Truxton

He’s not a man you want to mess with.

It’s generally best to comply with his wishes.

He’s usually pretty jolly…

But don’t you forget… he knows things.

First Fruits

The garden got a bit of a late start (and this photo is from a week ago) but these were the first fruits from our garden… a very thrilling feeling for me!

Happy Birthday, Jared!

Keep on keepin on, little brother!  We sure do miss you back home.

on the sunny side

With a chance of rain…

Cousins

Birthday

We spent my birthday relaxing.

We had a leisurely brunch of eggs Benedict and fruit, before driving out to the house that we’re preparing to move into.

Once there, we enjoyed the traditional birthday walk through a clover patch to observe and photograph Dan’s honeybees.

Then we came back and watched the girls blow bubbles, and swim in a little wading pool in the front yard.

Dan and I sat and tried to read a bit, enjoying a glass of wine before dinner.  A friend of my parent’s just passed on a set of wicker furniture to use on the new porch, and we gave it it’s (second) maiden voyage that afternoon.

My family and the Lonesome Hill Gang joined us for a birthday dinner on the porch, of cold cuts, cheese, fruit and wine, and homemade birthday cake (thanks, Hannah!). It was very low key and relaxing… just my cup of tea, these days!

Evening Interogation

“If you happen to have read another book about Christopher Robin…”

The opening lines of our well loved, well read copy of Winnie the Pooh. The five of us lay crowded on our queen sized bed in the sweltering heat of a ninety degree night.  We’re beginning a new bedtime story, having just finished The Wind in the Willows.

For some reason, this particular evening, Kinsley persistently insisted that I was going to be the one to read the night time story.  I never read the night time story, but when you’re three, it seems to be crucial to see how much you can rock the boat without consequence.

Dan starts with the introduction.  He always starts with the introduction.  He  gets to the part where Christopher Robin ran into the arms of the brown and furry bear named Winnie, and Kinsley interrupts….

“Papa?  How do people poke all that hair into man’s arms?”

This requires a long conversations, involving many topics.  Finally, the reading recommences.  Dan reads a few more sentences, getting all the way to the part where small, squeaky voice of Piglet interrupts the author’s explanation of Things to ask why so much is being said about Pooh, and so little about Piglet.  Kinsley interjects…

“Why does Piglet talk like a baby?”

By this time, both Sophie and Truxton are sleeping.  Dan reads a bit more.  Just about the time that Pooh is making his grand entrance down the stairs on the back of his head, Kinsley remembers the part where…

“He [whoever “he” is] falls down on his knees, ’cause he is scared of monsters, and his Mama tells him that he can watch ‘that’ show.” And, by the way – “How did Pooh get prickeldy things in his back?”

Bubbles

That great summer entertainment. It’s thrilling, easy and cheap. And I’m pretty certain that it counts as a bath.

Baby Women

We thought this was very intertaining.  And oh, how we can relate!

Excuses

I can’t believe how little I’ve kept up with the blog this spring/summer, and  I’m afraid that the lack of upkeep is indicative of all the other areas of my life.

It’s not that I don’t have anything to post – I do.  More than ever in fact.  It just that real life with all it’s ups and downs and twists and turns has to take precedence over the documenting of real life.

I thought about officially taking a summer break from blogging, but I really don’t want to do anything so drastic, and life keeps promising to slow down “in the near future”.

So bear with me and my sporadic posting.  I hope to be back like usual by late summer, if not sooner.

In the meantime, a brief catch up of the happenings around here:

*** Probably the main reason my posts have dwindled so, is that I have been given Photoshop Elements (thanks!), which I dearly love already, but which has proven to require much more learning than I could have imagined.  Then so much time is required to edit photos (hopefully this is just the case while I’m learning photoshop) that I rarely get all the pictures edited for what ever post I had in mind.

*** We are working on moving to a house near where Dan works.  This has really been one of the main places my time has gone, as I’ve spent quite a few days working on painting the interior walls.

*** My grandfather’s health has declined considerably, and every day is a struggle for him and for my Grandma, who patiently tends to him twenty four hours a day.

*** We have been pursuing some tests regarding Sophie’s health.  Nothing conclusive yet.

*** We are planning a family vacation to visit Dan’s parents and sister & family, the week of July 4th.  We haven’t visited with them since Sophie was six months old, and we really want to introduce them to the Truxters.

*** We are now beekeeping gardeners, or else gardening beekeepers.  Really I’m not either one, but Dan is both.  I have enjoyed taking pictures of and observing the processes.

*** We have acquired another pet….(can you believe it?) … this is Emma –

She is well loved by all.

I hope to write in more detail about any one of those things, soon… but for now I must drag my weary (I just glanced at the clock and realized that I am now 26 years old!) body to bed.