Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Mastodon State Historic Site

Evergreen Droplet
I'm not sure what this is...stunning in the rain.

We paid a visit to the museum at Mastodon this weekend and took a cool, rainy walk down to the Bone Bed. Bones of mastodons and other now-extinct animals were first found her in the early 1800's, including the giant ground sloth.
It certainly was interesting and I am glad we went. But the $4.00 per adult seems steep for what the museum offers. It isn't a "waste" of money. Think of it as a donation.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Surprise...


Crocuses!
I didn't think they were around because they were so close to the area that was dug up by Laclede. The dirt/clay was piled up all over. The rocks/bricks they dug up were in a heap where the crocuses are/were so i had assumed they were too sad to come up and be beautiful.
I was wrong, yay!

Field Trip




We spent time at the Butterfly House for a field trip this morning. There were over 4,000 butterflies and it felt surreal. Coupled with the heat and humidity, the boys left the place shirtless. Tullaia and I could've spent a bit more time just sitting and letting them flutter about. Perhaps another time.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

St. Patrick's Day

We celebrated St Patrick's Day with our neighborhood parade that is sponsored by the Ancient Order of Hibernians. www.stlhibernians.org
Dogtown is an Irish neighborhood and several theories float around about the origin of the name. But according to Bob Corbett of the Dogtown Historical Society, the most plausible theory describes the way the landscape looked after rustic mining. They dug lots of holes with shovels. It looked like dogs dug them.

For a more in-depth and interesting article on Dogtown click here.
http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/dogtown/origins-2.html

Beady Smiles

Fitting In Quite Well With the Party People

Ready to Go

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

For Grammas and Neenas


Avery singing I Saw Three Ships, his favorite Christmas carol.

Seeds


I am always amazed when things grow.
I love to watch the plants unfurl. When i walked downstairs last night i couldn't believe it. They grew inches in days!
We didn't end up buying vegetable seeds. We still had some left from overzealous seed purchases in 2002. So we took a chance and most of them came up. They were old and they still did their job. Wow, dedication.
We did buy some seeds from Baker's Creek though. http://rareseeds.com/
They are in Mansfield Missouri along with the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum. That is also where Justin's people come from. Time for a country road-trip.

We Have A Graduate!


Judy passed her classes! She is 9 months old and 105 pounds. The look in Jasper's eye says it all. She is a long and lanky lovely lady...

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Poem From a Friend

A friend sent this to me in response to my hermitage time...thank you Julie!

I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance;
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.
-Dawna Markova