Luckybeans

An Instance of Neglect

Some things thrive on neglect. LIke the christmas cactus my mother wrapped in plastic and stuck in a dark closet so that when it emerged at last it sent out a profusion of blossoms hitherto unimagined, let alone seen.

I suspect blogs may not be like that.

We have been Doing Things:

Simon's mother came and went.

There have been trips to the beach (including epic kite string untangling)

and forays into the beauty of a Willamette Valley summer.

My brother and his wife are here.

We went out to my aunt and uncle's farm to visit friends and cousins large and small.

There a hundred other things I haven't managed to record at all like trips to the zoo and youth conferences and playing cherry bomb and big family dinners and the vegetable garden we will soon leave behind. But mostly it has been a lot of boxes and changing of addresses and the thousand million other things that Must Get Done when you are buying a new house and moving yourselves.

To be honest, I am not sure when we will emerge again.

Work on that thriving on neglect for me, won't you? 

 

Hilltop Golden Hour

I ducked out yesterday evening just to go back with a camera and drink it all in.

Grandmothers, creeks, sisters...

Simon may be away in the Philippines, but his lovely mother has come to stay with us for the week. We are all so grateful and excited to have her here, a voice of wisdom and a cause for a break from the routine of packing and imminent moving.

We went down to the creek with her yesterday, where Bella tried in vain to master her floating technique-- a technique she herself mastered while paddling for countless hours with these same grandchildren under Zambian skies. 

I watched these two girls of mine enjoy one another. How grand it must be to have a sister. 

And of course where there are two enjoying themselves, a third will soon join in.

Ana suddenly remembered today that one of my oldest and dearest friends, May, sent her some photos via Facebook a few months ago. Photos of a baby Ana (those ears! and peach fuzz head! and little stork bite! and pudgy fists!), scanned in from film, of her with May (she has the blonde streaks) and me (was I really ever twenty?). I can only assume that it was her camera and we took turns taking the photos. I've no idea, really. It was so sweet to find this just as I was contemplating how dear sisters are and how how much I treasure family. Some family we build ourselves, but most of it is a gift we are given, and a blessing I am more grateful for with each and every day. 

It's Either This or Boxes

Well, I guess it sort of goes without saying what we are up to these days. If you would prefer photos of piles of mess and sorting, I suppose that could be arranged. Yesterday, for example, I emptied, washed, labeled and refilled forty seven glass jars in the pantry. Fascinating stuff, that.

So...instead I am taking photos only during breaks, which seem to be a bit few and far between. Ana has been away since Saturday, so it's just been four of us.This evening we went down to our favorite local creek for a picnic dinner followed by a swim.  Daddy threw them in (both of them). There was much protesting, even on one another's behalf, despite the fact that they had their swimsuits on:

Asher at long last mastered the rope swing:

Bella found a log, and they had a grand time pushing it around:

She was  less enamored of the swing, preferring a more sedate paddle or meander along the banks instead:

Simon, on the other hand, spent a good bit of time reading over mortgage papers:

We found thimbleberries on our way out (I have yet to have managed eating my fill):

And at the end of the day, our Ana was returned to us, and two plus one were happy to be three once more:

It is good to take breaks. Exhalation is just as important as inhalation, I find.

River Side

The children and I have been working hard. HARD. So much sorting and deep cleaning must be done before we can even begin the packing part of things. So yesterday and today, we ran away from it just for a bit in order to preserve our sanity.

Yesterday we went out to the bakery and then for a wander down by the Willamette River:

sisters holding hands on the swings

a boy in a patch of wild chamomile

and bachelor buttons

a rawther nice stache

looking upsteam

what an osprey left behind (there is a nest just here, and they are so busy and fascinating to watch)

3 on shore

one skipping stones

looking downstream

3 on a log

creepy nymph husks

Today we ran up and down by the Luckiamute (apologies to those who follow me on instagram, as this is a repeat):

the first thimbleberries

a new house

Asher: "This is uncozy."

a large stick to throw in

up on the bridge the school bus drives across each day

the maple queen

three run down

two on shore

the quintessential "really?" Bella look

what may have caused it (this goes right along with "Ana is the funniest person she knows"). 

the river

she still seems amused

and we left with the promise of blackberries to be

 

Simon comes home tonight.

We. Are. So. Excited.

ps-- for some reason I have simply been using my iphone lately. No, I don't know why. There it is.

It's That Time of Year

As in, the last few weeks of term, and Simon is about to start traveling in earnest. I can't predict how often I will be able to check in with this space-- it is likely to be spotty at best until mid-June. Thanks for hanging in there.

Before I disappear beneath a pile of papers and projects, a recap of Asher's field trip:

We went to a local managed forest where the Tree Guy gave us a guided tour through different habitats, areas, etc. I have always been skeptical of logging practices (at best), so this tour helped me to feel a bit more reassured. This is a family owned company who want to be in this for the long term, so they need to maintain a sustainable approach in order to profit economically. While there were areas of clear cut, there were also protected areas and a degree of education and awareness regarding watersheds, habitat protection, etc that I appreciated. I especially noticed how much planting and managing techniques differed between plantings from even thirty years ago and those from the last few years. A lot of improvement, which is hopeful. 

Asher and his friend in the trees.

Can you identify these trees?

Oxalis, mossy trunks, a bumblebee in the salal, wet thimbleberry flowers.

Beautiful paths and canopy.

Mushrooms, newt, false solomon's seal, wild iris, snails.

Learning about animals tracks, wood beetles and how to identify mosses.

The day itself involved lots of running after hoards of children through beautiful forests with a very knowledgable guide and capable teacher. It was pretty great, actually. We had loads of fun, learned a lot and found oodles of newts. All we could ask for.

I also learned that we can show up at the office and get a permit to hike on these trails on our own. Guess where we'll be this summer...

Oh Happy Day

When my grandmother was happy, she would putter about the kitchen humming and occasionally breaking out into sweet, warbling songs. One of her standards was "Oh happy day! Oh love divine!" She never got much further than that, but it was a sound bite that signaled all was glorious with the world, and nothing sounded better to my ears than my Momo's tenuous tunes.

After a patchy start, yesterday afternoon eventually found me humming away, and I thought of her as we settled down to an afternoon hour or two by the creek.

We brought a picnic snack (because we always bring a picnic something-or-other) that turned out to be quite yellow and white and stripey. Hunh.

We followed the path through the woods, down to the creek that ran and sparkled in the sun. We passed the well-known swimming hole overly populated by sparsely clad, verbally expressive teenagers, and settled into our own spot around the bend. It has a deeper bit, but the water was too cold for us today. It also has rocks and sand, but Bella and Asher were mostly interested in the mud.

They churned up great slurping masses of it, jumped into it...

...and then proceeded to "get stuck" and "have to be hauled out." Oh, that's good fun.

One of the loveliest things about having children is watching them develop relationships with each other. Bella and Asher share a special tender goofiness that is all theirs and completely unique.

Ana was not into the mud pit. She sat and read the whole time, following a patch of sun as it progressed. Fair enough.

At one point Asher and Bella missed Simon, so they called him and shouted strange and incomprehensible things at him over the phone. 

After a bit of slapping the water with a long stick, it was time to head home.

Back along the path, fully doused in mud, water and sunshine, we returned from whence we came-- soggier, muddier, and a good bit happier.

 

 

 

 

We Could Get Used to This

Ken called us up and asked if we wanted to go fishing again. Um...yes! 

It was a much warmer experience this time. We were out in green fields with freshly shorn sheep, watching an osprey try his luck (not as good as ours) and the farmers repair a fence while their dogs bounded about. The fish were biting like nobody's business, so we weren't out there all that long.

But the rewards were pretty tasty. Ken even shared his recipe, too.

Perspective

I am so behind in posting this week. Well, the last ten days really. Perhaps I will catch up. Given my schedule these days, perhaps not. I was going to write so much, explain so many things. But then just before sunset, we all jumped into the car to run across the top of a beloved hill. The meadowlarks sang. The wind blew. We were simply, completely, thoroughly happy. The photos say enough. My words are not needed.

Spring Picnic

If Simon were writing this post, he would tell you about how we went tromping through lots of mud, he mooned the camera, Asher tried to squirt him with his toy whale and much drama ensued, and Asher and Ana touched the high point in the middle of the pagoda so he had to pay them five bucks.

Instead, I am going to tell you all about having tea and strawberries and chocolate biscuits while making daisy chains,

about light in the forest and running streams,

about flowers coming into bloom,

and maybe about the the mischievous children who worked together to relieve their father of five dollars.

 

Trust me. The pictures are better in my version.

(No bare bums. You're welcome.)