Much Better

Wow...not that I didn't complain in the few posts I wrote during my first trimester, but man, I did not feel good. It was rough and I didn't feel much like doing anything besides, well, going on Facebook and perusing the internet, and maybe doing a little gardening.  But now, I am through the first trimester and I am feeling so much better.  And I am inspired to write again, although a little overwhelmed at the vast amounts of pictures on my camera.  All in good time.

Just a random shot of David--both children are heavily into climbing trees of late.

This weekend was nice.  Elsa came running in yesterday morning that there was a mourning dove building a nest.  She was gathering twigs and making a nest in a completely dead, ivy-strangled tree in our backyard, which I am realizing desperately needs to come down, but not just yet.  We all watched for a while--mama dove was sitting up there, while a two others were fighting nearby, I am assuming over territory.  I know very little about mourning doves, although I do love them.  I went for a run (I run a hundred steps, walk fifty--over and over again--it does wonders for my mood and energy), and then I took the kids over to Warren Wilson College, where they were having an event called Fiddles and Folklife--a festival celebrating the mountain arts.  There was an old-fashioned string band contest, and a ballad contest while we were there.   We listened a little inside, and I tried to talk to a woman who had on display a ton of hand-dyed yarn, all dyes that either grow wild around here or will grow--there were some really beautiful colors which made me again want to try to get a dye garden going...someday.   David, in particular, liked the music.  He just seems to want to move to it.  But really, what the kids wanted to do was to run around outside, on the beautiful campus.  Luckily for me, there were lots of bands all over, practicing together, so I could still listen while making sure no small child got completely lost.

Today Elsa and I bought paint for the chicken coop, finally.  It is going to be lavender.  And really, if you bring your not quite six year old little girl with you, what can you expect.  Actually, I am totally into it...I wanted some kind of fun color, and the guy at Town Hardware pointed out that a lighter color would keep the girls cooler in the summer...otherwise I probably would have chosen a brighter color.  We also made banana bread and gave out seed cookies (we mixed clay and compost and wildflower seeds and made various sculptures) out to the neighbors.  It was good.