Some Spring Shots

There's a change in the depth of field.  See.  It's a field...

Demonstrating 'bringing the darkness' that Chan did so well in the show.

We ate many of these petals.

Smiling is a chore.

These are in order, they were giggling and then...

Suspicious looks to the left.  My left anyhow.

Back to giggles.  I found the sequence to be oddly hilarious.

Chan, being forced into showing her teeth when she smiles.  I swear, I have ONE photo of all three kids from all of last year and NONE of them are showing teeth.  Garh. Oh well.

So, in new news, Jake and Chan both have applied for student crew positions with the forestry service!

Life Experience 101

This past week, we have all been in a brain fog, from pain or pollen or the time change.  I took my joint supplements, which require Vitamin C to work properly, while eating an orange and trying to get Matt to go get me more Vitamin C because we don't have any.  Never mind the 24 pack of vitamin drink mixes or, you know, the huge bowl of oranges in the kitchen.  Things like that all week, just dumb oversights.  Looking for things I am holding, calling the wrong kid, going into a panic because I forgot to pay a bill-that is on autopay and has been for 4 years-that isn't due until the 28th.

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday with my foot up.

Then Thursday came and between beginner and advance dance classes, Rho and Jake broke up.  It was a really mature decision-he is staying here because she's here and she does not want that and when she is ready to head off to school, he does not want her to stay here for him.  They are not headed in the same direction.  But he is MISERABLE. To the point that I hosted 4 extra boys for 2 days and they played cards and on the Wii and Magic and D&D.  There were hugs and back pats and huge gusty sighs.  I am ever thankful for friends.

We got a message from Erin that Catwalk had been moved up some 5 weeks to TODAY with only a couple days notice. She had a costume for one person (last year she made 15 just for our homeschool group to be in the show).  She said to get the girls down there with a few things they could use for costumes and they could work something out.  Matt ended up taking them on his own this morning, I was looking for my camera last night and moved a book and that made a whole stack shift (library run Friday) and that knocked the 3 pound jellyfish in glass paper weight I love(d) onto my everlovin' foot.  I did not even pick it up just slid back in the bed and I am still there.  My foot looks like a plum.

I have been in an interesting role today, at home while Matt is off with the girls, getting ready for a fashion show.  I am getting regular updates and lots of photos from behind the scenes.  My favorite is Chan smiling her pleased cat smile in the background and in the foreground, her 'angry gods who sank Atlantis' costume, complete with terrifying boots.  

Some people get their sibling's kid a toy that makes obnoxious sounds.
Some dress them up like a god of wrathful vengeance.
With hair horns.

I did go for a mile and a half walk yesterday, before I bashed my foot. If it's going to hurt anyway, I might as well be up and moving. Was my theory anyway.  This creepy guy kept running past while I tottered around the track:

Also, I took this one single shot of the yard, it's one of the paths the dogs have made.
It's actually THE path, it just goes all the way around the house with shoots to the gates on both sides and along the fence in the front.  I keep planting more bushes, they have to wander around to see down the road now.

Finally, a couple of amusing pics I swiped from backpacking chats:

This coming week, we have a canoe trip and dance and Chan is going off for the weekend to 'AtChanta' with several friends.  We are going in the next few weeks to check out a few colleges, she is back around to SCAD as her top pick.  I guess if I HAVE to go to Savannah, I can force myself to suffer through it...I hope they get a chance to see the Atlanta campus while they are so close.  It is just 3 hours from here instead of 9.  I would prefer that for the first year anyway.
She's also looking at Asheville and Jake is thinking about a work study program in Vermont and he has applied for a 10-month volunteer position that covers expenses and would be excellent on an application or resume.  HUGE changes, for all of us.   I just want them to pursue things they are passionate about, though a degree would be awesome.  Jake still wants to be a cop, but needs to be 21 and some experience and education in the meantime would not be amiss.

Sprung!

Spring happens all in one week here, it's icy and bleak and everything is fifty shades of grey without a necktie in sight.  Then, one bud shows up and the next day more and by the end of a week, trees that looked dead are fluffed out like fancy chickens.  Sunday was our first really truly spring-warm day with sun and birds and all that.

We got up and got going, cleaning the house for hours-moving and dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, making small repairs, filling in carpenter bee holes in the new facia boards.  Dang bees!  Shook out all the rugs, washed all the bedding-washed windows, it is so lovely and airy fresh now!

Monday we went to the park to see who was around to play in this sunshine and Gina was the only one who showed up, so we hung out a bit at the wildflower garden and then headed to walk back to Welti Falls.  She had not been and I was happy to go take a peek after all that rain we had.

The girls climbed up to the falls and then STOOD WITH THEIR BACKS TO THE DROP.
This is not what you do when your mother is watching!  Gina and I did some kind of combo 'trying to ignore them while sending out little requests to the Universe to keep them safe and also trying not to panic' sort of thing.  It's just-that's a rocky drop.  Probably would not be unbruised.

Between these two shots, I mis-stepped and managed to somehow twist my weak ankle.  It was wrapped well in sports tape, but it turned the other way this time-toward the arch.  Not as much swelling, a shitload of pain. Probably a torn muscle.  I am back on bed rest for 10 days to 2 weeks, no driving, no weight-bearing, crutches when I need to get anywhere.

I am going to miss ALL of the rest of the early unfolding of spring.  I don't know what to do-it was a slip of 2-3 inches. I am too young to just give up on hiking as too hazardous, but this is the first really uneven trail I have been on in 8 months and I am laid up now.  I am SO angry.  So many plans-all that money and time and research buying the rest of our backpacking kits-I can't even carry a plate of food 20 feet from the kitchen.  Fuck this, I am ANGRY.  Sitting on my ass while it gets even wider and watching the world green up is some kind of cosmic joke or punishment one and you know what, Karma?  FUCK YOU.  I think saddling me with that woman for a mother was enough punishment for one lifetime and really, tissue paper joints is just too far.  Go shit on someone else's life a while, I am done taking it.

The following were taken before the shots above, but blogger has its own plan for arranging things.

Chan got hot and put her face in the water.  I guess it worked, she seemed pleased.

Despite my current situation, I am looking forward to getting out and doing stuff this spring.  I HATE that I am missing the best of it-the earliest growth and the first warm days and the lowest levels of pollen, mosquitoes and poison ivy of the year.  I am holding out that it's 'just' a pulled muscle and if I baby it really well for a few days, it will be good enough to start walking again.