women, micro-loans and helping others

I was inspired by the following New York Times article . I hope you will be too.

How you can help. or you can go directly to kiva.

monday musing

oops i puked.

1. goodies from garden. sungold cherry tomatoes, purple calabrash heirlooms, lemon cucumbers. 2. and, yes, i got a pedicure. those hot pink toes are professionally painted. 3. hello plumbcat.

good morning to my sunshine baby.
“good morning to you, mama,” he says.

3 months old!

right now, baby nico still sound asleep. (thank you baby!) i’ve had about two hours to myself this morning. much needed since this baby did not take one nap yesterday. how is that even possible for such a little person?
he turns three months old tomorrow. to celebrate, i’m going to make a cake. which i will eat. and so will tom. nico can have cake-flavored milk. and so we will celebrate the end of the “fourth trimester”!
which is really an end to summer too. oh, my summer baby! what will fall bring?

cannot handle the cute

this one bears resemblance to last weekend’s post. however, now this baby is smiling! nico has begun smiling at me more often and even smiling at friends and strangers alike. so sweet!

early sunday

early sunday morning. camping with tom and nico. nico’s first camping trip down in sweethome, oregon. tom is still asleep while nico and i are awake and ready for breakfast. it was a perfect night. warm enough for just a sheet and open tent flaps. there were even cricket choirs singing us to sleep… something that i haven’t had much of since we packed up and left mississippi for oregon four years ago.

we went to a friend’s wedding in the country and stayed up late stoking the bonfire, drinking beer, singing old southern hymns and talking with good friends.  the groom warned every new person who joined the bonfire circle not to throw the chairs into the fire. the noni (grandmother)-of-the-bride was very concerned that we were going to get out of control and start burning everything. it was really a lovely and fun evening but not that fun.

under my umbrella ella ella ay ay ay…

When the sun shines –  We’ll shine together
Told you I’ll be here forever - Said I’ll always be your friend
Took an oath I’m a stick it out till the end
Now that it’s raining more than ever
Know that we’ll still have each other
You can stand under my umbrella
Under my umbrella

At Ryan and Aurora’s wedding several people did small performances under the heat of the summer sun. The one above is Fever Theater  doing a, um, interpretive dance of Rhianna’s Under My Umbrella. Combine Jacob’s awesome dance moves (seen above, in the red pants), forced-audience sing-along of the reptition of the sounds “ella” and “aye” after rhianna sings “umbrella”, and heat exhaustion/delirium= very very funny.

…just don’t think about the whole rhianna/jerky boyfriend thing. jesus.

oh no!

i hate that there is anything in the world that could make this baby cry. even if it is still cute.

my garden

it’s sweltering here in portland. and i do mean sweltering. 107 degrees today! i borrowed a window a/c unit from a friend which tom installed around midnight last night. today i hauled the baby’s cradle into the closet-like room that the a/c unit is in so he can stay nice and cool(-ish) in there. he is sleeping the day away (like a baby!) right now.

i was supposed to make fried pickles and southern supper with a friend tomorrow night but the idea of being around a stove top for any reason seems like not-much-fun right now. maybe on friday night?

even in all the heat, the garden is holding on strong. the leaves get a little wilty during the day, but perk up as night falls. it’s all a little out of control. i haven’t done any garden tidying since nico was born almost 7 weeks ago!

this year: sungold tomatoes :: purple calabrash tomatoes :: lemon cucumbers :: pickling cucumbers :: strawberries (already done) :: raspberries :: one giant pumpkin :: red runner beans :: bluesberries

happy hot summer gardening!

another trip to sauvie’s island

july 5th, special for many reasons
:sunday
:sunny
:warm
:new dress day
:baby’s 3 weeks old
:krugers stays open til sundown!

so, we celebrate by driving out to the farm on sauvie’s island. we visit the maybe pregnant pig, pull the wildly-growing chamomile from the grass,  eat lots of blueberries + just wander around enjoying the day.

 

 

 

 

even babies like ¿por que no?

Or at least sleeping there. One of our favorite restaurants in Portland – Por Que No - was one of the last places we had to hit before my mom left town. It was a warm day and most Portland businesses don’t have air conditioning. Luckily, we found a shady spot inside with the fan close by. Margaritas and fish tacos for mom. Pork and veggie bowl for Tom. Guava-pineapple juice and veggie tamales for me. Breastmilk for Baby Nico. Yum!