Saturday, did some yard cleanup with Scott. He worked on the pump of my bird fountain, got it unclogged and running again. No thanks to the bread-dunking crows.
Sunday afternoon, Home Depot trip to buy a metal garbage can for storing birdseed. A rat (horrors) chewed through the plastic bin. Home Depot is near a highway that heads north, and on a whim we decided to go to Ramona in search of a (locally) famous bakery I'd heard about. Beautiful drive into hill country. I couldn't remember the name of the bakery, or whether it even was a bakery. General store, maybe? Lloyds? Humphreys? Shoot, couldn't get it. Drove all the way through Ramona without seeing it. The only thing I remembered about it was that you couldn't miss it, situated as it is on a country intersection.
We went miles the other side of Ramona. Passed a cute little egg shop, wondered if we should have stopped to ask about the bakery. Drove farther, passed a turnoff to Julian, felt like we'd gone way too far, turned around. Rose cried out that she'd seen some camels. Llamas, maybe, we asked? Maybe, she said dubiously, but they were big and brown with definite humps. Really looked like camels. We came to the egg shop again and this time we did stop. Delightful old lady inside behind a counter, with a wall of eggs behind her. Oh, yes, she smiled, when I said we were looking for a bakery, I couldn't remember the name..."Dudley's," she said. YES! That was it. Keep on going for 8 miles, you can't miss it.
Off we went. And this time I spied a sign that said "Camel Dairy." Rose had been right. I glimpsed three or four camels in the field as we zipped past. The girls were screaming with excitement. And horror at the thought of camel milk, camel cheese.
On and on, a very long eight miles it was, past many horse farms, sheep, cows, peacocks. And there it was: Dudley's Bakery. Full of huge pastries, cheap. Oh my. We loaded up on the sort of treats guaranteed to leave a terrible flaky mess in the van. Headed back home. The camels were quite close to the road this time, and we pulled over and watched them. A dozen at least, many sizes. Back on our way. Waved at the egg shop. Wished we had needed some eggs. Drove home.
Filled the bird feeders, got the new bin set up, thank you Scott. Also got the hummingbird feeder back up. Made some nectar, let it cool.
Watched Darby O'Gill & the Little People.
Filled the hummingbird feeder w/ the cooled nectar, hung it outside on the patio.
Scott and I watched the first part of Longitude.
Monday. Speech therapy, usual morning at home (I made a cake, started chicken in crockpot while girls did MUS and other stuff), drifted down to patio to read Secret of the Andes aloud. Triumphant gasp from Rose: hummingbirds at the feeder!! Three of them. Grabbed Handbook of Nature Study, read about hummers...I hadn't known about the double-tubed tongues (their tongues curl over at both edges, forming tubes like straws) nor that they also eat insects, but the girls did. Found a site for San Diego birding and looked at all the locally found species of hummingbirds. Ours seem to be Anna's Hummingbirds. The girls have names them Ruby, Emerald, and Sapphire.
Later. I'd said that as soon as Rilla woke up from her nap, we could have cake to celebrate the feast of the birth of Mary. Rose decided she needed to practice piano, VERY LOUDLY. When that didn't work, she took Wonderboy in to Rilla's bedside. That did the trick. So: beautifully set table, big blue cake with white whipped cream roses, yum. Very happy children.
When shade hit the front & side yards, Rose and I went out with the little ones to do some more yard cleanup. Afterward, in the back yard, we saw the hummingbirds again, saw them flit to a tree just behind our back fence. One was perched on a branch there. Tried for a picture but missed. A great deal of chittering and cheeping from that tree: a nest of baby hummers, perhaps? In any case, we know it was our jewel-birds doing the chittering. Back and forth to the feeder they went. Very exciting.
Chicken and vegetables for dinner. Then we went to a rosary procession at the Marian shrine at St. Ephrem's. The bishop was there. Saw many friends.
Home to collapse. Scott was home from work, took over. Yay. Kids to bed. We watched part two of Longitude.
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