Sunday, April 27, 2014

Mid-April

The middle of this month was filled with our fourth anniversary, an Easter trip to Germantown, horses, and rhubarb pie. The pictures tell most of the story (except of the rhubarb pie, since it was eaten before it could be captured).

Same flowers as my wedding bouquet! He did good :)
 

Out on the farm with Mystic and Mercy



He fed Mystic, and sat on her!


Running with the cousins

Beautiful Easter morning at Mom and Dad's house.


The Easter Bunny knew of his love of horses. Little Mystic arrived.
  

And Little Mystic helped with the Easter egg hunt.
 



I love this one! He put all his eggs in Nana's apron pocket.
 

And the very best thing he's ever said to me, "Hunter love Mommy soooo much!" :)






Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Earth Day


 We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. 
--Native American Proverb 

It just so happens that Earth Day is this week, and Jeremy built a compost bin and raised garden bed in time for it. The bed is made of cedar to prevent rotting, but the compost bin is old pallets, so you can't get much more salvaging than that. I have been saving rotten vegetable skins for months under the counter. Just kidding, but the thought did cross my mind. 

 The garden bed spot was picked for its optimal sunny location. The compost bin, for the rabbits' convenience.

We try to do a lot of recycling, growing our indoor herbs and outdoor veggie garden, planting trees and flowers, reusing plastic ziplocs and aluminum foil (apparently nobody else does this? Am I weird?), eating local food from the Heifer Intl CSA, and doing meatless dinners, well, most anytime I cook. We had plans to buy a Prius for our next car, but just a few weeks ago, the appeal of an all-wheel drive Subaru won. This is all in effort to offset our (Jeremy's) inclination to keep the thermostat at a brisk 70F all summer. 


I'm sure some of my conservationist instincts come from Mom, who has been gardening and composting all my life. And reusing plastic bags. She got it from her mom and aunt, Ethelyn, I'm certain. Another part of my tendency to reuse, reduce and recycle comes from my thriftiness that can get a little excessive if Jeremy doesn't keep me in check. I'm surprised he hasn't thrown out my 6 dozen aluminum pie tins, or the stash of every glass jar we have ever eaten food from (there are so many uses for them!). 

Pinterest is probably somewhat to blame for my holding on to items that may be considered useless garbage to others. Upcycled crafts! You can find a diy craft for anything if you try hard enough or search Pinterest for it. And then if it turns out really tacky, you just recycle it. 

Nancy and I are going to really celebrate Earth Day this Saturday. The plan is to spend many hours wandering around in the wilderness, or more specifically, running the Ouachita Trail 50k. I'm super excited about this, since I've always wanted to do this race, and my long lost running buddy is going to run just ahead of me with a bungee cord between us to keep me up with her.


In wilderness is the preservation of the world. 
 --Henry David Thoreau

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Running and digging and running some more

I realized right before we went to Texas that I have a race quickly approaching, and since the distance covers more than I've been doing in a week, I better get to it. So I ran a few times down there along the seawall. It was windy, but entertaining. Somebody else did more running than I did; sometimes I wish I had a Garmin on him.
 
He's really running! Both feet off the ground!

Some day soon Daddy will have to work harder to keep up. H ran all the way down to the jetty and back.

We interspersed some digging in there, and thankfully we had remembered to bring his "backhoe" and "excavator."

He's explaining how it all works.

More running. I love how he holds his arms. He looks down at them swinging too. :)

I must spend 50% of my waking hours doing this. "Both hands, Mommy!" Why does my back hurt again?



Sunday, April 6, 2014

Texas coast

We made it to Galveston for Jeremy's half ironman. He had warned me that the beach here just wasn't what I was expecting, which was something similar to the gulf beaches along Alabama and the Florida panhandle. I was spoiled growing up going to those white sandy beaches with clear turquoise water (and some seaweed in late summer. And jellyfish that mom and dad always told me was just blasts of sand against my legs). This reminds me of the east coast beaches. Bless those poor souls who know of no other type. 
Big boy gets his own seat on the plane now!

A few hours after landing we made it to the beach where Hunter got right to work, digging his way to another continent. The winds were strong Saturday so we visited the Moody Gardens aquarium. And today is race day! Hunter and I didn't venture out to spectate in case the storm actually hit. Instead we lounged by the pool and checked the chemicals. 






We are looking forward to a few days of sun starting tomorrow! We missed the beach, no matter how chilly that water may be.