Today we take an extreme close-up tour of the homestead…actually, we’ll be doing this tomorrow, too, because when you get right up close, there’s so many wonderful things to see. (That’s shorthand for “I took a whole lotta pictures.”)

First up is kitteh cuteness, Mister Hermes, who feels it necessary to miaow incessantly at me whenever he’s awake. Fortunately because he’s a bebe, he’s quite often asleep:

Marigold-y goodness:

Dahlberg daisy, the blooms of which are about the size of a dime, just to give you some perspective:

Bouganvillea blossoms:

A visiting dragonfly:

A Red Rocket pepper bloom, which always look like little lanterns to me:

One of the gajillion sprouts on the Key Lime tree, which has vastly appreciated me NOT watering it:

The Red Cheese pepper, who I canna wait to get my fork into, after sauteeing with onion and spicy sausage, of course:

One of the multitude of Red Rice beans:

The (purely ornamental) Hyacinth Bean going up its trellis:

The amazingly firecrackery Tropical Milkweed:

The amazingly flying-the-hell-everywhere Tropical Milkweed seeds:

Orange Butterfly Weed:

A sneaky skipper pretending to be part of the Butterfly Bush:

And this spectacular “weed” growing behind the composter. It reminds me of a sweet pea bloom, and might actually be one, but the color is like the Holy Grail in lip color for me, have alternately had it and been looking for it my entire life. A beautiful delicate bloom, on a viny plant, this “weed” is more than welcome in our yard:

Tune in tomorrow for the exciting sequel: “Extreme Closeup, The Revenge!”

…and boy were we PISSED.

You wait four years for a sequel to a movie you really enjoyed, and instead of a story, you get needlessly elaborate CGI creations. Interesting to look at, sure, but at the expense of every other aspect of the film? Seems the studio should be asking some questions…

It wasn’t just us disappointed…the entire theater was near silent for nearly the entire film. I counted three times when I heard any sort of a chuckle or exclamation from anyone. In a nearly 2 hour movie.

This is the same writer/director who did the original Hellboy, so I have to assume something has just come loose in his brain since Pan’s Labyrinth…the rave reviews for the visuals in that film made him think that was all we were looking for, perhaps…which surely does not bode well for The Hobbit films. The Hellboy characters deserve much better treatment, and they sure didn’t get it.

Last weekend we saw Get Smart, and did not stop laughing the entire time. Steve Carell is still Steve Carell (see airplane lavatory scene for an example), but he is capable of also being someone else (ie. ACTING), unlike others we could mention (*coff* Ben Stiller, who only ever plays that one angry, clueless guy), and did a fine job as a Maxwell Smart who was both inept and ept at the same time. I remember very little of the television show, but Husband assures me this is faithful to the Smart character. He may have appeared hapless but things always fell out in his favor in the end.

Anne Hathaway is, for lack of a more original word, luminous. The camera adores her, and she had the opportunity to Sydney Bristow her way through several scenes, with slinky dresses, hooker wigs, and do-me make-up. Dwayne Johnson is likewise appealing, just as amiable and likeable as hell. He seems like the kind of guy you’d like to have over for dinner. Which virtually guarantees he is an abandoner of kittens.*

Speaking of kittens, it is five days and counting to vacation time, and seeing our kids for the first time in nearly four weeks! I miss them to the point that I’ve started making kitten slideshows with silly little captions to amuse them long distance, like this one.

The little buggers are growing fast, and making chasing a string into an art form. This shot of Hermes still makes me laugh til I snort. One kitten is often funny, but two are endlessly hysterical.

*That is a JOKE, people.

One pulls on the string tied around the tower, the other pulls on the end of the string in the ring. You just sit back and enjoy the show.

A lull in the action…

This is the usual playtime scenario…Oliver on top, BITING, and Hermes yowling like his ear is being ripped off. “No, honey, just excessively slobbered on.”

“Oh.”

Yep, still cute.

Oliver, in his excitement (or maybe just the throes of teething), simply *must* chew on something. Usually my fingers.

But Hermes is more fun to chew on. He’s like the original squeaky toy.

“I’m not gonna EAT him…”

“Is the mean kitty gone, mama?”

“Hmph. Little brothers are *boring.*

Zzzzzzz…