We’ve been busy relaxing. Does that make sense? Well sure it does! It’s now officially summertime.

For Memorial Day we drove down to the Neatos’ near Austin. A lovely time was had by all, especially after an episode I have now dubbed “[SuB] Owns Ribs”. Patrick and Marc discovered a sublime method for producing ribs that literally fall off the bone. I’m not entirely sure what they did, but as long I have Patrick around to make ‘em, I don’t much care.

Our yard is still largely dirt. The grass we planted has begun to sprout, but we haven’t had much rain to help it along. Last year would have been a better year to install a lawn. I can’t imagine what the neighbors are thinking when they see us outside rotating the sprinklers. Silly city folk, watering your acreage with a hose!

The back of our property is all wild and prairie-like. I’ve really come to love the natural landscape, and I often wander about, squatting to inspect some species of flower I’ve spotted for the first time. Growing in ditches or out from some pile of rocks, the natives here are an endless and fragrant array of shapes, textures, colors, and wild beauty. I never really noticed or particularly liked grasses. All I knew was that I didn’t like the spiky kind that stabs your feet. Lately I find myself soothed by watching the pale golden grass, swaying in the breeze, and surprised by the beautiful red-tipped and delicate fronds on long-stalked ones that seem to have popped up overnight, delighted at the purple and frosty blue bunches rolling over the orange clay dirt.

The springtime flowers come up in phases. Liam and I went out and took some pictures to document them. Many more have come and gone since, and I haven’t been able to capture even half! Liam took a couple of these pictures, by the way. Try to guess which! He’s pretty good for two and a half.

Here we are “‘neckin’ it up” on the driveway, listening to some tunes, grillin’, watching the sunset and enjoying the fantastic weather. There aren’t even a whole lot of bugs this year. Look, you can even see Patrick with his can of Bud, playing with the dog gang. Yep, it’s awesome. We’ve been watching the fireflies hover and blink outside in the evenings as well. They are truly enchanting. Or as Liam has said, “Mama, it’s wonnnnderful!”