shop-o-rama

I've been on a shopping frenzy this past week, buying 635 toys that the Soaring Eagles Ministry will take to Mexico for the children's festival on Friday. My living room is covered with piles of toys as I detag, clean, sort, and count toys, toys and more toys. Natale had a great time yesterday sifting through the piles and making up stories as she discovered hidden characters. 

I have no idea why I didn't start shopping a month ago when I knew that toys would be needed. I would have been so much easier. The thought just never occurred to me. Maybe next year someone could remind me 'round the middle of March to start shopping.

And what are my plans for today you ask? Ummm....I'm going toy shopping!

fur aemi

It's good spelling but it wobbles, 
and the letters get in the wrong places. 
A. A. Milne

Anyone who can only think of one way to spell a word obviously lacks imagination. 
Mark Twain

blooming

My garden is full of tomato blooms,

pretty little splashes of

yellow

throughout the

green

jungle.

welcome to my garden, part 5

 My Compost Pile

To my own surprise, I have found that I really enjoy the process of composting. I tell those who visit my garden, "I'm good at making dirt." The compost box (a leftover from our first attempt at gardening) sits in the southwest corner and is about an 8th of the greenhouse. 

 My compost recipe: generous amounts of horse manure procured from a friend, a scoop of sand from the wash, a shovel or two of organic dirt, and a sprinkle of diatomaceous earth. Use the above mixture to cover material to be composted. (First dibs for food scraps go to the chickens but there is typically plenty of non-chicken kitchen, yard and garden waste to make a good sized batch of dirt.) Water and stir periodically. Wait patiently. When soil is a rich brown and composted items are no longer evident in the mixture scoop into growing containers and start planting.

butterfly kisses

When I wrote an email asking for suggestions for things to do together during my visit to Midland my niece-in-law suggested a trip to the butterfly house. I had never had the chance to see this Dow Garden's annual event so thought it sounded like a great idea.

It was a blustery-cold day but warm and moist in the tropical butterfly paradise in the middle of the garden. Lauren Mae, I and my bff Grace fluttered about in the big glass house chasing colorful wings with our camera lenses until we were all shuttered out.

 

 

(the butterfly's nemesis-

there always has to be an evil to overcome in every good buttertale)

Lauren Mae befriended two Painted Ladies and carried them around on her hand for a spell.

Then someone overheard Grace say, "I want a butterfly on my nose". 

No sooner was it spoken than a Painted Lady was fetched and deposited gently on the end of her little Mexican nose. 

The moral of the story: butterfly kisses tickle.

potty art

I found this wonderful tile mural at the entrance to the women's restroom in the Minneapolis airport during my brief but pleasant visit to that, as of April 4th, still snow covered state. I have never had a plane change in the Twin Cities before and was delighted with what they have done with the place. I only wish I had thought to visit the entrance of the men's restroom as well.

side kick

Monday late afternoon Jay was home cleaning out his van before heading to Yuma the next morning. Tessa, having finished school was playing outside while I worked in the kitchen. I wasn't paying too much attention to her play because I knew Jay was outside with her. When I did stop to check on her she was nowhere in sight. I asked Jay where she had gone and he pointed to his van. She was playing inside the van while he cleaned.