the ascot op'ning race!

it! has! begun!
mustard bitters take an early lead...

with tender lettuce sprouting close behind...

it's still anybody's race!
(except for the basil which seems to be taking a serene, almost buddhist approach to the race.)

"c'mon, broccoli, move yer bloomin' coleslaw!"

other munchable sprouts at michael delving:
they are simply delicious with butter!

patience

"clear, somewhat mournful eyes met mine. at least, that is how they impressed me; but i could see very little colour or outline as we sat in the dark and rainy shadow of the tree. the face seemed very lovely, and solemn from its stillness, with the aspect of one who is quite content but waiting for something."
george macdonald, phantastesearly spring at michael delving feels to me like anodos' beech tree nymph: delicately colored in rainy shadows, contented, and waiting for something not yet at hand.

the days slowly lengthen...

timid leaves gradually follow bold daffodils and crocuses into the cold, coaxing sunshine...

and hobbits remember how much they love growing things in good, tilled earth.
spring's labor begins! reviving the yard from its winter apathy is a new part of the daily routine.

choice weapons.
the quarry. weeding five gallons a day takes a while, but it keeps my vitamin d levels up and my neuroses appeased.

the young apprentice affixes lattice-like grids to our square foot gardens.
it wasn't until these pictures of my four year-old and a power tool were uploaded that i realized - no daddies are visible. one of the many, many things i am slowly learning from the mayor is how to teach hobbitlings without irksome smothering. in this instance, he set the screws, showed boookie how to use the drill, and then patiently supervised from a respectful distance while boookie "did it all by himself!"
just look at this proud little boy!
when the grids had been expertly secured, the planting of twelve kale sprouts launched this year's gardening endeavors. thank you, stacey!
and in the kitchen, small hobbits hover over 102 tiny seeds and offer frequent reminders for grown-up hobbits to mist the soil. in ela's words, "some things are just taking such a very long time!" we are all learning patience.
fortunately, patience is the province of early spring.

coup coup kachu!

i want to type good morning even though it's half past noon. but i'll settle for pouring my thrice nuked cup of coffee (bleh) down the drain and brewing a fresh cup while i contemplate how best to take-over this blog.

with few exceptions, most people i know share the opinion that blogging is a colossal waste of time. posting blogs wastes time. checking them wastes time. despair.com says what we're all probably thinking each time we sit down in the fish-belly glow of our computer screens to update or to blogroll:
"never before have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few."
(by the way, same goes for facebook and twitter.)

we hobbits at michael delving have spent the winter months busily living real life. and we truthfully haven't missed utilizing this blog except on rare occasions.

like when ela stepped outside into the nasty early morning of daylight savings time sunday, took a deep breath, and exclaimed, "it smells like beautiful!"

or when boookie woke up in the middle of the night wailing, "it's asleep! it's asleep!" the mayor rush to help reengage whichever little limb had lost circulation. "what's asleep, son?" boookie pointed weakly to his own chest and answered in a devastated squeak, "ME!"

the potential beauty of blogs (at least the ones i waste my time with) remains in their celebration of small things. and i think that is why and how this blog will be recommissioned. it is for family, and all those who might as well be family, to see pictures of our hobbitlings as they grow. but it is also a chance for me to look at my mundane world with the expectation that i will find things worthy of celebration. "no doubt to others, our ways seem quaint,” said a famous (and overly-quoted) hobbit on the big screen. “but, today of all days, it is brought home to me: it is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life!"

three more days until the simple life of spring begins and, with it, a new leaf of our blog at michael delving.

Fall at Michael Delving

Rather than trying to catch up on posts, the Mayor decided to start with Fall. Here are the hobbitlings enjoying some fresh air out at the Farm in Snohomish.

Ela hobbitling eyes a likely pumpkin.
The hobbit mommy holding her hobbitlings as they pet a kitty at the Farm.
Ela clowning for the camera - this is what happens when hobbitlings are given Laffy Taffy.
This is another picture of what happens when a hobbitling is given sugar.
Hobbitlings looking out the window at Starbucks, waiting for one of their favorite grandmas.
Boookie in his Robin Hood costume for Halloween.
Hobbitlings posing for pictures in their costumes.
Ela with her baby doll.
Boookie playing drums with his new drumsticks.
Ela playing drums with a friend.

2018 update - the Mayor found some gems from summer/fall 2009 and had to add them to this blog post.

Summer Days

Just a few weeks ago, the residents of Michael Delving were bundling up to go on "Nightwalk."And then, summer arrived! The residents of Michael Delving made the first visit to the beach this year.
The Mayor also brought the "A Riddle Aye Day" out of storage to go sailing last weekend.The Mayor had to work through Memorial Day, but was delighted to take a holiday a few days later, when the play group took a trip to the Woodland Park Zoo. The residents of Michael Delving spent most of the day palling around with their friends, the Tanders. Good times were had by all.
The hobbit wife is excessively proud of her latest foray into pickling.
The Boookie has a number of commission jobs (a nickel for each job). One of them is to water the plants with the "water cannon."
Ela was finally given a "com-mission job" of her own. The nozzle gets set to "mist" and she gets to hold it for a few minutes to water the plants.

Ela fell and scraped her knee yesterday. While the Mayor and hobbit wife were cleaning it up, Ela happily said, "It's like Elmo," presumably based on the bright red color of both her owie and the Sesame Street character.There is an ice cream truck that makes frequent rounds through our neighborhood. However, the hobbit wife refers to it as the "music truck" to avoid the obvious question of "Can we have ice cream?" When Boookie and Ela are playing in the yard and the truck drives by, they stop whatever they're doing and dance to "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" When the Mayor was a wee lad, he also had a problem with compulsive dancing, and used to claim "I can't help it - the music makes me dance!"