nuggets :: ballet, blossoms & bed

nuggets :: little bits of the season in photos and words about the last week

Last Wednesday we packed our bag(s), quickly dashed over to the bookmobile to pick up our library books and then headed to the big city with our friends to have a proper adventure.

With all three kids + three adults excited about our much anticipated trip to the ballet, we started it all off with a bit of afternoon frolicking at the Koret Children's Park.  What an amazing place!  The kids gently walked down the path and as the park unfolded before them, they took off running and didn't look back.

There were concrete slides and the requisite cardboard pieces strewn about for easy grab-n-go action.  Ocean wave sculptures, pyramid-shaped rope climbing contraptions, swing sets, jungle gyms - all there for the kids to explore and enjoy.

All of that good energy releasing fun was by design, as we were headed to the Hayes Street Grill for a very civilized dining experience with the children.  Dinner was delicious and the coffee flavored ice cream at the end of our meal helped jolt the kids from their post-park energy crash.

The ballet awaited us.  We were first timers and it was absolutely magical.  The San Francisco Opera House was opulent and had this warm glow reflecting off the marble floors, gold-leafed ceilings and ivory colored walls.  The San Francisco Ballet's performance of Romeo & Juliet was the cherry on top of this adventure filled mid-week excursion.  Grady was quite mesmerized by all of the sword fighting and the kids sat through two intermissions during this three hour production...on a school night, no less.  Bravo!

Flowering quince branches have been calling my name from the roadsides and are a sure sign that spring is rapidly on its way.  I'd also been noticing all of the beautiful pins on Pinterest of different types of flowering branches brought inside the home and wanted some of my very own.  My partner in crime was up for a little excursion and we packed a little bit of insurance (lemon poppy seed bread) to leave with the owner of these bursting bushes.  We really felt we were doing a community landscaping service - at least, that's how we chose to look at our rifling through a friend's yard and plucking unwanted branches.  Perspective is a powerful tool when coupled with a pair of garden clippers.  Wink, wink.

The end of the week found us at the doctor's office with flu like symptoms for the boy, who promptly handed those little germs over to me.  We took much needed rests and relocated to the couch for a movie and then back to the bedroom for reading and napping.  We were both exhausted and watched the weather roll in and out, as our weekend passed us by.

In a sudden burst of energy on Monday afternoon (read - gone a bit stir crazy with all the laying about), I decided to get out of bed and dump our compost bin into one of our garden beds (with the help of my strong husband).  Now, we have been composting for close to five years and have never made soil out of it.  We generally just add it to the bin, forget about it for awhile, add a little shredded paper, forget about it for awhile and pour a bit of water on it now and then.  Well, to my happy surprise - we had the loveliest, blackest soil I'd ever seen.  This was the black gold that I've only read about.  It was super exciting to me and gave me hope for my gardening ways this year.  I took it as a sign that I was progressing and my black thumb was more of a muted grey.  There is hope.

Speaking of grey...

What the hell did I find under a few bales of straw stacked next to one of my garden beds?  Ewwwwwww.  Two baby moles!  Yes, moles. No eyes, crazy looking paws and squirming all about.  Grady wanted to document them and let them rest under the loose straw.  You can read here about all the lovely things they can do to your yard.  In the end, the chickens took care of the baby moles (no pictures of that and, yes, you're welcome).  Circle of life, baby, circle of life.

So I was in bed four out of the last seven days reflecting on life, friendships, home projects, upcoming volunteer obligations, family and my place in this world.  Getting sick helps me to take stock of where I am with things.  I plowed through a stack of library books and a few in my on deck stack, next to my bed.  I've planned menus and made shopping lists, done loads of laundry and played several games of checkers and scrabble with the boy.  I've drank more tea than I wanted to and caught up on my magazine reading.  My use of Facebook and Pinterest has hit an all-time high and I look forward to leaving the house, going to work and acting like a normal human being again real soon.  I was slowed down and I embraced it, but now I'm kind of over it.

I'm ready to get back out in this big, beautiful world.

Happy Wednesday, friends.