A, my 4 year old, got a hold of the camera and was experimenting with the viewfinder and focus knob. He was standing up on the couch - and managed to find me, focus, and snap a picture!
Friday, September 14, 2007
Photo of the Day.
A, my 4 year old, got a hold of the camera and was experimenting with the viewfinder and focus knob. He was standing up on the couch - and managed to find me, focus, and snap a picture!
Thursday, September 13, 2007
CSA Box This Week.
Today my husband ran in to get our CSA box while I sat in the car with the boys - mosquitoes were swarming! I love the look and color and shape of vintage tractors, so I took a pic.
Ok, I quickly hung out the window, snapped several shots, and then closed it quickly as the boys shrieked MOSQUITOES COMING IN!!!!!! I love the tractor shots.
We have so many tomatoes, and with a big project this week I am behind on getting them stored! Tomorrow is food prep day - we are going to slice, cook, freeze, dehydrate, and blanch lots of stuff. Should be a perfect day for it. And then this weekend we have a tomato u-pick (yum) and hopefully go pick...APPLES!
This week in our box: Eggplant, tomato mix bag, tomatillos, radishes, cauliflower, red & yellow onion, potato medley, garlic, cilantro. There were also some yummy extras to choose from - peppers!
I love tomatillos, jalapenos, cilantro...MMMMM. None of THAT is going towards fall storage!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Days at home.
We have spent the past two days at home...with a car in the shop. We do spend many days at home, and do try to reduce driving, but mid-week is usually when we get out a bit more, go to the library, and have some playdates.
Being here on cool days means a little time for our projects, like the stick puppets. Also, cleaning up and taking stock of the fall garden. The cooler temps and wind have helped dissipate the mosquitoes, so I can actually go in the garden to clean up, check plants, and harvest. Our garden, with all of the rain of the last month, has just gotten out of control! Beans, pumpkins, tomatoes, eggplant, herbs, MASSIVE lemon balm bushes.
The pumpkins are early - so perfectly orange and smooth.
I had a bunny issue earlier in the season with the beans I planted on the arbor. With the rain, they were finally left alone to grow, and I now have a large vine filled arbor with beans beans beans, just hanging from the sky. I see people stop on their walks to look - yep, beans!
We have been bird watching too. Many new visitors as the weather changes. Yesterday we saw one of these:
A Northern Flicker - cool looking bird.
We also did a water/oil "experiment" today...lots of work for 1 minute of interest after, but sometimes it is the process, not the result, right?
It seems my 2 year old makes this face in about every photo lately, doesn't it?
Yeah, the pouring, food coloring drips, oil pouring, and taping was MUCH more exciting than the final product. "So NOW what do we DO with it, mom?" Um, LOOK at it? :)
We should hopefully get our car back in time to pick up our CSA share at the farm this afternoon! Yay!
Being here on cool days means a little time for our projects, like the stick puppets. Also, cleaning up and taking stock of the fall garden. The cooler temps and wind have helped dissipate the mosquitoes, so I can actually go in the garden to clean up, check plants, and harvest. Our garden, with all of the rain of the last month, has just gotten out of control! Beans, pumpkins, tomatoes, eggplant, herbs, MASSIVE lemon balm bushes.
The pumpkins are early - so perfectly orange and smooth.
I had a bunny issue earlier in the season with the beans I planted on the arbor. With the rain, they were finally left alone to grow, and I now have a large vine filled arbor with beans beans beans, just hanging from the sky. I see people stop on their walks to look - yep, beans!
We have been bird watching too. Many new visitors as the weather changes. Yesterday we saw one of these:
A Northern Flicker - cool looking bird.
We also did a water/oil "experiment" today...lots of work for 1 minute of interest after, but sometimes it is the process, not the result, right?
It seems my 2 year old makes this face in about every photo lately, doesn't it?
Yeah, the pouring, food coloring drips, oil pouring, and taping was MUCH more exciting than the final product. "So NOW what do we DO with it, mom?" Um, LOOK at it? :)We should hopefully get our car back in time to pick up our CSA share at the farm this afternoon! Yay!
Stick Puppets!
Today we made ocean creature stick puppets! The base shape was cut from card stock, and each was decorated, embellished, and painted by the boys!
We set out the supplies, and then worked on one sea creature at a time. Octopus, jellyfish, grouper, moray eel, manta ray.
We taped the stick on the back - and then decorated each item. We used beads, shredded bright fabric scraps, colored pencils, watercolors, glitter paint, and ribbon.
It was a little chaotic, but lots of fun.
As the creatures dried, we setup a "stage" using our shop and some fabric and playsilks.
We sat down and read a bit about each sea creature from our favorite library book of the week as they dried some more, and then they couldn't wait any more and had to PLAY!
A and G put on shows for me...the manta and octopus are friends, but otherwise, they all eat each other. Live action food chain!
I saved the templates for the shapes - I plan to make felt hand puppets out of the shapes for even more puppet fun! !
40.
Wow. So the big news for me over the next week is...um...gulp...uh...I'm turning 40.
It looks so weird on the screen. I surely don't have any negative ideas of 40...but I also don't currently have 1 friend or acquaintance that is 40. I know that must seem odd, to be cut off from those near my own age. I do know people in their lower to mid-30's, and my husband will be turning 30 this year (yeah, yeah, yeah). But 40? No. Not that it matters in the big picture, being the same age as everyone around you, I suppose, but it is something that stands out when chatting or discussing experience, careers, ideas, life before kids. It is just different.
My father died when he was 40. I was 18, in college, and not on speaking terms with him. I had an idea at the time that he was not *old*, but my youth addled brain also of course saw my own father as old...what kid doesn't think of their parents as old? Both of my parents were in that car crash, my mom injured in ways that took years to fully realize, but she survived. My dad. Well, he is perpetually 40 in my mind, frozen in time. And now I will be 40. I have a 4 year old & 2 year old. My youngest sibling - my brother - was about 4 when our dad died.
I don't have a fear of death, nor do I have a mid-life crisis, nor do I have a problem being a woman entering my 40s, nor do I obsess over aging or appearances. But my mind cannot help but to think of how I feel and who I am at this age...and that my father was just as young, as vital, and had young children. Like me. Thinking and feeling 40 ties me to him, in a way. To that man I did not get along with. Who pushed too hard, expected too much, had no patience or tolerance for failure of any sort, and who had only one idea of the acceptable path for my life, which did not include any of the things that were important to me.
I think over time that have I realized how much of my father is in me--anyway. My eclecticism. My drive. The bizarre sense of humor (that no one gets). A photographic memory. Fierce independence. Justice. The list goes on.
One of the few photos I have of him is just before he turned 40. He had an opportunity to model for a knitting magazine - a pattern titled super something or other - and he jumped at the chance just so he could tell everyone he was a SUPER model (yes, he was weird too). In that photo I see my face in there. My siblings have something of him in there, particularly my brother, but he is the young version of my dad...I am the old one. That is my smile, my eyes. And I have caught up to that photo.
In my past I have marked the bigger life moments with something, well, bigger. A ritual of remembrance-like hiking alone on a mountain somewhere. A tattoo for meaningful markation. Something to remember where I was, what I wanted, and who I planned to become--so it would keep me on some path I envisioned was of utmost importance. To not allow myself to slack or slide or settle from that. I think at 40 I don't need a tattoo. I have 2 sons. I have this great partner/husband. I know where I am, what I want, and who I have become. And no, I don't have it all right NOW and I have much room for improvement, but I'm OK with that. I know how much changes with time. And I know I am on a long journey.
My hope for my 40s includes many things - adventure, happiness, health, hope, compassion, peace, creativity, time, family, freedom, friends, love, knowledge, laughter, inspiration...and the freedom, from myself, to be myself.
It looks so weird on the screen. I surely don't have any negative ideas of 40...but I also don't currently have 1 friend or acquaintance that is 40. I know that must seem odd, to be cut off from those near my own age. I do know people in their lower to mid-30's, and my husband will be turning 30 this year (yeah, yeah, yeah). But 40? No. Not that it matters in the big picture, being the same age as everyone around you, I suppose, but it is something that stands out when chatting or discussing experience, careers, ideas, life before kids. It is just different.
My father died when he was 40. I was 18, in college, and not on speaking terms with him. I had an idea at the time that he was not *old*, but my youth addled brain also of course saw my own father as old...what kid doesn't think of their parents as old? Both of my parents were in that car crash, my mom injured in ways that took years to fully realize, but she survived. My dad. Well, he is perpetually 40 in my mind, frozen in time. And now I will be 40. I have a 4 year old & 2 year old. My youngest sibling - my brother - was about 4 when our dad died.I don't have a fear of death, nor do I have a mid-life crisis, nor do I have a problem being a woman entering my 40s, nor do I obsess over aging or appearances. But my mind cannot help but to think of how I feel and who I am at this age...and that my father was just as young, as vital, and had young children. Like me. Thinking and feeling 40 ties me to him, in a way. To that man I did not get along with. Who pushed too hard, expected too much, had no patience or tolerance for failure of any sort, and who had only one idea of the acceptable path for my life, which did not include any of the things that were important to me.
I think over time that have I realized how much of my father is in me--anyway. My eclecticism. My drive. The bizarre sense of humor (that no one gets). A photographic memory. Fierce independence. Justice. The list goes on.
One of the few photos I have of him is just before he turned 40. He had an opportunity to model for a knitting magazine - a pattern titled super something or other - and he jumped at the chance just so he could tell everyone he was a SUPER model (yes, he was weird too). In that photo I see my face in there. My siblings have something of him in there, particularly my brother, but he is the young version of my dad...I am the old one. That is my smile, my eyes. And I have caught up to that photo.
In my past I have marked the bigger life moments with something, well, bigger. A ritual of remembrance-like hiking alone on a mountain somewhere. A tattoo for meaningful markation. Something to remember where I was, what I wanted, and who I planned to become--so it would keep me on some path I envisioned was of utmost importance. To not allow myself to slack or slide or settle from that. I think at 40 I don't need a tattoo. I have 2 sons. I have this great partner/husband. I know where I am, what I want, and who I have become. And no, I don't have it all right NOW and I have much room for improvement, but I'm OK with that. I know how much changes with time. And I know I am on a long journey.
My hope for my 40s includes many things - adventure, happiness, health, hope, compassion, peace, creativity, time, family, freedom, friends, love, knowledge, laughter, inspiration...and the freedom, from myself, to be myself.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)