We approach the first day of the fresh, New Year with such GRATITUDE! We are thankful that our parents are healthy and that we can enjoy being in their loving company, sharing special and even not-so-special times with them. We are thankful for our three beautiful grandbabes - such a joy to be with! So healthy, sweet and smart! And for their terrific parents - OUR kids! We are thankful for our special grand nephews and their wonderful parents. And for the special love & friendship we enjoy with my brother and sister-in-law. (It is such a joy to be friends with family!!) We are thankful for wonderful, loving friends who bring such fullness and enjoyment to our lives. At a time when so many are suffering, we don't understand why we get to live such a full, happy, beautiful life. We think of those who suffer and we hope that some of what we are able to do for them eases their suffering, at least a little bit. We are grateful beyond measure. A very Happy New Year to you and yours from Captain, Fred and me at Little Bird Farm!

A blessed & happy Christmas to all....

....and to all, a good night. This Christmas, we have enjoyed the precious company of our loved ones nearby, and have missed the precious company of our loved ones afar. Know that we are thinking of you all with our whole hearts, with love & tenderness. Merry Christmas!

When we moved into our new kitchen exactly one year ago, one big item, that had fallen out of our budget was a new, big range. We ended up dragging our old range back in, one of which we were not very fond (but were very happy to have in the end!). Well, yesterday we moved the old one back out, for good! Our new one arrived, and VOILA'! Here it is!! We sure appreciate Gran & Papa making this happen for us!! Meet our new range! By the cluttery mess on the counters, you can see that we went swiftly about beginning some cooking & baking projects!

Santa Fred!

Our Dog is an Honor Student.......

.....at Acoma Training Center! (That's what the new bumper sticker says; no, we didn't put it on our car). And, he is a "Novice - Beginner" graduate! He accepted his Diploma with grace and aplomb as he stood sandwiched between the Rottweiler and the Saint Bernard. Eight weeks of intense puppy training has left Fred a much better dog. We have a few new skills too, which we sure needed. On his leash he is a perfect gentleman (mostly). Off his leash he is still crazy FRED! "Novice-Advanced" is next for Fred. Then Agility School, where his huge energy will be harnessed into the Doggy Agility track. Go, Fred!!

(Remember when he looked like this??)

My poor neglected blog!

Real life pulls in so many directions lately, that blogging about it has fallen by the wayside! I will try to remedy that just a bit before this busy day is done. All is very, very well here at Little Bird Farm. Just so much to do, what with painting the exterior (a job we must finish or otherwise, wrap up - before the snow flies!), cleaning up the gardens, raking and grinding up leaves and yard debris, Fred's puppy classes, and wonderful visits form the kids and grands! Of course, most everything halts when the kids are here because we so cherish every moment we can have with the little ones. It was hard preparing for the Thanksgiving Day feast because I wanted to have playtime with Abby and Ben....but I also needed to prepare much of the meal! We compromised, and spent most every moment with them on Friday and Saturday; digging dirt with Abby, finding treasures (earthworms, mostly), swinging, and playing Honeybee Tree together. And holding little Ben, as opportunities arose. What a sweet little guy! And Abby is so interested in...everything! It was superb. Captain and I also took time to bottle our very first hard cider, which had been enjoying a 2nd fermentation. When Ichiban was here in October, he helped us set up the initial fermentation with a lovely champagne yeast. (Thanks, Ichi!) We didn't use our own pressed apples this time, but next year - we will!

There are a few pictures I want to post before entirely leaving the Balloon Fiesta behind; I must post a shot of Piper's favorite balloons...the honey bees! (She really really liked the baby honey bee with purple shoes the very best, but looks like we didn't get a shot of that fella). And I love the photo of our little threesome leaving the balloon park, taking all the memories along with them. So, here. Just a few more balloons, to hold us until next year's fiesta!

Just a few pictures of our wonderful week with Precious Little Piper and her Mama & Daddy-o! Pumpkins, Chile Ristras and Little P at Gus Wagner's in Corrales & Dawn Patrol at the Balloon Fiesta. More to come as soon as I get the chard and herbs covered! A frost is coming TONIGHT!

Late Summer, almost Fall. Snapshots of our days.

Summer is slowly slipping out the door here and Fall is just peeking in. Thinking about coming all the way in! Things get pretty busy when all the fruit trees ripen their fruit in quick succession of one another! For the first time, our pears are actually edible, and delicious! Prior to this year, they were beautiful - but if you took a bite, you swiftly spit it right back out. They were, in a word, if it is a word, yucky! But not this year! There's nothing so delicious, I think, as a sweet, fresh, ripe, chemical-free, homegrown pear. We feel pretty lucky to have all this fruit! So, Captain is building a pantry to house all the canning jars filled with our fruit in its various forms. Yay! Word from all the family, near & far, is that everyone is doing just fine. Summer has been kind. And Fred is getting at least a little bit "mature". Maturer, anyway. Teeny Tiny Bird Ben is over a month old now! That was fast! He is big fella too, over 10 pounds now! I will get to see him again in just a couple weeks. And his Big Sister too. Itty Bitty Bird is coming from North Carolina next month for her very first ever Balloon Fiesta! We can hardly wait to see her face light up when she sees the hot air balloons! We already have dozens of balloons in the sky most weekend mornings as folks get ready for the big event! We love sitting on the front porch in our pj's, with our coffee - watching in comfort. The roses are having their last hurrah - spectacularly! The sunflowers and zinnias are brilliant and plentiful. Captain's Pumpkin Patch is doing....ok. Some sort of blossom drop or poor pollination is causing us some grief out there; not as many "pumms" as there should be! And a couple of squirrels are taking bites out of several. (Did I hear Captain correctly? Pellet gun??) Anyway....here are some snapshots of some of our goings on here of late. Life truly is GOOD. For this we are grateful!

The Curandera Sculpture at The Bio Park. I love it!

A butterfly in the Butterfly House. Up close and personal.

Fred's first trip to the cabin. He LOVED rock-hopping and running, running, running!

Watermelon party under the portal with Miles & Gavi & Fred.

Some of the "fruits" of our labor. Work is such FUN!

Our New Teeny Tiny Bird!

Benjamin Lee has arrived, and we have made our way to see him! Big sister, Abby loves him & says, "He is so CUTE!". We agree entirely! What a sweet time we are having with this little family of ours.

Healing, re-gaining strength, and getting back to it!

Each day I am feeling a little bit stronger. It has helped that the flowers are putting on such a spectacular show this time of year. I am able to dead-head and prune but still have some trouble with chores that require lots of bending (as in weeding!). My abdomen doesn't appreciate bending yet. But I am getting there. I so appreciate good friends who have come over to help me weed, cut off spent blooms, and otherwise keep LBF in flower! And thanks to everyone who so kindly asks, "How are you feeling?" I am feeling really good - almost all of the time. Won't be long before our new Teeny Tiny Bird will be born in Ft Worth! I am sure I will be able to lift about 7-8 pounds by that time! All reports are that Sara is feeling great! And Abby is excited to be a big sister! (And Nate really hopes he is not out of town when the blessed event starts to happen!)

Surprises - good ones and not so good ones

Even Fred was eager to see those eagles pinned on Captain!

Four honorable men who have done military service.

For the first time in nearly a month, I am sitting down to write a new blog post. It is hard for me to sit for very long these days, given recent events; more on this shortly. I look around and see a thousand and one things I would like to do. But I don't have the energy or the ability. The past 3 weeks have indeed held some big old surprises for us here at Little Bird Farm! First - a very, very, very great surprise! Commander is now CAPTAIN! He received news of his promotion on June 21st! And on July 1st, we had the funnest Pinning Ceremony ever to celebrate! I am so proud of him! His career of 22 1/2 years brings him to this fabulous new place, which he richly deserves. Next - a less great surprise. When Commander learned about his promotion on June 21st, I was pretty much morphined out, lying in a hospital bed sporting a brand new train track of staples on my abdomen. SURPRISE! I do have a vague recollection of being really, really happy when he showed me his new silver eagles and told me the news! I think I smiled, rolled over, and hit my little yellow morphine button, drifting away again to that happy pain-free place. In a nutshell, here's what happened. I went in for a colonoscopy on June 19th. By midnight, I was on my way to emergency surgery to repair a tear in the wall of my colon. I remember looking for a place to lie down in the emergency room lobby while "then - still - Commander", signed me in. No place to lie down, I just slipped onto the floor and fell asleep. I had lost so much blood that I couldn't possibly stay vertical and the floor really felt good. So - seven days in the hospital. I've only snippets of recollections of the first 4 days. The strongest memory I have of those 4 days is how wonderful my hospital room smelled - like a florist shop! There were so many beautiful bouquets from the sweetest people in the world! Thank you! I remember Commander staying with me the first three nights, when I was weakest and most confused, sleeping in a chair at my bedside. Thank you! And there were such kind visits from such loving family and friends! Thank you! Friends and family have brought us countless delicious meals. The flowers and cards and calls and provisions of love & support have blown me away! Fred has been so well cared for by our amazing neighbors! (How confused he must have been!!) An enormous "thank you" to everyone who has been so incredibly present for us throughout this wild, freaky, fabulous, (also read: terrible) time!!!

Just trying to keep up!

Holy smoke! (Literal smoke, actually, due to some intense forest fires in the state, but that's not really what I meant when I "said" that.) We find ourselves deep into June and the gardens. Just trying to keep the weeds at bay, keep all the baby plantings watered, and striving to get the new herb garden on some firm footing. Commander did some nice re-working of old fence panels, cutting them down to size and getting the front portion in place. Now, we need the other three sides. That will require more time than he has for the next week or two - other stuff going on and such. All good stuff. I haven't taken many pictures lately - but I've taken a few. So I will post them here, and try to take some pictures over the next few days. We celebrated the 4th Anniversary of the day we closed on Little Bird Farm! We laughed about how we had our closing in the office of our Oakland realtor, a world away from NM! And we nicely polished off a bottle of Gruet Demi Sec as we reminisced. We have had three crazy roadrunners hanging around lately. This fellow was very interested in the garden. Probably looking for a lizard for lunch! We also have oodles of toads, but I don't think the roadrunners prefer toads. I know they will eat them in a pinch, but surely the lizards are more delicious. (Debbi - this picture is for you.) Fred has really learned how to make himself comfortable. One day he decided this would be his spot....and so it is. He is a character!

We have just returned home from a fun trip to Texas - Fred's very 1st Road Trip! (He is a terrific little traveler.) The highlight of the trip was Abby's 1st dance recital! (Lots of "firsts"!) And it was fantaaaaastico! She did a tap dance number, "Oh, you Beautiful Doll", and she IS one! Too many exclamation points? I will try to stop, but it won't be easy. Anyway, the whole thing was simply adorable, from the moment she stepped into her costume, pulled on her tap shoes (how cute are tiny tap shoes?? Super cute!), strolled into the auditorium - filled with confidence and enthusiasm, disappeared with her mommy into the back stage area....and then reappeared in all her blushy cheeked, pink lipped glory - ON STAGE, an hour later! WoW! The world of little kid dance is wild and colorful and verrry exciting! Having raised boys, my only experience with "the dance recital world" was when I was 4 - ancient history. This was all pretty darned cute! While in Texas, we did a few other cool things: Prairie Day at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT), attended Abby's very first (****) last day of school party at her school, and ate at a new Ft Worth restaurant, "The WoodShed" on the Pioneer River - a totally Texan experience! The heat of summertime is just beginning to creep into north Texas, and the humidity was not yet cloying. Our new teensy weensy baby bird will be arriving there, however, come August, so we WILL get to experience those things then. But we will be under a spell of new grand baby euphoria, so it won't be so bad. ;) Here are some pix of our time in Texas, and of the beauty and bounty of Little Bird Farm upon our return last evening! I wasn't in a spot where I could get any pix of the actual dance, but Nate did, so I will try to get one and put it here soon.

"That's ok - I can do it by myself".

So ready and soooo excited (I mean ME! HA!! But she was too.).

Proud Mama & Daddy and sweet Baby Bird!

Abby with Grubepop at her school.

Swingin' with Gram Gigi at school.

A FUN last day of school PARTY!

Home to a tree full of delicious sweet cherries and lots of strawberries too.

And we got to the cherries before the birds did!! Yay!

FRED really wanted to help us pick cherries. He is a fine dog.