Hanging with Grandpa

Sometimes it's so fun to do nothing special.

Saturday Farmer's Market

Oh my goodness, the weather is lovely! We just had to stop by the farmer's market today to pick up fresh peas, strawberries and a bunch of peonies. Oh, and a cd by a bluegrass band, some zucchini and an onion. And a bunch of heirloom carrots. And spring potatoes. And maybe just one more pint of strawberries...

The Next Phase of Our Urban Farm Adventure?

This is a top bar beehive. When I was dropping off our brooder (we rented it from The Urban Farm Store - my new favorite place) I saw one and instantly fell in love. Not with the simple box itself, of course, but with the idea of a backyard beehive.

The beauty of this hive is that you don't have to open it to harvest the honey, so no suit, no mask, no stings (or so I would imagine).

Can you sense me plotting over here?

If you're also prone to slightly insane, eco-ideas, check out: Back Yard Hive. Before you know it, you'll want one too.

A Day at the Beach

We spent Memorial Day at the beach with nearly every other Portlander. Still, even with all the extra traffic we were able to find a quiet spot and enjoy the glorious weather.

Why Be Normal?

A true Portlander, Oliver seems to ask daily (at least through his actions): "What's so great about being normal?" The naked chef.
Backwards potty.
It's not a headband, it's a belt.

For Jenny

I have another chicken fan (that makes 2!). These pictures are for her - vicarious poultry keeping.

Outside Art

We brought the easel and the paints outside earlier this week and got creative. The kids painted until we ran out of laundry line.

Grandpa is Coming!

And so we've had to get to work! The attic/guest room is um, well, a frightening disaster area (all my doing - can't blame the kids on that one) so I've been spending lots of time up there sighing and moaning about the mess (not as much time actually cleaning unfortunately). And the kids have been very, very busy making art and writing letters for Grandpa's arrival.

Because who doesn't want to be greeted by 25 kid letters and 65 kid drawings? I mean really, I couldn't imagine a better way to be welcomed!

Homemade is Better

Here's something I'll never buy ready-made or concentrate again: lemonade. I made it today, for the first time, and oh my goodness, yum. Try it, you'll see!

You'll need:
4 (organic) lemons
1 cup (organic) sugar
1 qrt. water

Juice the lemons but don't toss the rinds. Instead, chop them up a bit and put them in a large bowl. Cover them with the sugar, mix a little, and come back in 30 minutes. Now pour boiling water on top of the rind/sugar mixture. When the water is cool, strain the sugar water off and now you can toss the rinds (into your compost). Strain the reserved lemon juice into the sugar water mixture. Chill awhile. Serve with lots of ice.

Seriously, you'll never drink it any other way again.

A Wild Week

This week started (and practically ended) with Oliver being very, very sick. My poor boy had a stomach virus that kept him feverish, in bed, and just generally miserable all week. Finally today he's acting more like his usual, silly, active self. I'm so relieved.
The other big event of the week was preschool graduation, which sadly I had to miss due to the virus lurking in my son. But Tim was there and reported that Sophia had a great time (there was a party after the ceremony - with ice cream and a bouncy house - a preschooler's dream come true).

Getting her diploma and a hug from beloved Teacher Amy.

So now with the last of the season's illness behind us (or at least so I hope), and school days done for the year, we're officially ready for summer. Sun dresses, trips to the beach, and picnics at the park. Nothing could be finer!

Happiness and the Planet

I love this article.

Conservation International

So after my little eco-diatribe I found a way to help slow global warming by saving tracts of rain forest. With only a $15 donation anyone can save an acre of rain forest and 113 tons (yes, tons) of carbon in the atmosphere.

Even now, with the economy in dire straights, it seems like quite a bargain.

Here's more information, in case your heart is breaking too.

Sigh

I recently found out that one of Sophia's friends - a frequent playmate - has been making a game of being mean to Sophie. This is new for us. We've had issues with other friends where the kids' temperaments just didn't match, or I didn't approve of particular behavior, but we've never had to deal with anyone being deliberately mean.This makes me so sad. Sophia would never be deliberately mean to anyone. Not even her brother, and we've all done that once or twice.
Apparently when Sophia wants to play, but the friend doesn't, the friend calls Sophia names and runs away.
My initial reaction to this is not pretty. But I suppose that violence is not the right lesson here. Rather I have to rein in my temper and figure out what will help her deal with nasty behavior in the future.
How do we protect our tender-hearted children? Her kindness and genuine concern for others' welfare are two of her loveliest traits, I would hate to dampen them in any way. But I also want her to know that this child is simply wrong and she doesn't have to believe her or continue to play with her.
But what if, as it is in our case, she does want to keep playing with this friend? What then? How do I teach a five-year-old to stand up for herself and stay kind?
Especially when I haven't exactly mastered it myself?

An Old Friend

My friend, Miranda Weiss, has written a lovely book about her life in Alaska. At least I expect it to be lovely. Although I ordered the book two weeks ago (so that I could read it before her reading at Powell's) it hasn't arrived yet - I check the porch about 12 times a day, just in case.

I'll post a reaction/synopsis when it (finally) arrives, but I think I can confidently encourage everyone to buy a copy. If I know Miranda, it will be a beautiful and moving tale.

A Bit of a Panic

I made a big, big mistake the other night. I watched the last installment in the BBC's Planet Earth series. Normally this would be just my cup of tea: gorgeous footage of our planet, well-reasoned explanations for why we should save it, and a touch of immediacy - "no more time to lose!" - sort of thing.

Preaching to the choir, they were.

However, a little factoid casually mentioned in the midst of other, equally alarming proof-of-environmental-collapse points, was that the polar ice caps will most likely have melted—completely melted—within 50 years.

Ok, so that's in my lifetime, which is a real drag. BUT what's worse is that my children, my amazing, glorious, beautiful children, will only be in their 50's.

I knew this, I'm sure, long ago. But it's back with a new fierceness. I can't even imagine what a world without polar icecaps will be like - hot, certainly, but perhaps even unlivable. And this is something that will directly affect my own children. I'm in a sleepless panic over this.

I'm reminded of how I felt as a teenager when I first discovered the environmental movement and I wanted, with an intense fever, to save the planet. To save us from our selves. But the job was so big. Impossible, really. So I felt a desperate need to do something and a desperate hopelessness at the same time. Yuck.

But here I am again. Twenty years later. An environmentalist through and through. Living the solutions wherever I can. But, despite the fact that I buy local produce and live in a walkable city, we're still hurtling toward environmental collapse.

How will we explain our actions to our children when they won't be able to have the same beautiful lives we have now? When their lives are riddled with once-curable diseases, daily loss of species, an ever more poisoned and poisonous natural world? Will we look back and feel that the excess is worth it? Will we feel justified in stealing our children's future so that we can drive 300 feet to the corner store, fly to Mexico on a whim, and fill our houses with gadgets that we barely use?

See, a bit of a panic. (Sigh.)
But just look at these faces. Wouldn't you feel the same way if you knew that one day you'd have to look into their eyes and explain why the world was such a mess?