Spring Garden

Tulips and chives in the vegetable garden (above). Amy laid the concrete pavers in the footpath from the rose arbor to the swing under the lilac bush. The grape hyacinths bloomed out all in a day (below):
Daffodils! We have more in front.
The forsythia and peaches in the swing garden are in bloom. I think I'm going to have to plant things that like part shade there. We have a very sunny yard--although we did plant a new maple tree, two gingko trees, and a peach tree this spring--but most of the places where I could plant flowers are in part shade.
Jamison has been a great help cleaning up the roses and working on miscellaneous other garden chores.

Visit to The Farm

Jamison's Army friend Rocky brought his dog Phoebe down to see the animals and play in the water. Phoebe and Dex had a lot of fun in the pond.
Grandma and I took a walk up the lane to the pond. Amy helped Grandma up the steep bank. We fed the fish but didn't see the big old carp because the water was too stirred up.
Grandpa worked in the east garden. We all looked through the telescope at the site of Jamison's fall two years ago. It was fun to visit for the afternoon.

For Those Confused About Libertarianism

from The New Yorker.

Another Explanation of Our Current Economy

So here's the latest info on the relationship between congress and the financial sector.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The Ghost of Birthday Past

Chris' fifth birthday. I can't remember all the kids. Jake W is the blond boy in the light blue shirt, and I think Schuyler is in the red stripes.

This photo (below) is of Chris and Teane at the family party. We always have had more than one!

The Ghost of Easter Past

I've been scanning photos from the paleolithic pre-digital era, and found these from the 1998 Easter egg hunt in our backyard at the Springville house. Chris would have been five years old right before or after Easter.

Easter and Grandma Gene's Birthday

First, we had an Easter egg hunt with 155 colored plastic eggs filled with candy. We had 4 inches of snow on the ground that morning (we're so glad the Easter bunny didn't come early) but by the time everybody made it to our house most of the snow had melted.
We had brunch with whatever was in the fridge, including yummy spinach artichoke dip on little toasted slices of French bread, and the beginning of the boiled eggs...
...and then it was time for Grandma Gene's birthday party.

After the party, video-game enthusiast Colette played wii with Jamison ( B&B went home fairly early, because Ethan began shouting emphatically "Buh-bye!")
Here is A&J's room, even smaller than a studio apartment, especially when you have visitors over:

Muse at the E Center

First song (above)--can you see Matt Bellamy's cool glasses and silver lame jacket? Below, on the piano.







The crowd:


So for Christmas last year I gave Chris a monthly date, but I told him he couldn't just eat out at Panda Express all the time when it was his night to cook, we have to think of other fun things to do like concerts and movies. So he said, "I want to go to the Muse concert in April!" So we bought like the last tickets before the concert sold out, along with his friends Niels and Lydia, and we went last night. Great fun, even though I forgot to take cash for parking. We were early enough that we found an ATM and were back in time for the opening act.

Great stadium rock--lasers, balloons, rotating and elevating stage pieces. Matt Bellamy on guitar, keytar, piano, and bullhorn. A perfect mix of old and new songs.