Cleaning Off the Memory Card

Maybe I should do that more than once every nine months. Sure, I take stuff off right away if I remember...but other shots just sit and collect figurative dust. And since I'm usually "in a hurry" for this-or-that reason, I don't want to wade through all of the old stuff, I just want whatever pic was most recently shuttered. Apparently, it takes an accidental wipe of the card (clicked the wrong button) for me to accomplish any more than necessary.

The picture above was taken this March in Iowa City. What toddler doesn't love bubbles...or "do it myself" -ing?

At right, an art piece from the Amsterdam airport. There were 4 (one for each season) about 5 feet in diameter, possibly somewhat larger.

Right, behold wojapi (a traditional Native dish). I love this stuff. Probably because modern preparation tends to use cans of preserves or berries for pie filling, which is sugar-laden. I'd be very interested to try some made with wild berries found in the Plains region, but I for one sure don't gather many berries. Mulberries as a kid, of course, but since then, eh, not so much. This particular incarnation was served at the 4th Annual Buffalo Dinner in November.

And finally, melting ice's leaf cutouts exposing green grass hiding below. This was taken at the same park in Iowa City, two weeks prior to Mira's bubble-blowing.

Ten Years

At the right, you can sort of see our new car, in a picture taken by Torrin on Tuesday morning. It's a Kia. Not my first choice, but after all of the major car issues going around lately a new car with a warranty sounded nice. So, it's not as nice as a Honda or Toyota, which is what I'd prefer, but hey, I'd never had a car built in this century before. And Kias come with a 10 year (or rather, more accurately, a 100,000 mile) warranty.

Why is that so scary?

In 10 years, Torrin will be old enough to drive. He'll be 17. That is positively surreal.

Luckily, I came to this conclusion Wednesday evening, as we drove home from the YMCA (and we did see TCO and Viktor Krum by the way). Torrin? At that moment had a banana peel on his head, so I can breathe soundly for a bit longer--at least as far as his aging is concerned.

It's fun to stay at the...

Okay, so we don't use the YMCA in that sense...but in any case, we went last night and re-started our membership. It was nice to go again. You'd be surprised how 10 - 13 miles of daily bikeriding did NO favors for my body. But I must say, I was impressed with how non-pregnant I looked in my now skin-tight workout clothes. I would've felt reasonably comfortable running into TCO there (which of course is always a distinct possibility). And as far as I know, he doesn't know. He did volunteer with the youth program a bit last week, and another guy who interns with the youth program knows. But I doubt that's something he'd just up and talk about. It's just a matter of time, though. TCO's brother Viktor Krum is technically my supervisor, and I'm due to sign a contract at the end of the month to continue working there. Except that whole baby being born at the end of November or early December detail...which is something he should probably know about.

Bliss

This?
It is. My friend's baby, 7 months old, snoozing in Mira's stroller at Hazel Abel park while Mira splashed her feet in the fountain.

Bliss?
Is a "belly full of embryos," such as that of a fellow October 2005 mommy, hopeful mommy of more.

Bliss?
Runza french fries, not too much salt, with ketchup, and a leisurely walk home afterwards.

Introducing...Poppy!

This is old news to most of you...but, meet Poppy! Pictures from July 10. I was 18w5d.

Work peeps for the most part don't know yet. But they will soon enough. I figure, heck, I'll be 20 weeks on Friday. My clothing options are severely limited. They're gonna find out, one way or the other, sooner than I would prefer. Before November is too soon, as far as I'm concerned.