Da Goddess

My favorite kid from all of Faire.

Today started early, was busy, and now it’s wonderfully quiet and calm.

King Arthur and I went out to get orchid food for the orchids we have in our bathroom (we threw out the bamboo that was dying very rapidly [without reason, I might add]) and thus Home Depot seemed like a good place to get it. We walked out of Home Depot with orchid food, 4 tubes of caulk, a bottle of pest spray, a flat of lobelia, a big pot of cannas, a medium sized pot of blue salvia, a big pot of red Mandevilla, and a free cutting of some sort of bromeliad. Oh, and a huge bag of potting soil.

Tomorrow is planting day. Hip hip HUZZAH!

We ran our purchases home, unloaded, and then the King dropped me off to get my hair cut. I had the gal take three inches off. Still plenty of hair left on my head and it’ll grow back quickly enough…now that the dead ends aren’t dragging the rest down.

From there, we hit Walmart to pick up baking supplies. Yeah, I’m gonna be doing some baking this weekend. King’s mother and sister and cousin are going to be coming over this weekend for dinner, so I need to contribute something. I’m making lemon squares. And a blueberry pie.

Now, about the crows…

Two days ago, King and I watched from the porch as two crows flew in, one landing in the street and the other landing on the roof of the house in front of us. The crow on the ground quickly hopped over to some rocks and plucked himself a tasty snack of a lizard. The roof bird noticed this and hopped down to the ground. Whenever lizard bird would be messing with the lizard, roof bird would hop closer, stealthily. When lizard bird would stop and turn around to see what the other bird was doing, roof bird would look away all non-chalant-like. And then the games would start up again. This went on for a good ten minutes (with us narrating the events, laughing our asses off) before lizard bird decided he’d had enough and flew off.

So much for our entertainment that evening.

Much like tonight. We’ll probably head out to watch the planes as they fly in to land at various airports. We missed, however, our regular entertainment of fireworks at Disneyland. We’re close enough to hear them, but just slightly too far away to see them. Sigh. But I close my eyes and imagine them and enjoy myself nevertheless.

I love having a teenager who will text me, “I love you to infinity and beyond…and then some.”

I would say that to the kids when they were mere babes in the woods.

That LD still says it to me (text or otherwise), is truly a wonder and makes me happier than one could imagine. I consider it proof that the next generation of leaders will have a great capacity for compassion and whimsy.

I had originally typed “Momday Memories”, which is probably the most accurate title I could give this post.

Here’s my darling girl at about age 2. We were out on the bay with the whole family for a day of sailing. LD wasn’t yet a glimmer in my eye, but Mojo was absolutely the apple…of…my…eye…Yikes! Talk about stretching that one out, eh?

So, here she is, my beautiful baby. I love this photo!

Time for a quick look at Little Dude back in the day.

One of the best daycare providers on earth was our dear Shannon, or Shanny, as the kids called her. She knew all the fun things happening around town and always made sure her daycare kids got to partake in whatever was going on. Case in point: pony rides and photos at McDonald’s (of all places!).

Anyone with a good recipe for cockatiel?

Bird brain is about to have his life ended abruptly if he keeps attacking my dad and me.

So many wonderful memories come flooding back as I look through the photos of when the kids were little, but none are quite as special as those of Mojo in the early days. What a funny kid she was! She still is, too.

I think this was her second “official” shoot in her uncle’s studio. She got so comfortable in there as a wee one that she’d wander in alone and carefully touch lights or stands and say, “baby, baby!” which is what her uncle would always say to get her attention during a shoot. Today, getting a nice photo of her is near impossible. It’s all mugging and goofing off. Kids!

I will, too.

I will tear it down.

Down, I say!

Unless you bring me cute, cuddly animals.

Sadly, my dad didn’t, and his apple tree is GONE!

LD and I spent the day taking down the tree yesterday. Two huge trash bins were filled up with branches and the trunk and there’s still a stump to take care of.

All day out in the sun. No sunburn. Not even any tan lines. I am a freak of nature, apparently.

I guess I’ve become so pale that I simply reflect the light.

Gah.

Just some odd musings, spurred on mostly through conversations about kids with Pam.

Loving is what’s gut-wrenching. Motherhood/fatherhood/parenthood are just words. It’s the love that makes life exciting. What’s that quote from Parenthood? Gil and the grandmother are talking… (thank God for IMDB!!)

Grandma: You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster.
Gil: Oh?
Grandma: Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!
Gil: What a great story.
Grandma: I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn’t like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.

Once you give your heart away, you worry a little bit about whether or not it’ll come back. It does. But not in the way you think. It comes back to you in the form of love from others. It’s a great big game of give and take. You give a little, you gain a little.

Still, you worry about the pieces of your heart you’ve given away. With our children, they become walking, talking whirlwinds that careen about, bumping and bruising the heart with each fall, every tear. You can’t help but hurt along with them.

Sometimes you almost wish you could take your heart back…only for a little bit. Just to catch your breath. Just to have a moment where you don’t feel it beating out of your chest. But then, after a while, you learn your heart only gets stronger because of the journey it’s taken with those who’ve held your love so very close them.

When you realize that, you kind of learn to love the adventure.

My beautiful girl and I hung out yesterday and went through photos. I’ve scanned a few (just cuz I can) and figured I’d share them here.

First one: taken May 30, 1994. I’d just moved back to San Diego after living in Colorado for 4 years. I returned home to my family with the best bonus ever: Mojo!

I’m so grateful for the time we have together. She is truly the most precious young woman in the world. She’s smart, beautiful, funny, and oh-so-weird. All too soon she’ll be heading off for basic training and I will miss her terribly. I’m proud as hell, but I will miss her.

Ah yes, those crazy little wing-ed (cuz it has to be said that way) bits of silliness and their teeny weeny voices.

That’s what my dad uses to dry his t-shirts.

I say this because he doesn’t care for the way I dry his shirts when I do laundry. They get too dry. So he opts for the gentle breaths of miniscule creatures as they toss and tumble his clothing in the air setting (which I didn’t even realize we had on the dryer until I got set straight). Things end up slightly less than sopping wet. From there, we stretch and hang his shirts.

Were that the fairies actually did the drying instead of wasting the electricity to run the dryer to NOT dry things.

Sigh.

Grown men.

My first real Christmas where I paid attention!

Yeah. Still going through old photos on my dad’s computer. Hoping to get a few of mine scanned soon.

Dig my style! Those awesome sunglasses! Am I a vision or what?

From the early 70s: my mom, little sister, me, and my big sister.

Found this photo of baby me with my mom, my dad, and my big sister. My dad’s beard (ain’t it somethin’??) was grown special for the big sesquicentennial celebration in town.

Yeah, 1966. Oh so long ago.