Nothing like nature in your own yard. Chloe discovered these butterflies 'stuck together' as she put it. Her friend Simone stated they were making babies and wanted to wait until they were finished to see the babies (I love kids). That's all I am going to say about these, the photos and video speak for themselves!
Eight years ago today, I was sitting in my office at work, when I received a call from our social worker. In an oh so nonchalant manner she told me they had a sweet little girl, 4.5 months old, for us to meet. Being at work and in work mode, I said okay, wrote down the specifics on where to meet up, hung up the phone. Sat back in my chair - realized I had not taken a breath during the conversation and felt my life take a shift. After going through the home study and having our life peeled away like an onion - to insure to the State we would make a stable home for a little kabocha - you tend to forget what it's all about. Reflecting back I see how much energy and anxiousness we had tied up in becoming parents. In hindsight, I wish we were more relaxed, but hey first kid, your life is under a magnifying glass, you do what you got to do!
So now, you probably want to hear the rest of the story, when we met our little kabocha. We rendezvoused with our social worker at her foster family's home. The house was chaos, they had lots of kids and lots a love. We sat down amongst the toys and all the kid stuff, they brought out Chloe and put her in our arms. We were floored, love at first sight! We hung out for an hour or so, Wally gave her a bottle and she dozed in his arms and there my friends the first little tentacle was wrapped around daddy's heart!
At the wrap up of our visit, our social worker told us we needed to think about the 'placement' for 24-hours before notifying the Children Services. We tried to tell her it was a done deal, we were toast, we were in love, but she wouldn't hear it. We drove home with our jaws hanging open, mostly in silence, sprinkled with a few oh my, she's so beautiful, she's amazing. After a restless night and many walks into Chloe's future room, making little adjustments here and there, I called the social worker first thing! So worried we'd lose this chance at becoming this perfect little person's parents!
The 'placement' was made and the transition began, it would be a few days of back and forth before Chloe Rosebud was home for good at her forever home. I can't believe it was eight years ago, I wish we could slow it down a little.
Several months ago a colleague of mine gave Chloe a giant zucchini, she immediately named him Bob and declared him adopted into our family. That was back in January. Since then, Bob has slept with Chloe, learned lots of tricks, joined us at the dinner table (thank goodness we don't eat zucchini in this family), went to school, was the star of show-and-tell.
Chloe loved Bob and soon we all loved Bob, Bob became family, Bob showed us that even vegetables can become part of a family. Our joy continued, and I admit, even I the farmerette that I am was lulled into thinking that Bob would be with us forever.
Then, tonight it happened, Bob and Jonah were playing on the rug. Jonah somewhat aggressively dog-piled Bob, and then we heard it, 'oh no, Bob's hurt'. We rushed to Bobs side and realized immediately there was no saving Bob. Jonah did suggest we fix Bob with tape, because he could'nt handle seeing his sister so upset.
Chloe, and of course the rest of us, was devastated. We decided to bury Bob at sunset. Chloe chose a lovely spot under the Fuji apple tree and made him a headstone. We shared stories of Bob and said our farewell.
Okay, so I am not the best blogger - when it comes to consistency. However, the past month has been action packed. As I begin to feel better, a lot more mobility with the back I am getting back into the groove of things.We had a great time camping this weekend on the Sonoma Coast. I went belly boarding with Chloe, we had so much fun it's wonderful to be in the water. Chloe loves the ocean and riding waves, she gets a huge smile on her face when she's in the water. I am glad I finally got a wetsuit for Northern California water temperatures. It is strange to wear something so thick, after the 2 mil of our childhood (if even a wetsuit).On the gardening front, my tomatoes are moving along really well, considering we've had a slow start. I need to spend some quality time in the garden this week, I have been neglecting everything. I also need to get some updated photos... coming soon. I need to figure out how to fight the leaf miner, it keeps taking out my spinach.
