Dumplings, Darlings, And Dangerous Plants

I took that picture yesterday evening during the golden hour. Glen and I tried to get the boys interested in the idea of going out to the front porch and sitting and chatting for a little bit about All The Important Things, especially this house and how old it is and how much life has been lived here and how they, too, are now part of that whole story. I made them "fancy drinks" of orange juice and ginger ale which tempted them to sit with us but after a few moments of hearing things like, "This house was here when Abraham Lincoln was the president!" they sucked their drinks down and wanted to go back inside to play Wii golf. 
Sigh. 
They need to get a little older to truly appreciate the golden hour porch sit. 

Here's what my dumplings looked like.

That was before they'd been turned over to expose that side of them to the simmering broth. Those might have been the best dumplings I ever made. All the fellas here agreed that they were very fine indeed.

After supper, Mr. Moon supervised bath time and I got started in the kitchen doing clean-up and before I knew it, two squeaky clean little boys were running wildly through the house as squeaky clean little children love to do. It's that last gasp of being tired and wired. They got into their pajamas and demanded (nicely) their root beer floats. I even had one! I can pass up a purple cow but a brown cow is a cow of a different color. 
Obviously.

Then off to bed! The reading material chosen was "Tarzana" (again) and "Professor Wormbog in Search for the Zipperump-a-Zoo."
There really must be something wrong with me because despite the fact that I have read that book at least two hundred times out loud to children, it still makes me happy. And it still makes me laugh. 

The pictures are charming. The plot is silly and wonderful. The characters are...mostly beasties. 

If there are young children in your life, I highly recommend it. 

And then I tucked those boys into bed, kissed them, and turned out the light and they were asleep. They were tired, tired boys. 

Mr. Moon got up with them this morning at 7:30 which is the time we told them that they had to stay in bed until, and they did. I got up an hour later and after I woke up with some coffee I began the pancake-making ritual. Today's pancakes were apple/blueberry/oat bran. The boys gave them a zillion thumbs up or something like that. 

They played in the Glen Den with Lincoln Logs for awhile after breakfast. 

That is August's self-proclaimed masterpiece. It even has room for Levon's stuffie. 

And then Mr. Moon mostly took over. He drove them to Walmart to get paint for model cars that they are thinking of making a project. Mr. Moon has had these cars in their original boxes since the sixties, most likely. They also went by Lily's to pick up August's meds which had been forgotten in the transfer yesterday. AND Boppy took them to eat pizza. So I lazed around and made beds and did laundry and tidied up. When the guys got back to the house, Levon told me that he wanted to go home and I assured him that Mama and Daddy would be here soon. Levon's such a tough little man but he does love his sweet parents. 

And then the anniversary love birds made it back and there were hugs and kisses and the rounding up of possessions to take home. 

All in all, it was a terrific visit and I am quite proud of those boys. They always take their plates to the kitchen when they're through eating and last night they thanked me repeatedly for a "healthy meal" and they're easy to have around. 

Here are a few pictures I've taken today and yesterday. 

An aloe in full bloom. 

A green anole hanging out on an aloe leaf. Do you see the spines on that aloe? Those things will rip your skin like piranha teeth. And do you see that other plant growing there? That's a dewberry and they have terrible-bad prickles. This is why I have not cleaned out the aloe bed. 

And here's a funny thing- I haven't used any aloe gel for any medicinal purposes in eons. 
I bet you there are at least a hundred aloe plants in that tiny area.

Another rose from the vines I did not prune. This is the most ethereal flower. 

And a few hours later after it had opened. 

Quite a weekend! 

And all is well. 

Love...Ms. Moon