Tea party

Summer is so bright!

The Zinnias, the berries, the peas!


We've been trying to live outdoors so we are eating from the yard (with some supplementation from the cupboard)

Sleeping out

We had big plans to sleep out alot this summer, but my back is making logistics a bit tricky.  We did build a fire, toast marshmallows and settle in under the moon to sleep outside.

I was intending to sleep blissfully on the brand new air mattress but as soon as I lay down I knew it wasn't going to work.  It was too squishy and my back started to hurt.  I read a couple of Native American folktales and then we had to move into the living room.  The girls were pretty good sports and excited to sleep all together on the futon in the living room. 

The next night I slept on a firmer cot and was going to maybe be OK, but then it started to rain on us.  We weren't as good natured then.  All the dragging in and out of supplies was taxing and we were all disappointed to not get to sleep under the stars.

Picadilly Farm!

 Picking up our farm share!  Hot day so the girls shared the sprinkler with the growing garlic.





I filled my skirt with herbs.

Bus stop.

We had to turn the dress around because it was backwards.

Kittens are growing!

Well, hello Homer!

we surprised Rob with a huge Homer in his lazy boy on Father's Day when we got home from Maine!  My friend from work had offered it to me and I couldn't say no.  Homer had been living in her attic since her son brought him home from college.  The tags were still on his weird 4 fingered hand!  She was glad to get rid of him.
He keeps getting moved around the house and startling me.
Anyone want a Homer?

Maine

I settled onto the rocky beach.  Georgia collected precious things and laid them beside me on the warm smooth rocks.

 

Rob bought a kite and Lily and Georgia ran up and down the bright beach with it. It's a great horned owl and it flapped its wings convincingly.

I rested my back on any flat surface I could find.  Our hotel had nice firm beds and I was pleased to be feeling as good as I did after being in the car and trolly so much the day before.

Lily.  Happy.  Feather in her hair.

Ahh hello Rosa Rugosa!  This is the place we first met!  Rob brought me here, to the bird sanctuary in Biddeford Pool Maine, when we were first dating 23 years ago.  I loved the rocky cliffs and the roses growing right on the water's edge.  We've gone back almost every year.  I planted the Rosa Rugosa in my yard because I loved it so at the ocean.  (Rob's mother warned me against planting it.  She said it would sprout up everywhere in the garden and poke me with its prickers.  She was right, but I would plant it again!)

I brought a sterilized jar to tincture up some beach roses this year.

Flower girls!!

One of our favorite babysitters ever was getting married and Lily and Georgia were asked to be flower girls!

What fun.

The bride's mother is my friend and she made these gorgeous dresses!

It was very exciting to be part of all the getting dressed and preparation before the magical hour came.

 

The girls all did a great job walking down the aisle and showering the ground with petals.

I had bought fancy shoes but the girls all insisted on going barefoot.  I was about to have a fit when the bride said, "Of course you can go barefoot!  Whatever makes you comfortable, girls."  What a sweet and beautiful bride she was!  Off the shoes came!

Once the ceremony was done there was tag, handstands and tree climbing.

Who knows the next time they'll both be in dresses and have their hair brushed?  We had to do some aggressive feet cleaning the night before the wedding in my parent's bathroom sink.  The layers of dirt and nail polish put up quite a fight.
 I took lots of photos and so did everyone else.  They got tired but held it together as we moved from venue to venue.

Thankfully they could play and hang out as everyone else got their photos taken.  It was a beautiful cool day

On the rocks and in the trolly eating donuts.  We had fun.  It was nice to be part of the celebration.  Georgia wore her dress to school when we got back.

Harvesting for Sweet Love

tincture that is.  Now is the time of year I am out every dry morning harvesting the sweet petals from the blooming Rosa Rugosa in the front yard,  I put the flowers in vegetable glycerine and let it sit.

Glorious blooms

My Belle Isis rose smells marvelous, I'm thrilled with all the flowers this year.

The peaches are growing.

My Rosa Rugosa has been blooming more than usual this year,  beautiful.  Makes the front porch smell of warm roses,

Rose water

Feeling a bit overwhelmed by back pain, fear of back not getting better and life in general.  But thank goodness for roses.  I am really enjoying their fragrant blooms.  Back pain and off kilter gait have made me move slower and actually stop to smell them more often this year.  (Although I hate to find positive things about pain and illness I suppose it comes with the territory.)

I have made my own flower essence water to drink to cheer me.  I just plop lush fresh roses into my water.  Roses actually to help heal the heart, they have been used for thousands of years so I might as well try it.  The water tastes magnificent and the rose is soft and pleasing against my nose when I drink.

Kittens

Our friend's cat had kittens.  Holy crap they are cute!  She is such a patient mother as they climb all over her to nurse.  Georgia is in heaven when we visit.  (Lily likes them, but she likes their wii, too.)

Lily turns 10!!!

A momentous occasion!

My sister sent Lily an enormous dream catcher to keep her feeling safe at night.

She got a bow and arrow set (see Georgia's look of envy?)

Pondering the perfect wish in her new blouse she picked out in Chinatown.





















Every birthday we go through their baby books and talk about their birth and read funny things they used to say.  I wish I'd written down more because they love it so much.  (Example: Lily at 2 used to say "Figgeldy Fuck"  and then insist "It's Spanish!!" ) They cackle and make us read them again and again.  It kills me that I have not kept up on these books as much as I had hoped but I'm glad I was diligent in the beginning.  Here they are looking at the page about my labor with Lily.  The goddess Diana was on my altar.  She is the goddess of childbirth, women and children and archery.  I've been thinking of her and calling on her alot lately so it was nice to remember she was with me at Lily's birth.

In the vase at my bedside were poppies and roses and foxglove, such beautiful flowers that will always be linked with Lily's birth.

Lily's party!

Lily turned 10 and had a sleepover with her friends.  They are a really wonderful group of girls that even made Georgia feel included..

Here's Georgia being cared for in the teepee.  They had a fantastic time playing outside and being wild native americans who battled here and there with wooden swords and a leather tomahawk and then tried to heal with plants and flower petals. (Goodbye my precious roses!)

Lighting the sparklers




and dancing about the yard at dusk.