He makes a point

Ed: Mama what are you drinking?

Me: Coffee. Do you want some?

Ed: NO! It's STINKY!

Me: Well, you're stinky, and I keep you around.

Ed: But do you drink me?

Daddy, pass me a crab leg!

I'm not going to make this all long-winded and mushy -- not because I'm not good at getting all long-winded and mushy, because I assure you I am -- but because it's late-ish Sunday night and I've got some massive reading to dive into and also the chair at my computer is incredibly uncomfortable. But:

Happy 35th Birthday Joel!

Yes, early in the morning on Monday, 9/21, Joel turns 35. Hard to believe I've been a part of 1/3 of his life. Lots of people go on about having married their Best Friend and how their spouse is the Most Amazing this or that, and while I do have a penchant for hyperbole I'm just going to say, Boofer, I love you very very much and I am so grateful for who you are. I keep finding myself delighted to share our journey, our home, and our kids... and maybe this year you could work on those windowsills in the kitchen?

Some sadness, a little nostalgia

Posting from tumbling class!
The kids are starting tumbling today -- I know, total overkill on the enrichment activities this fall. I think the class is only 6 or 7 weeks though. And it sure is nice to get a break!

So I've been crazy-emotional the last couple weeks -- first with all of Lucy's big milestones, and then with the deaths of Patrick Swayze and Mary Travers, and the scare with Garrison Keillor. I was talking to Jean last night and I realized that all three of them are icons in, respectively, dance, music and writing -- three huge influences in my life. I've never been a huge celebrity-follower (I remember being in 7th grade and cutting out a picture of Christian Slater to hang on my mirror, just because it seemed like the thing for a 13-year-old girl to do, not because I actually cared much about him) but I really admire all three of them and, without being conscious of it, had hoped to meet them or otherwise experience them in person one day. I guess there's still hope for Mr. Keillor, especially since he lives in my city, though I'm sure his fan mail bag is overflowing at the moment.

In an additional blow to my own immortality, last night was our final softball doubleheader of the year. I hate the offseason -- it's long and cold and miserable. Our team is really close-knit -- a lot of the guys have known each other since elementary school -- and we have been playing together for the last 3 years. It's the best softball team I've ever been on. I genuinely like every single person on the team, and they're all nice people and, as a bonus, solid ballplayers. One of our girls badly sprained her ankle earlier in the season, and while she was replaced by an equally-solid, equally-nice gal, it made me realize that now that we're all nearing (or well-past) 30, it only takes one silly play with one silly injury to make it someone's last game. It might have been the 2 beers I drank, but I was hit with how young and strong and beautiful we all are, and how fleeting is this moment of our lives.

Lu and Ed just took turns on the balance beam. I remember them learning to walk on the kitchen floor, watching as their little 14-month-old inner ears caught and corrected their balance. They're so stinkin' BIG now.

Lucy seems to be enjoying school -- she's always excited to get on the bus, smiling when she hops off, and has dived right into the elementary-school culture of trading (in her case, giving away colorful tattoos in exchange for a napkin/string/paperclip parachute, a purple pencil, red marker, and a cardboard princess purse). I'm really ambivalent about the trading. I'm glad she's interacting socially with other kids, but I just hope the older kids on the bus aren't manipulating her. She told me yesterday that she gave away one of her necklaces (which is FINE, she's got a mazillion) in exchange for what looked like a flash drive. I'm sure it was someone's garbage, but it weirded me out a little -- what if someone's mom is looking for it? Also, Lucy told me the girl told her not to tell anyone, which I HATE, and we had a nice discussion about that. Lu then said that they were planning to trade back, which I okayed. I just don't know.

Today is her first show-and-tell. Each kid brings something that starts with the letter of the week -- this week it's A. Lucy eschewed her Ariel doll and the apple and avocado I offered, and instead drew a picture of an apple, cut it out, taped it to the front of one of her homemade books (several pieces of paper stapled together), and wrote "APPLE BY LUCY GRONAU" on the front. I'm so very proud.

Lucy also had her first dance class this week. The girls are adorable in their matching black leos and pink tights, and I always enjoy meeting other crazy mamas.

And my dad was in town this week to help Jean do a 24-mile training run. Marathon's in 15 days!

Wha wha wha WHAAAAT?

Holy moses, Lucy has TWO LOOSE TEETH. Her bottom middle two -- which makes me think this is actually happening.

Seriously, did she have to get TWO loose teeth only 4 days after starting school, which was only 8 days after turning 5?? Not fair to emotional, prone-to-tears Mama.

Also, a blog I read had "Funny things Mamas catch themselves saying" the other day, and this was my own personal contribution:

"Where are your pants and underwear? Did you say "they're tinkled"? Please show me where you tinkled. No, I mean, I see that you tinkled in your pants and underwear, but where were you STANDING when you tinkled? Please help me follow this trail of wet footprints. Thank you for showing me. Now please go get a rag so we can mop it up."

Also I forgot to mention that the day Lucy left for preschool, Eddie kept walking around the house singing the part of "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" where Timon sings "I can see what's happening... And they don't have a clue... (etc...) Our trio's down to two." It made me cry even harder.

In fun news, Joel's sister Julie got her wedding dress! And also chose the bridesmaid dresses, and I am just delighted!

Echoing the sentiments of most Minnesotans

Conversation with Eddie this morning. He had picked up the Vikings section of the PiPress and was entranced by the large, artsy illustration of Brett Favre paddling (I think what he's technically doing is "punting," but given the football connotation I think that would confuse) a Viking boat, wearing a cheesehead with Viking horns coming out of it.

Ed: What's in that cheese?

Me: Brett Favre's head.

Ed: Cheese on his HEAD!? And HORNS!? Get that cheese off of his HEAD!

Oh, little Ed, in time you will learn: you can never fully excise the cheese.

First Day of School!

Blogger won't let me post video and Facebook won't give me photos, so here's our Lucy's first day of school! In photos!

If you want the video, join FB.

OK sorry this will be so short, but it's sooo late...


Joel made cake-cakes for the kids this morning. With blueberry syrup, nummmm...

Lucy, workin' on a puzzle just to pass the morning away. My beautiful big little girl.


The bus isn't coming for 20 minutes but we are rarin' to go. Van is parked out front, ready for Eddie and me to jump in just as soon as Lucy gets on her bus!


The kids had a conniption when I asked them to stand by the flowers. "Too many BUGS!" So.. how about by the tomatoes? "Tooo WET!!" Grrrr.




This is her bus! Doesn't she look elated?


As soon as Lucy got on the bus, Eddie started hollering "HURRY MOM!!" and we did have to make tracks to beat the bus back to school (Lucy is the last pickup and the first drop-off, which is a GIANT relief for Mom). We joined some other parents-with-cameras, one of whom had actually attempted to ride the bus, too. Ummm, no, that would be against the rules, hello!


Walking from the bus into school


First day at Nokomis! Ed wanted to go in, and then wanted to play on the playground (with about a thousand other enormous children). Instead, we had ice cream cones on the deck. I only cried a little.


Waiting at the stop 2/3 of a block up the street.


Off the bus came the Girl Of Seventy Birthdays! She said school was fine -- bits and pieces of the story have been dribbling out all night.
Mostly they sat on the rug.
Bu they did go play outside and it was REALLY hot and sweaty.
They played musical instruments.
When LUCY is a teacher, SHE is going to make sure NOBODY is talking when she is talking.
There were 2 Ethans in class and one got a time-out. The other one got his musical instrument taken away.
Lucy got tired and wanted to take a nap.
She got to lead the line.
There is NO TALKING AT ALL IN THE HALL which Lu isn't real happy about.
But she saw her friend Lily twice in the hall.
Lots of kids were wearing gym shoes.


...And she gets to go back tomorrow!

Cranberries not done yet, singer says

Well it's Ed's half-birthday today which officially makes my babies 3.5 and 5, respectively! And I, miraculously, remain the same charming 29 I was when Lu was born. Incredible!

The other day Joel looked at the wall where we measure the kids' heights every 6 months, and he pointed to the highest line and (without stooping and squinting to read the name) asked, "Who is this?" and, need I remind you, we only HAVE 2 kids so it's pretty hard to lose track of them, but I also squidged up my nose and cocked my head and looked at the line, joining Joel in disbelief that we could POSSIBLY have a child as tall as that top line.

Which, for the record, is just under 45" off the ground, which isn't all that tall for a person but is a MONSTROUS GIANT for someone who emerged from my womb a mere 5 years ago, 19" long and 8.5 lbs.

Anyway, so Lucy the 5 Year Old Wonder is beginning PreK on Thursday -- but a LOT of stuff has to happen before then: tomorrow AM I have to get 2 cavities filled; we have a conference with Lucy's teacher (during which I will be drooling out the side of my numbed-up face, HURRAY), then in the evening I have to teach the first of my Bollywood dance lessons, followed by one more dance lesson. Wednesday is ECFE registration day -- I volunteer -- and I *think* my rehearsals for Annie start that night as well. Thursday morning I'm supposed to get up at 6 to go rollerblading with some other mamas, and that afternoon is Lucy's first day!! Egads!!

Next week I start Bible study and the kids start tumbling, and Lucy is also taking dance (don't let me forget to register her!). And Joel and I are still playing softball for the next few weeks. So this next month is going to be a massive wake-up call for our lackadaisical, don't-bother-putting-my-contacts-in-until-11-AM, gee-I-guess-I-can-throw-dinner-together-at-the-last-second, sure-you-can-change-into-your-jammies-at-2pm summer schedules.

Today was a wonderful sendoff to our Summer O Fun -- we hit the State Fair (which, for you non-Minnesotans, is a BIG DEAL) yesterday with Joel's p's, they spent the night, and we woke up with a fabulous egg-and-sausage smorgasbord. After they took off, Joel and the kids and I hit our park up the road, armed with gardening gloves, trash bags, and a broom -- and we weeded the sand, broomed the sidewalks, and picked up candy wrappers, cigarette butts, broken glass and popsicle sticks until the place looked like a nice, well-kept city park again. We also met a nice gal who works in the theatre department at Central High School and who knows a gal who was in my Wilder NLP group last year*. Anyway.

After that we were hungry and hot, so we packed some lunches and hit the beach at Lake Phalen, where we met another Nokomis family (Joel and the dad had been in Daddy ECFE together last year*).

*This is how you can tell my kids are hitting school-age; I've started referring to "years" in terms of the school years. I stopped doing this when I graduated college in 1998 and it was a shock then, as much as it is now to be switching back.

The beach was great and perfect and lovely, and we got some ice cream and a pound of free grapes at Cub afterward. Joel SWEARS the kids picked Peppermint Bon-Bon -- his FAVORITE -- themselves. They didn't disagree.

We went home, I started making up the Bollywood dance, and Joel and the kids watched a movie in the basement. Then we grilled up some steaks and almost-the-last of our summer veggies (cherry tomatoes, green peps, and zukes from our garden, plus store-bought onions and mushrooms, grilled with Italian dressing -- holy Moses, it's the best treat ever). The sun set on our summer and I can tell from the 10-day forecast that fall is imminent, and even though we're going to have great pumpkins this year, and even though the trick-or-treat bag Lucy was making today is super-cute... I'm just not quite ready to let go. Well, wish me luck with the fillings.

Twitter for morons stuck in 2005

I've been thinking, I should TOTALLY get on Twitter, because my life is SO FASCINATING. Like, I would have tweeted all these things today:

Whatever that water is? that collects inside pumpkin vines? smells EXACTLY like baby puke.


Mmmm... homemade bruschetta....


Crockpot recipes! Need your crockpot recipes!


Right, it's such a shame that my cell phone is so old it doesn't even have a camera. And has to be charged by plugging it into a potato.

Happy 5th Birthday Lucy!

Yup, Lucy is 5 as of September 2 at 3:34 AM, and this marks about 5 years of this blog! So crazy. Lucy's had an incredibly exciting and exhausting week, beginning with auditions for Annie on Monday, middling with a visit from Grampa Books, a trip to her new dance studio, and a couple bday parties, and starting to wind down with meeting her teacher, Ms. Kristie, at Nokomis last night.

A couple pictures from birthday stuff (chronologically backwards, because Blogger is as disturbingly silly as naked clowns playing string instruments):

Princess Dresses! (From Valu Thrift! Thank you Valu Thrift -- got the following 4 dresses + 2 really nice books for the same price as one lone Target fairy costume)





Lucy requested crab legs for dinner. Ed realllly liked the ice cream cake:


Chicken hat from Jean, Barbie house (with toilet and functioning washing machine) from the Books!


They don't make Dairy Queen ice cream cake like they used to. But it still tastes OK.





And one more princess dress from Auntie Ellen!


Aaaaaand.... the other day I found this COMPLETELY REVOLTING thing on my bell pepper plant. Check it out (IRL it was about 1 inch long):


Upon discovery, I was able to stop screaming long enough to tell Joel to go out and take care of it; when he did, he found that it was a dried-up, empty shell, all split up its back. I cannot imagine the horrible, disgusting changeling that emerged from this atrocity. OK, I CAN imagine. And it goes something like this:

stuff

I'm sitting here wondering why I have this crazy sense of deja-vu and I realize: http://lucypants.blogspot.com/2007/08/ramalama-bang-bang.html I LIVED THIS SAME DAY TWO YEARS AGO!!

Yes, that's right, it's the end-of-August, where Joel gets to go on a 3-day golf trip and I get to stay home and care for our progeny IN THE RAIN. I get to look forward to softball and Jamie babysitting, only to have it RAINED OUT. I do suppose this year there's much less poop. Phew.

Other news: our pumpkins are ginormous; we've got a couple that are maybe nearly 2 feet in diameter. We also have zucchini (finally!) and tomatoes coming out of our ears, so slide me any great recipes you've got. And it turns out that my 3 green pepper plants might actually produce colored peppers as well! I left a bunch on the plants, to see how big they'd get, and lo and behold some are turning reddish. So that's kind of fun.

Garden update

My friend Peg asked for this, and just in case there's even one single other person who might be interested...

OK, taking a walk around the garden, starting with the main patch:

Facing south. Far left is rhubarb, now spent for the year (much to Joel's delighted relief... did I tell you, last time I made a rhubarb pie, Joel said "Rhubarb AGAIN!?!" I mean, really, Joel, your wife is BAKING A PIE and you are complaining. Sheesh).

On the right of the above photo, and on the left of the one below, we have raspberries. Mostly eaten by the gol-blum Japanese beetles. To the right of this shot are the strawberries, finally weeded (phew).



Below we have a super-diverse section of the garden: from left to right there are strawberries, snap or snow peas (I don't know the difference and I don't know what the seed packets said), spinach (now mostly gone), the crazy walking onion and crazy dill, followed by more peas and then the watermelons and the pumpkins on the far upper-right of the shot.


Close-up of the pumpkins -- we've got maybe 5 pumpkins, and this one is the size of a basketball already.


Watermelons; we planted 2 different kinds and this one has a few little melons -- the biggest (shown here) is maybe the size of my hand?


Still walking in a counterclockwise circle -- this is a better shot of the peas in the foreground


Still walking... the crazy onion is in the middle:



Above is one of three green pepper plants. We've eaten about 3 peppers so far... so good!

Below we have three-plus zucchini plants and the sunflower.

The zukes have been slow to grow. I picked one the other day and this seems to be the next one coming below (attached to the flower)


Our tomato patch (4 plants), with basil in the front.


Close-up of our 2 early-growing tomato plants; a cherry and an early-girl. The basil is flowering and I'm trying to pinch off the flowers but it might be too late.

Ranting and raving

So, something that crossed my mind today is: is it really my purpose in life (at the moment) to be my children's slave? Because it just kind of really feels like it today.

Mama? Can I wear this?
Mama? Can I eat something?
Mama? Can you open this for me?
Mama? Can you get the tape out of the VCR?
Mama? Can I put my pajamas back on?
Mama? What are we doing tomorrow?
Mama? Can I have a playdate?
Mama? Can you clean up this spill?
Mama? Can you help me get my pajamas off?
Mama? Can you wipe my popo bottom?

Like, do I just happily address all these requests? Because sometimes my own needs (to finish a task, to eat something, to go to the bathroom, fer pete's sakes) conflict with theirs. And I get sooooo sick of the cadence of the "Mama?" It starts to grate on my soul.

Also, last week when my kids were napping like the dickens, I had several people tell me they hoped I was "taking some time for yourself." I do not know what that means. Like, "time for myself," ideally, would mean complete freedom to schedule my days as I wish... and would also necessarily have to include some form of financial freedom as well. The kids napping (or quietly watching a movie, which is officially replacing Naptime because if the kids nap they are awake until 10pm) just means I get a chance to clean up after a meal... or start prepping for the next meal... or clean up all the teensy little messes my kids have made... or throw in a load of laundry... or swish-n-swipe the bathroom...

Now, I DO make time for myself throughout the day to read snippets of the newspaper, do a crossword (or Sudoku! my new obsession! I know I'm like five years late to the Sudoku! party, sorry), and check email. But those feel like supershort bursts of absolutely necessary decompression-time, not exactly "time for myself." To me, "time for myself" would feel more like a week at a spa.

OK sorry! The real reason for this post is some pictures.

Eddie's angry about something; possibly me noticing his mismatched, flood-pants pajamas... and the slippers... and the helmet...


My cousin Bridget and her hub Dan and their kiddos came for a visit. Supercuteness ensued...

Ohh, these Twins are breaking my heart...

I'm listening to the Twins game on the radio, and it's in extra innings, which is sort of annoying because I think once it's over I'll actually go to bed, but in a way it's a good thing because I get to sit on my duff and write to you all! And also I like to listen to baseball.

Whoa, this is starting out really stupid. OK. Joel is in Duluth this weekend, playing softball with lots of boys, and I'm here with the kids, hopinghopinghoping I don't go crazy.

I got in a run this morning and I weeded the garden (well, weeded maybe 1/6 of the garden -- the grass growing in there is some crazy mutant variety which grows in massive clumps bigger than my entire torso, I am not exaggerating) AND all the dishes got done, plus it looks like a major thunderstorm is a-brewin', so I'm off to a good start!

Donna my fabulous mother-in-law drove down Wednesday night (oh! I didn't even tell you about our visit with my cousin Bridget and how we went to the Twins-Sox game and how superfun it was!) and she played Mary Poppins all Thursday morning and into the afternoon -- I'm not joking, she and the kids cleaned the whole basement AND the kids' room, and the kids LOVED IT -- and I got to take a lovely bike ride over to Dayton's Bluff proper and get some errands done.

Timeout: it literally has not rained here all summer so I'm sitting here with the windows open, enjoying the rain and the wind and then realized I'm sitting here with the windows open. Oops. Got to go mop up a big corner of the living room.

OK I'm back. So I took my new $60 bike (thanks Dave and Nikki!) out for a spin and it is SO NICE to ride a nice bike -- gears that shift without popping the chain off... brakes that don't scream... fully-inflated tires. It was downright enjoyable. Anyway, I picked up a back issue of a local newspaper I'd written an article for (that Joel had tossed our home-delivered copy of before I even got to peek at it)... and I returned some books to the library... and then I screwed my courage to the sticking place and walked into Keyra's salon and asked if I could have my brows and mustache waxed.

You probably know I'm not a real high-maintenance kind of girl. I keep my pits shaved, as long as I'm planning on wearing sleeveless. I wash my hair about twice a week. I bite my nails and typically skip the blow-dryer. But I'd noticed my facial hair was getting a little out of control, and I thought a little $20 clean-up job would make me feel a little better. What I wasn't so sure about was the reputation of the salon (I've driven past it zillions of times but never stopped), nor my ability to communicate my wishes (that particular block of the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood is populated almost exclusively by Mexican restaurants and bodegas, quinceanera-dress shoppes, and other Spanish-signage spots).

Well anyway I walked in, and the place was deserted save three female workers. The gal who walked over had had her own personal eyebrows entirely removed, and penciled in in purple. This didn't do much to secure my confidence, but she was kind about my faltering, gesture-laden Spanish ("Puedes... err... waxar mis... err... como se dice 'eyebrows'? Y puedo pagar con credit card?") and she let me park my bike in the waiting area. She took me in the basement, which I have to say with the bright-yellow walls and fluorescent overhead lighting wasn't exactly what you'd call a soothing spa-like environment. But she did really lovely work, honestly. The mustache was easy -- even a girl who hasn't spent enough time in America to learn how to say "please" and "thank you" in English still knows that a 30-plus white woman wants that mustache GONE -- but the eyebrows took some negotiating.

Remember, this is all happening in Spanish:

Jasmin: How do you want your eyebrows shaped?

Me: I am sorry, I don't know, it's been 10 years. Or 11. Not too much.

Jasmin: So, not very delicate, not very fine.

Me: Right! Good! Not too delicate. NO.

Jasmin: Just nice and clean.

Me: Uh, more slowly, please? Oh yes! Clean! Good. Clean.

Jasmin: You have nice eyebrows, so I will keep them natural.

Me: Yes! I think so! Good! Natural! Very good! Thank you!

Throughout, she'd ask me if it hurt -- I mean, it does a little but it's brief and not the worst thing. I didn't say anything after she ripped the first strip off, but I gave her a little "Oooh!" after the second one -- I think she preferred a little emoting, so I tried to throw her a bone.

Then she started working on the top of my brow, and all I could think about was the admonition from the June 1992 issue of Seventeen NEVER TO PLUCK THE TOP OF YOUR BROW, but it didn't FEEL like she was taking off my whole eyebrow, and I knew we'd reached an understanding with the "natural" conversation. Anyway, my eyebrows look terrific, neat and clean and muy bonita. I even made a joke (in Spanish!) about mi esposo being muy feliz about the disappearance of the mustache. I read in someone's blog that husbands like that sort of thing. Anyway Jasmin laughed, and I enjoyed our moment.

So in a week when my mother in law conquered her fear of driving into the Big Bad City... I conquered my fear of Latin beauty salons! It's a good week altogether.

Tomorrow Alley Joel's going to work kid-breakfast duty and Cara and I are hitting the St. Paul farmer's market. I haven't been in months so I'm kind of really excited to buy some grass-fed meats or possibly some artisan breads (I hate the word artisan in that context). Then I kinda want to take the kids to that Disney Earth movie (starring the voice of James Earl Jones... yummy) -- it's at the $2 show -- and then we're checking out Ashland's high school summer camp version of Aladdin. Lucy and Eddie CANNOT WAIT.

I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a cheeseburger today

It's 1:00pm and for the second time in 2 days, both my kids are tucked into beds (not their own, of course: Ed's in Lucy's bunk and Lucy is in the basement guest quarters) for naps! We've been eschewing naps a lot this summer, due to activities or pure laziness on my part (because it's WAY too much trouble to close the shades and read my kids 2 books and make sure they have blankies... I mean, really).

I've got a rhubarb pie in the oven even though Pat Watson says not to pick rhubarb after the 4th of July -- I chose the thinnest, reddest stalks and I really think it's going to be OK. My cousin Bridget and her fam are supposed to be coming to town tonight, but I honestly can't say what time they're coming. Well, we'll have burgers and pie for them upon arrival!

For lunch today, I scrambled myself 2 eggs with some (home-grown!) spinach and butter and garlic and cheese. I think this is better than skipping lunch entirely, which is what I did yesterday. Some days I just have no patience for lunch and the thought of PBJ or another turkey sammy makes me want to yak. The eggs today were tasty (Lucy probably ate 1/8 of my portion; that girl loves eggs and leafy greens!) but now I'm having some tummy twangs. Probably used too much butter, I'm guessing... or after a couple weeks of food-on-the-road my body is simply rejecting an Actual Meal. Or possibly I should have had some bread or something on the side.

Garden update! Only because I went into lots of detail about the planting, and then left you all hanging. Yeah, you all... both of you, Dad and Heather. :) :)

The Japanese beetles have been devouring anything with leaves, which includes our new apple tree leaves. I simply cannot keep up with these green bastards -- for one, I am SEVERELY eeeked out by them. And this is kind of a side note -- in my garden this year I find bugs BUZZING IN MY HAIR from time to time. Is it the yellow hair? Do they think I'm a flower? Anyway it's HORRIBLE and I really can't be bothered to hat up every time I go out to grab some beans. OK and for two, the beetles are EVERYWHERE and they seem to have wised to my scrape-'em-into-soapy-bucket trick. I miss at least 3 out of 4 tries and the buggers get away. I HATE THEM. You would not believe the swearing I am capable of when I find the beetles on my plants. I'm like Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino -- GET OFF MY RASPBERRIES. But with more anger.

OK OK the garden. The apple trees seem to be still alive, but they don't really look like they're growing much, and I haven't been pruning them because honestly the only thing I think I ought to prune is the tall man in the middle, but that's the trunk of the tree! and I'm afraid of killing them.

Tomatoes are starting to ripen, hooray! Lucy remains my cherry-tomato hound -- she eats 'em like grapes and loves them. But calls them "potatoes." My basil is being pushed out by the crazy tomatoes but I think I will get some tomato-basil overlap which would be faaaaaabulous. The zucchini plants are full and flowery but not a single zucchini!! What gives?!? The sunflower is about 4 feet tall, hanging in there. Our pumpkins are once again totally out of control (I thought Joel'd pruned them into submission but he might actually have known what he was doing, after all -- and for those of you on facebook, I didn't actually overdraw checking after all so it winds up being a wash still! Hooray!) and the watermeon are starting to flower up as well. Our radishes have come and gone and I keep forgetting to plant a second round of radish seeds. The peas (which I keep calling green beans because I really think they're more similar than not) are also growing like crazy and they're delicious. I forgot we planted carrots and I wonder what ever happened to them? I've not been great about weeding, so entire sections of the garden have giant long grasses growing in them. I can't do it all, people!

The strawberries I think are done -- even if they weren't, the Japanese beetles are all over those buggers. We've gotten maybe 8 raspberries all year and again the beetles have eaten much of the leaves. I think I talked about the rhubarb already... we're getting tons of bell peppers which I'm super-excited about... spinach is on the tail end but still edible... oh, and our enormous walking onion is always good for a laugh, and tasty too. And we have dill for miles.

Growing this garden really reminds me of how people say "it takes a village to raise a child" -- and it's totally true about gardens and villages and so many other things. I feel like American culture has emphasized The Self-Reliant Individual, to the detriment of our "villages" and communities. I have an overabundance of peas and rhubarb -- but how would I find someone to trade for some potatoes*? I can't grow EVERYTHING; nobody can. Yet we're all expected to Rely On Ourselves and to Be Strong and stay in our little silos.

We all expect to have everything we need THIS INSTANT instead of learning to give and take and work together. Delayed gratification is such an important thing for children to learn -- but how many of us grownups have learned it?

I swear, I'm meant to live in a commune.

I started writing a wayyyy longer thing about all this, even bringing in a discussion of the breakdown of the institution of marriage in America, as a function of Americans needing to be instantly happy and valuing individual happiness over the potential for Greater Good. But I'm totally not going there now! I gots some hummus and hamburgers to make...

_____________________
*I use this as a theoretical, of course; I loathe potatoes!

One from Eddo

In the house this morning; I'm trying to clear up the flotsam and jetsam of three vacations.

Eddie (clearly chewing something I have not fed him): I have to go potty.

Me: Eddie, what are you eating?

Ed (cheeks full): Nuffing.

Me: What do you have in your mouth?

Ed: I found it. On the floor.

Me: What is it?

Ed (brows furrowed): I don't know.

Me: What does it taste like?

Ed: It is a nut.

Must... finish... french fry... zzzzzz...

You have to watch my friend Heather's video. Here.

For the internet-challenged: http://sweatpantsandaminivan.blogspot.com/2009/07/mustfinishfrench-fryzzzzzzz.html

Winona weekend!

Hi gang! Just got back last night from a fun-packed weekend trip to Winona. Because the kids and I are leaving for another road trip in the morning and because today I've got to start laundry, grocery shop, hit the beach, and plan a couple dance lessons, this update will be brief and photo-filled.

We stopped at Lark Toys in Kellogg, Minn. The kids got to ride on the carousel and we marvelled at the July weather that would be with us for the next 36 hours: low 60s, cloudy and windy.



Upon arriving in Winona, we met up with the Vanornys (Stu, Julie, Winona, Dashiell and Tristan, Stu and Amber's nephew) and Cigelskes (Amber, James and Amelia) at beno's deli for lunch.


Naptime at the hotel consisted of chips & salsa, veggies and dip and a screening of Bolt, much to Eddie's elation.


We swam and hit Bub's for dinner, much to Lucy's dismay: "It's called BOOBS!?!? THAT'S not a restaurant!!!" And our kids were out like lights at 9:15:


Saturday morning brought more miserable weather -- thank goodness for the Riverport's indoor pool and our fabulous poolside rooms! Lucy learned to "dive" (bellyflop) from the top step, and Eddie did his best flailing dog-paddle to keep up with her.


Stu, Dash and Ed:


Tadpole #1 and 2:


Winona has had quite enough:


We finally ventured out around 6pm to visit the WSU Campus. The Shakespeare festival was going on and we didn't catch any theatre but we got to enjoy some live music.
Kids on the rocks:


Lucy: "These flowers match my skirt!!"


The obligatory dorm-pix:




After we parted ways on Sunday, we drove out to Jared's place. We pet Bullet the goat:


Despite my grunting and eyebrow-twitching, the kids drove the tractor:



And Jared took us up his folks' mountain in a weird little buggy and I thought for sure we would all die. No pix of that (too busy clinging to Lucy's bony body with one hand and a sawn-off piece of wood with another).

THEN we took the kids horseback riding!



Lucy and I rode Lucky -- Joel and Ed were on Ebony. The trail leaders chided us (a bit) for not letting Lucy ride her own pony. I thanked them for their suggestion and held her a little closer.



The kids got to pet a miniature horse named Marshmallow. Super-cute.


After the horses we went up to Garvin for our farewell panorama. We stopped at the Garvin Heights Vineyards for a brief wine-tasting and then took the Wisconsin route back on Hwy 35. I'd never gone that way before and it was lovely -- next time we'll build in more time to stop in some of the small towns along the way.



We finished the evening with dinner with the Watsons, whom we haven't seen in, like, forever. The kids ran around together like a horde of puppies and we adults enjoyed the Wats' lovely garden and some g & ts.

It's good to be home but laundry and the garden can no longer be neglected! And I've trips to pack for!