Lizarding!

Max caught this one all by himself. These guys are feisty fellas. We were in a remote part of Wilder Ranch.

Look at the color, this is the first time we encountered these particular lizards.

Up-close portrait of Fence Lizard.

Western Fence Lizard, or Blue Bellied Lizard detail.

Family Portrait, That's Chris and I on the right. Don't we look slim?

Max, double fisted with Aligator Lizards.

At New Brighton Beach in Capitola on Mother's Day. Very successful lizarding day.

That's what we call hunting for lizards (and if we find a snake while we're at it, all the better). We've had a number of outings, some more successful than others. We all enjoy it, quite a bit. Mostly, I like to take pictures of it. Not that I wouldn't hold a lizard if I had to. But, well, I'm satisfied with photographing them. I do absolutely love that my boys are exploring the wildlife.

Scenes

Is That a Snake in Your Pocket? And Nana!

Nana graced us with her ever-lovin' presence recently. We were all sad to see her go home tonight. Max wishes for a tele-port machine so the 3,000 miles can be reduced to the equivalent of a walk down the block. I'm with him. To walk out the door and down the street for a cup of tea with Nana. Such a delight. Well, we didn't even have to walk that far. We had her within our own walls. And we enjoyed her visit tremendously. She should be touching down in Boston Tuesday morning.

Yes, that is a snake in his pocket! Well, actually it's slithering up his shirt. On purpose.

Same snake, checking out his captor.

Guess who? Same snake, Coleman is showing off his purple/blue eyes. He's molting.

An early morning chat with Nana, Max and Kitty at the window.

Happy Nana, knitting on the sofa. Likely an early morning. Gotta love the morning. 

A walk through the Forget Me Nots. Henry Cowell State Park.

Max with a lizard.

Showing off the beautiful markings of newly discovered lizard.

Same lizard with his pal and captor, Coleman.

Coleman and Kitty going for a skate/run.

The neighbor's dog visited us for a couple days. Max is in his true form, click to enlarge this pic!

Coleman and Bazooka, a lovely hen.

That's a big tree.

Forget Me Not.

Coleman, Tese, Max and Rose - Kitty, too!

A quiet moment with me and mum. Reading about bread. Drinking a hot cup of Joe.

Homeschooling or Peace, Love and Tea

Well, here we are. The changes here in Soquel are many. I hardly know where to begin, it has been a while since the last update. The long and the short: school wasn't working out for Coleman. So we decided to give homeschooling a shot. The first weeks were basically detox and general healing. We continue to heal and establish routines and try to come up with what works for us to get some edumacatin' done around here. Above you can see some of the activities we have found ourselves doing. Lots and Lots of hikes with the dog. Photographing amazing sites on said hikes. We search for treasures on beaches, under logs and rocks, in the trees. We play games meant to help us learn skills. Many books have been read and discussed. Art, bouncing. Karate. Yard work. Generally, things are much better around our home. There is more peace. More love between the brothers - not that it wasn't there before. It was just below that surface of pain and suffering. And, of course, a new-found love of tea for Coleman. Complete with a favorite tea cup. Just like at my own Nana's house. I would take down my favorite cup and sit down to tea with my Nana and mum. I love those little rituals that make up the crazy quilt of my memory.

My Nana's House by Coleman

Coleman's writing assignment this week is to write about something he knows well and can describe in detail. He chose Nana's house:

My Nana's House by Coleman


My Nana's house is the best place ever in the whole world. It's in Massachusetts. Her house is tall and skinny on the outside. The outside is not the most attractive site, but the inside is beautiful. The colors inside are warm and soft. There is a fuzzy grey rug to walk on in most of the house.


When we first get there Nana usually has a big, warm apple pie waiting for us. The air smells like apple pie made with skill and experience. There is nothing better than sitting by a crackling fire and eating Nana's apple pie. The sound of a cowboy movie comes from the basement, where Papa is watching it.


I like to lay on Nana's big, soft bed any time of day. It's always relaxing. I feel good when I am there. Nana's house is a joyful place filled with wonder. My Nana's house is the best place ever in the whole world.

Enter: The Ma!

We've got a Broody Hen on our hands, she's known as The Ma around these parts. A name given to her by the boys. "The Ma" is what Nana is called by herself and occasionally by her children and Papa. Which made it the perfect name for a mama hen. The Ma has seven adorable chicks following her around everywhere. OMG are they cute! She and her brood sleep in Kitty's dog crate in the garage where it is dry and not as drafty as the outdoors. Soon her babies will be old enough to rough it with the big chickens in the run/coop area.

You're wondering how this could be, as we've got no roosters around here? Well, lucky for The Ma I'm clever. I took a ride to Watsonville and bought a dozen fertile chicken eggs from a farmer who's got roosters. (They were $12/doz! Sheesh!) Anyhow, I placed them into the nesting box, she sat - for 21 days! And, Presto! Seven baby chicks peeping out from underneath her. How darn cool is that? So far the only one with a name is the brown one in the front - Brownie. (We've already got a Hershey and a Fudge Face). I'm just hoping that at least one will be female. I won't be keeping the roos.

Davenport Beach

Davenport is a little "town" north of Santa Cruz. There is not a lot there. Beaches. Two restaurants. Two art galleries. A few houses. A lumber mill. Cows, strawberries, pumpkins. It is on Route 1, which is the coastal route and as you drive along this road the ocean is usually sparkling with sunlight. So far we've visited two beaches there. As far as I know they are the only publicly accessible beaches in Davenport. We've now been to both. I chose this beach because I read surfers bring their dogs their and leave them on the beach to play with each other while the surfers, well, surf. I only saw one surfer. He didn't have a dog. There were dogs there and some were off leash, and Kitty spent the better part of her day off leash too. Kitty also sprang a leak. A remarkable leak I wish I had gotten on film. At some point she drank the water; apparently not a good idea. Her little butt was just spraying a thin stream of "water". Have you ever filled a water balloon up only to realize there was a pin-sized hole in it that squirt you in the eye? Well picture that squirt from Kitty's little bottom. Poor Kitty. Eventually it stopped. But she put on quite a show for a while.