Adventure Revealing

Tis the season...

2011-12-10T22:44:00.001-05:00

peace

Halloween pictures (better late than never!)

2011-11-21T23:01:00.000-05:00

The Snow Queen casting her spell on me (ie, she really didn't want to smile for a picture) and Dark Knight (aka Big Muscles) Batman. Kai was, well, a baby this year. :-) First time EVER I didn't make their costumes for Halloween. The sad thing is they seemed more excited to pick them out from a store than when I made them for them. Maybe it's because they didn't have to try it on a hundred times before they could actually wear it! Ah well, fun (and a sugar high) was had by all.

Dividing of the spoils!

peace

For my dad

2011-11-14T10:19:00.000-05:00

And anyone else who likes pictures of a cute baby!

The beautiful quilt Kai is laying on is a family handmade, family passed down heirloom I have been blessed to inherit. After my grandfather's death this summer, my parents found tons (probably literally!) of family pictures from the past 100+ years. Apparently in the midst of that photographic history are several pictures of my grandpap, his sister and maybe some other relatives as babies laying on beautiful family handmade quilts. Here's to carrying on that tradition that includes 2 of my favorite things in the whole world: hand sewn fabric goodness and people I love!

peace

Tristan turned 5!

2011-05-02T21:54:00.000-04:00

On Sunday our May Day baby, our come in the middle of night baby, our wear his thoughts/emotions all over his face baby, our super kind, super sensitive baby, our when he smiles you can't help but to smile back (even when he is being naughty) baby, our all boy, leggo loving baby turned

No longer, baby. All big kid. But even big kids like snuggles and kisses and mama hugs and tickles (thank goodness or I may be freaking out!).

Happy bday to our big boy!

First picnic of the year!

2011-04-28T21:40:00.000-04:00

I know that Spring began about 6 weeks ago or so but you wouldn't have known it around here. Less than a week ago we awoke to this disheartening sight:

However, today we were blessed with this. Spring literally came all in one day today. We had thunderstorms this morning with some pretty serious downpours, then the sun came out and BAM! the grass turned green. I mean literally today the grass changed color. Yea, my grass has superpowers. I know, pretty cool.

Then while we were eating, we had the pleasure of a visit from an old friend. We haven't seem Mr. Rose-Breasted Gross Beak since last year. It was great to catch up. He joined us for dinner, though he preferred mixed seeds to the chicken, pita chips with hummus and veggie sticks we were eating.

And later, we spotted a new friend in the yard. A little shy, she was. Didn't quite catch her name. Maybe next time.

And the neighborhood trouble-makers are back in town, Mr. & Mrs. Cowbird. Always looking for someone else's nest to pawn off their eggs on. At least they keep things interesting around here and sing a pretty tune.

For a week filled with tantrums, allergies, colds, and the stomach flu, this was a really nice end to the day. How is your Spring shaping up?

peace

Sharp inhale...

2011-03-15T09:41:00.000-04:00

Two robins are in the yard (on top of the snow) right now chasing each other back and forth.

Spring? Spring? Is that you?

peace

My life is a musical, apparently

2011-03-14T21:55:00.001-04:00

I don't know where it comes from but I swear our kids are Broadway musical prodigies. They have never seen a musical (although the Backyardigans are pretty musical-like). I don't even like musicals (except Oklahoma, I don't know why). But there are at least half a dozen times during the day when our kids are engrossed in some kind of pretend play and they break into song. And not just all of a sudden they start singing Mary had a little lamb or something that has nothing to do with their play. No, they have a well written, scripted out transition from whatever they are pretending into a dramatic singing and dancing chorus that underscores whatever climax they have reached in their story.

For example, today they were playing "police school". They were learning how to become police officer. Abigail was discussing with Tristan what a police officer's job consists of, such as chasing bad guys (of course). She went on to say, "that is not the only part of our job, is it Tristan? Oh no, it is not. Ready everyone! ~(singing and dancing now) That is, noooooooo, that is not the only part of our joooooobbbbb!~ And off they were in some semi-coordinated song of the details of a police officer's duties. I can't help but to bob my head while I am chopping cabbage and they are parading around the house but another part of my wonders, where does this come from?!

Now I must admit here that Matt and I both have a tendency to sing everyday requests to our kids when we are feeling frustrated with them but don't want to show it or when something annoying has happened to us and we want to tell each other about it without it sounding like we are bitching. Let me warn you, people, it is terribly frightening to face the unknown influence a parent has on their child.

To get a taste of my life as a musical, here is a video of Abigail playing her guitar and singing Tristan to "sleep":

peace

You have got to be kidding me!

2011-02-28T10:19:00.000-05:00

Another x?@2*! snow day!!

We are at about 5 snow days which in itself isn't so bad but add at least as many days with delays and probably over double that in days home from school because of being sick and I am about to slaughter this winter!!! I know that spring is coming because the birds are noisier, the temperature is not in the negative numbers and I have even seen grass (not here but in valley type places). But right now I would really like to take Punxsutawney Phil, shove him face first in the snow and ask, "Is this what an early spring looks like? Really?"

Ok, I am done now. I just needed to vent on the blogfront rather than on the homefront. To another day filled with fighting over legos, cabin fever, and trying not to mastermind plans to kidnap a groundhog...

peace

My bad!

2011-02-19T07:46:00.000-05:00

I totally meant to highlight the jewerly artist that produced my ring in my post Thursday. In my haste to run out the door, I completely forgot! My big bad!!

So without further ado, my beautiful, simple-but-elegant, textural ring was made by Chris Mueller who has a lovely shop on Etsy. Chris has an eye for clean modern design inspired by nature. Love it, love it, love it! She also was wonderfully helpful and patient with walking Matt through the process of a more commplicated order through etsy. Thanks so much, Chris, for your personal customer service and your original work!

Here are some of my favorite pieces from her etsy shop:

Freshwater pearl, textured, etched, sterling silver bracelet

Vibrant blue Australian boulder opal - ring - sterling

Lily Pad Earrings with Frog - 14k Gold, Sterling silver

So check out Chris' shop! She comes highly recommended.

peace

From my Valentine...

2011-02-17T10:11:00.000-05:00

Matt and I have never been very into Valentine's day. Sure, we have gone to dinner or to see a movie but we have always viewed it more as a Hallmark holiday where people are encouraged to spend reckless amounts of money on unnecessary stuff. Married for 8 1/2 years, two kids and an intense job life, later however, have encouraged us to use Valentine's day as a reminder to appreciate and celebrate the one we love. Not to replace everyday affection and appreciation but just to remind us that thoughtful gift giving is more about giving a piece of yourself than consuming commodities.

And this Valentine's day, I received a most wonderful and beautiful gift. My engagement ring and wedding band were passed down to me from Matt's mother's mother. I have loved these rings for their history and family significance. I have felt very honored wearing the rings of a strong woman I never had the pleasure to meet but have heard so much about. I have often looked at those rings on very ordinary days and wondered about the everyday life of the woman who wore them before me. 60+ years of living and use, however, have worn those rings down and they cracked. Not wanting to risk ultimately destroying the rings by repairing and continuing to wear them, I retired those symbols of love and commitment some time last year. Below is my Valentine' day gift for this year: a new engagement ring/wedding band. Not to replace my family heirloom but to continue what they symbolize; everlasting commitment, honesty, love and devotion. Thanks, babe, I love it!

peace

End of a season

2011-02-09T10:11:00.001-05:00

Swimming season that is. Abigail had her championship meet last weekend. Before joining the swim team, she had been taking swimming lessons almost constantly for three years. It has been amazing, though, to see how enormously her skills developed in just one season by practicing twice a week and having a chance to be surrounded by her older, more experienced teammates.

Here she is in action!

peace

Back in...

2010-11-16T23:49:00.001-05:00

New York! Our annual pilgrimage has been begun. We arrived in NYC this week and as excited as I am (and the kids as well) I am feeling in a rut and a bit lost for something interesting and fresh to do with the kids while Matt is dutifully working away. We have done all the touristy things there are to do: Empire State Building, Macy's Day parade, Times Square complete with rides on the Toys R Us ferris wheel, Central Park, Natural History Museum, Children's Museum, Riverside Park, and Staten Island ferry. The parks we will never leave; they are our lifeblood here in NYC, especially for two country kids. But we are looking for something fresh and new. I am doing some research as we speak, any ideas?

Eekkk!

2010-11-01T22:01:00.001-04:00

Is that shriek because of last night's Halloween tricks or because it has been a horrifyingly long time since I have written on the blog? Well, both actually. Super cute kids dressed up in slaved-over costumes is definitely motivating me to show my face around here. It's not that I have stopped having things to write about or a lack of exciting life events to share (don't laugh). It's just that I am learning that life as a mother of a first grader is busy! I mean, I have a preschooler too but he doesn't have a half and hour of homework every night and 2 swim practices a week for the swim team. Although, he does have his own swimming lesson and opinions about how we should be spending our time. So, I have been adjusting to homework, tight schedules, early, fast dinners 3 times a week (I like to cook slowly, preferably with a beer in my hand so this has been an adjustment) and lots of transitions between activities. Watching Abigail learn to read, seeing her thoughtful movement in the water as she refines her swimming technique, and seeing her gain confidence in herself as a result of both as been worth the madness however. Plus getting two nights a week to spend one on one time with my little guy and do nothing but play while sister works hard has been enriching as well. I am glad when bedtime comes though!

So on with Halloween! I have made the kids costumes every year since they are born and this year I learned two things. 1 - I really like to make costumes! I like the challenge of creating something from their imagination and getting to watch them enjoy it. 2 - Ears are really hard to make well. The kids have never dressed as something with ears before (besides their own ears, that is) so I was not prepared for this challenge. It worked out in the end. Trail and error makes perfect for me. I know I said 2 things but here is number 3 - Making Halloween costumes is kind of like making a really great homemade dinner. It takes about 3 times longer to make the thing that it does to enjoy it. Ah, well, good thing I like the process of creating as much as I do the product! So without further ado, here are the super cute kiddos:

Do you know what she is yet? Well, try the next one.

Give up? She is a horse, of course! This costume was hard to capture in a photograph. It looked better in person. Any guesses on Tristan's costume? Check out below...

Easy one, Batman!

The loot! They are still too young to know what a small amount of candy that is compared to what other kids bring home. Shhh, don't you be the one to tell them either!

And what is Halloween without carving up some pumpkins and eating some yummy seeds, eh?

peace

This week in the garden

2010-09-21T20:31:00.000-04:00

Beets! Yummy, delicious, so sweet when roasted that Matt thought I put sugar on them, beets! One even as big as Tristan's head and with a head as big as his, (No, I am not being rude. It is a scientific fact! He is in the 95th percentile for head circumference after all.), that's big for a beet.

peace

It happened...

2010-09-20T22:03:00.001-04:00

This weekend it happened. I knew it was coming for whole year and there was no stopping it, no matter how many times I told Matt "well, at least I am still in my twenties" (it happened to him last year). Yep, I am officially a thirties something. It's not so bad, though (it still does sound weird). The twenties were pretty ~~experimental~~ stupid. I am looking forward to using some of that life experimental knowledge to not be as stupid this decade. One can hope, eh?

Matt, the sly dog that he is, planned a few surprises for me. I picked up the mail on Friday and strangely there were four cards all addressed to Sara "you are turning 30". Now, one may have been funny. Two could have been some conniving but four? I knew what was going on. Facebook, that's what. I have yet to join the rest of the world in that online community where everyone you know or don't know at all are your "friends." So Matt used that to get people to send me some you-are-30 cards. My favorites by far are 7 cards from our god son Adam. Nice work, little man! I can't wait to put one in my office, one in my sewing room, one on my refrigerator, one in my bedroom...I will find places for them all! I also received one that recalled many of my favorite ~~ancient~~ childhood memories like side ponytails and mullets, the comador 64, New Kids on the Block (!), and Saved by the Bell. Ah, the 80's...

Thanks to all of you for your cards, surprise cake and champagne, gifts, and love! It's gonna be a good decade, I can just feel it...

peace

Tristan's new favorite sport...

2010-09-15T19:57:00.001-04:00

There is a great local non profit here in the Berkshire's called the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition. They are teaming up with the Massachusetts Museum of Modern Art (MASS MoCA) in North Adams to pitch an idea for Pepsi's "Do Good" campaign. They are proposing to build and artistically design a skate park for and with input from North Adams youth who desperately need a positive alternative to street style life. I believe we have the power to change our communities one innovative idea at a time. Please give them a chance to win the funding by clicking the link below and voting yes (and supporting Tristan's new favorite sport. And no it doesn't matter that he has never ridden a skateboard in his life)!!!

peace

Acadia...

2010-09-09T23:36:00.001-04:00

We had such a wonderful, restful, active, enjoyable family vacation to Acadia National Park. We arrived and departed on subsequent Sundays so we had 2 traveling days and 6 whole days of recreation! And we certainly had both recreation at the beach, in the woods, exploring towns and museums and a re-creation of ourselves, our relationship connections and our family. Running a 6 month intensive on site residential youth program can be draining (understatement) and this vacation fed us for sure. We tented (on gravel and next to our car but still) which was great and when we were evicted from our camp grounds because of Hurricane Earl we enjoyed two nights in a motel with beds, a free hot shower and fans. I mean, who knew it was going to 90+ degrees in Maine at the end of August/beginning of September! I think we ran out of shorts on day four. But the dirty laundry, the other people in the campground who used their car's headlights as flashlights (what the?), the lack of creamer for our coffee, the bloody nose while horsing around in the town square and the cheap motel didn't matter compared with the only sandy ocean-front beach on Mt Desert island,

fishing and cooking dinner at the pristine quiet Bubble Pond,

hiking through a mystical forest of dwarfed fir, spruce, and lichen braving the harsh northern coastal weather,

climbing through a talus field with our kids (who now know what talus is) to get to the perfect fishing spot,

watching hurricane churned waves crash on a granite rock coast,

walking across a sand bar connecting one island to another only at low tide,

inspecting tidal pools while watching seagulls crack mussels open on rocks,

geeking (yes, geeking, kids included) at the Wild Gardens of Acadia where trees, ferns, and other flora native to the area are labeled and arranged by environment type (yes, we are aware of how nerdy that is),

and more...

peace

First day of school pics

2010-09-08T20:08:00.003-04:00

The kids are getting to the age where they pretty much love and hate each other. They can't fall asleep without one another and yet they also seem to know exactly how to push each others buttons. I was ready for school to start! But this has unexpectedly been a bittersweet start to the school year for me. Last week we had just the best family vacation to Acadia NP (pictures to follow this weekend) and I am just not ready to be rushing off to school in the morning.

Abigail gave me permission to post the above picture of her on the blog. She didn't like the other ones I took. When did she get so big that she cares what pictures I put of her on the blog?! Tristan is posing with his squirrel (whose name is chipmunk, don't ask). And you can't tell from this picture but I made his backpack for school this year (details and a better picture to come). And he actually likes it and uses it. Score for me!
peace

Two favorites

2010-08-25T16:19:00.000-04:00

My favorite kid question this week:

We were driving to NYC this week taking home our friends Kat and baby Kaesun when Abigail asked if the Empire State building was the tallest in the world. I said no but it used to be. That's when Tristan asked, "How did it get smaller, mama?" Love it!

My favorite picture this week:

Abigail holding baby Kaesun. She couldn't get enough of him even when he was crying.

peace

This week in the garden

2010-08-21T22:34:00.002-04:00

Our first cucumber! Oh, and don't mind that ghost in the garden. She is quite tame. We have two cucumber plants that Tristan brought home from preschool at the end of the year. They really were an afterthought. I didn't have a place to plant them and Matt's mom suggested planting them at the edge of the garden and letting them trail down the side. That has worked perfectly. They are happy trailing along the ground and we are happy eating them.

And the squash is plentiful. Although not from our garden, we were ~~overwhelmed~~ blessed this week with squash from two of our neighbors gardens. What to do with almost a dozen squash and two kids who don't like it? Blanch and freeze, that's what! The kids each took turns washing, even cutting (very supervised) with a sharp knife, I did the blanching, then they gave the squash an ice bath and packed it away in freezer bags. Abigail worked on her penmanship by marking and dating the bags. Tristan worked on counting and fine motor skills by counting the bags for each batch and actually getting the cut up slippery squash into the bags.

So far this year we are stocked up on strawberry freezer jam, blueberries, and squash. It is getting pretty full in there...I think some of the dead animals need to go...

peace

Taking flight

2010-08-19T09:53:00.003-04:00

Warning : This post is image heavy!!

The following picture montage is the emergence of one of the butterflies from its chrysalis. If you look carefully, you can see the butterfly pull itself out of the chrysalis and the wings actually expand as its blood-like fluid pumps into its wings for the first time. This butterfly was the only one we happened to see emerge and I was awestruck.

This week in the garden

2010-08-03T22:35:00.000-04:00

Lettuce!

We harvested our first crop of lettuce this past weekend (only about a quarter of what is growing) and it was so delicious. We had a fantastic salad all from our garden of lettuce, peas, and green beans. And yes, the kids ate it too. With ranch dressing. But still they ate it.

I could become seriously addicted to gardening (in a really good way, I swear!).

Also, not related to our garden but connected in my mind because it is growing outside, I saw the Blue Bead Lilly's, whose flower picture I posted in the spring, fruit which is blue, surprise, surprise. Next day? Gone. These woods sure are full of busy little critters.

peace

ps pictures of the butterflies' progress coming soon (and I promise they are good!).

Big night

2010-08-01T07:29:00.003-04:00

Last night the kids slept in a tent for the first time. At the end of August we are camping in Acadia National Park for a week and seeing that this is the first time the kids will be camping, we decided we needed a few test runs.

They did great. Just the two of them slept in the tent together because it was our tent before we had children and is too small for 4, tight for 3. And well, neither of us were all that excited about squeezing in there. Matt and the dog slept on the porch to be close by.

The kids got ready for bed in the house, we read stories together in the tent, tucked them in, and then did chores while they fell asleep. I was expecting giggling and horsing around and/or some "mom, I am scared" but there was none of that. Tristan fell asleep almost immediately, Abigail took a bit longer but with no problems. I think it helps that they share a room and sleep next to each other every night. There was no novelty in snuggling next to each other.

I loved watching Tristan's eyes as we were reading stories and it was getting darker outside. He just kept looking from side to side like he wasn't quite expecting the darkness. We kept the rain fly off until after they fell asleep so they could see the stars. Matt had also lit the tikki torches on the back porch and put on the uplight in the yard so they could see the familiar surroundings even though it was dark.

There was a 2 am wet bed that we had to clean up and then I (lucky me!) spent the rest of the night in the tent with them but they went right back to sleep. It is 7:23 am and they are still sleeping! That doesn't always happen even when they sleep in their own bed.

First test? Success!

peace

This week in the garden

2010-07-26T21:11:00.001-04:00

The beans and peas are plentiful and often. Abigail and I love eating them fresh from the garden. I made the trellis for the peas from hemp and birch branches. I love the sloping angles of it, reminds me of a house roof. But for next year, I will need to remember to make it taller. Who knew the peas were going to grow almost five feet high? (Well, not me obviously!). Since I didn't have enough pea seeds for the length of both sides of the trellis, I planted lettuce which will be ready for its first cut this week. With all the hot weather we have had, the shade of the peas has been really helpful. In Matt's weeding earnest he pulled up the spinach and pepper plants, so I have a few bare spots to plant some more beans. In his defense, the kids and I started the pepper plants from seed in April and they were probably never going to produce peppers before fall so I am glad for the room. And the spinach will do better in the cool fall anyway. Tonight for dinner we had beans and peas from the garden, locally grown tomatoes and garlic, and basil from our herb garden.

With all this crazy hot weather this summer (loving it, not complaining. I wait through 4 1/2 months of solid snow for this!), the blueberry bushes have all ripend at the same time and overwhelmed us! We ~~bribed~~ enticed 4 of our students that work for the summer to come help us pick the bushes clean with a reward of blueberry pie. There were 5-6 of us working for about 3 1/2 hours to get it all done. In the end we picked about 12 quarts with lots more in people's bellies. We had a great dinner with every single person contributing to cooking the meal in some way and 2 pies with ice cream for dessert. I have never had so many people cooking in my house at the same time. It was a wonderful experience. There is just something so unifying about preparing food with people. It was about the best way I could think of to spend a Sunday afternoon.

peace

A new (temporary) pet

2010-07-23T22:00:00.003-04:00

Friends of ours have been raising monarch butterfly caterpillars, some of them from eggs, and have entrusted them to us while they leave on vacation. I know that keeping monarchs through its metamorphosis stages is common for many families but we just haven't yet. And it really is so exciting! When we picked up the critters yesterday, two were already in the chrysalis stage and 3 were very hungry caterpillars.

This morning when we woke up 2 had formed a silken mat and were hanging in the famous J shape. According to my internet sources, the caterpillar should hang for about a day. Then it will shed its skin for the 5th and last time and a green chrysalis will be underneath. I am just as excited as the kids to watch this all unfold (literally!) before our eyes.

In this picture you can see the caterpillar on the right in the J shape and the last very hungry caterpillar still eating milkweed on the left.

See those golden flecks on the chrysalis? They look like the gold paint you see in museums or fancy churches. I think the two on the bottom will be the butterflies eye. Just a guess from looking at pictures of the chrysalis right before the butterfly emerges. Updates of the progress to follow...

peace

We're jammin', we're jammin', jammin'

2010-07-01T08:09:00.006-04:00

(Bob Marley fans will get the title reference - I hope!)

8:45 pm Tuesday night, after putting the kids to be a little late (it was swimming lessons night), I walked out to the kitchen, rolled up my sleeves and took a deep breath. There were 20 lbs of strawberries in my refrigerator waiting to be jammed. The kids had helped me prep the jars that afternoon (aka loading the dishwasher) and I had washed all the rings and lids. I prefer to make freezer jam. I love the fresh fruit taste, it is less work and I can use the lids year after year since the jars don't need to seal like in canning.
Matt came into my madness around 10 pm after paying some bills and was planning to go to bed. Oh, the plans we make and how they come undone! When he saw my progress (snail-like), he took pity on me and joined the effort. The strawberry season was early this year due to a hot spell in May. Therefore the time in June which is usually mid-season was the end this year. We got to the farm on the very last day of picking, this past Sunday. The wife said we were "ambitious" when I mentioned that we wanted to pick 20 lbs. It was hot as, well you know, the kids got cranky, had to go the bathroom (a lot!) and went to the van after about 30 minutes. So Matt and I were left on our own to search and wade through rows of mushy, end-of-the-season strawberries to find the edible ones and fill our containers!
You know, it takes a long time to fill a quart container when the almost all the berries are small, a looong time. But after 2 hours and a bad sunburn, we had picked our 20 lbs exactly (the farmer wife was very impressed, I am sure). So, back to the kitchen - there I was an hour and 15 minutes into jamming washing, stemming, mashing, stirring, pectin-ing, and filling by myself and I only had 3 pints full. I told you it was snail-like. Picking tiny, end-of-the-season berries takes a long time remember? Well, stemming, cutting off the mushy parts of tiny end-of-the-season berries takes even longer. Really. Which is when my handsome prince on his white stallion appeared and stemmed to my rescue! (Accurate description, honey?) After a few foul ups (not adding enough sweetener or pectin - it was late, my brain was done), Matt singing silly (sometimes obscene) songs and me asking him to quit it, and laughing up a storm listening to the hilarious comedy portion of this pod cast (First Contact) I had listened to before Matt came to my rescue, the jammin' was all done by 1am. Whew!
Strawberries we love you but next year, we are picking early!

peace

To the fathers in my life...

2010-06-20T07:28:00.003-04:00

A day to you, a day for you! May this Father's Day be one filled with grateful hearts, memories and some well deserved put-up-your-feet time. A poem that describes well my father, the father of my children, and most of the fathers I know.

Only a Dad

by Edgar Albert Guest

Only a dad with a tired face,

Coming home from the daily race,

Bringing little of gold or fame,

To show how well he has played the game,

But glad in his heart that his own rejoice

To see him come and to hear his voice.

Only a dad with a brood of four,

One of ten million men or more.

Plodding along in the daily strife,

Bearing the whips and the scorns of life,

With never a whimper of pain or hate,

For the sake of those who at home await.

Only a dad, neither rich nor proud,

Merely one of the surging crowd

Toiling, striving from day to day,

Facing whatever may come his way,

Silent, whenever the harsh condemn,

And bearing it all for the love of them.

Only a dad but he gives his all

To smooth the way for his children small,

Doing, with courage stern and grim,

The deeds that his father did for him.

This is the line that for him I pen:

Only a dad, but the best of men.

peace

By request...

2010-06-09T21:54:00.003-04:00

It has been requested by some friends to post pictures of our latest pet. So I am pleased to introduce you to Cinnamon our sugar glider. He is a nocturnal marsupial native to Australia with adaptations similar to that of the flying squirrel we have here in North America. In the wild, a sugar gliders diet consists of harden sap from the trees it lives in as well as insects. So we feed him fruit as well as insects. He is in fact eating a meal worm in the second picture. We got this little guy in March from one of our friends and educators who was an animal rehibilitator. He had rescued a sugar gilder, Barkey and Cinnamon is Barkey's son. Our friend recently passed away so this pet has special meaning for our family. Oh, and we also found out (after we got him) that sugar gliders can live up to 15 years in captivity. Wow, guess we just made a commitment. Good thing he won't be going to college like our other two slightly unexpected commitments (that we love dearly, of course. What? Don't look at me like that!).

What's the strangest pet you ever owned?

peace

A few of my favorite things

2010-05-30T22:54:00.001-04:00

These are a few of my favorite spring flowers. If you can id the first and last, let me know. I have been unable to figure them out for 2 years now.

In order after the first one,
Field Pussytoe
Bleeding Hearts
Painted Trillium
Blue Bead Lily
Foam Flower & Jack-in-the-Pulpit
Foam Flower
Canada Mayflower
Blueberry
Field Horsetail

peace

Another one bites the dust....

2010-05-24T22:45:00.001-04:00

And another one's gone, another one's gone, another one bites the dust, yeah!

peace

Harder than I thought...

2010-04-09T21:10:00.000-04:00

Seeing as I view myself as someone who doesn't wear shoes a whole awful lot, going barefoot for a day was way harder than I thought it would be. I realized a few things: I wear my slippers a lot. Our house has all tiled and hardwood flooring. We only have 1 or 2 area rugs because, well, we are messy. In the winter we are constantly dragging in snow, the spring and fall, mud and in the summer, dirt. So I have seen rugs as just one more thing to get dirty. Because of this, our floors are cold almost all year long plus they are, well honestly, dirty quite frequently during the day. I never noticed until I chose not to wear my shoes, how often I put my slippers on. It is uncomfortable to walk on a dirty cold floor. Not to mention the mud and rocks on the way to and from the van. I was honestly, disturbingly uncomfortable by the end of the day wearing no shoes for most but not even all of the day. Irritable, almost. I was surprised at my own reaction and humbled. I spent a good portion of the day inside working, a little outside in the driveway and nothing even touching the miles that most folks without shoes walk everyday just to get water.

I know all the well-intentioned but sometimes cliche phrases after doing something like this. The expressions of gratitude for what you have, the compassion for those that don't, the passion for wanting to do something about it all. And I feel and experience those things but something else as well. Something of a hole in my heart/soul that these kinds of divides (those with and without, etc.) even exist at all. Something of an ache, of a longing for this world to be put in such a state where those who have don't even consider keeping more than what is sufficient for themselves (myself) but give as freely as if nothing they had belonged to them alone. And I know that this is the deep desire/longing for God. This is feeling of separation from the Creator Himself. This is the groaning for a reconciliation of this world that none of us can bring about with our own power. And I am grateful. For shoes? Yes of course, but more so for a God who gives me (this world) a hope beyond this mess, a glimpse of life as we all see it could be from time to time. For Love that does not change no matter how broken I (we) may be.

peace

Going barefoot...

2010-04-07T21:19:00.000-04:00

Thursday is TOMS shoes 3rd annual "One Day Without Shoes" event. If you don't already know, TOMS shoes is a shoes company that is more than a shoe company. I mean how many shoe companies do you know whose founding principle is "With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for One." Yes, you read that right. They give away a pair of shoes for free to someone in need for every pair purchased. As of April 2010, they have given away over 600,000 pairs! Not like most business models taught in MBA programs today, I am sure. A creative opportunity for those with buying power to help those without.

Anyway, Thursday April 8th is their annual campaign, not to advertise their company (although it does do that too), but to raise awareness to folks like you and me who have never known an involuntary day without shoes and who have more shoes than most people of the world have personal property, what it is like to live without shoes. They are asking people to go barefoot for day (or an hour or ten minutes, whatever your life allows). Ever walk on a gravel or dirt road in your bare feet? Not so comfortable. Go grocery shopping? Take out the trash? Go to school?

Some shoe facts to consider:
Fact #1: In some developing nations, many children must walk for miles to school, clean water, and to seek medical help
Fact #2: Cuts and sores on feet can lead to infection
Fact #3: Often, children cannot attend school barefoot
Fact #4: In Ethiopia, approximately one million people are suffering from Podoconiosis, a debilitating and disfiguring disease caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soil
Fact #5: Podoconiosis is 100% preventable with basic foot hygiene and wearing shoes

Thursday, I will be going virtually barefoot as well as actually for parts of the day. What about you? Most of the world do not have the luxuries we take for granted everyday. Might be good for the soul to walk a mile an another man's...well, feet I guess.

Check out their website. Take off your shoes. Feel the earth. Connect to the life of someone you do not know. Buy a pair of shoes and give a hand up.

A new shade of blue

2010-03-18T21:51:00.003-04:00

By mid February winter blues of a slow-and-steady-few-inches-here-and-there kind of winter had set in around here. So when we saw a big winter storm coming our way, we were actually looking forward to the change of pace and the beauty of lots of fresh clean snow.

That is until the storm got here and dumped 24" of wet, heavy snow in 36 hours on top of the 2 1/2 feet we already had plus another half a foot a few days later with more inches in between...we lost count. It snowed every day for 6 days. We went out into the yard a few times without our snowshoes on and Matt and I were both up past our thighs with more snow underneath! Now I know that plenty of other parts of the country were hit with snow, lots of it and in unexpected places, this winter so I am not really complaining, just explaining why the additional 6 inches of snow-cone like snow this past Saturday just about threw me over the edge.

Since Monday, however, I am seeing a new shade of blue. It has been amazingly beautiful the past few days and the sky has literally been a shade of blue I have either never seen before or never noticed before. Electric blue, to be precise. So despite the 2 feet of snow still on the ground, I KNOW that spring is here. First the purple finches came back to the feeders, then we heard robins in the woods and two barred owls calling to one another, and today a hairy woodpecker was chasing a downy woodpecker away from the suet feeder. Pretty soon we will see bear tracks, hear the peepers in the pond and see the ferns begin their alien-like emergence.

And sandals, oh sweet sandals! Nothing like a good late winter snow storm to give you spring fever. What are you anticipating this spring?

peace

Foodie thoughts...

2010-02-15T12:51:00.004-05:00

Shhh, don't tell anyone but the kids are in their room right now playing so nicely that I can even post. Let's not bring it to their attention, though, or they may have to resume their normal behavior to save face. I guess this abnormal interaction may be the result of a house full of grumpy, sickies suddenly feeling better on this Monday morning with a week full of no school ahead. Bliss...for the moment.

So, just in case anyone is interested, I have found an amazing new ingredient that I now need to buy stock in...

smoked paprika!

I use this wonderful flavoring in everything. Not hot like hungarian paprika or bland like regular paprika but really wonderful smokey flavor. Awesome on pork, chicken, great in curries, and takes scrambled eggs to a whole new level.

Unless you are a vegetarian or vegan, you know how bacon makes everything taste amazing? And I mean everything. For example, my kids love quiche with asparagus in it, why? Because I add bacon. They love wilted spinach salad. Yep, bacon again. Now I am not saying that my ~~husband~~ kids only eat vegetables with bacon on it. They are actually pretty good about eating vegetables. They just eat so much more of them if they have bacon on them. My point? Smoked paprika has a similar effect without all the fat and clogged artery consequences. Now, you can't really substitute one for the other. Smoked paprika in broccoli salad instead of bacon? Don't that would do the trick but it does add such a nice smokey flavor that I think you will find all kinds of reasons to use it.

Tonight, in fact, I am using it in a recipe I found on allrecpies.com for slow cooked sweet n sour pork.

Kids love it, Matt loves it, I love it and it goes in the crock pot! Hard for me to find all those things in one dish. In case you want to try it, here are my modifications:

I use smoked paprika instead of regular (obviously!).
No green peppers. I think they would be a great addition but they do not like me.
2 Tbls of cider vinegar - 1/4 cup is just a little too much
No sugar at all. The pineapples are really sweet enough on their own.

If you try the recipe or smoked paprika in anything, let me know. I would love to have more reasons to use it. :-)

peace

Face-to-face

2010-02-03T09:37:00.004-05:00

Friends of ours share a beautiful farm with thier parents and will eventually take it over themselves one day. They have recently acquired around25 chickens and started selling the eggs by word of mouth. I just love the various sizes that come in one carton, the bright yellow/orange of the yolks, the way the whites just zoom out of the shell...so fresh!
For the past several weeks our friends have been delivering their eggs to interested people in our church. I have just loved watching these exchanges: people bringing back their cartons from the previous weeks to be reused, trading their hard earned dollars for farm fresh, hand gathered, lovingly raised free range eggs, seeing all the eggs cartons carefully labeled by name and date in the church frig. I love when agriculture & community take on this interconnected relationship: farmer and eater exchanging goods in person, talking about the chickens, how the weather is affecting production, what future plans of the farm are, and chatting about life, community, work, etc. Person to person, instead of farm to truck to store to consumer to table. It is amazing how much more valuable an investment becomes when it has a face & a name, when it is your neighbor. This is how all of us do more than merely eke out an existence or make ends meet, this is how we live a life: face-to-face.

peace

A birthday party!

2010-02-01T19:52:00.001-05:00

Abigail had her first friend birthday party this year and all in all it was a success (despite the sad face on the above snowman!). Our original idea was to have a snow party having her friends bring their snow gear and go sledding, play a snowball game and a snow treasure hunt with a treasure chest of goodies buried in the snow.
The weather, however, had different plans. With a forecast for air temps to top out at 5 degree plus the wind chill...well, let's just say we decided to move our party indoors. Ah, New England...
But the snow theme didn't end just because we moved indoors. I mean, a January birthday girl just has to use the season she has been given, you know? So we had an igloo birthday cake, cut out snowflakes, played pin-the-clothes-on-the-snowman, and finally had a treasure hunt with clues hidden inside "snowballs" (ie wadded up pieces of white paper) all over the house. We wrote a clue to the hiding place of the treasure on the back of a 24 piece puzzle and then hid 2 pieces in each snowball. Once all the snowballs were found (note to self - keep track of where you hide all the "snowballs" in case some are not found:-), the kids then had to put the puzzle together, read the clue, and figure out where the treasure was "buried".

Let's see if you can figure it out too! The clue read:
To find the treasure...
Open the door for goodies galore,
Take a peek inside to a place
That tumbles your clothes warm & dry.
Leave your guess in the commments section and see if you are smater than a kindergartener!

peace

Happy Birthday, Abigail Grace!

2010-01-27T16:19:00.001-05:00

A few days old...

Six years later...

Happy Birthday to our girl, full of fun, spunk, love and creativity!

Blog love

2010-01-08T20:35:00.001-05:00

Welcome back, family and friends, to this little blog of mine! Your comments have brought this place to life and made it feel more homey around here. Thank you for your blog love!

peace

Kid Speak

2010-01-07T17:34:00.000-05:00

My favorite phrase of the day from my 3 year old: "Oh my Heavens!" (Imagine it being said with a slight lisp at the end).

Precious...

Apricot Chicken Recipe

2010-01-05T11:48:00.002-05:00

For those who have been asking:

Apricot Chicken from the Simply in Season cookbook by Mary Beth Lind & Cathleen Hockman-Wert. Words in italics are my additions or modifications.

Serves 4

2 tsp butter or olive oil
4 ripe apricots (halved and seeded) Since I use dried apricots, I use a lot more than 4, a handful or so? I either soakthem in water for an hour or use them as is if I am too busy. Watch carefully because they burn easily.
Melt butter in frypan. Place apricots in meted butter cut side down and cook over medium heat until light brown, about 5 minutes. Turn and cook several more. Remove to plate.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (whole or cut into strips)
salt and pepper
Roll chicken in mixture of salt and pepper. Or just sprinkle it on! Saute in 1 Tbls olive oil on med-high hear for 3 minutes, then med-low heat for 7 more mintues or until no longer pink inside. Remove chicken to plate with apricots.

1 tsp ginger root (peeled and minced) could also use ground ginger
1 green onion or 2 Tbls onion (chopped)
Combine in frypan and saute briefly.

1/2 cup dry white wine, apple juice or water I have used both the wine and juice both are excellent
2 Tbls maple syrup or apricot preserves
1/2 tsp lime peel (grated) or lemon peel or omit
Add to frypan along with the apricots and chicken. Simmer 10 minutes to combine flavors. Serve alone or over brown rice or couscous. Garnish with 1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds.

One of our kids favorite dishes. Enjoy!

Ringing in the New Year...

2010-01-01T10:31:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year to you and yours!

What are you doing on the first morning of the new year? I am enjoying children having a sleep over at Nana and Pappy's house, aka a quiet house! Catching up on the news, reading articles reviewing the last decade (whatever you may want to call it), checking out discussions on the change in the way we listen to music (and reveling in the fact that I still have a record collection that I love which balances my dependence on Pandora), generally just pondering this life of ours: the assumptions we make, the people we love, the things we take for granted, the unknown life that remains before us, what our children will be like (and ourselves, I guess) at the end of the next decade, the choices past and future.

I have never really been one for New Year's resolutions or year-in-reviews because I believe in constantly (maybe even obsessively?) reevaluating who I am and how I am living my life. This morning, however, the quiet - the rare and blessed cessation of sound - seems to allow for a wider reflective view. Take the time to ponder the view yourself.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T11:54:00.001-05:00

Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the watching shepherds to you.
Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you.

Merry Christmas!

A tree at last

2009-12-19T13:04:00.001-05:00

So we finally put up our tree this week. We all went for a hike last weekend and picked one out from the woods near our house.

Once we got the chain saws back from the shop, Matt and Abigail went and got it on one of the coldest days yet this winter. The day started at -5 and topped out at 3 but Christmas tree mission was successful nonetheless. It is a nice tree. Different than what you get at a Christmas tree farm so the branches are a bit more spaced out and it is pretty round for its height. I think it is beautiful, however, and free! There was, as there is every year, a bit of a fiasco getting it up. It fell over after we got the lights on.

We knew the bottom of the trunk was crooked when we put in the stand. We were hoping for the best.

But that's what sawz-all's are made for, right?

Back in the stand and 4 broken ornaments later, the tree was decorated complete with a Thomas the train track underneath. The kids are happy (we are too, just tired, I think) and the living room now looks magical.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

2009-12-11T10:19:00.001-05:00

Winter/Advent/Christmas everywhere I look....

After our first real snow of 4" the other week, we decided it was time to decorate.

The Christmas lights on the back deck are a bit more blinking and Vegas-like for Matt and I but the kids love them and we do live in the country, you know. In fact last evening, Matt came inside while he was stacking wood and fixing the snowblower/tractor in 10 degree weather with 35 miles an hour winds to see me sewing while listening to country music in the glow of our Vegas Christmas lights and gained a new found respect for red necks, now that we are ones I guess.

Christmas cookie making with the kids. Yum!

Another snow storm on Wednesday. We probably about a foot. Good bye grass! See you April!

Another season of preparation...for us: preparing for snow, for more clothes and shorter days,for a slower pace of life. For the world: the birth of our Savior, the Son of God, Prince of Peace, Immanuel!

Thanksgiving pictures

2009-12-07T10:54:00.024-05:00

Pictures from Thanksgiving to share with the family and friends. Thanks to each of you for planning your time around our visit and making this a great holiday. We enjoyed spending time with each of you!

My brother's band, The Silent Wire, playing unplugged in the basement with my dad's collection of instruments...without my brother since he really doesn't play unplugged drums...
Thanks again guys for the awesome music and company! I was singing
Wire songs all the way back to MA...

Recipe test #1

2009-12-03T11:47:00.002-05:00

I have been looking for a yummy but nutritious but not-too-filling after school snack that my kids won't give me a hard time about eating. I am looking for a miracle, I know. Below is the recipe I tried from the Stonyfield Farm yogurt container. After that is my review and revisions for next time.

Yogurt Cereal Bars

2 cups corn flakes
3/4 cup plus two Tbls all purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tps cinnamon
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup Vanilla yogurt
1 egg, slightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine cereal, 3/4 cup flour, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in margarine until coarse crumbs form. Press 1/2 mixture firmly into the bottom of a greased 8-inch square pan. Mix yogurt, egg and 2 Tbls flour into another small bowl. Spread over cereal mixture in pan; srpinkle with remaining cereal mixture. Bake for 30 minitues or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.

Review -
Overall, tasted yummy. Yogurt and egg mixture made a tasty custard like filling that I liked and wasn't too sweet. However, not happy with the corn flakes being so chewy instead of slightly crunchy. Proportionally, way too much filling to crust-ness.

Changes for next time -
Use 3 or 4 cups of cereal -1-2 cups corn flakes & 2 cups granola
A bit more cinnamon and flour to keep taste a consistency the same
I used butter instead of margarine and I would not increase the amount. There was too much for the original 2 cups of cereal.
May consider using less yogurt next time. The filling really rises and was almost overwhelming. Need to experiment more with the amount.

Summary -
Tristan ate it up and I did too so definitely good enough to eat as is. Just could use some tweaking. Fun, easy, not time consuming recipe to make with kids. If you try it let know about your experiments. Enjoy!

Updated edit - This tastes much better cold than warm right out the oven.

Back from NYC

2009-12-03T00:58:00.001-05:00

We are back from our whirlwind East coast urban tour and back in the woods with a coating of snow. Here are some of my favorite pictures while we were in NYC. We spent lots of time at museums and at parks: the Natural History and Children's Museum, of course, but this year we also made it to MoMA and the Intrepid. And the kids' favorite tradition of riding the Ferris wheel at the Times Square Toys-R-Us.

View of lower Manhattan from the Staten Island Ferry

Tristan's favorite at the Natural History Museum - TREX!

The fancy hotel at the corner of Central Park by FAO Schwartz and the Mac store - the Plaza, I think?

The 4 of us on the Toys R Us ferris wheel

Art at MoMA (don't remember the artist but I love the light and character)

The pace of city life...

Van Gogh at MoMA - could have spent hours looking at that

Matt & the kids at the "Bessie" statue in the Bronx zoo. No crowds in November! We spent the whole day there with lots of our students. That was one of the best days of the trip. Just hanging out with our students in the city talking about nature, animals, life, and learning.

Gotta have Heinz ketchup even if you are living on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean sleeping in a bunk room with 30 other men and being attacked by Kamikazes...Go Steelers!

The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. Fun, educational, and expensive.

Well, don't those faces just sum it all up! Thanks NYC for another great visit.

"Flu-like illness"

2009-11-12T17:42:00.000-05:00

Of course on the day the kids are scheduled for their flu vaccinations & Matt is in NYC, Tristan develops a fever, chills, an ache and a cough. Abigail was able to get vaccinated but since we are leaving on Sunday for NYC he won't be able to until we get back in December. And then of course there is the decision of do we skip the H1N1 vac since that is probably what he has or do we do it in December since we don't really know for sure what is making him sick and do the seasonal flu as well? Too many unknown factors and options. To put the situation in perspective, though, he is mildly sick compared to what other kids have experienced. But there goes my plans of having all our stuff packed and the house clean before we leave. Oh well, being organized is overrated anyway (are your eyes rolling yet, Matt?).

Hi, there!

2009-11-09T09:24:00.001-05:00

a.k.a. - I am the worst blogger ever! But new news and pictures are on the horizon...I swear...a year and a half later but I am coming back...soon...

First day of spring

2008-03-21T23:03:00.007-04:00

I would have posted this yesterday but, as you can see from the picture, we got an ice storm that weighed the trees, full of sap from a few upper 30 degree days recently, down into crazy almost touching-the-ground-positions successfully blocking our satellite internet signal.

So this is our first day of spring. It is almost April. April?! Spring?! Warmth?! I know it will be here eventually because I have seen the buds on the trees but the view from our window tells a different story.

I am finding parallels everywhere around me in nature to this season of the church year. Knowing there is hope for life and warmth in the midst of a frozen wasteland that speaks to the opposite. Seeing, living and interacting with nature in such an interdependent way has given me lots of metaphors for faith. If I can be so sure of spring's arrival against all odds here, can I not also remain strong in my faith for Christ's redemption of all I see as well?

This a tree leaving on the telephone pole that carries all our utilities to our house. Nice, huh?

Speaking of new beginnings, below are two new and important parts of our life. With mud season coming, as soon as the snow melts, we needed a 4 wheel drive vehicle of our own since the truck will be needed for Manice. Here is our new (used) Jeep that we love.

And our dog Holly, who is so sweet! She really has just a great laid back, gentle personality. Great with kids and other animals. I think she will make a find camp dog. We are also beginning to see her watch dog side. She is really the total opposite from aggressive in so many ways you might say she is a push over. I have only heard her bark or growl twice in the 2 weeks we have had her and both times were when she thought someone was threatening her family. I feel much better having her around when Matt is gone for work, especially considering it takes the state police 45 minutes to get here!

Prayers for an Easter season of hope and new life, even if it is buried under a frozen wasteland.

peace

The snow is beginning to reach the windows...

2008-02-28T21:14:00.005-05:00

This last storm dropped a foot of snow for a grand total so far of 3 feet, give or take where you are, with 7 more inches to come this weekend. The snow is to the top of the railing on our deck and has reached the windows in the back of our house. At this rate, I think we might float away when spring, aka mud season, actually does come.

Before

After

peace

A "family" recipe

2008-02-22T21:53:00.005-05:00

Making this for dinner tonight gave me the motivation to do something I have been meaning to do for a while (the story of my life), post it!

This recipe is a favorite in our house. It's comfort food, warm, yummy and a good way to sneak vegetables into our daughter (one of many reasons I love soups). Perfect for a day like we are having today; snow, snow, snow. The best part, though, is the recipe itself. My dad gave me this recipe over the phone when Matt and I were first married and his description just cracks me up.

Wedding soup - Jack Russell style

-Chicken breast (cook a little by itself in water to get blood out) Dad, I am still not sure I fully understand what that means :-)
-Chop up small onion, saute in oil
-Throw in couple of cloves of garlic for 30 seconds
-Throw in 1 large can or 3 small cans of chicken broth
-Simmer
-Chop up a couple of small carrots and some celery including the leaves and some parsley and potatoes, if desired (although I usually don't include the potatoes)
-Once boiling, throw chicken and vegies in. Simmer for 45 minutes.
-Take chicken out, shred, throw back in pot (as you can see, there is lots of throwing going on in this recipe, watch out!)
-1/4-1/2 cup of acini di pepe pasta and some chopped spinach (fresh or frozen)
-Cook another 15 minutes
-Top with parmesan cheese

Enjoy! (Thanks, Dad)

peace

Trying to catch up...on life

2008-02-13T23:10:00.005-05:00

It can be so hard to be consistent in life with two small kids. Lovely as they are, they sure can be needy sometimes, can't they?

All joking aside, we have been busy and not really in the best ways. The last few weeks have been filled with colds, snow, shoveling, ice, stomach virus (experienced by the whole family!), getting our vehicles stuck and unstuck, did I mention snow and ice? It really is so beautiful this time of year. The trees have been caked with a wonderful white coating for the last week, like they were all dressed up for a wedding. This last storm (or two) has brought an onslaught of ice, though, that is now covering everything. Earlier this evening I thought it was still raining out until I stepped outside and discovered the sound I thought was rain was actually the ice ridden trees moving and rubbing up against each other. I have not ceased to be amazed at the weather here. And the thing is that the mountain's weather really is quite intensified than the lower elevations (flatlanders, as we found out they are called). When I was talking to a friend who lives in town recently, she said "wow the weather really is a life style for you now isn't it?". And it is. We are at the mercy of nature, the town's road crew, and our own two hand's energy for the day. It is not a bad thing. Just tiring. Remember when I asked for a long winter? Well, it seems that my prayers have been answered!

With being snowed (actually more often iced) in, my creative juices having been flowing. The kids and I have been doing some fun projects and I have been sewing my rear end off any chance I get. My previous sewing machine was broken beyond repair and we were able to get a vintage Singer with cabinet and attachments for $50! It is a 1946 and it runs smoother than any machine I have ever worked on. It only does a straight stitch but it has lots of fun attachments and I am enjoying the challenge of sewing without the zig zag option. Here are a few pics of the beauty.

Here are also two recent projects I did. The first is a pair of pants made out of a Jon Check t-shirt my brother gave me that was too big (thanks, Jas!). They are great bumming around the house pants for Abigail.

This picture of a purse I made. The picture does not do this Goodwill-found-fabric justice. I love it and still have a yard and a half left over for lots of other projects... It's reversible with a red fabric inside and a pocket of the same patterned fabric as this side. As you can see, the colors compliment my coat pretty well. :-)

peace

Since it was warm today...

2008-01-08T21:51:00.001-05:00

I thought I would post some pictures of our snowy winter wonderland. The temperature got up to 55 on the mountain today. Most of the snow is melted off our roof and driveway. Our road is a bloody, muddy mess but we still have 8-10 inches of snow on the ground. Even more in the deeper parts of the woods. But it does almost feel like spring. We even took the kids on a night hike this evening. It was nice to be outside and not freezing.

You know you live on the mountain when...

2008-01-07T22:34:00.001-05:00

You see more snowmobilers on your road in a day than you do cars in 2 weeks.
The 5 ton plow truck gets stuck in the snow on your road and has to radio the highway plow truck to pull him out.
You and your spouse stand admiring and talking about the positive qualities of your woodstove. This is after 2 weeks of a smoked filled house, CO2 detectors blaring, finding a manual online (who knew our stove had a damper? That's helpful to know!) cleaning out the chimney and buying a new one piece elbow for the pipe. And weeks later still periodically saying to each other. I love our woodstove, don't you?
You have to transport the Home Depot employee and all his equipment to your house in your own truck because his won't make it and shovel a path around your house from the 2 feet of snow so that he can install storm doors.
The UPS carrier leaves a note in your mailbox that says "Left your package at John Smith's house on the corner". I guess that's one way to meet the neighbors.
You step outside to get your ash bucket for a morning's cleaning of the woodstove and think, hmm it's awfully warm out here. You check the temperature and realize, golly, it's a balmy 10 degrees compared to the -12 the morning before.

Drum roll please...

2007-12-04T22:16:00.000-05:00

The total snowfall for Sunday night through Tuesday is .................................9-10 inches (depending on where you measure)! Even though it was a bitter and windy 16 degrees at 2:30 pm , we bundled up the kids, made snow angels

and did a little impromptu sledding with a garbage can lid for about 15 minutes.

It took us a half an hour to get ready to go outside. But the kids enjoyed it and so did I, except that my hands were freezing because I gave Tristan my gloves because I couldn't find his gloves (which I later found in my purse, of course that is where they would be) and the kids couldn't wait another second to play.

Walking in a winter wonderland....

And our mini-van got stuck in the driveway. I am getting used to driving the camp's 3 ton pick up. Except that I suck at towing. And I guess we might want to get winter tires put on the van. With studs. :-)

peace

NYC #3

2007-12-02T20:33:00.000-05:00

So as Matt and I are anxiously awaiting our first winter storm on the mountain (we have literally been checking outside every half an hour to see if it has begun yet, and sadly not to this point. PLUS the forecast has changed for our area from a foot of snow to 4 - 6 inches with up to a 1/3 an inch of ice. Not as fun. Glad we went grocery shopping yesterday because I don't think we will be going anywhere for a day or so), I think it is time to do a drive-by update of our time in NYC!

We were busy during our time in the Big Apple! Part of the reason why I didn't blog much.
The night before we left we attempted to go the Rockefeller Center for the lighting of the famous Christmas tree having no idea what a big production it was. We got within two blocks of the tree and couldn't even move on the sidewalk. People were tripping over us, pushing our strollers, and Abigail fell asleep so we decided to give it up and walk back to our apartment to watch it on TV like the rest of the sane world!

We did make it to see the Christmas displays in Macy's windows, which were really cool and Tristan loved. He did not want to leave, the look on his face was precious. We then went inside Macy's visited Santa at one of the coolest North Pole's ever. I am usually not into the cheesy Santa setup but this was really well done with a walk through a "train" to get to the north pole and talking trees and all kinds of animals busy working and a great train set up. Santa even looked pretty believable. Abigail, however, didn't want to have anything to do with sitting even near Santa and Tristan wasn't too thrilled by him either. Therefore we have no pictures but it was fun anyway. Abigail decided to write him a letter the next day to say that she was shy but enjoyed her visit.

Went to the cemetery in Queen's where Matt maternal grandparents are buried.

Spent an amazingly refreshing afternoon at Rockaway Beach in Brooklyn, which I later found was a favorite beach of Matt's mom growing up. It was chilly but quiet and calm. And they had a really cool playground on the beach that the kids devoured.

We also visited the Manhattan Children's museum. We never made it to the children's museum in Pittsburgh so I can't compare but this place was so much fun. All hands-on, interactive, child proof and exactly what our kids needed. Experiential play and learning plus climbing and running.

Central Park was our safe haven! I could usually spot that "I need to run and be free!" look in their eyes and off to the park we went. Only 3 stops up on the subway and we were among trees, rocks, grass, birds, and squirrels. We went the playground the most. There I actually got to speak to other adults! We also walked around the Jackie Onassis resivour one evening with Matt and rode the carousel another day. I don't think we could have survived without the park. I can see why it is such an important part of the city life.

For Thanksgiving we, of course, went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Matt and I were so proud that we actually made it through the whole parade. We were expecting a melt down for sure. We woke up late so we didn't the spot we wanted but we had a great time anyway. After growing up watching the parade, it was quite a delight to see it in person. It is just unbelievable to see how much work (and money!) must go into those couple of hours. I then spent the afternoon cooking a yummy meal. I love the colors on the plate!

The first Saturday Matt and Abigail woke up early and went to the Empire State Building when in opened. Later that day we headed to Battery Park on the southern tip of Manhattan and walked past ground zero on the way. It was overwhelming to be there and remember the horror of what happened that day. Walking through the streets there, I just kept thinking about what chaos must have ensued. The confusion, the heart-wrenching powerlessness, and fear. I went from watching an event on TV to standing in the past-presence of the event. It was quite powerful and humbling.

Our plan that day was to eat lunch at Battery Park and then take the ferry over to the Statue of Liberty. The wait for the ferry was too long for our kids so we opted for the Staten Island ferry which was free and went by the statue. Perfect! Both kids enjoyed the ride but especially Tristan. He is just absolutely obsessed with anything mechanical that moves; trucks ("gunks"), buses ("bees"), and boats are his life blood. And the walk along the Staten Island boardwalk with so timely. It was the first time since we were there that life was quiet and still except for the sound of water.

We also visited Matt's great aunt and family in Queen's. She is quite the spunky lady and it was a lot of fun to see the kids with here.

We also got a behind-the-scenes tour of the New York Botanical Gardens and train show by an employee.

So that was our November in a nut shell! We had a lot of fun and experienced a significant amount of the city a short time. It was, however, a very challenging 3 weeks. Abigail had a difficult time with the complete lifestyle change which resulted in a lot of behavior problems. I am glad for our time in the city but it never felt so good to come home! We left Thursday night at 10 pm which put us in the Berkshires at 2:30 am. The kids slept the whole way but were so excited to be home when we got that they didn't fall back to sleep uintil4:30! We are settling in here nicely enjoying a slower rural life as well as a slower work season for Matt. I am really looking forward to lots of family time and time to craft and cook and play. The idea of eating in season has been working on me for about a year now. Now I am beginning to love the idea of living seasonally. Being snowed in is a wonderful force of hand for slowing down, reflecting on life, and snuggling with loved ones. I pray for a long winter of snow! (Remind me of that in February when I am freezing and sick of the snow!!)

peace

It snowed last night!

2007-12-02T11:48:00.000-05:00

Some how this post got lost and it has pictures of our first snow so I wanted to post it even though it is 3 weeks late!

"Not a lot but enough to make the morning seem magical. Abigail woke up and came up to our room. I recently made curtains for their room to cut down on draft and keep the night time fears at bay. So when she jumped on our bed and looked out the window she was surprised to see that "winter came!" She was so excited to go outside that she ran downstairs to show Tristan and inform him that "it snowed and we can't go out until we eat breakfast!" Needless to say it was a quick breakfast and change into warm coats and a lovely morning hike (even if I still had my pajamas on).

Off to NYC tomorrow morning. I hope to send more photos and stories after we arrive!

peace"

Note: We came home from NYC (55 degrees when we left there at 10 pm) to less than an inch of snow with some ice and 20 degree weather. It snowed again Friday night, maybe an inch, but it was a freezing 12 degrees at 11 am and only a high of 20 on the mountain. Tonight we are supposed to 7-12 inches overnight with ice and sleet possible. So considering that our road is already icy, we may be snowed/iced in for a day or two.

More posts on our NYC adventures to come!

peace

Post #2 from NYC

2007-11-15T22:47:00.002-05:00

Today we visited the NYC Medical Center ER! What is a visit to the city without a trip to the emergency room? Ah, Tristan, how much you take after your Papa! He is ok but we had a bit of a scare. Abigail, Tristan and I took the subway to the New York Public Library on 53rd right near Matt's office hoping to spend a while at the library maybe check out some books, visit daddy around lunch then go home for naps. Well, instead Tristan trips and falls not long after we get there, bangs his face/lip off of a chair and bleeds all over the place, throughly freaking out the children's librarian. I called Matt to tell him what was going on and get his opinion on Tristan's lip. He thought I was at the 42nd street library so he caught a cab to that library and then had to have the cabbie turn around for 5 blocks until we could get together to decide that we should have Tristan looked at and have a doctor decide on stitches. His bleeding did stop but we were afraid of scaring. In the end, however, the doctor said he would be fine and didn't need stitches, although he has two cuts, one on his lip and one on his gum both of which are pretty swollen. He, however, is not slowed down a bit which I am glad.

Let's pray for no rain and no trips to the ER!

peace

NYC

2007-11-14T20:34:00.001-05:00

As I type, I am listening to the sounds and smelling the smells of Manhattan: frequent loud honking, car exhaust and cigarette smoke. :-) We are located in a central location. Lots of grocery stores, restaurants, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, 3 blocks from 42nd street, 10 minute walk from Times Square, 3 subway stops from Central Park. And also 1 block away from the entrance of the Lincoln Tunnel. Needless, to say rush hour is chaotic not only for the driver's on the street but for us as well. We couldn't get any more opposite than our home in Mass! Which is a little uprooting and thrilling at the same time.

We are doing pretty well. The kids and I conquered the subway today and went Central Park. It was so good for them to run and play and climb and have some freedom. The restrictions of the back pack or holding mommy's hand everywhere we go has been hard for them. It has been fun (although a bit exhausting).

We are subletting a man's apartment so we have a really nice place to stay and great views from the rooms. There is some some major construction going on next door. A HUGE pneumatic jack hammer and excavator which I thought was going to drive me crazy all day. It has, however, been a great source of entertainment for the kids, especially Tristan who is obsessed with trucks ("gunks").

They will literally sit in the window sill for an hour watching the construction and traffic. They are definitely country kids now!

We have some plans for Empire State Building and maybe a museum this weekend. More stories and pics to come! Please pray for my sanity as Matt is working long days and the kids are having a little bit of struggles with the transition of lifestyle.

peace

Halloween and the first snow...

2007-11-07T12:15:00.000-05:00

Not on the same day but here in the same post!

Here are the kids in their Halloween costumes.

Tristan was a pirate (inspired from our boat ride this summer, Jaclyn!). He looked very dashing in his seaman garb. I made the pants (a bit tight) and red sash and he is (shhh) wearing one of Abigail's dress shirts with the rose embroidered collars tucked in. He kind of looked like a waiter until the head scarf and sword were added! He had a great time trick or treating. Besides one of neighbors here on the mountain, we just went to a handful of houses near Matt's parents' place. Tristan loved it. I don't think he really understood what we were doing but he throughly enjoyed knocking on people's door and receiving a hardy hello.

Abigail was a fire fighter (not a fireman and she will correct if you say it wrong :). Great goodwill find! We made the axe and she was ready to go. She loved the candy, of course. But she would not say trick or treat or thank you this year!

Also, this Monday was our first snow. Nothing sticking to the ground...yet. Mt Greylock, the highest peak in Mass, has snow on it and today I noticed from town so do a few peaks of our mountain. We leave for NYC on Sunday until the end of the month. It will be interesting to see what the place looks like when we come back.

We will be staying in Manhattan. Hopefully I can post from there. Pray for good weather and safe travels!

peace

The perfect New England fall day

2007-10-21T22:39:00.000-04:00

Today was one of those infamous New England days. The sky was an amazingly vibrant blue, the air crisp but the sun warm, some colors still on the trees. Perfect. We went for a refreshing hike around our neighbors' property through peaceful hemlock and pine groves (as peaceful as a 1 and 3 year old will let you be). Then we came home to be greeted by some of the staff bringing us butternut squash soup and homemade pumpkin pie. Yummy!

What could be a better close to the perfect autumn day than carving pumpkins, eating warm, crunchy pumpkin seeds with friends?

This pumpkin was carved by a friend of ours. Abigail has been obsessed with the Bearenstain Bear books lately. And this is a "Space Grizzly" character from the book Bad Dream. Awesome work!

Matt and I are leaving for NYC tomorrow for an overnight. Post some stories and pictures when we get back.

Cures for a case of the breakfast time blues

2007-10-18T12:59:00.001-04:00

Anyone with small children can relate to the struggles that often arise around meal time. Breakfast is one of the hardest for me and the kids. Well, not Tristan so much, he is ready to eat anytime. But Abigail is often too excited to start her day to stop and eat a meal. So I have been experimenting in ways to make breakfast, if not fun (I am not a morning person:), at least enticing.

One that, I am sure many parents have tried, is playing restaurant. We do this all the time for all kinds of meals! I am often the waitress and Abigail (again Tristan doesn't need any prompting to eat!) gets to choose her food and drink from a verbal menu and her place at the table. She also likes to be a waitress herself and deliver food to her brother.

Lately, however, I think she is catching on to this playtime and is realizing that is it actually a parenting methos getting her to eat. So, we have also started eating breakfast with her tea set. I put juice in her tea pot and she pours it into her cup herself. She chooses which plates hold what, etc. I think having control over her meal helps her want to eat well.

Also, I often allow her to eat non-breakfast type foods if she requests them. Does it really matter if she eats mac-n-cheese or PBJ sandwich for breakfast? Not in my mind. She is eating!

Finally, our latest breakfast has been the stuffed apple. Great for preschoolers. Here are the instructions:
1 Take 1 apple and slice it in half.
2 Core it but do not quarter it.
3 Leave skin on or cut off, depending on child's perference.
4 Fill the whole left by the core with peanut butter or jelly (I know it sounds a little gross but they like it!). Nuttella may also be good although I have never tried it myself.
5 Put the two halves together (Peanut butter helps them stay together the best) and viola, a fun new breakfast with a surprise in the middle.

If you have any meal time secrets, please share them.

Happy eating!

Pictures of the homefront

2007-09-19T11:07:00.000-04:00

Finally, as promised, here are some pictures of our new home. Welcome to the Birches!

The front of our house that faces the driveway.

Two views of the back of the house and deck, which is a great spot for entertaining.

Our kitchen is through the front door. A good amount of cabinet space and a dishwasher!

Our woodstove which is on the opposite side of the kitchen from the cabinets. You can also see into the kids room from here and the door to the bathroom where our washer and dryer is located.

The living room/dining room area looking from the living room to the dining room, kitchen around the corner, office and stairs to loft bedroom at your back.

Love the fireplace and stonework.

Our bedroom on the second floor. Is a loft (excuse the unmade bed but that's the way it always looks!)

Now for some outside shots. An amazing solid stone bench. The stones are just stacked on top of one another, no mortar and let me tell you this thing does not move.

View of back yard from deck.

A firepit complete with benches. Matt's handiwork with a chain saw, of course.

Named as our guest cottage. There is a room inside the building that takes up most of the space. That is where we are attempting to clean out and put a bed as well as some wall and shelf storage. We are also looking into options of heating it with a wood stove. The other space is used for a small woodshop, a chest freezer and animal proof trash storage.

The back of the cottage overlooks a small brook. There is also a narrow covered balcony in the back known by the previous owner as the gentleman's deck.

For a more detailed description of the house and property, see previous post.
We are so blessed to live in this beautiful place. Thanks be to God!

Watch out world!

2007-09-18T11:51:00.000-04:00

It has finally happened...our satellite internet was installed today!! My world is changing! I just had a web chat with a friend, a web chat! I couldn't even download a picture and now I am chatting. Crazy. So expect pictures, videos, madness.

For example, we are storing up like squirrels here. We ordered 5 cords of wood for the winter which is being delivered 1/2 a cord at a time. I don't even really now how much a cord of wood is but I am learning. Here is a picture of one row of our wood stock which is 1/2 a cord. There is another row behind it and several stacks of wood in the back that are waiting to be split.

Here is Tristan taking after his daddy hefting logs bigger than himself.

We also picked up a bushel of pears yesterday. The orchard was in a beautiful spot right at the base of Greylock Mt which is the highest mountain in Mass. Here a a picture of 3/4 of the bushel stashed our oven to ripen for canning. I have to keep reminding myself not to turn on the oven or we will have a lot of baked pears instead of canned pears. More pictures to come of the canning process itself later this week.

Cool sewing patterns, anyone?

2007-09-12T22:28:00.002-04:00

I am on a search for a company that makes easy to moderate level of difficulty sewing patterns that are somewhat hip and not something that my grandma would wear. A bonus would also be if they had small petite sizes (like 4 or smaller). Anyone have any company suggestions? I look forward to the brainstorming!

Long trip home and still no satellite

2007-09-08T22:05:00.000-04:00

Sigh, just an update and the reason why I haven't blogged in a bit. Still, no satellite internet. Sigh. Long story short, we canceled service with the company because of promising something they couldn't deliver and not showing up several times when they said they would.

We went with a new company and they were supposed to install today. They called while we were in PA to say they don't have the equipment yet. 2-3 weeks. I am not getting my hopes up but I will keep blogging in the meantime. And delight in the day when I can post pictures and download my email in a reasonable time.

We returned yesterday from our first trip back to PA since we moved in April. It was a good all around good trip but bittersweet. It was so uplifting to see family and friends and spend time laughing and hugging and visiting. But also disheartening knowing that these people are not a part of our daily life anymore. I can't just call them and get together for dinner or stop by their house on my way home from wherever. We have lots of friends with kids and it was hard to think that they won't grow up playing together. And that our godson won't grow up really knowing us.

I have not once questioned whether we made the right decision to move here. This is where we are meant to be, I am sure of that. God has good work here for all of us. But what we have left behind is significant and will never be able to be replaced. I am not always very good at keeping in touch but there are too many important relationships for me in PA to be lazy.

It did feel , however, so right to come back to the peace and quiet of our home, our woods. I love the city but this land, this house, this mountain feeds and soothes in a way concrete, buildings, and busy-ness cannot. Still settling in, still transitioning to this new place and new life.

A faster speed in less than 24 hours...

2007-08-24T15:38:00.000-04:00

Oh the possibilities! We are getting satellite internet in less than 24 hours!! Imagine posts more often than every 10 days because that's all I have patience for, pictures (!), and now that blogger has video unloading, who knows what I might subject you to - (boring) videos of my kids doing oh-so-cute (yet still boring because they are not your kids and you don't necessarily think they are the cutest, smartest, wittiest, most creative being ever to live, unless you are their grandparents of course) everyday things like eating breakfast or sleeping. But I know you will humor me and tell me how wonderful they are anyway. Thank you!

August or Autumn

2007-08-21T13:11:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday as the kids and I drove to playgroup, I noticed a tree whose leaves were turning yellow and orange. I thought to myself, "That's odd, that tree must have some disease to cause its leaves to turn colors already" because it is, after all, only August. Then on the way home from playgroup I saw another tree, a different kind of tree in a completely different place, with its leaves beginning to change colors! I began to worry because, after all, it is only August, people, August! Maybe a fluke? I thought. Not so much luck. Over the last week, I have noticed over 2 dozen trees whose leaves are changing! Granted, it has been colder than usual, mid to upper 50's during the day, lower 40's at night. This is crazy! I should be sweating and wearing sundresses and eating peaches. Not wearing 3 shirts, socks and shoes, and making fires in the fireplace because it is so cold at night. (I almost hate to make this joke because taking care of the environment is so important to me but...) I thought we were supposed to be having global warming, not cooling! Good things we already ordered our wood for the woodstove. Looks like we may need more than we thought!

Harvest season

2007-08-07T22:48:00.000-04:00

I am loving this season of harvest. Living most of my life in the suburbs, I never really lived my eating life in tune with the seasons. Whatever I wanted to eat was always available in the grocery store. Over the last 7 years, I have realized the importance (and health!) of trying to live in the rhythm with, not in opposition to, nature's cycles of seasons, day and night, etc. This became especially clear to me on a 6 week backpacking course Matt and I participated in in college. You sleep when its dark and wake when its light. You eat because you are hungry and rest because your body demands it. It seems like such a simple concept but in our modern life filled with conveniences and 24-hour drive thrus it can be a profound worldview.

Anyway, this year God's rhythms are calling me to harvest. Living in a rural area where they are many farms is giving lots of opportunities and reminders to harvest now and store away for later. I love the idea of taking fruit and vegetables when they are locally in season, fresh, at the peak of ripening and freezing or canning them to enjoy in the winter. There is nothing better than eating fresh tasting sweet (and I mean summer sweet not freeze-section sweet) corn. Especially on the mountain where we have the potential to get snowed in several times in the winter.

Today I froze 3 dozen ears of corn. Not nearly enough, need about 5 dozen more. And 7 quarts of summer squash, I will probably do about 7 more. All locally grown and oh so tasty. Matt's parents (the canning and freezing gurus in my life), the kids and I will pick blueberries on Thursday to freeze as well. We do have 4 blueberry bushes in our backyard but since they need some pruning, fertilizing, and TLC, they are only producing enough for our snacking pleasure. But I am LOVING having blueberries right in our back yard. I am dedicated (Matt's says obsessed but I think that is a bit extreme :-) to picking them every day to win the battle over the birds and the bears. (We actually did have a mama bear and 3 cubs in our yard a few weeks ago! It was amazing. I will post some pics some time!)

Anyway, I praise God for this season of harvest that will provide and sustain us in a slower (and colder!) time.

Little known (to me anyway:-) New Hampshire fact

2007-08-02T21:44:00.000-04:00

Did you know that New Hampshire has 13 (or is it 14, Jaclyn?) miles of coastline? I, for one, was unaware of this fact until I moved to MA. One of my dear friends from college is a New Hampshire resident in the beach town of Portsmouth which is how I came upon this information.

Well, the kids and I went to visit her this week and had a most wonderful vacation! We played in the park, picked blueberries, hugged, went for walks, took a slightly disastrous boat ride (I, not the kids, got sea sick :-), went to the beach, giggled, had small talk, played "restaurant" with the kids at every meal (my new trick to get Abigail to eat!), drank a beer in a bar without the kids!!, shared deep thoughts, and spent more time together than we had in years. It was lovely to be in such caring, uplifting, fun company. I have been deeply missing friends that know me well and this trip was a refreshing drink for this dry soul.

I was going to post some great pictures from our trip but after 3 failed attempts, I don't think that my "hi speed" (their sense of humor is so twisted) dial-up is not going to cooperate. Ah, maybe someday we will get real internet...

Snail's Pace

2007-07-23T13:43:00.000-04:00

So, when the internet first came into main stream use, was dial up as slow then as it is now? I don't seem to remember waiting so long for pages to load when I was in high school. Have I just gotten used to a faster internet speed or is dial up not effective for the astronomical software changes that have occurred since I was a student at MASD? Computer friends (Kenny...), any thoughts?

Well, after a 2 month absence I am back up and blogging! We recently got internet again and I am attempting to see if the "hi speed" (HA!) dial up will be compatible with my frequent desire to blog. (Note: outlook so far - gloomy. I wrote about three-fourths of this blog on paper while I waited for the new post form page to load.)

For a brief update, we have been in our new house, the Birches, since June1st! We are fully settled in by now and enjoying it. We are on 3 acres of beautifully shaded, mostly wooded land that is bordered by the 83 acre camp, a state forest, and our nearest neighbors, who are awesome Christodora supporters and previous owners of this house, a mile up the road.
Needless to say, we are remote! We are the last house on this part of the road, which is dirt and gravel. Our true neighbors are the song birds, owls, squirrels, black bears, bobcats, deer and beavers.

The house is amazing. Two bedrooms, the kids is on the first floor, ours in the second floor loft. A floor to ceiling whole wall rough stone fireplace with raised hearth in the living/dining room, a galley kitchen not at all made for short people with a dishwasher (Woo-hoo!), all hardwood and stone tile floors, a brand new washer and dryer in the bathroom and a small 7-windowed office. Not a huge house but a lovely just-enough-house with peaceful views of the surrounding birches and maples. No basement but a small outbuilding we have the termed the cottage since we had some guests sleep in it. This house was once a ramshackle hunting type cabin that was gutted (except the fireplace) and completely redone. There is a huge deck on the back and a trail in the back yard leading to Matt's 5 minute wooded commute to work. I will send pictures once I have more time (and patience) to wait for them to load.

It is home and we feel blessed to be here. The kids love it as well. We hike almost daily and they are becoming quite rugged tykes. They can take some pretty rough falls anymore and get up like its nothing, future Everest climbers? Or Fear Factor participants (Tristan has been sampling some caterpillars lately but that's another post :-)?

Manice is going well. We are almost halfway through the summer (crazy!). Matt has had his share of crisis and problems but he is learning, directing, and developing a very good understanding of what it takes to run this program well.

As I type I realize I am exhausted. The 5:30 am wake up is catching up with me and although I have much more to say, I think I will say it better with some more sleep. Good night!

For Kenny and Liz

2007-05-21T13:15:00.000-04:00

Friends of ours in Pittsburgh are planning a deck project and were asking to see pictures of what others have done.

Here are some pics of a deck Matt did last summer for someone else:

I only have one picture of our deck in TC with me. The rest are packed!

Can't wait to see what you guys come up with...I definetly vote for the hot tub...

Sightings

2007-05-16T00:00:00.001-04:00

Saw today:

A squirrel
A dozen or so huge dragonflies (some mating, some wishing they were :-)
Several species of birds I cannot identify
2 geese
Salamanders
A deer
Several bright blue butterflies
5 peepers
A beaver
Bear tracks

Rocks

2007-05-14T21:14:00.000-04:00

Matt has an affinity for rocks that I don't always quite understand. He finds them wherever we go. They almost seem to seek him out. For him, rocks often have a specific significance . To me, rocks are rocks. Sometimes are they pretty, they make a nice seat, once in a while I take the nice ones home but then I don't quite to know what to do with them and they end up gathering dust.

Since we have moved here, however, I have been a lot more aware of the rocks around me. There are so many more large chunks of beautiful rocks in the woods here. Quartz and granite, pyrite and marble abound (must be why the curbs in town are made of granite:) The milky white and pearly pinks of quartz and sparkle sheen of pyrite are especially noticeable in the streams and ponds.

I love how water can bring a whole new life to rocks. On dry land, a group of small stones seem ordinary, drab, even ugly. Submerge them in water and colors, hues, and textures emerge that where previously hidden.

Playing at the pond at camp with Abigail the other day I realized how much we are like these stones. Dull, muted, hidden, and forgotten on many days. Stepped on by many, unnoticed or scorned by the world. Until we are surrounded by the rushing, babbling, leaping living water that Christ promised the woman at the well in Samaria (John 4). When we are touched by this water, a new person is revealed, a beauty is discovered. The most mundane of us becomes dazzling. Our uniqueness is brought forth and people cannot get enough of us. Not because we alone are so wonderful but because we have been transformed into something surprising by a power greater than ourselves. The living water Christ describes in John 4 isn't some kind of cheap fix that makes appear better than we are. No, he talks about himself as being able to reveal our true identity and satisfy our all our longings.

I took some before and after water pictures of some rocks at the pond to remind me of the difference God's presence can make not only in my home or devotional life but in how others view me as well. When we are well steeped in the Lord, every aspect of us is transformed to others as well and people are drawn. I need to be reminded what an important impact my life can make to other people simply by living daily in God's promises.

Discovering our roots in Plymouth

2007-05-05T22:07:00.001-04:00

Not really!

So you'd think being in one of the earliest settled areas of our country, we would be exploring our historical roots. But to be honest that just hasn't made it on our agenda yet (side note: do you know that Plymouth rock is only a smidge larger than a laptop and has been moved several times breaking into smaller pieces along the way?! I mean, who wants to take their preschooler and toddler to see that when the beach is so close?!).

Anyway, Matt had a camping conference/meeting last week in Plymouth. Since Plymouth is right in the ocean and Matt's meeting was only in the morning, the whole clan piled into the van for the 4 hour drive.

While Matt was learning and networking, the kids and I explored the Girl Scout camp where the meeting was being held. We hiked around for an hour (that is a long time for a 3-year-old) and Abigail even had her first poop in the woods. I told you this girl was going to be tough by the end of the summer!

During our drive to Plymouth, the weather was rainy and pretty nasty. But soon after we started hiking, the rain turned to a soft mist and the sun began to filter through the clouds. There were lots of evergreens in the woods and the other trees and rocks in the area had this beautiful, inviting seafoam and mint green lichen and moss growing on them. It was thicker and fuller than the lichen here in western Mass. I am guessing that the moist ocean air makes the difference. I felt like we were walking through the green section of the crayon box. It was lovely!

After lunch, we all made our way to the beach for a lively afternoon of exploring, splashing, digging, seashell collecting, rock scrambling, bird spotting, and playing. We all really had a great time. It was the first time we have really had a chance to relax and play without time restrictions since we arrived. What a blessing!

We finished off the day by stuffing ourselves at a great beach side restaurant and had a quiet (i.e. sleeping kids) mountain view filled ride home. The beach, relaxation, and play were a much needed reprieve in the midst of many hectic days.

Tristan turned 1!

2007-05-04T22:12:00.001-04:00

Tuesday we celebrated Tristan's very 1st birthday! Matt was able to take a break from work so we could have dinner, open some presents and eat yummy cake.

Note: Tristan is wearing just a diaper not because it is so warm here (I wish!). We were preparing for the cake smearing/smashing/eating immediately to follow.

So here is the story on the funky-looking cake. There aren't any cake pans in the apartment we are staying in so I bought one of those foil ones not realizing until after I got home that the recipe I bought ingredients for was for a 8 x 8 pan not 9 x 12. I was NOT going back to the store (grocery shopping with two young kids once in a day is enough) so I improvised; I folded the pan instead and it turned out great. In fact, the pan acted as a reflector for the candle which added to the atmosphere of the event. :-)

Tristan very instensely studied the cake (as he does most new things) and gingerly played with the icing for about five minutes but he would not eat it! I put some of the icing on my finger for him to taste but no go. Can you believe it? What kid doesn't eat at least some cake for their first birthday?

Ah, well. Maybe he'll like vegetables instead. Every mother's dream.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to my baby boy with the intense, dark, kind eyes, insatiable, contagious smile, curious mind, impish looks, old man face, and belly full of giggles!

Camp is Awakening

2007-04-21T21:27:00.000-04:00

Today was wonderful! We spent the whole day exploring camp and the neighboring farm. The weather finally broke today and the snow on the mountain is beginning to receed, which means the pond starting filling up yesterday and breached the spillway this morning.

After Tristan napped in the van for an hour, we hiked up Tablerock and Abigail served a lunch of snow, bark, and mud. Yummy!

We were then invited to the neighbors farm for a lunch of delicious pea, mushroom, chicken, fiddlehead fern soup and bread. The couple that live at the black bear farm have llamas, goats, a horse, 3 dogs, chickens and a donkey. Tristan cooed and babbled in the backpack on the mile and a half hike to the farm. And Abigail was in her element splashing in puddles, petting the dogs, helping the neighbor stir and taste the boiling vat of maple syrup, romping in the mud, checking out the animals, and taking her very first horse ride! Dannie the horse is quite old and gentle. I was excited for her to ride but skeptical that she would actually go through with it. As soon as Dannie was ready, Abigail got right on (with help of course) and rode that horse like she was born to be a cowgirl! I was so proud and so was she. With all the exploring, falling, getting wet and dirty, and new experiences she is encountering thus far, I think we are going to have one tough girl on our hands by the end of the summer.

The assistant director arrived this week and Abigail has taken a shine to her. Ab also made close friends with the neighbors today. Matt and I have decided that she is going to probably become the camp mascott this summer. I am sure she is going to love all the staff and kids and they are going to love her. And Tristan's spunk has really started to show this week, especially now that "NO!" has been added to his vocabulary thanks to his big sister's coaching. Watch out Mass!

Sunshine

2007-04-19T16:00:00.000-04:00

The sun showed its face today, woohoo! It is good to see the blue sky. I was beginning to feel like we were still in Pittsburgh with all the rain and gloom.

So we spent the afternoon at a nearby playground while Abigail ran off some pent up energy and Tristan enjoyed some lunch.

So (in you are interested) here are a few random but nonetheless striking observations I have made about this town over the last few days of exploring.

1) Most of the curbs in town are made of marble! Seems like a strange use of resources to me for a blue collar town. But I must say that curbs are in really good condition, not crumbling all over the place like in TC, and look like they have been there for a long time. (I told you this was random!)

2) There seems to be a high rate of teenage mothers for a small town. The school is on spring break this week so kids are out and about and I have seen at least 7+ way-t00-young moms in the last 2 days. Sad.

3) This is most certainly a small town. People you don't know chat with you on the street, stop there car to comment on your cute children, etc. New and a bit alarming for me.

Adjusting to this new way of life is going to take a while for all of us. But Abigail seems to be having the hardest time right now. Many of the pillars of her life (nanas and papies, her yard, her dog, her bed) are not here, everything is different, and camp is not what she expected. We realized on the way up that she was thinking that we would go to the camp as soon as we got here, life in a house there, and there would be lots of kids her age around to play with. It is hard to watch a child so young struggle with disappointment. We are enrolling her swim lessons which start next week and hope to do some other things that will bring some structure and familiar faces in her life. The sun is shining with a promise of warmer weather to come, we are making connections to people and God has always provided for us and will do that once again. It is a joy to watch His work.

We are here!

2007-04-16T21:53:00.001-04:00

So I really don't think we could have packed another thing in the van!

After driving through a Nor' Easter, we arrived in North Adams, MA Sunday morning to our one-bedroom guest condo and unloaded our overflowing van to our new (temporary) home. Today we got a tour of the town from a North Adams native that works with Matt. We checked out the the local grocery store (the Big Y), ate at the pizza place that we can see from our windows, listened to the fire trucks about 4 times a day (fire station is right around the corner), typed to the sound of the church bells, and have seen a lot of rain. All and all we are beginning to discover our new hometown.

On the list for this week? Check out the laundry mat three blocks down, stop at the post office at the end of the block, check out the library on the other corner, ask around about the local farmer's market (yes, even though there is snow on the ground here, it is melting fast and I am thinking SPRING!), sign Abigail up for swimming lessons at the Y, get to see the camp sometime after they can open up the road...and whatever else Matt and I can think up!

I am excited to explore the opportunities here and make this town our home but I am also leery of the work ahead to settle in. Ah, maybe I am just sick of the rain (it has literally not stopped once since Saturday night!) so pray for sunshine! And give thanks for God's provision of people that we are already starting to make connections with. Miss you all!

Easter

2007-04-09T23:53:00.000-04:00

We spent Easter in the hustle and bustle of visiting with family. It was a good holiday, even if Abigail didn't find a new dog during the Easter egg hunt like she thought she would. As you can see, fun was had by all the kids, grandparents and great-grandparents.

And today was spent eating jelly beans, reading new books, putting together a Dr. Suess puzzle, and trying to explain exactly how Jesus is human and God.

At least we figured out the puzzle.

Come on in!

2007-04-06T21:19:00.001-04:00

Welcome to my very first blogging experiment! I got the idea for the name of the blog from an email that my husband sent to our church house group in Pittsburgh, PA about a month ago sharing and explaining the details of a major change in our life: a new job for him and a move to western MA for our family! His email explained so poignantly the reasons we felt called to make such a life-altering change for our family:

We feel that as Christians, we are called to offer our services to this arena and to make an impact in parts of the world that many Christians are uncertain how to be involved in. It is very difficult to say “no” when God has offered the support necessary to fulfill this position, the great opportunities for our children, and has prepared our hearts to desire serving the Kingdom to underprivileged kids in a secular establishment.

The title of his email, "Adventure Revealed!" has stuck with me over the last fews weeks of packing, planning, dreaming, crying, explaining, hoping, and fearing. And what I have realized is that email was the beginning of the record of this new journey and I hope this blog to be the recorder the continuation of our adventure. Change is a hard and fearful thing for me even when that change carries the promise of life-giving work. There is loss within this gain, there is grief within this hope. But I am discovering to stand between those places is to live within the story of the Gospel. As we travel on this road, I invite you to come along side us, peek in once in awhile to see what's unfolding, not because WE are so interesting but because God is working here and that is a glorious thing to behold even in the midst of all our messiness. And we need fellow travelers to survive so please share your story with us!
peace