Monday, July 06, 2009

My house! Albuquerque! Safe.








I woke up at home, and not just that, but Keith was home! And he went to work and I wrote. But I also took out the trash, fed birds and cats and looked at the yard and laid out the tent he used so it can dry, and started some laundry, and looked to see that Marty is here! Holly is here!

This is better than unfamiliar mountains and rain and darkness.

It's a good thing I made and saved an image of those potato blossoms the other day ...
because something came and ate them!

I like that last image, of a sunflower just opening. It's kind of winking at us!

The mimosa tree is a volunteer baby of our neighbor's tree, but I really like it. My mom tried several times to transplant mimosa trees to our house in EspaƱola, but they never lived. Seems they won't live there or in Santa Fe, but Albuquerque is enough warmer or southerly or something, and they will grow here, so I think nice thoughts of my mom when I have a mimosa doing well. Some that came up in our old front yard (from the neighbor there, too) were transplanted to the back and they're Big Trees now.

The day lilies are some of my favorite flowers ever, but next to the big blue "Peter Pan Lilies of the Nile" they seem a little less beautiful. I hope it didn't hurt their feelings.

It's one of the best things that has ever happened to me in my whole life that I realize and appreciate that I love my house and my yard and I'm glad to be home. I love my husband and my kids and I'm glad to just see them sleeping, or hear them in the shower, or just to know where they are and what their plans are.

How much better then, to have beautiful things blooming! It's like the decoration on the icing on the cake.

Now I'm going to go find something to eat, and anything I find is likely to taste good, because I'm so happy. And if I can't find something that makes me happy, I'm sitting here next to Keith's bowl of change, and there's a grocery store 118 paces out the back gate Keith made for me. (In preparation for the Monkey Platter Festival, I counted so I could tell people how close it is.)

These things I'll leave the house for, but I won't go far:

Monkey Platter Festival

Unschooling Symposium in Santa Fe

And this one's far, but I'll get three weeks of England and Wales, so that offsets being away from home.

London Conference

7 comments:

gail said...

Great photos of the growing things in your yard! I was just thinking how happy I was night to hear Brenna singing in the shower and knowing Logan was happily on his computer. I just treasure those little moments...

Lori said...

So you'll get to spend your birthday in England??!! If I don't get your card in the mail before you leave, know that I will be thinking about you. Love, Lori

Madeline Rains said...

These photos are beautiful! Especially the sunflower. Especially after that hotel room. Glad you're home.

Sandra Dodd said...

Thanks, all.

Yes, England on my birthday. And that's a problem, because it's Learn Nothing Day and the chance of me learning nothing while I'm in London is... is... there are no words.

Heather G. said...

K turn, What's a K turn? We do U-turns but i never heard that before.

Robin B. said...

Love the mimosa tree! Looks a little like the ohi'a-lehua in Hawai'i. Or even the fluffy topnot of the Crested Crane.

I'd guess that a K-turn is what we call a 3-point turn (you drive to the left curb, reverse to the right curb, drive to the right lane). But I could be wrong :-)

Sandra Dodd said...

"Curb"? What is this "curb" of which you speak? :-)

K turn is when you didn't have room for a U turn, like on a narrow country road in a drenching rain where you can't even see whether the sides are safe, so you go as far to the edge as seems safe, and then back up into the road and then go on forward. :-)

We have curbs in Albuquerque, and also usually room to make a U turn, but I grew up in a town with few curbs (certainly on a road without them) and most of New Mexico is uncurbed. :-)