Did I seriously not blog about Halloween?

This can't be right! I sat down today to compose an entirely different blog but as I scrolled down the last few entries, I kept looking for the Halloween blog. All the pictures, the funny stories...? Surely I wrote it. Ummm, I guess not. Crazy seeing as how it's my favorite holiday, and we had such a rockin' time. I think what happened is I was revelling in the pre-election fervor of my man Obama, and I composed a ghost blog. One of those you write in your head late at night, laying in bed getting the babes (children, not hot chicks) to sleep. I can't begin to recreate but I need to immortalize the pictures. Suffice it to say, great night, great galloping gallons of candy, and a great gathering of people....As Grady loves to say, of late, (I'm sure, courtesy of Sponge Bob), "Good times, good times."

A successful season...

Saturday's soccer game brought our soccer season to a close, until Spring ball begins at least. Our game against a friend's team was action-packed. I think technically we lost but the kids' weren't overly concerned with those details. Mid-game Grady asked permission from his coach to go see a friend (Zephyr) who came to watch the game. And then Jonah (the friend from the other team) had to be heavily sought out by his own coach from the spot where he crouched with Grady and Zephyr, showing off a special drawing he had brought just to show Zeph. As far as I'm concerned, it was childhood sporting fun at its best.

Wandering in my "backyard" wild...

This has always been my favorite time of year, especially since we moved to the city where we currently live. Smack in the desert, we're prone to non-seasons or what I sometimes call the mono-season. Essentially, we get lots of dry heat, sometimes lots of dry wind and a very mild winter, comparitively speaking. This leaves only Fall as an out-of-the-ordinary time of year, at least in my mind. The mild days, cooler nights, absence of wind (that we get in Spring), it all combines to be really fabulous. A day spent in our garden yesterday cinched all of these ideas for me as Grady, Ainslie and I gathered in another couple of bountiful buckets, straight from our veggie plot. I've always had a lawn and flower beds but having the veggie garden this year, along with the chickens and all the other critters we share our land and home with, just gives me that much greater appreciation for Mother Nature, all of her cycles and all of her bounty.

First, having seen that we were finally forecasted to have a freeze last night, the kids and I set out to pick green tomatoes. I'd put heads together with a couple more experienced gardeners/farmers and had some ideas for preserving and allowing those tomatoes to ripen. The kids were blown away that I was actually asking them to pick green fruit (all summer it had been a big no-no). We came away with a small basketful and another larger basketful. Thinking of the endless quantity of tomatoes we'd already received from our 5 plans, I was very proud of the additional quantity we came up, especially being that it's he first week of November.

The kids and I were revelling in the change in the air, the slight bite of the cold, and I really was appreciating the difference in the light. I started looking about the yard, with an eye to photos, thinking what I could capture to contrast with how our garden patch and plants had looked early on this year. My sunflowers drew me, as they always do, despite the fact that they are now dry and rigid, crumbly and partially eaten (enjoyed, I should say, by our bird friends). Earlier in the summer, they had been blazing yellow and red and brown, limber, bending toward their own Sun God and swaying in the air.

I've yet to photograph and blog about it but this summer, I got a tattoo honoring my children. It's three bold, beautiful sunflowers, stems tied in a Celtic knot, and a blazing blue sky behind it. I love that the flowers in my garden remind me of it and confirm everyday that it was the perfect imagine to ink upon my skin.

I turned to another patch of the yard, and my thoughts shifted a bit. I think it was at least a year and a half ago when I was bemoaning my extra-vigorous weeds that my wonderful friend Tawnya told me she doesn't really mind weeds, that she admires their persistence and strength and ability to grow where sown. She pointed out the varying beauties of several, just in my front yard. Now, I have one patch of the front yard (which is pretty traditionally land-scaped with rock and plants, thankfully desert hardy) that is left to the weeds. I call it our wildlife habitat area. It harbored many a frog this summer and fall, plenty of grasshoppers and, I'm sure, myriad other bugs that I didn't even take the time to notice. It's now producing seeds that I notice the little finches clinging to, sideways and upside down, eating. Anyway, I have a similar patch in the backyard that I decided to let "have its way" to see if I could come to find the beauty that Tawnya had opened my eyes to. Sure enough, one plant that Lenny tried so many times to cut down turned out to be a wild Aster and bear beautiful purple flowers. Another has lovely little daisies, even now in November. In my herb studies, I've come to have another appreciation for these "weeds" and the medicine that they potentially can offer me.

Having admired the bright blue sky that is one of our trademarks here, my eye was turned immediately to one of the more vivid color displays in the yard. My pyracanthea, a red-berried form, is burgeoning with berries. Having had the chickens mostly penned for the summer, it's bounced back quite a bit from last winter when they'd foraged steadily from it. Although a younger, and less aware, me chose this plant years ago when we lived at another house (we transplanted it), I still enjoy it so much, now because I see songbirds and small animals feed steadily from it all year. It gives to us, in visual pleasure and to the wild, in food.

At this point, I was having so much fun with my camera (just a point-and-shoot) that I decided to check out the front yard. I'm glad I did because I totally had forgotten to blog about our pumpkins since we'd harvested. Our impromptu, volunteer pumpkin plants, spawned from Halloween pumpkins left to rot last year, bore almost 50 pumpkins of small to medium size. We happily gave every family who visited, from about mid-September through October, pumpkins to bear home, and we still ended up having this left.

Too small to carve and not the type ideal for cooking with, we're going to have these small pumpkins with us for quite awhile. As they get soft, some will become bird food, some chicken feed and, most definitely, we'll be saving seeds for next year. Growing pumpkins is fun!

As I was snapping the pumpkin shot, I noticed the plethora of butterflies on my zinnias. These hardy flowers travelled to my front garden bed from my friend Sandra's house in the early summer. She had too many and encouraged me one day to pull up some and see if they'd make it. Given the heat we experience in summer, I didn't think they would but they proved me wrong. Now a good four feet tall, they are a butterfly's heaven. I counted upwards of 10 butterflies (I think. I mean, they do flutter a lot) as I stood there. I tried to capture their image and had only passing luck. Still, just the color is so pleasing to the eye.

It was a good day. It felt good to be thinkful (I wrote "thinkful" and I'm leaving it because I think it speaks for being mindful about what we should appreciate) for what we are surrounded by, and proud of the work that we've put into helping it thrive...

Political sign mayhem

This Fall, I bought two Obama/Biden signs and picked up two different sets of signs for local Senate races. And, this Fall, my signs have been stolen twice. If you look around my neighborhood, a slew of McCain/Palen signs are to be seen, as well as those of other Republican politicians. I think I've seen only two other Obama signs. And, as far as I can tell, not a single Republican sign has disappeared from a yard as mine have.

After this weekend's theft, I devised my own signs. They are actually quite scaled down from what I really wanted to say...

The rugrats...as of a few days ago

Do you like freebies?

I do! Click the link if you're the mother of a young girl or know one who would like to be delighted.

http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/2008/10/grosgrain-mini-store-opening-and.html

I voted!

Early voting rocks. Sweet, simple...AND fast! Obama is officially one vote closer to winning! :)

Where I'm at now (in life I mean)

I've recently discovered the frivolous pleasures of My Space and Facebook. Originally, Lenny dragged me on My Space so I could become one of his "Mafia" on a virtual game to which I am now, alas, hooked myself. I ventured over to Facebook at the admonishment of a friend and after realizing that people, that I hadn't seen or thought of in years, could be tracked down easily on these sites.

It's fun to see people from "way back when" and realize that, just like me, they've somehow morphed into adults with families and new ways of life and interests and all that good stuff. There really is life after 'Zo. Who knew? ;)

So, in response to tracking people down and checking them out, I've had a few emails of "what are you up to?" and "tell me about your family." But, I have to admit, when it comes to expressing myself, I'm staying true to my nerd-self (that does still hearken back to high school days) and would rather express myself essay-style on my blog rather than pop-style on MySpace or, even more briefly, in photos on Facebook. So, I thought I'd do a "catch-up" post on myself and then direct folks over here to bloggy-me. If you're a here and present friend, forgive the digest a la Renee. ;) Watch out, you might learn something freaky.

Sooo...I got married to Lenny the month after h.s. graduation. We moved to Cruces for college, and here we still are. Lenny did a year of automotive tech and got far enough for his certification and then just started working full-time. He's had a variety of jobs over the years including working for the City pools, working as a Title Searcher for a title company, managing a gas station and, for the past eight years, driving a tow truck. Alas (for me ;) ), he seems to have found his calling because he likes being called out at all hours, not having to sit at a desk or be inside, working with his hands, meeting lots of people, and interacting with police and other emergency staff (fire department, Border Patrol, DEA, etc.).

I came to school on a scholarship and finished that degree in five years (working throughout) with a BA in Journalism. Of course, by the time I had that, I'd changed my mind and came back for a second BA in English (32 credit hours in one year, nothing but English courses. I haven't changed that much, have I?). I was intending to take that ENGL BA and enter Graduate School the following semester (Fall, 2000) when I found myself pregnant with our first child. I initially thought I could wear all hats and do it all. I successfully finished the second degree but when Fionna was born at the end of July, I realized that full-time grad school, teaching as a T.A., and being a full-time mommy would never work with the combination of Lenny's 24/7 on-call, can-never-commit-to-watching-baby job. So, I dropped out of school but kept working and took Baby Fionna to work with me. I managed this until December 2001 when she was almost 18 months. By that time, she was well on her way to destroying my office as a busy and inquisitive toddler, and my work wasn't getting done. It was time for one to go, either work or bring-baby-to-work. I chose to quit work, enter the world of being a poor, single-income family and be a full-time mommy for awhile.

That has been my slice of life for the past almost seven years. In those years, we've added two children, Grady in July, 2003, and our second daughter, Ainslie, in July, 2006. (Please, don't ask why we're weird and have had three babies born in July). I guess I get my groove on in October. ;)

I'll be the first and say, I've come a very long way from my high school, raised in the sticks, small-town self. I've learned a lot about valuing different life experiences and ways of doing things. I'm a strong Feminist, Liberal woman (thus the capitals), and I've become passionate about the way I parent and about causes which I think will affect my kiddos in the world we will someday pass on (politics, human rights, environmentalism, sustainable living, gay/lesbian rights). Gone are the days of thinking of nothing but the opposite sex, makeup, hairspray and rockies jeans. I'd probably best describe msyelf as a neo-hippie meaning I'm very anti-establishment, heavily focused on the natural and easy-going on rules. In the superficial realm, I only recently cut my dreadlocks (now sporting a very short, do-nothing hairdo), I seldom come near much in the way of make-up, and I mostly shop at thrift stores. I'm all about a minimalist life-style in a lot of ways, low on the fuss, heavy on just enjoying life in the moment and trying to model a way of life for my kids that is real, in the present, fair and mindful and fun. I'm a work in progress but I'm enjoying the actual process very much. :)

I'm also on the verge of some pretty big changes. I love being home with my kids but life as a single-income, working class family means we are pretty damned poor these days. Which is alright but you can only stretch so far...So, I'm planning on returning to Graduate School in January, getting my MA in EDUC and entering a teaching career within 2-3 years. Fionna is in second grade, Grady will start Kindergarten next Fall, and Ainslie will hopefully not be terribly impacted by my return to school. Ideally, I'll take night classes but I have generous offers from friends in the event that I need some childcare. My goal there is to minimize the impact on my kids but also to recapture some focus on myself and move us all towards a life that isn't quite so paycheck-to-paycheck (without caving the The System, of course). ;)

In terms of interests, I've found myself really drawn to Herbalism. I've studied with a couple of people, as well having done some online courses. I try to make as much of my family's medicine as I can and take care of things around the house in a natural, low-key way. I also have found a calling to offer mother-to-mother support on the subject of breastfeeding, and I'm now a trained and accredited La Leche League Leader. It's a volunteer position I've held for almost three years that I find very validating.

I guess that's all I can think of to babble on and on about in regards to myself. Again, I'm really enjoying the chance to "glimpse" old friends and hear their successes and adventures. :)

An exchange at the bus stop...

Grady, Ainslie and I took advantage of a beautiful Fall day a few weeks ago and bussed to the park for playgroup. Well, actually, that's not 100% accurate. We tried to bus to the park, missed the bus and had to get a ride from daddy to the park. (Sadly, this scenario has played out before). The good news is that Lenny's work is just diagonally across the corner from the bus stop, so it wasn't a big deal to walk over to him and bum a ride in the tow truck. Happily, we were successful in catching the bus for the homeward-bound trip. As we sat waiting for our bus to pull into the transfer station, a man approached us.

--He said, "Hey, do you smell that?"

--I have a bit of a sensitivity about my less-than-keen sense of smell so I fudged and said, "Umm, yeah."

--He then took it one further and said, "What do you smell like?"

--This turns my thinking completely around and I'm still mentally puzzling over whether I've been insulted or what when he says now, "Patchouli, that's it. Is it you?"

--I was relieved at that point and said, "Yeah, that' s me." I was not, however, expecting the next question.

--"So, are you married?" he asks.

--"Yep," I reply. "Three kids too."

--"Oh well" is his answer and he wandered off.

I love taking the bus. I mean, my kids get to experience mildly strange people (of which I know I qualify) and people from all walks of life. I hope, now that autumn and milder weather have arrived, we'll bus more often. The kids are certainly clamoring for another adventure. :)

My new blog banner

I thought I'd explain...the political season has me firmly riveted to public events and the election process. As such, I was proud to have a few political signs in my front yard (Obama and two local politicians). We came home from a weekend away last week to discover my Obama sign and one of the others had been stolen. Our town saw a big spate of sign thefts but I was so angry to be one of the victims. I've since replaced my sign but my political vigor is stronger than ever. :)

A medley...

Fionna read Grady right to sleep Saturday night. They were very happy to finally have cool enough weather to require snuggly jammies...


Ainslie's playing with her butterfly toy from the fair. Chris K. gifted the kids each with $5 for fair spending, and this was Ainslie's pick. (Grady came home with a light sabre and Fionna got a child sized fake nail kit.)



This time of year brings out the witch in my children. This is Fionna and Grady (and his black cat on his shoulder, hard to see) brewing up potions consisting of dish soap, water, rosemary and mint (the two herbs plentiful enough in my garden for the kids to play with).


First off, the weekend in soccer...I am happy to report that Grady's weekend soccer game, so bright and early on Saturday morning, was a blazing success. After three tough losses (as in, we were trounced three times), we finally either won or very nearly tied. The score is not really closely followed but Grady feels confident we won, and most of the kids on the team scored at least one goal, if not more. Grady exuberantly scored twice.
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Next up...the fair came to town, and we made the most of it. On Thursday, Grady, Ainslie and I headed out there with our friends Sandra, Ben and Abe. We saw performing bears, a magic show, all manner of animals and farm equipment, and lots of neat school art. Fionna's school won Grand Champion for their art display!

Fionna visited the fair the next day with her class. She loves field trips because she gets to ride the bus, something she doesn't do often since we drive her to an out-of-district school.

The whole family was back at the fair, AGAIN, later Friday night to watch Lenny race in his first-ever car race. It was an "Enduro" race, 200 laps or two hours, whichever came first. Lenny drove the first half and his friend Brian the second. They didn't win but they didn't crash or explode. AND, out of seventy-some-odd cars that started, only 13 finished and they were among them. I wasn't too keen on the idea (not that I was really consulted) but it ultimately was pretty fun. The kids were over the moon about it, although Grady and Ainslie succumbed to sleep before the end. I have a feeling it won't be the only car race we get dragged to...

RIP Whitey, a very special chicken friend

We came home yesterday to a truly heartwrenching sight, our very special chicken, Whitey, dead and being torn asunder by our dog. We'll never know what happen, whether she died naturally and was then eaten, or if Munch killed her. It saddens me, beyond just her loss, because I loved that our dogs and chickens hung out in the yard together, and it made it so easy to let the chickens range about. We can't take that chance anymore, they'll have to have their free time when the dogs are inside.

Whitey came to us as an adult hen, already laying her splendid pale green eggs. She was the sweetest of souls and would always hunker down and let you scoop her up as soon as you approached. She was the amazing hen that we took to the Farmer's Market last spring where she placidly sat and accepted pettings and popcorn offerings and also sat to have her portrait sketched in Fionna's lap. I will never ever forget the sight of the drowsy hen, nestled into Fionna's arms, even drooling a bit in her slumber.

The kids are all sad but Fionna is particularly devastated. She said it eloquently when she wailed that "Whitey was my good, good friend."

This has prompted us to order some new chicks, via mail. We want to up our egg production just a little, and Fionna is just a bit consoled that she can raise a chick to be another special friend. If you're local to me and interested in ordering chicks, we are ordering from http://mypetchicken.com/. If you can let me know quickly, in a day or two, we could share an order (we've already placed our's but they've let us know that it will be several days before they can give us a timeline on the types of chicks we chose). That is another post and, in deference to Whitey, we'll save it for another day.

Thank you, Whitey, for being part of our family, for your tasty, beautiful eggs and for being Fionna's good, good friend. :(

In my element...

One of the definite highs of my summer was getting to go camping. I hadn't been in like nine years, and I didn't realize how much I missed it until I was in the mountains, feeling that surrounded by Mother Goddess feeling, smelling the oh-so-sweet air and oohing and aahing over plants I recognized from my herbal guides. And, I must not forget the joy I felt in hearing the raptured cries of my city-bred children as they discovered both the mundane (high mountain roads are both scary and fun) and the magical (moss surely must serve as faery carpet for the fey). I digress; as usual when I'm wound up about something I start in the middle of the story and have to rein myself in to return to the start.



At the end of July, after much anticipation and, honestly, not too much planning (I'm a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants girl), we embarked on a weekend camping trip. Our group consisted of my entire family (meaning, yes, Lenny actually was able to join in on a family event) and our good friends, Kristy, Jeramiah, Sarah and Em. We headed a couple of hours west and climbed several thousand feet in elevation as we drove. Our destination was a campground that our friends knew about which featured all the perks I love -- a deep canyon, running water, lots of new and wonderful vegatation, and rustic yet clean nearby bathrooms...



I would like to say we spent a fabulous two and half days there as planned but Mother Nature interceded in a big way. Lovely Hurricane Dolly made sure we felt her power, even way out here. A deluge of rain began, just shortly after we'd set up camp. In rapid succession, we discovered that our tent leaked, that we lacked tarps, and that five kids and four adults in one big and yet leaky tent isn't necessarily a barrel of fun. We persevered, despite our air mattresses going mercilessly flat during the night (picture, instant sharp rocks in the back AND sudden immersion in cold rain water that's accummulated in leaky tent).



However, despite ALL of this, we were for the most part chipper, light-hearted and just thrilled to be there the next morning, even with a grey dawn and continuing rain. Our campfire popped and spit merrily in the rain, sheltered somewhat beneath one of the tables we'd brought. We ate our breakfast and went adventuring. A night full of rain didn't deter the kids (and me) from venturing quickly in the creek and climbing here, there and everywhere.



We did break camp later that morning, knowing there was much more rain in our future AND that we had absolutely no dry bedding or clothing. We visited with some friends and family (Kristy's, not mine ;) ), and then headed for home late that afternoon. While a shorter trip than we'd imagined, it was definitely fun. And confirmed for me, that I need to get back to nature more often.




I don't know what it is, the quiet, the expanses of trees and land and space, the variety and wealth of plants and nature, the ancient quality I always appreciate when amidst trees, maybe all of these things but I always feel so alive and vital when I'm in the mountains. It's something I want to do more for myself, and definitely an experience to give to my children.

Playing Catch-up...The July Bday Season

This is what happens when a mom goes on blogging hiatus. There's a lot of memorable moments to catch up on. Thus, I take you on a time journey back to July which, with three birthdays in a row, is B****** Birthday Season. I took it easy on myself and baked one cake on the first birthday (Ainslie's, the 21st). But, we couldn't do it too simple, so we still had to sing and blow-out candles three times, always with the honoree in the middle (apparently an important factor to my children).

We honor Fionna's 8th birthday!

Ainslie turns two!

Grady in the seat of honor, turning 5!