Triangulations

Project Summer

2010-08-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

In 2003, we bought an ugly, neglected-but-with-good-bones 'repo' in a nice cul-de-sac. We have been working on it ever since.

The first tasks included removing/replacing the constantly running shower, scrubbing out the neglected-and-rusty bathtub, removing/replacing the rusted out toilets, and stripping layers of ghastly wallpaper. Then we painted. Anne was five and she wanted her bedroom to be pink, while eight year old Daniel wanted his bedroom to be 'Buzz Lightyear Blue'. In 2010, and no longer five years old, Anne has been wishing for a lime green bedroom...

...and a departure from the bunkbed the kids shared in our old house.

Anne's birthday was in May, and for her birthday we gave her a 'room redo'. We sold the bunkbed on Craig's List and she hunted Craig's List for the wooden bed she had in her mind's eye.....she found it!

We have been cleaning, organizing, and painting all summer. Last summer, El Professor broke his ribs, and the summer before that he had to study for, and add, an endorsement to his teaching certification. Much has gone undone, so this has been Project Summer.

I painted both kids' closets shiny, 'Swiss Coffee' white. We never did get the closets painted before the 2003 move in, and the dull-sea-foam-green 'ick' has finally been cleaned and covered!

As a part of her room redo, Anne wanted to get a desk. We were at the recycling center one day, and she found a desk for $5. It was a ghastly, mustard yellow behemoth that looked like it was straight from an episode of The Brady Bunch. But for $5, I figured it was worth the risk.

We set up shop in the cleaned out garage and primed over the mustard yellow...

...and painted it 'Fairy Tale Blue'. (A friend of hers helped with the process.)

The next step was tricky. Anne had the idea that she wanted to cover the desk with shiny, white flowers, but there was no stencil that captured the flower she had in mind. A mural painter at Michael's Craft Store picked up on our dilemma, and explained the process of graphite paper tracing and hand painting.

Project Summer is still underway and there is still much to do, but among the finished projects is a 'Fairy Tale Blue with shiny white flowers' desk in a lime green bedroom.

Project Summer has included much more than room redos, and it has been wonderful to circle the wagons and get some things done. I don't think our repo house will ever be done, but I am thankful for the opportunity to chip away at it.

Using the Garden II

2010-08-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

The plums are ripening....

...and the Gravenstein apples have been dropping.

Our last house was a rental and it was next door to the elderly owner/landlord. I learned a lot from her, including the fact that red-striped Gravensteins are wonderful, and that you should gather the funky windfalls and simply cut out the bad parts.

When we moved into our own house seven years ago, El Professor bought four apple trees at a local nursery. The tags had fallen off the trees and the trees could not be identified. The nursery sold them for $5/each. A few years later, as the trees began to produce, I was thrilled to find that two of them were red-striped Gravensteins! Yesterday, I filled a bowl with Gravenstein apple pieces mixed with plums. A bagful went into the freezer and the other portion became oatmeal apple-plum crisp.

The plethora of zucchini continues. Zucchini stir-fried in olive oil and garlic is good, and is even better topped with a little parmesan.

At the end of a day filled with garden bounty shredding/baking/cooking/drying , I baked chicken breasts in a baking dish with apple pieces, plum pieces, Walla Walla onion, and a drizzling of teriyaki sauce. Then, I served it over zucchini/pasta from lunch.

MMmmm.

Using the Garden I

2010-08-07T18:43:00.000-07:00

This morning I decided to take on the produce that has been piling up around here...

...Zucchini grated for the freezer to use in future zucchini bread or cake. Who knows??? Maybe I'll compost it next summer! :)

Low fat Weight Watcher's chocolate zucchini cake from a recipe I quadrupled and will freeze in pieces for the kids to have for quickie grab snacks....

If you're ever planning on being stranded on a desert island and can take a finite amount of survival things with you, consider zucchini or zucchini seeds. This 'caveman club' is from last summer!! A year later it is still hanging around our house.....

Zucchini thinly sliced and dehydrated with olive oil, glacial salt, garlic powder, and parmesan cheese.....

Zucchini bread from the Jane Brody cookbook.....

I also peeled and used up the windfall Gravenstein apples that were languishing in the backyard and some of the plums that are ripening daily. Now, what I really need to do is defrost the freezer to get ready for the bounty!

Ignoring the Garden.....

2010-08-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

It's the first of August, and the garden is beginning to crank out some excellent bounty. It's been a weird summer....

-It rained incessantly throughout the month of June.

-We have been busy organizing/painting/living/hiking/etc. and have been, other than some weed-pulling frenzied touch-ups, ignoring the garden.

We bought landscape fabric for the vegetable area to avoid our usual weed-choked, high maintenance routine, as well as to avoid the incidence of 'cat visitations'. It started out like this....

....and it has filled in nicely. It has been a fairly successful Ignored Garden.

The landscape fabric has been great for keeping weeds and cats out of the vegetables, but it has been a bit difficult to water and, despite the five-year 'promise', the stuff is beginning to deteriorate. Still, it has kept the weeds at bay while we have been working on other things.

This summer we have enjoyed a decent raspberry harvest,

the Gravenstein apples are beginning to fall, and we've had a small but steady supply of blueberries. The yellow plums are on the cusp of ripeness, the basil is ready for a pesto-fest, the cucumber plants are offering a steady supply, and the zucchini is CRANKING it out.....

Annie made this:

And I sliced zucchini and dehydrated it with olive oil, garlic and salt. Mmmm.

I'm off now to fuss a bit in the Ignored Garden. The tomato plants are insanely tall/full/overgrown/unproductive, and I'm going to do some selective pruning. Maybe after a bit of pruning followed by ignoring, I'll get some tomatoes.

Resting

2010-07-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

High 70s, low 80s. My favorite summer weather has prevailed for several days now--coolish mornings and sunny, not-too-hot afternoons. The kids have been away for a few days with friends and El Professor and I have been enjoying a schedule-less, projecting frenzy. No specific mealtimes, no permission sought or given, just time, time, time to get some things done. We've been resting, really.

The past two years, specifically summers, have been filled with urgencies that pushed nest cleaning off the schedule, while the detritus of life took over the garage/cupboards/every drawer/desktop. Two summers ago, El Professor was suddenly given the assignment of adding an endorsement to his teaching license with this alarming statement--'or we will most likely have to lay you off half time'. He had about six weeks to learn linguistics and to cram for one of the scheduled tests administered at the University. Last summer he fell and broke a few ribs which put a quick end to most of the summer 'honey do' list. In the midst of this, other life things were going on...good things, hard things, things. Two years ago we joined the Classical Conversations group that was being founded here and experienced a sudden (but wonderful, challenging) homeschool course change. The first months were like this. It was a great experience, so last year I agreed teach the grammar and writing course for 4th-6th graders. (Prior to this, I had never studied grammar.) I spent much of that spring/summer/fall/winter studying/cramming/thinking/planning lessons. I loved every minute of it, it was challenging, and it was worth the effort. Having said that, though, this summer we are resting. Resting from studying and cramming. Resting from a sense of urgency.

Life is good, but hard. My dad survived the septic crash his body experienced this spring and has been growing stronger. He spent seven weeks in the hospital. My dearest, loveliest aunt is fighting colon cancer. My sister's sweet mother-in-law is dying of a sudden, acute leukemia. Life is fragile and precious. In the midst of all of this, we are resting from the urgent push we have experienced over the past two years. We are continuing our course with Classical Conversations, knowing that the pace will be ramped up this year with both kids in the rigorous middle and high school programs. I will be teaching the same grammar and writing course this year, so I've been picking away at planning/thinking/studying, but I'm not cramming. Instead, we've been painting bedrooms, scrubbing mold, priming, trolling Craig's List, organizing, organizing, organizing, oiling the furniture, breathing deeply, and cleaning our nest. We have been helping the kids finish their math books and El Professor and I plan to study/review the Institute For Excellence In Writing seminar, and to help the kids do some preparation for the upcoming school year. Still, we are enjoying the break from urgency, the opportunity to take care of ourselves and our home, and are relishing falling-into-bed-exhausted from hard work.

Rainy Day....Hard Times.....

2010-04-02T08:19:00.000-07:00

This morning there is a tingling energy outside. There is a cold front passing through and the energy is present in the sound, the light wagging of the twigs on the trees, the spin of the wind scupture outside my window. Yesterday the sun was out all day, and the golden warmth was such a needed thing for me. I sat by the window in the library, the kids quietly worked on their school work, and I read....and read....and read....and escaped. It was wonderful.

My dad is having a serious health crisis and I am wrestling with a terrible, pending sense of loss, despite the fact that we might not lose him. Dad is a retired physician, and around him is a swarm of doctors, some are friends and some are newer doctors, who are all on "It". "It" being a staph infection that has spread around his sacroiliac joint and lower back, setting up pockets of infection, destroying tissue, and making him horrifically ill. "It" has gone septic. The agonizing pain of the abscesses has been chased by powerful pain medications rendering him 'senseless', somewhat unresponsive. He has eaten so little in this long illness (over a month), that he is weak. He lays now, intubated, in ICU with more surgery to come. Among the Scary Things....will he emerge from the 'stupor' he is in? He has had a head to toe MRI, as his many doctors search for a possible stroke or brain bleed, while also searching for more of the rampant Staph Terrorist Cells that are setting up camp who knows where? The MRI showed no stroke, but what about the no speech situation? It's very distressing. There's a name for the issue of no speech/low responsiveness--'metabolic encephalopathy'. It's like a crowd of toxins/medications trying file out.....on a dirt trail.

The rain is beginning and it is cold outside. I know we need the rain. The lakes and reservoirs need to fill for the dry, summer months ahead. But I loved that sun yesterday. Still, I will try to embrace this rain, try to see the need for it, and will choose to move, hopeful, into another day.

'Nordmann' is in the garage......

2010-01-03T19:38:00.000-08:00

We have a living Christmas tree, a Nordmann Fir, fondly known as 'Nordmann', and he is back in the garage. You have to 'step' a living tree in out of the cold, keep it inside for only a week or so, and then 'step' it back out into the cold. Nordmann is in the garage acclimating to the great outdoors, and there are a lot of other fun things out there with Nordmann. Heaven help us, should the garage ever catch on fire! There are things drying out there. Fun things from the summer garden......

As Christmas went into boxes today, I couldn't resist playing with some of the fun stuff that was in the garage....

The fake, red berry wreath ended up here instead of in a box bound for the attic.....

A friend gave me an amaryllis, and it seems to be happy sitting on my grandmother's sewing machine. For years the sewing machine sat under the attic steps at my parent's house, and now it is our end table. (You should see all of the fun, old buttons I found in the drawers.)

The Advent candle shell tray has been rearranged a bit to hide all of the wax drips from those, eh-hem, 'no drip candles' I paid dearly for. (Remind me not to buy those candles next year.)

I really should have been working on lesson plans today since we resume homeschool tomorrow, and I have to teach at Classical Conversations on Tuesday. As Christmas went into the boxes in the garage, though, it was much more fun to fill in those empty, formerly-Christmas-spaces with fun things from my family. My birthday is the day after Christmas, so there are fun spoils this time of year. A canning jar lantern from an artisan up in the San Juan Islands.......

My favorite new thing from my sister--a French glove form.

OK-- Now I really have to work on lesson plans, laundry, lesson plans, dishes, lesson plans..............

It's a Salvage Christmas.....

2009-12-28T07:53:00.000-08:00

Last year I had such a great time working on handmade gifts for our extended family, so handmade was definitely a repeat for this Christmas. One difficulty in chronicling this, however, is that my camera is broken and the kids' newish cameras were in various states of dead battery/lost charger/left at a relative's house during the handmade process. Hmmm. Most of these photos had to be taken on the 'hunk-o-junk only-10-photos-at-a-time-and-many-will-be-blurry' camera. This year's Christmas projects were garden gathered, or shopped for at the salvage/recycling center with a few thrift stores thrown in the mix.....

In early October, El Professor and I dug up and divided perennials such as the campanula that grows in our front garden and potted them for gifts. El Professor carefully researched zones as we have relatives that range from the high Oregon plateau desert to the marine San Juan Islands. El Professor potted Shasta daisies, daisy mums, lamb's ear, pink calla lilies, ground cover rose, butterfly bush (one sister actually wants those), campanula, and purple iris taken from a patch that originated from a tuber that my dear 82 year old aunt gave me. The iris ended up being especially precious because we just learned that this cherished aunt has terminal colon cancer.

The irises are on the far right.

White campanula

Last summer as the days grew shorter and the blue explosion of the hydrangea bush changed to a bluey-green, I cut and cut and cut the blooms and let them dry in vases all over the house.

The dried blooms became wreaths and they really and truly aren't such a sickly green. Thank you camera.

Some of the summer pepper bounty became chili strings. Remember--NEVER rub your eyes when you are working on these.

The apples from our tree and from the local orchard were made into applesauce, but the skins were cooked and jelly bagged and made into apple jelly.

Our raspberries were mixed with some blackberries that were gathered along a nearby bicycle path (El Professor insists you only pick the blackberries that are above the potential dog pee elevation), and the mix made a lovely jam. (We don't have dog, so the raspberries are exempt from the elevation requirement.)

Our friends were in the process of adopting a little boy as well as residing their house at the height of their grape season, so we were given many of their grapes. We gave some of them back as a lovely, dark red grape jelly.

I canned and canned in a one day session; the juices and purees were carefully frozen in late summer and early fall, ready to be made into jam or jelly.

Last summer out in the Oregon high desert, I picked up an oil drum lid that was lying out on the dry landscape. There is all kinds of treasure lying around on my father-in-law's acreage--arrowheads, interesting rocks, dried pinecones, rusty metal this-and-thats. There was something beautiful about that old oil drum lid complete with bullet hole, so I decided to try my hand at sign painting. (I'm not a painter and I don't have nice handwriting, so this was no small task.) The 'bomb' for me? CARBON PAPER!

1. Print text in a cool font

2. Tape cool text onto carbon paper

3. Work over oil drum lid with soapy water and steel wool

4. Tape carbon paper/text onto dry lid

5. Press hard and trace with pencil to transfer the text

6. Paint

The end result was a family sign for one of my sisters.

I got hooked on the idea of painting metal salvage, so I hit the recycling/salvage yard hunting for another piece of cool junk for my other sister. Our local building/recycling/salvage center is another place full of treasure. I found an old tool box with the lid half off, full of machine parts. I dumped out the parts and paid a whopping $4 for the prize.

More steel wool, carbon paper, painting......

...the lid became a family sign and the rest of the scrubbed out box made a great gift box for the jams/jellies, wreath, pepper string, with the transformed lid wrapped and tucked in. (Can you tell I blocked out part of their name? )

The oil drum lid sign/gift ended up in a cool old wash tub found at the recycling center. It really was cool, but the photos are awful. Oh well.

Much creative fun was had..... we'll have to start thinking up ideas for next year.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas......

2009-12-15T08:16:00.000-08:00

It has been the busiest fall I've experienced in, well, a long time. We have a second year Classical Conversations group in our area and I've been teaching there all day on Tuesdays. Juggling that with homeschooling, learning the content for the classes I'm teaching, prepping materials for class, homemaking, making time for exercise, etc., etc. I love it though. It's been challenging.

I've been getting Christmas things out in stages, beginning with an Advent table. We have been doing Advent activities with the kids for several years now, with each year's Advent candle display being different. This year I decided to dig into the plethora of shells I have in the o-so-famous garage. My mom's side of the family is from the Puget Sound area and I have a lifelong love of shell gathering. My favorite part of this Advent display is that shells aren't flammable. :-)

I inherited these sweet little candles holders from my dad's parents.

When our kids were little, I decided to do Christmas displays that included Nativity scenes. We had a few Santa-ish things, but there were several Nativity related things, books, etc. This year I have three Nativity displays and the pop up Medieval Nativity book out. The kids each have their own little Nativity set to set up in their rooms.

My birthday is the day after Christmas. Between that and Christmas, my parents have outfitted us with the pieces of the Willow Tree Nativity.

I had a bare corner, so I 'shopped the yard'. I love twigs and dried things. This is dried prunings from the Russian Sage plant, and some twigs I've had around for years.

Last Christmas break, El Professor and I tore apart the ugly, gastly, horrible, cedar paneled 'study', whited out the walls to create a lighter space, got rid of the ghastly cedar beam that served as a mantle, and hung old windows on the wall. This room is on the north side of the house and the dark, depressing space has been transformed into my favorite room. I've always gone easy on fireplace/mantle photos so as to spare myself and the world from the ugly scene, so decorating the mantle was a treat this First Mantle Christmas. The 'mystery squash' that sprang up in my garden has evolved into 'the Christmas squash'. I love it. This is the second year it sprang up. After Christmas I'll have to seed save from one to make sure they are back next year.

I found this tin tile board in a treasure shop my sister's mother-in-law operates on Shaw Island in the San Jaun Islands. I collect vintage postcards.

My Hilarious Twin has a curly willow tree in her backyard. Twigs a-plenty!

These wooden Nativity pieces were the first I collected. They were great around little fingers. This year they are on the piano in front of the poppy painting. Joseph fell behind the piano when I was setting up--gotta love those long handled tongs!

Yesterday I canned 78 jars of jams/jellies from juices/berries/purees I prepared all summer/fall and froze. Guess what is ALL over my dining table? :-)

Today we are going to set up our tree. A few years ago we bought a potted Nordmann Fir living tree. 'He' is fondly known as 'Nordmann', and he lives on our back patio. Living trees weigh a TON, I need to do a thorough 'spider check', and you have to 'step' them in so they don't go into shock transferring from the Brrrrrrr to the warm house. Frankly, I think it's all kind of a pain. Last year Nordmann stayed outside and we cut a wild tree from up in the mountains.

Busy....

2009-10-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

We finally met with our accountant last week to see about filing our taxes. In April we filed for an extension. Life was busy and El Professor was distracted by some work issues, so we filed for an extension intending to get to the taxes over the summer months.....we never did....and you KNOW how convenient September is. Thankfully, they are now done. In the meantime, we are back in the saddle with homeschooling alongside our local Classical Conversations group, which translates to 'hitting the ground with your feet running'. I am teaching again, and I've added the afternoon grammar and writing class to my teaching responsibilities. I am challenged, busy, and just a little stressed. (OK, a lot stressed.) Still, this opportunity has landed in my lap and I intend to give it my best shot (even if I feel that for the 12 fall session weeks I will think about or do little else). Amidst all of the busyness, fall has come. I'm wearing a down vest and looking out at the gray and feeling thankful for challenges, fullness, provision, and community.

The garden has been churning out an abundance of peppers, beans, onions, and (FINALLY) tomatoes. (I have had several successive years of tomato killing prowess.)

'Sundried' tomatoes...SO good.

So far, I have only managed to snatch a few shots of our Classical Conversations class. I am usually so busy I forget to pull out my junky old camera and capture some good moments. Here, Annie is operating her 'shaduf' model she made for her presentation on ancient world irrigation methods.

We begin each Classical Conversations day with a large gathering in the gym of the church in which we meet.

Part of the busyness of teaching at Classical Conversations is transporting 'the stuff of the day' into rolling crates, shopping bags, and a portfolio carrier. The rest of the week, my CC stuff is usually strewn about our living room. (I'm working on carving out space in the garage.)

On Fridays I transport another homeschool boy to piano lessons with Daniel, while another homeschool friend helps transport Annie from a dance class. On Friday this translated to some extra play time on both ends. Annie stayed and played at this friend's, while the piano boys came to our house for a lunch/study session. I had to smile at the sweetness of these two teenage boys, goofy and yet serious, asking questions and helping each other with Latin declensions. That just sounds so academic, doesn't it? Just to add reality to the whole scene, though, here's basically how a conversation I had with Daniel went...

Me--'Who is your History of Science' report about this week?'

Daniel--'Some guy who lived a long time ago who I wish would never have been born so I wouldn't have to write a report on him!'

Feeling grateful for it all. (Most of the time).

Plums A-Plenty........

2009-08-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

Plums a-plenty.

Plums galore.

In every colander, bowl, and more.

A bag at every neighbor’s door.

There’s plum juice on the kitchen floor,

And Bill is outside picking more.

Golden plums in the golden sun.

Lining the branches, every one.

Branches cracking under plum plump plums.

Plums pureed for making jam.

Jars on the counter for a plum jam jam.

Plums a-plenty.

Plums galore.

I can’t believe there are so many more.

Plums in the garden.

Juice in my hair.

Golden plums with plenty to spare.

We've been away.......

2009-08-13T08:19:00.000-07:00

...to the 'dry side' of Oregon.

Up and into the southern Cascade Mountain Range.....

...to Crater Lake National Park.

And on over the mountains to the high desert where El Professor grew up.

Over the mountains where summer storms bring rumbling thunder and jaggy lightning, and where the 'cha-cha-cha' of giant sprinklers irrigating alfalfa fields lulls you to sleep at night.

Where bales of hay make the best play structures....

...and mustangs greet you at the corral.

Where grandpa is a cowboy and you can ride horses with the cousins....

...or shoot guns with dad......

...and drive the car on the outback country roads (even though you're not 15)...

...and where swimming holes are high desert rivers.

We've been away to a part of Oregon where the counties are huge but are populated largely by sagebrush....

...and tiny communities dot the landscape.

Where you can go way out in the outback, way out where the sagebrush expanse is like a sound sucking vortex, where it is sunny and so very quiet, and you can gather sunstones.

We've been out where the trees draw the line and give over the expanse to sagebrush and juniper scrub.

Out where the hills have names like 'The Coyote Hills' and 'Big Juniper', and giant escarpment fault block mountains rise up from the desert.

Where the desert rivers run into inland seas and evaporate. Many of the giant lakes are 'dead' from alkali saturation.

We've been away, driving back west across the desert expanse into the Central Cascade Mountains where my parents' cabin can be found....

...to gather with sisters and more cousins.

A region loved by the populated 'wet side' of Oregon, where the summer crowds crush, and the 'swimming holes' include rather civilized pools.

A place where my parents' purchased a cabin 30+ years ago, and selling it is in the near future--if the economy cooperates.

A place where the crazy, old pink tandem is still ridden by the children, just as we rode it when we were 'the children'.

Where 'Fort Rock' is part of 'the lore' of the cousins, and they build and arrange the rocks each time we visit.

Where the sagebrush and Juniper scrub give way to the mighty Ponderosas, and the mountains are lined up, creating the division between eastern, stark, dry beauty and western, wet, lush beauty.

So much to see and do.

It was a great getaway.

A blog post worth pondering (not mine, but the one linked here)

2009-07-29T09:11:00.000-07:00

Among the myriad homeschool blogs I've come across is this one. This blogger reads and reports volumes about the things she is learning during her homeschool/parenting/life journey. My own 'busyness' takes a different form than regularly researching, reading, and sharing through blogging, but I admire those who do have and take the time to do so. Recently, this blogger posted information from a site that I plan to spend more time exploring. She was specifically referring to this post, and I truly appreciated the content I found there.

After reading this post I was reminded of a time, years ago, when El Professor and I met with one of the elders of the little church we were attending at the time. I don't remember the purpose of the meeting, but I remember the perplexity the elder conveyed over the fact that I hadn't had a conversion 'moment' that seems to be the conventional Christian idea of what it means to become a believer/follower of Jesus. My journey to faith had many arduous moments, days, weeks, months, and there are markers along the trail of where I began to question, and the answers and resolutions I found along the way. Every 'believer' has a different story and a different process, and I need to pray for wisdom and patience as my own children process, question, hurt, doubt, experience, believe, and question some more......

Summer

2009-07-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, El Professor and I sat down with a calendar and mapped out things we still need/want to accomplish this summer. One thing that is now off the calendar....climbing the South Sister. The Broken Rib Situation is beginning to slow El Professor down as he is learning that his determination to stay somewhat active means pain. In the past few days he has been resting more and accepting that he really can't go for long walks or help with tasks like unloading the groceries. Still, we are enjoying summer.

Maybe next summer.....South Sister and Moraine Lake.

The weather has turned hot and our house doesn't have air conditioning. Right now the doors/windows are open and the high velocity fan is pumping the cool morning air into the house. We've been doing our best to stay cool with activities such as Evening Movie on the Lawn and Freezer Surprise for dinner. Last night's Freezer Surprise was a spaghetti meat sauce with a January date on the foil cover. (It was great!) I'm trying to avoid indoor cooking/heating up the kitchen. Hopefully, by the end of the week all of the Freezer Surprise will have been discovered and I can defrost the freezer. It's getting rather 'ice cavish' in there.

We have some 'fix it' projects to do such as finishing the 4 year old unfinished windows, cleaning mildew off the yet-to-be-replaced aluminum windows, cleaning out the garage, and moving the remnants of the old woodpile we unloaded on Craig's List. I am beginning to ramp up preparations for my teaching role at Classical Conversations. Oh, and we need to file our taxes...how long is that extention good for?

I love the cool summer mornings and the drone of the fans. The birds are singing. The purple bush beans are beginning to crank out beans that need picking and the bolting lettuce needs to be gathered before it is too bitter for summer Caesar salads. I'm off......

Good Post....

2009-07-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

I love this post.

Medals, Garden Mmmm, and.....OUCH.

2009-07-19T18:36:00.000-07:00

Summer. Amidst the 'open days' there is a busyness that seems to fill the hours. This has been a busy, but fun weekend. Today we have painted, organized, cleaned, hunted for things, watered, watched the nephew, and now I need to go wipe mildew off a closet ceiling. (I will need to change out of my favorite black shirt first). At the moment the hot summer breeze is drying the towels on the swing set 'clothesline'. (The towels are a bit crunchy, but I love avoiding the use of the dryer in the summer for blankets, quilts, sheets and towels.)

A bit of the 'busyness' that has filled the weekend....

The kids have been participating in a local track club and the coach wanted all of the kids to do an event or two at the Track City Classic. Daniel was a bit reluctant to put his brand new shot put skills on display, but he was a great sport. The Classic has 'sweet medals', the coach pointed out and, as a bonus, it turned out that Daniel had the guarantee of a bronze medal....there were only three competitors in his event. Here he is pitching the shot put. (El Professor corrects me....he's 'throwing' the shot put. Apparently, you don't 'pitch' a shot put.)

El Professor, Annie, my nephew Rory, and Daniel heading for the stands.

The garden is always a part of summer, and now that summer is heating up the garden is growing in leaps and bounds. We are mostly harvesting lettuce, zucchini, raspberries, and sweet onions, but the basil is beginning to be usable. Waiting in the wings....tomatoes, beans, peppers, cucumbers, carrots, cilantro, dill, apples, kiwi, plums.

Zucchini, sweet onions, chicken, and a wine/teriyaki sauce made a wonderful summer dinner.....

....with some Trader Jo's whole wheat cous cous.

We're enjoying watching the kiwi produce for the first time....

....and the Million Plum Tree is beginning to sag a bit with the weight of the ripening plums.

The fact that I snapped El Professor walking into the track meet and BBQing is amazing, given that the weekend started off with a bit of a calamity while on a fun afternoon trip to a coastal river about an hour from home. This river is such a great summer destination. It is usually a bit cooler there, the water isn't Snow Run-Off Freezing, there are a lot of rocks to scamper about on, the current isn't Scary Rushing, and the river is loaded with crawdads.

Crawdad catching is such a fun way to spend a hot afternoon. Rory, my nephew, and El Professor were Crawdad Man and Crawdad Boy. They were into it!

Annie and Rory donned swimming goggles and went after the crawdads with the full body dunk. The little critters didn't stand a chance.

The great afternoon adventure took a bit of a turn, though, when El Professor slipped on those fabulous river rocks and went into a rib-catching hole. He felt his rib crunch. Thankfully, we were right by the little 'wide spot in the road' store where we could get some ice and call the 'wide spot in the road' doctor whom El Professor met several years ago. When it was determined that we could/should get back home I drove as quickly as El Professor could stand-- the bumps and curves of the scenic highway where painful. When we got into cell range (an hour later...what is it with our cell phone out of range adventures this summer???) we called my orthopedic surgeon brother in law who had us come straight to him rather than to the ER. (We called him back to ask him to put on a pot of bowling water while he waited for us.....)

It was determined that El Professor most likely broke a rib. But given that it was such a beautiful summer night and since El Professor was in a world of hurt, he and my brother in law sat together and enjoyed some good red wine and cigars. (A bag of ice also helped.) I have a great brother in law. (While they were doing this, guess who had to be the Boiler of Crawdads?)

On a funny note....as El Professor was calling the 'wide spot in the road doctor', he made it very clear that we were not to dump the Hard Caught Bounty back into the river. As it turns out, they were great dipped in melted garlic butter. (Although, if this was our only source of protein, we'd be in big trouble.)

El Professor will most likely spend much of this week sleeping on the futon, propped up on pillows and nursing his painful ribs.

Kinetic Wonders....

2009-07-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

Tucked away on a forested hillside road in the San Juan Islands is a kinetic wonderland...

The spot is the Anthony Howe Gallery and it is a virtual wonderland park. At the top of the gravel driveway is a gallery, a lovely natural home and garden, and a fir tree flanked meadow full of undulating sculptures dancing in the breezes. We've been to the gallery a few times now, and I would go again tomorrow if I could. Standing and watching the sculptures spin, twirl, and undulate in the wind is fascinating. I managed to capture a few moving pictures......

The still photos miss the sense of playful movement that has been so carefully calculated into each piece, but I couldn't resist taking several pictures.....

After all of the wonderment, an artful bench is a nice spot to rest.

Getting Away....

2009-07-14T07:53:00.000-07:00

Tucked between the Washington mainland and Vancouver Island, Canada there is a series of islands, some belonging to Washington State and some to British Columbia. I read that the inland sea surrounding the islands has been proposed to be named the Salish Sea, after indigenous peoples who originally inhabited the area. It is known officially as Puget Sound, and is connected to the Pacific Ocean by The Strait of Juan de Fuca and The Strait of Georgia. The islands belonging to Washington State are known as The San Juan Islands, while those belonging to Canada are The Gulf Islands.

I grew up visiting the region because grandmother lived on Samish Island, which is actually attached to the Washington mainland by dikes. Samish Island is along the relatively shallow Samish Bay, where the lowest tides go way, way out exposing muddy, clam-rich tidal flats. At low tide my sisters and I would tag along as my grandmother and mother dug the big 'horseshoe clams', and sometimes we would find a feisty crab in the watery seaweed moats that separated the tidal flats. At night, if the tide was high I would look out across Samish Bay to Bellingham Bay and see the barges. When I was really little I would declare that the lights of Bellingham were China--after all, I had always understood that China was 'over the sea'. Before this became a 'moneyed area' and had a sea wall, the beach front had a series of funky little houses, the beach was strewn with driftwood logs, and winter high tides would flood the residents. We would dig steamer clams in the rocky, barnacle beach that existed at the wave line just before the first tidal flat, and play 'house' in the open ends of the driftwood logs--the clam shells were our dishes. The steamer clams are gone--I think the population and the seawall did them in--and my grandmother's house has long since been torn down and rebuilt by a cooperative of my cousins. I think the seawall has pretty much halted the winter high tide floods (along with the steamer clams). I guess the 'horseshoe clams' are still in the flats, but you have to have a permit to dig them these days. I still get my fix of the wonder of those islands though, because my sister settled in the San Juans several years ago, but her island isn't attached to the mainland by dikes--you have to take a ferry boat. (And we dug clams on her beach without a permit.)

The first week of July we had a wonderful get away to the San Juans to visit my sister/family. Our last visit was two years ago when we took Daniel's Boy Scout troop for a long weekend camp out, so this trip was very relaxing by comparison. Here is a run down of some of the fun...

Every July 3, Deer Harbor, on Orcas Island, has a big fireworks show observed mostly by mobs of boaters harbored in the bay there. Gene Hackman used to own 'Fawn Island', which is in the bay by Deer Harbor. The fireworks are launched from a barge out in the bay. My favorite part is boating through the channels to get to Deer Harbor. One narrow channel is known as 'Millionaire Row' and the boat speed limit through the channel is slow so crashing wakes don't rock and roll the Millionaires' docks, boats, and beaches.

My parents and my twin and her husband were a part of this get away, each of us staying at a different spot in the vicinity of my sister's house. We stayed on the boat....lovely. Lapping waves. The ebb and flow of the tide at our fingertips. A bald eagle. (I am finally, a week later, not 'rocking' anymore.) I have never 'stayed' on a boat, and this was fun.

The view from the boat at a lowish tide....

Early morning, coffee, dry cereal and....yes, the grammar book from which I will be teaching this year. (I have been boning up all summer. Maybe this year I'll equate adjectival clauses with seagulls and the quiet lapping of the ebbing tide.)

Digging for clams. My mom and I cleaned the dozen or so clams that the kids and I dug, and I made an olive oil/garlic/clam sauce for pasta. Many of the clams are chilling in my sister's freezer, waiting to become fritters or chowder.

Hiking is a must in the islands. You can hike up to high view points like this. Amazing.

On the 4th of July, my sister/family decorates their restored flat bed truck for the old fashioned parade through the village on their island. This year much of my family and my sister's in-laws partook of the festivities. The weather was warm, the parade was packed, and the evening fireworks were, again, launched from a barge out in the bay.

My mom, a five year cancer survivor....

It was a wonderful get away. We hiked, boated, played badminton, dusk volleyball (with my mid 70s parents joining in!!!!), dug for clams, cleaned/cooked clams, shopped in the village, tagged a wilderness trail for a future hiking trail, kayaked, saw a bald eagle, rode the ferries, boated between the islands, ran out of fuel in the tiny motorboat (in the channel between islands), had to row the tiny motorboat until we could get a cell signal in the middle of the channel, were rescued by my brother in law in his boat (out in the channel), hiked over a mountain, had to hitchhike after hiking over the mountain (because we couldn't get cell service to request a ride from my sister back to our car, which was still on the other side of the mountain), and visited my sister's in laws where they own/run the store on Shaw Island that was previously owned/run by nuns.

Badminton on the lawn...overlooking 'The Sound'....so lovely.

Oh, and on the l-o-n-g drive home, we learned that you can do crazy things with a Dasini water bottle if you tear the label off.......

Anniversary~4th of July~Family Get-Away

2009-07-10T08:41:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, July 8 was our 20th wedding anniversary. What fun it was for this to coincide with a family reunion~4th of July trip to the San Juans where my older sister lives. This week I plan to post photos--it was truly a wonderful, wonderful week. The weather was fantastic and we stayed long enough to do most of the things I love to do when we are in the San Juans--enjoy the rocky-life-teeming beaches with the kids, hike the forested 'mountains' to view the islands from up high, ride the ferry boats, shop in the village, go for a boat ride, stop in downtown Seattle during the journey, and just hang out.

The weather was amazing, and unseasonably warm while we were there. This is a shot of Mt. Baker from the ferry landing at Anacortes. I grew up viewing Mt. Baker from my grandmother's house on Samish Island, which is not too far from Anacortes.

Looking out a ferry window from the lower passenger deck....

The ferry ride takes a little more than an hour, stopping at three of the islands...Lopez, Shaw, and Orcas.

One of the island ferry landings....

Playing at the ferry landing beach.....

We arrived at the Anacortes ferry landing 2 hours early, which is recommended during the summer season. Usually, this will put you near the front of the line for your ferry. Much to our relief and surprise, we were in the LAST group of 8 cars to make our ferry. My twin and her husband were only 20-30 minutes behind us as we sojourned up Interstate 5, but they ended up waiting 3 hours for the next ferry. The islands experienced an unheard of mass of visitors and many travelers had to spend the night in line at the ferry landing as the tickets were oversold and there wasn't enough ferry space. The locals were marveling and we were concerned about experiencing the masses again, in an exodus from the islands when the 4th of July weekend was over. Our solution? Stay an extra day! :-)

The channels around the San Juan Islands are buzzing the recreational boaters, commercial boats, and the ferries which serve many of the islands. Anacortes is also a launch/arrival point for Canadian ferry traffic.

Summer Garden Treasures

2009-06-30T09:26:00.000-07:00

The first lettuces of spring are so full of hope and the promise of summer (ick--also full of little sluggies that get a one way trip down the disposal), but it is the beginning of the summer garden treasures that I love. This week El Professor has been up in our giant, overgrown cherry tree doing a much anticipated pruning job. He waited until the cherries were ripe and then pruned off cherry loaded branches to be picked over. We've never been sure what kind of cherry our tree bears...some opinions have been Royal Ann, others have been Rainier. Either way, the cherries don't keep for long and we have usually given away the bowls, bags, and bucketfuls that we don't eat. We have given away tons of cherries this year already, but I have also decided to try preserving some with the dehydrator a friend gave me.....

I love dried fruit and these are pretty good. I found a recipe for Cardamon/Dried Cherry Scones I might try. A little research also showed that cherries can be frozen.....I bought a pitter to speed up the process of prepping cherries and have put several bagfuls into the freezer. Later we might use them with the juicer. I'm going to make some cherry jam, too. Hmm. The sound of cherry jam doesn't send me running to the toaster for a lovely summer-bounty-coated piece of toast, but it's worth a try.

While El Professor was picking cherries, I picked raspberries. This is the third year our raspberries have been in and they have been loaded. I filled a lasagna pan with red berries and put them in the freezer. Anne gathered some berries last week and worked them into her baking project......

The lavender is in bloom.....

....and there are 41 bundles drying in the garage.

The cilantro and the tomatoes are never ready at the same time--at least not in my garden. But I've discovered that you can make salsa with that spring/early summer cilantro by keeping canned whole/peeled tomatoes in the pantry.

Oh yes, and lettuce. As the days heat up I will work to keep some slow bolting lettuces in the garden, but they never do as well as spring and fall lettuce. (Maybe the sluggies won't do as well either.)

Sweet Day

2009-06-22T06:56:00.000-07:00

It was a sweet day, Father's Day was. In the past few years my dad has had some hair raising health issues, including a span of several months where he was unable to walk or stand. Father's Day was a sweet day, therefore, as he was up and about and was the grill master for a fabulous dinner. El Professor, the kids, and I spent a lovely Father's Day afternoon/evening with my parents at their house, the house they purchased when I was four. We drove home in the late light of summer solstice.

Happy Fathers.

Happy Summer.

First Jaunt of Summer.....

2009-06-12T07:33:00.001-07:00

This is usually the last week of school. All over the state schools are finishing up classes, saying good bye, and teachers are beginning the task of packing up their classrooms for the summer. The district where El Professor teaches, however, shortened the school year by a week to help with the huge budget shortfall, so all of the usual end of the year festivities, grading, packing, etc., happened last week. El Professor's car looks like a storage locker as he is moving schools next year, but he is off for the summer.

Early in the week, El Professor's brother/family called to let us know they would be coming to the area (their oldest, my nephew lives just north of here) and wondered if we had a free day. We decided to get together and head for Mary's Peak, the highest peak in the coast range, for a picnic and a hike....

...never mind that Mary's Peak had her head in the clouds. At 4,097 feet above sea level, the view from the top is amazing....when the weather is clear.

It was misty, moisty, and magical up in the clouds.

The wild flowers were beautiful. It looked like a rock gardener had come and planted along the path.

Our favorite memory of Mary's Peak has been walking with butterflies everywhere. Even with the earliness of June, and the mistiness of this particular day, the wild flower meadow had butterflies galore.

It was the first jaunt of summer and is, hopefully, the beginning of a good season.

The Heart of the Matter (or why we home educate)...

2009-06-09T08:27:00.000-07:00

I was out on the patio the other day, checking vegetable starts and ‘outdoor tasking’ when Daniel launched into an explanation of a flawed proof for evolution, sighting a 1953 experiment conducted by a man named Stanley Miller. The information he was spontaneously sharing came from the book, It Couldn’t Just Happen, that he read this year for his Classical Conversations Rhetoric class. Although first published in 1987, this book remains an excellent resource for opening and maintaining a conversation about origins. For Daniel, some of these conversations took place during his Classical Conversations Rhetoric class, and it is for honest conversations about fundamental topics, such as origins, that I have maintained a deep interest and desire to see our kids schooled outside of the public education system.

I was a public educator prior to ‘retiring’ in 1998 to manage our home, raise, and school our two kids. I spent 11 years in the classroom teaching 1st and 2nd graders. Those years were busy, demanding, and stressful, and while I was ready to hang up my stick of chalk when the opportunity came to do so, those years were also full of sweetness and I had the privilege of working alongside some very well intended, loving, serving colleagues, many of whom were also Christians. Still, as our own two kids approached school age, the public school system wasn’t an option in my mind. Large class sizes, my children’s maturity issues, etc. were all part of my concerns but, ultimately, the heart of the issue of educating our children has been an issue of world view.

In September, Daniel had to write a science report on ‘amoebas’ for his Classical Conversations Biology class. Each week, the students in the middle school class, Challenge A, research a topic, write about the topic, hand draw an illustration, write a bibliography, and present all of these to their cohort (classmates). A quick check of our home library afforded very little information on ‘amoebas’, but we did have one book, John Holzmann’s (of Sonlight Curriculum) Biology. Excellent. Now, as the assignment required two or more references, we needed another book. I stopped at St. Vincent de Paul, ‘O Excellent Supplier Of So Many Of Our Books’, and grabbed a middle school biology textbook. $2.50 (which was less than my library fine). There was a whole section in this book on amoebas, complete with illustrations. As Daniel and I read over the section, however, we found that the information was so laced with evolutionary information that it seemed to be more like a tool of evolutionist indoctrination than an honest study of one-celled creatures. Ultimately, I recycled the book (in the ‘blue bin’, choosing not to regift the book to St. Vinnie’s), and discussed with Daniel how one of my frustrations with the school system is that materials, such as this book, are used to teach core subjects, and that the information is dedicated to a theory of origins that is taught authoritatively rather than acknowledging the status of ‘theory’. There are no disclaimers such as, ‘Some scientists believe.....’

Families have different reasons for choosing home education or home based education, and I have gleaned some great encouragement and wisdom on the subject from many sources, including an article written by Ron Julian of the McKenzie Study Center and Gutenberg College. (Read it for yourself here.) Written in 1993, seven years prior to our own foray into the waters of home education, the issues of shepherding our children’s hearts through their education rings true today. Home education was a growing movement in 1993, and the heart of the matter remains the same today.

For our family, joining Classical Conversations has been an unexpected mercy in our home education journey. It has been a financial sacrifice for us, but it has been well worth the cost. Granted, we could have combed through the book It Couldn’t Just Happen on our own, but the opportunity to discuss the information in a tutor-guided session with several other students has been valuable. Weekly accountability to get the readings done has kept Daniel on track. Daniel, who doesn’t *love* to read, loved this book and I am grateful that he had the opportunity to look at some of the arguments that evolutionists claim support their theory and to explore the huge, gaping holes in those very claims. Several months after reading about Stanley Miller’s 1953 experiment, Daniel is still chewing on the information. Home education has given us the opportunity to look at the holes in what our society, education system, and culture claim to be true in fundamental topics such as origins, and I am thankful.

Garden Weekend

2009-05-31T21:04:00.000-07:00

I like to get the vegetable garden in before June, and May 30 just makes the cut. Saturday was the first uncommitted day I've had in several weeks. The weather was hot and sunny, but by moving the garden umbrella around to various spots, I spent the hottest hours of the day working in portable shade.

Here are a few snapshots of the constant work in progress.....

The red worms always amaze me. We, or rather they, make much of our soil. During the fall/winter/early spring I had a steamy pile of leaves and grass clippings cooking by the driveway.

I'm a little late getting my seeds started.

The vegetable garden space and my portable shade. I planted purple bush beans, red celery, white pumpkin, zucchini, Genovese basil, peppers, Scarlet Runner Beans, lettuce, and carrots.

One section of the garden is thriving with cool weather lettuces, sugar snap peas, cilantro and Walla Walla onions.

The raspberries are just forming.

The kids and I went garden junking last week at the recycling center. Daniel found a bunch of bricks for his garden area, and Annie found this wash tub and garden gate for her area.

The campanula 'bell flowers' are in bloom.

This week I am going to have the kids plant their garden areas using a modified 'homestead' agreement. They get to keep their area if they work and develop it. If they let it go, I will be the claim jumper and will come in and take over. :-) At this point, they have cleared their areas and Daniel has helped top dress his area with crumbly red worm compost.

It feels like summer!

Hiatus....

2009-05-28T09:52:00.001-07:00

I've been busy doing things other than blogging. This school year has been one of tremendous activity and change. Looking back over the school year I'm not sure where to begin, but at some point I'll pick away at what we've been up to. In a nutshell, however, we joined a new home school program in our area called 'Classical Conversations', and it was a wonderful, rigorous, wild ride. I taught a 5th/6th grade class which was time consuming, delightful, and challenging. The challenge for me involved changing from a relaxed, eclectic curriculum to one in which we were accountable each week to have assignments finished and ready to present. This was true for the programs in which both kids were enrolled, and it was a big change.

Home schooling has been rather time consuming, but I've been up to other things as well. At the risk of sounding like an ungrateful user of free programs, I haven't blogged as much lately because I experience Blogger as being clunky, time consuming, and frustrating. I've been sidling up to the Facebook free trough where you can upload photos in a flash, jot down a few thoughts, and be on your way. It would be great if Blogger could take a few tips from the Facebook 'photo album upload' option. In the spirit of jotting down a few thoughts, however, here is a snapshot of what's been going on.... (Oh, and the kids hate having their ages as their 'blog names', and have teased me about how their names have to change each year. OK, I give up. I'll just call them by their names, Daniel and Anne....)

Daniel's Classical Conversations 'Challenge A' middle school class.

The grammar school portion of Classical Conversations ended the year with a whole group symphony class for fine arts. The kids had the opportunity to 'conduct' the 'orchestra'.

The 'Foundations' grammar school (K-6) classes fill at eight kids. Teacher heaven. :-)

Creative pursuits for me......practical gardening. I love to plant things we use, mostly in their fresh state. I freeze some items, and can 'specialty' items like jam and jelly. With our bumper crop of cilantro, I have much cilantro pesto in the works for the freezer.

May is the birthday rush, with both kids having birthdays, and my dad as well. We celebrated Anne's 11th birthday with lovely friends and an 'Ugly Doll' theme.

My dad's birthday is sandwiched between the kids' birthdays, and I decided to stick to handmade gifts for him. He loved, loved, loved the Christmas jelly, and there were more berries and jelly bag juices from last summer's crops waiting in the freezer. I combined strawberry jelly bag juice with apple for a jelly batch, and cooked/sieved raspberries and blackberries for a thick, seedless jam.

We celebrated Daniel's 14th birthday with dear friends and family and, at his request, a homemade 'Italian Cream Cake'.

Now that the birthday rush is over, we are focusing on end of the year recitals, track club practices, more gardening, and much needed organizing. In the mix of the busyness, though, I love to clip and dry flowers and dream of more handmade gifts.

Annivesary

2009-03-18T22:23:00.000-07:00

It's my 'blogoversary'. (I wonder if I spelled that correctly, and if there is such an entry as 'blogoversary' in Merriam-Webster which would certainly be a reflection of our culture and time.) As of late, I've been busy, distracted and haven't written as much as I thought I would. A year ago, when I first started blogging, I had intended to write more about home schooling and to share observations from my thirteen year transition from public school teacher to mother, to homemaker, to homeschooler, and the sometimes shock of 'christian culture' that I encountered in that transition. I had intended to do more curriculum sharing and unit study updates. I still hope to. :-)

A Little Sojourn...

2009-03-07T19:32:00.000-08:00

This morning I sprang out of bed, having overslept. It is Saturday, a day for sleeping in, but this Saturday morning afforded me the opportunity to sojourn, early, to the regional teaching hospital with a few other women, where a Very Sick Friend had been taken the morning prior. I've written about this friend before--about a year ago she was the subject of my first ever blog post. She has survived, to date, several crises surrounding her failing liver, and this most recent crisis involves her recently transplanted liver. Her name is Grace, she is valiant, and she is well named.

Despite the seriousness of our journey, there was laughter, fellowship, and very honest, probing conversation. In many ways I was the benefactor of two women who felt pulled to travel two hours north and invited me along. Those two hours were spent sharing, praying, discussing...singing. I think the latter was the best of all, trying to remember stanzas of hymns, or any song three women from different faith communities shared in common. We found common ground in the familiarity of 'It Is Well With My Soul'. I thought for a moment of the story I have heard about the hymn's origin, and felt a gratefulness that one man's response to suffering was a song through which countless others have been bolstered up and encouraged.

We arrived at the hospital to find Grace, amazingly, lucid and able to receive a few visitors. This was not necessarily our expectation, as we thought we might do nothing more than give Grace's husband an encouraging hug and then pray--in the waiting room. I watched these two women attend to Grace, check on her husband's needs, so benevolent, so real. We talked a bit about life, visitors, and songs. Grace likes hymns. Then, we sang. We sang 'It Is Well With My Soul', and this sweet, Very Sick, very yellow woman, Grace, sang along. After a bit, we gathered a lunch for her husband, greeted Grace's out of town family members flocking to the hospital, and left.

We were home before 4:00, and yet it was such a profound time. I am blessed, humbled, and grieved by the whole experience of today, what has come before, and what may follow. I am the benefactor of these women and their wisdom, perspective, benevolence, intuitiveness, and ability to balance self protection with reaching out. Today I was the student on a field trip of life, and when I came home a bit raw and hopeful, this is what I found....

The $86 Remodel

2009-03-03T07:53:00.000-08:00

Five and a half years ago, we bought our house. It was ugly, neglected, repossessed, and had been empty for almost a year. The roof leaked. The bathroom floor was rotted and had to be rebuilt. The story of Our House is a long story, one for which I am very thankful, but I'll stick to The Cinderella Room.....

Tucked down a hallway off the kitchen is, what we have referred to as, The Study. AKA 'The Cinderella Room'. It has been where all of the mismatched, odd furniture has been 'sent'. You need it but don't really like it, so you have it go sit by the fireplace and be quiet. :-) This room has been our school room. Two of the four walls had cedar paneling. The kind that was glued on board by board. Individually. At one point we thought we would take it down, but arduous paneling removal was a low priority after reroofing, bathroom repair, window and door installation, exterior painting of the Rather Tall House, etc. The Cinderella Room was a light sucking vortex with the only window being a large north-facing sliding door. There was no overhead lighting. The dark, cedar walls literally absorbed the indirect north sunlight and lamp light, even full spectrum lamp light. El Professor, who believes that anything worth doing on the house should be 'done right', felt that we should sheet rock over the paneling, texture, and paint. I knew that on the priority list of Necessary Projects, this meant the light sucking vortex was going to remain as such.

The summer before last I convinced El Professor, who believes that any work done on a house should be done right, that slathering light paint over the cedar paneling would create a light, barn board effect. He was skeptical. Cedar bleeds through paint and takes several coats to successfully cover. We painted one cedar wall. Several coats later, the room was lighter. One wall remained.

This fall, as my the-day-after-Christmas-birthday approached, I informed El Professor that I would simply LOVE, love, love a gallon of paint to tackle the one remaining, light sucking, very ugly, cedar paneled wall in The Study. Maybe we could paint the fireplace, too. I had this idea that the light-sucking-vortex effect could be conquered with lighter 'barn wood' walls achieved by painting the cedar, and then hanging artful, old windows with glass that would reflect the meager light from the north facing window. El Professor was open to the idea, and the $86 Remodel began.

The fireplace was so ugly that I have never bothered to photograph the kids' Christmas stockings, which I lovingly sewed, hanging up. The whole thing was awful.

The beginning of several coats of primer. It took several coats before the cedar quit bleeding through.

After the wall was sucessfully painted, El Professor put the awful, cedar beam/mantle back up. Awful. This is where 'the accidental' part of the remodel began. I had been rallying for a total redo of the fireplace as a part of this wall painting project. Initially, El Professor had simply set out to repaint the wall and humor me with the window hanging idea. End of Project. The cedar beam awfulness, however, convinced him that more needed to be done and he agreed to a fireplace redo as well. As a matter of fact, he decided the whole adventure could become his birthday present as well. ( His birthday is exactly a month after mine.) We headed to our favorite recycled building materials mecca and began The Hunt for a new mantel. The fun centered around redoing The Cinderella Room by hunting for fun salvage and keeping the cost to a minimum.

The recycled building materials covered area and lumber yard is a Treasure Trove. The kids love it there.

Old windows galore.....on the day I purchased these they were two for the price of one.

El Professor found this weathered beam chunk behind a stack of wood. Cost of the new mantle--$8

I should have photographed the process....He had to bolt a 2"x4" to the wall and then carve/chisel a 2"x4" space in the backside of the mantle, ultimately mounting the mantle to the 2"x4" on the wall. Impressive. Even if it's salvage, he likes to do things right.

Putting it all together....

Oh--the project would have come out for much less than $86 had we not had the CRAZY idea that we should, maybe, paint the fireplace a color. WHAT WERE WE THINKING?! Enter, more paint costs to quickly cover up the evidence of a Very Bad Idea.

Some good friends gave us a futon they no longer needed/wanted....that was the end of the mismatched furniture that had been sent to The Cinderella Room. They even delivered and installed it! Such a blessing.

A few months ago I posted that I wasn't sure we'd be able to pull the fireplace remodel 'out of the fire', but I'm pleased with the end result. The room is light and inviting, and we had fun salvaging our way to an $86 Remodel Double Birthday Present.

There's a reason.......

2009-02-28T16:19:00.000-08:00

......why Thirteen was thrilled, I mean THRILLED, that the folks at the local dump gave him a free recycling bin. Oh the joy! Apparently, the folks at the dump got a kick out of how thrilled he was. Some kids long for more conventional things, not to say that Thirteen doesn't have a wish list of 'normal' things he would like to have, but this winter he has been seriously wishing for a recycling bin. After El Professor hauled it home in the trunk of the Old Volvo, Thirteen scrubbed it out and gave it to his neighbor buddy as a birthday present.

Why, you ask?

Thirteen has a little film making thing going on here in the culdesac with two of the neighborhood boys. His spare time (and his not so spare time as well) is often absorbed in dreaming up story lines, drawing story boards, and making props. Enter the Wonderful, Free Recycling Bin. The boys have been wanting a dedicated prop bin as they have been using an In Use Recycling Bin all winter. The movies center around the antics of three neighborhood buddies known as BaconhEd (aka Thirteen), Canadian Bacon, and Sausage. The Canadian Bacon character (who happens to be the birthday gift recipient) hangs out in a recycling bin. And, apparently, he loved the gift. (Thirteen also gave him a bag of Oreos.)

In a culture laden with video games and cable, it has been thrilling to see this 'electronic pastime' become a creative passion for Thirteen. Last week, he tore his room apart, moved all of his furniture into his closet and taped St. Patrick's Day tablecloths all over the walls to create a green screen. He is now working with an instructor at the homeschool resource center on an 'after effects' program to use with his new green screen.

The film maker at work....

I think the 'Christmas Episode' Thirteen dreamed up is my favorite.

A Gift

2009-02-14T07:58:00.000-08:00

Late last summer, as school started up and fall approached, Ten decided that she was going to get a few more inches onto her long hair and then cut it off for Locks of Love. Our fun Hair Cutter Lady let her know that her hair was almost long enough, and that when Ten was ready, she would cut and style it free of charge. She does that for Locks of Love. She mails the hair to them as well. Ten decided that Valentine's Day would be The Day. (We actually ended up going in the day before Valentine's Day.)

A few days prior to The Day, Ten wanted her usually 'wild hair' french braided 'one last time' (believe me, there weren't many times). She also told several little girl friends of her plan, and had them each say good bye to her hair. On The Day, she was resolute, even printing some 'short hair style' ideas off the internet to take to show our Hair Cutter Lady....

Our poor Hair Cutter Lady could barely speak, as she was recovering from The Winter Cold we all seem to be battling.

Ten brought along a moral supporter. They played in the massage chair while El Professor got his hair trimmed.

When it was Ten's turn she talked about possible styles and shared her pictures.

Then The Wonderful Hair Cutter Lady gave Ten some encouragement.

First you make a ponytail....

...then you cut off the ponytail....

...and braid the hair. You need ten inches.

Last of all, you get a new style!

It takes 6-8 ponytails to make a wig.

Check out Locks of Love and view their video clip on the donation process.

Celebrations....and busy!

2009-02-08T13:58:00.000-08:00

Life has been busy! Homeschooling, a remodel (remember those old windows???), teaching at Classical Conversations, a zoo trip, sick kids, Face Book distractions........it's been a busy, but full, wonderful month. Amidst all of the hullabaloo, El Professor turned......49!!!!!!! We celebrated with a breakfast out, a soup and bread dinner with the 13-year-bible-study friends, and a family BBQ.

More later on the progress of the 'salvage remodel', homeschooling, life...........

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EL PROFESSOR!

Golden Globes

2009-01-12T23:12:00.001-08:00

This weekend was one of those 'it felt so good to get some things done' kind of weekend. Emphasis on some. We have a lot of bath towels--they were all dirty, the beds needed changing, and I really needed to get some 'make ahead' freezer lunches banked for El Professor to grab and take to work. Many of the bath towels are now washed (there are still some to go), two of the beds were changed, and there is a neat stack of quickie grab lunches in the freezer, plus a big batch of minestrone soup.

As Sunday night drew to a close, it was time to take in The Golden Globes. But in the spirit of a weekend of getting things done........

I decided to turn on the little TV in the kitchen and deal with all of the 'golden globes' that have been rotting in my garage.

Of course, I needed a 'golden globe' to sip whilst taking in the Golden Globes and dealing with those 'golden globes'......

The result? These apple chunks cooked down, I sieved them with my food mill, and put several quart bags of smooth applesauce into the freezer.

The best part? All of that applesauce will be wonderful to have and no one will be making fun of what I was wearing.

Happy Birthday to Me

2009-01-08T17:00:00.000-08:00

How could you ask for more than to be greeted at the door, on your birthday, with a peppermint martini? My birthday is the day after Christmas. But before you start feeling sorry for me, consider this--I have a twin. Her birthday is the day after Christmas as well. Then, there's my mom. Her birthday is December 22nd. Oh, and the wonderful older sister who made the martinis? Her birthday is December 7. My twin's husband's birthday is December 15. Our December is just one, big ole birthday party. This year we gathered at my parent's house with our husbands and children for a chicken satay feast. My dad, who was quite ill, rallied a bit later in the evening and was able to join us for awhile.

As my birthday approached, I let El Professor know there was one thing I wanted for my birthday....PAINT.

To tackle this AWFUL space--our 'study'. The room used to have two cedar paneled walls, but I painted one a few years ago. The room has one north facing window and the cedar acts like a light-sucking vortex. Plus, it's just ugly.

The result? The room is SO MUCH LIGHTER. It's amazing. Those light walls shoot the light right back at you. The fireplace, however, 'pops' as a ghastly, outdated, ugly feature. We're working on that. I'm not sure we can 'pull it out of the fire' as a decorating miracle, but we're planning to paint the bricks and to fashion a new mantle. In the meantime, I totally rearranged the location/organizaton of the bookshelves and was able to create an organized, light 'study'.

Lastly, this was my birthday shopping spree....off to the building material recycling yard for some old, wooden windows to hang on the 'now light walls'. Someday the room really needs new windows to bring in more light, but for now these will hang on the walls.

It's a handmade Christmas....

2008-12-29T10:05:00.000-08:00

This December was, I think, one of my favorite ever. Each year (for years) I have made and sold loads of holiday pins at shows or in school and medical staff rooms around town to help with family finances and Christmas cha-ching, but this year I only did a few basketfuls. My teaching/homeschooling schedule dominated much of my pin making time this year and then the weather kept the schools closed down at what is usually the major pin selling time. It was much more fun to turn my energy elsewhere. For several months El Professor and I have talked about truly doing 'a handmade Christmas' for our adult family members and the time and energy put into gathering and making was delightful. At Thanksgiving we delivered our 'harvest of the valley' gifts to the desert relations we wouldn't be seeing at Christmas, loading up bags with apples, squash, onions and delights from the valley farmstands that are so distant from the high desert (and add up at the grocery stores there.) For the family with whom we spent Christmas we put together gift bags....

Apples that we purchased from the still-open favorite farmstand where we usually pick apples filled the bottom of the bags. At this time of year the orchard is barren and the wonderful apples are in cold storage ready to purchase by the box.

I have some girlfriends who gather each year to make lip balm. We covet the stuff for winter chapped lips, knuckles and rhinovirus red noses.

These flax seed wraps were inspired by my injured friend.

We picked loads of strawberries in June. Those that didn't become freezer jam were juiced and then frozen for a December Jam Session. Only this Jam Session was all about clear, red jelly.

Rose hips.............

........and twigs gathered on our Christmas tree outing became...........

winter wreaths for front doors.

In August I dried some of the wedding flowers from my GORGEOUS neice's wedding.....

...and gave them back to her for Christmas.

Making candle centerpieces for the candlelight service at church was the motivation for gathering all of the rose hips.

I am finally posting this on New Year's Eve. My next project....you should see the garage...twigs, rose hips....oh, and it's time to take down the tree.

Happy New Year!

Winter Break....

2008-12-15T22:23:00.001-08:00

It has been a busy fall. Between teaching the Classical Conversations 5th/6th grade class at our local program, homeschooling (and all that entails), managing family schedules, homemaking, and determining to make a daily walk a priority, it has been the busiest time in my parenting journey. With Classical Conversations on a five week break I have decided to tone down our schedule and to dig out from a busy fall....summer.....the remodel last winter/spring....where do I begin?

A winter storm has settled into our area and El Professor is looking toward another 'snow day' today. It has been a welcome time of having our family home, classes cancelled, activities cancelled, and play time plentiful...for all of us. In the past few days I have done some very much needed cleaning and organizing. In midst of it all, we have 'set up' Christmas.

When the kids were young we decided to feature nativity scenes when we decorated for Christmas. We also celebrate Advent, and the candle lighting/scripture reading/conversation has become a warm, welcome tradition.

I couldn't bring myself to put away the gourds and squash that grew wild in our garden this summer/fall.

My older sister gave us this 'Advent' calendar countdown several years ago. Stuffing the doors with small treats, treasures, or a quick treasure hunt is one of our favorite traditions.

Our 'wild tree' has worked out well. It smells wonderful. We think it might be a 'white fir'.

Setting up the Willow Tree nativity scene is the kids' favorite activity. My parents gave us pieces of the set over several Christmases.

Today I think I'll tackle my desk..........

Gathering Beauty....

2008-12-08T07:24:00.000-08:00

Along the fence lines, driving or walking, I often find myself wishing I was carrying clippers and a large bag. Dead twigs, pinecones, rose hips, winter beauty is everywhere--especially along fence lines. This week, both with and without clippers, I have been gathering some of the beauty for Christmas centerpieces and, if I have enough, a winter wreath. With several vases of dried and drying hydrangeas around the house and bundles of summer lavendar, I'm looking forward to a week of being creative.

Wild Trees....

2008-12-07T10:02:00.000-08:00

Sunshine. Mountains. What month is this? Saturday we gathered with my Hilarious Twin and a handful of friends and headed up into the foothills--way, way up past the 4,000 foot level where snow and harsh conditions would usually deter December Christmas tree hunters in 'city cars' like our little Matrix. It was a spectacular day, and while we came prepared with boots, shovels, and two 4 wheel drive vehicles, we instead encountered sunshine, meadows, mountain views and coats left in the car as we marveled at the warmish, winter temperatures. This was our fourth foray into the woods with a $5 tree tag to hunt for a wild Christmas tree. The forays have not happened in consecutive years but have included the same handful of people. In past years we've had fun-but-ever-so-slightly-harrowing snow adventures. This day, however, was a sunfest with the kids playing in the woods, jousting with sticks, and roasting weinies over the roadside fire.

Gathering exquisite little pinecones.

One special aspect of the day involved the kids brought along by some dear friends. These friends quietly go about their lives in a nurturing and serving fashion. They met while serving in a local outreach to street youth and they have gone overseas to work with a ministry that deals with the plight of the blind in a third world country. In their quiet way they brought along three kids, two of whom they mentor, who have been adopted and raised out of the foster care system. The third belongs to a mother they have befriended who is rising above her substance abuse and is seeking to build a stable life. Through their quiet ways I see ones who love their neighbor, the widow, the orphan, and I am challenged and reminded of how deeply and profoundly blessed I am.

High Desert Thanksgiving.....

2008-12-02T22:35:00.001-08:00

The forecast here for the upcoming week....'dry' and foggy. Actually, that will translate to a quiet dripping in the early morning and a muffled sleepiness that I will have a hard time shaking off. Maybe the effects of the fog will be lessened, however, just by reflecting on our high desert Thanksgiving.

Ten riding with El Professor's dad, Grandpa Cowboy

We headed out the day before Thanksgiving Day to El Professor's childhood home way, way out in the Oregon High Desert.

As we traveled up into the mountains we drove out of the valley fog. The entire weekend was a Glorious Vitamin D Fest!

Looking out and beyond the ranch where El Professor grew up.

Over the long weekend we were partakers in Thanksgiving dinners #2 and #3, one with El Professor's dad/wife, and one with his mom/husband. Both were shared with El Professor's brother and family. The weekend took on the form of a wonderful mini vacation with good food, good company, sunny hikes, and horseback riding.

One afternoon we hiked with El Professor's brother and family in the hills overlooking the desert plateau. We experienced the high point where the radio towers are located and where summer hang gliders flock to launch out over the plateau floor to ride the updrafts.

I am a city girl, not big city, but city nonetheless. Still, I love this isolated, ultra rural place. A place where you still find a nativity scene set up on the courthouse lawn...

....and black Friday isn't exactly a bustling scene. No one was trampled, and I would imagine the only people in the stores at 4 a.m. were a few scattered stock crews at the tiny Safeway grocery....

....where the theatre is open three nights a week, the tickets are about the same price as the matinee prices in our city, and you can sit in the balcony if you want to. The only stadium seats, however, are at the fairgrounds where the rodeo is held each Labor Day weekend.

I think I'll print this photo and hang it on the fridge so that all week long, as the pea soup fog lingers, I'll remember that only a week ago we were squinting in the sun.

First of Three.....

2008-11-23T22:40:00.001-08:00

Today dawned foggy, drippy, cold. For us it was a day to celebrate the first of three planned Thanksgiving dinners. We have what I like to refer to as 'three fully functioning sets of grandparents', and today we were off to celebrate an early Thanksgiving with my parents, some 60 miles north of our home. Between here and there is my one of my favorite places, an orchard, I first started visiting regularly nearly 20 years ago when I was a young school teacher taking 'city kids' into the surrounding country to visit a farm and pick a pumpkin. I've been making regular pilgrimages ever since, only now I stop in with my own kids several times each season. We decided to stop in and load up on some apples to take with us as gifts for El Professor's family later this week at Thanksgiving dinners two and three. His family lives several hours away in a tiny community in the high desert--not the kind of place where orchards abound. My mother in law bemoans the produce selection at the grocery there (it is pretty pathetic, I must admit) so we like to bring some of the bounty of our valley with us when we go to visit.

The November fog and gray was heavy on the orchard.....

...where treasure awaits. Fujis. Fuji galore.

(All orchard photos were taken by Thirteen)

We picked three bags of Fujis in the early chill.

We arrived at the warm house where I grew up. El Professor helped my dad hang the outdoor Christmas lights, although my folks don't plan to turn them on for another week. Thirteen and I helped bring Christmas boxes down from the attic. Over dinner we reflected on things for which we are thankful. Last year at this time, my dad couldn't stand and could barely walk. His mobility and improved health is something for which we are very thankful.

My mom set the table with my grandmother's china.

From a chilly but beloved orchard to the warm place where I grew up. It was a wonderful first of three Thanksgivings.

We have much to be thankful for.

A Heavy Thing....

2008-11-18T20:28:00.001-08:00

I am so very grieved about this accident, yet I am so thankful that Maricel and Wilder are still with us. So....very......thankful.

It's back.....

2008-11-14T19:35:00.001-08:00

My iMac has returned and Apple footed the bill! After a communication hiccup between the Mac Store and Apple in the 'who's paying for this' game, 'Preston The Magnificent' of Apple Computer came through for us and made sure our computer was fixed without our paying a dime. Thank goodness! The warranty had expired but the dang computer was spendy and ought not to have broken 17 months out of the chute. A one inch band of LED was whiting out vertically about a third of the way from the right edge of the screen. The bummer of an 'all in one' is that when the screen has such a problem you have to take in the whole computer. Still, I'm very thankful Apple made good on a 'known issue' and took care of the problem.

I love my Mac. And now I love the company, too.

Empty desk top......

2008-11-08T13:52:00.000-08:00

My iMac is in the shop! It has been interesting to have the computer gone all week. In preparing for the 5th/6th grade 'Masters' class I teach, I had to do things 'the old fashioned way' and use a copy machine. I am so spoiled by the ability to print out whatever I need, whenever I need it. Hopefully, the computer will be back sometime this week. In the meantime, the desk top looks so empty..... The good news??? Apple is fixing it FOR FREE. There was a bit of a hiccup between Apple and the Mac Store techie guys in getting that 'FOR FREE' repair cleared up, but the dots seem to have been connected. Now, if those guys would just get on with it!!

Call Me 'Vel-Ma'..........

2008-10-28T18:25:00.000-07:00

People who know me well know that I am missing the locator chip for necessary items such as purses, keys and now, glasses. I set them down and the location is, somehow, instantly wiped from my memory. Maybe it's just that I am engaging in poor multi-tasking, but the chip thing resonates with me. Especially since discovering that my hilarious twin has the same deficit. I must say, the benefit to entering the cell phone age is that now I can call my purse. Heaven help me...don't EVER set the phone on silent!! I wish I could call my glasses.

I have had an eyeglass subscription since the early 1990s but, after losing my glasses (in the early 1990s), I went without until last year. I need them now. I like clear vision. I like depth perception. I need one of those chip things they put in your pet for my glasses. Or maybe one of those bracelet thingies you can put on your small child that beeps if they move out of a certain proximity. I need some kind of locator signal. Yesterday, Thirteen decided that my name should be 'Vel-Ma'. Ha ha.

Fall Wonderful

2008-10-26T15:16:00.003-07:00

Yesterday I ran the sprinkler on our fall/winter garden. What month is it? October? The 'deluge month' in western Oregon? No complaints here, however. It has been a rather glorious month and we've taken advantage of the fun of visiting the local farmstands and orchards for produce, fun, and October sun.

It was a dark and starry night.....

Thirteen, Ten, El Professor and I

donned jackets, located flashlights,

and headed for the famed

Haunted Corn Maze. With much

screaming and suspense we followed the

clue cards through the maze with about 500

other people, huddling together as we

walked through dry ice clouds and watched

for the frequent masked workers who would

somehow startle/wag corn/or jump

out at us. Even with all of those people we

managed to be rather alone at times...creepy.

The maze is HUGE. Ultimately, we sojourned

through with a woman and her developmentally

delayed daughter, solving clues and having

a ball! Next year............ definately!!!

Red and gold trees, sunny afternoons, mild weather...with this mix I have piggy-backed our piano lesson outings into 'hit the farmstands before heading home' events. This fall I have been transporting another home school family's 12 year old to piano lessons. This has made for some fun friend time. One day we met up with Bella and her crew for some apple picking and another day we spontaneously took the 'economy pumpkin patch ride'. (The economy ride went something like this..."Guys, I'll buy wagon rides, but let's skip the pumpkins. They're .25/pound." To which our 12 year old friend replied, "We all already have a pumpkin, anyway." The farm we all visited the week before had given each of the kids a free pumpkin.)

I have a serious supply of apples around here and some tucked away smiles. It's been a great October.

Fall Summit

2008-10-26T07:47:00.000-07:00

Saturday the weather was fabulous! We spent the afternoon with my hilarious twin and my nephew hiking up Spencer's Butte.

We departed from the main trail which switchbacks pleasantly up the butte, and took one of the steep side trails. The old growth trees were amazing.

Hikers are rewarded with a panoramic view of the city and surrounding countryside.

The Three Sisters to the east....we're still hoping to tackle the South Sister next summer.

We spared our quads and took the more gentle, main trail back down. On the way down we encountered this tree. My hilarious twin informed the kids that some people like to head for the woods to see the 'swiss trees'.

Taking advantage of the mild fall sunshine is the recipe for a wonderful day.

Wordless Wednesday...End of October Late Bloomers.....

2008-10-21T21:40:00.000-07:00

Home School...What's Working (Middle School)

2008-10-20T07:47:00.000-07:00

This is year eight around here in Home School Land. Even after eight years, however, the spelling of this phenomenon eludes me. It seems that it depends on how 'home school' is used. For instance, we 'home school' therefore, we are 'homeschooling' or are 'homeschoolers'. Hmm. We should pick that apart in our Essentials of the English Language class.

We are approaching week 8, given that our Classical Conversations classes meet on Thursdays, and it seems like we are finally getting into the swing of things. This new program has been a huge change from our 'relaxed' homeschooling past. Several weeks ago Thirteen commented that he felt like he was on a tennis court with one of those machines that fires out balls and it was shooting balls at him so quickly that he was having difficulty hitting them. I thought that was very insightful, especially since we don't play tennis. So, getting into the swing of things is a nice feeling.

On one of our evening walks I commented to El Professor that I am the busiest I have been, I think, since becoming a parent. Actually, I still worked part time as a classroom teacher in the public schools up until Thirteen was three, which was busy, but the kids' school and teaching the 5th/6th grade portion of Ten's Foundations class is keeping me at a clip. That, with the varied tasks of homemaking on a budget. As my Hilarious Twin says, though, everyone is busy. Especially you homeschoolers out there.

Focusing on the middle school portion of our home school life, and being thankful for getting

into the swing of things, here is what's working.....

-The science portion of the 'Challenge' program is natural science and Thirteen has to research and write a report each week with a bibliography. I printed a six page bibliography 'booklet' we are keeping in his binder. He can now write a bibliography himself. The class has covered topics such as single-celled creatures, wild flowers, trees, mollusks, and herbs. For his herb report Thirteen dried some mint from our garden and made mint tea for the class. He typed one report, but the program wants these reports hand copied with an illustration so that each student will end the term with a personal booklet of reports and illustrations. Thirteen's handwriting is finally getting some attention/serious opportunity for improvement.

-Using IEW (The Institute For Excellence in Writing) has been wonderful. Ten's program is using the US History-Based Lessons while Thirteen's is the Bible-Based Lessons. The two programs are interfacing enough that I can do some 'together' teaching on some of the stylistic techniques they are covering. If, in the future, we end up back 'on our own' homeschooling, I will continue to use this program.

-Scheduling a daily SSR for both kids keeps them reading. SSR is 'Silent Sustained Reading'. When I was a classroom teacher for first and second grades, we called it DEAR time for 'Drop Everything And Read'. It is simply an assigned recreational reading time. Given that my kids don't gravitate toward reading recreationally, this ensures that they are reading something outside of their content work everyday.

-Paperbackswap.com has been a great resource. Thirteen is into the Warriors books and we've nabbed two of them through this site.

-The chore of trying to organize chores can be a constant challenge. Given that I am not a super organized person, the chores programs I have seen commercially make me want to toss the task cards and run for the hills. A daily list for each kid has been pretty effective around here because the kids like to have a list to scribble out. This week, however, I have stretched beyond the daily list to a weekly list. Friday's chores are TBA. I put the list in a sheet protector so they can still revel in scribbling out the list.

-Teaching Textbooks ROCKS! Ten is still using Saxon Math but crossing over to Teaching Textbooks (TT) after Math 7/6 has been great, great, great. Unfortunately, prior to Pre-Algebra, TT is not Mac compatible.

-Using small white boards for math has cut WAY down on paper use around here.

-Did I mention that I'm not a super organized person? Having a weekly assignment schedule has been a huge improvement around here. Thirteen has a weekly assignment guide through CC, and I schedule out the assignments on a chart. He loves to scribble out what he has finished. Now that we are into the swing of things I am not having to write in detail on his chart. At first, his assignments needed to include more details.

-Daily Grams continue to be a daily assignment and I highly recommend them. Daily Grams and a grammar reference book such as The Nitty Gritty Grammar Book go a long way in infusing grammar, editing and sentence combining into your curriculum. I have twice purchased and twice sold off my Easy Grammar program as it was too 'clunky' for me, but we have stuck with the Daily Grams.

-Beseeching El Professor to work with Thirteen on his Latin assignments has been a salvation for me! I have often envied other families who share the homeschooling between both parents. For some families the bread winner has a flexible work schedule, but a classroom teacher is gone all day. This year, however, I have organized (loosely, loosely--I'm not the organized one, remember?) Latin so that Thirteen does the book work during the day and then El Professor does flashcards and declensions/conjugations as evening homework. Just having a bit to do in the evening is helping.

-Mirriam-Webster Online is a great resource.

It's been a relief to feel like we are getting into the swing of things, but there is always a lot of room for improvement. I feel like I am being tutored this year in how to run a core program. A few years ago I began to think ahead to high school, hoping/intending that the actual arrival of home school high school wouldn't be a total panic ridden shock experience. This is 8th grade and I am thankful for the opportunity to step into a program, even if it is only for this year, that gives me a sense of the 'how'. Up to this point we have been a fairly relaxed home school, and that has worked for us. With high school approaching, however, we have felt the need to step up the pace and expectations so that we can be ready for classes that we may want to plug into during the high school years. I am also thankful for a year to come alongside a program where I am not generating the kids' 'core', but rather I am a tutor/supporter/facilitator.

Wordless Wednesday...Thoughts of Summer.....

2008-10-15T19:55:00.000-07:00

Bounty....

2008-10-11T07:17:00.000-07:00

The forecast--low 30s.

It has been a busy, bustling two weeks with school and a little foray out of town to my parent's mountain cabin. One of the busy-making things is my favorite, though...getting out in the garden and gathering 'the crops'. Early this morning I went into the garage to start a new load of laundry and had to smile (not at the laundry--ugh). The counter out there has several bowls of tomatoes and various peppers. El Professor loves all things pepper-related and we give him pepper plants every year for Father's Day. This year I planted quite a variety. We've chopped and frozen bags and bags of different colored Bells which work well in recipes that call for 'diced green chilis'. There are Italian Sweets which look like hot peppers when they ripen because they are long and red. There are also several hotties such as Anaheim Chilis, Habaneros, and Cayennes. Each year we dry peppers on plates, turning them every few days and tossing any that begin to mold, but this year I'm going to string several of them on dental floss instead.

About that forecast...this might be the weekend that that garden dies. All except for this...

I planted the winter lettuce a few weeks ago and some of it has doubled in size. Late yesterday I put plastic over the hoops...I hope the slugs don't move in.

Potluck....

2008-09-25T06:55:00.001-07:00

Thirteen years ago we began getting together with a handful of people for a weekly bible study. I count those years by the memory that our 'Thirteen' was an infant who was just beginning to sit up. The bible study migrated to our house when Thirteen began cruising as the other locations had perilous things such as coffee tables with bowls of pennies and pins, and computer monitors with fun buttons to push. People have come and gone from the study over the years, but the same little core of people remains. Currently, we are studying the book of Matthew at our tortoise-like pace. Life, meetings, children, marriages, graduations, and the like have mellowed our pace. Sometimes we decide just to potluck. This week El Professor organized a potluck to celebrate the visit of a dear friend (who basically founded the bible study and has since moved away) and the evening turned into an unexpectedly delightful time. My physical therapist friend, AKA 'Oldest and Dearest', and her husband brought their house guests to join us. They have been extending hospitality to a family from Singapore who are graduates from our beloved University and are back in town bringing their own daughter to the selfsame University for her freshman year. It was a lovely evening of connecting with our old friend, 'Uncle Mark', and learning about life in Singapore. The evening wrapped up a renewed sense of connection and the joys of hospitality.

The Wagons are Rolling.....

2008-09-21T07:22:00.000-07:00

Several home school years ago, we read all of the LITTLE HOUSE books up to LITTLE TOWN ON THE PRAIRIE. Ten even had a LITTLE HOUSE birthday with a log cabin cake. I loved the snapshots (although fictionalized) of hard work, diligence and purposefulness, especially in FARMER BOY and BY THE SHORES OF SILVER LAKE. This spring we started, but never finished, THE STOUT-HEARTED SEVEN, a true account of seven children orphaned on the Oregon Trail in 1844. I've thought quite a bit about these books these past few weeks as we've jumped headlong into the new school year with Classical Conversations. After a rather distracting summer (see Crossing My Arms The Other Way post), the school year hit the ground with its feet running. The books have come to mind as I've pondered how the 'immigrants' prepared for the journey ahead of them. They collected/packed the items they thought they would need and off loaded the belongings/property that were to be left behind. I purchased the books we would be needing over the summer for our journey with Classical Conversations as our 'core'. I purchased books and materials both for the kids and for myself as a 5th/6th grade 'Masters' tutor. The problem is that I didn't thoroughly comb through the material prior to the school year. I attended parent meetings, purchased binders and dividers and organized, somewhat, the seeming loads of appendices, resource guides, weekly guides, and assignment guides. I worked on my tutor subjects and how to teach the components of 'Foundations'. But then there's the fact that this is a home school program. My proficiency in scheduling the kids' lessons for the week, knowing their material, developing a 'face time' schedule and 'independent work' schedule has been the learning curve. Juggling that with my own tutor lesson plans, materials gathering, chart making, making sure I have the lessons buttoned up in my own mind has been a bit hectic. Frankly, I have felt like I gathered the materials for my wagon, tossed them in the wagon, and then the wagon train started rolling without my having a handle on what is in the wagon, where to find it, and how to use it. The learning curve has been huge. It's 'Wagons Ho!' and I am wanting to pull over and take another week or so to go through the wagon and reorganize. As a part of a community, however, I am having to organize as we bump down the trail.

Here is some of the 'gear' for our journey....

Thirteen is in a program called Challenge A which is the middle school program. El Professor and I were most excited about the opportunities this program would offer Thirteen to prepare him for high school. I am enjoying a reprieve from generating his core subjects as I come alongside as his home teacher facilitator. Thirteen's tutor is great with youth, enthusiastic and super organized. (She seems to have a good handle on the contents of her wagon.) I have been combing through the materials while bumping along, working out his weekly schedule and assignments. Parents can sit in on the 'seminars', but I am teaching during all of his morning seminars. Thankfully, El Professor will be working with him on his Latin lessons and assignments. Phew. (I'm currently mono-lingual.)

I am teaching Foundations, which is the morning portion of Ten's Classical Conversations meeting day. Her class consists of 5th/6th graders and, while being a lot of work, this has been great fun. My favorite portion of the program is 'presentations'. The kids have to do a 3-5 minute presentation EACH week. I am having my class present on something that was covered in the previous week related to history, science or geography. Several kids have done state reports for the states and capitals study. Did you know that many (or maybe all) states have a 'state muffin'???? We have giggled and pondered the different state 'things' (like the New Jersey state dinosaur), and last week one student brought New York State mini muffins (apple).

After lunch I get to sit back and give the reins to our Essentials teacher. This part of the day is an intensive grammar program and then writing with the Institute for Excellence in Writing. The afternoon wraps up with fast moving and fun math games.

Classical Convesations is a home school program. We meet weekly, and then the parents determine at home how to teach/reinforce the lessons. It is up to the parents to determine how much/how far to go with each subject. While I appreciate the purpose of Classical Conversations and the classical model, I am not a purist classical education lover. For instance, I have loved the ideas put forth in books like FOR THE CHILDREN'S SAKE, and anything Ruth Beechick. In Ten's Foundations program we are learning the states and capitals. A neighbor who is also in the program turned me on to a fun project and we are running with it....

I joined a (mostly) home school site where kids/families from different states swap postcards with each other. Ten and I are attempting to collect postcards from all fifty states. So, last week we did a little of the rigorous grammar assignments and then spent time sorting email requests and addressing postcards. We have mailed 18 cards so far, and have received the cards in the photo. Frankly, I'd rather let the participles hang a bit, if needed, to make time for fun and meaningful projects.

Jiminy Cricket...it's time for school!

2008-09-05T21:30:00.000-07:00

I wish I would have seen this.....

Instead of this......

on my bedroom wall, right above the headboard.

Actually, I'm glad it wasn't a spider. It all started with a hilarious report from Thirteen the other morning as I was getting ready for a tutor meeting to plan our first day of 'school' as a part of the new Classical Conversations group in our area. I was getting out of the shower when there was a knock on the bathroom door. (Even at ten and thirteen the kids' magic of suddenly needing mom when the bathroom door is shut or there is a phone call continues to baffle me. )

A report ensued. It went something like this....

"Mom, I need to inform you that there are 29 crickets loose in the house."

I replied, through the bathroom door, something like,

"Umm. OK."

The report continued, through the bathrooom door.

"I bought 30 crickets at the pet store and I put them in the bug house. There's a hole in the bug house."

I answered, logically, through the bathroom door,

"Well, put tape over the hole."

What was I thinking?

Something along the lines of, "Thank goodness it wasn't spiders."

Why the crickets? This week Thirteen used his earnings from watering a neighbor's yard to buy one of these...

He has been piecing together the habitat all week. A little cart before the horse, might I add. "Autumn" is living in a Steralite tub with a board over the top. She has the mandatory light, and a few necessary crickets.

As for the crickets in the house? I think there are about 21 now. We've found several in our room and today I found one on the wall by Thirteen's room.

The tutor meeting was immensely helpful and the first day of Classical Conversations (on Thursday) went great!

Starting Up....

2008-09-02T21:46:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness!! My head is swimming with books, schedules, details, lessons, and a lot of, HUH????" This year we have enrolled in the new Classical Conversations group in our area and I am tutoring. So the "HUH???" needs to get cleared up soon. Really soon. Like by Thursday. :-)

This is amazing.....

2008-08-28T17:39:00.001-07:00

This book is riveting.

I have a different, wider perspective on Central Asia and our country's involvement.

Finding Other Summits

2008-08-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

I didn't get to climb the South Sister. Trolling Google Images, I found this lovely photo of the South Sister and Moraine Lake. Getting the kids to Moraine Lake while some adults in our party continued on to summit the mountain had been the ultimate goal of Summit Summer. The deal breaker was the thunder, the rain, heavy clouds and cold. The week in the mountains began with a thunderstorm that moved through the area leaving 3 days of cold and rain in its wake. We weren't exactly toughing it out, though. My parents purchased a share in a vacation 'cabin' in 1976 in a Central Oregon resort and we have been visiting there ever since. We checked the forecast online before we headed east and threw in jackets. Frankly, after the VERY hot wedding events that preceded our trip, the mountain cold was a welcome reprieve.

Summit Summer began in the spring when El Professor and I were looking ahead to the first June in several years where we didn't have to wrap up the crazy end-of-the-school-year by furthering the frenzy with a 'travel requiring' June family reunion or vacation/gathering. Knowing that we would be heading to Central Oregon in August, I suggested that we take up a hiking/walking routine and summit Black Butte. Last June we gathered with extended family in Central Oregon to celebrate my parent's 50th and El Professor and I were too out of shape to join in this very hike. It's only a 4 miler, but the first two miles are UPHILL to the fire watch tower and to a panoramic view of the area. I ran up much of it when I was in high school. From the top the view is amazing. My hilarious twin seconded the Summit Summer idea with a further challenge--that we throw in the South Sister summit as well. She scrambled to the top of the peak last summer and texted me from the top. I was hooked on the idea. This third highest peak in Oregon is one that doesn't require anything more than a decent pair of shoes, water, Power bars, good weather, and stamina. Maybe next summer.

Our week in the mountains began with a wonderful accomplishment, though. El Professor and I took our two kids and one of my nieces to the top of Black Butte. We hiked right up there. No sore muscles, no 'I'm dying' panting. We broke a good sweat but it was not problem...a big change from last summer. Our original goal was met. (Unfortunately, my photos are on my niece's computer faraway--I'm going to mail her my thumb drive as she's not quite sure how to upload the photos to Costco. :-)) From Black Butte we surveyed the South Sister--shrouded in an ominous looking cloud bank along with the North Sister, Broken Top, Mount Washington, Three Fingered Jack, Mount Jefferson. I was disappointed that the kids couldn't see the mountains that I informed them of, pointing to each cloud bank and naming the mountain hidden there. We did see the expanse of Central Oregon all around us, however, including the 'smokes' of the wildfires sparked by the recent lightning.

The Cupola on top of Black Butte with Three Fingered Jack in the distance.

Black Butte--a perfect cone shaped 'cinder cone'.

The Big Day of our South Sister hike dawned chilly and rainy. By now we had contented ourselves with a different hike beginning closer by, on the McKenzie Pass which had just opened the week before after remaining closed all summer as the heavy winter snows receded. A cousin and her family were added to the ever growing hike group which now included both of my sisters, one nephew, three nieces and two brother-in-laws. We wound up the mountain road to the pass to find the temperature to be 40 with heavy misty, moisty rain. We opted for Plan B and headed 70 miles east to Newberry Crater where we were able to take the kids on the Obsidian Trail. After years of arrowhead hunting in El Professor's childhood home I have wanted our kids to see one possible source of the obsidian for those arrowheads. Newberry Crater is a shield volcano, sloping up out of the Eastern Oregon plateau differently than the rugged, heaved up composite volcanoes of the Cascade Range. A few years ago we went on an expedition/tour that mountain bikes down the sloping Newberry Mountain stopping regularly to plunge into Paulina Creek on natural rock water slides. On this cold, cloudy day, though, we walked the Obsidian Trail, a short 'hike' where you enter a moonscape of pumice and rocks ribboned with obsidian.

Ariel view of Newberry Mountain.

By the time we returned to the 'cabin' in the late afternoon, the weather had cleared and the mountains stood clear and awesome. I've seen them hundreds of times in their formation dividing Oregon into 'the wet side' and 'the dry side', and still their beauty takes my breath away. I felt a sick disappointment about what could have been as I viewed the now clear South Sister, knowing that the right time and the right weather didn't coincide for us this time around. Then, we hatched a plan. 'Hike' was now becoming a dreaded word for the kids, who were ready to spend a sunny day hanging out at the resort pool, riding bikes, etc. A 'walk in the woods', early the next morning was pitched, now that the weather would be favorable, and then we would spend the rest of the day swimming at the resort. We would take my nephew since my hilarious twin needed to attend a wedding that day. It would be fun.

The day of 'the walk in the woods' dawned chilly and clear. Lovely. We packed water, Power bars and all of the 'hike food', band aids, moleskin, etc. I had carefully stockpiled for the now defunct South Sister hike. We gathered up my nephew and my almost-16-year-old niece decided to join us as well. Ten had to hide in the back end of the car as our tiny 'Matrix' is only a 'five bun' car. We drove back up the McKenzie Pass to find the misty, moisty rain had given way to clear skies and warming temperatures. We set off on 'our walk'. It was a 6 miler and was listed as 'easy' in the hike book. We'd be out by lunch. A walk in the woods, we thought. We were on a lake loop which was supposed to bring us to an awesome viewpoint where we would see the mountains now free from their inclimate shrouds.

It was on this 'walk in the woods' that magic began to happen. It came in the form of four cousins giggling and bonding in the deep, shady woods, gradually and then outright hiking up a forested ridge to an amazing wonderland of lava and alpine lakes. By the second lake we had gone 4.5 miles (my niece had a pedometer) and had not encountered the fabled viewpoint. Clearly, this was going to be more than a six miler and it was past lunch time--the magic began wearing thin. At the urging of some other hikers we decided to take a short, arduous side trail up Scott's Ridge where the view was supposed to be amazing. After a scramble up the magic returned. For El Professor and myself, it was the view. So amazing. So rewarding. To some degree it satiated my disappointment about the South Sister hike. We were on the shoulder of the Cascades with the North Sister to our left and Mount Washington, Three Fingered Jack and Mount Jefferson extending out on our right. For the kids, it was the snow field. They played and tumbled while I marveled at the great form of the North Sister just behind their alpine playground. Wet and invigorated, we started back down the ridge, stopping to yell into the lava flow and listen to our echo. We named the spot 'Echo Ridge' and continued on our loop. We found the fabled viewpoint, confirming our suspicion that we had been hiking the loop backward from the directions in the hike book. We hiked along a high ridge drinking in the mountain view before descending back into the woods. It was downhill most of the way and the cousins chatted, ran, walked and commented on what a great hike it had been. My niece's pedometer measured our journey to be over 8.5 miles. We made it out in time for a short swim and dinner.

South Mattieu Lake with Scott's Ridge and The North Sister in the background.

Postscript--remember Selma? At the beginning of Summit Summer I mentioned my easily annoyed knee (which is doing better) and 'Selma', the name I gave to an almond sized cyst that literally appeared overnight on top of my left foot. I had decided to live peaceably, if possible, with Selma as getting a cyst carved off my foot seemed like a Summit Summer squasher. I purchased hiking/walking shoes with a wide toebox, good for avoiding downhill toe smashing and Selma contact. My retired-surgeon-dad determined that Selma was probably a ganglion cyst and I decided to consider having her removed if she was still around in the fall. Well, during the rehearsal for my niece's outdoor wedding I was sent through the maze of gardens at the event center to look for the wedding coordinator who was lost in some other venue. I hoofed it in my black wedge, 'Selma friendly' shoes to look for her. Upon my return (with the wedding coordinator) to the rehearsal I felt a familiar knawing of 'Selma pain'. I kicked off my shoe to rub Selma a bit, but she was gone. Just like that. The cyst had burst and my foot had instantly returned to a lump free state, the pain was fleeting. I mentioned it to my retired-surgeon-dad who was sitting nearby. He nonchalantly mentioned that they do that. He also quipped that one old method of treatment for a ganglion cyst is to 'whack it with the family bible'.

Hot August nights, days, afternoons, evenings.....

2008-08-17T18:20:00.000-07:00

Wow--what a scorcher it has been! Thursday through Sunday a heat wave descended upon the region as our family bustled about participating in the events around my niece's much anticipated wedding. It has been a year in the works and, despite the heat, it was lovely. (And sweaty. Very sweaty.) Thirteen turned out to be quite the poised and charming usher while Ten and her cousin made lovely flower girls. My niece was a beautiful bride.

One of the many jobs toward putting on the wedding involved painting paint stir sticks. My niece had been to a wedding where wedding programs were glued to paint stir sticks to serve as a fan. It seemed like a cute idea and El Professor took on the painting task, depite the fact that up until the wedding we had been experiencing an unseasonably cool summer. The heatwave showed up just in time for the festivities and, in the six o'clock-in-full-sun-nearly one-hundred-degree-outdoor-wedding, the program/fans were just the thing!

With the rehearsal dinner-wedding-brunch-hustle-bustle over, the heat wave has hit the road and we are going to as well. We are off to the mountains for more extended family fun and some MUCH needed R and R.

Looking Back

2008-08-14T06:37:00.000-07:00

As August marches on registrations and planning for the upcoming school year has been in the forefront of my week. It's going to be a year of a lot of changes for us. El Professor's position in the public schools is changing which means we probably won't see him at lunch everyday this year. We have thrown our hat in the ring with a new, private home school program called 'Classical Conversations' which will provide most of our core curriculum. We have always had a very ecclectic curriculum, so high accountability and a core curriculum will be new to us. I will be a tutoring one of the classes which will be interesting! Our wonderful, beloved 'beginning' piano teacher of four years has graduated the kids to other referrals make room for new beginners. I am going to scale back on our 'outside obligations' to allow more time at home for margins, home tasks, tutor planning and creativity. How it will all play out in a weekly schedule remains to be seen.

This last year ended up being somewhat crazy as we maintained a busy schedule of 'outside' activities. Still, it was a good year with a lot of good memories. Before launching into the next school year I wanted to do a few posts on 'the year in review'.

We kicked off the school year with an early September trip to Orcas Island with our mostly home schooled Boy Scout Troop. El Professor was the coordinator/organizer/leader of the trip. It was a fabulous time of camping, kayaking, ferry boat riding, hiking, shell hunting, tide pooling and shopping. It was a last hurrah for us, as Thirteen opted to end his Boy Scout career on a good note. (That is a BUSY bunch)

A friend organized a Friday morning hike group.

One fond marker of fall for me involves numerous trips to a local orchard. I used to take the school kids there for a field trip when I taught in the public schools. Now it's a home school event for us....usually involving several trips as the fall progresses. They have many varieties of apple that ripen from August to the end of October, and an authentic farm stand where most of the produce is their's and isn't trucked in from elsewhere.

Walking the orchard rows.

Summit Summer

2008-08-08T18:05:00.001-07:00

Are you impressed??

Actually, this is how we got up to the summit.

Then we hiked down.

Twice!

Eagle Peak is part of a ski area. After our first ride up we hiked down a black diamond run. Can you say, "NOODLE LEGS?" After the first descent I had serious noodle legs. The second time down we followed a woodsy mountain bike trail.

Today was El Professor's last 'unspoken for' Friday before he returns to the public schools for another school year. He wanted to do a downhill hike to work on our quads before we hit the South Sister in a few weeks. The kids loved it! Ten has two new blisters, but a great time was had by all.

Good things going on...other than the 'Bonsai Zucchini'.............

2008-08-07T19:29:00.000-07:00

This morning Thirteen put on the silly yellow "farting" clogs (they make obnoxious sounds when you walk in them) and headed out to the strawberry barrels bright and early to gather some strawberries for breakfast. I was delighted, especially since Thirteen doesn't relish garden work. My favorite mornings involve a hot cup of coffee and a peek around the garden to see how things are coming along, only today Thirteen beat me to the farting clogs. I had to wear the black ones.

Pesto! Also Bella's basil butter. Mmmmmm.

Thirteen's morning gather.

Not much of this around. I have some new baby starts.

El Professor planted two plum trees for me a few years ago. One isn't doing well, but this one is!

Mystery Squash. Anyone know what it is???

The 'Bonsai Zucchini' is growing. Yesterday it yielded two respectable sized zuchs.

One of the 'Mystery Apples'. When we bought the house El Professor scored four apples trees for $5/each at a nursery. The ID tags had fallen off. This one is a Red Striped Gravenstein, and one appears to be a Granny Smith. The other two are still unknowns.

Garden Failures....

2008-08-05T18:36:00.001-07:00

Bonsai zucchini. There is such a thing. It has been growing in my backyard, complete with little teeny, tiny zuchs, just the right size for Ten's Polly Pockets. You know you are experiencing a garden failure when you are an avid vegetable grower and you have a bag of zucchini in the fridge that you just purchased at the local farmstand!! I took this photo near the end of July with my flip flop just to show how stunted my plant is. I planted the usually unruly zucchini in the old strawberry patch--without first amending the soil. By the time the photo was taken the thing should have been taking over its corner of the garden and producing baseball bats while we were hanging out at the lake. My last great garden failure was a few years ago when the pole beans sprouted in depleted soil and turned a sickly yellow color. By immediately amending them with the rabbit cage compost they greened up and grew into lovely beans. The zucchini plant is responding to the worm bin compost I have worked in around it, the organic fertilizer, and a few swigs of compost tea. It's kind of a fun experiment, but I think I will have to keep buying zucchini for a few more weeks. In the meantime, the carrot area was overcrowded with volunteer lettuce and I have a gajillion beets. A gajillion! Hmmm. We're not super big beet eaters.

Reprieve

2008-08-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

A mountain lake, a cabin, a dock, a boat, a barbeque, a hiking trail, friends...all on the books and preplanned...it couldn't have come at a better time...for all of us. A little sunburn, a few extra pounds, lots of laundry, very refreshed and refocused...it was a wonderful week!

Out of the mouth of babes...

2008-07-26T15:45:00.000-07:00

"I had a big splinter in my foot but my dad was still alive so he pulled it out."

This was a profoundly consuming week.

That quote?

Spoken with such truth and innocence by the seven year old daughter of a friend, that it pricked my heart with the earthly finality that it conveyed. Another friend had brought this child and the child's five year old sister to a park day we had planned. "What a good memory of your dad," my wise friend responded without missing a beat.

Some years ago a group of home school moms began getting together. The group has had different takers over time, we all attend different churches, but somehow through a web of connections our lives have been woven together. This week the husband of one of these dear women died of a heart attack. The sweet teller of the splinter story is one of the six children left behind.

This week I thought of 'light' blogs from the places of enjoyment that sustained me. There were also reassuring Summit Summer hikes, pleasantly mundane things like laundry, shopping for my step-niece's upcoming wedding, and Thirteen's golf camp. But the undercurrent was ever present, waking me up at night or early in the morning. You see, this circle of home school moms also holds the friend who awaits 'the call' for a new liver. Though very fragile, she somehow plans for the school year and calls to ask what kind of sweet peppers were on that sandwich I made her. The need is real and deep and can wash over you and leave you gasping and questioning, seeking counsel and perspective...where is it? Where is the boundary? Where is it? Where is it? Where do you find the true boundary? How do you decipher between wise service, true need, and your own selfish flesh that screams out for untroubled, idyllic summer days on the lawn sipping iced tea?

Friday afternoon I went blueberry picking with an Oldest-and-Dearest--you know, one of those friends from your early twenties? One of those who attended your wedding and was there when the kids were born? We weren't able to go early in the day so we went in the hot afternoon, slathered on sunscreen, and picked. For nearly three hours we sweated and picked. In the quiet, and in the sometimes overwhelming loudness of a SE Asian tonal conversation on a nearby row, we talked about loss and responsibility, and the realness of human feeling and struggle about such matters. I shared some of the counsel we received this week (some of which was hers) and she shared about their journey as caregivers/guardians of a disabled, adult orphan, and the recent death of her mother. 29 combined pounds of blueberries later (not counting the ones we ate) she picked up the tab and my extreme gratefulness for the honesty of her stories and for allowing me to share mine.

Spavings

2008-07-24T22:33:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the month--the time of the month when I start the grocery shopping flurry. El Professor, the kids, and I dropped in at the local Grocery Outlet a few days ago. I like to check out the perishable section--often you can score good deals on items such as goat cheese. Every now and then they have packages of sandwich meat that are the nitrite free variety and, if they are approaching pull date, they are a great deal. I have found other great deals on nonperishables such as organic canned tomotoes and other organic products, chocolate (trying to stay away from that right now) tea, and toiletries. Sometimes, though, I walk out of the Grocery Outlet with an ominous sense of, why did I buy this stuff? We have a joke with one good friend about Grocery Outlet 'duds'. It's one of those 'one liners' that goes something like, "No wonder it was at the Grocery Outlet!" On this trip, though, we scored a few great spaves!

This tea is excellent! It can also be chilled for a refreshing iced tea. I have only seen this a few times at the Grocery Outlet.......

...so I spaved on all they had.

We are into making 'faux Subway sandwiches' around here, and I like to keep a lot of sliced deli turkey in the freezer so we have it on hand. There were a few of these in the perishable section, so I asked one of the head honchos if they had anymore in the back......

.....they did!! OK--we'll be having a lot of 'faux Subway sandwiches' .

While we're on the subject of things in the freezer....it's about all that rice from spaving in April. I think I'll go make a cup of tea now and check out some rice recipes.