Leaves at night

The secret life of husbands

I took the boys out and came back to this.

Yeah, in his spare time, he scrubs the kitchen floor by hand with soft scrub... What a man.

Cicadas - batch X

Periodical cicadas come out every 13 or 17 years. And the scientific community that is interested in this sort of thing has labelled the batches. This year they were expecting Batch VI in Virginia but they were surprised to see Batch X emerging as well, four years early. We only saw about 6 all up, so I presume the rest will come out on time.
The conjecture is that it is about a warmer earth temperature, making the nymphs grow faster to their adult size. Whether any manage to mate and lay more eggs (or if they all got eaten) is apparently going to be answered in about 17 years.

Another tree gone

We have a rather lovely run of huge trees of some sort out the front of our neighbourhood. Problem is, they're old, and no-one thought to plant some more. At the moment, they're gradually being cut down, but the thinking is to replace them with these sort of ugly evergreen trees.
The little windy path is becoming a sweet little mysterious breath of calm and more just a path through a clear patch.

August 2016

May 2017 - Less one tree

The box

It is always amazing to me what simple things will amuse the baby. This time, it was the box we keep her toys in.

Butterflies

Mothers Day morning tea at preschool - they served us morning tea, recited a poem and some information about the presidents that they'd learnt, and set these butterflies free in the preschool butterfly garden. They're not monarchs. I'm not sure what they are.
Watching butterflies hatch and grow in the class room is a very common activity in American class rooms. The kids were so excited.

New Door Mat!

The pineapple - symbol of hospitality, is very very fashionable this season. I am surprised at what a difference it has made to replace the old mat (which was black and sort of useless).