A Vat of Indigo

This picture shows a scene from our backyard several nights last week. I am swishing fabric in my indigo vat. Newly dyed cloths and shirts hang on the clothesline. Gibbie is making a giant mudpuddle out of his digging hole. Ezra is in the hammock hanging from the clothesline. His foot is sticking out.Indigo was easier than I expected and super gratifying. The color is rich. My indigo I got in a kit at my fabulous local art store, Wet Paint. I dyed cotton and linen, including t-shirts for Ezra's birthday, as well as clothes of mine that were formerly white. White clothes and I don't get along very well, as they soon become no longer white. I also dyed plain fabric that I have an array of plans for. The colors turned out strikingly vibrant! Rich, lovely blues. We will see how they wear--I am expecting a gradual fade as with blue jeans. Next time I do this, I would like to make it an event, as the vat can dye so much fabric, and have others join in.

Biking Together Again--Gibbie Helping!

So, after a long hiatus, prompted by Gibbie's new found ability to ride behind an adult on his "tagalong" (meaning he hated the old trailer and I didn't know how to carry Ezra with the tagalong) I finally mustered up the courage to just try something. Lo and behold, it worked!I just tie Ezra, who is is now four years old, on my back. I don't do this much anymore, as he walks everywhere, but it worked just like always, and doesn't hurt when I'm leaning over biking, as it tends to now if I tried to wear him while walking any distance. It's similar to biking with a heavy backpack, which I am used to. Ezra loves looking over my shoulder, and we can all three of us can talk much better than when I was hauling them in the trailer because they are closer. I think it's quite safe and feel more comfortable in traffic than I did with the trailer. Plus, Gibbie is contributing to the ride! He can pedal along, and push hard on hills. He's really helping now!

We have biked like this to several places including our church, which is about five miles from home and up quite a hill! Another disadvantage which kept me from doing it for so long is the lack of storage space--I can't wear my backpack. This should be easily resolved with a generous handlebar basket and a rack over my back tire to support panniers. Maybe we could even put a rack on Gibbie's tagalong? I can't use a rack with a crate on it, because the tagalong runs in that space over the wheel.

Ezra's 4th Birthday

Monday was Ezra's 4th birthday.

We usually go to a coffee shop on Mondays, and so we asked Ezra where he'd like to go. He picked Kopplins Coffee. Here he is with the owner, Andrew Kopplin:
In the afternoon, we had an outdoor party with neighbors and some family. There was a kid pool (which Ezra was born in...), a slip and slide, and a greased watermelon.







Note: All of these pictures were taken on Arista Premium 400 film using either my Nikon EM with a 28-105 Vivitar lens, or my new Zeiss Ikon Contaflex with a 50mm Carl Zeiss Tessar lens.