More baby news as our lead story! Eamon was born to Cara and Chris on January 30, and welcomed by his big brothers Liam and Dashiell (it's still hard for me to see either as "big", Liam the Elder is just 4 1/2 year old himself). Everyone is doing well, the two big brothers are delighted with the new family member and of course the proud parents and grandparents are too. As with Hyla (who will be the princess of the clan, the only girl), I'll let the photo speak for Eamon rather than string together paeans of grandparental praise.
And the second big story (which would be "below the fold" if one could fold cyberspace) is another in our ongoing series "More than you ever wanted to know about tomatoes". Again, I'll let the photo do most of the work. Yes, the toms are indeed tiny but absolutely real and much to my amazement the Aerogarden continues to live up to it's advertising, with things pretty much chugging along as per the reams of instructions and paperwork that accompanied the unit. I continue to check them many times a day, and was relieved to find out over the last few days that I was not hallucinating the even tinier tomatoes I spotted (sans magnifying glass, I'm so proud I can still see something with my original eyes) two days ago when they were approximately the size of a pinhead. I guess all those years of calligraphy and attention to detail are coming in handy in a whole other realm.
Aside from the riveting news above, I am happy to report we have not had the winter pummeling my family is experiencing along with everyone else in the Chicago area. In fact, on Wednesday last I was sure I heard wrong when the weatherman out of NYC casually announced it was 67 - but Lisa, NYC resident and mother of Hyla, confirmed that in fact it was 68 that day. Not so warm here, but enough warmth and some much-welcomed rain cleared away enough snow for us to see that we have indeed been invaded by the mole people. Tunnels everywhere on the flats, and a hole in one of the iris beds that's almost the size of a basketball. I surmise that the rains collapsed some of the tunnels and the large hole is our version of the sinkholes that appear on California highways after heavy rains. At least ours can't swallow the house - yet! Brian was out today waging mole wars. It's an ongoing action.. We can outsmart them (most of the time) but they definitely outnumber us. And much like the deer, are very clear about the fact that they think we are intruding on THEIR land. If I could get them to pay the property taxes I might have more sympathy for their position.
Next week I'm off to the Chicago area, hoping to see all four of my great nieces and nephews as well as their parents, and of course have lots of plans for outings with Mom, mostly revolving around our hunt for the perfect hot fudge sundae. More news when I return!
