Respite

It's kinda been a hard month for our little family for various reasons. However, one peaceful reprieve for Eliza and me has been our walks.

Our walks used to mean a very different thing... strollers, backpacks, or both.

Now Eliza holds my hand as we go explore our coldesac
and backyard and sometimes make it all the way to the playground.

We discover sticks, moss, crunchy leaves, butterflies, birds, flowers, and ferns. I love the nature that this house is surrounded by. When we're outside, Eliza often makes the sign for bird as she hears one of them tweeting. Most days we see wild bunnies hopping through our yard or across the street.

She's quite the out-doorsy girl these days, and I love it. Most of the time we're just wandering a few yards behind the cat or the dog, but by the time we get back inside, Eliza is WORN OUT!

And while we're discussing the outdoors, I want to take the opportunity to bore you by bragging about my awesome compost!!

Steve and I started our composting a little while after we moved into this place.
We just throw our fruit cores and old veggies, etc into a bucket. 
Later we take it out and bury it in our hole 
and mix in some old leaves and dirt.

Anywayz, we finally ran out of the fancy organic compost that I bought at Snow's nursery and decided to check on our homegrown stuff. To Steve and my delight, our nasty, stinky garbage was suddenly gorgeous soil that more than filled the above blue bucket. We sprinkled down a new layer in our garden Friday night.

We're just so proud of the fact that we turn our garbage into something that will continue to nourish more life! Corny but kinda a cool feeling...?

Sweaty Pride

And here's a picture of the nest we found in our outdoor laundry room about a month ago. They're Carolina Wren chicks. I checked the nest yesterday, though, and they've all flown away!

I guess Summer is almost over...