Jade's built-in binky

River: sleeping like a baby

Could there be anything more wonderful than being cuddled in a soft blanket with your binky and a full tummy?

Mya checks out the hail stones

Mya was so excited about the hail that she ran outside as soon as she was up from her nap to hold ice from the sky in her hands.

Jade Fox is 2 months old

Pruning the peach tree

Amon learned about pruning fruit trees at the homesteading course he took at the end of April.  He used his new knowlege on our peach trees.  The bonus:  grilling chicken and hamburgers with charcoal and peach tree branches.  Adds a great flavor!

Under the sunflowers

This was around May 23.  Believe it or not, the sunflower is now a foot taller!

Sunflowers AND moonflowers

We have both sunflowers and moonflowers blooming out front.  The sunflowers bloom night and day; the moonflowers bloom at night and close in the early morning.  All our "volunteers."  That is, we didn't plant them.  We did throw bird seed out front last year.  We think the sunflowers are from the "reprocessed" bird seed.  They're in front yards up and down the street, so we can see where the birds flew and roosted after eating from our front yard.

El Casino El Camino

Papa Tom's ongoing quest for the perfect burger led us to Casino El Camino on Sixth Street, where the buffalo chicken burger ranked high on his list of great burgers

First Mother's Day

Anjanette celebrated her very first Mother's Day at...Mother's Cafe and Garden!  Thanks, Amon, for taking us to dinner.

The Ants Go Marching. . . .

These ants are using our porch railing as their highway to. . . where???

Aha!  To the peach tree!

We watched the ants march across the porch railing, up the post, to to the peach branch, and down the tree trunk to the ground.  How on earth did they discover the branch resting against the post?

A Night at the Walburg Mercantile



When Papa Tom retires from the Department of Public Safety, tentatively in March 2013, we plan to have an orchard of pecan and/or peach trees and also honeybees at Cornerstone, our land outside Walburg.  We'd like to learn how to plant and nurture an orchard and how to keep bees at the school Amon and Anjanette attended outside Waco.  (Check out their classes at http://www.sustainlife.org/.)  We think bees would be good for pollinating trees in the orchard, and the orchard would be a source of pollen and nectar for the bees.  We envision building a simple cabin for overnight stays.

Three generations:  Mia Shanana, Anjanette, Jade



Jade waits patiently for the rest of us to fill our plates at the buffet: delicious German classics that I'm about to misspell: "wienerschnitzel, bratwurst, strudel"

Tom and Sarah and Grandma Evelyn's hand

Anjanette, Jade, and Amon in the Biergarten after dinner

Grandma Evelyn and Tom twirl to the Walburg Boys.  When I lived outside Walburg in the late 1980s, the Hot Czechs polka band used to play at the Walburg Mercantile

River's Rolling Over

Ryder sent this photo a few days ago.  Ryder used to roll all the way across a room when he was about 2 months old.  Who needs crawling?

Oops! Destry will be EIGHTEEN on May 17th.

Sorry Destry!  I missed a year somehow.  Thanks, Mom, for the correction.

So many May birthdays!



Mya will be 3 on Cinco de Mayo.  Last year, she stayed with us a few days before her second birthday.  She LOVES onions.  Notice Papa Bear's legs in the grass.





Otis will be 3 on May 8th, his Daddy's birthday and Mother's Day this year!

Skyler will be 29 on May 8th.  His exciting news:  he's working weekdays for Asplundh, but tattooing on Saturdays at Angel Ink in Oregon City, just outside Portland.  Congrats, Skyler!

Anjanette will be 23 on May 12th.  Here she is tossing coins over her shoulder into the fountain at Mandola's.  I wonder what she wished for?

Al's big day is May 15th.  He looks happy already!





Destry will be 17 on May 17th.  Isn't it the Golden Birthday when your age and birth date are the same?  (Destry was born on Syttende Mai, Norwegian Constitution Day. )*

* Our family lived in Stavanger, Norway, in the early 1970s and celebrated Syttende Mai every year.  In fact, my first day ever in Norway, at the age of 20, was on Syttende Mai.  I arrived at the Oslo train station from Copenhagen and thought it was Norwegian Mardi Gras!





Hippie Bus in the 'Hood

Papa Tom's tomatoes are ripening!

Papa Tom's third ripe homegrown tomato in three days; our first April tomatoes ever!

Fresh from her homestead training, Jade checks out Papa Tom's tomato for ripeness

Yes, Jade approves!  She gave Daddy the go ahead to pick the tomato.  Check out the hippie bus in the background.  Yes, we live in Central Austin.

I Heard AND Saw the Branch Fall

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?  That is, does sound require a recipient?  I think the sound waves are generated regardless, for anyone to hear, so yes, the tree makes a sound.   Here's the branch that fell from one of the elms when I was watering the back yard the other day.  I heard the telltale crack,  but didn't have time to figure out from where, so flattened myself against the garage, under the eaves, just in time to watch the branch plummet to the ground.

Okay, this was Papa Tom posing with the saw and limb, at my request.  The photo below shows a much safer position for using an electric saw.

Probably the approved shop class stance for using a power saw on a fallen tree limb.  Any insight, Skyler?

Homestead classes

Amon loaded up the Suburban to travel north of Waco for a three-day homesteading course April 28-30.  He and Anjanette learned about raising chickens and beekeeping; milked goats and cows; and received an overview of herb gardening and tending orchards.  Jade learned too, meeting her first cow ever face-to-face.

Leaving for Brazos de Dios and a homesteading overview. 

Papa with 4-week-old Jade