Grand Boy's Coming Out Party

We sure lucked out on the weather, rain leading up to the event and rain starting again yesterday, but it just served to rinse everything clean and make the garden more lush for Our Boy's garden party. Sunday arrived clear and warm here at the Blue Bungalow.

Flowers were picked and perched, the cooler was filled with ice. The smoked turkey was warmed and the salads were chilled.

The guests of honor arrived and, after putting him in his country outfit, the Dear Daughter blissed the boy up with milk

and the Dad took him in hand.

And then the fun began...

We had your side by side Grand Babies and your side by side Grand Mama's.

We had your baby viewing and your fire truck viewing (when our Father to Be Next dropped by on a break - a real party treat for the older kids.)

We had your eatin under the arbor and your walkin and

talkin in the shade.

And I even go my baby finger sucked on.

What more could a gal ask?

Sending some of that sunshine your way.

x0,

N2

Friends of the Heart

The moon is new

But love is old

And while I'm waiting here

This heart of mine is singing

"Lover Come Back to Me"

Romberg & Hammerstein

Recently I got together with my dear friends P and C for a shared dinner at P's sweet spot on the river.

We pulled a few cards.

We read to each other and worked up a group interpretation, as is our long habit.

There was a recurring heart theme, which was only apropos, as Ms C told us just before dinner that she had a "heart procedure" scheduled at the big medical center down the peninsula.

P & I decided to make a road trip out of taking C down there, to go out to dinner in the city and spend the night before the appointment in a nice hotel. Dinner at Pluto's was a hit, we got lost on the way south of San Jose, we laughed, talked, all had a good night's sleep and made it to the medical center with time to spare.

And then the road got a little bumpy. For various reasons, Ms C had to stay in the southland for three days. More friends pitched in to bring her treats, keep her company and get her back up here north of the bay.

She is home safe and sound, much to our great joy and relief.

It's times like these that teach you what your heartstrings are made of and where they are attached.

Sending love.

x0

N2

First Joke

This is what the Grand Boy looked like as he was hearing his first joke at 18 days old...

Maybe it was a mite risque?!

Tee Hee Hee Hee.

x0

N2

Home Coming

I've been brightening up the window sills

and whompin up a batch of coconut lemon bars

for the visit of the Grand Boy and Dear Daughter tomorrow.

His Daddy, the Artist, created this beautiful birth announcement for the Boy.

More pictures when I've got 'em.

He is two weeks older than this now.

Grin, twinkle, beam, smile...

Sending some 'o' that out to You All.

x0

N2

The Son Did Not Come Out Here...

Oh, did I spell that wrong?...

It rained all day yesterday. Not conducive to garden parties. But we did have quirky bunnies and other fabulous Ren decorations in the House Across the Street (heretofore to be known as HAtS.)

HAtS, the house on the left, seen here in the view from my house. It's the one with the wonderful hooped rose bushes greening up and getting ready to burst into a frenzy of bloom.


And we did have peeps. No, not those atomic yellow or pink marshmallow sugar bombs, but peeps of sunshine.


And I did get out my Mom's last easter bunny and prop him up against one of the bouquets of flowers saved from the rain. I did steam a bundle of the new asparagus and sprinkle them with meyer lemon to contribute to our delicious meal.

And I did make a strawberry rhubarb galette in honor of the Son.

You know, the One that has Come...

...but was too little to travel from San Francisco. Yet. So we will have to have a Bébé coming out party later in the month, when the weather should be better anyway and even more flowers will be in bloom.

I've got to get my arms around that Dear Daughter and the Grand Boy later this week!!

Sending tender Spring thoughts to you and yours.

x0

N2

Spring Blues

Although he is certainly the most important, the Grand Boy is not the only new life popping out this Spring. We've had a decent amount of rain this year after two of near drought conditions and that has been kind to the flowers in the wild and the garden.

California Sky Lupine, lupinas nanus, I believe.

The purple wisteria on the front of the house.

Lilac and more blue iris.

Here's hopin' all your blues come as flowers.

x0
N2

Baby Gifts

In the months before the Grand Boy was born, my dear friend LC sorted through her quilt making pile and brought me a bag of pieces to chose from for the baby's quilt. I went to the fabric store here in the burg and got a piece of flannel for the backing, the batting stuff and some more material for squares to tie it all together.

I took all the material to France with me and then plotted out the pattern in MS Excel. I do not lie Ladies, that is the kind of Gal I am. The kind who plans the quilt on the computer. Unlike LC, who is a free form artist in quilting and painting, I need to move the squares around and do the math in the virtual world in order to think it out.

What with coming home early for Martha's funeral and all, I didn't get to the cutting out of the squares. So, a couple of weeks ago, LC and I used the table in her studio to do the cutting and laying out of the material.



Then we had to have a break with a cup of the fabulous toffee tea from Paris in LC's heirloom teacups and a bite of strawberry rhubarb galette while the dogs rolled around at our feet. (See Emerson rolling...)

The next day, LC, being the sewing machine ace driver that she is, whipped together the strips of the quilt while I was off to the material store for more batting, embroidery thread and the material for the border. The day after that, we got together to iron out the top, judiciously apply a little ric rac, cut the border and zip that on. Then we needed another cuppa tea and some hot cross buns I'd brought for focus maintenance.

I didn't buy any for the dogs. (See Luna pouting on the bed.)

A few days later, we brought the fabric layers down to my house. We laid the quilt out on my living room rug and made "the sandwich" of layers, as LC the Quilt Mistress called it, pinning everything together with diaper pins. I fed her dinner and we tied together the layers with embroidery thread while we watched "To Kill a Mockingbird".

Such a great movie, which I hadn't watched in a coon's age. Now the quilt will forever have Scout, Atticus, Jem, Calpurnia and Boo Radley woven into its fabric.

I fed LC dessert too, poached Bartlett pears smeared with good melted chocolate and a cup of fresh mint tea.

Then that Grand Boy was born.

You knew I was going to have to work a picture of him into this story didn't you? *Sigh*

I'm already jonesin' for another fix of holding that little head in my hand. *Sigh*

So, anyway, back at the quilt...

With the baby already at hand, we had to bring in the reinforcements, so we recruited my dear neighbor Ren. LC finessed the turning of the edging and the three of us whip stitched it down.

LC and Ren started working a blanket stitch around the edge while I made spaghetti and salad for our dinner and Miss C, my 9 year-old friend and Ren's daughter, whipped out 10 or so drawings to welcome the new baby into the world. (I only got a picture of one of the drawings. Miss C is a very talented artist already at 9 years.)



On my first visit with the Dear Daughter, the Dad and the Grand Baby Boy, I brought food to cook them dinner, a spring bouquet from the garden, the drawings from Miss C and the quilt.

Quilt: a blanket for the baby to lie on top of on the floor, the bed or in the park.

Yes, it is simply that.

But it is also an assemblage of the morning, afternoon and evening gatherings during which it was dreamed up, laid out, stitched on machine and by hand; the conversation and laughter of the women in the room; the devotion in the eyes of the dogs on the floor; the lessons of integrity and courage that "To Kill a Mockingbird" holds; the chatter of the girl drawing pictures in the next room.... There is a message of love and welcome in every variation in the loops of the blanket stitch, every nuance in the twists of the thread that three different women brought to the task of hand sewing this baby's blanket.

This is the small gift that we brought to the baby boy and this is just one of the gifts that the baby boy has brought to us so far.

Love to you and yours.

x0

N2