Spring Break :: Staycation + One Week

I loved spring break.  The fact that I had nine straight days with only one or two things on my calendar seemed like total decadence.  Our calendars are usually a colorful mess of obligations on a day-to-day basis.  Steve has assigned each of us a color on the Mac calendaring system and I'm blue, Grady is red, Steve is green and his Volunteer Fire Department commitments are grey.  Most weeks look like a kaleidoscope, so a week with hardly anything on the calendar was something to look forward to and enjoy.  We absolutely did.

We learned that our little Dolly (the blonde on the left) has crossbeak.  I noticed that she was acting a little funny and that the others were starting to peck her around the face and neck.  As you can see above, her little beak is out of whack and once a chick has any kind of weakness - the others move in and start pecking at her.  I find the natural order of this so fascinating.  Anyhow, I moved her to total isolation this week so that she could heal and perhaps rejoin the flock later in the week (if they would let her).  She's a social bird and did not like the fact that she had a one-room suite in the garage all to herself.  I'm happy to report that she is doing well and defending herself quite nicely among the flock.  As long as she continues to eat on her own, she should be just fine.

Books, audio books and DVD's from the library were everywhere this week.  Grady was a reading machine and we spent an entire day just reading books in bed, pausing to feed ourselves every so often and then climb back in bed to get lost in the written word.  I finished an amazing book called Every Last One by Anna Quindlen.  Best. Book. Ever.  We also spent an evening watching the 1971 classic Fiddler on the Roof - I had never seen it!  Down-time was in abundance and we enjoyed every last minute of it.

Of course, I had to rearrange something during this break and so this little corner lost a big table and G's desk and writing supplies now live there.  The guitars are here for now, but Steve has plans to build a few guitar holders to install on the wall and create a little wall art with the instruments.  G is loving his new little corner of our living room.

Meyer lemons are in season right now and Steve's colleague gave us about 50 of the sweet, juicy fruits.  We made many desserts and drinks over the course of spring break.  I'm nurturing my own Meyer lemon trees back to health and I hope they produce by next year, so that I can just walk out my front door and grab a few.

We spent the latter part of Tax Day attending the Friday Night's at the de Young Museum in San Francisco for our dear friend's featured exhibit of recycled fashions for Discarded to Divine.  You can read more about that wonderful project here.  We enjoyed the Olmec exhibit, as well as champagne and live flamenco dancing.  There was also an amazing children's craft/art area where they drew a person and then used fabric remnants to dress them up.  A little glue, scissors, paper and fabric scraps and...voila!  A mini Grady sporting pleather shorts, a gold sparkly belt and shiny platform shoes - definitely a self-portrait.

I've been trying to capture some of the little animal vignettes that pop up around here.  Sometimes they are quite elaborate.  This one above is living in his playhouse right now and all dogs are on deck and housed in a wooden barn acquired from friends.  He has names for ALL of the dogs and remembers who gave him each and every one.  Oh, the memory span of this child.

So I've been receiving little gifts and tokens on my bedside table.  This little collection made me smile.  A heart-shaped chocolate, a little garden fairy, a super special Pokemon card (special to G) and a little tear-shaped box with a beautiful piece of seaglass safely tucked inside.  I love his thoughtful placement and sweetness in giving me his most treasured items of the week.

Okay, so here's the part where I'm lame.  I'm all gung-ho when it's February and planning the garden, but it's spring and I cannot force myself to step out and weed my flower bed.  It's a hot mess of grasses right now.  I'm hoping that by shaming myself here publicly that it will prompt me to get off my butt and get to business.

Beautiful calendula grows like a weed and is my pleasant surprise as I tug out the invasive mint that surrounds it.  I love the shocking orange burst of color amidst the lush greenery.  I really appreciate the plants I don't have to do too much with.

My living room is pictured here, but just short of it is our entry way and the newly installed Flor carpet tiles.  The color is called Glitzy Brass, but it's more of a chartreuse green.  I'm planning on painting the walls and ceiling in this small area and hanging some kind of fantastical light fixture.  The hunt is on for that.

Our dog, Miss Molly Gray, celebrated her 7th birthday on April 14th.  This dog is the coolest dog on the planet and our boy loves her so much.  We adopted her last June and love having her as part of our family.  Happy Birthday Molly!

G wrapped up the winter session for his indoor soccer league.  He received a cool medal and a free scoop certificate to Screamin' Mimi's Ice Cream shop in Sebastopol.  This was his first time playing soccer and each week he gained a better understanding of the game, rules, strategy and sportsmanship.  He took many balls to the face when he was goalie and ran his little legs off most of the time.  He was recruited by a fellow teammates' dad to play on his outdoor team later this summer.  This was such a positive experience and great way to spend a Sunday afternoon during the quieter, rainy, winter months.

More flowers hiding amongst the tall grasses.  I planted these last Fall and then...totally forgot about them.  Nice to see they survived my neglect.

The garlic I planted last Fall is not quite ready, but I had to pull a bulb to find that out.  Still on the small side, but thriving in the bed where the rest of the lot is planted.  By far the easiest thing I've ever grown.

Grady has been testing the mother-son bond lately.  I'm trying to let him spread his little boy wings as he slowly moves away from me emotionally, but some days I just have to act like a mom and issue a punishment to fit the crime.  To that end, I just love issuing a typing assignment and taking away the requisite toy-du-joir that is most favorite in my little man's world.  Trust me, I am trying to use my power for good.

This little set-up was dinner last week.  Wild Flour Bakery bread, cheese, strawberries and glass of wine.  Seems like it could make a weekly appearance as a weeknight dinner for moi.

We have this wonderful place to buy fish in our small little town called the Sonoma Coast Fish Bank (and their website is a wealth of knowledge on the subject).  All of the fish is locally caught, sustainable, super fresh and this Rainbow Trout was just calling my name.  Grady helped his father prepare the fish with sliced Meyer lemons, salt & pepper.  The two of them in the kitchen makes me smile and the fact that Grady eats fish is a minor miracle, as he was very much an air-etarian until a few years ago - surviving mainly on peanut butter and nutella sandwiches, pirate booty and air the other 93% of the time.

Friday was Earth Day.  I love me an Earth Day.  We did quite a few things to mark the occasion (and try to do many of those things on a daily basis), but this picture is what I want to share.  Grady climbed up our pine tree, sat on this branch and did a bit of birdwatching.  He came down for a pencil, his nature journal and a bird almanac.  He climbed back up and sat up there for about an hour.  He spotted two doves and a barn owl and sketched them in his notebook.

When he woke up the next day he put on his "tree climbing pants" and gathered the same items.  Up he went.  He spotted black birds, a red-tailed hawk, a finch and a hummingbird.  He did his pencil drawings again and decided to color them in (with my mild prompting) and they are beautiful.  His love of climbing trees and art have collided and I could not be happier.

This little box of garden goodies was my attempt to honor Mother Earth and get them in the ground this weekend.  So far, they are still in the box - but my garden beds are closer to being ready to receive them.  Grady also selected a native California Buckeye tree for him and his father to plant somewhere on the property.  I think we'll do that on his birthday later this week.

Okay, this awesome treat is called a Dutch Baby pancake and it was so stinking easy to make and delicious to boot!  I love how it crawled up the side of my cast-iron dutch oven.  I used this recipe as my guide, but would definitely add a little vanilla next time (did I mention I'm making my own vanilla?  Oh, yeah.  So easy.  Bottle of vodka, slit open a vanilla bean and insert the whole thing into the bottle and place in a dark closet for six months.  That's it.  I'm approaching month four and it smells divine!).  A friend suggested a pinch of cardamom and I'll give that a whirl, too.  Grady wants this for his birthday breakfast later this week.  It fed three kids and three adults, with the addition of a fruit salad and crisp, yummy bacon on the side.  It may look a little wonky, but it was so very good.  A squeeze of lime (out of lemons finally) and a generous sprinkling of powdered sugar and it was good to go.

This little game of toss the raw chicken egg was really fun to watch.  The kids (and Steve) tossed them back and forth a few times...

This toss pictured above didn't end well for Grady (or the egg for that matter).  The kids thought it was a hoot that they were allowed to do this and it was a nice way to end our Easter celebration.  Broken egg yolks and children laughing.  Slam dunk, um, no pun intended?

So that's my spring break, plus a week, roundup.  Lots of growth and energy around here.  Happy Spring to all of you.