August Reads

Lindsay sent me the cutest present! She assembled her daughters' favorite books from each baby and toddler stage and sent a copy of each with a humorous synopsis and review told from the point of view of the girls. Very cute and so creative. We hadn't gotten around to getting him books yet and had just mentioned that he needed some when the package arrived. We are working our way through "Moo, Baa, La La La".

The Fun Begins

Gus will be 6 weeks old Monday and has started giving us "social" smiles. He has always given a little gassy smile when he was sleeping but now he will focus on your face and just break into a huge grin. I'm thinking only people who have kids know how this feels - like a huge victory for some reason.

I would say that these smiles make it all worth it but it was all worth it the second we saw him. This is just more fun!

Wonderous Wings

A most memorable experience for me since moving to NC has been my mid-summer meetings with hummingbird moths. At first sight these enchanting winged wonders seem to truly be hummingbirds. Always propelling toward their next petal, happily hovering at each unfolded flower, wings fanning 30 beats per sweet second. Such beauty and synchronization is enough to elicit excitement in me and always proves to be an extremely entertaining encounter.

Farewell to Family

Gus and us are back together again after a long weekend with family. We had much fun and hope the family did too.

Dad and Gus taking it easy after getting well acquainted.

Dad and Denine checking out some of my favorite Raleigh roses. Dad seen here sipping on a most interesting mango bubble tea.

Sarah Duke Darlings

Return trips to gardens often reward with new glimpses of an earthly paradise. Such was our recent experience seeing Sarah Duke Gardens with my dad and others. I've always been amazed by the beauty brought about by such sultry summer heat.

The Sacred Golden Lotus Banana

Himalayan Torch Ginger

Eastern Asian Patrina scabiosifolia, looks a little like a tall goldenrod.

Weekend Wonders

Aaron and his dad with Uncle Ben telling family "fishing" stories. Sitting sheltered from the rain on our porch.

No family visit is complete without a trip to the farmer's market. The veg and flowers are at their prime right now. We examined buckets of bright sunflowers, baskets of peppers in every hue, and tables of Southern cakes, hand pies, and brownies.

Love the sign. We didn't believe the chef that ALL of the goods were made with butter so we bought some things. Yep, its all made with lots of butter.

We took the crew to picnic and see "Juno" at the art museum. This is Gus' second movie here. He does a great job of sleeping through the entire movie which is great for mom and dad.

Gerber Goodness

Pente Playing

Aaron and his family love to play games, not just any games but strategy games. The game they are playing here is a family classic - Pente. The motto of this game is something like "a moment to learn, a lifetime to master". To some of us (ME!) that sounds rather daunting from the get go and I do not enjoy Pente even though, as Aaron pointed out, I played it with him on our first date at his house. He thinks this was false advertising - that I was making it out to enjoy Pente and after I hooked him I admitted I hated it. Kind of true. I don't remember saying I actually liked it. I just remember thinking he was cute enough to endure a game of it.

Luckily, when his family comes to visit they enjoy playing it and here are a couple of pics of a tournament that ensued in which Aaron (sorely) won.


Aaron right before throwing the board down and shouting "In your face!"

Gus Meets Grandpa

Family fun and more to come. Dad and Denine have just made the trip to see our one month old babe. Seems Gus has never seen such wonderful whiskers and is wondering what to make of the welcoming face.

Gus gingerly going for the handshake here.

Gus warming to Grandpa.

"Okay we'll keep him" says Grandpa.

Big Boy Bath

August Goes to Asheville

This weekend we decided it was time to take Gus on his first roadtrip. He has been such a trooper with everything we have thrown at him - in 3 weeks he's been to see Mama Mia, to see the Chocolate Drops in concert at the art museum and to many restaurants. We are trying to make the most of his laid back attitude as much as possible in case he decides to become high maintenance with age! It was also nice to escape to mountain air in August.

Here are some shots of a walk through downtown Asheville. This is the Arcade area. Not sure why it is called the Arcade. To Aaron's dismay it seems to be related to the history of the building and not because it contains video games.

There is always a great display of container gardening going on down here to inspire us.

One of our favorite destinations is "The Screened Door"which is a quirky antique/curiosities mall that also has a great bookstore inside with the best selection of botanical books around at half the price. We usually shut the place down. It was a great place for Gus to escape the carseat and stretch.

We also enjoy going to the North Carolina Arboretum near Asheville. Great to see a bounty of blooms despite the dry warm weather. They've put the finishing touches on their Japanese garden which is my favorite. Fun to see ancient bonsai trees and beautiful, peaceful compositions.

Gus smiling for us at Mellow Mushroom. We always love the 'shroom but the Asheville location is our favorite with their funky patio made of glass bricks and bowling balls. And the people watching can't be beat.

Sound Sleep

Teddy Bear

Summertime Through the Shades

A most favored time of mine to have beautiful backyard blooms. With the heat, humidity, and unfriendly weather comes the urge to unwind and seek shelter in the AC. Having planned for peak summer blooms brings a breath of much needed beauty this time of year and creates a backyard vacation destination to lift my spirits. Slender petals on this spider daylily sitting atop 6' bloom stalks.

Fragrant flowers can be found on this ginger lily.

Like tropical honeysuckle to me...

Augusto

Aaron and August

Coffee Culture

Many of you know Aaron can appreciate a good cup of coffee on occasion and was very disappointed when McCafe stopped offering awesome mochas in favor of an automated machine version. He has been on the search for the perfect coffee since then. Not only has he found it.....

He has me drinking it as well. I managed to make it to 32 years old not drinking coffee until this year. I guess it really is an acquired taste. This is from a coffee company based out of the Raleigh area. Come to find out they supply the better restaurants that we have frequented in Charleston and around here. Now that we can get our hands on it, it has replaced dessert in the evening for us. And since drinking coffee has recently been shown to have many health benefits (unless you are someone who notices anxiety or stomach troubles with it) it seems a better alternative than sugary desserts. We had a baby and now drink coffee - guess we're officially grown ups. Okay, it sorta tastes like Sugar Smacks cereal - not a terribly mature taste!

And now a word from our sponsor:
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Just kidding. But seriously, you can order it online and it really is good.