Tuesday's Child is Full of Grace

Sam and Ashley called me a few hours before dawn on Tuesday. Labor? Maybe, maybe not? I'd stayed up late, then they called, then a cat barfed on the bed, Hubby came home from work, and another phone call. With about an hour and a half of sleep, a full mug of coffee, and much excitement, I drove the two hours to Redding to help welcome a new grandchild into the world.



They wanted me to meet them at the Sundial Bridge, set in a beautiful botanical gardens on the river, but when I arrived it started to rain in earnest, so we had to settle for a more mundane walking location, the local mall. Behind Ashley and Sam are Ashley's mom and sister, also at the birth.



Eventually we stopped by their doctor's office in late afternoon so Ashley's progress could be checked. Ashley was 4 cm and he said we could go right on up to the hospital. Instead we went back home where Ashley spent some time in the bathtub and then climbed into this very attractive (NOT) tee shirt. I thought the saying "Get Finished" was quite appropriate though, I'm sure she thought that with each contraction.




The birthing ball they bought came in quite handy. As extra seating.

We all ate and hung out with the dog and waited for the contractions to get more intense. Eventually the hospital called. "Uhm, hellooooo, where ARE you guys!?" So we went.




And Ashley changed into another stunning fashion statement.




Things moved along very quickly. We were only at the hospital for a few hours before it was time for Ashley to push. Sam and Ashley were a poster couple for labor. Sam was the best coach I've ever seen!

They used no drugs, no epidural. The nurse said 90% of their parents use them. It continues to shock me at how upside down the childbirth statistics have become. Modern medicine is amazing and lifesaving and I'm all for it. But not just for convenience and liability and so mommy can watch her favorite television show when she is going through transition. Why would you want to minimize and miss the most amazing experience one is likely to experience in this life? Sorry, I just don't get it. (I'll be good, I won't bore you here by also launching into a lecture about all the physical and psychological benefits of the unmedicated birth.)

So, moving on...



At 5:32 pm, into the light popped a very fuzzy topped baby girl!




Her first bath that night.




She was digging it.




Grammy and photographer needed a turn holding the new baby.




She looks a bit beat up in this photo, but it's just the eye drops they put in her eyes.




It was a long, but beautiful day.

What? I didn't tell you her name? That's because they didn't name her on the first day. We had to wait until the next day to find out, so I'll make you wait until the next post. (I know, some of you already know, oh well)

Tea Cup, Chihuahuas

No, not tea cup chihuahuas. Tea cups AND chihuahuas. Although, they are pretty tiny, under five pounds. The chihuahuas that is.

Decided to toss up a quick post as I've run out of online time.



I found this sweet tea cup and saucer at an antique shop in town. I'm usually not one for things too "cute" (except grandchildren, of course), but I thought this was delightful. It's part of a set, one for each season, this one is "Summer". Seems more springlike to me, but that's okay. It will work any time I want a bit of whimsy.




Magpie is growing, almost the same weight as Rosie now. Pronounced healthy and adorable by our vet, who she's visited twice recently for her baby shots. You can see she wasn't too happy about wearing a collar at first, chewed on it. Now she has a pretty new one in pink and brown polka dots and she leaves it be.




The vet says her ears probably won't go up until she's done teething. I don't think she's even lost any of her baby teeth yet. Trust me. Her idea of fun is to attack hands and she's got some needle sharp ivories in there still! Here's one ear trying though.




Rosie's happy in the sun look.




They were watching some people who had the audacity to walk down their street.

Wanna see my new.... uhm.... hat? Pop over to Laume's Studio.

Those Rascally Teenagers

William and some buddies came rushing in and out the other day and I stopped them to ask "What's with the sign?"

"It's for the basketball game" says William.



"Boo West Valley"

"What about the other side?" I ask.

William: "That's for when Mr. Ready walks by." (Mr. Ready is the principal)




Is it wrong that I find this hysterically funny?

More teenage shenanigans. I came home from my book club last night, walked up the steps into the front yard and discovered this -




Many, many balloons. Balloons all the way up to the door. Balloons to the left.



Balloons to the right.

And when I walked through them, two or three of them bumped up against a prickly bit of dried stick or stalk and.....

***POP!!!***

Each balloon was filled with lot of these papers.

My son's girlfriend, clever way to ask him to the Reverse Dance. Well done Vicki!

Interestingly, the balloons were just one of a number of colorful "splashes of trash" I wandered into on Wednesday. On my walks I also found a a spill of colored beads and an entire block covered with scattered feathers from a flock of rainbow colored chickens. I figure it's all left over silliness from Tuesday's Mardi Gras celebration. Right? Makes sense to me!

And the Winner is.....

Time to announce the One World One Heart winner of the wee faerie pen.



The question arose, how to pick the Golden Ticket?

The idea of a random number generator sounded boring and completely unfaerielike. Bleh.

In years past I've had family members pick numbers, I've had cats pick numbers. But what to do this year?

I thought of asking the faeries themselves to pick a number...

SiX!

BlaZZiliON aND seVin!

TOo HoNdrED!

FoRtY aTE! LeTz gIVE EverYBodY a PrEzzIE!

Okay, so NOT a good plan.




Counting Crows? Don't know the band well enough to ask them. And the real crows wouldn't stay in the tree long enough for me to count them all.




I could let the preschoolers count for me. Problem is that they tend to get to 20, give or take a few numbers, and then start over. Didn't seem fair to all those who posted comments that came after 20.




Then I had this brilliant plan to go to Laduree and count the number of macarons in the front windows and use THAT number! GREAT idea! Faeries love macarons! I love macarons! Perfect!

They were all for hopping on the first plane to Paris. Until a gloomy goblin under the bed pointed out that we didn't have enough money for that many plane tickets. Because, of course, everyone wanted to go, including the pixies in the attic and Francois the gargoyle who wanted a chance to visit some relatives on the Île de la Cité.

Even after we checked underneath all the cushions of every piece of furniture in the house and rummaged through all the junk drawers and we emptied out all our purses and pockets (and faeries love pockets and pouches and wee hiding places - they were very thorough), we STILL didn't have enough, what with the higher travel costs these days. Even if Francois stayed behind which would have seriously reduced our over weight baggage fees. Bummer.

Well, it was a good idea. Maybe next year.

Instead, I went with the cats' idea. They invented this complex system that involved Googling "Paris" and "Faeries" and then clicking on the 9th link (because they know 9 is my bestest number) and then counting and combining and... well, what you really want to know is...

WHO WON!?

So, with no further ado...

AdO! ADdoO!!!!
I dOO!

AwdEW!
ADO!!!

*ACHOO*


ADiEu! gEt iT?
BeECuz WeE wAz gOinG 2 frAnCE!?

aDO!!!

Yeah, yeah, very funny faeries. Can we move on?

aDo

Are you done?

YeS. eR, wEE mEen "OUi".

The winner is..................

Barbara of Marr Haven Wool Farm Blog.

Yay! wE liEk SheEpE!

I like sheep too.

OWOH Update

Just a quick note to OWOH folk. Rough week. This week I've dealt with electrical outages, finding a plumber, an unexpected pet crisis and sad kitty story, and finally a weekend full of travel and family. That last bit has been lovely. But I won't even be back home 'til some time tomorrow, so I definitely won't be posting about the givewaway until Monday. That means it's fine for last minute visitors to comment, you have until 8 a.m. PST on Monday, February 15 to enter for a chance to win.

Good Faerie Ball

It's time to share some photos from the Midwinter Balls. I don't know why I haven't blogged about it yet. I've felt some clear resistance and I've been trying to figure it out. I couldn't wait to share photos from the summer festival.

I think there's a number of reasons. It was a tough place to take photos - low lighting, not a lot of room to set up shots, people always in motion, and I didn't have my camera for most of the first evening. Too, it was a wonderful time laughing and dancing with friends. No matter how great the photos (or not great), they don't capture the magick, the music, the love, the joyful FUN of the evening.

Last but not least, several years into this popping back and forth between realms, I now expect the inevitable PFS. Post Festival Syndrome. Or, if you prefer, Post Faerie Syndrome. The stories and tales are true indeed, it's hard to come back to the mundane world. I'm still processing the gifts and trades of this last journey. It may take a while. So, I'm gonna just stop dragging my feet and toss a few pics up here from the Good Faerie Ball.

From the back of the dance area in the main theatre. On stage - Delhi 2 Dublin

First on stage, to warm things up, was the haunting cello of Adam Hurst. The first band was the always magical Woodland. Finishing off the fun was the must-dance-to music of Delhi 2 Dublin.

I swore I wouldn't forget to get photos of myself and then, of course, I forgot to get any photos of myself. Any decent photos anyway. You can't see my full velvet skirt, you can't really see my blooming branch wings. It was lovely, you'll have to take my word on it.

I did get a few staged photos of Hubby in his Steampunk Victorian Time Traveler get up. He had a little gold charm that said "Time Traveler" just in case he needed to identify himself. LOL. Everyone loved his outfit. He loved his hat. He loved his goggles. Let's face it, Steampunk is the new Cool. Most of the men and quite a few women were totally steampunkin' it.

Here's a full length shot.

Hubby with a couple of buddies, Cat and Sam. I love how raven got distracted by the shinies and isn't looking at the camera. LOL

There was lots of dancing. Music, light, movement, rhythm, sparklies, shinies, voices, drumbeat, swaying, twirling, flickering wings.

My friend Lynne had this very tall dance partner. A faerie and a daisy - only at a faerie ball!

****

There's a story behind the next photo. I'll set it up.

I spied this woman in the lobby, also dressed as a Green Woman. Of course we had to have our photo taken together. We both handed cameras to our husbands and posed. We exchanged names, talked costumes for a few minutes, and then went our separate ways. (For unknown reasons, I didn't end up with a photo in my camera of the moment.)

In any case, later in the night I was off dancing and hubby went off to the bar. I popped in and out a couple of times but he seemed to be having a good time chatting around a table with the Green Woman and her husband, and a few other people. We even posed for a few group photos.

Later in the evening still Hubby asked me "How do we know those people again?"

" What people?"

"The couple I was sitting with in the bar."

"You mean the Green Woman, Mackenzie, and her husband?"

"Yeah. How do we know them?"

"We don't."

But I guess we do now. It was their first Faerieworlds event but I bet we'll run into them again at the summer festival.

This is the incredible costume designer Susan Tooker. Her outfits on both nights were beyond stunning.

Here's a close up of her wonderful staff and headdress. As much as I was in awe of her design skills, and as much as she got her photo taken a gazillion times, I couldn't help but think it was sort of like being fae royalty, held down by her mantle from being able to get out there and dance. I guess I'm more of a wild fae, I need freedom to move. (More about that, soon, on my studio blog - I've learned, or in some cases relearned, more about costume and fashion design with these last outfits and have "stuff to say about it".)

Here's where I wanted to put up photos of all our friends in all their great outfits but.... gotta stop somewhere. I still have the Faery Market and Bad Faery Ball pics to share. Perhaps not soon, I have a very important baby shower to attend this weekend!

And that segues nicely into the last photo I want to share. I think it's the best photo of the weekend. And if anyone knows this woman and how to contact her, I'd love to have her be able to get a copy of this precious moment.

A faery mama and her wee faery babe.

One World One Heart 2010

DeAr viSiTinG bLoG HuMAns aNd OtHer PeoPLES,

ThiS iZ uS, thE fAErieS. We haD 2 wRite tHiS pOst foR oUR fRienD LaUMe beCuz sHe is tOOOO bUsy. AnD sHe drAnk tWo MoOch FAeRy wINE and sHe sTiLL Haz a heAdake. She saId she ONLee had WoN gOBlet fuLL but sHE is teLLing you a liE. But wE arE nOt telliNG you a LiE beeCuZ faeRIes KaNT LiE. Wee Kan maKE thE trOoth saY diFRent ThIngS tHo. *twitter* *giggle*

SeW wE nEEd tO riTe thIs sO Weze CAn gO bAcK to weRK kNockINg thiNGs oFf LaUmEs sHeLves. SHe thiNks thE caTz dO it bUt wEE nO yOO wonT teLL heR iTz uS (tHE fAeRiES).

HeRRe is tHE prEZent yU cAn wiN iF yoo leAF a coMmeNt aT tHe botTom oF THiS posT. (oN thE BoTTum! oN itZ BuTt! *hehehehehehe*








iTz a fAeRy peN sEw yOO kaN rIte PreTTy weRDs liKE wEE DeW!

Oh!!!!!!!! aNd donTT foRgET 2 gO tOO vISit thE otHer hUmaNs wHooo ARe perTisi... pArtissip... PeArtispiKat... PLaYING ToO! Go hERe!

PEa. EsS. - DoNt 4Get teW cOmE bACk eNd viSIt LauME weN sHE iZ feeLiNg bEttEr!!!

Hubby's Gift

I saw it, I loved it, Hubby gifted me. Both as a reminder of our lovely weekend and because it's SO ME!!!