Saturday, March 29, 2008

Shaver's Creek: Reprise


Shaver's Creek had their annual Maple Sugar Festival. Usually anything that has "sugar" or "festival" in the title is something I have to check out. But a festival of sugar? Yes! They showed how maple syrup is made, had maple syrup for sale as well as maple sugar cotton candy. It was all very Vermont-y.

Everybody came for the pancakes. Here we see the giant griddle just like in the Curious George book. We suggested they get a monkey to help, just like in the book.
















Toe-tappin' bluegrass music. The violinist is out of view. They were pretty good, but it was too nice outside to sit long.









At a newly thawed pond there were some kids poking sticks in the muck. Anja wanted to too, but naturally I told her, "No, Sweetie. If you get too close and fall in, you will be sad because your body will be sooooooo cold. It's only 35 degrees outside." She fussed a little, but as if our lives were scripted, on cue, a boy fell in and got all wet. Lucky for him we were not too far from the main building and could get warm. A nice sense of self-righteousness gave me a little smile, "See Mu? Sometimes I'm right."

We visited our favorite owls. The mama Barn owl was sitting on her eggs but her spot was too tough to photograph. Maybe next time we'll get to see some babies!

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Fancy Face


Anja insisted I take a new picture and that she "would smile nice to put it on the blog." So, here she is, lovely as ever. It hurts a little to look directly at it.
Earlier we were listening to The Sound of Music and during '16 Going on 17' we came to the part (admittedly a line I don't like) where Liesl sings, "I need someone older and wiser telling me what to do..." Without prompting, Anja asked innocently, "Why does she like bossy people?" That's a good little feminist.


Monday, March 24, 2008

The Little Garden That Could


The artichokes have popped beautifully. The tomatoes and peppers have sprouted like crazy. The lavender is having a tough start--I don't know if I scarified the seeds properly--but I do have a couple that might make it.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Taking Dada To Weaver

We walked Thad to his office this afternoon. Ever notice 40 degrees feels nicer in Spring than it does in Autumn?


Well, some of us walked. Some walked a little less. No, she's not sleeping. She's stalling.

Hints that it might not snow forever.

Weaver. Where all the historians toil. The architecture reminds me a lot of Nicholson at the U of M.


Historians (Amanda, Lauren, and Anja) hard at work.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Muddin'



Clover took further steps into appreciating the mud than Anja. We have learned the amazing power of OxyClean.











Just like back in Minneapolis when the weather finally gets nice and everyone pours outside to enjoy the sun.






Monday, March 3, 2008

Shaver's Creek



..."where you may experience the tranquility and beauty of our natural world." Anja is experiencing the hawks, as tranquilly as a 3 year old might. There were lots of raptors, snakes, turtles, a bee hive made of glass...tons of stuff.









I think barn owls are cool. This one was not happy to see us.











The Barred owls were indifferent to us. This pic doesn't show how creepy they looked. Their room/enclosure was darker than this, their eyes deep and still. Creepiest of all, was the sitting motionless, staring at us.










Hi! It's about 60 degrees right now. We found leaves popping through the ground. Spring is coming... spring is coming...