Tennessee Family Reunion

We spent a long weekend in Tennessee relaxing and having a fabulous time hanging out with a side of the family we need to see a lot more often. Many thanks to Chris and Barbara for opening their home to us-- what a resort nieghborhood you live in! It was very touching to listen to Uncle Ronnie talk about family. His role of family patriarch suits him nicely. He reminded me a lot of Papa. Besides all of the lineage information he shared, I would like to add that if the innate stubborness of any Johnson is a clue, I'd definitely say that we descended from the William Wallace clan. :)

Georgia had a great time hanging out with all of her new-found cousins. She vividly remembers swinging with Trent and sliding with Kendal. Just today she asked me where "the boys" went to (referring to Hunter and Oliver). I had to break it to her that they were still back in Tennessee. She and Sophia had fun chasing each other around and brushing each others (and their own) hair (see photo above). But my favorite memory of Georgia and Sophia is from Big Ed's when they were licking parmesan and eating chocolate cupcakes-- what a mess indeed!

Happy Accident

Have you ever seen those tutus on etsy.com? Well, I am hooked to this website and have purchased several as gifts for friends. I decided that the tutus don't look that complicated and tried my hand at making one for Gigi. Georgia loved it and was bouncing on the couch because she was so happy. I was trying to take her photo and fell over while snapping due to her bouncing. The result was this fabulous photo. I love it so much! It is artistic and fluffy just like a tutu!!!! What a happy accident.

St. Rodolfo of Assisi

Monday morning Wally caught a bird and was torturing the poor creature. Rodolfo intervened and rescued him from certain death. He has been nursing the bird (maybe a dove) back to health ever since by feeding him some of my health-food grains (amaranth) and water. That same morning while driving to work Rodolfo also noticed a turtle crossing a busy street. I didn't get to see the turtle because he released it on the grounds of Chesapeake near their little river, but he said it was a nice turtle. I told Rodolfo his super-hero name should be St. Rodolfo of Assisi, inspired by Saint Francis himself, the patron saint of animals. :) Gigi has had a blast helping Rodolfo care for the bird. I think we need to name him. How about Flit?

Besos!

On this beautiful evening Gigi blew me a kiss (and I caught it here on film)!

Bubbles

What is summer without the bubbles? Not the same! We pulled out the bubbles that Gigi hadn't really played with since last summer. She had a good ol' time realizing that she is much more capabable in the bubble-blowing department than she was last year. Amazing what an entire year of growing and development can do for a toddler!!!!

Note, I am trying to figure out how to process images so that there is consistency. Each of these images have a different tone because I don't have a fluid process yet. The images were taken within a few minutes of each other but my processing lead me in several divergent directions.

Visiting the Sisters!

"A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost." -Marion C. Garretty. I found this quote in a recent library book. I love it because it is sooo true! We traveled down to Dallas a couple of weeks ago to visit Mindy and Rebecca and their fams. Gigi and Elle pretty much had these kind of blank stares the entire time. We tried taking them to the American Girl Doll store. What a fabulous place for young girls! Unfortunately ours were a little too young for the fun in store at this place. Mainly the bathroom interested Georgia as the floors leading too it were filled with sparkles. She didn't really seem to understand the fun of lunching with your favorite American Girl doll. We'll have to revisit this store in a few years. Elle-belle was under the weather with a cold but kept the smiles rolling none the less. Gigi and I did have a memorable swim at Auntie Rebecca's pool. We are slowly re-introducing Gigi to the water. I made the mistake at the beginning of the summer of not catching her properly when she jumped into the water and let her go under head and all... oops! Apparently learning by fire isn't the way to teach young ones to swim. So, we hung out mainly by the fountains at Bec's place and still had fun. Can't wait to see you two sisters again!

At the Park

Rodolfo, Gigi and I went to the park around noon. I didn't realize that we have a splash park just down the street from us until a couple of months ago. It really is a great park, Gigi had a blast! Unfortunately, this park is also a fine example of the racial divide in Oklahoma City. The park is smack dab in the middle of an area that has a great mix of ethnicities-- Asian, Hispanic, African American AND Caucasian. But, for the most part, the only people that frequent this park are African Americans. A long time ago when I worked for Senator Nickles, a co-worker of mine, who happens to be African American, explained to me that in Oklahoma she feels very segregated from the white population. She said that when she travels to DC or to other parts of the country she doesn't feel the tension and the attitude of prejudice that she feels here. I never really paid attention to these things until she mentioned this to me. And I have to say, when Rodolfo and I moved to Houston I COULD see a huge difference. The African American population was much more a part of the mainstream activities of the community. Although tensions still exist in Houston (as I learned from teaching high school in Houston ISD) the dividing line is much more blurred than it is in OK. Moving back to Oklahoma from Houston made the picture even clearer-- restaurants, the mall, the parks, movie theaters-- there are the places white people go and there are the places black people go. It is unfortunate that in 2009 Oklahoma is still so segregated. I don't know what the solution is, but by crossing the lines today I felt like a rebel and I was a bit scared, even though Rodolfo was with me. The people there, especially the men, looked at me like I was an alien. I don't think I will return to that park, which is unfortunate since it has such a great splash park. But I did not feel safe there. I felt like I was treading on someone else's territory and that I was an unwanted presence. Having prejudice reversed is enlightening, but also disheartening since most prejudice stems from ignorance. When will we all just decide to be friends, embrace our differences and move on to become equal citizens of a beautiful country? Isn't that how it is supposed to work? Isn't that what the school books teach? And while I am on the subject, I wish we didn't have to differentiate between African American, Hispanic American, Asian American, Native American, and Caucasian. Why can't we be like they are in Canada? The citizens of that country are from all over the globe, but they simply call themselves Canadian. When are we just going to start calling ourselves simply "American"? And I ask this question not to ignore the diversity of races here but wondering when will we make peace with the past, embrace each other as brothers and sisters and look forward to moving on to greater good as a united citizenship of people. Oh no, now I am having flashes of the French revolution when people called each other "citoyens" and no trace of social or political hierarchy was allowed. I certainly don't mean that type of equality to the masses Sovient Union-Fidel Castro mentality. I am a firm believer in capitalism. But damn these lines. They sure do make teaching your child about love and equality of all people difficult.

What's old is new again!

Well, since we have been cleaning out closets and spiffying up our house to prepare to show it I have come across lots of old things we don't need. It is amazing how much junk collects. I've been having Habitat come by at least once a month for an entire year and we still have more stuff to give away! Some of it I hang onto for sentimental reasons, like old place mats given to us for our wedding that are well worn out but I like them anyway and can't part with them. But other stuff, like stuffed animals!! that are just little dust bunnies, those I am tossing. Gigi found her birthday hat that we used on her first birthday. She had fun putting it on and had me and my mom sing Happy Birthday to her. She loves that song. I snapped a few pictures while she had it on. The bottom picture is of her in her white dress that she wore last year when we were at Seaside. It still fits! So she will get to wear it again this summer!! Yea!

Garden Fresh

Well, after all the rain the garden just exploded. We have been eating fresh salads every night. It has been fabulous! I would highly recommend gardening to anyone who has the inclination. This all emerged from some seeds I bought from Burpee and a few plants I picked up through my local farmer's co-op. When I planted the garden I kind of wondered if anything would really grow. It is so amazing what comes from seeds. If you are new to gardening, start with radishes. They sprout up the fastest. And a place I haven't yet purchased from but is an incredibly fascinating organization is Seed Savers. You can visit them at www.seedsavers.org and read all about their mission and the great seeds they offer. As a tangent, if you are really interested, you should read about the Svalbard Global Seed Vault to which they are contributing.

JUNEBUG

Junebug is the first dog I ever loved. She and I palled around back in 2000 when I first started gardening. She was such a great garden companion, just following me wherever and keeping me company while I dug holes, pulled weeds and admired blooms. It just occurred to me over Memorial Day weekend while we were hanging out at my parents house that she has now reached the ripe old age of 84 (in dog years). This weekend she didn't have quite the spring in her step that she had in the past, but she still had her goofy way of plopping along happily as Georgia and I explored the yard. I don't know why, but I felt compelled to write about her here just to pay tribute to a dog that has a special place in my heart. I think I might just buy her some extra dog treats this summer. Love you Juney.

First Swim of the Year!

Gigi and Elle

Mindy and Elle visited the other weekend. Elle is rolling everywhere! And Gigi thought it was so fun she joined her! The two of them were just rolling away on the floor happy as a lark. Elle should be sitting up very soon. She is quite strong!