Our Oldest Son Got Married!

A son is a son
'Til he takes a wife,
But a daughter's a daughter 
All of her life.

Our baby's due date was July 4th, but he was delivered eight weeks premature by emergency cesarean on May 12, 1984.  In the hospital just before the delivery, my doctor told us that he felt pretty certain it would be a big healthy girl.  The rest of the day was a post-surgery daze, and all I can remember is asking, "What is it again?" a boy  "Really? A little boy?  How nice..."  The next day I was rolled into the NICU and stared into the incubator at a tiny naked preemie with gel-clear skin and fuzzy gummy bear ears as the doctors explained how our baby battled to fill his undeveloped lungs. He had no muscle tone and his skin hung from his bony frame. Tubes and wires were everywhere.  He was very sick and they prepared us for the worst.  It was Mother's Day.

An unexpected rush of mothering took me by storm. Actually it was more like a hormone hurricane!  I spent my days in the hospital, with Mark joining me every evening.  We scrubbed and pulled sanitized hospital gowns over our clothes and then we'd be ushered into the NICU with all the beeping machines and screaming alarms.  We took turns slipping our hands into giant gloves that reached into the incubator to caress our darling struggling newborn through thick gloved hands.  We talked soothingly to Baby Robbie, urging him to grow strong and telling him what fun it is to be a kid.

Robbie thrived and grew into a busy boy, a good student, and finally, a charming adult.  All the while, as one does as parents - we were guiding, advising, monitoring, protecting.

Vanessa was the darling little girl from the next neighborhood that danced her way through the hearts of everyone she ever met.  She and Robert lived parallel lives, crossing paths often during childhood.  We are so glad their paths crossed once more as young adults, because she surely found a place in our son's heart. Robert and Vanessa were married this year on October 22nd.

Mark and I are now at the crossroads of a new dimension in our lives, uncharted ground; After years of nurturing and guiding, we have to change direction and monitor ourselves so that we do not intrude on their privacy and adulthood - - the overbearing in-laws. We are pleased to see how focused Robert is on his career and new wife and their life together. We are delighted to have such a lovely daughter-in-law.  Vanessa is sweet and talented and wonderful.  Is gushing overbearing? I don't want to be Hurricane Marty.

I enjoy the extra space Robert's empty room offers.  It is currently used as gift wrap central, but we can't wait to set it up as a computer/guest room.  Our other son David still lives at home, and we see less and less of him, as it should be. I have plans to make David's sunny room into a sewing studio one day. This empty nest thing is pretty nice!

Black and Yellow Garden Spider

Back of Spider

Spider's Belly

This huge spider is attached to the front of our Florida home.  Initially, we thought it was a banana spider, but upon closer investigation, it is a St. Andrew's Cross spider, commonly called a Black and Yellow Garden Spider.  The photos you see are of David with his camera, the belly of he spider and the backside.  Imagine this:  Marty gently pulls back spider web with one hand and holds her camera within inches of the spider's back to take a photo of the spider's back.  Cool shadow, David!

From XL Man Shirt to M Ladies

 
It's another annual Snap-On Tools convention in Orlando.  Last year they closed Universal Studios at 6 and opened it up to all the Snap-On employees, 5000 dealers and their spouses for a private party, where we rode all the rides, saw all the shows, and grazed our way through all the free food from all the restaurants until midnight.  Everyone got a special shirt to wear, and by the time I got to the front of the line, the smallest size available was XL.  I walked through Universal in a night shirt!
Orlando was chosen again, and it's the same drill.  This year it's Sea World that will host our private party.  I got in the line of over 5000 people and ended up again with an XL, exact same fit as last year's shirt.  Groan.  I decided that I'd fix it, and began researching cutting down t-shirts.  I found a lot of trashy ho-girl shirts with holes and slits and rips.  I called a friend and she brought over a good idea and I copied her shirt somewhat (the hemline and neckline) and , because the shoulder seams drooped so low off my shoulders, I decided to just chop those baggy sleeves off.  Zig-zag hems did the trick and I got a pleasant surprise with the ruffled look.  Girly! Not crazy about the placement of Shamu, makes it look like I have a fat stomach.  Do you see the hidden wrench?  Below is pretty much a before and after. Different shirts but both were exact same fit before I got the scissors out.

2010's XL

2011 cut down

Quilts Quilts Quilts

I've made more, but these are the ones I have photos of.  I'll add more pictures as I find them.

For baby. Paper pieced, professionally quilted meander.

Little girl sized, paper & machine pieced, professionally quilted meander.

Twin, machine pieced, professionally quilted daisies.

Queen, machine pieced, professionally quilted stars.

Twin/Full , machine pieced, and machine quilted in the ditch.

A kit for baby. Machine pieced hand quilted around animals.

Baby, machine pieced and machine quilted around hearts.

Queen, machine pieced, professionally quilted meander.

Baby, machine pieced and machine quilted.

Wall hanging, fused applique, machine quilted SW inspired.

Twin/Full machine pieced and quilted.

My First Quilt 2003 - Machine pieced and quilted.

Queen, machine pieced, professionally quilted meander.

How Ya Feelin? Hot Hot Hot! Let's Do Yard Work!!!

Whoowee, it is a hot summer!  Yesterday my indoor/outdoor thermometer registered 106 just outside the window.  Still, things must be done.  Mark is our yard man, but he is not a good sticker bush cutter.  It's my job to keep the evil thorn-covered bougainvillea plant under control.  It grows in long limbs in every direction, but never flowers.

This is what it looked like when I got it in a basket.

Mark's previous cuttings left all the limbs on the ground, its long thorns dried hard and begging to pierce through my flip flops and garden gloves.  As usual, the thorns won, but I got it under control and cleaned up with rake and hedge clipper!  The trash can is full of old and new clippings, the ground is clear of thorny foot-finders, and the corner of our yard looks less like a snake/raccoon/creepy crawly hideout.  Although I stepped carefully, I could feel the points of thorns almost piercing my skin through my shoes and had to use pliers to get the offenders out of my favorite flip flops.

I drilled a hole into the wooden eave of our house, just above the bougainvillea and near the window, to hang a squirrel-proof bird feeder.  It's so funny to watch squirrels leap from fence to the wire covered feeder, as their weight pulls the spring down and closes feeder openings.  My canary's cage is near that window and he loves all the birds that frequent the feeder.  Cardinals, blue jays, house wrens and tufted titmice are all greeted with a hello chirp.

A footnote on the bougainvillea: I learned that in order to have flowers, they need to be in well drained soil.  Ours is in a corner of our yard that gets regular rain run-off from our roof.  I also learned that they like to be root-bound, but ours has the whole yard to spread it's roots.  One day, I'll dig it up and put it in a pot where it belongs and can be happily root bound, drained, and flowering.

Cactus Flower

the potted cactus

My mother gave me a cutting from her cereus cactus.  I think she called it a Moon Flower.  I found out, it's called Hooker's Orchid Cactus, named for botanist W.J. Hooker by his good friend C. Darwin.  I have had this plant for about a year and these are the first blooms.  I noticed that I had already missed one bloom, but saw two Saturday night and was amazed at how fragrant they are.  The flowers are short lived; A bud begin opening after sunset, stays beautiful for one night, then wilts after sun rise.  On Sunday night there was one flower, more beautiful than the two the night before.  There are still two more buds that will either both bloom tonight (Monday) or maybe one Monday and one Tuesday.  Funny how such pretty flowers come from such an unattractive plant.  You can read about them here and here.

Saturday's flower

Sunday's bloom

Sunday's bloom

Photos taken with my iPhone 4

You Never Miss A Beat With A True Friend

I met Pam through my friend Belinda in 1990. Our mutual friend died suddenly in 1995 and with that, I lost touch with Pam.  We had chance meetings, but maybe we avoided each other because we reminded each other of how we missed Belinda.  Maybe it was her busy life with six children or my busy life with two children that at times seemed like six.  It doesn't matter now.  Pam and I will always be friends whether we see each other daily or yearly.  And when we do see each other, it's a wonderful homecoming.

I saw Pam holding a "Vote for McCain" sign on the corner near the voting precinct.  I had started a big vat of Pasta Putanesca that morning and brought bowls of tomatoey goodness to Pam and her fellow McCain supporters.  She and I picked up where we left off, enjoying each others' company and friendship.   Pam's oldest daughter barely 30, died a few weeks later in a car accident.  I was there for her and it felt like God placed me in her path when she needed me.  Life got busy and somehow we eased out of each other's lives again.

A year passed and on Friday morning I picked up the phone and left a message.  "What's up?  How are you?  I miss you..." and I got a return call that very evening.  Pam's daughter was getting married the next day and Pam was overwhelmed.  Kym and Ben decided to get married just 3 weeks ago and the wedding was Saturday.  Could I help?  And so I picked up where I left off, helping clean the church, decorate, etc.  for 80+ guests.

Pam's husband (also named Ben) is a minister and their church had to be decorated for a gothic, but very Christian, ceremony.  The reception was in the same room.  Black, burgandy, and gold were the colors.  I made runs to US Toys and Dollar Tree for plastic table covers, party supplies.  Do you know how difficult it is to make goth look not creepy?  We did it!  I bought cream colored candles, fresh apples, and clippings from our backyard boxwood hedge and made decorations for the food table, laden with dozens of covered dish meals.  

The couple met on an online Christian dating site.  Both like goth clothing and vampirey junk, not my favorite, but to each their own.  So for their champagne (ginger ale) toast, I made a special hard candy glass dip, which they loved.  It was a great day.

I love Pam and it was such a great day to enjoy her company and work with her.

Bye Bye Birdie!

Yesterday I drove from Apopka to Cocoa (an hour and a half) and handed over two adults, four eggs, and two adorable nearly 5-week old weened chicks.  I only wanted one canary and now I own only one canary.

Let's back up a few weeks:
When the chicks were just 14 days old, we took our annual week vacation at Cocoa Beach.  You can't exactly leave chicks with a neighbor at this stage, and so they got a vacation too.  I was delighted to meet Mega Bird Store owner Donna when I drove into town for some birdie supplies.  I was already feeling overwhelmed feeding and cleaning up after three chicks and two doting parent canaries, as I knew this scenario would repeat itself in just a few short weeks; Canaries typically have two clutches a year.  Donna asked me if I'd consider selling.  Well, YES!  First I needed to wait for the babies to mature, so I left with her business card.

Knowing I only wanted to own one canary, I went home and pondered which bird to keep.  Keep the adult male, a proven singer?  I would have loved to, but this was not a possibility, as he is a great daddy bird and feeds mommy bird while she nests, then feeds the chicks almost single-handedly (beakedly?) from about 1 week until they are weened at around 4 weeks old.  Although the chicks were weened, Jo already laid a second clutch and I could not separate him from Jo and the current nest of 4 eggs (due to hatch around June 27th) and so I chose the yellowest of the three babies, Chick #2, chosen not only for his color, but also because he seems the most laid back and I need a little bird that will roll with the punches, handle the changes in locale and care takers, as I travel a lot.  He will either  ride along or will be left behind with family or friends.

Chick #2 - no name yet

They say you cannot tell when a canary is a female until she lays an egg.  And you cannot tell if a canary is male until eggs hatch!  Other than a pricey blood test, there is no scientific way to tell the sex your bird as all the parts are hidden away inside.  Non-scientific signs point to the three canaries I had as all male: longer middle toe than females have, hides in nest with head down and tail up when just feathering (girls sit there and stare at you), tries a few notes of a trill, and has vibrant colored feathers. All signs point to males.  But then again, some females share the same physical traits and mimic males in song.

The deed is done, the birds are all gone but one and now I wait to see if this little yellow bird will sing as pretty as his father sings.  This morning I played some YouTube canary songs (it's good training to give canaries something nice to imitate) and my lone bird listened intently, clung to the side of the cage and cheeped and chirped and strung a few notes. When I played his daddy canary's song, my lone birdie got very animated.   It's a beginning, but nothing that would knock your socks off.  Time will tell.

Chicks 1 and 3 - Parting Photos

Please forgive my fingernails.  I had a manicure after these were taken.  Also please forgive the difference in color intensity.  Light/shadows/camera flash seem to make a big change in feather color.  I took the pictures of the birds as I moved them from the big cage to a temporary little cage so I could clean the big cage before transporting them to the Mega Bird Store for sale.

Both of these two chicks have the same facial markings - white bandit masks.  The older Chick #1 is a bit more yellow, stands erect, and has rounder eyes that appeared black upon hatching.  Chick #3 has less yellow, has sleepy eyes (like his mom) that were pink upon hatching, and Chick #3 likes to puff up and sit low.  This could be remnants of him being the baby.  Both are alert and cheerful.  Both showed positive non-scientific signs of being male, and both are vocal with cheeping and peeping.  One of them actually stood erect at his food bowl, stretched tall and puffed out his neck while trying to string together a few notes several times, but by the time I got to the cage to figure out which bird it was, they swapped places several times.  It was impossible to tell them apart from across the room.

Chick #1

Chick #1

Chick #3

Chick #3

Chick #3

Chick #3
with a dot of food on his tail

New Clutch - Laid June 13-17
Should hatch June 26-30

Chick #1

Meet the Fam

Chick #1, slim and reserved. Stands tall.

Chick #2, laid back and loves the swing.

Chick #3, curious and needy, but he is 3 days younger.
His feathers matured and smoothed the next day.

This video is of the youngest Chick #3 begging a meal from the male parent.  The other two are so insistent, it looks like a fencing match, with the chicks making all the advances!

Daddy bird is bright eyed and friendly.  He is small and his yellow feathers look so intense against white feathers.  He has the sweetest soft feathers that fluff out from his chest in front of his wings. He is first when I put a plate of food on the floor of the cage, probably because he is the main baby feeder. He loves boiled eggs!

Mommy bird is quiet and calm, almost sleepy.  Her feathers look white until she bathes and the yellow under feathers show up.  She LOVES to splash around in the tub and if I don't put one in, she climbs into the water bowl.  She will take the first bath, preen and dry, then goes in again.  She likes green leafy veggies.

The babies started showing interest in food today.  I tried to slip up and take a picture of them eating, and #1 hurried to a corner to hide, pretending if his back is away from me and he cannot see me, then I cannot see him.  Chick #2 continued eating (see photo above), then flew up to his swing for a nap. Chick #3 hopped up to his father's perch and begged for food, fluttering and being all babyish.  Like mommy bird, all three babies seem larger than their slight daddy bird.  As soon as they grow longer tails, it will be difficult to tell them apart, especially Chick #1 and daddy bird.  He has the same little chest fluffers as his father, so sweet.

NOOOOOOOOOOO

Arrival date: June 14.  Anticipated hatch date: June 28.

Update on babies: Chicks #1 and 2 are nibbling on the soft food I provide on the bottom of the cage. Chick #3 is a big fluffy begging baby. He doesn't show any interest in leaving his parents.  If anybody wants a canary, please let me know!  Age now, 3 weeks and 5 (and 2) days old.

Day 24 - Separation Anxiety

This seemed like a good day to move the chicks away from the parents.  The two older chicks were pecking at the food plate, but still demanding food with the baby, who seems so babyish compared to his brothers.  I read that if you put all the chicks into a new cage, only a couple of perches 2" above ground at one end of the cage, and at the other end a variety of finely chopped soft foods on a dish on the floor and water in a cup.  They should figure things out in a "follow the leader" sort of way.

If the chicks peep loudly all day long, it means they're hungry and need to go back to the parents to be fed. Sometimes they give up and feed themselves, but after an hour of peeping, I gave in.  The pitiful cries from chicks and the parents woeful responses was deafening!  Call me a weenie, but I never could let my "real" babies "cry it out" either. Instead of moving the babies back to the big cage, I decided to move the parents into the small cage where the perches were low and food on the floor.  This way they'll watch their parents eat from the exact same place they'll need to go.

We have company in our house this morning.  My son's fiancee Vanessa and her girlfriend that came in town last night spent the night in his room and Robert slept on the living room couch.  This is my reason for silencing the incessant peeping.  I've decided to move the adult birds out of the baby cage a few times daily, extending the length of separation each time.  Like learning to wear contact lenses, eventually this cage won't seem so scary without the old folks, and hopefully the chicks will adapt less traumatically.  

Mother's nest is ready and she likes hanging out in it, empty that it is.  I will let the adult birds overnight in the big cage with the nest, because if Jo needs to lay an egg, it is usually in the early morning.  She won't sit on the eggs until she has finished laying the entire clutch, which I encourage, because I don't want the 3-day age difference like we've experienced with these chicks.  This age difference is like having a human baby 2-3 months younger, and with birds the loudest, boldest and biggest get fed first.  Right now, I see the two adult birds and two older chicks roosting on the upper perch, while Chick #3 is fluffed up beneath them and sound asleep, with poop raining down from above.  He's not a dummy, he's still just such a baby.  How quickly parents forget and only 3 days ago, the other two were just as immature.

Canary Chicks Day 23 - A Nest Visit

Momma Jo has been ignoring everyone as she is very busy building a new nest with the clean material I offered. The babies have been busy begging food from Daddy Jess, who is as busy as a one-armed paper hanger. It appears that he has lost some weight and I wonder if I should be concerned.  Somehow Jessie still manages to whistle his beautiful song a few times daily, which is always followed by an attempted sexual interlude with Jo.  This nano-second of romance somehow will result in fertilized eggs.

Curious about Jo's nest building, the chicks went
back for a  visit to celebrate the good old days.
Daddy is clinging to the cage wall, ready to feed
babies and Momma bird is nearest to the camera.

The canary chicks no longer use the nest at all.  I cleaned the nest out today and provided new nesting material, and now Momma is happily working on lining a new nest.    Tonight there is one chick sleeping on the swing, one sleeping on a perch. and the youngest is sleeping in the seed bowl and twittering to himself.   Daddy is exhausted from running all over the cage feeding three demanding chicks.  There is a buffet of food appropriate for a baby bird, and they watch with great interest as their parents eat, but the chicks don't quite get the idea of feeding themselves.

Canary Chicks are Cool

Have you noticed that I haven't named my bird babies?  If they were Curly, Larry and Mo, well, I would never be able to part with my Three Stooges.  So we have Chick #1 and Chick #2 hopping and flying all over the cage.  They still won't feed themselves yet, so whenever they see a parent, they open their squealing beaks and beg with fluttering wings.  I do keep soft food (cooked quinoa, seed, and fresh fruits and veggies) on little birdie trays on the cage floor for the moment they decide to give it a try.   I've been playing canaries singing on Facebook to encourage daddy bird to sing more often (he sings once or twice a day) and I occasionally hear a few notes from the babies.  Chick #3 is still nesting, but this morning I saw him pop up onto the edge of his nest, where he sat and watched his brothers hop about the cage, with as much of a wistful look as an expressionless birdie face can conjure.  Maybe it was just curious interest.

Canary Chicks Day 19

The two older chicks like to stay perched on the edge of the nest. Because of this, when I put the birds back into their "big" cage after our beach week on Sunday, I purposefully placed the nest close to the cage floor. Occasionally the older one will pop onto the perch I placed next to the nest, but most of the time they stay on the nest's edge.  Since the most aggressive birds get fed first, the two that are older seemed to be hogging the food source (mom and dad) all morning long.  I just noticed baby chick #3 on the nest edge, a little wobbly, but demanding his fair share of food. Chick #1 was just pushed off his perch and s-l-i-d down the bars that he was clinging to for dear life.  He somehow was able to reach the perch with his beak and give himself a leg back up into the safety of his nest.  I wonder, can he make his way back up if he does go to the floor of the cage?  A few minutes later, he FLEW to a slender perch I'd placed mid-cage.  Here's a video of his first adventure from the perch. daddy bird giving encouragement and loud tweets.  I think all three chicks are males. Notice how the other two lay low?  (Chick #1 does this too.) That's the typical boy response,  'Just lay low and nobody will notice we're here'.  If there was a female, she'd sit up and stare at you with an 'Are you looking at me? Well then, I'll just sit here and stare right back at you.'  FYI- Babies are messy. I clean the cage nightly.Oh, and I'd like to thank the inventor of clothespins!

Canary Chicks Day 16 - Take A Walk!

Trying to figure out the sex of my canary chicks, I have exhausted all three ways to "guess" - by activity level, longer middle toe, and to tap on the nest and the boys will duck down while the girls sit up and stare.  The nest tap results in all three birds laying down and staring.  Nobody puts their tails up, but nobody sits up, however all three stare.  Confusing.  Maybe they're too old for this test.  Maybe they aren't old enough.  An inspection of their toe length makes me think they could be males, as the longer toe seems quite a bit longer tan the other two toes, much more like their father and very unlike the mother bird's feet.

Today I put the three chicks on a towel on the floor.  I kept the caged parents nearby so they could keep an eye on their babies, however they are pretty relaxed about my intrusions.  The other times I removed the babies, it was to clean out the nest or clean poo off the babies' feet or feathers and I kept them in my hand. Oh what fun the babies had today!  It was the first time they've been out of the nest, feet on the floor, and had room to stretch and hop.  The babies flapped their sprouting wings.  They hopped around and all three seemed pretty active.  Baby Chick #3, being three days younger than the other two, is clearly smaller and weaker with less plumage.  He would hop and then rest.  His level is equivalent to the other two when they were three days younger, so I am not worried about him.  I put the chicks apart and they would go toward each other to hover together as if they were in the nest.  The biggest/oldest chick is stealing the scene, hopping on a dollar and coins (for size reference) and then joining his brothers for a rest.  You can hear the adult male chattering, babies peeping and finally, the mother bird with her louder peeps at the end of the video.

Day 14 - Feathers!

May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day.

May songbirds serenade you every step along the way.

May a rainbow run beside you in a sky that's always blue.

And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through.

When the parents feed the chicks, it is fast and furious!  There's a lot of movement with long stretched necks, open mouths, nonstop baby tweets and place changing, which includes stepping on each other.  The two older chicks (by 3 days) sometimes stand tall on their little toothpick legs.  Each chick may get two or three touches of food from the parent's beak, then all is quiet.  Don't feel bad for the one in the back, he will get fed on the next go around.  Sometimes the parents show up ready to feed, but the chicks are all too full and just ignore them.  I noticed one of the chicks preening his new feathers today.

Ugly Baby!

Here's Chick #2 on day nine.  It looks like this one will have a lot of yellow in his feathers. Momma bird had just eaten a bunch of romaine lettuce, and you can see it in baby's crop.  He's starting to open his eyes.