March like a lion

Something in my soul sings when these trees bloom each Spring.

Close your eyes

and do not peek

and I’ll rub Spring

across your cheek-

smooth as satin,

soft and sleek-

close your eyes

and do not peek

-Aileen Fisher

*I become the crazy-camera-lady when these trees bloom, stalking through my neighbors' yards, trying to get just the right shot that will do these blossoms justice.  I haven't managed to capture them as I see them, but I get pretty close.

*Spring has sprung here at {Home} we are in the middle of Spring cleaning (maybe, sort of) planning a more drought-tolerant yard, starting a new raised bed garden in the backyard, homeschooling and waiting to hear about Amie and Demi's acceptance into the performing arts school.  (It's a little nerve-wracking).

*Amie and Josie have art on auction for Kitty Devore Cat Rescue *here and *here this week.  Bidding ends April 17th and you need to like the Kitty Devore Rescue FB page in order to be able to follow the auction and see activity.

It's a beautiful weekend in OC!  I hope you are having a blessed and peaceful weekend <3

My Burn Book {parrots in the morning}

My Burn Book {moments I want to burn into memory}

We have a huge resident flock of parrots in our area. Sometimes they are all here, sometimes just a few.  This morning, we had quite the ruckus.  I love, love, love these parrots. When I hear them in the morning or evening, I love to close my eyes and pretend I am somewhere tropical.

join up and share a memory below:

7 Quick Takes Friday -wild parrots of spring edition

~1~

Here in So. Ca we don't have seasons that stand up and shout, so to speak.  But, I know Spring is here when the magnolia tulip trees in the neighborhood bloom.  I {heart} these trees.  This is the tulip tree across the street.  I opened the blinds in our big front window the other morning and saw a flash of green.  The wild parrots were in the tree, eating the flowers.  I see seven here, how many do you see?

~2~

My kids are sick, so the great homeschool progress we made last week has been nullified this week.  Yeah, team!! We did manage some read-aloud time, we read 3 more chapters of Don Quixote (but didn't finish it) and we finished the chapters on Jamestown and John Smith in The Story of US vol. 2.  Amie continues to love her Hogwart's for Muggles class and Demi starts a new 8 week creative writing class tomorrow.

~3~

I was so excited to have this book arrive from paperback swap:

I read the first in the series, An Assembly Such as This- and thought it was the best Pride & Prejudice spin-off that I have read.  Our library didn't have the sequel so I was so excited to get it from paperback swap.  And then, about 1/3 through it, I started thinking that the story seemed really, really familiar...and then I realized I have already read this one and I needed vol. 3  Oh well, this one is a really good read, so I will finish it and order the next.  This is so good that I suggested to Sky that he would like it.

~4~

Did I mention my kids are sick?

~5~

Sky is building a really large round table for someone (6 feet in diameter).  He made this amazing jig to enable him to cut out a huge circle, he is really amazing.  When I saw it, I told him that I would have just run around for days, trying to find a really big circle to trace...and that is why he is the "do-er" in this relationship and I am the "non-doer"...

~6~

Demi-Sky's lacrosse game last Saturday was amazing. They were missing some key players because of an out-of-town tournament, and because of bad weather and they had just enough players to take the field. This meant that there were no substitute players, the boys had to play the entire game with no resting.  This also meant that if players were taken off the field for a penalty, that the team was short players on the field. This is Demi (number 57) and a team-mate out for a penalty. Ahem.

~7~

Sky and I are a bit practical and we don't like going out to crowded restaurants, which is why we don't have date-night during the weekend, so we spent a very quiet evening home for Valentine's day.  The highlight was taking Emma to the groomers for her "day of beauty" which was actually a gift I gave myself- a nice smelling dog is a gift that keeps on giving...

hope your week was wonderful, internets :)

7 Quick Takes Friday is hosted over at Conversion Diary, hop on over!

7 Quick Takes -Vacation brain edition

~1~

Sky and I haven't been away, just the two of us, in over 5 years...So, I decided it was time we took a little trip.  It was a late anniversary celebration (19 years in June!) We rented a house with friends,  this was the view on the property....

~2~

The destination? San Juan Island.  Funny, disjointed way that we ended up there, but then again, it's totally a Jen thing... Someone online mentioned what a great time her family had on San Juan Island.  I love the thought of anything with the word "Island" on it, so I googled it, wondering where it was.  It is actually close to Seattle Washington, which is actually doable for us.  I clicked on a website for the Island, and the photo that popped up was of people kayaking with Orca Whales.

If I had a bucket list, kayaking with Orca whales would be on it, top of the list!

~3~

And yes, we did kayak and whale-watch.  Sadly, we didn't see any Orcas, but we did see two harbor seals "displaying" in the water, some heron cranes, a bald eagle, a deer resting, and some beautiful jelly fish.  We went on a tour with San Juan Outfitters- I highly recommend them.  [here's a side-story, we went across to the island by ferry and it was really late because of fog, and San Juan Outfitters waited for us, we were like 45 minutes late for our tour because of the ferry]  Click here* to see my Wordless Wednesday post with a lovely photo of our kayak trip...

~4~

Another bucket-list item?

Yes, San Juan has a zip-line.  I've wanted to zip-line ever since I visited Graceful Mom in Singapore and found out that Asia's most extreme zip-line was at Sentosa Island (where we stayed) and I didn't know it.  It's been on my wish list every since.  Some day I will go back to Singapore and do it, but this scratched an itch.  My friend Jennifer, who lives in Seattle, did the zip-line with me and took photos.  :)

~5~

We had such a lovely get-away.  We have great heart-friends in Seattle, they picked us up from the airport, hosted us for a night, and then rented a house with us on San Juan.  We stayed for two nights, 3 days.  we really loved the island, and we really want to go back.  We visited a lavender farm there, I keep joking it was on Sky's bucket list :)  We tried to brainstorm ways to open up our own lavender farm and move to the island.  Someday....we'll keep dreaming.....  San Juan island is in the rain-shadow of Mount Olympus, and gets less rain then Seattle.  I'm totally sold on it.  :)

~6~

Sky and me in front of the rental house.  It was a lovely house.

Did I mention I'd like to move to this island?

~7~

The kids ran feral and not much homeschooling happened.  It's amazing to have an almost 18 year old who can drive...my life has truly changed!  It was amazing, the girls took themselves off to their Biola classes- boy, my life looks very different from when I had 4 kids ages 7 and under!   So that is my wrap-up of my vacation.  It was truly magical and adventurous and relaxing.  And I ate whatever I wanted.

Amen.

7 Quick Takes Friday happens every week at Conversion Diary, click over to join in!

Wordless Wednesday - reflection

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

hens and hawks -home movie

So, I had a really old iphone and then it just stopped working one day.  I did the only thing that could be done in such a situation, went and bought a new one!  I didn't get the newest/greatest edition, but the one below...and drum roll please, it has video.  I predict more videos here on the blawg, since I now have it at my fingertips at all times. This afternoon, I saw a flash of brown out my kitchen window - I went out to investigate and saw two cooper's hawks in our tree.  Two turned into three.  This is kind of magical for us, because we live in the middle of a pretty big city.  Here's a short imovie of the hawks, taken with my iphone.  This age continues to amaze me :)

Our hens, Dapples and Annabelle make cameo appearances at the end...

Nature Walk

I love birds, I am always looking for them.  This week, I looked out my window and noticed a great deal of activity over at the basil bush in the garden.  I looked longer and spied the bright yellow flash of the American Goldfinch.  We've have mostly boring birds here in the heart of Orange County...the bright yellow goldfinches are an exciting visitor.  Look very closely at the center of the photo and then gaze downwards, you will see a few.

I think the secret to bird-watching with kids, is to call their attention to the interesting visitors they just don't notice.  To my busy kids, the birds fluttering in the gardens just register in their busy brains as "birds" if asked, they would probably guess they are sparrows.  I like to call them over, ask them to watch for a bit and then tell them about what we are seeing. If I am not sure which bird we are looking at, we will go grab a handy bird guide. When I get really stumped, even with the bird guide (sometimes birds all look alike!) then I run over and ask our bird-expert next-door.  (my golden neighbor, whom I  adore)

We have had some beautiful, warm weather lately here in So. California, so we headed to a favorite, wild-ish park near by.  The kids and dog romped, played and explored. I kept a look -out for birds and took photos.

I love this bridge, such scope for childhood imagination :)

Here is a typical view of our river beds, here in So. California.  They are almost always dry.  A big rain storm with a full river bed is an exciting treat.  Just thought I'd share this view with those of you living in other States with freely running water.  The thought of running, bubbling, babbling brooks and rivers makes us a little giddy. ...Something to be dreamed of.

a few of our favorite birding books here at {Home}:

• Backyard Birds (Field Guides for Young Naturalists)

• The Young Birder's guide to birds of North America

• Linnea's Almanac - out of print, but a gem if you can get it at the library :)

L.E.N.S. Photo Challenge-Nature is my classroom

The LEarning Never Stops photo challenge is up until Sunday night, 10 p.m.

I hope you join us! Please remember to visit at least 3 other entries, and if you do any edits, we would love to hear what you did and how.

Winners will be announced Tuesday night.