Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Back in Burbank




I'm so glad to be back here with the ever inventive ones!
They had ideas about what to do with these boxes I got at Ikea--




better than just storing clothes in them.




And there was a lot of concentration piecing together a rubber rug,




plus a lot of help for Dad who's working at home this week.




When I took Maddie and Max to school today, we all went across the street to a song fest at the library.
Here's Maddie with Miss Marty, her good teacher,




who transformed into a rooster for one song,




much to the amazement of her students.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Happy Birthday Sweet Gwenlet



Make a wish,



Blow out the candles--

And have a very, very happy 3rd birthday. We love you!!

Friday, June 24, 2011


The Nest

Chee Heng's been watching the robin's nest outside my studio, reporting that two chicks hatched and that they'd fledged a few days ago. One, he said, took off very easily.



The other refused to leave despite all his parents' encouragement. He perched on the gutter above and waited. Until his mother (or could have been his father) grew disgusted and, in desperation and anger, began to tear apart the nest. The young robin's no longer there. With his home wrecked and in disgrace, he must have finally decided to take the leap.

I have to say, it's really an act of courage to be a little bird and look way down and really hope those wing-things work.


Wednesday, June 22, 2011

A Brief Visit to Chocorua

Tulip and I are in Chocorua for a few days, opening up the house and establishing the gardens--also fighting the ferocious black flies! Both Tulip's eyes were swollen yesterday from bites she got while faithfully guarding me while I planted basil--and my neck is full of itchy bites. But they say that soon these tiny monsters will disappear, to be followed by the more easily swat-able mosquitoes. Ahh, New Hamphire in the spring.



But we did find two changes--the remade bridge between the little and the big lakes--artistic yet sturdy enough to meet the town's safety standards.




And the window in the upstairs bedroom--when that's finished and the new cellar entrance is painted, the roof fixed where the chimney was and the staging removed, it'll finally give a whole new look to the backside of the house.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Drama in the Backyard




Tulip gets really ticked off at this rabbit
who comes blithely every day to nibble grass just outside my studio.




In the hopes that the barking will stop, and the confidence that the rabbit is faster than Tulip, I open my studio door. And the chase is on.




Tulip loses. But now I have an anxious, pacing robin, the one who nests just above my studio.




Ohh--I see. Good mom--her chicks are hatching.



Graduation Weekend




Friday night we went to see Senai play in his final volleyball game in high school. It was especially exciting because the Barrington team had made it to the state's finals and Senai was the star with his smashing returns at the net. Sadly, they lost. But we saw fantastic plays and were immensley proud of Senai. Here he is later with his girlfriend Katy, also a volleyball player. Senai graduates today!




Wunesh, who can grow anything, showing us one of the tiny stalks of asparagus starting to grow in the backyard,




and Kifle, helping Toby convert complex files to a CD.



Saturday, June 4, 2011

Working in Barrington


This last week has been all about various kinds of work:



Tulip, working to maintain a thick coat so she can shed all summer,




the robin, back again to tend her nest,




the peonies, in gorgeous blossom so someone can pick them!




Toby, hurrying to finish up his working paper with Louis,




Theo, figuring out how to redo her "how-to" book,




and Tulip again, working very hard to eat those biscuits in her red rubber bone.