We ate the first of our homegrown peas with lunch and dinner today. With dinner, they were sprinkled on a salad of homegrown lettuce and topped with homemade feta cheese. (For lunch, we ate them straight from the pod.) Very yummy!

Caitlyn went to her third Solstice Parade at Fremont this weekend. We met with friends, picnicked on breakfast carbs (thanks for the idea, Abra!), and had front row seats for the general wackiness that is Solstice in Fremont. Caitlyn got to draw with chalk in the middle of the street, collect candy tossed by parade participants, and then follow the parade by walking down the double yellow line - the only time of year her parents let her do that. Her favorite parts: the cakes and poodles and the butterfly. She totally didn't notice that half the people in the parade had no clothes. "Mama, that person is silver!"

Caitlyn has developed her own personal creation myth. Apparently, I sewed her together, around her bones, then glued her to a piece of paper, stood her up and said, "There you are, Caitlyn!" Sort of makes one wonder what all she thinks I'm doing at my sewing table while she's napping. I'm not sure what I'll say when she tires of asking me to make her new dresses and says, "Mama, make me a friend."

Happy Third Birthday, Sweet Pea!

Proof that the internet is waaaay too much a part of my life:

I hand-wrote a letter the other day. Folded it, put it in an envelope, addressed it, stamped it, and put it where the out-going mail goes. Thirty minutes later, I was obsessively checking my email looking for the response.

Things I've learned today:

• 7 pounds of rhubarb cans to a lot more than the 7 half-pint jars I was hoping for. I have 13 little jars of rhubarb now...
• one really should move the butter dish before firing up the canner...
• Caitlyn isn't quite ready to give up afternoon naps, despite her protests to the contrary. She fell asleep in the stroller today, something she's only done once before. This time, I had the sense not to try to put her in her bed but just draped a quilt over her and prayed the cat would not meow in the living room next to the stroller.

Somehow, I feel I should have more to say...