other good stuff

the plan for d's birthday was to take a drive up north to Colorado and look for antique stores. we'd be in southeastern Colorado, around Blanca, Ft. Garland & Alamosa...this is farm land amid mountains. a land of wood frame barns, towering stacks of hay bales and old farm houses...a little bit of familiarity just an hour from the land of adobe. 

one of our stops had a yard full of rusty junk, various old hunks of things, carved, wooden bears and many skulls & antlers. some of the skulls still with its hide not-yet-worn away. disturbing on one level, and interesting on another. the shop was full of curious things with a shop keeper full of stories.

continuing on, we found antiques as well as a thrift store. and spent our time exploring through shelves, boxes and cabinets of old, forgotten things. (northern New Mexico sorely lacks in these type of places...) after shopping, and a pizza lunch, we headed back down. we made our usual visit to the Stop Shop, a place owned by Polish immigrants and stocked with polish chocolate, jams and beer. which we bought a little of all things. 

then we took a back-road, country drive. a favorite pastime for the bday boy. stopped to take pictures of a herd of mule deer, they motionless at the presence of us. eventually parked in a field's tractor pull-in. there in a golden barley field under the gaze of Blanca peak, d. enjoyed one of his polish beers & I wandered with my camera. 

as we headed home through Taos County, the sun began to set. 

tomorrow's day in may

tomorrow is my birthday.
yesterday d bought me chocolates and took me to dinner.
both were delicious.

last year at this time I was going through a chosen upheaval. and finding my focal point since that move has been difficult.
for both me and the person closest to me.

even just in this last move, from a city house to a country one, my emotions battled themselves. i think the lesson is that change, even change that I choose and that is for good, throws me.

but this is just me. i'm not meant to move my focal point too often. i need stable footing or the rest of myself just goes kinda haywire.

in all of this, I've neglected this little blog, and my small audience of readers. I hope to remedy that and find myself back in this space again.

but tomorrow, I'll wake up with a new birthday. and my sweet boyfriend has a garden plot all dug & fenced & irrigated for me. so I get to plant our garden (tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, herbs & flowers). and that will be me, putting my hands in the ground, creating a place for roots, and finding more sure footing.

for turning five

just a little project d. & I worked on, as a birthday gift for the little one who is turning Five.
I told him my idea, he turned some old boxes into the frame. and then I covered it in pretty things.

a little theater for a little girl who likes to make up stories and act them out with her dolls & animals.







mi'nina curiously checked it out before I packed it up.
I had a few moments of imagining how I would have played with it myself.







I made her a few skirts as well. some bright prints with ribbon edges.


and my brother video-ed the opening of the gifts, which was a big present for me. to see my little ones. and to see the sweet one smile & kiss her new little theater. there has been sadness for me, in missing this birthday with her, much like many things I'm missing with the kids. but the video helped me feel better, I didn't have to miss her smile as she opened her gifts.

birthday explore

the birthday plan had been that if the weather was bad, we'd watch movies all day.
but the weather was instead lovely. so we packed a faspa-style picnic, put on some layers, and headed out to explore.

from the cebolla mesa, where we ate sitting in what we decided was an old buffalo wallow. in the middle of the mesa desert, with no sound but the wind in the trees.
& then a drive up the mountains to near cabresto lake.

 where we found snow. and foraged the forest for pine boughs, wild rose hips & pine cones.

later we ate burgers, and a peaches & cream crumble pie. and he fell asleep from all the pie.
he thanks me for spending this time with him, doing his favorite things for a birthday. but now I can't imagine my life any other way.

seventh

a tractor ride. a kansas blue sky. his seventh birthday.

his cheeks aren't as chubby anymore. but his stories & ideas keep getting better.

and then the brother's birthday too. and though now 38 & 40, we are still her sweet ones.

the now four-year old

turning four meant a cinderella carriage, new dresses, handmade aprons & bags, a blanket for your baby dolls, sparkly markers & glitter everywhere. and a lot of other things. all opened in an excited frenzy from a long day of anticipation.

it also meant being able to sit on the table to blow out candles & cut your own cake.

six now

though sometimes I miss that chubby little baby to hold in my arms.
most of the time, I'm amazed at how he grows, runs, laughs,
explores & uses the words he's learning to read.

the lovely weekend...

waiting for company to arrive. with my house clean & lots of little plans.

made blueberry muffins. drank coffee on the porch.

there was a sunny bicycle ride around town. which ended when the old Flyer got a flat. and then it was a sunny walk back home for me.

a couple of meals in the backyard. this one with shandy made with Ad Astra Ale. mmm.
then baked lemon butter cupcakes, it was my birthday after all.

then with a couple few cucumber lime margaritas, some late night Dutch Blitz.
in which best friends are driven to start cursing, yelling & laughing at each other.

on my own again, I'd reserved the day for sunshine.
but the wind & clouds came instead. so some sewing. and I have
a little napper as company.

great things list #19

may flowers for a birthday.

the lovely spring days of may

my favorite kind of birthday card came in the mail.
the kind that has been cut & glued & drawn.

and along with a present from mom, came peonies, 
my favorite kind of birthday flower.

also this weekend was sunshine, antique store shopping with a best friend, a brother to help me with some house repair & a visit from the niece & nephew, who came bearing tater tots and slushies.

pest

it is my little brother's birthday.
i've been lucky to have this entertaining, protective & caring best friend for 36 years.

finally five

his requests were to have the party at my house, to have a rainbow cake & a pinata.
eventually my house was full of people.
and a five-year old's glee.

we had a good afternoon.

doll in the cake

I was reminded this year, by the attentions of my friends & family,

of how lucky I am, to have them help me to celebrate my birthday. even when I'm not all that thrilled by another birthday.

(above, a birthday past. two chubby-cheeked, sun-tanned children. with a special cake made by a great-aunt, which only had the top half of the doll (no legs). I remember being disappointed, when realizing the doll wasn't really a doll, but just a cake decoration.)

thank you.

may

storms, poppies & peonies, planting seeds, wearing flip-flops, strawberries out of the garden, feeling sun on skin, open windows, night breezes to sleep to.
gifts with the mail. and zwiebach & coffee, followed by a walk on the farm.


 may is a good month for a birthday.

being four

one of several birthday parties for the 4-yr old. sunny afternoon at the farm. roasted hot dogs & marshmallows over the fire. and a walk around the pond.

if you ask him, he'll offer up that he still kinda feels three sometimes.






















I made him a superhero cape. and it didn't take long to figure out that capes are fun to run around in.




















and he is very much one of my heroes.

may weekend

some things mother nature has going on for my birthday.

so along with a pretty bouquet from my mom, a lovely fantastic spa afternoon with friends, and a late morning of pancakes and sunbathing, I've had a good weekend. and I've got presents, a manicure & pedicure, and a sunburn to show for it. and it hasn't quite ended yet. since I still have dinner, and have yet another day off from work tomorrow.

thanks everyone, who wouldn't let me forget today.

buttercream for birthday cakes

little adorable had her first birthday party.

her brother helped her blow out the candles. (he also made the decorating decision...of placing the three pink candles in the cake)

she happily stuffed in her mouth, and covered herself all over, in a mixture of buttercream frosting and bananacake. which I adapted the recipe from here.

buttercream frosting, is by the way, delicious. and friends and family, pictures will be on flickr.