Spring Has Broken

I know it is old news now, but before Spring's first hurrah, we had a touch of winter's last hurrah: snow. Giant fluffy flakes that didn't immediately melt upon landing and lasted all day. Tiny snowmen sprung up all over town. [double-click the pic to see the flakes. otherwise this picture is entirely unimpressive snow-wise, I know.]

And then Spring Break was upon us and we celebrated at the Kite Festival (mere days following the snow, I got a tiny sunburn...)

Here's Smith's vintage 1970s kite.

The boys working the strings.

And then we embarked on the *perfect* camping trip. It was not crowded. It wasn't too far away. The days were warm, in the upper 60s. The nights were cool, in the 40s. We remembered all the fixings for s'mores. There were no bugs. No fire ants. No rain or flash floods. No trips to the ER. No rocks under the tent. We could see stars. We could hear the rush of the river below.

We have a new thing in our house.
Those who know us well are really tired of me talking about the sofa because:
a) we are indecisive. (should we get the current one recovered or buy new?)
b) we are spending adverse. (this will make 6 posts in that category)
c) I'm married to an architect. Whereas for most couples there is usually only ONE person who has a strong opinion about things like upholstery, we have two. So there has been a lot of time going to look at them and then sit on them and fingering fabrics. and not coming to an agreement.

so we've been talking about it for at least the last 4 years. Even my mom was astonished when I told her. She doesn't say "Oh...my...gawd" very often.


But our old dear finally bust a seam and was spilling her guts. Here she is in better days.

Not one to let things go (see our walk-in closet) we threw a blanket over her and retired her upstairs to the reading nook. I guess that's the "old folks home" for furniture. Maybe someday she'll get a new coat.  In the meantime, we lounge on this lovely.

She looks so non-chalent, so perfectly matched, that you almost don't notice her.

I suddenly feel like a cat will be landing on our cosmic doorstep before long. this sofa looks too pristine....

Spring (Almost) Broke

I should note that 4 people slept in this tent. And two of them were fully grown.



Since the topsy turvey-ness of our spring break, I'm pleased that we had a fun and productive week.

Raised vegetable bins were created (they'll be a post of their own soon enough,) a chicken coop is closer to being realized and we went camping!







Camping was at lovely Bastrop State Park. And it IS lovely for a Texas park. [Here's where my NY snobbishness shines through...] There are tall pine trees which make a lovely coolness beneath. It is almost like we are not camping in Texas. The weather was a "bottler" (so nice you wanna bottle it up and save it for a rainy day) with clear skies, warm days and a gentle breeze. The trees were starting to bud. The birds were out. Ahhh! And another family we know ended up in the same campground so the kids had instant friends to harass when the crows first cawed in the morning.






Sometimes camping has its downsides. And I just couldn't let go of one: the proximity of the campground to the HIGHWAY. The drive into the park may meander through some lovely greenery (again, have we left Texas?) but closer inspection of the map showed that our campsite is probably as close to the highway as an off-ramp McDonald's. Sure, there are trees (tall ones! lovely pines!) completely blocking the view, lights and smell of the freeway, but they weren't enough to buffer the noise. And when you are out in nature trying to get away from it all, you don't want to wonder, was that just one motorcycle? because it really sounded like three. Our friends had the added bonus of being the campsite directly underneath the streetlight (um, since when do campgrounds need streetlights?) Shortly after flashlights out (sadly no campfires to linger over during the burn ban) they had to move their tent because of the light. Thankfully they found a shadow from one of those tall pines to fall just so across their faces so they could sleep.




We had wonderful hikes and the kids were troopers and there was much swinging in our friend's hammock. One day however, Jbird and his compatriot went on a little hike with the moms while the bigger kids went on a more meaty hike with the dads. We studied the interpretive trail and wondered exactly what each little post would say if only we had the corresponding interpretive map. One stop included a picture of a covered wagon next to what might have been a well? an oven? an early urinal? It was a circular stone wall about 2ish feet high; one side had worn away and you could see down another foot or so into a depression in the ground. Rocks abounded. The boys, being ever adventurous, scaled the wall and were walking around the edge as we got closer to ponder what this structure could be. Then with a flash, J's friend took an accidental nosedive off the wall to the bottom. And yes, he had hit the rock at the bottom. [insert here myriad fears and panics about deabilitating neck-injuries, concussions, location of the nearest hospital, location of the nearest band-aid, etc.] As he is collected from the bottom and we are assessing the extent of the injuries amidst our shock, I look up to see that Jbird is now down the well with a thud.

By some fluke of aerodynamics, he has missed the large rock at the bottom with his face, but is holding his arm.


It was a long night of wondering if it was truly broken; there were no visible signs of breakage, but he was certainly not using it and he complained of pain. He was acting just like Nbear when he fractured his arm (after a much much much smaller scale fall.) It seemed in the realm of possibility that it was broken, or at the very least fractured. The doctor the next day deemed it less likely. If it wasn't better by X day we had the go ahead for x-rays. Thankfully by that day he was almost 100%, only milking the "my arm hurts" when he really really didn't want to buckle his carseat by himself. His friend is also doing well with only a bruise (albeit a nasty one) to show for it. WHEW! Add "emergency wine" to our camping pack list.

Animal Analagies all Around or Watch out nature, here we (don't) come!

photos from our last trip


Well. It is Spring Break and in a feverish moment a few weeks ago we booked a campsite at an old favorite: Lost Maples. We haven't been back since we lived in Austin the last time (the first time?) What a perfect time to go with the kids! They are old enough now to make camping a more manageable (ie, out of diapers AND potty trained.) And with Spring Break we have more time! It's so pretty there! Everyone I talked to that likes to camp had fond memories of camping there.*



But all they had left were primitive sites (ie, park the car and haul your gear down a trail to a very remote campsite. Out in nature!) Sure! Fine! Smith and I primitive camped there last time! It'll be great. A friend loaned us an extra camping backpack. We'll haul the stuff and the kids will just have to make the maybe mile? maybe 2 mile hike in. We can do this!



And then the days crept by and we made our menu and went shopping and gathered the gear into piles for each backpack.


It wasn't until last night that Smith and I finally came to the realization that we are CRAZY to haul 4 people's worth of stuff and food and WATER for 3 days to a campsite 2 miles from our car. AFTER driving 4 hours to get there. It was sounding like less and less fun. More like taking a cat camping.*

So we chickened out.

Today in lieu of driving those 4 hours, we are building a vegetable garden. Maybe we'll pitch a tent out back next to it tonight. And later this weekend? We found a place to squeeze our tent in between some RVs at Bastrop. Maybe we'll hear some nature over the white noise of generators... Our desire to camp will not be denied! But it will be modified.




* One friend shared her less-than-fond story of deciding to bring the family cat camping... you can fill in the rest of the story yourselves.