Been a long time, been a long time

Until today, I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted anything new.
Wow!
Busy spring!

As a quick recap:

We hung around and schooled.

Twins celebrated their 12th birthday.

Met up in Lubbock with ABQ Stotzers.







Easter came and went.

Kathleen and I attended our first Leo Kottke concert with Kathleen's guitar teacher. Fun!! (Thanks, Mom!)

Joe showed his faithful devotion...

...to the Final Four.

Yet to come: more evidence of our springtime hustling and bustling.

Springtime happenings :: updated with nestlings!

It was a harsh winter in Texas with a several consecutive days and nights well below freezing. (For you northerns, that's the Texas definition of a brutal winter.) May sound wimpy, but this kind of weather is quite destructive of our southern plants and pipes!

We had to snip our Sago Palm down to a stub.

But new life emerged.

And grew quickly...and amazingly.

I love watching the new fronds uncurl!

Voilà!

A furry magnolia bud.

Poof--a bloom!


Natural house air freshener...jasmine.

Parfum de Open Window

a.k.a. Wall of Jasmine!

It's my Texas springtime favorite (since we don't have lilacs down here).

Our neighbor's heron.

Well, they didn't watch it hatch and raise it, but since they involuntarily feed it (via their fish/frog pond) they should probably be able to claim it if they want.

Looking in the pond for lunch.

We are hosting a family of sparrows in our front light fixture!

A bold pair of sparrows built their nest in it. We are pretty baffled about how they went about moving the heavy steel lid back to open it!

I didn't have the heart to ruin their little nest, so we haven't been using our front light for about a month now!

Look what I found between a couple of the light bulbs.

There are 4 little nestlings!

Speaking of birds, this is what it sounds like around here most of the time with our state mocking bird. I love it! I also love that birds stick around here and sing all year 'round.

Have you heard about the basil shortage?

Neither have I. There isn't one that I know of, but the girls sure planted it like there is! We have about 20 tomato plants they also decided to plant from seed.

Roasted tomato & basil pesto will now be a major food group around La Casa de Roche this summer.

A squirrel-planted native pecan tree in our back yard

Seems Nut Nut, the squirrel, has a green thumb and an eye for placement, so we left it.

I've always said that fall is my favorite season.

Late fall: birds in front yard pecan tree

Spring is a *very* close second!

Appreciating and enjoying fresh new life!

Spring :: Nature at our Front Door

A true Texas spring.

One day we're swimming in the unheated neighborhood pool.

The next day we have quarter-sized hail.

(The picture above shows the hail just as it fell near our front door. About 25% of it was quarter sized. Don't you love it when nature provides math lessons?)

Thirty minutes after the hail storm was over, it was sunny again...and nice and cool!

Kids have fun any way spring rears its head!

(Don't worry. The hail storm was over before we let the kids outside to play with nature's marbles.)

March came in like a lion...and may just leave like a lion.


Okay, so the March lion/lamb thing has more to do with the constellations than the weather.


Here's to spring...any way it comes and goes!



Addendum: Below is a photo a friend took of the hail they had in another part of town.

Here come all the roofers again...