Carrie – Page 68 – The Creative Salad

Poppy Seed Pods

Poppies grow rampant here in Northern California. We see the orange, California-native poppies bloom throughout the spring and summer, along roadsides and in fields. Reseeding themselves, they come up year after year.

Recently we’ve also spotted the larger, more spectacular, non-native Papaver poppy:

Our neighbor Sarah saved us some seed pods from her purple-colored Papaver poppies:

When you shake them, you hear the poppy seeds jingle around inside.

Be careful though! They easily spill out of these holes in the side of the pod. A simple, elegant way to distribute seeds, relying on wind or animals to shake the pods.

We’re excited to sew them in our garden! Thank you, Sarah!

The Only Downside to Being Avid Readers…

All those books really pile up.

Some recent reads…

David has been rereading the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin (that HBO recently adapted as the Game of Thrones) in anticipation of this week’s release of A Dance With Dragons.

I recently reread the Dragonriders of Pern series in chronological order, continue to plow through nonfiction books like Nurtureshock (in the same vein of amazing as Punished By Rewards), and remain a magazine junkie (favs include Country Living, Sunset and Living Crafts).

Our daughter has been reading her way through the Biscuit series on her own, and devouring any Henry and Mudge books that we read to her.

I doubt you find it surprising that we max out our library cards each week.

What can I say? We love to read.

Saying Farewell, a Sad Nest Update

I’ve been putting off writing this post because I wasn’t sure how to share this gently. In the end I’ve decided to just put it all out there and share the story, as well as my feelings and thoughts on the experience. Here goes…

Remember this nest? Those perfect house finch eggs?

The eggs hatched and baby birds filled the nest. After a few days, however, we noticed that the mama bird had disappeared. Neither David nor I had seen her. By the time we checked on the babies, we were too late. They had, in fact, died. What to do? We decided to bury them in the field in front of our house.

I felt sad about their passing. As a mama myself, I couldn’t help but relate to the situation: a mama bird, because of forces presumably outside her reach, left her babies abandoned, unable to survive without her. This is nature. This is life. As a biologist, I know this. To witness it firsthand on our porch turned out to be challenging.

Our three year old accepted their passing with such grace and acceptance. “They died, Mama. It’s okay. There will be new baby birds.” And she’s right. We talk about life cycles every day. Everything that’s born will die.

As soon as we placed the birds in the field, I started to feel better. After all, haven’t burial rituals evolved to give us comfort? I knew the birds were gone, that there was nothing more we could do. Accept and move on… after all, there will be new baby birds. There will always be new baby birds.

Shots, Posts and Tweets July Edition

I’m trying something new here on the blog: a summary of our Creative Salad posts from other corners of the web, archived here on our website. So, without further ado…

Here’s a summary of this past week’s Facebook posts and tweets, plus some fun never-before-seen snapshots to cherish and remember:

(facebook) Connect-the-dot activities at our wedding anniversary brunch

(tweet) Iced tea served in bell jars tastes extra refreshing on a hot summer day.

(facebook) Playing library, checking books in and out with the laptop and a hair brush (evidently the perfect bar code scanner)

(facebook) When David saw my new shoes, he said, “Hey, I want a pair!” (Thank you, Alissa, for the great present! I love it when you clean out your closet.)

(facebook) The ONLY downside to swimming in a saline pool: tarnished wedding band (a present handcrafted by David)

(facebook) Creative pizza toppings: today’s menu includes scrabble letters

(tweet) Wondering how long my child’s face and hands will be purple thanks to some super juicy cherries that don’t seem to be washing off… Ah, summertime fruit.

(tweet) I keep finding fantastic blogs to follow via pins on @Pinterest!

(facebook) Beading activities

(tweet) YES! Me too! RT @cafemama: stealing time from my kids when i run. I always feel it… good, but guilty.

(snapshot) Mama daughter art projects over brunch

(snapshot) Birthday cake time with the little ones

(snapshot) Princess dress-up party fun (wearing her handmade birthday crown)

(snapshot) Gearing up for blackberry season; they’ll be ripe soon!

Fitness Update

Oh-so-long-ago I wrote about my goal to lose weight. Move more, eat less. It’s working; I’ve lost weight. Not nearly as much I had hoped for in this time period, but I’ve lost some. More importantly, I’ve gone down several clothes sizes.

I’m running.
I’m walking.
I’m (occasionally) counting my calories. (Not necessarily to restrict, but to be aware! I find I’m eating less when I realize there’s how many calories in that pasta dish?!)
I’m eating healthier.