Sunday, June 28, 2009

catch up

picture of Neil spending two days fixing water hydrant leak (he didn't want me to put it in)


Back to mail piled high but not the grass - someone mowed while we were gone. Garden looking great, a friend cared for it while gone. Strawberries galore, best in 30 years. Maybe we should go away this time every year. We've been picking them and making jam and freezing them all week.

Baby birds everywhere. We can't get babies off our minds. Everything thrived while we were away especially with the water hydrant that sprung a leak. Neil spent two days trying to fix it. We are tired and trying to catch up with business along with putting out fires so haven't had a chance to do the blog. Perhaps it is time for another break but not like the water hydrant. When the fires are extinguished I'll get to the blogs.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

A time for everything

A time for everything except writing the blog.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Arrived

Eleanor Parker born June 10, 2009
7 lbs 7 oz, 19.5 inches

The week before Eleanor was born, preparation was in the works. Loads of dirt arrived by trucks and distributed by wheelbarrows to the back and front yard, transforming it from of river of red volcanic rock to a smooth bed for the rolled out sod, soon be grass, to lay on. Then the black mulch truck came and piled it all in the driveway and Daddy and grandpa moved it to the sculpted mounds of dirt on the sides of the lawn and they saved a corner for the woodchips for the playground.
A few days before you were born, there was a thunder and lightning storm, louder and longer than Sacramento has had in 20 years. The light lit up the sky followed by crashing thunder with hail the size of larger mothballs falling ping pong on the roof and new cement patio and sidewalks and street. The new blanket of grass muffled it.



On the day you were born, we were all prepared and very excited. We heard from a friend looking after our garden at home to hear that Rosa Paul's Scarlet was in full display welcoming your arrival.




"Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O earth bveneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees...he displays his glory..." Isaiah 44:23

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Not hatched yet


Hummingbird nest in greenhouse we visited
We've done everything we can to prepare for granddaughter Eleanor's arrival. The yard is finished, new grass and mulch and rocks picked and placed. We even went to the garden shop to buy welcoming plants for near the front door. At the greenhouse amongst the perenials we noticed a yellow caution tape and looked up amazed to see a hummingbird nest perfect placed for raising babies, surrounded by flowers near the penstemon. It was so tiny, people didn't seem to notice her. But here she was sitting and waiting for babies to hatch, much like our daughter Lu, who at this point is not so tiny and finds it very hard to sit.
Will finish this later.