Pink Saturday: Rambling Roses

I had to take Ernest back to school this morning (on a Saturday!) to set up a sound system for the drama group. On the way home, I passed the most glorious display of pink roses. The building has been vacant for years but you wouldn't know it from the beautiful landscaping.

Beverly at How Sweet the Sound hosts Pink Saturday.  Let the color pink inspire you.

Necessity is the Father of Invention

Ernest had fine weather when he raced last month, but it turned stormy an hour later when he had to be a course marshal. The Handy Husband fashioned this fine rain garment for Ernest.  My M-I-L is not surprised.  

Saturday PhotoHunt: Texture

This week's Saturday PhotoHunt theme is Texture. I have a lot of photos of different textures. Here's one I posted recently.

But this was my favorite texture, until Ernest got a hair cut.

Hey Mom, Can I Take Apart the Piano?

"Hey, Mom, can I take apart the piano?"

True question, from Ernest of course.

"Why sure, dear."

This started because the front cover was squeaking. Once he took the front off, he started fiddling with the insides to see if he could fix the wonky key.  The one that double taps.  He figured out it was missing a felt pad, somehow maneuvered a piece of felt behind the whatchamacallit, glued it on, and voila.

He and another classmate, with their teacher's blessing, are planning to learn how to tune pianos.  The music department's minuscule budget will go a lot farther if they don't have to pay someone to tune 6 pianos every year.

I don't know if he fixed the squeak, though.

Buggy

Mr. Thomas and I had a discussion about bugs.  He does not like walking sticks but is OK with spiders and tarantulas.

It reminded me of our trip to the Victoria Bug Zoo.

Someone was quite happy to hold a variety of bugs.

Watch out if you're squeamish.

Ernest used that photo in his 8th grade graduation slide show and you should have heard the SHRIEKS from the audience.

Are any of you shrieking yet?

Another Reflection

I was looking for some cool bug pictures to show Mr. Thomas, and I came across another reflection.

Pacific Science Center, Seattle, 2004

Saturday PhotoHunt: Reflect

I'm not comfortable with self-reflection, whether looking into my mind or in the mirror.  However, I did manage to catch a few reflections, including one of myself, at Queen Califia's Magic Circle, the Niki de Saint Phalle sculpture garden in Escondido.

Funky Hats

This is the same guy with the dalmatian hat from yesterday's post. This was at last month's race.

I'm looking forward to seeing the Mad Hatter at the next mountain bike race in May.

"Kids Biking on Road"

Kids biking on road?  I seem to see this every weekend.

Here they come!  Then they left the road for the mountain.

Misadventures on lap one.  Trying to pass someone, his back wheel caught in a bush and came off.

When he put the wheel back on, the back brake was jammed.  So he had front brakes only.  Fun going down the hill.

On the second lap, someone bumped him while he was trying to pass (they're supposed to be good sports and let people pass them...all of Ernest's teammates had trouble with other riders not doing that...) and he wiped out.  Pulled a muscle, but took the time to fix the brakes.  Pedaling with only one leg was just too much, so he didn't finish the 3rd lap.

There were some interesting sights.  This guy wears funky hats.

A junked RV looked like it was a victim of zombie attacks.

Next weekend, a road race.

The Cake is Not a Lie

Someone had a birthday around here. I'm not naming any names.

We had birthday tacos, of course.

The birthday person is the one on the right, if you weren't sure.

The cake is not a lie.  (Suggested by Frank, executed by moi.  Cake from mix but frosting from scratch.)

Big boy toys...bike rack and architectural lego.

No drivers license yet...apparently a small issue in backing up...so he's annoyed but will retest in 2 weeks.  He's gone all next week on a school trip so no worries.

Saturday PhotoHunt: Sturdy

This week's Saturday PhotoHunt theme is sturdy.


stur·dy/ˈstərdē/

Adjective:	(of a person or their body) Strongly and solidly built.
Synonyms:	strong - robust - firm - stout - stalwart - lusty - tough

I have never been able to get this phrase out of my head:  "So-and-so was a sturdy child."  Where did I get that?  Was it from a book?  Was it something my aunts said about me?

While I have a lot of sturdy things around, sturdy friends, a sturdy home, sturdy wooden items my husband has built, all I can think of is sturdy children.

So here is my sturdy child, circa 1998.  It appears he invented planking!

And here is the sturdy child, passed out from exhaustion after sawing at the sturdy newel post with his sturdy toy saw.

Sturdy children grow up to be quite awesome, by the way.

Next week's hunt is for "reflect."

The Ravioli Experience

Kate had a great post on saying yes the other day.

I've always been the "sure, why not" kind of mom and I've hosted the rocketry experiments and the water balloon fights to prove it.

So when Ernest wanted to learn to make ravioli I didn't bat an eye. "From scratch or with pre-made wrappers?" I asked. Knowing Ernest as you do, what do you think he chose?

Make a well with the flour.  Put the eggs and water into the well.  "That's how we made cement in Guatemala, Mom."  OK, that caused a few blinks!

I think the dough could have doubled for cement.  Ernest manfully rolled it out and made some ravioli which were not beautiful, but tasted delicious.

We had way more filling than we needed, so I used the backup plan to make another batch.  I ALWAYS have a backup plan!

Cooking Lessons

While I do almost all the cooking around here, I am still determined that my sons learn to cook.

Frank has a nice repertoire of favorite meals he can produce, with pork chops and pizza from scratch topping the list. And of course he can knock my apron off with his baking! My job is done.

Ernest's turn. He is on break next week, so I told him that would be a good opportunity for him to learn to cook pea soup with the Easter ham leftovers. He loves pea soup.

But Ernest is ambitious. "I want to make something we've never cooked before."

Sigh. I've created a monster.

We'll be making ravioli.

Saturday PhotoHunt: Awesome

Every once in a while, my procrastination leads to perfection.  I meant to post these at the beginning of the week, but now they fit in perfectly with the Saturday PhotoHunt theme of AWESOME!

What could be more AWESOME than my son on his bike?

You might also spot Ernest on the news.

Awesome!