Sweetpea’s Garden

I am down in Houston for a few days visiting my sister (the lovely Snapdragon) and her husband, and our brother and his family are here, too. Yesterday, the seven of us hopped into the rental minivan and headed to the beach — Galveston Island, to be specific. It was a perfect day: sunny and warm, with no humidity.

The beach, however, is a dangerous place for us. We are the whitest of folk, and prone to sunburn in ways that few can even imagine. The nephews were basted regularly in heavy-duty sunscreen, and BigBrother wisely put some on, too. (The in-law siblings both have normal skin that can withstand sun a little bit better, so I have to admit that I didn’t notice whether or not they used any.) Snapdragon and I, however, decided to ignore the impending disaster and hit the beach sans SPF. After all, we were wandering around in capris and t-shirts, not bikinis. What could happen?

This, as it turns out:

And this:

We are both in our mid-30s; you’d think we would have enough sense by now to see this coming. But no, we repeat this every year. It’s as if we expect that, one of these winters, our skin will go though some sort of amazing transition and actually produce melanin. But no…

A great deal of sunscreen will be worn to today’s Astros game, I can tell you.

Hello Friends. I am so sorry that I have neglected you all this week. I had no intention of doing so, but wow has this week gone by fast. So I will start with our new Friday tradition, and work backwards in the week. This will be a long post

What are your favorite baby gifts? And I mean to both give and, for those of you with kids, to receive.

Since I don’t have kids, I’ll skip the receiving end (but do love to know what’s hot with the mommy set, since I literally have a dozen friends having babies this year).

My stock baby gift regardless of gender are books.  My top three (that generally are gifted as a trio) are: Oh the Places You’ll Go (Dr. Seuss), Love You Forever (Robert Munsch), and The Giving Tree (Shel Silverstein). I also love to give the starter of a charm bracelet for a little girl. I know these are hopelessly old fashioned but I loved mine, and think it is a sweet idea to pass to the next generation. (I have no such cute idea for boys - sorry!)

As usual, comment away!

Now, for what I should have posted earlier in the week.

TBT: Rwanda, Long-lost Cousins, and Seashells

So, when I last posted I was in Pawley’s Island, South Carolina (can’t believe that was a week ago already!).  I was there for a gathering of people interested in partnering with the Mustard Seed Project to find sponsors for the students of the Sonrise Primary and High School, in Rwanda. Back in the summer of 2005 I went to Rwanda to visit this school. I had an amazing adventure and was forever changed. When I lived in DC, I worked with seven friends to start and manage the Sonrise High School sponsorship program. It was very hard to step away when we moved to Houston, but this was my opportunity to step back in to the fray. (BTW, if you are interested in the details of sponsorship, let me know.) So this weekend in SC with friends old and new working for Rwanda is my first beautiful thing.

Right before I left for SC I got a phone call from my second cousin (I think) Maureen, who lived in DC in the late 90s.  Sweetpea and I had gotten together with her a few times back then and lost touch. Well Maureen was in Houston last weekend and we overlapped on Sunday night. So Chris picked me up from the airport and off we went to dinner with Maureen and had a blast. We really do have a fun family - even in its many extensions!

And lastly, while in SC, I had a brief opportunity to do on of my favorite things - walk along a white sand beach and pick up seashells. I have a collection from my travels far and wide, and added to it last weekend. There is something very peaceful at the beach, which I love.

So I guess I’ll stop here for today. I will actually be home this weekend (and so will my other half) so we are going to spend a very domestic weekend getting into stuff at the house. Updates will be forthcoming.

Oh, one more thing. A neighbor from home-home (a.k.a. Binghamton), and good friend and colleague to my parents died last night of a massive heart attack. Steve was about in his mid 60s maybe. Longevity, it seems, is skipping Dads generation. So if you are the praying kind, offer up one for Steve and his family. He was a good man, with a hearty laugh and mischievous (in a good way) smile, and will be missed.

I just wanted to say hi to everyone while I am on the east coast. I am in Pawley’s Island, South Carolina for a conference with my friends from Rwanda (will write more about it next week). I’ve never been to South Carolina before and I am here for just two days, but it is so beautiful. And the place I’m staying at is positively palatial (and very reasonably priced). I have half a mind to book a couple suites for October and announce to the family that we are having a vacation in Pawley’s Island.

In my twenty four hours here so far I have met friends from Binghamton (yea Bud and Maryann), been to three sessions of the conference, and had a picnic lunch with some friends from DC on the beach — we ate, walked and collected shells. This is exactly the type of weekend I needed right now! More later…