Okraland in Asparagus Season

The Mister, Dianthus and I are still on our househunting road trip. More about that after we secure a house. In the meantime, a brief update on local foods:
-radishes are quite tasty when roasted; my SiL learned this from a vendor at a farmers' market and I can confirm the results are unexpected and good.
-fresh asparagus and fresh strawberries from the in-laws garden are delicious. We hope to plant both at our new place.
-I'm moving into okra territory. The Mister and I quite like okra, and have grown it very successfully in West Virginia and Kansas, but it is unusual to do so in both places. We use it primarily in gumbos and fake gumbos and veggie combos with Indian spices and sometimes just grill it (young okra is surprisingly yummy grilled). None the less, we were somewhat taken aback to find fried okra as a side at every diner, family restaurant and barbecue place we ate at in our future state.
-I missed the peonies and it makes me sad. My Brother and MSiL gave us peonies as a housewarming present when we moved to West Virginia. I missed the bloom last year because I was in Italy. The first bud was opening the day we left this year (May 17) and they will be done by the time we return. We will hit Lawrence today and I'm glad it's past peak peony season in Kansas, otherwise the destruction of what was my gorgeous peony-based garden there would just make me too sad.
-Prairie Dog picked up a new state and we all saw the state capitol from a distance because it now has a dome.

Glee

Good times with his Grandpa. Nine seconds of sheer delight.

So I added a few of the accessories . . .

but Dianthus applied the base without help.

Tres de Mayo

In May 2008, spring was advancing at a pace about a week and a half behind this year, judging by the dogwood, lilacs and early azalea in that may basket. All of those flowers were well past when I picked a different lavender azalea for this year's bouquet.

Monday of Finals 2009 (May 4) we flooded. This year it rained all night but the river creseted at a mere 16 and a half feet.

On May 3, 2003 I met the Mister for the first time.

May 3, 2010 Dianthus has an ear infection and was sent home from day care, so my to-do list is looking more like that of May 3, 2009 than I'd like to admit, except there is no going to Italy at the end of it and I'm not sleeping well because of a cranky baby on the outside, not a hiccuping fetus inside. On May 3, 2010 the forget-me nots, clematis, columbine and alliums are looking great.

May is the luckiest month.

Nine Months On, Nine Months Off

Dianthus turned nine months yesterday and he celebrated by crawling up the whole staircase (with the Mister trailing closely behind). I celebrated by stepping on the scale and noticing that the first digit was not a two. I'm very excited to be back at -6 from November 2008 when Dianthus was conceived and I was at my pre-pregnancy fattest and -1 from what I consider my regular 2008 pre-pregnancy weight. Mind you, my shape is nothing like what it was, many a waist band still alludes zipping, and I'm still too large to be healthy, but I'm excited to be on the right track.
Leggy, butt-less, genetically skinny Heather Armstrong over at Dooce.com has written this week about improving upon her pre-pregnancy shape through intense work outs and stress dieting. Good for her. I guess I'm just adding that slow steady non-intense can work for the those of us who eat our noodles, let it show, and always have.

The Mister and I have cut out all midweek wine drinking (don't gasp mother, we can drink some while you are here) and we are donating the savings to Feeding America. There are people who can use those calories. We aren't them.