didionville

didion is a busy guy. he is all over the place, all of the time. in many ways, this is very cool. he understands so much about how the house works … what his mommy and daddy do to take care of him, themselves, the dog, the cat … at the same time …

his energy level and insatiable curiosity ensure the house is a federal disaster area and either one or both of his parents look like they have been hit by trucks by the end of each day.

here is what the kitchen looked like one morning ealier this month … before 10 a.m. the mess continued into the dining and living rooms (there were pots on the couch.), but those pictures are out of focus. (i might have been trembling or sobbing when documenting the destruction.)

naomi (next door) has outgrown her sandbox, which is kinda cool — because she is growing up into such a nifty kid — and kinda sad — because, well, she’s growing up …

but she was kind enough to allow her mom and dad to loan us her sandbox so that didion could play with it, at least until her little brother (to make his arrival some time in mid-july) is old enough to enjoy its many pleasures.

earlier this month, we moved it over to our deck in the backyard, and one morning, d-man, izzie, and i went out there to check it out. didion was a little iffy in the beginning … this was the first time he felt sand in his toes … but once he got settled, he was off at the races. we did have a wee learning curve, coordinating keeping the sand INSIDE the sandbox instead of shoveling/throwing/pailing it out, but ultimately, the three of us — mom, dog, kid — agreed the sandbox is a raving success!

loretta and her boyfriend, michael (aka bodie) are …

ENGAGED!

this is for you, lovebirds …

i dunno who loves justin robert more?! d-man or mommy!

didion loves these songs! when they are done, he says, “gan! gan!” because he want to watch them over and over! awesome!

if you ignore the couple of popups (it’s his video, so he should be able to promote his stuff.), this eric herman song is pretty darn cool.

i have never felt capable of keeping vegetation alive … forget healthy or thriving … i am talking simply not limp or brown or crunchy. yes, my entire adult life i have been enormously intimidated by plant life. if it photosynthesizes, it is a source of fear for me … or, i should say, it WAS a source of fear. the plant world and i have forged a sort of detente that — dare i dream — is threatening to become a successful symbiotic partnership … a mutual admiration society.

specifically, earlier this month, tiring of the vacant-lot look of our front and back yards and knowing that my fear of plants was keeping me from participating in something that steven values (a well-kept landscape), i set a budget, figured a design, bought foliage and equipment, and put together some freakin’ curb appeal!

we had mint and oregano (that steven ill-advisedly planted in the ground) taking over the area in front of our fence. i dug that mess up, which was no easy task, but which was enormously satisfying … almost as satisfying as demo-ing the kitchen last summer. i turned a new, clean planting bed. we have a peony that — god bless it — keeps coming back every year in that area, so in the new bed, i added two more peonies, two more barberries (one green, one red), and four variegated grasses that should fill in nice and fluffy.

planting that bed definitely took the most out of me, simply for the work involved in taking care of the blasted mint, but the core of my landscape plan involved the walkway to our (rotting-but-soon-to-be-repaired) front porch. we took up the sod on either side of the walkway, making two-foot beds. (we transplanted the sod in the backyard to the bare spot where izzie used to hang from his tree rope, so far it is a success!) we planted lavender, veronica, fernleaf yarrow, and more variegated grasses. i also found some nice looking (and nicely priced) solar garden lamps.

i also gave our existing stuff a good trim …

though the deer were kind enough to obliterate our lilies (hence the lack of beautiful orange blooms in the above photo) as they were also successful in lopping off a big chunk of growth off the top of my new black-eyed susan:

nonetheless, the tide has turned. it’s been nearly three weeks, and i am really enjoying not killing anything.

jump! chase! run! march!

and didion loves this song!

in late april we made a long-weekend’s sojourn to philadelphia. it was my first trip to the city, and i LOVED it: the history, the cityscape, the people. it was terrific! we stayed at the loews, which we can highly recommend for both coolness and family-friendliness. it helped, of course, that the economy was in the tank and it was still, technically, winter, so we got a great rate. we had a kickass room with an awesome view. here’s what we saw the first evening from our room:

didion, of course, loved the view.

my favorite site was the liberty bell. i welled up when we walked into the expanse and saw it with the sunlight coming in from the glass wall behind it. the bell is not very large. i don’t know why i envisioned it upwards of five feet tall … how large would a building’s steeple have to be to house a five-foot tall bell?! anyway … i found the trip to the liberty bell quite moving.

only my two favorite guys could make the liberty bell any more awesome …

the halls: old city, independence, and congress were our next stop (across the street from the liberty bell) … unfortunately, my pictures of the old city hall were blown out; though, the plaque came out:

here’s congress hall:

sandwiched between old city hall and congress hall, independence hall is proud and strong:

we roamed around downtown philly … cruised the art and sculpture parks … pigged out at redding market … got a babysitter through the hotel (!!!) and had a romatic dinner in rittenhouse square at friday-saturday-sunday …

some miscellany, like a cool art deco sign:

and a pouty d-man:

and finally, another beautiful sunset …

so much has been going on at the expense of regular updates on the d-man, but i hope to rectify the situation, beginning NOW. i have taken a summer sabbatical from writing for “a candid world,” so that i can enjoy the summer with didion, who has ramped up the activity level. naomi (next door) got a new swing set for her birthday, and i have embarked on a new effort to become a landscaping denizen, so outdoors is the place to be.