A few birthday pictures

We had a real birthday party for Lazarus today -- Jai came over (along with his mama and papa), and several of our friends showed up, too. It was a really, really nice day, especially when Papa brought out the little blue pool. Maggie spent a good two hours splashing around and then in the pool, just having a blast. She crashed out before cake time, which to Lazarus is the whole point of having a birthday. All day yesterday and today he chanted "Happy birthday cake! Happy birthday cake Lazarus!"

I think I got better shots with my "real" camera, but here's one of my favorite moments of the day (post cake, post-pinata):



Yesterday we went for a picnic in Water Canyon -- Laz was so excited to be on a picnic, and Maggie tasted strawberries for only the second time, and it was just a perfect evening.



I also finally wrote out Lazarus' birth story yesterday... gee, that only took me three years. I'm amazed at how much I still remember, but I'm glad I wrote it down finally because some of the details were starting to fade. If you really want to read it, here are parts 1, 2 and 3.

And here's a parting shot, from last week when Granna cut Laz's hair. I love this picture:

Three years ago today...

this little person came to live with me:



I still can't believe how fortunate I am.

Another garden update

This'll be a quick update, which is all my gardening warrants these days because it's so piecemeal (moments stolen from my too-precious work time).

Some chickens flew the coop this morning and got at my brand-new purple and yellow bell pepper plants and cucumber hills. I got mad, almost mad enough to pull out the axe and start hacking. And for me that's pretty mad. Instead I swore a holy blue streak, chased the mean ol' rooster around with a big stick, and built up the coop fencing a bit more. They'd BETTER leave my garden alone, or they'll be next winter's chicken stew, all season long. I don't need their eggs that badly.

I picked up four heirloom tomatoes on Tuesday -- they didn't have any of the deep purple or tiger-striped kinds on hand, but these'll do nicely:
-Old German (big, tri-colored streaks, sweet)
-Sugar Lump (very sweet cherry tomatoes that probably won't make it into the kitchen)
-Pink Brandywine (big, smooth but complex flavors)
-Rutgers (deep red, abundant, old-time tomato flavor)

I also bought some lavender plants, which I've put with some established Russian sage plants into what's now a rock garden. Use what you've got, right? Rocks, we got rocks. I managed to refrain from stuffing Mom's CR-V full of plants because I just don't have time to dig, amend, plant, tend. That, and autumn is a much better time to plant perennials. Oh, I picked up some herbs, too, including lemon grass. In California, I stuck a tiny lemon grass plant in my back border and two years later it had become tall, majestic and irresistibly fragrant. I know that won't happen here (and I'll have to mulch the heck out of it and the other herbs if I want them to survive the winter), but it's nice to have some on hand. I was going to create an entire rock herb garden from scratch -- dig the (rock-solid) bed, haul the boulders for the perimeter (15 or so at 50 pounds each... uh-huh), amend the dirt, plant the herbs, and fence it off so the damn chickens won't destroy it -- but, uh, no. Not this week, anyway, so I'll just put the herbs in the final garden bed and be done.

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Tomorrow is Lazarus' third birthday. Three years ago today, we spent a wonderful Sunday with friends, and although I wasn't due for another week, I had a feeling something even better was coming, and soon. But it was scary getting there. If I have time tonight or tomorrow I'll try to write about it.

Oh

Okay, so I signed on to post pictures, but my little camera is downstairs (and I'm not even sure where its special USB cable is, which explains why I haven't posted pictures in so long, not to mention the just-realized fact that my new upstairs computer doesn't have Photoshop...)

*SIGH*

Maybe tomorrow. Or not -- I'm taking Mom to the airport (*sniff!!* We miss you, Granna!) and plan to kick up my heels a bit -- um, I mean, take care of some essential business and errands -- in Albuquerque, since I have to drive the 200 miles anyway. In Mom's wonderful new car. With the babes at home in Papa's loving care.

I got me some serious road-trip fever now.

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Garden update:

I haven't been able to work on my gardens (yes, I always use the plural; it sounds more impressive) nearly as much as I'd like, thanks to a busy workload (thank you!!), but I've managed to get in some vegetable seeds and tomato plants, and have the veggie garden drip irrigation system all set up except for two (out of six) beds' worth of emitters. (Emitters get the water from the black tubes snaking across the yard right to the plants, and I just got a sampling of fancy-schmancy ones that only a total gardening geek could appreciate...)

Tomorrow (in Albuquerque, where my choices go WAY BEYOND WALMART) I'm going to get four to six heirloom tomatoes (fancy term for really tasty older varieties that haven't had the taste hybridized right the heck out of them) to replace the Big Boy plants (from WALMART) that croaked seven minutes after I planted them. I also plan to take another stroll through Plants of the Southwest, where Mom and I had a lovely time last week looking at native and drought-tolerant trees, flowering shrubs and such. (Their Web site doesn't begin to do the place justice -- the place is just heavenly.)

I also want to take another look at the Imperial Honey Locust tree I've tentatively picked out for the back yard. That is, for that empty stretch of dust and rock between the house and the shed that currently doesn't even sport weeds because, well, it's an empty stretch of dust and rock that the dogs and the child (the mobile one, that is) and other assorted creatures trample endlessly. The plan: put the tree in once fall comes, then landscape around it, outward, to break up said empty space. So this summer (after I finish this big work project, and the veggie garden, and the drip system for that and the border gardens that currently sport nothing much because it's just about IMPOSSIBLE to grow stuff here) I'll start moving rocks and hauling manure back there to get the space ready.

I know, I'm such a glamour queen.
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House stuff:

I love my little house. It's way too small, but it'll do nicely for now, and with a $450 mortgage (yep, one zero, no numbers missing there) I won't complain. Just for perspective, I took a looksie through home prices in my old California neighborhood, where we bought a cosmetic-fixer for just under $170K in late 2000. Wow. A house behind our former home is listed for $355K -- as is, with "untold potential," in a bankruptcy sale. A full 100K over what we sold our house for just over two years ago. That's just insane. Which is what I thought when we sold the house for 90K more than we paid a mere two years after buying it. But this is more insane. The house wasn't that nice.

No, I do not regret leaving Southern California. I miss my (spacious) home there, but geez. My property taxes there would be more than my mortgage here.

Of course, our street there was paved, too.

;-)