Introducing our new wheelbarrow!

We found this on Craigslist today and I could not be happier. I have big plans for this wheelbarrow. D is fixing the wheel with his toolbox. We bought the toolbox at an estate sale when we were first married. It came from an old house in Park Hill. We found it in a shed full of tools dating back 50 years. I would like to have met the man who owned those tools, because they were so lovingly collected and well-worn. Now I associate the old metal toolbox with D as he travels around and fixes things in our run-down house. Which is steadily getting less run-down! Especially now that we have a sturdy wheelbarrow. I notice in this picture that R really needs a haircut . . . she is trying to grow it long enough to "make pigtails."

And now for something completely different.

R and I have both been sick this week, so lunches have not been very photogenic. I read this morning about this owl who is afraid of heights. He fell from his nest as a baby and has been raised by a human handler. Now that they are ready to release him into the wild, they discovered that he won't fly any higher than five feet ten inches--which is exactly the height of his handler.

I wish them luck. Maybe it's because I spend a lot of time with a six year old and a puppy, but I love the look on his face: "No, I won't do it. Talk to me all you want, but I will not. It is too high."

Easter Egg Bento

Easter Sunday and Mary Poppins

Easter morning, Mass and new shoes and white gloves.

A rabbit was eating grass in the front yard.

He was not at all bothered by how close we were.

Then we came home, got out of our dress-up clothes, and shoveled compost in the backyard for a few hours. It is such a good feeling to move that big pile around with a pitchfork and get to the black gold on the bottom layer. A little over one year's worth of yard trimmings and kitchen scraps. D is a lot like my own Dad, always willing to stop work and talk to his daughter. And lift her up high, and be a safety net underneath her when she wants to swing from the locust tree.

She is waving at her neighbor friends: "Daddy's taking us to see Mary Poppins!" D got tickets to the Broadway touring company of Mary Poppins, on their last night in Denver. The 6:30 p.m. show.

R in the car on our way to see Mary Poppins.

I only had my cellphone to take pictures, but this is downtown Denver in front of the Convention Center's giant blue bear. I hope R remembers it for a long time. It was a wonderful show, and the whole experience of being downtown at night and sitting in the dark waiting for the curtain to come up reminded me how rarely I do anything like that any more. We're going to try to do it more often.