soot sprites and a sigh...

Soot sprite bookmarks for K's Totoro birthday party - which I need to set a date for. I think they are cute - what is it about google eyes that make everything so darned cute?

Two weeks ago, we got around ten inches of snow when we were supposed to get about 4 inches. 

Fortunately, it was warm and gone within several days. It was pretty and because it was so late, we knew that we would not need to shovel it. 

Today we are getting a sleet rain mix. It is coming in from the north - which is significant. Yesterday and Sunday we got rain from the east - which is significant. I will explain why in a bit.

Last Friday, we went to Banfill Locke to sign the girls up for some Summer Art Day Camps. Banfill Locke is awesome, it is 30 dollars per student for a four day week of two hour lessons (all supplies included). Last year, K made the ostrich piggy bank you see above in one of her classes.

After we signed up, we explored the trails around the museum.

It was a beautiful day with lots of singing birds and the beginnings of greenness: trees with fat buds or drooping catkins.

The river and the trees are lovely with lots of photogenic locations - especially in the areas with subsiding flooding

We saw several groups of fishermen. I was polite and did not photograph them. I was wearing the boots that Tim bought me for Christmas. See?!

The girls did climbing and got dirty. And C found our first dandelion stuck in sunny spot in a crack in cement where there was lots of sun and splashing water. 

Saturday night the rains came...from the east. Soon the window was dripping. If you remember, I mentioned earlier this year that semi-circular window at the front of our house has gone bad. By Sunday, we realized that besides a rapidly dripping window (we found some narrow container to sit on the ledge and catch the drips), we had a soaking wet carpet. We are not entirely sure what is happening there. So for the past three days, we have had a fan blowing and a heat lamp on. I periodically use the shop vacuum to vacuum up the water too.

Our contractor isn't responding. The difficulty is we know him personally and we don't know where to begin to get a new one.

Now there is a very real chance that in addition to replacing  the window and doing sheet rock work in the living room, we will now need to redo the carpet as well. Sigh.

This morning the wind shifted to the north so now the wet spot above the fireplace is growing. Kira was the first to notice it - 'Mom it has a mane now.'

Sigh.