In daddy's footsteps

Looking professional in the kitchen, wearing the bear apron that aunt Chrissies gave her...it's still a little big, but she's almost grown into it!

Gelato at Parisi

The past few days have been lovely - that kind of perfect in-between weather, warm and cool at once with the clear, pure, dappled sun of early summer.
We're taking advantage with bike rides, gardening sessions, and early-morning wanderings around the neighborhoods of old North Denver.
On this afternoon, we stopped for gelato at our local Italian eatery.



To be honest, Q was more interested in the spoon than she was in the gelato. But that's OK. She never has turned into much of a sweets-eater.

Singin' in the rain

The storms have finally gentled, the blizzards softened to light, intermittent summer rain. In between, we get the most perfect of Colorado days, the heat and strong sun tempered by the cool breezes off the snow-covered Rockies to create the most perfect combination of temperature and air quality known to man.

On a recent rainy afternoon, lured out by the sweet smells of spring growth and the gentle temperatures, QQ and I spent an hour or two walking down by the lake, running in the damp grass and birdwatching.
QQ proudly wrangling her panda umbrella.

I love the muted colors of spring, before the green takes over and runs wild with summer.

I love the way the male blackbirds spike out their feathers when they sing.

A clan of white pelicans returns every spring to the local lakes.
QQ likes to ride her lion.

Help me out here...

What do you suppose...
...was going through her mind...
...at this particular moment?
I just don't know. Sometimes she boggles even my mind.
And then there's this - a duck, grooming herself of a lovely spring morning.
And a redwing on thin ice.

Tulips

One row of the tulips I planted last fall survived both the punishing spring snows and the greedy and profligate squirrels.
One row.
But they sure do look lovely in the late evening light.

umbrellas & peas

...two of Q's favorite things at the moment.
This is the panda umbrella we got her in San Francisco,and which she was not quite ready to embrace at the time. She has now discovered its many pleasures.
Peas. In the past few weeks, she grew to love oatmeal, and just as quickly grew tired of it. She is now on an oatmeal strike, and won't touch a bite. One day she loves roast chicken, and will eat it hand over fist, the next day she'll look at it like it was a raw slug on her plate. But so far, her love of peas has remained consistent.

ps - Chrissie, since Q recently enjoys wearing her PJs open down the chest like a young Tony Soprano, you'll be able to clearly see your lovely necklace...which she's obsessed with these days. When I first put it on her (all those many moons ago) she didn't get it, and just wanted to tug it off. She has since learned about necklaces, and reaches for me to put it on her each and every morning when she wakes up. That, and it helps people to understand that she's really a girl, even when we dress her like a boy!

Just pretty