gone walking

We went walking on the Woodland trail here in Corvallis this weekend. It is a good hike that we can do easily when the weather isn't that great. We were all just glad to get outside when we have been inside for so long. Winter is hard on us bungarees, but spring is in the air.

Today it rained all day, all day. The daffodils will bloom soon, they already are poking up from the wet earth, in no time they will display their beautiful yellow colours. We wait for that, with them comes spring.

bungaree cleaning

These cleanings happen around here at the bungaree menagerie somewhat more infrequently than they'd like, but mostly they like making a mess.

robot feet

Robots are a fad here at our bungaree house. The boys like to act like robots, talk like robots and do anything robot. Here is an example: I saw jackson walking around with watches on his feet (see below), so I asked him why the watches were on his feet. He said to me, "Mom, they aren't watches they are my dials and buttons. I am a robot and have robot feet".
Of course! I just had to share, in case you ever encounter robot feet, this way you will know what they look like.





He wore them all day.

bread

I should be making more, we're out.There is something about warm bread that makes us all dream of butter melting and fresh berry jam. As you can see in the last picture, oliver covets it too.
I'm going outside though, it is too nice to bake today.

Time to play.

spainsick

(these are photos taken by my dad, my mom and dad live in Zamora, Spain find out more at Jackson in Zamora)

I am spainsick. It is like the same feeling as being homesick, but it is more for an entire feel, rather than just a certain home or just one building. My homesickness encompasses a whole nation, the place where I grew up.


I thought the feelings would subside after the holidays, but really they haven't. Yesterday while going through one of our neglected-to-be-gone-through boxes in the garage I found a bottle of exquisite soap. It is the smell of Spain to me, I walked over to Jackson and Oliver and let them smell it. I said, "this is what Spain smells like".

I know all of Spain doesn't smell like that soap, actually it smells more like cigarette as far as I remember. I know this will sound crazy, but when I first came back for high school and college I would try to get downwind from people smoking, (at a distance) just to smell the smell. Now that I have been away from Spain for over 10 years I understand that that is not a pretty smell. Still though, whenever I walk by bus stops and someone is smoking I walk a bit further and then I breathe in. The smell is not always the same, it must be a certain brand or something. I haven't ever asked. Sometimes when I smell in, it is just a yuky cigarette, and then sometimes it is the key to unlocking the floodgates of spainland memories all over again. What can I say, I'll take the risk of a distance whiff every once in a while.

PS just to clarify, I have never smoked a cigarette in my life.

What about you, what smells make you homesick???

puzzled

Just since Uncle Ross, Aunt Angel, Ezra and Grace came through we have been on a puzzle kick. Some days I limit it to 2 puzzles, but this day we put all the puzzles together that we could find. I love doing these with the boys, most of the time even the puzzles for the youngest of fanatics can puzzle me- if only for a second or two.

What kinds of puzzles do you put together? Are you a puzzle fanatic or are puzzles your foe?