Lady Bird

"Ugliness is so grim. A little beauty, something that is lovely, I think, can help create harmony which lessens tensions."

“My heart found its home long ago in the beauty, mystery, order and disorder of the flowering earth.”

“Some may wonder why I chose wildflowers when there are hunger and unemployment and the big bomb in the world. Well, I, for one, think we will survive, and I hope that along the way we can keep alive our experience with the flowering earth. For the bounty of nature is also one of the deep needs of man.”

“Though the word beautification makes the concept sound merely cosmetic, it involves much more: clean water, clean air, clean roadsides, safe waste disposal and preservation of valued old landmarks as well as great parks and wilderness areas. To me…beautification means our total concern for the physical and human quality we pass on to our children and the future.”

-- Lady Bird Johnson.

Lady Bird Johnson (glorious name) died today. Rest in peace and thanks for getting so many people on the case of beautifying our environs.

You've come a long way, daddy!

Hey Daddy,

I love it when you play guitar! I love to dance to your muzak. I can't wait til you teach me how to play!

Love,

Ungunga


PS: Why am I up so late? Could it be the coffee?

Potty Training Humor

We're not officially potty training Ila, but we have introduced Ila to her little potty. I was inspired by my friend Maura, who put her kids on the potty at 6 months or so and seemed to have an easy time potty training when it was time.

The photo you see is the first time Ila peed into her potty. I gave her a piece of toilet paper and she promptly dipped it into the potty and held it up dripping wet for the world to see.

Humorous anecdote: Ila was running around without a diaper a few weeks ago, and did a tiny poo on the carpet. I whisked her up and set her on her potty which she vehemently protested. So I cleaned her up, thinking "hmm she must be done defecating" (foreshadowing). A few minutes later, I noticed her crouched down near the cat food bowls, with another little poo beneath her. I came over to clean it up and as I looked down, I saw full-sized log in the cat's water bowl. I say that's one smart little cookie, she knows that we poop in the water, so she wanted to, too. I wonder if she understood my explanation that "we don't poo in there, that's Saucy's water cup..."

Summertime at the park

We're lucky enough to have several playgrounds within a 5-minute walk, so many of Ila's summertime hours are spent swinging, playing in the sand, looking at trees and crawling up, over and through play structures. Take a look!