The first game

Luciana had her first baseball game tonight. They didn't keep score--I love that about the Y sports! We never keep score when we play any games at home, so she's used to it. Whoever had fun playing the game wins. I was kind of surprised tonight at the end of her game, when she asked me who won. I'm guessing the other kids on the team chattered about it and she was curious. She was happy with my answer, though, "whoever had fun won."

She started the game in the outfield and despite everyone's reminders to "pay attention", "watch the ball", she spent most of her time examining the grass, clover, sky, etc. She also found a caterpillar (a monarch, I think) in the field, picked her up, carried her in her glove, walked off of the outfield, and put her down in a safe spot. The last inning, she was in the pitcher's spot but not pitching. The coaches do the pitching, but they have a child stand next to them to do the catching. She chatted with the other team's coach for a good portion of the inning. She did pay attention sometimes and ran for, caught, and threw the ball many times. She got to bat twice, and hit it both times. The kids all get to swing until they hit the ball, so they are guarateed to hit it every time they get up to bat. We had very pleasant weather, and the game was very entertaining.

This was one of the buds in the poppy bud pictured in my previous post.

I LOVE poppies. They remind me of my grandma.

Our torrential downpours are taking a short break--finally! We're not supposed to get anymore rain here until Thurs. or Fri. The heavy rains and storms have really beat up the garden. The rain and heat have created these big,beautiful, lush blooms, which then became too wet and too heavy, and now they're all flopped over looking sad. I was so sad to see our poppies had started blooming and looking great, and they are now lying down. I just love the flowers and look forward to their one bloom all year. The blooms and colors are still fantastic, they just look kind of ratty and floppy. Our Seven-sisters climbing rose is also in full bloom (once a year bloomer) and is so huge and heavy that it pulled out the stakes and trellis that usually keep it upright. It's now taking up half our driveway, making it a challenge to get in and out. It's so beautiful, though, that we're not going to cut it down until it's all done blooming, so our driveway will be hosed for a few weeks. I'm actually NOT complaining though--just explaining the pictures. :D With all the flooding around us, my heart goes out to those who have suffered much more than floppy flowers. I wish life wasn't so sad and so hard for so many.

Seven Sisters

Yesterday we made our first trip to purchase plants of the year. We have NEVER gone on our first garden trip this late in the season! We've been so extremely busy and have not had good weather that it just hasn't worked out until now. As it was, we squeezed in a trip to one nursery, in between thunderstorms. We dropped Logan off at home and L. stayed with him and went out exploring the swamp. In mud. Mark and I then went to Lima Center to get some annuals, herbs, and veggies, from Jenka Blossoms. We got some very fun stuff there, but because it was so late in the season already, a lot of things I needed were already sold out. We'll still have to hit a couple more nurseries and get soil. It will be great to get planting. So far all I've planted this season is catnip. L & I will start planting on Thurs., if the weather permits.

Oh, and when we returned to pick L up, she and Logan had indeed had quite an adventure. They were looking for turtles, as they are all over this time of year, walking to dry land to lay eggs. They didn't find any turtles, although they found plenty to keep them busy. She got her shoes stuck in a nasty muddy sinkhole, so she walked the rest of the way back to the house in her socks. She pulled the shoes out, her white tennis shoes, and carried them, while walking in her formerly pink socks. Fortunately Orinda had extra clothes that fit her at the house, so she wore those and came home bare footed. They had tons of fun though. She came home and had her tubby time and was just fine. The clothes will wash. Childhood should be full of lots of great, muddy adventures.