Day 3.122: Broken and powerless?

This picture seems sort of fitting.  It's been an interesting few days with various things at work, home and church causing some heightened emotions.  Brokenness may be an unusual state for utility poles, but it is normal for us human beings.

The pole has now been fixed and the power is back on. I'm praying for the same for the situations I find myself and see my friends in.

Day 3.121: Black bird with red wings...

...well what would you call it?

Its official name is 'red-winged blackbird' but I like to call it..., no actually that sounds fine.  They are fairly common here in the summer and when they fly they look like a flashing circle of red on a black background. This one was very obliging about being photographed - looking quite pleased with himself. Well so would you if your shoulders had built-in bling!

Day 3.120: Chalked-up

I recently discovered - much to my own amazement - that given a simple picture to copy I can do a half-decent rendition in sidewalk chalks. E5N1 is fantastic at persuading me to sit down and do this kind of thing. Or play guitar while he drums. Or launch stomp-rockets.

His driveway artwork is coming along too - his current speciality is 'talking jellyfish'!

Speechless.

Day 3.119: Happy Mom's Day

In celebration of Mother's Day, the girls managed to get breakfast in bed for Exile #2 this morning with only minimum involvement from me. They chose, prepared and served it and all three of the kids made cards.

They also chose some flowers - Exile #3 chose the tulips and Exile #4 the gerbera daisies. They seem rather in keeping with their characters.

It's been rather cold here today, the maximum was only 46°F (8°C) - so it was with some discomfort as well as embarrassment that we realised in the middle of the day that E5N1, in the midst of potty-training, had escaped outside and was sitting on the driveway drawing with chalk completely naked from the waist down. Yes I did say 'sitting' - rather him than me (in many ways!)

Day 3.118: Party, hard!

Outdoor parties are a high-risk occupation in almost any climate, but I suppose if you have one in early May, you have to be prepared for non-ideal conditions. In fact, the event we were at today has been a gloriously outdoor affair for the last two years. Today, they had gone all out and hired a band to play in the back yard for dancing. It was about 60°F and raining. No matter, there was an amazingly engineered tarpaulin an energetic band and a enthusiastic crowd - not least Exile #4!

In the end, the weather was kind enough to allow the tarpaulin to be dismantled. By the time we left the party, the sun was starting to come out and across town the tulip festival will have been getting into its stride.

I was just commiserating with myself about missing out on seeing OK Go there but remembering that their finest moments are on YouTube when I heard a rumble of thunder. A few seconds later we established that all the kids were back inside. Then it started to hail. For a five minutes or so it was wild, then it was over and the sun came back out.

E5N1 remarked, "It's like snow!"  Hard to disagree - maybe sometime I'll understand why we get ice falling from the sky in summer-time, but we still have snow in the forecast for high ground for tonight, so maybe it's not so strange for now.

I'm still sorry that I missed OK Go, but also glad that the party happened in manageable conditions and that we were safely under-cover when the storm came through.