I don’t often use this space for commentary about politics and current events, but my state has been in the middle of extensive trauma and turmoil for the past week. All week things have gotten worse and worse. I’m blessed to have a home to live in, food to eat,…

It was Sunday, and since we no longer have a virtual youth chorus rehearsal, we were able to head to the beach! Upon arriving at the Secret Beach, the shoreline of which had again changed greatly through the big fall and winter storms we had last year, one sibling took…

We brought our paint supplies outside to paint the birdhouses on Sunday afternoon. The Banana hasn’t painted her house yet because we could not extract her from the book she was in the middle of reading. The finished products are lovely, every one of them different than the next, which…

The rhododendron bush just gets better and better every year. This year it is completely loaded with branches, and it’s in its prime right now. The Banana agreed to take some pictures in front of the flowers. Then her big brother came and squirted her feet with ice cold water…

Dr. Peds has been busy building birdhouses for our backyard. Every year we paint birdhouses, which I usually purchase at the craft store. A few weeks ago the craft store was closed, and I asked if Dr. Peds might be up for a project. He is making sturdy birdhouses that…

This was my one, lone tulip that blossomed for exactly one lovely day before becoming a midnight snack for a rabbit, deer, or some other animal out and about in the dark. I love tulips. Oh well. I’m still enjoying my forsythia, rhododendron, and the flowers on my deck. And…

The dishwasher, a beautiful machine, is busy around here. By the time it is finished running its cycle, there are usually enough dishes to fill it full again. I’m grateful to not be washing all those dishes by hand.

The Devious Snail: Hey, can I use the iPad? Me: (Sigh.) The Devious Snail: Expressive sighs, while they might be fun to perform, do not allow me to actually know what you mean.

I’m pretty enamored with the way this teensy tiny lilac bud is cradled between two sets of emerging leaves and is just starting to turn purple.

They asked me what I wanted for Mother’s Day (other than leaving me along to read my book). I said, “I want a portrait of the four of you together without any fussing!” I told them they could just come as they were, pajamas, four day old clothes . .…