Tonight while Isak was in his piano lesson, Anja was out charming all the middleschoolers with her bug-hunting skills. When we came out, she had her newest find in her hand…meet Smiley, the preying mantis:

And a few more since the camera was already out…

Dad, I think you’re going to have to give up the idea of the nice and tidy short haircut…Isak keeps getting asked by all the older girls if he’s going to grow out his hair again.

Anja…

And…can you believe this…..

Anja is well known for coming to the front door bearing gifts of critters galore. Frogs, lizards, bugs, beetles, dragonflies…she has no fear of animals and quite the ability to catch them. So much, in fact, that she has a following in the neighborhood - mostly older boys who have gone so far as to offer her money to crawl through tunnels to catch them frogs. And for Anja, that’s juts a bonus to get the money, since she’d be crawling through tunnels to catch frogs just for fun.

So today, B and I were watching a movie and I heard a commotion coming to the door, and then a knock followed by, “Mamma! I caught a baby bunny!” We hurried to the door to make sure everything was OK with the bunny, and it appeared to be just fine, plump and healthy. Anja’s on her way to release it now, but not before I (of course) got a picture.

At lunchtime, I sent Isak out to go get Anja from her friends’ house.  She came home and rang the doorbell - she will never come in the house without ringing the doorbell first.  I opened the door to tell her that I am not her butler and she can let herself in, but she said, “But I caught a frog!”

Typical Anja, wearing her pretty little dress and pearls and catching frogs.

Inspired by Anja, yesterday I took my camera on a little expedition - if only through my back yard - and I now present to you all, my dear readers, the first pictures I’ve taken in a loooong time for no other reason than just to take pictures. It felt therapeutic.

Anja and her friend came running inside squealing that I just HAD to see what they found. They told me they found a grasshopper. I’ve seen one grasshopper here and it was enough to tide me over the next few years (it was about 4″ long!!). She assured me it was a small one, and pulled my hand so I went out with her. Sure enough, it was small, only about an inch long. In true Anja fashion, she just had to catch it, so she snuck up on it and caught it in her hand. When I went to get my camera, it jumped away but Anja had gotten it trapped again under her hands and when I was coming out, she was just picking it up again. It jumped off of her and directly onto the forehead of Anja’s little friend who promptly freaked out, flailing her arms and screaming. Although I couldn’t blame her for her reaction, I also couldn’t stop myself from laughing. I’m a little bit cruel like that.

Anyhow, the grasshopper jumped into the courtyard and that is where my mini-expedition began.

Sharing a secret

The strawberries growing in the courtyard

The herbs growing in the kitchen window - sweet basil, flat parsley and cilantro. I used some cilantro yesterday in my guacamole, it was the first time I’ve used my own and was much more flavorful than what I’ve had before!

Into the back yard…

Spanish roof

Only in a couple parts of the fence, these tiny snails pack in between the slats. I don’t know why and I don’t know how they get there, but they are jammed in there. We ate some on Santa Semana (the day before Easter). They were pretty gross.

This one isn’t from yesterday but I have not found a place to put it yet so I’ll just include it with this post. A lizard on the fence that the kids were terribly excited about. I couldn’t get the right angle because it was right in the corner of the fence, but doesn’t it look like a mini alligator?

My kitty escaped yesterday thanks to some neighborhood kids who kept leaving the door open every time they went through the house. I could see her as she made her way to the door and I figured that since it was a beautiful day, I’d let her go out and stay close by. Here are a couple of pretty ones of her as we rolled around on the ground together. The larger version is much prettier; you can click on them to see them better.

Last but not least, I love getting pictures of the kids when they don’t know I’m taking them. Here is Anja jumping on the trampoline with no idea I was there.