Hey Unity & Brixton

This Moment- a sign

2012-02-10T07:18:00.000-08:00

Germination

2012-02-09T08:08:00.000-08:00

Growing something takes time, and attention. It's a different pace, a long slow pace, with little sudden bursts of activity. All of that preparation and checking and letting it sit and then suddenly-

transformation.
(This is my first sourdough, using lots of help from this book. )

Sometimes you can't see it yet, but you tend the soil and wait and dream....

It's amazing, every time, how all that waiting and gentle attention can
suddenly ease this burst of change, this transformed being, into the world.

Showing us the essence of themselves that was waiting there all along.

Yarn along- knitters dilema solved

2012-02-08T07:27:00.000-08:00

So last week I discovered that my stash yarn wasn't quite enough to finish the pillow cover I was working on. You guys had lots of great suggestions for fixing it. I ended up pulling out the purl section and putting in some stripes. I think it looks really nice, maybe even better than before.

On the book front, I'm reading two memoirs. Man Seeks God by Eric Weiner is the story of a neurotic reporter who, faced with a health issue, realized he's not quite sure what ahe believes. He investigates eight different religions, traveling across the world to meet with followers and see if anything works for him. It's a pretty lightweight exploration of the religions, and some of the ones he investigates are pretty flakey, but it's an interesting story so far.

The other memoir is The Journal of Best Practices: a memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome and one man's quest to be a better husband is by David Finch. This is the story of a man who, in adulthood, realized he has asperger syndrome and that it's one of the causes of his troubled marriage. He begins to take notes about being a better husband, things like "don't change the station if she's singing along" and "it's not an appology if you're yelling." I just started this one and I'm excited to see where it goes.

Linking with Ginny for more knitting and reading.

Weekending- full

2012-02-06T07:51:00.000-08:00

I have to admit, sometimes I find weekends a little overwhelming. I spend so much time during the week lining up playdates and activies and projects for my kids. And then the weekend comes and I have to do it again, only for all four of us.

I made a curtain for the bathroom on Saturday night. It's only the second thing I've sewn. I still find it difficult and the results less than perfect but I remind myself that if I dug up the second thing I ever knitted, it wouldn't be a stunning work of art either.

We started our broccoli seeds in the basement. Grow, little sprouts, grow!

My friend Zelda called me on Saturday and invited me to join her at a book festival at Seattle University. I was only able to see one of the speakers, John Dear, but he is an amazing peace maker, and he had some thought provoking things to say. I'm on the waiting list for his book at the library because I want to hear more of this story.

Sunday night we had a potluck at Quaker House to welcome a new intern to the program. It was fun to hang out with the interns and the other committee folks. My kids were bouncing off the walls by the end though. Do you ever have a day with one of your kids where you feel like you are swimming upstream all day long? Yeah, me neither. Can't relate at all.

Linking with Amanda at Habit of Being.

There's something growing in my kitchen...

2012-02-03T09:42:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, usually that's a bad thing. Check it out though: kombucha, sourdough starter, kimchi.

Nature Walk

2012-02-02T09:09:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, Unity's preschool toured a fire station. The firefighters gave them some coloring books that illustrate how and when to call 9-1-1. One of the charming activities was this word search.

You have to wonder who created this, Wednesday Adams? Honey, can you find
s-e-v-e-r-e p-a-i-n?

                                         We went to the Arboretum. Unity took her notebook and carefully
                               recorded what we saw. Stick. Rock. Tree. Hey, it's better than b-u-r-n.
                              Much much better in fact.

Somehow she's all Reese Witherspoon and he's all James Dean.

All that nature inspired us to come home and work on some collaborative paintings. And no, there were no i-n-j-u-r-i-e-s.

Yarn along- a knitters dilemma

2012-02-01T08:29:00.000-08:00

So here's the story. A few months ago a woman offered to sell off her stash for cheap. I couldn't turn down that offer so I bought it and I've been trying to use that yarn in my projects. Well I started my second pillow for the couch, worked on it for a week or two, got more than half way through it. Only to run out of yarn.

I called around to three local yarn stores. None of them carry that type of yarn. Soooo, I think I have two choices here.
1. I could order it online. It seems a little silly to spend money on more yarn when the whole point was that it was bargin yarn.
2. Or I could unravel and make something else with it. A scarf? I just have to say, I have a really hard time unraveling a whole project. A row or two sure, but the whole thing? Shiver.

So while I'm deciding what to do, I started a new project. Of course. I'm learning a new stitch, the linen stitch which is very cool, esp. with the varigated yarn.

I'm reading three books right now, one for my book club, one for my online book club and one for fun.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery is for my book club. I'm about 100 pages into it and I'm still reserving judgement. It's translated from the French and it's beautiful but a little stilted so far.

My online book club is reading the Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper. We're on number three,
Greenwitch. and I'm enjoying it.

The third book is just for fun, Po Bronson's What Should I do with My Life? I like reading the stories of people who are in a crossroads in their lives and make big changes. My criticism is that the book focuses almost exclusively on people who work in business or law, and not enough on the people I'm interested in (non-profit workers and artists.) It still has a lot of interesting ideas.

Linking with Ginny for lots more yarn and books.

cleaning closets

2012-01-31T12:22:00.000-08:00

So I'm trying not to lose momentum with my decluttering project. Today I started working on a closet in the basement that has tons of camping gear and boxes and also some old clothes of mine. Most of them either don't fit or don't charm me the way the used to. (My high school homecoming dress, for example.) But there's a couple I might keep just for fun.

I found this dress in a thrift store, oh about nine years ago. It's cute! I googled the tag and it looks like it's from the 1960s, so that's fun. I wore it to a couple of parties but it's hard to dance in, there's a few seams I need to repair.

I discovered a self portrait is sort of tricky when you're left handed.

Part of me thinks "Why? Why get all sentimental and keep it when you haven't worn it in five years and the chances of you wearing it again are slim to none?" But, I don't know. It's rare, it's pretty and I don't own a lot of those kind of things.

The vinyl pants are another story. They do not fit anymore and seriously, vinyl pants? But part of me wants to keep them just so I can show them to my kids someday and have them roll their eyes and say "really mom?"

And so now all these clothes are spread out on my bed and I'm trying them on and deciding about keeping them. That counts as cleaning out a closet, right?

Speaks for itself

2012-01-30T09:26:00.001-08:00

This moment-fathering instinct

2012-01-27T07:24:00.000-08:00

Linking to Soule Mama's This Moment.

Today

2012-01-26T11:50:00.000-08:00

Secret craft projects...shhh.

Yarn Along- a new pillow and some poetry

2012-01-25T08:16:00.000-08:00

I'm still working on my second pillow for the couch. This one is "half and half" meaning half knit and half purl. It looks a little strange now but I'm hoping it will all make sense when I'm finished.

As for reading, well. I'm having one of those times where I'm just overwhelmed with delight at my books, what I'm reading and what's in my pile both. First up, The Knitter's Life List by Gwen Steege.

If you're reading this you will probably love this book. Each chapter is devoted to a different item, say hats. And then Steege shows you a millon different fancy cool ways you could make a hat, and profiles some designers and gives you a checklist of different hat styles. And that's just one chapter! I've only been knitting for about two years now and this book had me feeling like I will never master all the amazing things knitting has to offer if I live to be one hundred and twelve. But that's a good feeling.

The other book that made me swoon was The Lady and the Poet by Maeve Haran. It's a novel about the Elizabethan poet John Donne and his star-crossed love affair with the woman who became his wife, Ann More. I have loved Donne's poetry since high school (Chris tells me he never had to read any Donne in high school, how is that possible?) and I knew a little of his biography but Haran really immerses you in the story. Donne is a great character, sarcastic and charming with a deep soul. And reading about how hard life was for an educated woman who spoke her mind is always humbling. They both sacrificed much to be together but she inspired some of his best work, poems we still read today.

THE GOOD-MORROW.
by John Donne

I WONDER by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved ? were we not wean'd till then ?
But suck'd on country pleasures, childishly ?
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers' den ?
'Twas so ; but this, all pleasures fancies be ;
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.

And now good-morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear ;
For love all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room an everywhere.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone ;
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown ;
Let us possess one world ; each hath one, and is one.

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest ;
Where can we find two better hemispheres
Without sharp north, without declining west ?
Whatever dies, was not mix'd equally ;
If our two loves be one, or thou and I
Love so alike that none can slacken, none can die

Linking with Ginny for Yarn Along.

Who they are...

2012-01-24T12:34:00.000-08:00

I've said it before but I'll say it again. One of the most amazing things about being a parent is watching my kids show me who they are. Unity has been wearing these colored hair bands on her wrists for weeks now. It's the kind of thing that would never occur to me but when she does it, it makes so much sense. Now she can carry those bands of color with her all day long.

Brixton has an imaginary friend named Huckleman. We first learned about Huckleman when Brixton started singing songs about him. Of course. Now Huckleman hides and plays and sleeps next to Brixton all day long. "Huckleman, Huckleman, all day long." Unity never really had many imaginary friends so this is a treat for me.

They are always amazing as they teach me more and more about themselves.

2012-01-22T22:02:00.000-08:00

Are you tired of date night pictures yet? Well we're not tired of doing it so....

I guess we'll have to manage somehow.

We had a dress up dance party.

and a group drawing project.

I am sorry we don't have any pictures of baby Baird. I guess we were too busy holding him.

and the snow has almost all melted away into muddy slush. so we can go back to the usual. hurrah.

Snow bound

2012-01-20T10:36:00.000-08:00

Well our weather seems to be changing, the snow is melting and things are tentatively starting to open again. Just in time for the weekend. Sigh. But it is good to know that we can ease out of our snow tunnels and back into regular. Yesterday we were starting to claw the walls a bit, but we managed. We made cookies.

We were out of chocolate chips and the only grocery store I could get to was the discount outlet. Of course they don't have normal chocolate chips, so I had to settle for chocolate kisses with carmel. Since we were going untraditional, I decided to go all out and started throwing in random things from the cupboards. Coconut! Coffee! Peanuts! Oatmeal!

I'm calling them our kitchen sink cookies, and they turned out rather well.

Thank goodness for neighbor friends. Every day this week, we visited Reuben or he visited us. I'm so glad we live close by and can visit each other even in extreme weather. The kids had an art show.

and today Unity's school is open for a few hours and Chris is working at work instead of in the basement and maybe Brixton and I will leave the house. Hallelujah.

Things to do....

2012-01-19T23:15:00.000-08:00

We're all going a little stir crazy here, with our third and possibly fourth snow day in a row. We petitioned the gods of the Internet for help, but they mocked us cruelly.

Snow Day!

2012-01-19T09:37:00.000-08:00

We are still in the midst of a snow week, which has led to the slowing down and shutting down of almost everything. What do you do with two small kids on a snow day? Well.....

You put on a show with all your stuffies.

You have a picnic.

You make new shoes for baby.

See her outfit?

You look in amazement at our busy street gone silent.

You watch the snow out the window.

You write letters.

And today we get to start all over again. What shall we do to celebrate this snow day?

Yarn along- more pillows

2012-01-18T09:00:00.000-08:00

And we have more snow! I see a lot of reading and knitting in my future this week. I'm working on another pillow for the couch since I had such fun with the first one. I'm hoping to make three total, for a makeover for our poor old couch.

As far as reading goes, I finished The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides last night. I enjoyed it but I didn't love it as much as I thought I might. It follows the lives of three college students in the 1980s as the struggle for meaning and direction post-graduation. (There's even a small shout out to the Quakers!). It's not as good as Middlesex, but Eugenides is still a great writer and it's worth a read.

We are also dreaming over seed catalogs and planning our spring planting. Beets, cabbage, carrots, califlower, broccoli, squash, kale, spinach. Yum.

Linking with Ginny for Yarn Along.

Snow!

2012-01-17T08:35:00.000-08:00

It's so rare when we get snow. And then when it combines with a day that's already a holiday? It's perfect. Everywhere we went in our neighborhood people were out playing in and enjoying the snow. We looked at the tracks in the sidewalk, both human sized feet and otherwise. We saw our garden transformed into some other place. We waved at neighbors carrying their sleds to the hilly street. We helped our neighbors work on an igloo. It collapsed but still. We pilled into Megan's house, peeling off piles of wet gloves and watching cartoons while drinking hot cocoa.

and then this morning it was gone. But possibilities for more hang over us, just waiting. Maybe.

Weekending- snow day

2012-01-15T16:39:00.000-08:00

I spent most of Friday just pinching myself, trying to believe that I had really passed the test. It still doesn't quite feel real but I am so relieved just the same. We watched the most gorgeous sunset from the front porch, it made even our busy gritty street look awash with wonder.

Saturday we were massively busy, running from a birthday party to our incredible rotating date night. The party was at an ice skating rink and Unity had fun once she got the hang of it. For date night we hung out with Cooper and his fam while Sophie's parents hit a happy hour. I am constantly thankful for this community we've helped create. Sunday morning we woke up to this: see above. It fell softly but steadily all day. I walked alone to Meeting for Worship, remembering how much I love snow. It is easy to love snow when it only happens once a year, or less. Our city pretty much shuts down whenever it happens so walking outside feels festive and valiant and strangers are greeting each other and kids are sleding down closed off hilly streets.

My own kids are feeling a little sniffly so they stayed in. Unity and I had a mother daughter knitting party, topped off with some hot cocoa. Now they are curled up with Chris watching Mary Poppins. What else is a snow day for?

P.S.

I realized the morning shot doesn't really do the snow justice, so here's a twilight shot off the back porch.

Linking with Amanda at Habit of Being.

such a long time coming

2012-01-13T11:45:00.000-08:00

Today I passed my drive test. This has been such a long process for me. It's been over ten years since I had a license. There's so much I want to say about driving and fear, and overcoming. About living most of my adult life and all of my almost five years as a parent without driving and how that's shaped my life and my family. About my plans for driving in the future, how much and where and when. But that will come later. I just had to say, I did it. Finally.

Field Trip

2012-01-11T21:44:00.000-08:00

Line 'em up!

All the children were very well behaved on the bus. Ahem.

and move 'em out!

Today I got to be a parent chaperone on a school field trip. I have to admit it was a little nerve wracking being partly responsible for 22 preschools, 21 of which were not mine. In public. But it all went just great. We had lots of parent volunteers so that was good and two seasoned teachers to lead us along. We took the bus to Seattle Center and saw Frog and Toad, the musical. Which was great and really well performed.

Brixton spent the day with a babysitter and when we got home he told us all about "Brixton's field trip" to the park.

And then some...

2012-01-08T23:13:00.000-08:00

This weekend I practiced parallel parking, getting ready for my drive test on Friday. It's Friday the 13th, that has to be lucky, right? I got to spend some time with my dear friend and former roommate Eve, in town for a few days from New York. I got to test out our new slow cooker, a Christmas present from my parents. It works! Yum.

I've also been on a cleaning and organizing New Years kick. I'm using this free calendar which gives you small simple tasks to do each day. I mostly like it cause it gets me in a purging mood and then I get a lot done. I created a small mountain of baby things to pass on. It was strange looking at them. How is it that I'm not signing and creating super baby food for my babies, but instead I'm filling out paperwork for, gulp, kindergarten?

We ended the weekend by starting the new season of Downton Abbey which is just as good as I hoped. It's a big country house upstairs-downstairs drama with fabulous actors, and settings and just...everything.

Linking with Amanda at Habit of Being.

This moment, airport style

2012-01-06T07:56:00.000-08:00

I know I said no more trip photos but I got up at six this morning to write, so this is what I got.

Lots more moments at Soule Mama.

Yarn along- pillow case

2012-01-04T08:06:00.000-08:00

Well I'm finally able to start some knitting again. We have a ratty old couch that is about ten years old. It needs replacing but that's not in the picture right now, so I decided to knit some new pretty pillow cases. At least something will be new and pretty.

Over the holidays I read Melissa Fay Greene's No Biking in the House without a helmet. I really loved it! Greene had four biological children and then adopted five more, mostly from Ethiopia. Her stories are funny and charming and honest.
I also started The Midwife: a memoir of birth, joy and hard times by Jennifer Worth. The author was a midwife in the 1950s in the working class neighborhoods of London and her stories show how much has changed, as well as how birth and the emotions that go with it stay universal.

Linking with Ginny for lots of knitting and reading enjoyment.

the last Christmas post

2012-01-03T09:29:00.000-08:00

Patrick and Jack playing Go.

Brixton and John playing bingo balls.

Nice hat Joseph!

Relaxing Rob.

Raul giving John words of wisdom.

Stylish Sara.

Gillian holding Nicole's sweet baby.

Lyndsey, Bruin, and me.

We were lucky to be in town for the big family gathering and see all of Chris's extended family- they are a fun bunch. I also got to meet up with my dear friend Bruin and his sister Lyndsey. Lyndsey is a librarian at the library that Chris spent his childhood exploring. Small world!

White Christmas part 2

2012-01-02T08:26:00.000-08:00

Unity insisted that I add this shot.

Drumming on the floor with Uncle Michael's drum sticks!

Crossing Over

2011-12-31T06:55:00.000-08:00

For me there are two New Years, kind of how Chris and I celebrate two anniversaries. Two kinds of fresh starts and passages. I still measure my years in school time that ends in August and starts over in September. This is the mark of aging and completion, of new pens and blank notebooks waiting for new ideas and doodles and letters. And then there's the calendar year that ends in the flurry of holidays and celebrations and starts in the gray incubating days of true winter. If small green changes are sprouting, it's under that bare quiet ground.

Some times it seems that I make the same resolutions every year to little avail but when I look back on it, I've been able to accomplish a lot of them since I've been home with the kids full time. I know it's not for everyone but for me it's really been a blessing. I cook 70-80% of the meals in our house now, I exercise at least once a week, I quit the commitments that felt draining and put my energy towards stuff that feels nourishing. I do fun creative projects with the kids, socialize with friends, have occasional date nights with Chris, worship with a great Meeting. The house is pretty clean most of the time, and we make donations to organizations we believe in. Staying home has been really good for getting organized and following through, making our home a better place for all of us. I loved my work at Real Change and sometimes I miss it, but I really love this.

So with that in mind, here are some 2012 resolutions.

1. Make writing a priority.
One of the things I've learned is that scheduling really helps me. My weekly meal plans help me grocery shop so we don't waste food and don't worry about what's for dinner every night. I want to take an honest look at my daily routines and see how I can make writing a regular commitment, not just for a month but for long term.

2. Get my drivers license. (yes, I don't have one. It's a long story.)
I'm really close, have my drive test scheduled so we'll see. I don't plan on driving a lot but there are a few times and places that it will really make a difference.

3. Explore my peace testimony.
Maybe this means taking some alternatives to violence classes or listening to speakers from peace making teams. I don't know for sure but it's something I want to give some intention to.

4. add weights to my workouts.
I keep reading about calcium and bone structure and being 30 something, and I was vegan for 4 years
so this is something I should really work on.

5. Update our emergency supplies.
We have our 3 days kit and First Aid kit but I need to get the water supplies ( 1 gallon per person per day) and maybe update some of the other stuff.

6. a regular technology Sabbath.
ahhhhh. combined with a walk in the woods- even better.

7. Keep a book journal.
I want an accurate list of all the books I read for the year, with maybe a sentence or two review. Seems do-able right?

Happy 2012! I hope it's off to a lovely start.

white christmas part 1

2011-12-30T07:13:00.000-08:00

Christmas in Woodstock Vermont is a charming affair. The town center seems unchanged from Colonial days, with grand brick houses facing the center Green and small shops lining the friendly main street. Covered wooden bridges iced with a few inches of fresh snow seem ordered by central casting but they are the real deal.

We were a big sprawling family group, there to visit Chris's mom who lives there in the house where he grew up. His sister and her family came, my parents and brother came. All in all we were twelve, family from across the country able to celebrate this time together. When it was over, my brother went to NYC to get ready for New Years, my parents went home to Chicago to get ready for their sojourn to Florida, we went home to Seattle, Kristine and her family went home to Davis and Ann got to enjoy a few moments of peace and quiet. I am thinking about how extraordinary it is that we are all so spread out and yet able to meet up and make the family traditions happen. It's so different from the way I grew up where my family was all within a few hours drive from Chicago. But we are pulled into different stories, reaching for different things and yet still, a few times a year we can gather at the source. Our family, gathering and expanding. It's so nice to see my family and Chris's family knowing each other, including each other, linked not by blood but because once this scruffy girl and this scruffy boy hung out together in a bookstore.

and....we're back

2011-12-29T16:10:00.000-08:00

Do you know how hard it is to get a shot of four kids together?

They all had the same fussy "disgruntled" onsie picture.

Well, we are home from Vermont and we didn't even miss a connection or lose a car seat. It's a Christmas miracle! We had a lovely lovely holiday time with family and snow! and food and all the good things. I have tons of photos of course, but for now I'll just give you a few of the stair step cousins, aged 5, 4, 3, and 2.

friends and festivities

2011-12-20T08:18:00.000-08:00

Brixton and Little Desi

Unity and Ruth

This whole thing is made out of candy!

The Pike Place Market Pig

Making Wreaths

2011-12-18T21:07:00.000-08:00

Can't ever get enough of those curls!

It's hard to believe this is the last weekend before Christmas. I still have so many things to do! This weekend we put some more cards and packages in the mail, did some more shopping and donating, made time for a date night dinner party with Sophie and Cooper, and then today Greg came over and helped us make wreaths. We used cedar branches cut off a nearby tree, and lots of fun sparkly shiny decorations from Greg's new flower shop that he's managing. I do love that smell.

Of course some helpers were more interested in running around and climbing on Papa. Hey you know, it takes all kinds.

Linking with Amanda at Habit of Being.

Party for three

2011-12-15T08:24:00.000-08:00

feelin arty

2011-12-12T19:49:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, B and I had fun playing with the camera. In case you think these pictures are too ethereal and creepy, rest assured that he stuck his head out from behind the curtain after each shot and announced "I wanna SEE it." When I showed him the shot, each time he declared "Bixton coot" (cute). So he wasn't traumatized by his modeling.

Weekend- whew

2011-12-11T19:55:00.000-08:00

Yes, Cooper is breakdancing.

My gracious, did we have a busy weekend! It was all really great though. We went to a birthday party for Sylvia, had a date night dance party, tried to finish up some packages and projects for our loved ones and for our adopt-a-family, opened our Saint Mikulas Day presents from Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Bill and hung them on the tree, and had a Chrismas carol sing-along with some friends from Meeting. As if that wasn't enough, I've decided to start a new project- embroidery. My friend Oma showed me this very cool pattern for an alphabet sampler using letters from lots of cool old vintage fonts. So I ordered the pattern, gathered the materials and this weekend I traced the pattern on to my fabric. Now, I can start teaching myself the stiches. Thanks Oma, I think.

Linking with Amanda at Habit of Being.

This Old House- almost there!

2011-12-09T09:56:00.000-08:00

a seasonal visitor

2011-12-07T14:05:00.000-08:00

Fancy Unity

2011-12-06T08:19:00.000-08:00

Do you remember when you were a kid and there was a fictional story that just really took over your imagination? I think most of us had that moment where we really tried to live inside the stories we loved. I remember asking my mom if she could make my hair look like Wily Kit from the Thundercats. I was so sad when that didn't work out.

Unity, as we all know by now, loves Fancy Nancy. She often tries to reinact scenes from Fancy Nancy books by drawing her own versions. Grandma Ann just sent the Fancy Nancy Christmas book (thanks Grandma!) and Unity has been busy trying to make her own version of Nancy's doll closet. She drew clothes for the dolls and used push pins to hang them up. It's amazing to see what she comes up with all on her own.

Ok it's super nerdy to post a picture of my food storage containers, but I am excited about them. And this is why. Over the years I have learned more and more about the chemicals that are in plastic and how bad they are for human health. Sadly, I learned this after Unity had been useing BPA bottles for about six months, but as soon as I learned it, I threw them out and got glass ones. BPA is an endocrine disrupter and has serious and long lasting effects on our bodies. It's in everything- so it's hard to avoid but I have been trying to cut back on the plastic as much as I can. The other thing is it's released by heat so please don't put your plastic in the dishwasher! Ok now I'm done with the public service annoucement. Anyway, one of the groups where I get a lot of my safety information from, the Environmental Working Group, had a special offer to buy glass food containers and it would benefit the EWG. Now, being the reusers that we are, we've had our plastic yogurt containers for a while. And I've been washing them by hand. But I got excited by the idea of getting rid of all that plastic, so I got the fancy new glass containers and I am pleased. (Yes, they have plastic lids. Sigh. I'm washing those by hand. I guess we just can't escape the plastic.)

date night- crafty version

2011-12-04T19:32:00.000-08:00

This weekend some of our usual crew got together for date night. The older kids ( and yes Brixton counts!) did a project stamping paint covered apples on t-shirts while baby Baird got passed around to doting adult arms. We had a lot of fun and the kids are excited to wear their new shirts.

Music

2011-11-30T08:19:00.000-08:00

Music class is the highlight of Brixton's week but I usually don't have picutres of it cause we're too busy rocking out. But the kids were all piled up together looking cute and then I remembered the camera in my purse. So here's some action shots of our musical tots.

Cookies

2011-11-29T08:29:00.000-08:00

I had an early class at Meeting this week and Chris was trying to figure out what to do with the kids while I was gone. "There's always baking" I said. And so they did.

Haul out the holly

2011-11-28T07:17:00.000-08:00

The dancer and the music man.

So the day after Thanksgiving, I go into the basement and drag up our boxes. Almost all of our Christmas decorations are things from my childhood, made or given to me by friends and family members. It makes setting up the tree extra fun since so many stories come with it. Unity and Brixton had to do some jingle bell dancing, and Unity loves how sparkly everything is and she loved looking at her tiny handprint ornament from when she was a baby. I have to confess, I am starting to really love Christmas. Maybe it's nostalgia for all the years I worked retail holidays selling books. I don't love the pressure and the commercialism but the traditions and the familiarity and passing some of these things on to my own kids, these I love.

Hanging out

2011-11-26T07:35:00.000-08:00

Unity and Beatrix used to go to the same school. Now B is in kindergarten but they still find time to hang out and get crazy together. Unity says that when she gets older they are going to live together. Maybe so, maybe so.

Friday

2011-11-25T08:51:00.001-08:00

I hope you had a great day cooking and eating with old friends and new. We did too.

a blast from the past

2011-11-21T07:51:00.000-08:00

This post mostly goes out to the people who knew me when I was a kid. Because most of the time my kids are their own amazing new people that I am discovering. But every once in a while they do something that just makes me wonder- where does this come from? how does it happen? What is the interlacing of genes and upbringing that led to this moment? I spent a large portion of my childhood making my own paper dolls. I drew figures or cut them out of magazines, named them all and set them up in scenes from my imagination or from books. Yesterday I discovered Unity had drawn a set of people and umbrellas, cut them out and lined them up. It was kind of amazing.

And then books. We are always surrounded by piles of books, people are always reading in any spare minute they can grab in this house, so I guess this next scene was inevitable. Still, it reminds me of a photo of me reading to my brother at around the same ages....if I can, I'll scan it in for comparisons.
I guess I don't much care where it comes from when I love the results so much.

pumpkin muffins

2011-11-18T08:42:00.000-08:00

Inspired by the freezer full of pureed pumpkin from our garden, and the season, and other people's recipies, we made pumpkin muffins. Yum. I had a charming helper who was more than happy to mix and pour and especially happy to help eat. They were gone in less than 24 hours but hey, there's lots more pumpkin in the freezer.

starting to hibernate

2011-11-17T12:07:00.000-08:00

I swear my kids are trying to put on an extra layer for winter. As soon as dinner is over they start asking for snacks. I think they're eating almost constantly these days. And these days are getting shorter and rainyier (Ok I know that's not a word, but Rainier is the mountain.) so I guess it makes sense that something in their bodies is responding to that. But I do wonder if bears have hibernation bands?

sometimes

2011-11-16T09:12:00.000-08:00

Sometimes no matter what I do, it seems like there's another mess around the corner waiting to be cleaned up. Sometimes the kids are ravenously hungry all evening long and nothing I feed them seems to be enough. Sometimes I get so tired and frustrated with dragging the kids around on the bus and it seems like my drivers licence is more and more out of reach. Sometimes I look at the piles of toys that no one plays with and the piles of clothes that no one wears and I think about the holidays coming up and all the new things that are coming and I want to scream, or go live in a hut in the mountains somewhere. ( I am very aware that this is such a First World problem and that the people struggling to survive in the Horn of Africa can't even imagine this problem of clutter.) Sometimes I sit down to write at the end of the day and there's just nothing left. Sometimes I think about what my life was like before I had kids and it seems like a foreign country.

But you know, I am so thankful. For my beautiful amazing kids that crack me up every day. For my partner who's with me every step of the way. For coffee and words and friends. For Meeting for Worship and the silence and rest and insight that I gain. For my parent friends who have walked next to me on this long and winding road. For my family, who made me. This is good.

That Time of Year

2011-11-15T13:18:00.000-08:00

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the deathbed whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
   This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
   To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

on the upswing

2011-11-14T09:11:00.000-08:00

So we have spent the past week recovering from a fun little ditty called Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. It's actually pretty mild and it sounds like almost all kids in preschool get it at some point so I guess it's good we're getting it out of the way.

But Brixton and I have been in the house all of last week, keeping his germs to ourselves. And that has a way of making a parent a little insane. Brixton can very confidently tell you that there are a lot of different kinds of familys, and show which is his left foot and which is his right, and do the little Pookie dance because those are the three books he's wanted to read all week long. By Friday I was almost delirious. But, his scabs are leaving and we are just about ready to reenter the world. Hallelujah!

Mega-wish

2011-11-11T11:14:00.000-08:00

Ever since I was a kid my brother and I have wished on the clock at 11:11 In fact, every time my mom sees the clock at that moment she thinks of my brother. (Ok, so this was mostly his thing.) But today is the mega-wish day. 11/11/11 and now it's 11:11am. So close your eyes and ring some bells like we did and make your wish!

Wherein Christopher is Oblivious

2011-11-11T09:44:00.000-08:00

Didn't I just tell you that?

The best way to distract your partner when you forget something so unbelievably obvious is to start taking pictures!

Robot Invasion!

2011-11-11T09:34:00.000-08:00

Bzzzzt!

Whirr!!!

Clack clack!

Growing

2011-11-10T08:25:00.000-08:00

We didn't get a chance to measure Brixton on his actual birthday, since we were in SF. But he probably hasn't grown that much in a month, right? Anyway, we've captured it now. He is slightly taller than his sister was at the same age....just a sign of things to come? I can vividly remember when my line on the wall stayed the same height, right when my little brother's was shooting up. And yeah, he's just a wee bit taller than me. Unity better get ready.

helping

2011-11-09T07:25:00.000-08:00

Dance party

2011-11-08T07:36:00.000-08:00

at the beach...in November

2011-11-06T15:18:00.000-08:00

We had a good weekend. Chris took the kids to the beach so I could get a massage. And I think it helped, last night was the first night in a week that I was not in pain. I managed to get a lot more writing done too, imagine that.

We had a birthday party to go to, and alfalfa to rake into the garden. Chris found a couple of stray squash hiding in the weeds and dead stalks, so that's always nice.

I've been listening to Jon Watts a lot since I got his album. It's folky, spoken word Quaker based music. Funny and insightful. Hard to describe but fun to listen to.

Linking with Habit of Being.

Baking the Seven Silly Eaters Cake

2011-11-03T07:32:00.000-07:00

Ok I'm procrastinating on my novel (don't ask) so I'm going to tell you about our baking project, and why I love a children's book illustrator named Marla Frazee. When I first found out I was pregnant with Unity, I walked around with this giddy life-changing secret bursting in my mouth. I kept two books under my bed- one of those awful week-by-week pregnancy books and a board book called Everywhere Babies. When I was sitting there on my bed just getting used to being pregnant, I would read those books. Every day, everywhere, babies are born. The pictures, with their multitude of babies and their adoring, playing, tired, parents helped make it real. I could start to see it.

I didn't seek out Marla Frazee's other books after that but a couple of other times I'd pick up a kids book in a store and get drawn in to the art and the emotions and then, sure enough, it would be one of hers. This most recent time that we stopped by Powells, I was walking through the children's section and when a book jumped out at me, I could tell it was hers. It came home with us. I realized later that the book, Seven Silly Eaters, is older than Everywhere Babies but it's new to us.

It's delightful and Unity has been asking for it almost every night at bedtime. The story involves a large family of picky eaters and an accidental cake that accommodates them all. Unity started asking me if we could make the cake in the story. At first I said, no honey, it's just in the story. And then I figured well, the book's been out for a while, surely someone on the internet has made up the recipe. And in fact, the author has. So today, we made it. The kids liked eating it, but mostly I think they liked being able to reenact the story.

His curls are coming in!

He's mad because I wouldn't let him break an egg.

an autumn walk

2011-11-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

While I am still icing my neck (don't worry, it's getting better) and limping into my novel writing, I found these old pictures on my memory card. Who doesn't love a good leaf walk?

the official Halloween shot

2011-11-01T14:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know you already saw the costumes but this is our shot from the official day. I have some kind of pulled muscle/pinched nerve in my neck and I'm supposedly starting National Novel Writing Month tonight so....
I'm not sure how much blog posting will be happening. Anyway, we had a fun time trick or treating in the neighborhood last night and now the kids are having candy hangovers.

a trial run

2011-10-30T18:28:00.000-07:00

We decided to do a practice trick or treat run at our neighborhood business district. This is the first time Brixton's been aware of this whole Halloween thing. He would walk up to each merchant and say "ticka teat" and show off a piece of candy. He was amazed when each time, they smiled and gave him more. I loved his monkey costume and Unity loved being Fancy Nancy, her favorite children's book star. She told me that this is how she wants to look every single day. And now we get to do it again tomorrow!

Linking with Amanda at Weekending.

Jack O'Lanterns

2011-10-29T20:57:00.000-07:00

This old house- color and light

2011-10-27T08:43:00.000-07:00

The house project is slowing down a bit as we come up against some limits- both temporal and financial. Still, we now have color and light. Big steps for those basement stairs. We choose a warm but light blue for the walls- I think it was called Blue Horizon. I wanted something that would feel open and light in that space. Especially since I am often dragging laundry up and down those stairs. Dan also had the idea to add a skylight. Brilliant! I can already feel the difference it makes being able to see the sky- even when there's not much light outside.

Gearing up

2011-10-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

So in less than a week I'm going to be starting National Novel Writing Month. For those who don't know, you commit to writing 50 thousand words in a month. I did it last year and it was great. Hard of course, but a good reminder that I can find room for creativity in my life if I prioritize it. I'm excited and also, I know that certain other things are going to have to take a step back for a month. I'll read less books. I'll knit less. I'll watch fewer movies with Chris in the evenings. I might be blogging less, we'll see.

Have you heard that story about the jar of rocks? It's a common one at college orientations. The empty jar stands for your life, or your time. The big rocks stand for your values and your big priorities- the things you want to look back on and be proud of. The small rocks are all the little time wasters and guilty pleasures and errands that eat up the day. The idea is that you have to put the big rocks in first, and the small ones will find the cracks. But if you fill up the jar with the small rocks there won't be room for the big ones and you find yourself ignoring what means most.

So. The writing is important and I'm trying to clear out some of the little rocks to make room for it, while still managing to feed my family and other details like that. Cross your fingers for me, it's a wild ride.

A walk in the woods

2011-10-25T08:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, you say. Relaxing, that's all well and good. But what were the children doing? And here is some of your answer.

Weekending

2011-10-24T07:41:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went on a retreat. Alone. Ok, I wasn't really alone, but Chris and the kids stayed home. Recently I was asked to join the board that runs the Quaker internship organization that I particpated in when I first moved to Seattle, eleven years ago. It's been fun coming full circle and hanging out with the current interns that are living in the same house I did, and committing to the same year of simplicity and community that opened so many ways for me. We took the weekend to gather at the beautiful beachside home of some folks from the Meeting. We walked on the beach and read and cooked. We talked about communication skills, and played silly camp games and reflected on our lives. And, I slept in a book nook, complete with a sliding ladder. I wish I could wrap the weekend up in a bow and give it to every parent I know. I feel so replenished.

Linking with Weekending.

this one's for great grandpa Bill

2011-10-21T07:42:00.000-07:00

getting dressed

2011-10-20T08:07:00.000-07:00

Unity is a total contrast to the way I get dressed. Me: find jeans on the floor, make sure they're clean enough, grab a clean t-shirt off the top of the pile, done. 5 minutes max.

Unity is more focused on clothes as an art. And it shows. Must be a recessive gene.

Yarn along- more cables

2011-10-19T08:07:00.000-07:00

This week I'm still working on my cable and ribs scarf. I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I have really enjoyed knitting this- even though it's easy to lose my place in the pattern.

As for books, I finsished one and started two, one for my real book club and one for my virtual book club. The book I finished was Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. I was actaully very frustrated with it because I really loved her main character and her world building but then the plot went in some very predictable and tired directions. I read another YA book last year with pretty much the exact same "exciting plot twist" and a very similar doomed love involving angels. It was hard for me to read something that had the potential to be so good and have it tank.

For my real book club we're reading Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh and for my virtual book club we're reading the Dark is Rising series, starting with Over Sea, Under Stone. I'm excited about both of these, even though I'm just starting them.

Linking with Ginny for more yarn and books.

simple gifts

2011-10-18T08:25:00.000-07:00

Tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to be free

Ok this is one of those things I never would have cared about in earlier incarnations of my life. But I cleaned out some kitchen cabinets and put down new pretty shelf paper and it was so satisfying. One reason is because mothering is so intangible at times, it can be really nice to have something solid that I can point to at the end of the day and say, "I did that."

But the other thing I was thinking about is simplicity. Simplicity is a big deal for Quakers, one of the core testimonies. These are sometimes abbreviated as SPICES (Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality and Stewardship). Simple Gifts is one of the most famous Quaker songs, I learned it early on at Earlham. I've sung it so many times but I started really thinking about the words while I was putting on the shelf paper.

It's a gift. To be simple.

It's not a sacrifice, not a chore. Simplicity gives us something that all our products and gadgets and consumer craziness can't. (Coming from someone who just bought a new camera. I know.) It's a gift to know that all of that stuff is not going to give us what we really want, what we need. And when we let go of that idea that some new thing or toy is going to be the answer, what we're looking for.

It's a gift. To be free.

Simplicity makes us free.

Of course, it might also be true that I loved that clean corner of the kitchen because the rest of my house looks like this:

It's a process, right? But I hope that my privileged North American kids, in their wealth of toys and clothes, remember what the real gifts are.

the pumpkin patch

2011-10-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

Can't you feel the warm family togetherness?

Oh my stars, do I love pumpkin! Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin soup, all of it. So it was with great pleasure that we took the fam to a large pumpkin patch yesterday. We went with Felix (who just turned six!) and his dad Dan, and Keira and Samara and their dad Scott. The kids romped in the muddy fields and we all selected several mamoth pumpkins to bring home. It was the perfect place for a family shot, so of course Unity was super grumpy about the camera. Chris said that it was like a harvest ritual for people with fancy cameras, and it's true. We did just get a fancy camera that I have been dreaming about for a while, and everyone there was pointing crazy lenses at their kids in the pumpkin patch. Oh well. I guess there are worse types to be.

the incredible rotating date night

2011-10-16T09:32:00.000-07:00

We had a great time hanging out with Cooper and his parents while Hiram and Baird's parents left the kids with us and went out. Cooper has lots of fun games as well as rocket balloons. The adults gently fought over the chance to hold baby Baird, aged three months. He was very sweet, and happy to indulge us all.

at the park

2011-10-14T08:03:00.000-07:00

Brixton boogies with bongos

2011-10-13T08:05:00.000-07:00

Brixton is our music man. He loves singing, his music class, listening to music, dancing, the whole thing. For his birthday he received many new instruments, including this set of bongos from Uncle Michael the drummer. He's starting.

and just a little aside, we have primer on our new walls and it's starting to look like a house in there again.

yarn along- cables

2011-10-12T07:37:00.000-07:00

On our road trip I started this scarf which has cables and chart reading, two things I've never done before. I had to rip out the mistakes a few times but now I'm in the groove of it and I really like how it's coming along.

I just finished Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood for my book club. Atwood is always amazing, and this book is a complex and mysterious story of a Victorian murder and the beginnings of psychology.

Linking with Ginny for more yarn and books.

in which

2011-10-11T07:43:00.000-07:00

In which Chris explains to Unity about head banging and Brixton rolls on the floor.

gathering and winding

2011-10-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

We have been gone for three out of the past four weekends. It feels like there's been so much happening, it's been difficult for me to take it all in, to know what it means. It's been a very chaotic and eventful summer. This weekend we just hung around and got caught up on things. I got a chance to gather and settle and plan, sinking into this season of autumn and getting back to our regulars. It feels nice. Gathering bits of Halloween costumes, and beets and squash, and stunning leaves on the sidewalks. Finding my place in these chilly but sunny days. Planning the fermentation projects and the knitting projects and the book piles and the bulbs to plant. Easing back into home. It feels so good.

Linking with Amanda at Habit of Being.

This old house- dry wall

2011-10-07T07:43:00.000-07:00

San Francisco birthday part two

2011-10-06T07:34:00.000-07:00

There's the Jayhawks, see them?

a San Francisco birthday- part one

2011-10-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

We were able to spend a quick couple of days in San Francisco celebrating Brixton's birthday. Amazingly enough, all of our families were able to come together, twelve of us in all. We played, we ate, we watching some bands at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival and our little guy was well feted.

Happy Birthday Brixton

2011-10-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

I'm two!

Happy birthday to our mellow goofy music man, our chatty singer, our Mr B. Even though you've been telling everyone you are now three, please don't rush ahead. I want to enjoy every bit of it.

this old house- coming along

2011-09-29T07:16:00.000-07:00

yarn along- a hat for unity

2011-09-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

Well after I made a hat for Chris and one for me, Unity wanted one too. Thankfully I had some great yarn for her in my stash- pink and purple.

I'm still inspired by our weekend at Quarterly Meeting, so I've been reading lots of Quaker books. Practicing Peace: A Devotional Walk Through the Quaker Tradition by Catherine Whitmire

and Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality by John Brent Bill

They are both great books to savor and reflect upon.

Linking with Ginny at Small Things.

Just so you know

2011-09-27T06:49:00.001-07:00

I takin da baby and I goin ta work.

Unexpected harvest

2011-09-26T16:45:00.000-07:00

I went out to the garden to check on our pumpkins, to see how they were coming along. and I found, these two unexpected tomatoes. Understand, this one single tomato plant is a volunteer, an offspring from last summer's one single tomato plant. I noticed it growing and let it be. I didn't even stake the poor thing. I saw a few hard green lumps had developed but I didn't expect them to do much. I walked past them on my way to the pumpkins. And then, today, there they were, red and round and ready. Somehow they did the growing they needed to do, alone and with little encouragement.

And now they're in my kitchen, and I'm the only one who will eat them. What shall I do with two volunteer tomatoes?

Quarterly

2011-09-25T19:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend we attended the Northwest Quarterly Meeting for the first time. A Quarterly is a regional gathering of Friends (Quakers.) We spent the weekend talking, singing, eating, reading, exploring, playing and worshiping with folks both familiar and new, in a beautiful retreat center in eastern Washington. It was a very powerful, moving, and relaxing experience and I'm still pondering many of the things I heard and discussed there.

This moment

2011-09-23T07:31:00.000-07:00

Linking with Soule Mama and enjoying this busy busy toddler.

This old house- an update

2011-09-22T07:45:00.000-07:00

Dan and Philippe are magical! Every time they come to work, so many things get done and the space gets transformed again. We now have walls, and the start of a roof. Soon we'll be able to open that door and I can do laundry without carrying it out the front door and around the side of the house.

Yarn along- a hat

2011-09-21T08:15:00.000-07:00

I was so inspired by the easy calm hat I made Chris that I had to make one for myself. Now Unity wants one too! I have just been playing with all that new yarn, and trying to figure out what to do with it. (I bought a woman's whole stash off her hands for a deal.)

This week I finished The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond. I know a lot of people really love her blog and I was interested to hear her story but I didn't really get into it. I was not a big fan of her writing style, which spent a lot of time describing her brand name outfits and kept using the same adjectives to describe her sweetheart.

Then I started Acts of Faith by Eboo Patel. It's a memoir by a young man of Indian Muslim heritage. He first tries ignoring his heritage, then strongly embraces it. But when he realized the radical clerics were recruiting people like him, Patel realized he wanted to work for interfaith pluralism. He started an organization in Chicago to work with young people on interfaith communication.

And hey, speaking of, it's International Day of Peace.

Eight Years

2011-09-20T07:29:00.000-07:00

Chris and I celebrate two anniversaries; our first date and our wedding. September 20th is the anniversary of our first date. If you had told me when I was younger that I would find a partner that I met at a bookstore and our first date would be at the library booksale, I would have said "Duh."

So in honor of eight years of togetherness, here are some old shots of a couple of youngins.

Autumn Weekend

2011-09-18T19:50:00.000-07:00

Don't get me wrong, summer is great. I love summer. But my heart thrills at these early autumn days. I love walking with my hoodie on and the cool air with a tingle in it and the mist on my face and crunching through the leaves. I love pulling out the long sleeved shirts and the boots and the knit hats. I love making soup and steaming up the kitchen windows. I love that shiny new notebook feeling of possiblity and change and reflection. We had a great autumn weekend.

Brixton helped Chris fix a build break. (Yes, he was working on the weekend but only for 20 minutes or so.)

We hosted our rotating date night. Cooper's parents went out while Sophie and her parents stayed and hung out with us.

The kids helped me set up chairs for Meeting for Worship.

I met up with some former coworkers to watch a dedication of a very moving art project. There is a project called Homeless Remembrance Project, where artists create bronze leaves with the names of homeless people who have died. This particular leaf was in honor of Robert Hansen, the charming Real Change vendor who died suddenly last year two days after being released from the hospital with orders for bed rest. He was sleeping in his truck at the time, which is where he died. The dedication was a great remembrance of Robert and his cheesy jokes and boundless optimism.

Chris tried to get a nap. Largely unsuccessful.

A woman was selling off her whole yarn stash for a bargin. How could I resist?!

Whew. What a lovely autumn weekend.

Linking with Weekending.

Am I ready for the big time papa?

a sweet tea party

2011-09-16T07:45:00.000-07:00

This old house

2011-09-15T07:39:00.000-07:00

Our house is over a hundred years old. We have noticed a couple of odds and ends around the house that we wanted to fix and while Unity and I were gone this weekend, our friend Dan the amazing carpenter started working on them. It was just a couple of rotten boards in the back deck, and then there was a place in the basement at the end of the stairs that looked like there might be water in the walls. Well. As you know, with an old house, it's never that easy. The boards on the deck got replaced sure enough, and then Dan and his friend Philipe went to work on the basement wall. They pulled off some of the siding and then made that face. That face that says "Oh. This is going to be a lot more work then we planned." That face that makes your wallet shrink right then and there. It turns out that the former owner of our house who built the deck took some shortcuts, or maybe just didn't really know what he was doing, and all of the deck's weight was being supported by one beam, which had water damage. The weight was also being carried by our basement stairs, which were not connected to anything, and were slowly buckling under the weight. So, on the plus side at least we discovered all this before something collapsed. On the unexpected side, we are now rebuilding the basement stairs. Which will be good in the long run since those stairs were incredibly steep and narrow, but we weren't really planning on it at this stage in the game. ah well. That's what you get with old houses, right?

Yarn along

2011-09-14T07:23:00.000-07:00

Since we were traveling, I wanted something I could easily knit on the plane. So I didn't bring my darling socks and their charming gussets since I would have probably thrown them out a window. No, I made a simple ribbed hat for Chris with some yarn from my stash and it was the perfect thing to work on. My reading was along the same level, I wanted something enjoyable but straightforward and Philippa Gregory fits the bill for that nicely. This one is a fictionalized account of the War of the Roses and I don't know enough about that period to notice if she fudges the details a bit, so it all turned out fine.

Linking with Ginny at Small Things.

Back...and forth

2011-09-13T07:50:00.000-07:00

We are home. We had an eventfull weekend, celebrating my grandfather's life and visiting with lots of family I haven't seen in a very long time. So that part was good, even if it was a sad occasion bringing us together. And it went so quickly, as these things do, and now we are trying to slip back into our lives again.

Grandpa Ken

2011-09-08T07:41:00.000-07:00

I got the sad news yesterday that my Grandpa Ken has passed away. I am sad for his loss, but glad that he is no longer in pain. Unity and I are going to Chicago this weekend for his service and to be with family, so the blog may be quiet for a few days. Please hold my family in the Light. Thank you.

The hideaway

2011-09-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

Some people

2011-09-06T08:06:00.000-07:00

Some people call me a space cowboy...

Some call me a gangster of love...

Some people call me meeeesssy.

a patch of sunlight

2011-09-04T08:17:00.000-07:00

Linking with Weekending

The pond

2011-09-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

Unity: I don't see it yet.
Megan: You have to be patient. Like an scientist.
Unity: I be an artist.
Megan: You can be both. Like me.
Unity: An artist and a scientist?
Megan: That's right.
Unity: Ok.