Heading back to DC. Solo.

I am totally un-thrilled to be back on antibiotics, this time for a Eustachian tube infection. It's fun times in Em's body these days.Not.

Anyway, I've just said goodbye to my parents and sweeties and am soon to board flight one back to DC. It will be so quiet and easy, and I plan to nap and do some Italian homework that is hanging over me like a menacing cloud.

About that adult trike...at the water park the other day, I happened to look at the paved path running round the park's periphery; on it pedaled a woman atop a large, yellow tricycle with no handlebars. Honestly, it was an extremely odd contraption, and unless she was in some powerful core-based training, I am flummoxed as to what this ride was for. It didn't look fun, for example. Kinda hilarious.

Last night I made brandy-flambeed shrimp; zucchini gratin with salsa verde and jarlsberg; and a yellow and red plum tart atop a gluten-free crust I made for mom. The crust was a grand success, and I will definitely share the recipe with you (a combo of oat, hazelnut, potato, tapioca and brown rice flours). If you hadn't been told it was GF, you'd never have guessed; such is not always the case with GF baked goods!

Off to board. Here's another pic of Mr Egret I snapped but didn't see yesterday.

Early morning on the bayou

In our yard, and just across the bayou, there aren't usually more than two egrets out for early morning fishing. Today, though, it was a bonanza; at one time there were six or seven. They are such beautiful birds, as graceful and purposefully, perfectly predatory as a big cat. They never rush, their concentration is intense, and then whoosh- the long s-shaped neck juts straight out to grab a fish and hurriedly swallow it down. Here are just a couple photos I snapped this morning; I'm not terribly familiar with my mom's camera so these aren't my best, but you get a sense of the action in the midst of serenity we were gazing down upon.

In-the-buff kids everywhere, swimming with boogers, Black Pillow, adult trike

Yesterday around 5p, we all went to my cousin's house for another get-together. My Dad's mom is in from Atlanta, and all the cousins wanted to see each other again. In the backyard, my cousin's husband had set up a sheet of vizqueen that must have been 40" square and aimed the sprinkler to arc over it and back again, repeatedly. Puddles formed, bathing suits were donned, boogie boards laid claim to, and we didn't see the kids for hours. It was jokingly referred to as the coon-ass slip-and-slide, and it very definitely put any other Wet Banana type of toy to shame. I went out to watch at one point, and several of the younger kids said they wanted to dry off. So I helped them take their suits off and then got distracted and ran inside. I can't remember why. But when I returned, they were gone and a quick search, following peals of laughter, revealed naked revelers having the times of their lives on a neighbor's jungle gym.

SADLY I HAD TO REMOVE THE IMAGE OF THE KIDDOS HAVING FUN BECAUSE DISGUSTING PERVERTS SEARCHING FOR NAKED CHILDREN ARE ARRIVING HERE.

Honestly, it was delightful. They hadn't a care in the world and were just all over everything. Then they piled onto the trampoline, still naked, and went nuts. There may have been more water sliding afterwards, and there was definitely a hilarious neighborhood race that included an electric Barbie jeep and a stomp rocket. All the grown-ups sat in the front yard laughing and watching, and it was such a treat. We could never have an evening like this at our house in DC: you'd worry about bothering neighbors, crazy drivers plowing into the kids...A shame really. But again, I'm glad my boys can come here for different experiences and time with family we don't often see.

We just got back from a neighbor's pool, and I immediately had to shower because every time Ol emerged from the water, boogers were streaming from both nostrils. I taught J to do a back flip (in the water, peeps; I'm still no dare-devil), and now he can do a triple. I'm very proud because truly, I worried he would never learn to swim. While there, a beautiful pitch-black cat with intense green eyes came to meet us. Oliver named him Black Pillow which was baffling but rather enchanting.

I'm about to get another massage -bliss- and am looking forward to heading back to DC tomorrow. Aah! Tonight I'm cooking a feast so will post pics later. I've got to tell you about the handle-bar'less adult trike...remind me.