Micah fells a tree (June 2018)

Do you see Micah at the tip top of the tree?

The tip top is gone and Micah's safely on the ground.

Zephyr meets Violet and Rainbow, the ivy plant, and naps (June 2018)

Zephyr is fascinated by Violet the hamster.

And by Rainbow the Beta fish.  Rainbow's bowl is now covered in a lingerie bag to keep curious claws out.

Zephyr's calm here, but regularly wrestles with the ivy.

She likes the coolness of the banana bowl.  She'll outgrow it soon.

Perfect place for a nap.

Emma's new look

Emma attended freshman orientation at Centenary on Father's Day weekend.  Love the hair, Emma.  You mentioned you might go silver?

Chair-eating plant. Yikes!

We turned our backs on the Little Shop of Horrors plant for too long, apparently, and it claimed this chair as its own.  Yikes!

Amon and Papa Tom had better not spend too much time freeing the chair!  They could be next on the hungry plant's list!

Success!  The chair was pulled off the plant with no harm to either one.  Yes, it looks like the plant kept the chair seat.  Not so.  Was removed and replaced by human hands.

Happy Father's Day (Sunday, June 17, 2018)

For old times' sake: celebrating with beef nachos grande at Waterloo Icehouse.  Austin was originally named "Waterloo" when founded in 1837.  Two years later, the city was renamed in honor of Stephen F. Austin, the "father of Texas."

Since Papa would be at work on Sunday, Fox gave him her gift on Saturday.  She painted a little ceramic Fox for him and signed his Father's Day card.  LaWanda, do you recognize Fox's outfit?

Woodland Fairyland Trail at Zilker Park (Friday, June 15, 2018)

Lala and Fox built "Underwater Magic at Fairy Cove" for the annual Woodland Fairyland Trail at Zilker Park.  We strolled along the trail, the way marked by solar-powered lights.  A harpist played at one exhibit and children made "fairy dust" necklaces in the party area.

The sun'll come out tomorrow (Friday, June 15, 2018)

Fox played the mischievous orphan Chisler in a summer camp production of "Annie."  Anjanette, Lala, Papa Jay, Auntie Liz, Amon, Tom, and I all attended the show.

Chisler aka Fox with Amon

Meet Zephyr!

Our 23rd anniversary present to ourselves is Zephyr, who we took home on June 10, 2018.  She was born on a farm an hour outside Austin.  Three Mama cats had 15 kittens!  We like that she was raised outdoors with three mamas and lots of other kittens.  She's very sociable and has a lot of "cat sense."

Don't bother me while I'm napping!

Otis the entrepreneur (June 2018)

Tired of lawn work?  Tap into Otis's natural weed-killing bamboo!

That's some voracious weed-killing bamboo!

Visit from high school friend (June 11-12, 2018)

High school friend Germaine Odenheimer stopped by to visit on her way back from NOLA to Oklahoma City, where she lives.  Dr. Odenheimer, a gerontologist and neurologist, retired in December and celebrated by going with pink and teal hair.  She taught at Harvard for 8 years and continues to lecture on dementia.  We cooled our feet in Barton Springs, always 68 degrees.  

We laughed at this version of a "no parking" sign.

Had lunch at Guero's with my former co-worker Sarah Ramos, who leads weekend workshops on spirituality for the Catholic church.

Germaine wanted a cutting from our Little Shop of Horrors plant.  

Brewing kombucha (June 2018)

Three tablespoons of tea, a cup of sugar, water, and SCOBY.  How hard can it be to brew your own kombucha (fermented tea)? A SCOBY is a zoogleal mat--that is, a mass of bacteria and yeast, tied together with cellulose nanofibers.  

The first batch is going through a second fermentation in 16-ounce bottles to add carbonation.  You add a half teaspoon of sugar to each of the bottles before pouring in the first fermentation.  Brewing on the floor of the closet in my office.  I'd been buying kombucha, as you can see from the boxes, at about $2 per bottle.  You can brew a gallon at home for about 80 cents.

Garden time (mid-June 2018)

Zucchini!  We'll use the spiralizer to create zucchini pasta and sautee it with onions, garlic, and basil pesto. 

I spread wildflower seeds among the rose bushes to protect them from the heat over the summer.  Do you see Einar? And our Christmas tree on the front porch?  We take it back inside each December and decorate it.

Coriander surprise.  I let the cilantro go to seed so we can have more plants.  We eat a lot of cilantro!  Had forgotten that cilantro seeds are coriander, used in Indian and Mexican food.  Very flavorful!

Jump Gymnastics camp show (June 8, 2018)

Showtime for Fox! 

Anjanette, Fox, and Amon following the show.

Remember this guy?

Poor little moon flower in May.  Fighting off bugs, putting down roots in a crack in the sidewalk.  We watered it daily to nurse it along.

Look at all the moon flowers in bloom!  We still water it daily.  We've had hot, hot days and I'm sure the sidewalk is baking the leaves from the underside. Passersby often stop to admire and even take photos of the plant.

Eastern Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars (first week in June 2018)

At the end of May, I thought I saw a hummingbird in the garden.  But it was an Eastern Swallowtail butterfly, with black wings and blue markings.  She laid eggs on our dill plants, one of three types of plants the caterpillars will eat.  The butterflies are good pollinators and the caterpillars don't eat eggplants, tomatoes, bell peppers, etc., so we want to keep them around.

Caterpillar on dill.  We use the dill to make homemade ranch dressing.

I think there are seven caterpillars in this photo.  I only see six.  

Charging up at Walmart (May 2018)

First time I've seen an electric car charging at Walmart.

A better life for the tomato worm moth (May 31, 2018)

Papa Tom plucked a big fat horned tomato worm off one of our tomato plants a few weeks ago. Fat and happy because he'd completely stripped the leaves off one of the plants! We placed him in the butterfly habitat with some tomato leaves.  A few days later, he spun his cocoon. He emerged on May 31, and we released him at the Bull Creek watershed, far, far away from any tomato gardens but hopefully close to something else he likes to eat and that doesn't like to eat him.

Congratulations, Emma! (May 26, 2018)

On May 26, 2018, Emma was one of more than 600 Midway High School graduating seniors at the Ferrell Center on Baylor's campus.

Thank goodness for the big screen televisions!

After the graduation ceremony, family and friends celebrated at a reception. Joyce and I roamed around taking photos, of course. In the background, Papa Tom visits with Emma and friends. Emma's cousins Riker and Jaden flank sister Piper, who arrived all the way from Perth, Australia, with parents Chelle and Al Weedn. 

Joyce, Emma, Chelle, and Al

Emma and her grandmothers.  Wanda Bean (Chelle's Mom); me; Emma; and Mary Horn (Al's Mom).

Natural gardeners (May 2018)

Cute and hungry!  One of the praying mantises we raised poses atop the egg case, which contained at least 50 praying mantises.

Papa Tom and I raised praying mantises to add to the garden as natural pest control.  They had to be released the day they hatched to prevent them from eating each other!

Hot, hot, hot!!! (May 2018)

This moon flower has survived bugs nibbling its leaves and the scorching sidewalk (too hot for my bare feet and maybe for the bugs too, which is why they left?)  I water it daily, out of respect. Did I mention Austin experienced the hottest May on record?  The average high for the month was 90.1 degrees, about 4 degrees above normal.