There are so many things that I'm thankful for this Spring. We don't give things up for Lent in our household, but we are still keenly aware of all of our blessings. Its been a busy year so far and we wanted to share some of our spring activities so you can see what its like for us here on the West Coast in Spring. We have SO much going on all the time- we'll wear you out just looking at all the pictures! Here's the highlights:
February is lemon time- our Meyer lemons ripen on the tree and make everyone's mouth water for Jess and James' famous lemon meringue pie! We also decided to make limoncello this year (a tasty Italian lemon liqueur)
It rains until May- here the boys enjoyed some time outside and had their first ice cream sandwiches of the year! It wasn't warm enough yet to hose them off, but we needed to!
In January James decided to buy some more chicks- so we've been taking care of them in the laundry room- here is a picture of Isaac quasi-holding one.
James has been doing A LOT of entertaining.... (www.JamesEntertains.com!) and I did some myself!
James let me go WILD with new patio planters and a fountain- now I've got jasmine growing EVERYWHERE and it smells and sounds so delicious as soon as you come to our door.
Nowruz is the Persian new year and falls around the Spring Equinox. My buddy Caitlin's landlord is from Iran and invited us again this year to celebrate with him and his family and friends. It is the most important holiday in their calendar and certainly a great party! The coolest tradition to go along with this holiday is called the festival of fire- the celebration of the light winning out over the darkness (i.e. days get longer). According to my friend Wikipedia, the tradition includes people going into the streets and alleys to make bonfires, and jump over them while singing the traditional song
Zardî-ye man az (ane) to, sorkhî-ye to az (ane) man ("az-ane to" means belongs to you); This literally translates to "My yellowness is yours, your redness is mine," with the figurative message "My paleness (pain, sickness) for you (the fire), your strength (health) for me." The fire is believed to burn out all the fear (yellowness) in their subconscious or their spirit, in preparation for new year. See James, jumping the fire and stealing all its energy!
Another tradition- most holy to those who love baseball, we went to one of the spring opening exhibition game of the Oakland A's and the WORLD CHAMPION San Francisco Giants with our die-hard-fan friends Ira and Liz.
I made myself a spring apron out of an old sundress Caitlin gave me- it turned out great! Mandela tried to help....
We continued our weekly jam session:
We dyed our Easter eggs this weekend too!
As you can imagine, we are pretty pooped at the end of each day- but no rest for the weary- here's me giving Mandela a rubdown as I fall asleep...
Hope you all are just as well and busy!
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