Brain magic

This stuff blows me away.

I can't even imagine all the magical things going on in his young brain.

I will never tell him this is wrong. It's beautiful.

Nectar

Calder's brought his teenie hummingbirds to the now-opening quince in our living room. They've been sipping up nectar all morning.

And I've been sipping up the new-found good vibes from doing a little home yoga practice for 3 days in a row now. (Pat on the back.) I feel sore in my shoulders and back, but it's kind of nice to feel it. These muscles have been latent for a long while and they're not too shy to tell me so. You know, I've been counting carrying Lake around as cardio and strengh training, but I'm pretty sure it's not a valid form of exercise unless I do it for 30 minutes or more with an elevated heartrate. No, this yoga is good for me. And thankfully, Jeff's had such a consistent home practice for months now that we've got a little yoga studio space set up at all times. Nice.

And another thing that's been sending me good vibes lately is the work of Ariele Alasko, an artist/builder in Brooklyn (but of course.) I feel like we're kindred makers even though most of my making has been on hold for a few years through my kiddos' early days. I told a friend recently that I was pretty sure if Ariele and I lived in the same town she and I would be duking it out over piles of old, worn wood. Lucky for the two of us we're many miles apart, and I can claim all the fallen fences in Oregon while she gets the lath from old buildings in New York. We both win!

We're just hangin' around

Waiting for the quince to bloom.

Oh, and everyone has a cold.

A new star... almost

First tooth!

Calder has had two wigglers for weeks, and last night the first of them popped out. It must have happened during dinner, but we didn't notice until bathtime. We did a cursory search, but I'm guessing it made it's way to his tummy.

Still, the Tooth Fairy paid him his first visit last night, much to his pleasure. When I was little the story I had about the Tooth Fairy said that she collected all the little teeth and strung them on thread to hang in her window where they glittered like little stars in the sky.

And speaking of the sky... if you're blessed with a clear sky tonight just after sunset, look to the west - preferably a low horizon - for a view of Mercury, the Moon, Venus and Jupiter all in a vertical line climbing up from the horizon.

Après the show

A whole passel of us from town (we're talking 30+ parents and kiddos) went up to the big city on Saturday to see the Oregon Childrens' Theater production of The Magic Schoolbus. I've got to say, I was not wowed by the show, but the event itself was an adventure.

All of us crammed in the theater's freight elevator. The grown ups still tower over the kids... for now.

We enjoyed a backstage tour, occupied the entire first row of the 2nd balcony, and my favorite part... an après theatre, pre-dinner stop-in with a portion of our crowd at the Marble Bar in the Heathman Hotel. (Kids allowed until 5pm.) We swept in on the bartenders with orders for hot chocolates, espressos, and Tanqueray+Tonics.

It was a sweet scene. An upholstered alcove framed the little people perfectly. There's probably a bazillion pictures of these four in this alcove, but who could resist? All the expressions... too good. My camera fails me in these circumstances, but some of these are cute even with the blur. (Is it even possible to shoot at the speed of kid?)

Facelift

We needed one. I had considered simply removing the cabinet faces, but the half-way done feeling of that route seemed a little too frugal this time. Trust me when I tell you I am cheap. I struggle with spending money when I know I can do something with my own hands for less or free. Plus, I respect myself for stepping up to that challenge. But, I wanted this to look more than just a little different.

Photo from right after we moved in back in 2005. The cabinets got a coat of white paint in 2006 before Calder was born.

Still, I did do all the work of taking down the cabinets and putting up the new shelves. And so that felt good. Plus, it does look more than just a little different. It looks way better than before. We are happy.

And there's more to come. We have another bank of cabinets over the counter that separates the kitchen from the dining area. Once we decide how to deal with the hood that's currently incorporated into those cabinets, then they will come down too. And the space will be BIG! I'm anxious to see it, but accept the slow pace right now as we make sure we have a good plan for the hood. I'm thinking right now of something covered with some of that old wood I collect. Kind of like this, but our hood will hang in the open over the stove. Anyway, it should look good and be an even bigger change than getting rid of that first bank of cabinets.

We've got more to do... always! But I'm pleased with what we've done so far.

In the clear out of the cabinets, I rediscovered this funny cup bought years back at a Cal State Long Beach ceramics sale. It was made by my instructor, Craig Clifford. Ben Franklin and I share a birthday. I've had such bad luck lately breaking many of my favorite cups. I think this one's moved into the top spot for now.

Show 'em you love 'em

Valentine's Day. Hope it's sweet for you.

We did a bit of cupid-ing around the neighborhood this morning,

then joined friends this afternoon for a little Valentine exchange. I've never made so many pom poms. Kinda fun!

I don't know what it is about Valentine's Day and my attraction to watercolor, but again I painted up some paper for the boys (all three) to find this morning.

P.S. Jeff's treats (in the fridge, if you noticed) are intentionally share-able. Right, Jeff? A 220z. stout from Ninkasi and a double pack of the co-op's Cosmic Eclairs... yum! Anything to ease the pain of a late shift on Valentine's Day.

February first days

It's been beautiful.

The waters are subsiding, but are not yet gone.

The skies have been clear, high, and blue as blue.

The green noses of bulbs are emerging. Filberts are blooming. We see the bees busy going in and out of their hives. What flowers could they be visiting now? Could it be the filberts?

A view as far as the eye could see from the hilltop yesterday.

I love an hour or so in the garden clearing out the brown from the end of last season. In the cool, bright afternoon of what must still be called winter, my body was warmed by my effort. My heart rate rose. I was working, but not enough to make me sore or sweaty. It just felt good.

I have an idea. It makes me happy and smile inside when I think about it. I wonder when I'll make my first move to bring it into tangible reality? I thought finishing was the hardest part for me. Perhaps it's making the first move to begin?

High water

Outside the window this morning the sky is more blue than grey... though that could change in the blink of an eye. The oatmeal's been eaten, or is being eaten, now that everyone is up. Some of us have moved on to the second course: apple cider popsicles.

Calder just beat himself in a game of Space Bingo. Looks like I'm his next target.

The New Yorker makes for interesting reading material for a 5 year old. Lots of questions about the cartoons to be sure. And if you come across a photo of a man smoking you might hear something like this, "Mom, if this is a real man and you walked by him, you'd have to hold your breath and plug your nose so you won't get any of that dirty stuff in your body that can make you sick! You don't want to go near him." Smart kid.

We've come upon a happy balance to our days. It's been a struggle for a while to feel like we were doing enough for our growing, curious 5 year old. I'm finally feeling like he's happy and engaged with what we've got going. If he were in school during the week I would think this were too many activities, but as he's home this all feels like just the right amount. Time with Gramma C, soccer class, WILD Explorers, and gymnastics. It all makes for a little more of a scheduled week, and for me, that's been helpful.

For me, a schedule means variety where before we may have hung around the home a whole lot more. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's really easy for me to be inactive at home. And to that end, I was happy to come across a couple good lists of exercises to do at home. It is so hard for me to stick to an exercise routine. So hard! I am not self-motivated, and I am very self-critical. Hmmmm....

Like I said before, it's sunny now... yes, still! But it has been raining buckets around these parts. I'm sure more is expected. Our house has always been in the clear, though we're surrounded by the floodplain, and for one day our neighborhood was cut off from the rest of town due to the confluence of multiple overfull waterways. The river is still filling most of the park near home. (As seen in the flood photos in this post.) The egg operation I wrote about recently narrowly escaped the waters by the skin of their 30 little beaks. Thank goodness! Oh, and a couple of our girls have thrown us an egg or two the last few days. We thank them and happily announce the gift every time it's received. It does feel special!

One of our favorite farms, Rainshine - the one down the street from us, is park adjacent. Their field flooded out. In fact, they canoed in over their 5' deer fence! Today is Ms. Rainshine's birthday, and Baby Rainshine is due to arrive any day now. Life is BIG for them right now.

Another of our favorite farms, Gathering Together, flooded out pretty badly. The water filled their fields, flooded out their winter crops, and ruined their tool shop, and cooler/compressor. It made it up onto the porch of the farm stand (where you dine) but didn't make it into the kitchen or indoor part of the farmstand. If peeps want to help, they've asked that we support them by purchasing their produce, signing up for their CSA, and ordering seeds from their catalog, Wild Garden Seed.

So there you go. Onward! Off to have a Thursday. Hope yours is great! My aunt is having major shoulder surgery today, so my thoughts are with her for a smooth recovery.

First snow

It's always so nice here when it snows.

We don't ever get that much, and it rarely sticks around for too long.

So, celebrate it while it's here!

- - -

Lake and I have been in quarrantine for the past two days with a stomach bug. Jeff and Calder have been staying at his mom's house in town. (Thank goodness we have that option!) I think I've cleaned, bleached, boiled, and laundered thoroughly engough that the other two won't get sick. I very much hope so!

When Lake awoke this morning, and I pointed out the snow falling, his face brightened. He pointed, and stood on the pillow to watch out the window above the bed. Could this be his first snow? It's surely the first he'll remember.

After breakfast we will venture out to play.

- - -


(Yes, those are plastic bags held on by rubber bands. Looks like we need to get Lake some winter shoes, or rain boots at the least.)













* * *


We're back in and they want to go out again. Man, can those boys take advantage of a couple inches of snow!?



We got to see the neatest thing out on the patio.











The little bush tits flew in to the suet feeder while we were standing just feet away. I don't have great zoom on my camera... I was really as close as these photos seem. I love these birds! At the tail end of their visit there were also a couple Townsend's Warblers.