31 Flavors

Doing some research on the "suet" I had just bought for my birdfeeder, I found a web-site that explains what to feed birds. It stated that suet is the fat around a cow's kidneys, used in feeding certain wild birds because of the protein and energy it provides. The fat is processed in a "cake" with a variety of traditional bird fixin's blended throughout. Mmmmm. . .

The web-site had this helpful suggestion for which type of suet to purchase: "Start with a suet that is most appealing to you. Ingredients vary from peanuts to papaya, hot pepper to almond, berry to cherry, and raisin to insect." While reading I wondered, would the almond and insect fatty suet be the most appealing to me. . ?

The Girls Are Back in Town

Hiking in the Heat

Amy and I went on a sweltering hike in the heat of a Saturday afternoon. With the sun blazing down on us and the powdery trail kicking up dust in our dry throats (some one forgot their water) the cool river tempted us below. We skipped taking an extra route to make it down to the river in order to get home and gulp ice water like fiends.

We did come across a beautiful little water fall, however as thirsty as we were, we were not excited about getting giardia, so we merely wetted our faces and pulse points instead of indulging in a much needed drink.

Hannah's Feat

Newport Beach, CA - self portrait Hannah's feet

You Do Make A Difference

I recently read a great article in "National Geographic" about Swarm Intelligence. The basic model based on studying species that swarm (birds, bees, ants, fish, etc.) states that the simple actions of an individual adds up to the complex behavior of a group. How? By countless interactions between each (responsible) individual in the swarm. Based on local information, swarm species pay close attention to the bird, insect next to them and the response creates a collective whole.

I sometimes ponder, does my little dent in this ginormous world really make a difference -- is my treading lightly (and teaching my children to do the same) really going to benefit any of the larger issues we need to change in society? Well, using my friends Molly and George as an example, and based on Swarm Intelligence, the solar panels on the roof of their house and their biodeisel cars in their driveway are, unwittingly, communicating to others around them, who are in turn communicating to those nearby. Self, family, community, world.

Whether humans are pack animals, swarm species, herds (probably a mixture of all types), management at large corporations study swarm intelligence applying it to organization and decision making. Luckily, us non-corporate types don't have to study it, we can just live it.

The Boys Are Back In Town

Brent and his friends while away the hours: three on the same website on lap tops and one playing a Wii game. Got to keep your eye on those wiley boys.

Sick Day

My Sis

My talented sister, Stephanie, showed up on Friday night, not only with purple carnations, but three different shades of purple carnations. She promptly emptied all my kitchen utensils out of a Le Creuset utensil holder that my friend Molly had given me and created an instant center piece. Fabulous!

Shi Haung-Di

This picture of Cole was taken during last few weeks of school while performing in his "Wax Museum" project. Cole makes a very cute Emporer of China during a government run by Legalism.

Summertime

Today was 103 degrees, hot, hot, hot. When the sprinklers came on this evening to give the plants a much needed drink of water, an amazing amount of tiny birds came in flocks to have a drink themselves. My attention was first caught, while I was inside the house passing a window, by what looked like confetti being thrown in the backyard. But what I actually saw was the confetti of small birds fluttering around the besprinkled yard. I grabbed my camera and tried to capture them on film, but the birds would take off the second I flinched. I decided I did not want to interrupt the thirsty birds any longer and instead just hang out motionlessly and enjoy their noisy, happy chatter as they drenched themselves.


Try as a might, I could only capture a slight glimpse of them through the camera; if you feel like looking very closely, you can see a few tail feathers coming from the branches of the lemon tree.

The birds were very sensitive to my movement, and having the cat nearbye eyeing them probably did not help.

The daylillie's colors are a perfect representation of the heat the day.

Unfortunately, I languished so long in the evening heat that I did not make dinner for the family (we ordered Vietnamese take-out, mmmm Bobo's), or finish the two reports I had due for work. But I did feed the birds.

Amen

Running in the canyon. Making cinamony French Toast. Playing a couple games of Boggle. Listening to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" on the radio. Having the perfect Sunday morning.