Everyday Life for Four Seasons

What does it mean to be shy? Jeff and I talk about it. I think it's one of the most non-descriptive words in the English language. What does it really mean? I use it to say that I'm shy, and Jeff uses it to say he is, but really we're not shy. We're certainly not the most outgoing people, neither one of us is good at "small talk," and each of us takes a l-o-n-g time to get to know people, but shy isn't the right word. And now we have a child ('A') who exhibits somewhat similar qualities.

I can't speak for Jeff, but I can speak for myself. I watch 'A' and some of it seems so familiar. I need a lot of time alone to process things. When I was working full-time and I had a day full of meetings and projects and little tasks, I was happiest when the meetings were broken up with some alone time so I could digest one meeting and mentally prepare for the next. Sometimes that meant I would eat lunch alone or want to work on something alone, but that didn't make me shy. When I meet someone new, I prefer to get to know them little bit by little bit over a long time with breaks in between contact. Sometimes that means I don't reach out all that much, but that doesn't make me shy either. I think it means I'm a private person, for lack of a better phrase.


I watch 'A' at home and out in social situations. When we're out, she never fails to take time away from the other kids to sit alone and read or look out a window for 10 minutes. When I ask her if she's okay or needs anything, she says she's just having some alone time. When she rejoins the kids, she'll hover on the outskirts for a little bit and then join in. At home she's completely different. She's comfortable here, comfortable with me, Jeff and 'H'. She's got an active imagination and loves to make up games to play. She doesn't stop talking... at all! And she rarely takes breaks to have "alone time."

She's shy with adults, and that's something I want to work on with her. But the rest is just her personality and I think it's okay.

I think about all of this every once in a while. As I get to know my children better, I'm challenged to get to know myself better too.


Speaking of 'A', she's a natural gardener and it's been a lot of fun to get to know this side of her. She's got a nice mix of Jeff's "need to know" ("What is this plant called..." for example) mixed in with my need to dig my hands into the ground and rub the plant leaves until I can smell them. Her new thing, besides deadheading all the flowers (what a great helper!) is writing the names of things on little stones and putting them in the gardens. I did this recently to label the vegetables and some of the herbs. She made up a bunch on her own today. Some have her name on them ("So the plants will know my name...") and some have assorted letters and markings that mean nothing to me but to her they say "Coral Bells," "Roses," and "Hosta."


We found a big, big toad today quite by accident. I was bundling up a pile of sticks that had been sitting along the edge of the yard for a few weeks and I felt something wet in my hands. This should be a lesson for me about wearing gloves while I do yard work. I put down the sticks and lo and behold, there was this gigantic toad who was upset because I had just taken down his big, dark, damp house. We watched him for a while and he barely moved. I suggested that I construct a little house for him to which Jeff said, "He lives in the woods. I think he'll be okay." So no new house for Mr. Toad.


'A' took these two photos. We fixed a few screens today and did a lot of yard work. Later in the afternoon we went to Caroline Street in Saratoga Springs for the Arts and Blues Festival. There was a lot of music on the street. It's such a treat for us to hear good, free music with our kids at a reasonable time of day (it was 5 pm when we went). We saw a guy who makes art out of forks. Very cool!

The girls were up with the birds this morning and as a result, so was I. It was all good though and I don't mind it because they are so cute and so little. Someday I'll be up with the birds waiting for them to come home, and then I won't think it's so cute any more...

I broke my promise to myself and I bought more leafy greens at the farmer's market - beet greens (and beets) and broccoli rabe. I'm planning to do a rice and bean dish with the beet greens and a pasta dish with the broccoli rabe this week.

Jeff went out and got a black plastic composter today and he'll set it up tomorrow. Woohoo, we can start composting! Our garbage will really shrink now - I would say one half of it is food scraps and now that we're not using animal products in the kitchen, we can compost just about all we have.

'A' asked to have her nails painted (who ever would have guessed this day would come? Not me!). After, we joined friends for dinner and stayed way past bedtime and had a wonderful time. On the way home we marveled at the full, orange moon. Night, night, sleep tight.

Yesterday Jeff worked from home and took some time off to join 'A' at preschool for the "marathon" the kids ran. 'A' is so fragile. One of her teachers had sent home a notice about the run and said that parents are welcome to run with the children, so we all talked about running together, and 'A' was excited about it. When we arrived to see her line up that day, she was in tears because she thought (maybe the other teacher had said something) that ONLY the children were allowed to run. She was beside herself. She didn't want to run. Then we asked if we could run and the answer was "Sure!" So Jeff ran with 'A' and I tried to run along with 'H', who didn't want to run and just wanted to cry instead.


I think I know why 'H' has spent the past few days crying. She woke up this morning with a pretty yucky runny nose, and midway through the day she came down with a fever. She didn't nap because she was so uncomfortable. Do you think she was building up to this over the past few days? Probably, and since she isn't old enough to express it, we ended up having a few communication issues.


Speaking of sickness, our bodies are a big focus of ours lately, and it's not all for good reasons either. 'H's binding digestive issues are significantly better now that she's not eating animal products, but she still runs into trouble every once in a while when she eats something new. I'm going to take her to a nutritionist (we all should go, actually) and see if I should put her on magnesium supplements.

Jeff is dealing with a massive herniated disk. To deal with his pain he's back into yoga and there is an air of relaxation and mind-body health in our home. I wish it were all preventative medicine but it's not, he's just trying to get some relief. It's a big issue in his life, in our life. Pain wears you down.

I've added supplements to my daily regimen - a multivitamin in the morning, a calcium and vitamin D at lunch and vitamin E (natural, not synthetic) and magnesium before I go to bed. My multivitamin doesn't have any selenium in it so I may add that as a separate supplement too. Goodness, I'm turning into an old person.


Today I made an enormous bok choy salad to send down to the Ronald McDonald House with the MOMS Club moms who cooked dinner for the house residents. I had planned to go, but 'H's midday fever put an end to that plan. Anyway, I made a big salad and as I was cleaning up I wondered if 'A' and I could paint the cut ends of the cabbage and make rose shaped stamps out of them. The short answer is that it looks a lot easier in the book than it is in real life. We gave up on the bok choy ends and 'A' painted herself instead.


The wild blackberries in the backyard have blossoms.


Farmer's Market tomorrow, and although my fridge is still stocked with greens, I'm hoping to find something new. Something not green and leafy!

'H' cried the whole time at the farm today, as evidenced by this photo. It is a real drag to try to enjoy a peaceful farm and put veggies in my bags when I have a screaming 2 year old attached to me. I tried to put her down but to no avail. In our house, the rule used to be, "No crying on Tuesdays." For some reason I set that up when 'A' was 2 and it worked. I guess I need to change it to, "No crying on Wednesdays, either."


We got:

kale
baby bok choy
garlic scapes
radishes
green leaf lettuce
spinach

The share starts small (and leafy green) and grows throughout the summer. For dinner I made fettucine with garlic scape pesto (garlic scapes, olive oil, and walnuts mixed together in the food processor), with some sauteed kale mixed into the pasta dish. I have asparagus in the fridge and I meant to offer it as a side dish but I was so rushed that I forgot. It's funny, I used to be so concerned with having at least one vegetable or salad with dinner, but now that fruits and vegetables are part of the main show in all of my meals, I'm more relaxed about having a side vegetable all the time.

I rearranged the flower bed today - broke up some larger perennials and used them to fill in some empty areas. I love to garden but it wears me out. I want to take a nap!

I'm making bread right now (my favorite bulgur-oatmeal recipe) and it's just about ready to go in the oven. I've convinced myself that I need that delicious whole grain bread to go with all of the proteins in the beans I eat. Right?

'H' is napping, and so are Grace and Erma. I think I might too, if only for 5 minutes...


We collected some leaves and assorted items from the backyard today and did some leaf rubbings. It was our first time doing them together and 'A' got a kick out of seeing the leaves appear through the paper. 'H' didn't have a clue what she was doing but she had fun with her big, peeled crayon in her own way.


See these eggs? They are such a treasure! I found the little house finch egg under the nest outside the garage a few weeks ago and Jeff found the blue half-shell belonging to a robin the same day. Those were legitimate finds, in my opinion - we didn't steal them from the birds, and they certainly aren't missing them.

The nest, though, is another story. Grace brought it to the back door a few days ago. I have no idea where she got it. It's clean, so that tells me it had eggs in it one minute and was empty the next. I don't see Grace raiding a nest full of eggs. My mother suggested that a snake ate the eggs and Grace happened to find the empty nest. That's possible. We have snakes in our yard and they do love to dine on little bird eggs.

In the end, the nest is ours to keep. It's an amazing piece of architecture. How do birds know how to make a nest? They don't go to school for it, and I don't think they learn from other birds, either. Is it instinct? Must be. Amazing.


The tomato plants are still happy, knock on wood.


My overgrown, leggy sage plant grew many wonderful blossoms this year, so I think I might keep it as an ornamental plant only and not expect a harvest from it. I have two more little sage plants in the new garden that will produce the tender, soft leaves I like to use for cooking.

Speaking of cooking, Jeff brought our knives in to be sharpened today - something that hasn't been done in 5 years - and I'm very excited to use them! This afternoon the girls and I go to the farm for our first veggie pick-up and the idea of chopping up fresh, local, organic vegetables with newly sharpened knives is just too much for me. If that isn't emotional overload, I don't know what is! I hope the rest of your day is just as exciting, in your own way.

Jeff has been making homemade lotion. I'm happy for him because he's been wanting to get back into "The Lab" for a while now, either by making lotion and skin care products or by making beer. Jeff works with computers now, but he is actually a biologist and chemist by training and he worked for several years developing skin care products for Clinique and Estee Lauder.

A while ago I bought a big can of olive oil and I wasn't fond of the taste. "What am I going to do with this now?" I asked. Jeff suggested we make hand cream out of it. I don't know how to make it, but I do know how to source ingredients so I gathered the local beeswax and the Saratoga spring water, and he's been mixing up test batches in our kitchen. It's nice to see this side of him, and really nice to have some lotion to fill my empty bottles!


This is Grace. I took Erma to a new vet yesterday, a holistic doctor. She started limping on her front paws a few weeks ago and I called our regular vet to check in. They said, "Arthritis," and told me to bring her in to start meds. I had JUST been there with her for bloodwork! Something didn't sit right so I called a holistic vet in town. When I took her in, I was surprised to hear a very different message. I was told that her neck was probably out of alignment and that's why her front paws were limp. The doctor did a chiropractic adjustment. She also diagnosed her with a spleen qi deficiency and a kidney qi something or other, and switched her food from dry to wet and added a few supplements. I'm still trying to fully absorb the qi (pronounced "chee") issues but overall it makes sense to me. Good health starts with food.


I'm loving this new piece of art. It's from our neighbor - she had it out at her garage sale on Saturday. I just love it and I'm so happy and grateful that she thought our home would be a nice place for it.

Our first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm pick up is tomorrow. I'm very excited! We support Denison Farm in Schaghticoke. I didn't do it last summer but this summer I'm ready to embrace the highs and lows of the farm harvest. This week we'll be getting a lot of greens and I'll be sure to try out some new recipes with them.

We had our usual Saturday... slow to wake, off to the Farmer's Market, then home for some rolling around.


While 'H' napped, I suggested that Jeff, 'A' and I lay down and rest too. I had hoped that my rest time would look like this (above....)


and while Jeff and 'A' spent some time swinging in the hammock, I kept trying to lay down to read but found I had to fend off Grace (or keep petting her, depending on how you look at it).


The tomatoes are happy and I put the peppers in today - 5 different kinds. The sunflowers are poking through the soil and all looks good out in our little garden.


At the market today we got more broccoli rabe, more bok choy and my favorite, garlic scapes.


Dinner tonight was pizza with tomato sauce, sauteed garlic scapes, sauteed mushrooms and wilted broccoli rabe, decorated with the fresh rabe flowers.


The half-moon is out ("Where's other half?" asked 'H' today).


The baby birds are growing their flying feathers. They're getting ready to fledge.

These rainy days make me so sleepy! I could curl up anywhere and take a nap. Today we went to our local children's museum to play. Apparently it was a popular destination because the entire world was there!


Sunflower seeds are sprouting, Jeff is making homemade lotion, I had my last Healthy Children, Healthy Planet class tonight, complete with delicious potluck dinner, 'A' drew some lovely pictures for me while I was at class, and 'H' stayed up to catch my goodnight kiss tonight after I got home. I am full of love and wonderful yummy feelings. I love my family.


We got a new book from the library: Sky Tree: Seeing Science Through Art, by Thomas Locker. It's a great book. We read it outside this afternoon, after the rain dried up and it was finally warm. Every page shows the same tree on a hill with a river in the background. Each page talks about a new phase of a season and shows the tree in that phase: with full leaves in summer, orange in autumn, bare and snowy in winter.... it's wonderful, a delight for all ages. Check it out.


Magic. That's what life is.

There are days when I wonder how anyone in the world manages to get anything done. Is it just me? No, it isn't, there are tons and tons of people out there who feel this same way, based on how much people in our culture talk about multitasking and feeling stressed out and all of that. And you know, the things I have to do that keep piling up aren't even that hard. It's not like my life takes place on the super-highway and I have a million things going on. But if I really want to commit to slowing things down and getting in touch with the smaller, sweeter moments in life, then I have to just accept the fact that I'm going to feel overwhelmed by stuff and I'm going to let myself down sometimes.

Thanks for listening to my little whine and pep talk. I have a pile on my desk of *stuff*. I'm learning that my desk piles get me down the worst. If my laundry piles up or my floors need cleaning, it doesn't bother me very much. You should see the inside of my car most days - it looks like a tornado went through. We can sometimes go a week without moving clothes from the laundry basket to the dresser drawer.... But the paper and the little tasks can paralyze me and overwhelm me fast and make me totally crazy. I wonder what that says about me.


Today and these next few days are rainy ones and I am the happiest person in the world because of it. Our rain barrel emptied out last week after I made a new flower bed in the yard and broke up a bunch of perennials to move into it. They were so upset with me for moving them in the heat last week and they required a lot of water as an apology. So there went the 56 gallons in the barrel. These last few days before the rain came, I was saving our gray water and running it out to the new bed every time the bucket got full. It is really amazing to me how much water I waste in the kitchen alone. I put a bowl in the sink to collect the water I use when I wash my hands and that alone was a few gallons a day. Great for me, I wash my hands a lot, but holy cow, that's a lot of water down the drain! I also scooped out the bath water after the girls were done in the tub. We use all natural soap and shampoo so I figured the flowers could handle it - right?


To celebrate the rain, we ran errands this morning. I brought the girls to get their hair cut. It was 'H's first time and she did great! They both did a great job and they even got lollipops as a treat. The only thing that wasn't so great was the finished product. I could have done the same work for free. I think this experience might be enough to reinstate me as our family hair dresser. Jeff took me off of that duty after the last time I butchered 'A's hair but look - it's growing longer now and it just needs to be cut at the bottom.


Then we went to the library. We have a few libraries that are close to us and I use all of them. People who are part of some other school systems get better privileges at some of the other libraries than those of us in the Ballston Spa system, and I know people who won't use the other libraries simply because of that, but I don't care. I'm a book junkie and I need my fix, so I don't care where my fix comes from. I inherited it, my love of paper and ink. My grandfather was a printer and it's in the family genes. Mmmm, I can smell that ink now, and feel that warm stack of paper.

Anyway, I love, love, love the children's room at the Clifton Park library. It's so user-friendly and their selection is amazing. I always walk away with a treasure trove of books for the girls. Lately I've been pushing - and they've been loving - books by Elisa Kleven. For me, children's books have to either have a good story or great illustrations, and ideally, but unfortunately not often enough, they will have both. Elisa Kleven is an unbelievably talented artist and we love her stories about flying paper princesses and party pinatas. She even has a book about an apple doll, complete with real-life instructions on how to make one, and you know I'm going to try it with some Twenty Ounce apples in the fall!


I did plant a bunch of transplants and seeds in the vegetable garden and I'll update you as things start to grow. The people at the farmer's market told me to put those tomatoes in the ground and not wait, so I listened to them. The bean seeds are in (we read Jack and the Beanstalk for the first time tonight to kick off bean season), and so are the sunflower seeds and carrot seeds too. Peppers will wait until it's warm all the time here. You know what they say - Some like it hot! I would lump peppers into that category.

Dinner tonight was sauteed mushrooms and swiss chard (with garlic, of course!) over thin spaghetti with turnip green salad. It was super-yummy and Jeff and I kept going back for more. The girls have opposite taste buds - 'H' loves the mushrooms, 'A' can't stand them. I can't keep up.

Tomorrow I have some baby turnips to use up and some bok choy.