Zoo Two

Here's some more pictures from this weekend. Sadly, I have none(!) from Todd and Natascha's fabulous slide show party. But here are some more from the zoo and throughout the weekend.

Here's Nora and Zelda finally making use of that crib! They got on so well and Zelda was a peach for playing so nicely with and keeping an eye on Nora.


We got out and about by use of my parents van, which made me accept that if we ever have another child, a minivan would be an necessity.


Bob, Sarah and Zelda at the zoo - I am totally sad that I didn't dig up my cowgirl hat to join in the fun. I don't know if you can tell from this photo, but Z's hat also includes a tiara!



Here's Zelda and a friendly penguin. It was a busy day at the zoo and I'm amazed we were able to get this close to the tank and I was able to snap the photo without someone walking through.



And then we fizzled out on picture taking and we didn't get much else of the weekend. But in addition to the afore mentioned slide show party (check out Todd blog for the lowdown) there were also waffles, sausage, beer, Thai food, a run through the water jets at Tower Grove park, some tag playing, lots, and lots, and lots of commentary on Karl, (finally, Nora found another member for her Karl fan club in Zelda) not enough chocolate (Merbs closed too early), Ted Drews (that's a DOUBLE chocolate, mocha, heath bar, please), Buffy, and quite a bit of lazing around and napping. Oh and there was some talking too (that's a given).

It was a really nice visit and I was shocked to realize that it had been TWO years since we last got together. We won't wait so long again!

Zoo!

This weekend Bob, Sarah and Zelda came to visit and we went to the zoo. It was possibly one of the best zoo days ever for me. While we didn't see everything, we came really close. I'll post more pictures later, but here is one of the peacock in all of his glory. I don't know that I've ever seen one up close with the complete fantail before.

Gray Day

This is from a gray day last week. I shot it while stopped at the stop light so it's not the best, but I sort of like the look of the Arch in the against the gray clouds and behind the gray stone of the Old Cathedral. This week it's been positively summer. All heat and not a cloud in the sky. Looking forward to the weekend!

Cats I Have Known

The lack of cats in my immediate environment (and Carol's excellent kitty pictures) has led me to muse on the cats of days past. Here's a roll call:

Dyer Cats and Dyer-Murphy Cats
Mungo (saved me from having to have this name)
Stubby (a stripey cat, don't remember if a he or a she - but it did have a stub tail)
Stripe Hunnybun Dyer (stripey grey cat, he died in a joint snowstorm/dog attack)
Jake and Orvill (named after riverboat captains, there is a longer story about them, that I won't go into here)
Ceasar and Lady Paws (both were six toed cats, they were actually sequential, they didn't live with us at the same time, and there might have been another six toed cat in here too, but I can't really remember)
Boots and Biscuit (came to live with Jason and I in Arkansas)
Archie (remembered more fondly in death than in life)

Todd and Natascha's Cats
Gumby
Mycroft
Mrs. Hudson
Moneypenny

Carol's Cats
Murphy
Edie (granted, we haven't met in person...) and her three as yet un-named offspring

Bob, Sarah, and Zelda's Cats
Skunk
Spot
Meowy Cowgirl
Tiny Buckeroo (we too, have not yet met in the flesh)

Tree's Cat
Pepe Uriburu

Various Other Cats of My Acquaintance
Lucius -my grandmother's cat
Gauss - succeeded Lucius
Bogey -my aunt's cat
Scut Farkus - Ellen's cat (but formerly Laura's boyfriend's)
Rosie - Laura's cat
Picklepottomus - Ed and Elena's cat
Josie, Josie II & Bandit -Bill and JoAnn's cats
O-Boy - cat that stalked my parents neighborhood and fought with Archie
HB and the barn cats- Grant and Tim's house cat and the ever-multiplying mob in the barn
Gato - Pat's cat
Tasha - my parents' neighbor's cat
Lavender - Kat's cat
That grey farm cat that stalks Ted and Linda's windows - does she have a name? How do I not know it?


I'm sure there are many more that I've forgotten. Feel free to submit names. I feel like I should have sort of a big family tree like they have in the front of historical romance novels that explains who's who and who lived when, or at least pictures.

Messy Spaghetti

One of the things Nora learned on our trip was the joys of eating spaghetti. Here she is digging in (at one point she had both fists full). The downside to this gourmet extravaganza is the mess. Karl had orange streaks on his back from flung spaghetti. He would have enjoyed this more if it was meat sauce. Despite the mess, I think we'll be eating spaghetti often!

Flat Beatrix

Nora has this neat felt board toy that includes this orange queen, so we thought we should start our own Flat Beatrix project. Unfortunately we didn't think of it in Canada (although she did travel there) but instead in the airplane from Detroit. So from high above the earth Flat Beatrix sends her greetings to everyone.

For Carol & Edie's Kitties

I don't have any kitties, but I thought your new babies would like to see the tiger cubs that were at the Toronto Zoo - they are getting too big to be considered babies anymore, but they sure were cute! Edie, I hope this inspires you to feed them up strong!

O Canada!

We finally got to meet Ellie and Angelo in the flesh this past week during our visit up North! We had a fabulous time. We saw the Toddlebot in action, we got to cuddle with the Tangelo, we ate wonderous concoctions (PD's Markham Roll rocks!) We saw tiger cubs at the zoo, and Nora got to expound to a new audience about the wonders of Karldog. Most of all we stayed up much too late and talked. Poor Tree got even less sleep than normal! Here are some pictures from the trip:
Here's Nora trying to convince Ellie that Tigger is quite like Karl. Ellie is comforting her over her obvious delusion.

Angelo does his koala bear imitation at the zoo.

Nora wonders if she can make it through yet ANOTHER soccer game, and tries to brush Jason's hair to amuse herself.


We met the lovely Serena and she taught me how to make tortillas! They were super yummy.


Despite some troubles (barfing baby in carseat), we had a beautiful drive back to Detroit that included a short stop in a dandelion patch.


As I go through the photos, I realize that I did not get any of everyone all together or even any of just Tree, PD, Ellie and Angelo all and I wish I had. Nor is there any photo of Pepe, although we did catch glimpse of her. Something to make sure of for the next time. Now we are home again and back to the daily grind - thank you Tree and PD for a wonderful visit!

Waffles

We've been experimenting with the recipes at Post Punk Kitchen, thanks to Todd's recommendation. This weekend was the testing of the Lemon-Cornmeal Waffles with Blueberry Sauce. This is the 4th recipe of Isa's that we've sampled and again it's a winner. I did add a bit more oil to the batter (as well as spraying the iron heavily) since my first waffle stuck to the iron. I imagine these would make lovely pancakes as well. While I did make a blueberry sauce, I didn't follow Isa's recipe, I just winged one on my own. (frozen blueberries, sugar, lemon juice and let it boil up together). I'm sure Isa's would be delicious and probably a bit thicker/more syrupy.

A couple of weekends ago, Mom made the apple waffles for us - these were also fabulous. Neither was too sweet and would be yummy with syrup or with yogurt and fruit. Other Isa recipes we've sampled, thanks to the kitchen of Natascha and Todd, are the blondies with and without chocolate chips (wonderous) and the pumkin oatmeal cookies (also fabulous). Unfortunately, none of these were around long enough for me to take a picture. This picture is missing the blueberry sauce, since these last few were going into the freezer. Next time, I'm making a double batch....

Kiss -Kiss, Bye-Bye

Mom has taught Nora a new trick. Here she practices with Jason:

Yes, Once There Was Sun

It seems like it has been raining forever. But to remind you what the sun looks like I give you these Nora pics from sunnier days.


Note the object of Nora's affection on the other side of the door.
Finally, we're outside too! Karl got to go on this trip as well.

Arrgh, where did I put that cable?

It's been forever since I posted, my apologies. I've had the best intentions, I've been carrying around the camera for several days now, and today I finally realized that while I have the camera, I have no cable. So no pictures to share unless I dig up one of the old ones.

Nora is doing well. Jason and I have been under the weather for a couple of days as has the weather itself. We seem to be getting nothing but April showers still in May. And I am mourning the loss of our local NPR affiliate's weatherman, Ben Abell. He's retired as of last week. His final broadcast was typical of Ben, just the facts, no goodbyes. He is the only weatherman to admit that the weather conditions are just too complicated to explain in the time allotted. Now we have some impersonal national weather service feed. Ben, we miss you.