March Album

Lots of time was spent indoors this month with the rainy weather, but we did get a chance to visit Nehalem Bay with some friends.  Our first yurt trip as a family of four included roasting s’mores and playing pirates in the rain.  More beach adventures to come!   

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good day sunshine

I hardly write when I'm not pensive, so I thought it was time for a snapshot of happy.  Though my heart is still a little heavy from this week, today was a rare beautiful sunny day with the promise of spring - summer, even - an anomaly for March in Portland.  It was so pleasant and warm, and the kids had fun playing in the dirt as we worked in our garden. 

Matthew and I finally tackled what we call "the mound" - a large planting bed out front - with river rock, boulders, and more plants.  The yard is alive: our cherry blossoms resemble popped corn, and the daffodils and candy tufts reach toward the sun, stretching and growing and multiplying, with 200(!) tulips on the verge of painting the entire front a deep crimson.  The celebration of spring is a welcome and much needed distraction.

swift to love

"Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are travelling the dark journey with us. Oh be swift to love, make haste to be kind."

 Henri Frédéric Amiel (1821-1881) Swiss writer.

I am ashamed for not always taking the time to lift up, celebrate, and reach out to those around me - neighbors, coworkers, friends, and even my family.  Love comes from within ourselves, but if it remains there, it will dry up, unexposed and meaningless.

I am reflecting on love and life, but this time it's not guided by estate planning:   My dear friend's brother passed away this week at age 37.  Reaching out to him, I was so dumbstruck that I had trouble finding the words to express my sorrow.

I'm also struggling with these last few months at work, where (for a number of reasons, too many to discuss here) the environment has ranged anywhere from indifferent to toxic, and morale is the lowest I can remember.  Today, I was humbled by how little effort it took toward building trust, and frankly, it's embarrassing that so much time had passed.  I have not exactly radiated with kindness lately.  Death is a raw reminder to answer the call to love.  Oh be swift.

scatter remains

On the subject of final resting places (I can't wait to be finished with our estate planning; then I can stop talking about this), many National Parks allow the scattering of remains with a permit.   In the state of Texas,

A person may scatter cremated remains over uninhabited public land, over a public waterway or sea, or on the private property of a consenting owner, if the remains are reduced to a particle size of one-eighth inch or less. 

 Just FYI.

Sewing and blogging

It's taken a while to get back to my curtains, and not because I don't have time in the evening to work on them - I just can't seem to get motivated to do it.  I finally spent the last two nights getting reacquainted with my lovely Bernina, and the curtains are coming along - two panels are sewn, and all of the grommet holes are marked (which took a few tries after an embarrassing and frustrating math error on my part).  All that's left is cutting the holes, fastening the grommets, marking and sewing the hem, and hanging the finished product.  Then, voila! - no more hiding behind my headboard while I'm getting dressed - phew!

The fabric is from IKEA - and I have some pillow shams that I made several months ago to match.  They compliment the lovely orange wall in my bedroom...  a color which for some reason we had a whole bucketful when it was time to paint our bedroom, and we decided to save money by using what we had.  I think Matthew had this idea a few years ago to paint a large orange rectangle in the living room to contrast with the pale green walls - which we still might do someday; we definitely have enough paint. Photos of completed project coming soon, hopefully... 

I've been a little more interested in blogs about sewing rather than actually sewing these days.  Here are my favorites so far: Keyka Lou, Sew Retro, Sew Chic, Polka Dot Overload, and House of Marmalade.  These are all mainly clothes and mainly vintage; I am not sure why that's peaking my interest right now, but it has been so inspiring to peek into the creative outlets of others.

Sewing and blogging have integrated nicely in this era. Apparently, it is possible to make time for both.

I found me

I had no idea that up the road from the booming metropolis of Miami (pronounced mi-AM-uh), Texas, population 588, and the county seat and only municipality of Roberts County, is a place called "Lora".

It can be located an old U.S. Geological Survey map of the "Lora Quadrangle".

Someone by the name of Burke actually photographed the place called Lora, which appears to be merely an intersection on a map between Highway 60 and Ranch Road 3367, but a beautiful one at that, and here it is:

Isn't it lovely?

p.s. it's practically a stone's throw from Matthew's hometown.

p.p.s. Why aren't my curtains finished?

what do we do with ourselves?

In one of my listmaking frenzies, I mentioned our goal to finish estate planning.  We've finally made enough decisions to receive a draft from our lawyer.  One big question left is:  what do we do with our remains? 

I'm posting this photo, half jokingly, though it does look intriguing.  This is actually from an eco-friendly mattress blog.  I can't believe that such a thing exists.  I'm talking about the blog, by the way.  But here's the information -

"There is much call for eco burials these days... many people would like to be buried at sea... Lots design of Sweden has come up with this eco friendly pressed paper capsule, made from bio degradable paper and has a special place for loved ones to place messages, it could catch on!"

I can't get over the plethora (would you say there is a plethora?) of options for the "final resting place".  Even though I'd really rather not think about it, the alternative is to burden someone else with making this decision for us.

And finally, since there are two of us, that brings up a whole 'nother topic.  [yes, I am infusing this blog post with movie references to lighten the mood.]  Forget the burial vs. cremation decision.  Where do we put ourselves?  Whose family should we be near or with, if at all?  Sprinkled together?  Two separate urns?  A 50/50 blend with lavender and rosemary?  I'm sure that's an option somewhere.

And now I need to watch a funny movie.

Remembering cascarones

This Easter I am teaching Dean's classroom how to make cascarones.  I can't wait to share this family tradition - it's amazing how little is known throughout this country about this funny little custom.  Even during my college years at Texas A&M University, it was surprising how few Texans had ever heard of cascarones - except for those from San Antonio.  One of Dean's teachers lived in Houston and she said that she had never heard of them.  She asked if there were any books on them.  I told her I would check.  So I have been scouring the internet in search of a book that could help explain cascarones.  To be fair, there are a few children's books that discuss or mention cascarones, but not quite how I would explain them from my own memory and experience.  Then again, I started thinking: we never really discussed in my family what the origins were.  I guess I never questioned it.   

Why did we save eggshells during Lent, decorate them and fill them with confetti, then find and gather them on our Easter Egg hunt, where Mom and Dad (or the Easter bunny) had tucked them into all the hiding places in our backyard, only to crack them on each other's heads?  Where did this come from?  Moving around the country during my formative years as an Air Force brat, I slowly realized that other families just didn't do this.  Then in San Antonio, where my family ended up "returning" (for my parents it was returning, but I am only beginning to think of San Antonio as home - more on that later), cascarones are everywhere - not only for Easter, but during Fiesta Week to celebrate the battle of San Jacinto and Texas Independence.

So back to the book.  I am still unsatisfied from my search.  So now I am adding "Write a children's book on cascarones." to my never-ending list.  I'm actually pretty excited about this.  For Dean's class, I'm just going to have to wing it.

listmaker part II

Tracking my earlier list... I have decided not to join a gym for various reasons.  I'm going to try some fitness classes offered at my work.  My wedding album has come to a halt to make way for curtain-making, which I am about a third of the way through.  And I'm spending way too much time on the computer.  But obviously not blogging.

It turns out that I'm not so great at blogging.  I am, however, very good at list-making.  So I will continue to do that. 

I have some new goals, which I have been spending lots of time on, so let's just attribute my slow progress on previously-stated goals to these front-burner, I-am-now-an-adult goals.

1. Purchase life insurance.  We're not sure where to go here - is it better to use a broker and find the best deal, or to go through our regular bank?  It's a little unsettling.  But either way, we need to do something.  Our financial advisor gave us some leads.
2. Finish Estate Planning.  Matthew and I have been meeting with a lawyer, and it's going really well.  Which is good, because it's costing a lot of money.  I am totally in the wrong field.  So at the end of this, we will each have a will and a trust for the children.  The incentive for this is that if we do nothing, and something should happen to us, the state will decide what happens to our kids and all of our assets will be liquidated with no parameters for how any of it will be used.  Yikes.  Plus, Matt and I need a second honeymoon.  Though now we won't be able to afford one.  Hmmmm...

What happened in February ?

February flew. 
We did some drastic yard work - a 15-20' high photinia bordering our neighbors to the south was reduced to 2' one afternoon with our new chainsaw.  It makes such a difference!  We can actually see our neighbors now, our yard is bigger, and we are getting more light!  The drawback is that it was really a leggy shrub, so the remaining shrub is very twiggy - well, stumpy.  So we'll see if by the end of the summer it grows any fresh new leaves.  Otherwise, it's outta there.  We also pruned our quince and forsythia down to the ground.  After four years, it was time for a universal severe pruning.  Our yard feels a little naked now.

I got out the ol' bike trailer, and gave the kids a ride in it.  Wow, that's ~75 lbs. of resistance!  So maybe summer-time will be about the bike and not the gym?

In February, Dean started moving away from the little red potty in favor of the toilet!  Which means, of course, that we don't have to clean out the potty constantly.  A little respite before Fiona starts up.

And finally, Fiona developed new words!
Besides "Mama" and "Daddy", "uppy" = pick me up, "De" = Dean, and "hep" = help.

She also signs: "all done", which is waving her hands around.  Mainly she does this at the end of meals, but lately it's also in the middle of diaper changes, or when I'm trying to get her dressed and she wants to play, or when we're at the store and she wants out of the cart.  It's such a simple thing to say, but it seems to have many applications.  I think I'll start using this at work.  All done with this meeting, all done with this project,  all done with sitting at this desk.

All done with this blog post.