Miq The Fairytale Genius

So, I've mentioned before that A has this brother, Miq who is utterly splendiferous in his own right and is married to the equally wonderful Penny. Lately, one of the big events in our extended family has been Uncle Miq's deployment to Iraq. (Ru is very impressed) All of us have been watching Facebook for the little updates he throws Stateside and doing what we can to stay in touch with Penny and their daughters. His little girls who are my boys cousins are now down to just one utterly fabulous parent which, is not as bad as it might be but, is obviously far less than ideal. We're all thinking of them often and watching (as much as you can watch when they live in Germany and we all live on this side of the pond) and wishing them all the very best.

But that Miq is a clever one. Never the type to sit on his hands mournfully in the middle of all that burning sand...he's been dreaming up one of the most creative and lovely daddy gifts I've ever seen. Sandstorms must be good for the imagination. He's been writing (from scratch mind you) lavish, bedtime fairytales for his daughters and recording himself telling them. If they half as big a hit with his daughters as they are with my sons, his special stories will never be forgotten in family lore.

At our house, we play them over and over and over.

So far, there are two installments...but, I expect there are more forthcoming. How many more? Heaven only knows...but, every one is a gem and whatever arrives we'll all rejoice.

I'm toying with sketching up some watercolor illustrations of Aclaircy's adventures. They're such beautifully imaginative stories, I'd have fun creating visuals.

Without further ado folks....The Amazing Uncle Miq:





Much love to you Miq as you wait and work and while away the days and days and days. We're rooting for you!

Jogging Inland

Today was the first (and only) dip inland, away from our coastal plan to check out sights a little more interior. We breakfasted with my Cousin Chef and then headed into more deserty territory than anything we'd seen yet, rolling sand dunes basically with tufts of bluish grass, agave, yucca...all that good spiky stuff. All the very best in John Wayne sets.

 

The big plan today was: See California Spring Wildflowers. We went to a little town called Gorman which has mysteriously flower laden slopes, lupine, California poppies, little blaze yellow coreopsis and several others I can't place. We drove one key road in the small town of Gorman, photographed, ooed and ahhhed and then got back into the car after handing many granola bars, hard boiled eggs and orange sections to the four corners of the car for lunch and we drove away from the hills towards a flat plain area and found ourselves in poppy central. Lovely. Looked like someone had sprinkled a million pounds of Cheetos on every little ripple and rise...big swathes of blaze orange. We parked the car and got out for a nice stroll (read: most exhausting hike of the trip so far...many, many breaks on benches along the way) through the wild poppy fields and enjoyed the stupifying orange glow up close. At least as lovely as from the road. Mmmmm.....I love how silky poppy petals are in texture and how satiny they look too. Very delicately put together and extremely elegant the way the uncoil as they open from that little silken twist to a flared cup. Today we imagined the flared cup part. The only real downer about our day at the preserve where we hiked (Antelope Poppy Preserve, for the curious) was that it was still cloudy and a bit windy although it did clear off and beam sunshine down on us just as we were leaving. Wild poppies are finicky little flowers and they close at night, on cloudy days or even if the wind is blistering along to fiercely. No rough games. So, we saw huge waves of bright orange buds all curled up defensively. But, no matter...they're stunning just the same and this sort of thing only leaves us with more reason to come see it all again.

After the poppies we decided to head over the mountains to the cousin hosting us for the night. (Over the mountains was our own clever idea, you know...more scenic, right?) Heh. As we explained late tonight over tea and popcorn with bleary eyes....we really don't know anything about mountains. Snow yes but, mountains with snow on them...no, not really. The pass was closed on top. And so was the other pass. And the other pass was too. So we drove around for a long time, getting breathtaking mountain views, seeing snow for the first time in a few months and listening to the boys play rollercoaster in the backseat (Wheee!!!! Faster Daddy!!!! Faster!!!!) as we drove up and down the mountain roads, looking for some sort- of way out that wouldn't use of too much of our time or daylight. And eventually, two hours after our hoped for arrival time, we made it. Whew. Not so bad really. And just think...we can add mountain tops and snowdrifts to the list of things we've seen here in California, the land of many, many faces.

The other interesting thing about the mountain side-trip bit was that it gave us a first hand view of the area that raged with wildfire last year. Don't think I've ever really driven through anywhere that looked anything like that before...acres and acres of black trees, charred telephone poles and bare sand with stubs of burned shrubs and grass bases dotting the landscape. Wild stuff, man.

Fresh Air + Sunshine = A New Kind of Mania

Downstairs on the counter I have five altaulfo mangoes, sitting in the sunshine on the countertop, just waiting for me to make the coconut sticky rice pudding I was to dice them over (Thank you, Chinatown!). The sun is pouring in on the solarium floor and frankly, overheating the place. So much warmth and brightness all of a sudden. We played outside this weekend, stirring things in the garden, tossing our jackets on the wicker bench seat and pushing the strollers through Chinatown and the maze of trails in Central Park, frankly kind of dizzy from the sunshine and fresh air.

There are many little things that are lovely about New York City but, one of them is the fact that its always a little warmer there than it is here (this bonus only applies in the cooler months...not in July) and  there is little that is more festive than all the city shop doors propped open in the sun and teens squinting into the sun while they wait for the light, snapping their gum, no coats at all...just ballet flats, leggings and a pashmina...the ever ready NYC accessory. Such a wonderful stroll through town. We had a lot of fun visiting with A's fabulous Rainforest Adventuring Cousin too...who wouldn't love her? She enjoys great food, long walks, sticky kid hugs, and rambunctious dogs. How much better do people get?

All weekend, every time dusk hit and the sky turned to the color of the inside of an oyster shell, the boys and I would spot the silhouettes of ducks whisking past through the trees, over the horizon going north, north, north. Seemed like they were always in a hurry, not much left between them and spring nesting now...just a little push of the wing further on. Every night after the sun sank, we'd see them again, working their way north in packs, heading off to those of you in cooler climes. They're on their way! And spring is coming too! May there be many ducklings in your neighborhood ponds.

Its the time of year when children lose their shoes outdoors, jackets get left hung on fence-posts and mud is everywhere (Ru insists that the neighbors have a better yard because they have more of it) and I'm smelling, looking, hoping for the sight of some new green thing. The snowdrops are blooming and the skunk cabbage is seductively raising its mottled maroon cups through the leaves, all through the swamp.

I'm starting to get the itch to finish up my inside organization because I can feel that there won't be much more indoor energy left in me once the forsythia is blooming and the pussy willow is exploding poofs of chick fuzz over the back deck. My indoor time is waning and I can feel it dripping away from me, ever swiftly.