flies time

before this cold snap, we experienced quite a dramatic january thaw.  mild enough, i warranted, to explain the fruit-fly or two i had been finding in the kitchen.  so, i hid the bananas, diligently rinsed the sinks out, and fashioned a few traps of bottles containing cider vinegar.  

that was indeed helpful for a day or two...but suddenly, there seemed to be more, not fewer flies enjoying our home.  

~

insert eureka moment here...

~

well, we also have worms.

our household vermi-compost bin digests a great amount of fruity offering...which, i suddenly sumised, had perhaps been offered too much for the worms to handle on their own. 

 they may have enlisted help.  

i investigated the area where the worm-bin is located, and there were certainly even more of the little cuties buzzing about.  

this is where someone should have urgently stage whispered to me 

"DON'T OPEN THE LID..."

i opened the lid.

i have since installed more fly traps.

the worms are outside, (R.I.P.)

and i continue to sneeze and floss out drosophila melanogaster fragments.

perth

an archive from the past...

finally i am able to access some of the photos i thought

 were forever lost in a crashed hard-drive; 

here, a peek into my trapped photos reveals a visit of pastoral bliss to josh and joanna's organic farm this past september.  little (at that point yet un-named) oliver was about a week old, a brother for 2 year old lily. 

~

 the creation of this farm and homestead has been an intensive undertaking of pioneering strength, intellectual strategy and stubborn bravery for over two years.  that, and then for ollie's birth,  josh + jo channeled their inner midwives...the actual midwife arrived about 15 minutes postpartum.  leave it to josh and jo, the the ultimate DYI couple.

the latours treated us to snappily fresh green beans, gargantuan zucchini, and rosy sunwarm tomatoes.  

and edgar enjoyed a doze in the hammock.

code word:edgar

an update on edgar's lexicon:

he is the strong silent type, it seems, but is starting to make a few assertions!

apple~apple!

atta jute~apple juice

gig~shovel

pop~broken

pop~stop

mm-mm~esther

noball~mittens

gng~drink

mau~cat

gog~dog

moomoomoocow~cow

choochoodat~train

nn-nn~tv

guck~yuck

tanku~thank you

by~mine

he does say the usuals, like mum, dad, up, down, go,

 help, kick, hug, hot, cold, too, two, 

ball, bubbles, and makes the most convincing barnyard animal noises!

a seriously piggy pig, for example,

as well as a chilling werewolf noise...

we will be attending a speech assessment appointment in a few weeks, so with help i may be able to trick him into a few more words...

his most often used sentence is "ah do, mum?!"

very helpful little feller.

especially with the vacuuming...

goodbye, clou.

a great friend left our home today; 

first, snug in a ray of wintersunshine, he purred himself out.

we felt him leave as we stroked his fur.

then

bundled away in a blanket that had once held esther and edgar in turn.

~

clouseau was a fine cat, 

and served as gentle sentry on spruce street for 15 years.

thank you, dr. lianna titcombe, for guiding clouseau, and all of us, through his death with compassion and warmth,  

and for allowing him this rite of passage 

in the peace and security of his home.

~

 i feel so sad.

missing.

ducks and diego

well, it turns out that if i e-mail a picture from my computer to myself, through david's email, then save it to our desktop, i can access it and finally post it here.  dave's mail program emits a little swooshy airplane noise as it 'sends'; certainly does seem as though these pics are taking the long way around.  some progress anyway!!! 

so a double batch of playdough today...the mama duck needed a baby and a drake.  while esther was patiently waiting for another round of 'dough, edgar was on the countertop, inventing an adventure for diego...

i'm not sure he has anything in his backpack that is quite up to this challenge.

~

best cooked playdough recipe yet:

2 c flour

2 c H2O

1/2 c salt

1/4 c cream of tartar

(p.s. what is this stuff, anyway???)

2 T vegetable oil

~

find 10 minutes.

mix ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat until thick and squishy. 

 turn out onto a floured board and carefully (it's still hot!) knead out the last of the stickiness.  offer it to amazed child.