Live Free

swapping, hatching, and the daffodils look lovely today

on saturday morning i took my little box of swap goodies to the post office to mail to my swap partner. i sent her a jar of body butter, salsa, a bar of lavender soap, a paper star, two beeswax candles, and a jar of peach preserves.  the postman said she would receive the package today. i hope she likes everything!  

in other news, three weeks ago, our extension agency delivered an incubator and a dozen of eggs to hatch. well, last year i tried this project twice with no luck at all. so, this year, i gladly took the project on, but kept my guard up on it actually being a success. i kept the temperature steady by placing large stones in the incubator to help hold the heat at a consistent temperature, and i kept wet sponges and a wet cloth to help hold the humidity around 60%. i turned the eggs three times a day (and did not let little hands do it, unlike last year).  but still, i was skeptical the whole entire time. well, as unattached as i was to the eggs hatching, we woke up this morning to an incubator of cheeping eggs! 

our original plan of taking a field trip to the natural history museum was chucked in favor of inviting our school friends over to watch with awe these little feathered friends peck their way out of their shells. they hung around until lunchtime with no actual witnessing of the hatch.  but soon after everyone went home, our first chick hatched. the others are still working on it. it's so cute. bea has named the first chick julie. julie cheeps loudly when we walk away from the incubator. i think bea and i have imprinted on her! 

and...daffodils are blooming. i have just a few planted around a tree on the corner of our lot. daffodils make me so happy. they last for what seems just a few hours here in texas before they wilt away in the heat. but still, they are just pure gorgeousness in the meantime. 

and that's a wrap for this monday. pretty exciting. between all of this happy stuff, we squeezed in a vet visit for pebbles (altercation with a racoon last week), and dealt with some very strong emotions. 

xo,

nichole

Spring Days: In and Out

Our house is across the street from this vacant lot that I like to call a meadow. I escaped here for a few moments yesterday evening to see if anything interesting was growing there. Byron and Beatrix were in the backyard. I could here them clear as day. It was sweet to hear the sounds of our family while removed from the space. I often wonder what we sound like to everyone else around us. We're loud. But cute. Full of life and wonder.

Hello Friends.

Thank you so much for all of your words of encouragement, support, and just love from my last two big posts. I've read and reread each of your comments and they've all left me smiling and full of gratitude for the wonderful little circle of incredible ladies who visit this humble space of mine. I've had much to say in response, but I'm lacking the mental energy to go back there. Do you ever do that? - get a bunch of heavy stuff off of your chest and then find yourself completely exhausted to talk anymore about it? 

Well, I'm sort of at that point right now. 

It does feel good though. To make some important decisions about the direction in which we would like our lives to travel. It's like dusting off the soil of well worked hands at the end of a long day of gardening. And then dreaming of the evening's bath and how good and well deserved it will feel. Love that. 

Speaking of dirty hands. We've been adjusting to this new season. Most people call it spring. But here in Texas, it's more like two weeks until it's blistering hot. There's been lots and lots of time spent outdoors which feels so good and so right. I've been busy planting seeds, getting starter plants in the ground, going a bit berserk with flowering bulbs (which is silly since tulips and daffodils have a shelf life of about 6 hours here). Still, I can't shake my crush I have for them. They are some of my favorite flowers ever! There's a lot left to do. The rush is on, to get things planted before the very real and very hot heat of Texas settles in on us. 

On the chicken front: we are still waiting for the younger girls to start laying. It should be any day now. The big girls (as Beatrix calls them - even though all 8 of the girls are the same size now), are producing well. What beautiful eggs we collected today! 

Today, Beatrix and I walked to the library.

We ohhed and ahhed at these show stopping poppies.

On the way there, we stopped at a little shop that sells handmade items made by the senior citizens of our community. I was looking for a mug for Byron. I found a mug and I also found this little lady too.

I never buy toys spontaneously for Beatrix. Never. But today I did. She's handmade, and even handsewn in some areas. I adore the dress with the stripes and carrots. Oh my. Beatrix named her Clementine. Handmade, bunny, local, crazy cute dress, linen = $8. Sold. 

This is what my dish drying rack looked like after washing dishes mid day today. (In the off chance you are the least bit interested...)Do you see the green mug in the bottom center? That's the one I bought today. $5. Good deal. The blue and white one on the top left comes from the same shop and the same potter. $5 too. 

And this is what Beatrix likes to do now that the windows are almost always up: hang out of it while "talking" to Daddy on the phone. 

At night, and in our quiet time, I've been enjoying reading a bit of this and a bit of that. And it reminds me that I'd like to get to a point in my life where I can relax easily and turn the noise of the modern world off at the end of the day. 

More later. I'm migrating to the couch to enjoy a cup o' hot tea and a blanket (while the nights are still cool enough to enjoy), and a good read before I doze off for the day....

home again, home again...

Did I mention that the hens came home last weekend? Our backyard feels alive again. The end of wasted food scraps is here. Hooray!  

And while I'm on the topic of chickens, I should announce that we've got four little chicks all piled up on top of one another, sleeping quietly, in the laundry room right now. 

she adores

She adores

 

having a camera around her neck,

checking in on the chickens,

and her little red shoes. 

I'm smitten with this little one.  

Um, hi.

Well, August sure is rolling by quickly. What a month! I've been busy, busy doing all sorts of un-housewifey things like putting on my teacher/small business owner hat on and getting the school ready for the new year. That has meant hours of planning songs, seasonal crafts, gardening projects, etc. along with painting a new space for the school, decorating this new space, getting all my ducks in a row for the business side of the school (new hire, insurance, inspections, blah, blah, blah...). 

Poor Bea, has been under my wing throughout this whole painful transitional period. There has been a whole lot of juggling between being teacher, business owner, mama, wife, etc. Trust me, we've had some moments that have not been pretty. Turns out, neither she nor I are good at transitions. I think she is a little nervous about the new school year. She knows that there will be new children. Some of her dear friends are moving on to kindergarten. And I'm sure it's all unsettling to her.  This change.  

Sometimes I doubt whether I'm being the best mama to her - putting her in a situation where she has to share me with others. And right now it all feels huge and sort of scary - to both of us. Then I remember how much fun she has forming friendships and playing with the other children, doing her work, and being with her mama.  For the most part, she does tremendously well. But there are days...that are more difficult for her. Such is life, I suppose.  She'd have bad days no matter the situation. Life isn't perfect. 

Anyhoo, that is more than I thought I was going to share about THAT!  

We're STILL spending a lot of time indoors. Which is not helping our coping skills in dealing with the challenges of the unknown. We continue to have triple digit temperatures. Tomorrow we will break a new record: 70 days of triple digit heat.  The most ever. And no end in sight.  Ugh... 

Two words: dust bowl. 

The worse part of all of this is that we have still received no rain.  Not a drop. Scary. I've never lived through such a tremendous dry spell. What a slow motion natural disaster this has been. We have no idea when it will be over. 

We are down to four chickens. Two have died recently, we presume, from heat exhaustion. 

This post is turning into a real downer, very quickly, so I'll stop typing and just post some pretty pictures. 

This photo reminds me so much of the coming of fall. Except that I know when I took this photo it did not feel like fall. Still, the sun does not lie. A new season is ahead somewhere in the future.

Don't worry, I'm fast becoming the water nazi around here. I let her play in the sprinkler for about 15 minutes. She was not happy about the short time limit. Water is king these days. 

The water from the pool gets recycled to the trees or to small buckets that the birds and squirrels can drink out of. I'm seriously contemplating siphoning bath and dish water. Anyone with experience??  

Despite the news above, not all is doom and gloom here. There's a sunny side too. I promise to be more upbeat the next time you see me here. But for now, you just have to know...it's been one of those days, eh weeks, eh months...

These are the days.

Isn't it interesting how the definition of 'fun' evolves (or comes full circle) as we grow older. 

I couldn't of wished for anything more during these afternoon hours on this lovely spring day with my sweet, little one. 

These days, there's not a whole lot needed to bring contentment to both my two year old and myself, so it seems.