Good Day for an Outdoor Concert

Elliot and Jeremy decided that on this beautiful sunny day they would go outside, play in the sorrel and the dirt and Elliot would treat the neighbourhood to a glorious outdoor piano concert.

March 20, 2007

One year ago today, we were all in the hospital; I was looking out the window at the Hollywood Hills, Jeremy was making sure I had enough "lemon ice", Carol (our doula) was trying to get me to get into the shower ("it'll make you feel refreshed!"). That's not to mention the guest of honor, Mr Elliot who had his head lodged well in my pelvis and wasn't budging.

Fast forward exactly one year. Elliot is now much more of an actual "human" than he was when he first came squirming out, blue and screeching. The changes astound me if I sit down to consider it all. He's almost walking, talking and interacting. He knows Sadie and the kitties and gets really excited whenever any of them come around.

The day in question, we woke up and had a special breakfast of shredded apples, oranges and bananas (eaten with the fingers of course). Then came PRESENTS!

What could it be?!

Hmm... This looks very iteresting...Wow!! My very own piano!! Yahoo!After we got dressed, we went to the ocean and hiked out to the Point Cabrillo Light House and crawled around in the grass. It was extremely windy, so we didn't stay outside long.

Elliot's favorite place to be is crawling around on the sand, so, in keeping with the theme of the day (Elliot's favorite things to do day) we found a deserted beach to play on. The shells and rocks were very tasty. Next stop was the park. Jeremy and Elliot had lots of fun with the swings and Elliot loves to watch the "big" kids play on the jungle gym.Once we got home and wound down a bit from all the excitment of the day, we had a special dinner and for the first time ever--CAKE! It was a vegan, eggless carrot cake with tofu cream cheese frosting, but he didn't know the difference! And, truth be told, neither did we. Man, I'm a good cook.

Auntie Megan! Auntie Megan!

Last week Auntie Megan came to visit from Kansas City. She went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for a few days before driving up the coast to see us. Since she'd never been to this area, there was so much to show her. We had some great food and even better outings.

At low tide we went to the beach and explored the tide pools.

We checked out the native plants at the Botanical Garden.

And basically enjoyed the unusual springtime sunlight.

Should've been cranberry

Here is my first ever fired, glazed and ready to use MUG! It's a beautiful red sandy clay glazed black and red. What's that you say? Doesn't look red on the top? Well, that's because the piece was in a cool spot in the kiln and didn't get the right amount of heat to turn red. There are small traces of pink in the bottom, but basically, it looks like a clear glaze. Oh the science of glazing... fascinating stuff!

Confusion Hill

Sunday was a glorious sunny day, so we piled the baby, dog and ourselves into the car and motored up the coast. We went north to Legget which is a mere 45 miles away, but takes well over an hour to reach. The road winds along the ocean for a while, then takes a sharp Eastern turn and heads into the redwoods. Here, we wound around enourmous old trees for a while before heading back.

There were three highlights to our journey.

One was by far the most curious....Confusion Hill!! The pictures speak for themselves, but I've gotta say, we were all extremely motion sick after exiting the Gravity House. Who knew your mind could play such tricks!

Then there was the drive through tree. For anyone who has ever driven down through Northern Cal, they undoubtably know of this famous monument. Our car just barely fit and it's a tacky tourist trap, but how cool is it that you can drive through a 2500 yr old tree??!

The next was the beach. We seem to have a knack for catching the tide at its low point in the day and once again found a virtually empty, long sandy beach to comb. We're coming back to eat the huge mussels (after some research on things like red tide).

Grandma visits!

Elliot's (other) favorite person came to visit last weekend! Oh the merriment ensued. Sydney came too, which was such a treat, as she hadn't seen the Fort Bragg house since the '70s! We had a very lovely dinner in Albion, did some window shopping in Mendocino and gabbed a lot about knitting and the Oscars.

There were lots of tickles...

...and toys! Elliot has had the strength to walk now for quite some time, but hasn't the confidence to really go on his own; only walking when encouraged and offered a helping hand. He needed something to help him along, so, instead of pushing the laundry basket around (which scares Mommy as it is anything but stable), Grandma bought a Radio Flyer walker! Now he can carry around his remote controls (he has 6 of them that are all his own) as he pushes the cart, trying to ram the cats.