Coyote

So, Zora and I had a run-in with a coyote today. For reals. He was HUGE (like the size of a German shepherd)! At the time, I was convinced he was a wolf. I was scared, which Zora could totally smell. I told her to get ready for me to stick her up in a tree, in case he started to approach. She said "ok". I was armed only with a piece of bark Zora had picked out for an art project. I knew not to run away, but I wasn't sure if I should try to scare him away or not. We stood and stared at each other for about 5 minutes, until he decided to walk away--toward our car. Once he passed our car, I managed to unlock it (my hands were shaking pretty hard), threw Zora inside, jumped in myself, and then leaned on the horn. I know, the horn honking is pretty dorky, but I was so freaked out!

I'm not far enough away from the situation that I'm no longer shaking, BUT, next time I go to Grace Cole Nature Park, I will definitely come with a big group of *noisy* people! I think one of the reasons the coyote was out and about was the park was completely deserted. It was a very pretty park though...

The one shaky shot I got when I first saw him, before he saw us!

I told you so!

A little over a year ago, I posted this photo of Zora eating her lunch (see original post):

 

And then  I took this one a few days ago. Notice any resemblance?

Our Camellia

After 5 straight weeks of filling our yard waste bin with the branches and leaves from our camellia bush, today was finally the last load. This story is probably told better though, in pictures...

Zora hugging her beloved "climbing tree" early this fall.

The camellia is the big shrub in the background.

Zora climbing her tree.

Her favorite spot to sit.

And then it snowed, and sleeted and camellia snapped in two :-(

Alex got to work immediately cutting
branches off the downed portion.

Shrub carnage.

Split in two.

Doesn't look too good.

A little lopsided.

Alex with a chainsaw!

Bernadette and Marcel helping out too!

The downed portion was left behind to see if it
would grow. It is now a favorite little fort.

And this branch is a train. Or a bus. Depends on the day.

We'll see how she does through the spring and summer
before making any final decisions.

Om

To my delight, Zora has gotten to see me practice yoga pretty regularly lately. She's usually running around playing, arranging toys, looking at books, and sometimes crawling under me or on top of me in postures. The other day though, I stepped up to the front of my mat to do the opening prayer, and Zora asked "Can I chant with you?" Then she busted out with the prayer (in Sanskrit). I guess it shouldn't have been too surprising, as she's been hearing me chant it for awhile now, but it still took me awhile to learn it myself. She definitely has her father's brain when it comes to memorizing things! This morning I managed to catch her on tape. And yes, that's Zecky cleaning himself in the background ;-)

4 Things I Learned This Week

1. Just because you know how to use a pair of scissors doesn't mean you know how to cut hair.
2. Cutting hair is difficult, and cutting bangs is difficult-er.
3. A three-year-old will not only forgive you for giving her a bad haircut, she will adore the haircut, and still love you crazy hard.
4. Zora can rock any haircut you throw at her. This will be handy in life...

Way shorter and crookeder than I intended,
but you can see her beautiful face!