Write, Mama. Write.

Sprouting

It's snowing as I write this, April 21st in the Pacific Northwest.  Disturbing.  And yet, things are growing too!  We put bean seeds on a damp paper towel in a Ziploc bag, and taped them to the window about a week and a half ago.  It's been such fun to see them change every day, and now we'll plant them in cups.  There have been some nice gardening/spring book lists out there lately, with most of our favorites mentioned numerous times.  With this "project" we really enjoyed One Bean by Rockwell, illustrated by Halsey.  Zinnia's Flower Garden by Wellington was a fun one too.

Other spring/planting favorites:
Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots by Lovejoy
Spring is Here by Lenski (so sweet, just like all of her books)
Growing Vegetable Soup by Ehlert

On our library list:
A Seed is Sleepy by Aston

7. Or, enough already

I was tagged to share seven things: some weird, some random.  This whole little virtual parking lot for my thoughts on parenting and doing stuff is just me, me, me 24/7 so I can't imagine there's much more to share.  Meg and Malka are so crazy-talented I'd bake them a cake if they asked me to though... The least I can do is come up with seven weird and/or random things about myself.

1. I was elected Fire Goddess in Japanese Junior High camp.  It was my one and only election and I'm still relieved my sky-high bangs didn't go up in flames as I carried in the torch for the campfire.  Hairspray and torches aren't a good combo.
2. I was interviewed live on a popular French radio station.  About Kurt Cobain.
3. I was, at various points in my teens and twenties, a: full-time nanny, tutor, foreign exchange program assistant, frozen yogurt pusher and first grade teacher.
4. My favorite thing to eat is Greek Rice Salad and I don't much care for chocolate.
5. I had a bodyguard follow my school bus on field trips one year.  The guy was looking out for one of my students, not me, but it was still kind-of odd.
6. I designed a house for a teacher in high school (back when my dreams of being an architect weren't tempered by calculus and a pesky urge to teach).  It's still standing (phew) and he paid me with $100 and a bracelet (I thought the bracelet addition was sexist, got rid of it and saved the money for college).
7. I helped a cow give birth.

Hey!  Lucky us.  As this list sat languishing in Typepad draft Melissa from bridgman pottery tagged me.  I'm sorry this is the opposite of random creativity, Melissa, but I'll show some of that soon too.  More 7's...

Things bought quite recently:
1. Dr. Bronner's Organic Castile Soap in peppermint
2. Nature Cut-outs in red
3. California Baby Super-Sensitive Shampoo & Body Wash (super worried about phthalates lately, for some reason)
4. Nature Cut-outs in blue
5. A house (cross your fingers, inspection Monday)
6. New CD player (we're on replacement #4 in less than a year... We are cursed in the CD/DVD player realm, evidently)
7. Fire engine pajamas, size 5 (he's huge!)

We're diggin' these books lately (age 2+):
1. Ask Mr. Bear, Marjorie Flack
2. A Very Special House, Krauss, illustrated by Sendak
3. A Hole is to Dig, Krauss, illustrated by Sendak (I think Amy from angry chicken mentioned this one not too long ago-- really quirky kid language, prime fodder for kid writing inspiration)
4. The Happy Day, Krauss, illustrated by Simont
5. Mother Earth and her Children, Olfers, illustrated by Schoen-Smith, translation by Zipes (again with the angry chicken mention, I think, and given to us to love... It's beautiful)
6. One Moose, Twenty Mice, Beaton (illustrator of one of my favorite nursery rhyme books, Mother Goose Remembers-- If you like to sew/appreciate fiber arts you'll love her children's books)

Bonus-- Not yet evaluated but I'm in love (found in the Friends of the Library sale section today):
7. Snipp, Snapp, Snurr and The Red Shoes, Lindman (I remember the parallel Swedish girls Flicka, Ricka and Dicka)
+1 in Just-spring, e.e. cummings, illustrated by Heidi Goennel

You're it (if you want to be)... Show us your seven (or 22, as the case may be).

 

The important boy

The important thing about you is you.

It is true that you are two.
You explain the world,
you look at me to see if you can eat another cracker.
I hold you and know peace, snuggling down to kiss the top of your ear (which is perfect).
You are energy, joy, love, the future, our everything. 

But the important thing about you is that you are you.

The Important Book is one of my favorite books to read to young kids.  Occasionally that Margaret Wise Brown just nailed it.  We unearthed our Valentine books and the second half of our winter books yesterday, and discovered The Important Book again.  The boy nodded with every truism.  It was in the February tub from school because I'd have the kids write about someone for Valentine's Day. 

Some other "Love" favorites:
Mama, Do You Love Me? (Joosse, illustrated by Lavallee)
The Kissing Hand (Penn, illustrated by Harper & Leak)
I Love You the Purplest (Joose, illustrated by Whyte)
Happy Valentine's Day! (Scull, illustrated by Lennicx & Kahata- Gets the idea of Valentine's Day across for toddlers in a nice way)

Winter (have I shared these here already?):
The Snowman (Briggs)
Owl Moon (Yolen, illustrated by Schoenherr)
The Mitten Tree (Christiansen, illustrated by Greenstein)
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening (Frost, illustrated by Jeffers)
When Winter Comes (Van Laan & Gaber)
The Mitten (Tresselt & Yaroslava)
All You Need for a Snowman (Schertle & Lavallee)

Shocking news: I went to a bookstore without the boy

I was in a bookstore without the boy.  This fact is monumental.  It's nice to (politely) push through crowds of people interested in buying books as opposed to talking robotic dogs, but still... The holiday shopping crush is amazing.  Older men wandered through the cookbooks squinting to read wish lists, and a guy in the travel section shouted into his cell phone: "Mom!  No listen.  Does Grandpa have any interest in traveling around the United States?  No, Grandpa.  The United States.  Has he expressed any interest in traveling around the United States?  Does he want to look around the country?" 

I picked up a book for mothers and turned it over: "You need this book if you think a dental visit is an opportunity to relax."  Victoria Beckham has a massively heavy book on the main tables, where a random page informed me that your bra does not have to match your knickers.  Really, it was chaos as I wandered but I was calm.  Happy.  Troubling, however, was the realization a half hour in that I'm lost in a bookstore these days.  I've never been lost in bookstores.  Secondary to libraries they are a home away from home.  It's something about this mama life I live where the latest craft book doesn't quite seem financially justifiable when a little imagination and a library visit might suffice.  Cookbooks are good eye candy, but if we're on the up and up here I usually don't use them.  The parenting section is babies, babies, babies and there is NO ROOM for a baby here (see: house hunting gone awry entries).  There's barely room for a little food and clothing in this house.  So I started to feel unease once I made it to the organizational and cleaning book section because I worry that once you feel too much interest in such things your priorities have shifted dangerously.  Where does that leave me?  I parent, clean, cook, craft. 

I almost ran out of the children's section with the noise and the crying (kids) and the yelling (parents) and the stuff.  It's really not about the books in the kids' section anymore.  It's about merchandise and it makes me so sad.  You have to work to find the good stuff, avoiding the screaming five foot+ folks as you do so. 

So I hit fiction and it was silent, calm, full.  Oh, yes, I thought to myself; this is the home away from home.  These stories take you places, opening your world up a little bit at a time.  Synapses fire with tomes like these but, then again, it was silent, calm, full.  What does this say about the world that merchandise fills the space for young dreams in words, and silence roams the space of bigger volumes.  Where are the bigger buyers?  Where are the readers?  Then again, I myself hesitate to spend money on my beloved fiction because I parent, clean, cook, (and try to) craft then pick up a book at 11 p.m. and slip into sleep.  I take chances on authors via the library and I hate the formulas; publishers seem to hesitate as much as me and everything seems the same.  And bad. 

A huge poster in the children's section, viewed in a blur as I fled, read something to the effect of: Books make safe gifts for kids.  Safe gifts?  The treasures of words that tell stories that create dreams?  This is idiotic campaigning that turns the best "things" into simply an alternative for plastic manufactured in China, or even just something with which you can't go wrong.  Books aren't safe.  They are a ticket from the mundane, they're your future and a past.  Books support intelligence.  They archive and transport ideas that can change the world or even (or more importantly) "just" you.  Whoever designed the campaign wasn't at that same bookstore at 2 a.m. the morning of the last Harry Potter release, where wristbands adorned everyone lined throughout the store and one guy made a break for it.  Picture him running across the darkened parking lot, security guards chasing and yelling, trying to get somewhere far away to read a book he didn't have the patience (or money) to purchase.

Quiet time away is so essential for this life of mothering.  Part of that time needs to be reading, again.  Whether or not Grandpa has considered US travel, maybe he would if he was given a really good book to encourage him.  Olivia (Falconer) is better without the stuffed animal distraction.  In addition to Country Wisdom & Know-How, Clean House- Clean Planet (Logan), and Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots I did come away with The Inheritance of Loss (Desai) and Roald Dahl Collected Stories (Everyman's Library) for my wish list.  Desai wrote one of my all-time favorite (it came as a total surprise) books: Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard.  I've read and loved just about everything ever published by Roald Dahl but this new collection is a really great selection of his stories for adults.  With a little time away I realized my priorities are actually right where they should be.  Forget a visit to the dentist; I just need to read more.

While I'm on it I'm reading and really enjoying Plenty (Smith & Mackinnon) and did not like Animal, Vegetable, Miracle... (Kingsolver) one little bit.         

Books, books, books ~ old favorites

We've grown out of a lot of the 18 month- 2 year old books lately.  The boy wants stories: long stories with interesting things that happen... Things we can talk about.  It's pretty thrilling, not only watching how his literacy skills and love of books is growing but because we like the stories too.  There are only so many times you can read few words per page board books without losing genuine interest in the story-telling (I can fake it but oh, how my mind wanders!).  There's a big, annual toy and book sale at our neighborhood elementary school and this year I stood in line before they opened the door.  Last year I got a bag full of beautiful board books (pay what you will) and this year I found "stories."  I've rediscovered so many old, favorite books from my childhood and the three of us are enjoying them together now.  Here's my current list of "old favorites" for age two and up.  What are yours?!

• The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss
• Sammy the Seal, Danny and the Dinosaur, Hoff
• The Fire Cat, Averill
• Tootle, Crampton, illustrated by Gergely
• Big Red Barn, Brown
• Are You My Mother?, Eastman
• Debbie and her Nap, by Frances & Werrenrath, illustrated by Wehr
• I Decided, by Frances & Werrenrath, illustrated by Horwich
• The Little Book, Horvath, illustrated by Wilkins
• But No Elephants, Smath (not actually from my childhood but from a collection of books a parent bought off eBay as an end-of-the-year gift for me when I taught, for my own kids someday...  They were her older children's favorites.  Wasn't that kind?)
• The Poky Little Puppy, Lowrey & Tenggren
• We Help Daddy, Stein, illustrated by Wilkins
• We Help Mommy, Cushman, illustrated by Wilkins

Arg.

Not a vigorous yell but more of a cranky sigh-type thing.  Arg.  The flu hit.  I wish someone was coordinating all of this with a spreadsheet, thereby realizing with data that our poor little boy has already had his share of colds, molar pain and flu for the season.  So, no sleep or fun for anyone with the exception of Friday night, pre-flu, when we (all three) hit the town's fall art "festival."  Picture 150(ish) artist exhibits, stores open late for shows, music in the streets, chalk drawing on closed-off roads for the littles (and young at heart), lanterns hanging on the shop awnings and people laughing, strolling, chatting, enjoying...  We had lots of fun and saw Nikki McClure and her beautiful exhibit.  If we had money for such things I would buy some original Nikki McClure art and something from Marvin Oliver.  We do have an incredible mask T carved with handmade tools, all made under Oliver's tutelage.  That's as close as we're going to get now.  That and my new book, Collect Raindrops, which is absolutely fantastic.  You can sit with it for just a few moments and feel every season is full of magic.  Everyone should buy it.

The family birthday train officially left the station; we chug on through family members all fall now 'til we hit holiday gift giving.  Yes, I do have a train-obsessed little guy seeping into my words.  Anyhow, I now own several new, coveted books.  I really absolutely love all three new treasures.  The Tassajara Bread Book is my mom's all-time favorite baking book.  Her copy (the first edition) is well-used with curled edges, flour sprinkles and water marks (all signs of a well-loved cookbook).  'The Big Book of Needlecraft' makes me feel I could whip out a dress design in the blink of an eye.  Everything I could ever want to learn about sewing is in there.  I think it's from the late '40's though research on the internet seems to indicate the '30's.  Perhaps it's a newer edition.

The other day I realized we consistently have at least fifty items checked out from the library.  We visit every week so there are always tons of new and inspiring reads in the house.  Sometimes, though, it's wonderful to have books come to live with us.

Send your flu-be-gone thoughts our way, please?! 

Living the good life

I keep plopping down to the computer and then another day has passed and I haven't written a thing.  It's not for lack of ideas or inspiration.  I finished a fantastic book this past week, Living the Good Life.  I can't remember where I first heard of it (blog? local bookstore?) but I have a sneaking suspicion Amazon thought I might like it after I looked up Animal, Vegetable..., The 100-Mile Diet and Plenty.  Not a big stretch, but it still bugs me when Amazon is right (the anti-big-biz-taking-over-commerce-knowing-all bit of me shining through).  The library shared this book (of the four) with me first.  Anyhow, I keep wanting to just talk to people about this book and my thoughts come out all jumbled and gobbledegookish.  People leave (my husband included) going: OK so it's about an experiment in domestic sustainability?... You're ready to buy a solar hot water heater and a self-composting toilet?... You want to make your own... everything?  I go: Well, no... It's just that I'm so inspired and slightly overwhelmed by the ideas of it all.  People shrug and head off thinking: There she goes again. 

Jumping in now (no going back) I was a little in awe of the idea.  Rather than state a big paragraph or two every time they wanted to explain their "experiment" it was easier for them to say they were going to try to go six months without spending a dollar.  They went from two parents working long hours (with fast food wrappers junking up the car) and their son in daycare, to one full-time income, a goat, chickens, a fantastic garden, lots of solar power and green solutions (i.e. an electric bike).  The journey is fantastic but what I really loved was the author's voice.  You feel like you're on the do-not-spend adventure with them.  When it won't rain, rains to much, when Possum (the goat) is a pill, when they buy goodies and their son quits and they clean the self-composting toilet and whip up a bakery's worth of goods to best utilize the oven's heat... Well, you just feel like you're doing it with them.  And when it was over I wanted to move to temperate Tasmania and build a sustainable, low embodied energy, chemical free strawbale home with them (Adventure #2).  Sprinkled throughout the "journal-type" sections of the book are the hard environmental facts (much of it geared specifically towards Australia and New Zealand but all broad enough to be informative and interesting to me in the US).  The author gives great recipes (everything from ginger beer to laundry gel) and the whole book is full of humor.  They are honest about what was easy, hard and impossible throughout their adventure. 

The family was able to reduce almost all of their consumption (water, energy, transport, etc.) to roughly 5% of their national average.  It's fascinating to see how they react to the end of their experiment and what happens after that.  For a sneak peek while you wait for your turn in the queue at the library, visit their website here.  They do this all on a regular city block (2180 square meters).

No food shots around here, so you get a leaf.  But somewhere wrapped up in the curled edges of this leaf are all sorts of my thoughts on living the good life.  If we hadn't started our own adventure in domestic sustainability when I was pregnant (albeit a very different version) I wouldn't be wandering around while my boy naps, snapping pictures of fall settling in.  As I read the book I thought a lot about how much our life has changed since we became utterly terrified about the financial implications of me staying home.  I'm thinking about how we use energy and resources and how we can be smarter and, to be quite honest, I've been thinking a lot about food (which is a lot of what this book was about too): how we eat, what I make, how gosh-darn expensive groceries are right now (Molly and others are thinking about it too-- check out the comments), organic vs. cost, needs vs. wants...  Last week I also joined our coop.  It all strikes me as exactly the state of mind the family would want me to be in right now.  So more jumble and gobbledegook (might as well copy and paste that sucker) to come but it's been a really good reflection for me, probably tied up with the changing season and settling into the realization that my little guy is turning two (which seems like some big "he's not a baby, you should be into some new distinct phase in your life"-type step, but probably really just means he's getting older). 

I suppose the bigger picture is about how you make meaningful changes (so they stick) and reflecting on changes we've already made that have altered our view of things.  Very interesting to think about as you wander around taking photos.  What do you think?  Are you living the good life?  And what does that mean?