earthy eggs

tristan had his first bit of egg dying experience this year. we used turmeric, coffee, cabbage and beets to make natural dyes. the following morning we had a little egg hunt in our yard. tristan seems to like the chocolate in his basket better than the hard boiled eggs, but of course!

easter hike

on easter sunday we had to drive to dulles airport to pick up tashi. she spent nine days in belize with two of her aunts, her uncle and two cousins! this was a first for all of us. as you can imagine, we were pretty excited to pick her up. she wasn't due back until nighttime, so we made the most of the drive, enjoying the rappahannock valley, and stopping off at white oak canyon in the shenandoah wilderness for hike. it was quite lovely there. i look forward to exploring it some more.












tashi's flight was a couple of hours late. we were so thrilled to see her on the other side of customs at last. she filled our ears with great stories on the drive home. we are still studying the photos and hearing tidbits of her adventures. we're proud of her and feel fortunate that she was offered such an amazing travel opportunity.

old plastic

we try to keep the plastic to a minimum around here, but my nostalgia meter rises when i see vintage fisher price toys. i found these two gems today.




tristan had a lot of fun working the controls of the little record player music box, a little spin master in action!

the glory of the greening

yesterday was the kind of spring day you wait all winter for. the temperature was perfect, and the day was spent meeting up with friends, inside and out.

there was playground fun:









after lunch we spent some time on my friends' blue ridge property, where they recently completed work on a stunning yurt. the old house on the property will eventually be replaced with a new one; in the mean time they have the lovely yurt to cozy up in. the views up there are astonishing, and it was lovely to bask in the sun and bathe in a fresh mountain wind.











today it is cold and raining. but the dogwoods have tiny fluorescent leaves, the red bud is pinking up and the pastures have a verdant irish glow. bring on the festival of colors!

thing thursday

i made a quick stop at the thrift store today before taking tristan to the library. aside from the melt down he had because i wouldn't let him hold the glass car that contained cologne, it seems like it was a successful mission. my main focus was on finding tashi some more light cotton blouses for summer bug weather. but i can't just look for one thing when i'm at a thrift store. focus is simply not possible.


i found an awesome big richard scarry picture book in german! dan speaks a decent bit of german and tashi is learning it at waldorf school. so inevitably the german language will be part of tristan's life too. but this is a great book for anyone hoping to learn some german vocabulary. it covers everything: household items, foods, animals, musical instruments, flowers, birds, every possible vehicle, numbers, the body, and so on. it will be entertaining hearing dan read it in his most exaggerated german accent.






i also found a pretty cool book about the moon.





i acquired a couple of sweet cups that probably should be filled with something topped with whip cream & chocolate bits.


and finally, a few pillow cases. the possibility of more fabulous bed linens lay before me in a big heap, but i really didn't have the patience to dig through the tangled mass that filled the huge bin. i really wish this particular shop had a better way to sell the linens. but every once in a while there are a few decent things at the top of the pile.


here is tristan who has been insisting on wearing one of my gloves all day.


and this is what we had for dinner last night, tamale pie. yum!