateful that she has hosted the boys two afternoons in a row so that their parents could race around like cockroaches on speed).
12. Happy that Aunt Amy will be driving us to the airport tomorrow (and holding our hands through all of the new-to-us security stuff and 21st-century check-in procedures).
13. Feeling the tiniest bit nervous, but
14. Getting very very VERY excited.

Roses and peonies and I'm still alive (barely)

This picture is ten days old, my last blog post was six weeks ago and yes, I still haven't put away my Easter decorations.

I have been scurrying around a lot (doctors' appointments, shopping, the odd soccer game) and making (and then re-making) many many lists.  And doing things that probably don't really need doing, but which burn off a bit of that hyper (and caffeine-enhanced) energy I have at the moment.

Everything that needs to get done will get done.  Our house will not horrify our teenaged house-sitter.  And in 13 days we will haul ourselves and our snappy little backpacks onto an airplane and heave sighs of relief so loud that all of you will hear them, wherever you are.

Until then...

Spring Notebook, March 27

I am composing this blog post on my iPad (practice for blogging while abroad?), from my comfy spot on my shabby green front-porch cane settee (the one with the troubling odor that suggests a bit of competition among the local cats who enjoy sitting here). Here is what's goin' on...

1. The lilacs have come on fast and furious! I am gathering bouquets every chance I get, in order to enjoy them while they last. In fact, I have a cluster in a sturdy pottery vase here on my tea tray.

2. A finch has made a nest atop one of our porch pillars. At this moment, there's a baby fussing for food. I am relieved to see that my presence isn't keeping Mama from visiting.

3. Two tufted titmice are hopping from branch to branch on the big maple, looking for the perfect nest spot. They have examined the squirrel apartment and have found it wanting (too spacious? Or already occupied?)

4. Tea pot empty. How did that happen so fast?

5. The bamboo wind chimes are clunking furiously, in spite of the absence of the clapper and one chime (yes, better housekeepers wouldn't have left the chimes outdoors all winter(s) to be pummeled by the elements). Indeed, the breeze is a bit brisk this morning. But it makes a nice change from yesterday, when it was actually HOT.

6. Nine o'clock. I hear the alarm beeping inside/upstairs. Wonder if Big Lad will wake up and turn it off? Success! He did!

7. Speaking of BL, he has a birthday on Friday. In sharp contrast to his brother (who was planning elaborate celebrations months in advance), he is vague about his birthday desires. He would like peanut butter pie, some headphones (still on the fence about which ones), and various replacement accoutrements for his drum set. Guess I will give him money and let him sort it all out.

8. Today is Little Lad's first day to hop on a bus and attend the weekly "Talented and Gifted" program at the other elementary school. They are studying Australia. It will be nice to be able to collect him on foot for a change (this school is much closer to us than the other one). [I use quotation marks because I have Issues with declaring people talented/gifted on the basis of a handful of standardized tests. If you have read this blog for a while, you have heard this before. But I am pleased that we have this offering, reduced in hours though it is thanks to funding cuts (ahem).]

9. What on earth is that random plant with the red foliage thrusting its way up through the ground cover? Sigh. Between that and the broken wind chimes (did I mention the wasp nest inside the chimes?), we're really the class act of the neighborhood.

10. I should stop, but not without mentioning the whistling starlings, the jaunty tassels on the maple, the sun breaking through the clouds, the pink dogwood flowering next door, the whitty-whitty-whit-whit-whit of Papa Cardinal, the screech of the grackles, and the last patches of red-volet on the redbuds.

Until next time...

Taking it to the Experts

English Ladies.

I have a travel "problem."

Due to a change of plan (the Continent is OUT for this year), I suddenly have a Week without a Place.  I was thinking of a cottage in the Cotswolds, but I just don't know.

Where is your favorite holiday spot (not including the Lake District, Northumberland, Durham, York, Cambridgeshire, West Sussex, Devon/Cornwall and a dab of London)?  Bonus points if you know of a great self-catering cottage that won't cost the moon and stars.

Bless you.

Baby Steps

They say that spring cleaning is easier if you break it up into lots of manageable little segments.

Segment #1:  The Pen/Pencil Holder.

I'm on fire here, people.

Happy Equinox

Yesterday's post was brought to you by a mug of cheap grocery store coffee on an empty stomach.

Feeling ever so slightly less manic today.

Still, the sun is shining and the mud will make it easy to yank those weeds.

Out I go!

I dedicate this post to the recently departed Mrs. Magnolia.  She smelled bad, left a mess on the grass and didn't stick around very long, but she was lovely all the same.

Playing Catch-up

Or catsup.  Or maybe even ketchup.

Where do I begin?  There are birthday cupcakes I could show you.  We could discuss how I went ahead and made a Rose Decision without you -- sorry, but Climate Change has made spring arrive way early and I needed to act fast.

Okay, for the record:  I was supposed to order ONE new rosebush -- one of my birthday presents from last year -- but I became angst-ridden and overwhelmed, and finally worked out that I could have one new rose for every five pounds of shed avoirdupois that I have managed not to re-install during the past year.  Which means I got to choose FOUR roses.  Which also means that my family might be subsisting on gruel for a while.  But life is short, and there are so many roses!  (Wandering off now to look up inexpensive lentil recipes...)

Anyway!  I could share some checklists of everything I have accomplished in the garden (weeding, mostly) or in the realm of trip planning (we have a nearly-completed itinerary!  Luggage!  The perfect person to house-sit!).  Or checklists of things still to do (order rail passes, book rented/hired cars, book a few more accommodations, pay all remaining balances for previously booked accommodations, see if we have travel insurance via our bank's perks program, obtain airplane seat assignments, obtain international driver's licenses, ponder the travelers cheques-versus-plastic question, look into National Trust membership, get camera repaired, deep-clean house so house-sitter won't be horrified, freak out, assume fetal position and play a whole lot more Scrabble on the iPad...).

And of course I could show you a profusion of spring blossom (magnolia, redbud, pear, dogwood, forsythia, daffodil, hyacinth-on-its-last-legs and one small red tulip).

But in the end I think I'll just let you see what Little Lad does on a bright St. Patrick's Day...

...with a camera...

...when he has grown bored with his mother's extended chitchat with the neighbor.

Annoyance and Clarification

I am a bit slow.

I thought that when I asked Blogger to moderate my comments (to spare you the fate of trying to read those impossible word verification letters), Mr. Moderator would deliver your comments to my inbox for review.

He did not.  And I had to wait for a few more neurons to fire before I was able to understand that I had to go looking for your comments.  And may I say that I was so relieved to find that I had eight, not zero (even though zero was what I deserved after neglecting Blogland for weeks)?

If you have found the solution to this Blogger tomfoolery, I would be glad to know what it is.

~~~~~~

In other news, please don't worry about the funeral reference.  We traveled to Topeka, Kansas, to attend a memorial service for my Great Aunt Helen, aged 89.5, who lived a very good long life and slipped away gently after breakfast on Leap Day.  As for the birthday parties, well, four of the five were for Little Lad (whose latest creative writing exercise you see above), and a good (if busy) time was had by all.  Papa and I took strawberry ice cream and cookies to school on the Big Day (party #1), then we had pizza and presents that evening (#2), then a week later we had cheesecake and more presents with Grandma, Amy and Joe (#3), and finally, last Saturday, we had the BIG party in the park.  On which the sun shone brightly, thank ye gods and goddesses.

Must run, but I'll be back soon, asking for advice about which English rose to purchase this year...

Five Birthday Parties and a Funeral

I must go and start the quinoa and peas for lunch, but wanted to stop and say I've MISSED you all!

It is spring.  We have birdsong and daffodils and hyacinths and cats trying to poop in our raised beds.  Here is the ditty I composed on my walk on Monday morning:

Earthworms on the sidewalk

Vultures in the sky

Cacophony of chirping birds

Spring is here, oh my!

Talk soon...

Seven

Happy birthday, Little Lad.  We sure do love you!

xoxoxoxoxo

I Flew the Coop

I took the train to Chicago last weekend.

It was a good trip.

I had been meaning to get together with dear friends for a long time (it had been more than five years), but life always got in the way.

Finally an Event got me moving.  Specifically, a surprise 50th-birthday party.

We all agreed that while a surprise party isn't everyone's cup of tea, it's a very good way to force friends to reconnect.

Much better than a funeral.

(I think I might be getting old.)

Speaking of birthdays (not funerals)...HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOE!!!!  You are the best brother-in-law any human could ever hope to have, and I hope your day is filled with good coffee, excellent snowboarding, and something fabulously chocolate-y afterward.  xoxoxo

Tuesday Morning

Hope you had a really nice Valentine's Day.

Life Around Here

Things I want to remember about last week

1.  After I pressed the button to order those plane tickets, we drank a toast (sparkling grape juice) and sang all of the British songs we could think of, from "God Save the Queen" to "Once in Royal David's City."  In the process, Big Lad treated us to some truly epic hysterical falsetto.

2.  Big Lad chose to go solo to the dentist.  It is the End of an Era.

3.  My indoors-for-the-winter jasmine plant started blooming.

4.  The 2012 David Austin Handbook of Roses arrived.  I have strict orders (from myself) not to open it until I have made more progress in arranging our trip itinerary.

5.  I sat with my sister in her chicken house-turned-studio, drank good coffee and talked about travel and why we need an iPad to enhance our travel experience.  Am convinced (and amazed that I once roamed the earth with just a rail pass and a handful of notes).

6.  I received a gorgeous gift from Melbourne.  It involved yarn and a eucalyptus leaf.

7.  I watched Little Lad wipe out on the roller-skating rink precisely 6,385 times, in myriad spectacular ways.  And I watched him pick himself back up, smiling broadly, 6,384 times (there was just the one time that the smile faltered a bit).  And I marveled at his courage and tenacity.  I myself would have dissolved in tears after the first few falls and then moved on to the snack bar for a basket of stale nachos.

8.  On Saturday night I was in a car accident.  A teenager got distracted and crashed into the back of my car as I was slowing down to turn.  Amazingly, my little Subaru is fine (as far as I can tell).  The strange thing?  Seconds before it happened, I thought to myself, "What if someone were to hit my car?"  If only I could use my psychic powers for something more helpful, like predicting the weather on the Isle of Skye...


Thanks, everybody, for sharing our joy about our upcoming trip.  I hope to see everybody who wants to be seen, so feel free to make proposals, suggest dates, etc.  Is a massive-scale blog-lady meet-up in order?

It's Official, Friends

 We have passports.

We have plane tickets.

The Speechless Family will be waddling across the Puddle.

(Yippee!!!!)

Winter?

We took a family walk today.

Because the sun was shining (as it has done for two whole weeks now).

And because rumor has it that tonight King Winter will finally make his appearance.

We shall see...