dance day and cat fights

dance day

Not for me, but p'tit minou deux. Today is the start of his twice-yearly Weekend of Dance. His ballet studio puts on a great production each holiday season. It is amazing to watch it come together, like kneading raggedy scraps of bread dough into the smooth, shiny, finished product and watching it rise and bake.

He will be at rehearsal a solid 8-9 hours today, then has two shows in the next two days. Whew.

Other than dance rehearsal, or maybe because of it, it's a quiet day around the Maison des Minous. Friends will be coming over later to help with the attic windows, and play a game. We had a great meal yesterday. I made my most successful apple pie ever, and I know why. I gave up on trying to make a "healthy" pie crust with olive oil and whole wheat flour. If that doesn't sound very good, you're right--it isn't. Yesterday's used white flour and butter, and it was delicious...

P'tit minou deux, who I believe may be starting a growth spurt (or is just starving because of all the dancing he's doing) ate a quarter of the pie for breakfast this morning. Along with milk and a pear, don't worry.

cat fights

A big black cat that I've never seen before just stealth-attacked Mowsie, who was sleeping on the patio porch just two feet from me. We have been having a lot of trouble with fighting cats lately. Our cats have lived here so long that they mistakenly believe the whole area around us belongs to them (some of the other homes weren't built yet when we originally moved in next door). Newcomers feel the need to challenge this, and I think our cats sometimes go out of their way to seek those challenges.

Our biggest, lovey-est cat James has been the worst offender when it comes to fighting. He has had several terrible wounds. After the first, we dutifully took him to the vet's, had his injury cleaned and stitched (he had to be put under), and got him antibiotics. The bill was shocking, and I warned him that if he continued to fight, he was taking his own chances. He didn't listen. He amazingly recovered from another deep wound all on his own (I did soak and clean it, but no vet involvement). Now he has a third. What to do?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Let's just shout it out.
What am I thankful for? So much.

First and foremost, loved ones. Family, and friends. Good health of same.
These sweet. sweet boys who have taught me so much. Minou. My mom. More.

Work. Last night my boss had to tell me to leave work. So grateful for this new job.
Working in public health is a dream come true. My co-workers are pretty wonderful too.

Food. After work last night, Minou and I stopped at the grocery store. We aren't extravagant, but we loaded up our grocery cart with...whatever we wanted. Healthy and delicious food. Comice pears and yams and salad. Mushrooms and broth. Tofu dogs and strawberry yogurt. Cage-free eggs (the Ladies have stopped producing for now) and whipping cream. We will have a vegetarian feast today.

Home. Our warm, snug, sweet little house. It may be petite, but so is the mortgage. There's space for a garden, and fruit trees, and a chicken run...and it's ours. The windows for the Attic Addition were delivered yesterday. I can't wait to be sleeping up there under the eaves.

Education. For my boys, the public school system that allows them to study in an international baccalaureate, French-immersion program. I am so proud of them as they do the work of learning. For myself, all the opportunities I have had to try things and stretch my wings in new areas. My poor mother feared that I would never attend college due to my own sad high school career, but she (and the rest of my family) may now fear that I will never stop attending college.

I hope that you have as much to be thankful for as I do.
Please leave me a note and tell me three things you are grateful for!

conques

Another snapshot of summer warmth.
A day trip from our home base in Luc, Aveyron, a hamlet of maybe 24 people.
I loved the cathedral St. Foy (not so much the windows by Pierre Soulages).

I loved the details of the stonework.

I loved wandering around the medieval town.

 

 

I loved the time with Mamie. It was very hot and steep for her, but she was a good sport, always.

 

 



I loved the patient streams of pilgrims coming and going from every direction, like lines of ants, with their backbacks and walking sticks. Someday I'd like to walk that route with Minou.

perspective

We are in the midst of a tremendous rainstorm in the Pacific Northwest right now. It's calmed down today, but this morning there were flood warnings around the region. On my early morning jog with the big brown dog, in the dark, I ran right into several sidewalk puddles that soaked me to my ankles. Cycling to work, there were many streets with a foot or more of standing water due to the drains blocked by recently fallen leaves and water.

It makes me think about those who are living outside. Trying to shelter against this weather. I'm imagining the cold, the wet, the discomfort, the lack of a welcoming place to go in and warm up, to have a hot cup of tea or a warm shower and dry socks.

Really, I am lucky.We are lucky, lucky, lucky. I spend a disproportionate amount of time worrying about money; not a very healthy habit I know. I am mostly frugal. I try hard, with moderate success, to distinguish between wants and needs and luxuries. I wish I could pass on that perspective to my boys, the awareness of how fortunate we really are. They compare to their peer group--understandably. But we live in a culture where it is not easy to say "We could afford that, but choose not to because we are prioritizing other goals". Building an emergency fund, paying off the mortgage early, saving for retirement. They see the consumption and goods of those around them, but this may or may not reflect the full situation.

My older son wants an I-Phone. He knows that he doesn't really need one, but he also really really wants one. He thinks that I am hopelessly outdated and ridiculous for refusing a cell phone. So far, Minou is the only person in the family who has one. Technology is where Minou's needs and wants sometimes become conflated (for me it's clothing. Or education? No, that's different. It is.)

It was a surreal conversation tonight at the table after dinner, trying to convey how truly, truly lucky we are to have all the things we generally take for granted: a warm, safe home, a washer and dryer, working utilities, transportation, a fully stocked refrigerator...and hearing from p'tit minou un, yes, that's well and good, but that's normal. Everybody has that. I want a cell phone. An I-phone.

All this while the rain pours down. How can I convey how fortunate we are, to be thankful for what we have, to resist the lure of a million ever-changing desires?

Ideas? Please share...

kitchen odds & ends

If you home is anything like my home, certain foods fly off the shelves while others tend to linger.
Snack foods usually go first. I was amazed at the quick disappearance of large boxes of granola bars, energy bars, etc. (usually after a Costco trip) until I saw p'tit minou un grabbing five or six for an afternoon snack. Cereal is another item that doesn't stay around long, with the exception of rolled oats, a pantry staple. I tried hard to instill the practice of adding other cereal to oatmeal (think muesli) for texture and flavor, and to make it last longer, but it didn't stick. The boys quickly devour the Kashi Crunch, Grapenuts and what-have-you and then eat plain oatmeal with a sprinkle of brown sugar when it's gone.

Anything that involves cooking and multiple ingredients usually takes a little longer to go. However, this doesn't mean that we have no food in the house, as p'tit minou un once told me--just that we need to prepare it. With mixing, and chopping, and time, and heat. Hmm.

Which brings me to the question of how much food we really do have tucked away in all our kitchen corners. How many meals could I make from ingredients on hand, including fresh, frozen, dry, and canned? Quite a few, I'm guessing. I see the ingredients for both black bean enchiladas and Yumm bowls (if you are unfamiliar with these, it's a bowl of layered brown rice, whole beans, salsa, cheese, olives, veggies, and a delicious, locally made sauce called "Yumm sauce").
I know that there are several containers of soup I made this fall in the freezer, and lots and lots of whole wheat spaghetti and marinara sauce (another Costco trip). We have plenty of flour, rice, sugar, raisins, oats. We are runing low on milk, carrots, bell peppers, apples, and bananas (constantly).

I want to see how I do with using up odds and ends that might otherwise languish in the fridge. For example, after my run yesterday I came home and made lunch. I chopped and sauteed the last few vegetarian sausages with some tofu in olive oil, then added a little soy sauce and brown rice to make fried rice (well received by the minous). Some ingredients we have on hand are not enjoyed by everyone (like greek olives and artichoke hearts), so they lend themselves well to mini-pizzas. P'tit minou deux has cheese and black olives, p'tit minou un the same with the addition of sauce, garlic, and roasted peppers, and Minou and I whatever we feel like.

We are heading into the week of Thanksgiving. This is the first year in many, many years that we haven't celebrated it with my mother--since 1999, when we were living in France. We usually also share the day with Auntie R., a close family friend, who is travelling to be with her daughter and grandson this year. So it will be just our little family, which actually sounds really nice. It will give us a chance, I rashly suggested, to build our own traditions. Just because we always bring the mashed potatoes and tofurkey, doesn't mean we have to have it this year...does it? I was envisioning something like enchiladas, popcorn, and playing a game. Maybe a new tradition of eating odds and ends, and being thankful for having them.

Alas, I was voted down for the non-traditional dinner.  Game playing was well received, hopefully a long match of Settlers of Catan followed by several good movies, but it looks like we (not I! we) will be making pumpkin pie and mashed potatoes. If we want to eat them. In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, however, I want to try and fix as many good meals as possible with the kitchen odds and ends.

run to stay warm

I finished my second half marathon today!
I'm still feeling elated. In case you can't tell.

My friend K. inspired me to run it with her. It was not an expensive community run, and the money went to a good cause--supporting the winter energy assistance program for our local utility board. At the last minute, K. had a work conflict and couldn't attend. I was disappointed, but understood (it was due to something rather important like flying cross-country with a sick child--she's a critical transport nurse). However, this amazing friend stopped off at the course before even going home, and ran the last half-mile with me.

 

I was also so extremely happy that my sweet Minou saw me off at the beginning, and then he and the p'tit minous were there at the end to whistle, cheer, and yell "Sprint Mama sprint!" I did. I sprinted. I have some great pictures with those beautiful young men, but they (boo hiss) don't want them posted here, so I won't.

 

And finally, I was happy with my time. I didn't have any official time goal--I really just wanted to finish, and finish without injury. I had been following an official training schedule, building up my milage in a very organized way, until about...early October. Then it took a back seat to some of the other life events going on. This is fine, but I really wasn't sure what my reserves of strength were. I was very pleasantly surprised to finish in 2 hours 30 minutes. The first half marathon I ran I finished in over 3 hours. That one was rough. I almost didn't finish (it was at elevation, in the mountains, in August). Today's felt so, so smooth. Cool weather, a few raindrops, along the river.

 

 I started out the run very, very slowly. I had a lot of time to think. I thought about finances for a while, then that grew tedious, and I thought about p'tit minou un's college goals, and then I thought about food (starting around mile 7) and what I could cook with what we already have at home, and finally I just let my thoughts drift...swirling around the theme of slow and steady. I have so many goals, and can be impatient. If I can envision something, I want it to be completed. I do very well with the energy of starting and the energy of finishing projects, but sometimes in the long haul in the middle, I start to lose focus and interest. That's when I can get off course, or sometimes create unnecessary drama about a project. I want to use the long run example for life motivation in other areas. If I can find a comfortable pace, and keep going, I'll get there.

 

What are you thinking about, and up to, this weekend?

 

 



minou & me

The boys, p'tit minous un et deux, have requested to not be visibly present in this space.

Minou has made no such request.

He is such a cutie.

 

 

Sometimes a little silly though...