The Orchid

Here is that marvelous orchid again! Blooming a second time! It definitely knows how to "bloom where it is planted". It is in the same pot, no added fertilizer, just content in the light and temperature of my kitchen.

Family Birthday

We celebrated Marshal's birthday on Wednesday. He was temporarily at the ship this week with turnover and came home early afternoon. He and Gabe enjoyed some target practice with their bows. Marshal took a nap, and we dressed up dinner with balloons and blue, Daddy's favorite color. Gabe had a hunch that Dad would like strawberry shortcake for dessert, and he was right. We decided he needed a cake, so made an Ulla (longtime Finnish friend) cake minus the whip cream, with lots of strawberries, and Breyers vanilla ice cream (with the vanilla flecks) on the side. Gabe, Lydia, and I each set a candle in the cake, but there was still sooo much smoke. A sign maybe that the birthday boy is well over "three decades" young?

Morning Grazing

Marshal had a relatively leisure morning before work and spotted these out back. Marshal fought blackberries and thistle yesterday evening and asked for some goats. He got bucks. Too bad they prefer the tender plants. They headed to the blackberry corner though.
Notice the four-point bending over both Grandpa Jims' and Marshal's stacked rock wall. Isn't that wall looking good? Thank you for that man power!

Swim Lessons

The kids enjoyed their first day of swim lessons. Lydia was apprehensive this morning, but all qualms are gone now.

"Choose me."

Gabe had fun too. How did he get so lanky?

Visited Jake

We visited Marsh's Free Museum in Long Beach before heading out of town. This is the famous alligator-man. Wellington Marsh Sr bought Jake for $750 in 1967 from Ray Pryor, an antique dealer who bought him at auction when Great Grand-Dad's museum closed in 1965. I couldn't find any stories on the internet, but I read a story on the wall of the museum that seemed like a pretty good fusion of fact and fiction. Supposedly, Great Grand-Dad purchased the mummified corpse from a man named Collins who gained possession of him from the Florida swamps. Collins had traded with the Native Americans of Florida who had original possession. There was the tale of a great alligator hunter named Jake who tangled with the wrong gator. Through the near fatal injuries of both gator and Jake, Jake half injested, their bodies fused together in their comatose states as the bodies tried to heal. I preferred that explanation over the tabloid stories of the "missing link." Anyway, definitely a real curiosity piece. Does Mom have a story?

Look at These Faces!

Black Jack II's kittens emerged from under the shed! We realize that Black Jack came back this Spring for dependable food and water through her pregnancy and nursing of kittens.

Water color, Breathing Butterflies

Learning about butterflies: Gabe and Lydia painted their watercolor butterfly wings on open paper grocery sacks today.

Butterfly Catcher

Western Tiger Swallowtail

Gabe is my butterfly catcher, often seen with butterfly net in hand. He has been spotting Swallowtails and caught this beauty. Upon its release, wings carried it high into the sky quicker than a wink and out of sight.

What's Frolicking in the Backyard?

Last night, Gabe was the first to spot a small ear flicker in the grasses near the doe out back as he watched out his window from the top bunk. He patiently waited and watched a tiny, wobbly fawn emerge from the tall grasses for a few minutes before hiding again so that mom could graze in the twilight. This morning I looked out to see the doe still out back in the tall grass and ushered Lydia to watch. Then, to Lydia's and my wonder, the doe came into the open with twin fawns frolicking behind her. The fawns skipped, leaped, and ran circles closer and closer to the house. I woke Gabe from his dreams to see them. This was a dream fulfilled for him. This was the closest he was going to get to having a fawn of his very own. He asked me last night if they grow as fast as dogs. Yes, babies don't stay babies for long, do they? In their newness, they are always a marvel of God's creation, and we take hold of that wonder and beauty in the fleeting time of babyhood.

There they go.

This scripture spoke to me when I was past due, impatiently awaiting labor and birth of Gabe. I realized that if God knows the right time for the deer, then he surely knows and chooses the right time for us, his sons and daughters. The Lord was questioning Job. "Do you watch when the deer gives birth to her fawn? Do you count the months until they give birth and know the right time for them to give birth? They lie down, their young are born, and then the pain of giving birth is over. Their young ones grow big and strong in the wild country...." Job 39:1-4 I rested in that newly found trust and faith the last day of my pregnancy, and His timing was perfect to the day and hour.