Happy Auntie's Day 2012 to Me

I love this recent letter from my niece Amber. Thanks to a lovely post-it from her mother, I know it says:

Dear [Auntie Nettie]

I love you. I was wondering if you can come for a visit here.

Love,
Amber

Please note that Amber is wearing her favorite colors, purple and red. She has also accurately portrayed the original differences in our hair hues. I even know which blouse she's got me wearing. I guess I keep packing the same clothes whenever I visit. (Maybe it's time for a wardrobe makeover?)

Since I haven't seen the little monkeys since Christmas 2010, it's time to make a long-over due visit to their new digs in Idaho. Is it holiday break yet?

Love you too Amber ... and Elle .... and Nathan ... and Drew .... and Phineas and Fern* .... as well as all my honoraries-- E.D., The Blondie Girlz, The Maine Montley Crew, Moosh and Mozzi, and so many many more!

*oh, who are Phineas and Fern (or Ferbina)?
These guys ... or more specifically
this guy and gal
(according to the ultrasound tech**)

Coming soon to a blog near you, in the winter of 2012!
So excited for more nieces and nephews to spoil.

**Subject to change upon delivery. Surprises due without notice - though new 3D ultrasound technology make that a little more difficult to manage.

Happy 6th Birthday Drew!

Happy 6th Birthday Drew!

I can't believe how big you are getting.

I love that you are becoming a little gentleman. Here you are at your cousin Nathan's May 2010 blessing.
But I also love that you are a little goofy about being photographed, just like your aunt. What a face. Tell us how you really feel.Even though we didn't get to spend a lot of time together in August 2010, it was fun playing with you at Grandmary's new house, pretending to be Iron Man and hide-and-seek. You may wonder why I'm including these photos ... well, you so rarely seem to slow down, I had to document you getting sleepy, and showing your downward-facing-dog pose. (Also, you have a cute little behind my dear!)I hope you had fun staying with me at Grandmary's house for the holidays. Look at you, all snuggled up in your Cars sleeping bag, reading all those books.I do forgive you for beating me at Uno. You are a great card player. One day, little man ... we will have to have a rematch.You are getting so comfortable with technology. It was super cute how you were talking to your dad on the phone on New Year's Eve. Keep calling me as often as you want. I love your phone calls and your many voice messages. Do you know, I have some of yours saved from almost three years ago?!Now that Grandmary and GrumpMax BOTH have laptops with Skype on them, maybe you can talk to me on the computer t.v. more often. Wouldn't that be fun?It was also really fun to go hiking with you in Snow Canyon on New Year's Day. What a great way to start out 2011.I really love how fearless and energetic you are, you little mountain goat, even if you make me feel really old and out of shape. Never lose that joy of exploration. There are so many adventures for you, around every bend.Finally, even though sometimes you can seem like an Irritator dinosaur to them,know that your parents love you, so very very much. You are their blessing and their joy.

Happy Birthday, my Drewbug,

Xo,

Auntie Nettie

p.s. I love these little videos.

c. May 2010, playing around in the backseat, you thought I was taking photos.

c. August 2010, reading your Primary talk to Grandmary and GrumpaMax

No Place Like Home

Auntie Nettie will be away for a few days.

She's "leafing" town and heading "home" to visit the folks, friends, and some of the old stomping grounds.

It's going to be a "berry" bittersweet weekend in ye quaint Connecticut as Auntie Nettie passes down Memory Lane.

She anticipates that more than these kinds of teardrops will fall.

Thanks for visiting. We'll* be back after the moon travels through the nightsky a phase or two.

* Auntie Nettie and The Shushing Librarian

Spring has Officially Sprung!

Pardon my delay in posting. I am recuperating from my spring/Easter revels this weekend out in nature. Between the aches and pains from hiking and the almost second degree sunburn on part of a delicate piece of anatomy, things got a bit behind. That, and I took a lot of pictures to cull through, and then I got caught up day dreaming about the next time I can go to the Botanical Gardens.

Mother Nature ... Thanks for reading the blog. All those things I asked for before? Almost everything I asked for, you granted and then some. I know I was too early for the lilacs, but I saw things I didn't know I needed. Instead of the pussy willows, did you see me squeal in glee over the weeping willow? It's been too too long since I saw one of those in full spring fuzzy glory. That gardenia? Smelled.like.Heaven ... Plus, I think I found a new secluded writing/reading space for later.

THANKS!

When will Spring be Sprung?

Dear Mother Nature,

I know that there are four seasons, and that winter comes with snow, slush, ice, rain, and sleet. I understand that we need winter, and we need all this precipitation, but ... combined with grey skies, concrete, travertine, sidewalks, and general griminess, all this is giving me a case of the serious Winter Blahs ...

Not even the winter blues, mind you, because I love blue!

I have the BLAHS!

I need fiery colors. I need bright blue skies. I need greens. I need flowers and foliage. I need botanicals.

I suppose I just could just go back to the New York Botanical Gardens and soak in more nature, like Christine and I did back in mid-November on an unseasonably warm Saturday during the Chrysanthemum Festival.

The Orchid Show is under way and those botanicals are exotic enough. I could always hang out in the desert, the tropical, or the rain forest habitats to defrost, as well. Maybe I could walk around the garden paths to stroll away the blues. Perhaps I'd see some snow drops along the forest floor or the waterfall could sooth the savage beast that I've become.

But Mother Nature, in the meantime, could you help a blahed person out, and hurry along a long delicious, mild spring ... PRETTY Please?

I need to see awesomeness of magnolias, crab apples, and cherry trees in bloom. I need to be blinded by a meadow full of sunny daffodils or a row of forsythia. I need to smell the tangy smell of spring dirt just turned over into a planting bed. I need to see the light blue sky filtered through a scrim of budding tree branches. I need to feel the fuzz of pussy willows in my hands and green soft grass between my bare toes. I need to hear robins singing and morning doves cooing. I need to inhale the rich fragrance of lilacs and be transported back in time to when I was a little carefree child. I even need to smell the intoxicating aroma of a light spring shower.

I need to celebrate spring ... SOON please.

Thanks,

Auntie Nettie