Best part of all of these is that they're FREE. I think one has to be careful not to go crazy with these things, and I have seen the preset fun overdone, but seriously, folks, I could have downloaded presets all day. I'm feeling pretty sure they'll pop up on my photos every so often.
Our neighborhood is over-run by boys. There are laughing children everywhere, but the gender bias definitely leans boy-ward. These beauties live next door to us, and our afternoons often intertwine. Elliot, the elder of the two, playing trains or cars on his front sidewalk while Landon, well, Landon is busy growing up adorable.
It was a great back yard, neighborhood event. Some local brew, some wraps (best wrap I've ever had, by the way) from a local restaurant and a nice crowd. Young people (younger than me!) who care about their city and the future of their country too. That's nice to see.
And how's this....
Neel even asked Senator Warner to not forget funding the NIH.
Holy MOLY, what a summer Callum has had. Braces! Hanging with a circuit court judge! And now meeting our mayor, state and U.S. Senators! How can 6th grade compete?!
Remember this baby? She turned one this month! A whole year on the planet!
So after much negotiation of schedules, Callum made plans to meet with the judge on Tuesday this week and then again tomorrow too. We dropped him off at the courthouse (criminal to the right and civil to the left) where the judge had plans to take him to lunch along with his (the judge's not Callum's) law clerk. After lunch, Callum would spend the afternoon observing the mental health docket. Gulp. Callum was nervous waiting in the lobby so we played some half-hearted games of tic-tac-toe, and when they stepped off the elevator, there was not just one judge, but three!
We were invited, Neel and I. And oh sure, we wanted to go. But this was Callum's deal. His gig. His own experience, not ours. We wanted him to have it on his own. In one of the emails in the flurry going back and forth between Neel and the judge to set up scheduling, Neel said how much we appreciated Callum having many different positive role models in his life. On Tuesday, Callum asked the judge if he felt bad if the jury found someone innocent when he thinks they're guilty. The judge said sure, but it's worse to see someone innocent found guilty for something they didn't do. That sounds like a good role model to me.
Have I ever mentioned that I went into labor with Callum while I was watching a Law & Order marathon on A&E? We'll be renting some of those for sure.
It was a perfectly lovely afternoon. Poor Catherine didn't feel well, but we still managed to laugh and laugh and laugh. I hoped she felt a little better. And celebrated as the wonderful mama that she is. New babies are pretty special.
We didn't know it until it was time to call them in. Thea and Violet (good girls) came right away, and it's not all that unusual for Lucy to lag a bit behind, lingering over some doggie-pleasing smell in the back yard. But when I called once, then twice and not a rustle. I knew something was wrong.
It was 10:20 p.m.
Of the three dogs, it's Lucy's escape I fear the most. The other two? When they've escaped, they waddle their way back to the front door. Not Lucy. Nose to the ground, on-the-scent beagle, she heeds nothing when she's past the confines of the gate. And she bolts too. The few times she's slid past the perimeter of our yard, she's bolted as fast as she could, nose and body low to the ground, running flat out. It's happened a couple of times. Enough so that we learned the trick of luring her back. Sweet-talking words, "Come on baby girl," and me of all people, low to the ground like I can't wait to see her. She always comes to me.
Callum was undone. We traipsed around the back yards. Neel and Callum walked the block with a flashlight. We called out as loud as we dared given the late hour. A neighbor came by walking her dog, and she promised to keep an eye out. Then Neel decided to get in the car and drive. Somehow we both knew I should stay home, in case she scented her way back, so when he got Thea into the car, Callum and I stayed behind. Callum, restless, couldn't stay outside. I, restless, couldn't go in.
So I stood there waiting, breathing in the night air. It's funny. I'm rarely out that late, unless it's running from the car to the house. Getting inside, out from the cold. It was a beautiful night. Star-filled and crisply clear. Listening to every rustle, every distant bark, I tried not to worry, but really? How could this end well? When I stepped inside for a minute, Callum went out to spell me. We all knew that someone needed to be outside at all times, waiting for her to come home.
I came out to find Tyler talking with Callum. Our avowed dog non-loving neighbor took our boy out looking, diving through back-yard underbrush to search for our pup. I knew it was as much to keep Callum's mind occuppied as anything else, and I was so grateful for that. I was not doing such a good job at that myself.
So there I stood, alone in the yard. Listening to every rustle and every distant bark. Trying not to worry. I'm still not sure how it happened, but my mind alerted to more barking and movment along the street. Bolting toward me, flat-out fast. Could it be our beagle?
I called out her name, "Come here, Lucy-girl!" But she was so low to the ground, I almost wondered if it was our height-challenged Corgi. Had Neel let her out of the car to come home? No! It was a beagle, certain of it. Lucy, making her mad-cap way as fast as she could back to her home.
She tumbled up to the yard, just short of me and stopped flat. She's been known to dart away before, but she didn't this time. She wouldn't look at me, but stared instead at the house as I dove towards her and wrapped my fingers around her collar. That's when my heart started beating madly and my breath came fast. I called Neel right away. "She's home!" I told him. "She just ran back to me."
He was back in a heartbeat, and the three dogs were reunited in the warmth of the house. We tried to call Tyler, and before the phone stopped ringing, I looked up to see him and Callum walking down the block towards the house. Hugs all around. Relief-filled hugs and tears too. And everyone bundled back into the warmth, away from the cold night.
It was a scary, long hour for all of us. We all fell gratefully into bed after that particular nightmare. Neel was up before me Sunday morning, and when I came downstairs, he was already laughing. "I had to carry Lucy outside this morning," he told me. "She was curled up in her crate and shaking, and she wouldn't go."
Then he told me, "When I set her outside, she just stood there on the porch. Still shivering and obviously scared to go into the yard. Thea took one look at her, barked right in her face and pushed her down the steps.
"She's fine now."
For four (five?) years now, we've gathered with some friends and neighbors to celebrate the season and check out each other's holiday decorations. It's a night I look forward to every year. When I looked back at this post last year, I realized that we couldn't host our normal appetizer course because our kitchen was in such a midden. I'll have to show you how it all turned out sometime.
We switched it up again this year, and I made dessert. My heart is full when I think of these friends, so I think I'll let the photos do the talking. Living here is one of the very best parts of my year. Every year.
1. I think this is the worst thunderstorm, with the most flooding, that we've ever seen.
2. I think I like ketchup less now than I did as a kid.
3. I think I'm getting excited.
4. I think I need a project.
5. I think this is wonderful. Or dangerous...
Holy funnel clouds, Batman! My own little corner of Virginia got hammered last night. Tornadoes and flooding, you name it. Quite exciting, actually.
I'm hanging up the "gone fishin'" sign on the Blue Rain Room over the next few days. Give me a week and I'll be back (or before, if I can manage it, but no promises), maybe with some changes in tow, maybe not.
Callum's best friends are two brothers who live on our street. One is just his age and will be in his grade next year at the new school, and the other is two years older. Somehow, they manage to make this friendship, with varied ages, work splendidly. It has been a summer of three. Callum over there playing Wii or World Cup Soccer outside, or them here, playing Wii and FIFA World Cup for Wii inside. Callum's days are organized around these two. How soon he can get over there once he's up in the morning. How soon he can get back to them if we go out. They've been here all day, playing Callum's new World Cup soccer game. I've been cleaning out the Blue Rain Room, and I can hear their shouts and laughter all the way upstairs. When one of them scores they take a lap around the new circuit of the house that our remodeled pantry has created, big boy footsteps thudding. Callum made sandwiches for lunch for everyone, and I happily cleaned up the detritus when they bolted back outside.
Of course as I typed this, they got in their first "fight" of the summer. Some boys storming off and one boy in tears. Callum would handle this better if he had a brother, I think. Would better understand that arguments are part of friendships. They took a little breather, and it typical boy fashion, they were soon back in front of the Wii as if it never happened.
It's bittersweet for me, of course. Watching this boy who used to need only us be shaped by deepening friendships. Especially bitter when he's hurting. But it's mostly sweet as I see him rush out the door to be with his friends, as anxious to be together as if he hadn't played soccer with them until after dark the night before.
The gate to Tyler's and Catherine's backyard has been open over the past few days.
It's like an invitation to step inside.
The sound of burbling water, just on the other side of the fence, is further invitation. Tyler's worked hard back here, and we all enjoy it. Outdoor get-togethers wind up in this yard because it's the perfect spot for kids and adults alike.
When I look at our yard, I feel inspired, but like we have a long way to go. I think that was just the effect Tyler was looking for! Good thing he says, "the gate's always open."
Despite miserable heat and a devastating loss (poor USA), the boys have been out playing soccer in the yard every day. Who do we root for now?
In the summer issue of Everyday Food, Martha has an article on burgers. Did you see it? The last few issues have had some good stuff in them. I tend not to be a skeptic, but when I saw the recipe for Aussie Burgers, I had to go to the source to see if it was authentic. Turns out, Martha was spot on. Of course we had to try them.
A quintessential Aussie dinner calls for quintessential American side dishes, so I made Julia Child's potato salad.
We're in the south, so of course I use Duke's (the secret of southern cooks).
Bad light, good salad.
So we gathered on Friday to test this delicacy. Of course there was Bundy and Lime...
The grilling began, and things look pretty familiar up to this point.
Just add eggs. Hmmm.
Here's the assembly line where things get really crazy.
In order, from bottom to top: bun, burger, cheese (so it melts), tomato, lettuce, pineapple, beets (Yes, beets. Or beetroot, as they insisted on calling it.)
BBQ sauce and/or ketchup on top, and presto! An Aussie burger, you've got.
They were tall and drippy and gorgeous and wonderful. That perfect combination of salty and sweet. These guys are definitely on to something here. We might need to have them again...soon.
It's early yet, still winter, and the color we're seeing tends to be of the human-made variety, not natural in form. Some chairs.
The seat of a swing.
The collar of a good dog.
A faucet, ready for spring watering. Not that we'll need it, it's raining as I type.
And if you know where to look, which Neel did, there's other color there too. Proof that the earth is waking up. I took those pictures over two weeks ago. How much more awake are things now?
