Atrium Construction

Got the place finaled, and now we are putting in a floor!! By 'we' I mean Tana and Silas.
Looking Good!!

Emma the Pug

After 5 years of yearning, Justus got a pug. Her name is Emma, and she is 4. She came to live here from my friend, who was overwhelmed with child rearing and doggie-rearing. She is a good girl, and so tiny compared to our other dogs.

Sail Away With Me.

Just a few of my favorite folks sailing, on what was nearly a perfect day. Okay, as perfect as humanly possible. What a joyful day. Just after this, we caught up for a moment with a pod of dolphins. I am guessing there were 100. We were calling them like Burt calls fishies on Sesame Street onto his fishing boat. Fortunately they did not fly into our boat.

Dressed to the Nines

Here we are dressed up for Halloween last week.

We are dressed to the nines, in that we have 9+ yards of fabric on each!! Well except for Justus, who is wearing just 2 yards.
We went the whole nine yards on cloud nine that evening!!

Searching for a Heart of Gold

Nevada County is my hometown. I know that there have been 33 years of change, since I got here, but what is good, is that it is slow. Slow changes, as opposed to the changes I see as I drive into Sacramento, or out of Reno. The pace there is faster, there are more cheaply made homes, tilt-up commercial buildings, wide roads and jammed cars. The pace in other places is too fast for its own good, but that is not what this is about. Here, certainly is not there, and yet things do change.

Take for instance the "Heart of the Gold Industry" mural on the Del Oro theater. Some time ago, the owner painted the building (which was in disrepair) covering up the mural that has been there for my lifetime, and then some. Now, after great deliberation, expense, and time, a new fancy mural is going onto the wall.

It is just the thing for angry, sentimental bloggers and snarky letters to the Union editor. There are many reasons folks dislike the newness.

I found myself out late, and alone last week. It was still and cold. On the scaffolding for the new mural, were flood lights and workers (artists?) putting up the mural in the dark cold.

I also found myself feeling sentimental and sad as the men worked. I'm glad I'm not writing angry, foul words in local paper about how I HATE it, because I don't. I simply felt sad that they would be working in the dark. It was like watching a theater production that no one was supposed to see, knowing how terribly angry this new art is making some folks.

I think my sentiment points out something bigger inside me. I'm having trouble changing. I also feel as if I had to paint over some old murals that were a sign of who I am. It is an expensive, deliberate and time consuming process. I feel sad to see the old parts of me needing to be repaired, but glad there is a light shining in me while construction continues at night.

Super-Busy

We got our room finally finalled. This means it is no longer the building dept. problem, and all the finish work left is ours.
The kids made it on a pretty long up-hill hike to Loch Leven Lakes.

A tiny kitten was in our gutter, all flea ridden, covered in burrs, and starving. It survived a week, and now is 2x as big. Should we name it? It maybe too late, we already love it!

In other news, there is no news. Nothing ironical, nothing unusual. Just routine! Life is full and wonderful!

We Will Not Comply

This is "old" now, but still relevant for me.
I hesitate to post it only 'cause it might not be as meaningful and powerful to you. It is mainly too personal for this introvert, on the public internet.
I guess I am feeling radical tonight, and don't care to hide.
It broke a beam of light into a dark bit of my heart.
It is radical! Maybe it will be for you as well.

School Kids

A theme in parenting for me has been an understanding of how little control people actually have over the universe. In 1999, as little control over the situation as I could have, I did. After that, it was a slippery-slope of learning my life isn't really about me. Since then I have had to surrender two times to fortune, messy bedrooms, and mostly unselfish love!
All of that to say, my kids are out-of-control CUTE!

Justus, age 9, grade 4
Scout, age 6, grade 1
First day of school 2009

August Garden

No real change in how the garden looks, but the big change is the food! I guess I should post photos of that. Really what is the point of a garden?

Scarry Tree

This tree used to look like a Christmas tree. I would post a photo of what it used to look like, but you know what a Christmas tree looks like already, so I'll post a photo of my dead Christmas tree.

Last summer, this tree died.
Then it's needles fell off in the winter.
Then it sat there looking very grim, and quiet.
Then, about 3 months ago it started making noise.

I pass this tree every time I go into my garden, which is quite often. At the beginning of the summer I started pushing the thought aside that this tree actually was making a very loud noise. I assumed that I actually was loosing my mind. Trees, for the most part, are a quiet species. Maybe they are quite loud in a wind storm. Maybe they are loud when children are in them. Maybe they are loud in their last days. I believe that is why this tree is so loud. It is beyond it's last days, even.

My assumption is that it died because of whatever is making noise inside of the tree, and making sawdust. Whatever it is in there, is very very loud for a quiet tree. I can only describe it as clicking/chomping/sawing noise. Passing by you can hear it. If I hit the tree, it stops, but as I walk away, it starts up again.

This to me is a bit frightening. I think everyone hates hearing something destructive, but not being able to see it. And the tree looks so, well, dead. dead things usually aren't loud.

Termites!!

CZR

Here are some photos of my time in Czech Republic.

My students were so fun, I could not have asked for better kids.

My fellow Americans were so fun, inspiring, smart, and enjoyable. I could not have asked for a better set of people to get to know.

The Czech team was like coming home: my sisters and brothers. I could not have asked for better friends in Eastern Europe.


God actually is good.

Apprixomate Math for the Overwhelmed Overachiever

On arrival home from my time teaching English in Czech republic, I've been behind. Here is a post to catch up, cause stuff needs to get done. Here is my list of what I need to keep up on, for the most part. I'm sure I'm missing nearly 1000 things:

• School supplies
• Clean, well-fitting clothes for school
• Dog to vet
• Buy new car
• Back to school haircuts
• Catch up on the laundry
• Justus to gymnastics
• Scout to soccer
• Exercise
• Restful sleep
  
• Tend the garden
• Keep dishes out of the sink
• Hang with high school and jr. high students from SPC
• Keep healthy food in the kitchen
• Manage my children's bickering
• Tend my aching back (aka chiropractor)
• Hospital chaplain
• Quality time with family and friends
• Reading a good book/making music to keep my sanity

Of this list, I have accomplished (if I round up) 2-ish. That is about 15%.

15% of my dishes, laundry, garden, exercise, pet care, child rearing, etc. is not super. It is an "F" in school. Though I am aspiring to cast off my over-achiever-ness, 15% is clearly less than what I was aiming for, by not pressuring myself to do all, and be all.

So my plan is to just let it go, by sitting her at the messy kitchen table, and blog. Then I'll hit the dishes and the counter-tops, then the laundry. Then I'll take my kids to the pool next door, and they'll be happy, and I'll be rested. I'll remind myself that life is good. Then I'll drive and pick Silas up from work in our new car.

Enjoying CZR heading to bed after a long 2 days

July Garden

My garden is making food.
Here is the 3rd set of photos I took of it on July 1oth.

Small Town, Big Fun

Lance Armstrong participated, and won the Nevada City Bike Classic on Father's Day this year. It was a huge deal for him to come to our little place. The only way to describe the mood was 'electric'. Everyone was talking about it, and looking forward to it, like Christmas.

The actual event was super! Everyone was there, and we met up with friends and family just because we live here, together. And that seems to be what was so special about it, not so much Lance, but our togetherness, our community. You could feel the spirit of togetherness, and everyone was relaxed, and having fun. Everyone was cheering, and waving. I know it seems so simple-minded, but it was a truly special day. I felt so glad about my life here in Nevada County, and settled and alive.

Everything was as it should be, except that my camera puttered out, and I only took this one, very bad photo of the world premier cyclist, Lance Armstrong.
Like I said, the photo is terrible, mostly because if you are a person wearing a yellow jersey, then you blend into straw bales in the background, and are overshadowed by a big shadow, cast from the Crazy Horse side of Commercial St. Also a factor is operator error, or lack of superior technology. My camera just couldn't take a photo fast enough for Lance.

Garden #2

Here are more snaps of my garden, from mid June 09. I think we are doing well. I got a drip going on a timer, and feel quite accomplished! We are eating chard, lettuce, strawberries, peas, and cilantro.

Over-sharing

It is my opinion that 90% of the stuff on the world wide web is over-sharing. Mail-order brides, photos of road kill, and children's bathroom habits, are just a few random things I am sure you can find, and I haven't even Googled them (nor do I want to). So, this qualifies as 'over-sharing' in my opinion, but here goes anyway.

I'm not athletic. I have been stretching myself over the past 5-6 years to try new sports: triathlons, an endurance bike ride, skiing, running, slack-lining. My mind tells my body to go/do/be, and it does not comply. This is what happened to my hip because of a dim body-mind connection.

I attempted to ride a mnt. bike, clipped in, on a mountain trail. This clearly was too difficult for me, but I was willing to try, before I figured that out.Now, I have this ugly bruise, but what is more, is the knot under that purple mess. Seriously OUCH!!

Not Technically Time-Lapse

I intended to call this post, "Veggie Garden Time-Lapse", but found on further investigation, that just showing you my first photo, with the intention of more later, in a series of photos isn't technically "time-lapse". Time-lapse (the more I type that word, the more it sounds funny, try saying several times- weird word) would require patience with with my garden and in the fall, I could show you the entire season of growth. I can still do that in October, but for now, I can show you my veggies, as tiny babies. I love these babies, so rollie-pollies and earwigs, stay away!! I have yet to master the gardener's/farmer's endurance and patience. Each year I try to work on something new on my garden, and maybe I'll work on that next year?

Cut Flowers

I love my flowering yard!!! It isn't just how I want it yet, but I have a lot of flowers!!

Silas Visits the UK

Silas went to London on business, and then to Glasgow to visit friends. He only took 6 photos, and 3 were of a lake, which doesn't seem so unique or cultural, since we have similar lakes here in California.
He did get to visit our dear friends Nick, Sophie and overdue baby Pragnell-Bell, in their own element. What fun he had!!