¡holy guacamole!

so i read this post yesterday and had a moment of major appreciation for our three beautiful avocado trees in our yard. i mean, i appreciate these beauties all the time, don't get me wrong – but i was feeling especially lucky to live in sunny california with big, fruit bearing avocado trees just steps from my front door. it's a serious luxury.

and talk about fruiting.
there are easily a couple hundred avocados hanging from those branches. some are ready to pick,  others just need a little more time. so exciting.

we have two fuertes – which are my favorite favorite favorite – and one haas.

but get this: the chooch doesn't like avocados.
and bonzo? well if i mash them up and call it guacamole, he's much more interested.

i like to throw them in smoothies when they're really ripe. or just spread them on toast with a little lemon juice, salt and pepper. they make everything – salads, sandwiches, tacos, burgers – a thousand times better.

and here's a tid-bit: if you leave a little bit of the steam on them when you pick them it's a perfect indicator for when they're ripe – when it falls off, you're good to go.
these guys take about a week to ten days to ripen up so i like to go out and pick them a couple times a week so ripe ones are at the ready as often as possible. because you can't fudge it with avocados.






pass the chips!

today

we had a happy thanksgiving. did you? hope so.

we feel so lucky every day that our families live in the same town as we do – and two streets away from each other at that – but during the holidays we feel beyond lucky.

we got to celebrate with (almost) everyone at my mom's house and bonzo soaked in every minute of the festivities. it's been go-go-go since thursday so we'll be spending this week getting back to reality – whatever that means.

the calendar's just about ready to be flipped to december. we have a tree to buy, decorations to put out, presents to get and wrap, crafts to be made and carols to listen to. where'd the year go?

here's bonzo, pondering that very question, over this morning's bagel and cream cheese.
when i set it down on his little table he said, "you're a good cooker, mama. thanks for cookin' my bagel and cream cheese!".

it's such intense love.

checking in and giving thanks

boy, have i been absent!
i think i'm going to embrace it and check back in next week.

in the meantime, i'll be:

being indescribably thankful for countless things, as always.

fantasizing about, then eating – and possibly regretting – mashed potatoes.

soaking in time with my two favorite guys and our wonderful families.

happy thanksgiving, friends.

i hope everyone has a wonderful holiday filled with love, family, friends and lots of gratitude.

phoning it in

oh, the camera phone.
i love it, i do. it's my point-and-shoot – always with me, ready to capture a slice of life at any moment. sometimes i feel lazy for using it so much because it's too forgiving and easy and, let's face it, hides a multitude of sins that may otherwise be not-so-hidden.

but i love the impromptu and casual result. and i love having a million photos of the everyday stuff that could otherwise pass me by.

(yes, i know i'm obsessed with sleeping-bonzo photos. i seriously cannot stop myself from taking them!)

snoozer

it was about this time last year that i did a little now/then look at my sleepiest guy.

it's hard to believe how quickly the time goes by – and it's even harder to see the all changing bonzo's done until i look back at photos and remember.

but as you can see, our napping routine – comfy cozy on one of our two favorite nursing pillows – hasn't changed one bit.

here's one more picture of bonzo (taken just a second ago) to add to the timeline of sleepy cuteness.

wordless/wednesday

rad paint

my best girl did a post today that i wanted to share.
it's worth the click, i can assure you – so check it out.


thanks for this, jhh – i love it. and you.

[image/via]

the caterpillar

a couple weeks ago i noticed some little black dots on the windowsill underneath the mint sprigs i'd just cut from the garden.
after taking a good look at the leaves – and missing it twice – i spotted a little, green caterpillar friend.
he'd gone on a joy ride from the garden to the kitchen, all the while chomping away on his minty leaves.

and boy was bonzo excited to watch this guy in action. so we figured since the caterpillar was happy on his leaves, and bonzo was happy watching him, that'd we'd just let everyone be happy and see how it shook out.

bonzo would race out to the kitchen first thing and shout, "gooooood morning, callepeller!" and we'd look at all the leaves that were eaten down to stumps since we'd seen him the night before.

then one morning we looked and he wasn't there. gulp.
did he split? where would he go? he's not on the leaves. okay gross, am i about to step on a caterpillar?
but then – there he was, under a leaf, camouflaged as can be, mowing through the mint, mouthful by mouthful.

fast forward to the next morning.
"callepeller?"
i searched each and every leaf this time. he was no where to be found.
i tried explaining to bonzo that he may have wanted to... um... go back to the garden.

but then lo and behold, our friend was under a leaf, busily making a cocoon for himself.


we transfered the whole set-up to a sprouting jar with a mesh lid and we've been waiting patiently to see what comes out of the cocoon.
i'm not very convinced that anything will come out at this juncture – but we'll wait and see.

bonzo was much more partial to watching a green guy chomp away at leaves than a motionless little caterpillar hidden behind white cocoony fluff, clinging to the underside of a leaf anyways.

so if the whole experiment just kinda goes away someday, i don't think he'll be too concerned. and, between you and me, i think that's the direction this whole thing is going.

... and so begins the random-experiments-in-jars chapter of our life.

lately, around here

someone fell asleep in the car with his baseball hat on...


... it was bonzo:


good morning:


giving his giraffe nursies. after wrapping him up "so coh-zeeee" in a napkin, obvs.


mantequilla-obsessed.
"mama, can i taste what that mantequilla looks like?"


bonzo-world:


whoops:

wordless/wednesday