Ordinary Time

Our vacation to Michigan was lovely. Everyone was able to make it at least for a little bit except for TM and JH who are in the throws of moving house. We did all the beach house things... played on the beach, ate food, read, played games, napped, read more books, and went into town for ice cream.  My adult children remain master players . (If you've never heard me use that term before, please click on the link.) They found some large pieces of driftwood, created a structure, and proceeded to play games on what they created. I never grow tired of watching my children play, even if they are all grown up.  Kenzie came along, too, and had a great time. His favorite thing in life is to be surrounded by all his people, so he was pretty much in heaven.  Enjoy some photos of the week. Most are taken by K. 

We have just returned from spending the past week up Michigan; you can expect pictures tomorrow. I'll share just one of the many pictures K. took with you right now.  But what I really want to write about tonight is Vienna. My mother reminded me that I had written about her not doing well and never gave an update. Here it is.  She still feels a little sore in her feet, but continues to make forward progress. The lab results on her blood draw showed slightly elevated insulin levels, but nothing outrageous. The vet has put her on a new medication that is supposed to work wonders. We have also started both ponies on an insulin management supplement with the goal of weaning them both off their prescriptions meds and just continuing with the supplement. It will take a little while to get to that place, but it would be wonderful if we could. And I tried watching more House Hunters earlier this past week and had to turn it off out of impatience. That probably tells you more than anyt...

I've spent the day getting things at home ready for me to leave for the weekend. The laundry, kitchen, and food are all in order for everyone at home. I have even nearly finished packing, which is good because I have a flight leaving first thing in the morning. I'll be heading to New Hampshire to attend the Horses and Healing Symposium for equine assisted services professionals. It also means I get to catch-up with friends from Athena , which if I'm honest, I'm looking forward to even more than the actual symposium. I have no idea if I'll have time to check in here while I'm away. I will certainly tell you about it when I get back. I'll probably also post a few updates on the Bittersweet Farm Facebook page if you're really dying of curiosity. 

I spent the morning at the Desert Botanical Garden with a friend I've known since first grade. We actually spent more time catching up than paying attention to the gardens, but I did take a couple of pictures for you.  This is one of the many Palo Verde trees which were in bloom. And another picture from the butterfly garden which has only species native to the area. The rest of the day was spent with my mom visiting other friends and helping her sort through ~13 boxes which had been stored in the garage.  Today's high temperature was 108° F (42° C). It's not spring, it's summer and it feels exactly like the summers of my childhood. I've never felt nostalgic about the summers of my childhood temperature-wise. In true form, the weather back home was very pleasant and my family was in t-shirts. At least it is still cooling off at night, so the mornings aren't bad. 

This morning when I headed outside to feed the horses, it was 10° F (-12° C) with a wind chill of -3. It's not really the weather one wants to see in March. Tomorrow night I fly to Arizona to spend the weekend with my mom. I always look forward to this trip which often has the added perk of warm weather to tide me over until spring finally arrives here.  So there's warm and there's hot. It seems the Southwest is going to be having a heat wave while I'm there, with temperatures around 102° F (39° C). While I know that the first few days will feel lovely after that ten degrees business, I also know that by the afternoon it won't exactly be sit outside and read weather. I'm not really complaining. I grew up there and know that 102° in March is actually pretty manageable. But it does seem a bit extreme to experience a hundred degree temperature difference in 48 hours (if you start at that wind chill figure.) I will say that it is better than pouring rain which has a...

I realized this morning that it was ten years ago today that J., P., R., Y., and myself took a terrifying car ride to Hong Kong from Guangzhou, boarded a plane, and flew home to begin life with our two new daughters. Like so many things I both can't believe it's been ten years already and surely it's been more than ten years all at the same time. Time is funny. Consequently, I've been thinking a bit about those three weeks we spent in China adopting R. and Y. Ignorance is bliss, isn't it? It's a good thing we cannot know the future. I had no idea of the challenges that awaited us while we tried to figure out what was going on with R. and her seizures. It was... a journey.  And while there were some very hard moments, these two girls are worth it. We love them both to pieces and are overwhelming grateful that we get to be their parents.  If you missed the details of our adoption trip, click the 'Adoption' tab up there on the top and scroll down the page t...

While I'm spinning, I like to watch something. Today I happened across a video made by a British woman about her shopping trip to Paris fabric stores. Oh. My. Goodness.  Even setting aside the notion that if you live near London you can take the Eurostar and get to Paris in time to spend the day shopping, the fabric stores she went to were amazing. Floors and floors of beautiful garment fabric. They are about as far away from JoAnn's (when there were JoAnn's) as you can get. Not a bolt of plastic fleece in sight.  I will admit I was consumed with the need to go to fabric stores in Paris.  At the end of the video, she mentioned that she would link to the websites of the various stores she went to. Websites! It might be possible to shop without having to buy a plane ticket!  My favorite of the ones she visited was Marché Saint-Pierre Dreyfus near Sacré-Coeur, with five floors of merchandise. And if you are in the US, you can order from them. As a test, I put some fabr...

As I mentioned, last week L. and I tried to take advantage of the Adler Planetarium's free Wednesday night deal, but after four plus hours of driving the best we could do was to see the outside of the museum before heading back home. Last night we made our second attempt. We did things a little differently this time. First, before getting tickets, I checked the Soldier Field schedule to double check there weren't any more huge events. Second, we parked at my sister-in-law's house in the South loop. (No, I don't know either why we didn't do this the first time. In fact somewhere along Michigan Avenue last week I was realizing the magnitude of that missed opportunity.) These two things made for a much different... and significantly more enjoyable... outing.  The walk from my sister-in-law's is about twenty-five minutes to the Adler. It's a lovely walk along the south side of Grant Park and then along the museum campus. After you go around the Shed Aquarium, yo...

Yesterday I had promised L. that we would go to the Adler Planetarium and take advantage of their free Wednesday night for Illinois residents policy. I even sprang for tickets to a  star show because I didn't have to pay an entrance fee. The budding astro-physicist was extremely excited.  Our tickets were for entry after 4:00 pm and our show tickets were for 8:15. We left at around 3:20 figuring that even with bad traffic on 290 (the highway into the city from the western end) that we would be at the Adler by 5:00. That would give us plenty of time to wander before the show. I've done this particular trip numerous times and I have my timing down pretty well at this point.  Until I didn't. You see, in the fall or on the weekend, I know to check the Soldier Field schedule because it can be impossible to get to the museums in sports or concert traffic. But a Wednesday not during football season? It never crossed my mind. (And there was certainly no alert on the Adler's web...

This should probably have been titled, "Lots and lots of sunset pictures". The sunsets on the western side of Michigan overlooking Lake Michigan are particularly stunning.  These photos are all by K.  And J. took this of the photographer himself.