Sizzlin' success

Story Hour at our little library is going great. We have had 8 kids the last two weeks, 5 kids the first week. There is a lot of interchange amongst the attendees, so we have probably had 10-12 different kids in during the first three weeks. It might be more than that, but I'm too lazy to attempt a headcount from memory and I haven't been taking attendance. Maybe I should...

I am so pleased. I knew that "if we built it, they would come". Even in a tiny community of 703 people. The years before required a sign up sheet and suffered from massive disorganization, so when an interested individual actually manhandled it into submission - and townspeople could count on it happening - we would smell the sweet rose of success. Yesssss.

The 9-12 year olds' group is going well, too. A SAHD(ad), who is also a former elementary teacher, is organizing it. They are adapting a folk tale into a puppet show (SO cool) and will be performing it for the younger kids at the end of the summer. There are 10 kids in regular attendance.

It is just so thrilling. And encouraging. And fun to participate in.

It makes me proud.

♥ the innocence mission ♥

The Lakes of Canada

One of my all-time favorite songs, ever. (With a couple of minutes of cheesy water sound effects at the end: beware.)

Sufjan does Lakes of Canada, too

Quite a find

On our way to friends' house for dinner last weekend, we were driving by Wildlife Management Land and happened upon this beauty: a wild Cypripedium. It is the brown and yellow "Lady Slipper" orchid, closely related to Minnesota's state flower, Cypripedium reginae. It was our first sighting of a Cypripedium occurring in its natural habitat, which was quite a thrill.

I was watching the landscape very closely as we drove (and we were going very slowly because of the gravel road), as I am interested in, and becoming more familiar with, prairie flowers. We were running late and had already just stopped to look at some tent caterpillars; but when I saw those beautiful, round, yellow flowers, I squealed "Cypripedium!"; Squeeze slammed on the brakes and we all piled out to admire it.

Cypripedium (species unknown)

So very lovely...
(Diego examining it in the background)

Kitchen flop

I attempted to make homemade mozzarella this evening, and what a ker-flop that turned out to be! I'm not sure exactly what went wrong, but my goodness: did it ever. It never turned to "stretchy taffy". No-no-no.

Oh well.
I tried.

En absentia

All of my free time of late has been taken up by my Friends of the Library activities.

Let me count the ways:

• I planned and organized Story Hour (ages 4-8) for the Summer Reading Programs at our library. It was terribly disorganized before - completely fly by the seat of their pants, and worse, required a sign-up sheet. If only one child signed up, it was cancelled for the week. And the book selection! Gak. I couldn't hack that for another summer, so I took charge. The theme is "Get Creative @ Your Library"; the instruction manual gave plenty of book recommendations, but I took this opportunity to order some quality selections to add to the collection. We had our first Story Hour this past Wednesday, with 5 kids. Not too shabby. I am also facilitating the introduction, wiggle/song-time, and the crafts after the reading volunteer has finished.
• I have written the Library News column for the local paper for the past two weeks (due on Thursdays). I normally only have the first week of the month, but someone moved.
• I write the agenda for our monthly meetings, the second Monday of each month.
• I'm researching incorporating as a 501c3 (non-profit).
• We average one fundraiser per month. Last month, it was a Book and Rummage Sale during the city-wide rummage sales. We made $284. Next month, it is a food stand and water wagon during the town's annual parade.

The library has seen HUGE improvements since the formation of the Friends last November. It is so encouraging. The librarian was barely keeping her nose above water before the Friends - she only worked 20 hours a week with no help, and runs a part-time business on the side. No wonder why there were so many piles behind her desk.

Since the Friends formed, we have:

• Added 3 regular volunteers to the library "staff".
• Raised $1,400
• Bought 2 large double-sided wooden bookshelves and one smaller wooden bookshelf for the children's section.
• Added comfortable seating to the library landscape.
• Write a weekly column for the local newspaper called, "Library News", to keep the community informed of our activities, promote the library and its features, and instill a greater recognition/appreciation for the role of the library in the community [in my opinion, libraries are one of the most important cultural institutions].
• Started a petition/resolution for community members to sign, showing their support for the activities and goals of the Friends (library improvement, and ultimately...a new building) - to show the City Council that we have community backing.
• Averaged one fundraiser per month - from sit-down meals to food stands to rummage and book sales.
• Upped community book donations (to add to the collection, or save for future book sales).
• Near-distant future goal: expand library hours with a militia of volunteers (we are currently open M, W, F and 1/2 Sat...can you imagine?? And that is comparatively GOOD).

It has been thrilling, to say the least. There has been a big lift to the general look of the library, the collection itself (though meager), and the librarian is feeling optimistic again. She is starting implement the change that she never had the time or the means to do so, and I think having the support of a group has been instrumental. I'm so proud!

* * * * *

Other than the extensive Friends activity, I/we:

• Spend almost every night outside, working in our various gardens (vegetable, herb, flower) until 9:00-ish - come inside, eat, relax a little, and go to bed.
• Went to the local prairie preserve last weekend with a Friend we had in town. Lovely. I feel much more connected to this area and the general landscape when I see it intact and as it was/is meant to be. Rolling hills, waving grasses, and beautiful prairie flowers to seek out like a treasure hunt. No weeds, no miles of tilled land, no clumps of odd-looking tree stands.
• Am reading French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano, of all the things. I've seen it referenced before and when I ran into it at the Friends' book sale I couldn't resist picking it up. I'm enjoying reading about open markets, seasonal eating, and a plain-and-simply approach to a trim, womanly figure: whole foods, made at home. Yep!
• Have had a great few weeks with the boys, particularly Diego. I want to highlight that, because I'm usually posting "Wahhhhh!" and "Why???", so it feels really good to be able to say that we are in a groove - there is an understanding amongst us - the scales are balanced. That feels so good, especially after days or weeks where it seems like we do nothing more than spin our wheels. I know this is overly general, but I would think parents of little ones probably get the gist. It is so refreshing to feel positive, instead of spiraling in the "same old crap".

It's official:

I cried while reading a book to Diego.

Baby in a Basket by Gloria and Ted Rand did me in. Okay, so I "fought back tears", not cried, but nonetheless: my poor aching mama's heart. Yeeeouch!

Using a true story from 1917 Alaska, the Rands have created a perfect marriage of text and illustration. Traveling from Fairbanks to Seattle in midwinter, Marie Boyer and her two daughters, Betty and Ann, are among passengers and freight tossed into an icebound river when the horses pulling their big sleigh panic. Betty is pulled under the ice and Ann, in her snug basket, vanishes in the Arctic dark. Rescued, Betty and the other passengers are comforted at a nearby lodge while a desperate search is mounted to find Ann. At the last moment, two trappers arrive to a joyous reception, carrying basket and baby Ann, discovered sliding down the river atop the ice, pushed by the freezing wind.

Gloria Rand's detailed, dramatic text is well matched by Ted Rand's robustly wintry illustrations, and presents the hardships faced by Alaskan pioneers in a manner comprehensible to the young. Almost unbelievable in these days of jet planes and superhighways, this gripping tale of near tragedy will enrich a social studies curriculum. Even more, though, it's an exciting "good read."

A Wooded Room

We found a very special place this past week: the inner sanctuary of an old barn at some friends' place. They are an older couple, and had partially torn the roof off of it years ago in hopes of dismantling the poor thing for scrap lumber, but didn't get very far. Meanwhile, Mother Nature and all the little wood-fairies have been hard at work reclaiming it for themselves. I felt completely transported to another realm in this room; my eyes must have been shining the entire time.

I have always been attracted to the inner sanctum - alternate realities - hidden realms - secret places. Some of my favorite books, or parts of books, from childhood involved hidden spaces: Hester Gray's garden in Anne of Avonlea, The Secret Garden, Sarah Crewe's attic room at the girls' boarding school, or the Alden children's home in the boxcar with their pineneedle beds.

Being in this room, with its enormously high vaulted ceiling, the sun streaming in, trees growing up from the dirt floor, the sunlight dappled with green leaves - oh my, it transported me. I want to go back. I want to live there. I want my children to feel the tug of intrigue and have their senses filled with the ethereal atmosphere.

And yet...I also felt mournful there. I imagined its history: all the people and cows and hay who have been inside that place. How the farmer who built it would slap his forehead in disbelief if he could see it now. How the children who played on the thick rope swing in the haymow would feel teary to see their magical playland a mere shadow of its former self. And how even the trees from which the lumber was milled would see themselves, astonished: still strong, but leaning, leaning, and slowly on their way back to mildewy dust.

This place . . . affected me.

Warmed cockles

If you want to warm the cockles of your heart too, go to my SIL's blog and have a look-see. Awww...it's enough to make a mama radiant sunbeams from her giant, happy grin.

A full report on getting too thin and battling systemic yeast

I am starting to get too skinny again, but I've gained, count 'em: 5 lbs, and I am so very thankful for that. At the beginning of May I was down to 132, which for 5'9 is frightfully thin.

I noticed the gain yesterday morning: I bought a pair of short-pants last fall that were pleasantly form-fitting; but at the beginning of May they were literally falling off my hips without a belt, making me feel like a sloppy young Bag; wonderfully, when I tried them on yesterday, they were merely loose. I've bulked up a bit! Thank heavens.

I am still nursing regularly, so this is a factor in my weight loss - but the biggest reason for the skinnies is cutting out all dairy in April. I had been hovering in the 137 to 140 range before that. Why did I cut out my beloved and wonderfully-delicious dairy products, you ask? The answer is systemic yeast. My body is out of balance. It (the yeast) has been terrorizing my face, and now my vag, too, for 3 years. I believe my body was knocked out of balance with the use of oral contraceptives and then thrown for a loop through the hormonal changes of pregnancy and nursing. And I've finally had ENOUGH. I'm not taking it anymore. It is time to get radical.

For two years, though I've suspected yeast, I couldn't understand what it was eating: I don't eat refined flours or sugars except on occasion. I eat tons of vegetables, my grains are whole, and I do eat meat. What was this yeast eating? What could it be??? I was so sad to realize that it had to be dairy. Lactose! So much dairy, in fact, that I dropped 5-7 pounds in a week after cutting it out of my diet. Milk, cheese, sour cream, yogurt, butter, cottage cheese...I love it all...and I love LOTS of it. Like, with every meal.

And so, I cut it out. I plan to re-introduce it into my diet very slowly after several months. I am also taking an arsenal of supplements to battle the yeast: Vitamins B, D, E - Zinc - Cod Liver Oil - Probiotics - Calcium - Digestive Enzymes - a homeopathic to "dig it out" - and Capryl, an anti-fungal, to kill it. I am also eating coconut and olive oils with every meal, which are anti-fungals, very tasty, and an aid to digestion and nutrient absorption. [For the record: coconut oil is fabulously tasty spread on crackers and olive oil drizzled in soups right before eating is divine. Wow...! I would have never known.]

In addition to beefing up on good fats to gain weight, I have also been attempting to eat extra meals. Not just snacks, folks, but actual full-out extra meals. Tons of eggs and meat and vegetables, which has been hard on my philosophy of seasonal eating, as you can imagine. We are also running very low on meat, but a recently sourced supply of grass-fed/grass-finished beef just went to the meat locker yesterday, so we will be replenishing our supply with 1/4 of a cow within the next few weeks. (Thank goodness.) And once our garden is in full-swing, I will really be able to hone in on the foods that yeast cannot eat: meat and vegetables. I'm going to starve those little bastards to death!

Yeast is a single cell fungi that is usually kept in check by the natural flora in the body - but once it gains a foot hold in your system, it actually sends out mycelium just like any other fungus. Can you imagine that creeping through your tissues??? It is enough to give anyone the willies. That is the reason is it so hard to get rid of: it is growing in you. And from what I've read, once it gains a hold in your body, it is a nasty, nasty thing to try and get rid of. I'm in it for the long haul!

I shall keep you posted on my progress in both weight and yeast-eradication. Presently, I just am so thankful for the extra pounds I've been able to add back on. Squeeze has noticed too, saying my face looks better - not so bony. He wishes I would gain weight, the poor guy. I'm trying! My face is looking better too, which is such a relief. Being red and zitty at the age of 31, though not as mortifying as it might be for teenagers, is still painful and unpleasant.

So, ultimately, my goal is a fleshier body and clear skin. I - can - do - it!

To my #1 fan, Ash - and her husband, my brother

Ashley ---
Smashingly.
So sincere and honest.

I love it that you're working at
Kelowna "General Hospital".
It sounds like a soap; but in reality...
You're wiping butts and cleaning cuts.
And staying up all night.

Ashley ---
Thrillingly.
Hard at work at her new hobby.

You're smart and sassy,
not quite as slow as molassy;
working through the tedium of...cross-stitching.
(Or is that bo-bassy?)
I smile at the thought of it.

Ashlik --
or Erley ---
You're half my hits each day, you silly girl.
And that is why you, my dear, are my #1 fan.
You're the record-holder, fo' sho'.

What I've been thinking about recently...

• Amazingly textured skies.
• Windblown grass.
• The scent of a bright, dewy, crisp morning.
• Old homestead garden varieties that fill our grove - daylilies, lily of the valley, fancy nettle, violets, yarrow, and even struggling crabapples - all remnants of a farm long-gone: testaments from the past.
• How taking a hard line in the philosophy of locally-produced, sustainable eating seems to veto vegetarian and/or vegan eating, especially in this part of the country.
• My selfishness as a mother, and how to get beyond that.
• How my husband and I compliment each other almost perfectly; and how remarkable it has been to recognize that very fact more fully these past few months. How can we be so lucky? Does every pairing contain strengths/appreciation on this level?
• Friendship. Knowing and being known; feedback; great conversation; delving into the abstract; enjoying a well-prepared meal or drink together.
• Coconut oil on Bible Bread. Nummm...
• Rhubarb sauce sweetened with chopped dates and orange, spiced with cloves: on pancakes or oatmeal.
• Anticipation for the coming growing season: knowing I will be able to go out back and pick a full meal in a matter of months.
• Soaking grains and seeds for greater digestibility. Next up: nuts soaked overnight in salt water. I'm ready.

5.10.09

Garden news

WAY up --
Cool-growing vegetables:

• Lettuce
• Kale
• Peas
• Radishes
• Mustard greens
• Spinach
• Sunflowers
• Rhubarb
• Garlic

More vegetables:

• Beets
• Parsnips
• Salsify
• Dill (re-seeded from last year)
• Fennel (ditto)

Transplants, in:

• Broccoli
• Cabbage

What a thrilling time of year! The grass is green, the trees are budding, we've had several sunny 70 degree days, and the garden is coming along nicely. Still very ugly, of course; but filled with potential. I can hardly wait to walk out back to gather our evening meal. It's gonna be great!

We have big plans for planting this weekend. We even have a friend coming out to help -- she offered and we took her up on it. Prepare to slave, Kate! (Just kidding, of course.) My hope is that it will be a productive weekend in the garden with a pleasant nightcap each evening, loaded meaningful conversation and perhaps a chocolate martini. You never know what "Squeeze the Bartender" has up his sleeve.

A weekend in review

I don't usually post more than a few pictures at a time, but we had such a fun-filled extended weekend visiting family and friends in the Twin Cities and Wisconsin that I am spurred to splurge. We ate delicious food, visited grandparents, relaxed with friends, explored waterways, hung with my bro, enjoyed a sliver in time of child-free moonlighting, re-connected with an old friend, and engaged in meaningful conversation.

All in all, a delightful trip.

Driving through leaf-budding Wisconsin

Squirrely sleep-deprived boys with their great-grands

Four friends and a fetus

Posing before a DELUXE breakfast

Reunion

Go get 'em, boys

The most amazing fruit salad ever:

chopped fruit and sour cream spiced with

cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon

Rainy day + busy street = happy baby

Nepalese buffet lunch = sublime

Oooooo...koi!

Popple-de-Polly makes me laugh

Little Popple-de-Polly
Said, See my new dolly!
With her beautiful, pop-open eyes.

But I can't make her speak,
Though I've tried for a week;
And whever I hug her, she cries.

Ba-looming

Brassavola nodosa 'Little Stars';

nestled with our sprouting seed potatoes.

This little sucker becomes fragrant at night, and

fills an entire room with an intense, spicy-sweet scent.

The boys enjoy inspecting and sniffing it every evening.

(We have divisions for interested parties.)

Epiphyllum (hybrid unknown)

Squeeze calls it Epiphyllum 'Don', named for

the former co-worker that gave it to him.

[When I met the old duffer, he was wearing

his t-shirt backwards. What a dude.]

The color of this "orchid cactus" bloom is so vibrant,

that looking straight into it tickles my brain.

Why???

How is this possible?

• The baby is sleeping.
• The 3 year old has been looking at books or playing quietly by himself for an HOUR AND A HALF. He has checked in with me a couple of times to say, "I love you".
• I have been casually doing my own thing, with a child awake, for an HOUR AND A HALF.
• This is almost-complete freedom of mind and movement, with a child awake.
• This has never happened before.
• The sun is shining, the day is warm.
• It is a beautiful, sweet-smelling day.

And...the kicker:

• I feel guilty about it.

Argh, matey - me toe hooks!

For those unaware, Diego has been obsessed with Peter Pan for some time now. Most of our afternoon "Special Time" play-time follows a Peter Pan-esque storyline starring Peter, the Lost Boys, Tink, Captain Hook, and the Crocodile.

Today, while Captain Hook (as played by Diego) was sitting on the edge of the Jolly Roger and contemplating a fall off the side of the ship, he muttered to himself --

"Hmmmm.... If I did fall off, the crocodile would eat my toes and then I would have toe hooks. Hmmmmm...."

Bear with me a moment, please

There is something about chilled air - drizzly rain - the smell and feel of sticky sap from fir or spruce - and the sight of split level entry houses circa 1981 that remind me of my youth and fill me with nostalgia.

I have stumbled upon all these things within the last couple of days and it makes me feel like I'm 11 again. I guess I miss...the suburbs of Western WA...?

No...but memories flutter in my mind and fill me with, as my husband has described so well, "sweet melancholy".