fabulous fall

It's here. Today was one of those interesting weather days we get in the Pacific Northwest. I managed to walk to work before the rain hit, then looked up periodically through the day to see pouring rain and puddles on the roof, then blue skies with puffy white clouds, then sideways rain sending yellow leaves scattering, then golden sunlight with deep gray thunderheads looming in the west. So changeable.

Here are some things making this fall fabulous:

• A very good friend coming to visit next week... I can't wait to see her and spend time together
• Minou making waffles for desserts
• Family dinners with laughter, sharing a few stories, and no sniping
• Camaraderie, friendship, and learning with the fabulous nurses I work with
• Wearing knee boots and tights daily
• The amazing, caring, dedicated, and intelligent teen boys I'm privileged to mother
• My husband's patience with my shorter-day grouchy moods
• Jogging again, ever so gentle a start
• Minou's healing (kidney stones are the worst)
•  Hot soup, hot tea, and especially hot coffee
• Lunch dates and walks with my mom
• The gift of Guinness for Andrew's Day
• A trip to the art store with Minou and G2
• Starting a sketchbook: one a day
• Possibilities for G1: too soon to mention 
• No homework (unless it's self-imposed)
• Downpours while warm and cozy indoors
• CSA boxes full of fall vegetables
• A big brown dog with soft ears at my feet
• A good high school start for G2
• We're getting a new oven and can bake again

And that's all for tonight. What are three fabulous things in your life this fall?

never be normal

The title of this post is a knockoff of a great one written by Mrs. Money Mustache about how living the frugal life (she would say the Mustachian life) can permanently alter your perception and habits.
She titled her post "You'll never be normal again!"

I took my younger son to the mall yesterday. Why, you ask?
He needed shoes, grey jeans, and long sleeved t-shirts.
Well, he really needed shoes. They do that, those kids, they grow and outgrow things.
The jeans and t-shirts I wouldn't say he really needed.

However, he has decided that grey jeans are the color for him, and so the grey pair now has a giant hole in the knee but he continues to wear them to school. So traditional of me, but it bugs me.
He has blue pairs and black pairs that stay in the closet.
Same with shirts--he has several, but they are either very frayed, too large, or somehow not quite right.

I suggested second-hand shopping--at least twice. But he looked at me earnestly and said, "I've had so many second or third hand clothes in my life, Mama--almost all of my clothes were (p'tit minou un)'s first, and lots of those were someone else's first too."

He is right. And while I know that this is not a bad thing, that wearing hand-me-downs or third-hand clothes does not mean deprivation, I was still swayed--I wanted him to know that he is important to me, that I heard this was important to him, that he meant enough to me that I would swallow my aversion and go to the mall.

And so we did. Yikes. Once we were there, we quickly found jeans, and shoes, and plotted our escape. The smells, the crowds, the lights, the pounding music--it was completely sensory overload for me, and I suspect for p'tit minou deux as well. Because an odd thing happened when we couldn't find any plain, simple, long sleeved t-shirts in either of the two stores we had now been in. Everything had logos, or writing, or branding, and that wasn't what he wanted. Neither did we want to venture any further into that giant place.

He sort of forgot why we had come, and began saying that he didn't really need any more t-shirts (forgetting the weeks of rejecting the ones he has for above reasons or size or conditions). Meanwhile, I went into bossy generalista Mama mode and became very directive, demanding of the young skateboarder/hipster clerk WHY they didn't have PLAIN CHEAP t-shirts and WHERE could someone who HATED the mall find such a thing. Because I was darned if I was going to come back another day after p'tit minou deux remembered that actually he really wanted a t-shirt or two.

Target, the young man told me. Go to Target.
It was in a different mall.
So heck, we were already out and about (driving, I might add)--we drove there too.

I am happy that my son is happy. I want him to have non-ripped and non-frayed clothes to wear to school. I get that he has had almost exclusively hand-me-downs (except for the times his lovely Grammy has taken him shopping), and appreciated having something new for himself. He has the right to have his own opinions about the colors and styles he prefers, and he is usually a very easygoing member of the family who tends not to assert his own wants and needs too strongly (maybe not strongly enough, at times).

However, I feel downright icky. We drove our car at least 15 miles round trip, polluting the air. We bought clothing that was cheap for us because it was likely manufactured by someone in a sweatshop in Nicaragua or Bangladesh. Clothing that he did not really need (except for the shoes). Money spent that is also now not going to melt the mortgage this month.

Did I do the right thing? Am I making too big a deal out of this?

What do you think? Have you had similar dilemmas?

birthday week

This week marks some important milestones for two of the people that I love most in the world.
Minou and p'tit minou un each have a birthday. Not to give anything away,
but let's just say that both of these involve traditionally big deal days.
Neither of them wanted a big deal though, so we will simply have hugs and chosen dinners and cakes.
I am so glad to be a part of their lives and that they are mine. Glad we are a family.
Happy Birthday to two very special people.

simple saturday

There is little I love more these days than a day at home.
I wasn't always such a homebody.

My sister-in-law noticed, not long after Minou and I met, that we seemed most lighthearted when we were "out and about". I also remember those days as a home-centered mama of two little ones when every day had to have at least one outing, and more were better.
A few hours alone at a coffee shop with a book and a journal back then--bliss.

Time has passed. Life has changed. I am very happy with my work now, but I'm away from home for many hours a day (nine and a half, counting the  bike commute). I love my sweet & simple home. I miss it and those in it.

Even if the p'tit minous are occupied with homework or reading or other diversions, even if Minou is tied up with the taxes, I feel their presence and I am happy to all be home together. At this moment, I'm sitting on the couch with the sun shining in the big double doors. There are two sleeping cats next to me, and a sleeping dog at my feet. I wore out Sawyer (and myself, in a good-tired way) with our long hilly jog this morning.

I made a Thai vegetable curry with tofu, carrots, zucchini, and potatoes over rice for lunch. Spicy and good.
I'm looking forward to an afternoon coffee to go with the pastries we will select (with an X-mas gift card) at a bakery in honor of Minou's upcoming birthday. We decided together to choose then & bring them home, rather than eating out. Crean puffs are sounding pretty delicious.

I have a little homework for later, but I'm holding out hope for an early evening movie and snuggle on the couch. I have also been mulling over a post on how the Sitting is going. Still hard, but good. Tuesday will be the two-week mark. I think I have missed two days. I've also switched to mornings, first thing.

How is your Saturday going? What are you doing today?

lucky

How do you feel about housework?
Sometimes I wish I were a person who loves to clean.
Or who cleans while stressed (instead of lying around eating cookies, for example).
I appreciate and enjoy cleanliness.
I just would usually much rather read a good book or take a walk than actually cleaning.
This is neither good nor bad, it's how things are....
and while we do have a lot of animal hair around (due to a lot of animals), a hygienic standard is met.
Perhaps this standard would be a little low for some. But high for others! Everything is relative.

Where I'm going with this is that I am very, very lucky to have a mother-in-law who loves to clean.
Seriously. She really, really enjoys it. And she is very good at it.
She thinks of lovely touches that give new meaning to the term "domestic arts".
And our house is free of dust bunnies, the stovetop and sink are sparkling, the dish towels are ironed (!!).

I feel a little guilty. My mother-in-law is 82. I haven't washed a dish since she arrived.
In fact, there hasn't been a dish sitting out since she arrived, since not only does she wash them, but dries them and puts them away...immediately.

This just doesn't feel proper. She is our guest.Yet she would be extremely unhappy if she couldn't help, couldn't keep busy. She doesn't enjoy reading (and her eyes don't allow it). She is a talented artist, but the mood has to be just right. Cleaning and organizing are among her many gifts and one of her favorite hobbies. At home, she is so efficient that there is little to do. Thankfully, we have quite a bit to keep her occupied.

I long ago gave her free reign to rearrange, sort, organize whatever she wishes on visits.
And I benefit tremendously from it. Time to read (for myself and to P'tit Minou Deux--we are continuing our Mark Twain kick with A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court). Time to jog. Time to blog.

I am lucky.

january 1

New Year's Eve was less than hoped at our home...a good lesson in letting go of expectations.
I worked all day and was more tired than I realized. I also ate more doughnuts than were good for me.
(that would be any number over 0, right?)
I walked home in the dark evening, as Minou was making sandwiches at the cold-weather homeless shelter.
We ate late, a special Italian gratin Minou prepared. Tasty.
But somehow at dinner, the energy was not good. Both p'tit minous came down hard on me, for reasons I'm not entirely sure of. No matter. I did not respond well, felt ganged up on, left the table and went upstairs to the Attic to read (Mountains Beyond Mountains, very inspiring so far).
Came back down, had dessert also prepared by Minou.
The boys (which includes Minou) watched an inane movie, I worked on a puzzle.
At 11 pm I went to to bed, to general disappointment. (Mamie had already gone at 9:30).
None of the family was feeling very happy. That's an understatement.
It was a sad, numb feeling. It is hard to love people, because they can hurt us.
It's hard to remain open when there is that possibility for pain.
But when we close ourselves off, staying safe, we are also closed to love.

I woke up early this morning, it was still dark, and thought,
Keep Trying.
Then I went back to sleep.
A few hours later...
Get up, give kisses, say sorry, and try to stay open. Open to the love and pain.
It's not easy, at least not for me.

Tonight I will Sit for the first time. 10 minutes? 20 minutes? Not sure.

babel

Mamie is here. (Hurray!)
The books are off the floor.
There is the possibility of a dusting of snow.
All good.

My language skills are pretty rusty, however.
The French somewhere in the back of my brain is being further mixed up with the Spanish I'm trying to refresh and use at work. And all the rapid-fire code-switching in our house is confusing. Who speaks which language to whom, and when, and how....

And this evening, to make matters more complicated, our close friend and neighbor came by for tea. In Spanish nouns (no French, Mamie's adopted tongue of 60+ years), she was talking to Mamie about a friend who was learning Portuguese (Mamie's first language), and as I tried to translate what she said to Mamie, for some inexplicable reason I was trying to translate into Spanish (Mamie's second language) and she was speaking Portuguese (which I don't speak or comprehend at all) to me....

...and nobody was understanding anybody...

at which point I said to Minou, "I think I need to get up from the table!" and he replied "too bad--please stay here!"

It's laugh or grind my teeth. I'm trying to laugh.

Waiting for Mamie

We are on pins and needles over here. Minou is off to fetch Mamie.
Minou's intrepid Maman will have traveled a day and a half, on trains, planes, and automobiles, to see us. She is 82 this year.

We are so looking forward to seeing her. I know that she won't mind, but I was hoping that our house chaos would be put back together before she arrived--it was not to be, since the drywaller are still working upstairs.

I want Mamie to feel comfortable and at home. We will do our best in other ways however.

The floor is mopped. The range and sink are scrubbed. Tomorrow I will buy some of her favorite treats.    What a blessing to have this visit at holiday time. I'm grateful that she was willing to make the difficult journey.

fresh slate

before

This weekend we had a painting party.
It wasn't spontaneous, but I didn't anticipate that I would get as much help as I did, or that we would paint the kitchen, living room, half the entry, and both boys' rooms.
We are tired.

we're having fun

But it was fun. What was good was that we worked together. There was very little losing tempers or harsh words. There was a lot of patient helping. Also chocolate chip cookies, and brotherly teamwork. I am so thankful.

painting party

I had been going back and forth on colors for a while. After several years of the warm, bright colors you see above, I wanted a change. And so did P'tit Minou Un, who strongly lobbied for white. Not sand, not taupe, not greige, but a clean, bright, white. 

So we went with it. I remembered a post from Miss Minimalist about white walls, in which she said that in every house she'd ever lived in, she painted everything white right off the shelf at the home improvement store. That's what we did. We got the big cans of Ultra White. No color mixing required. No agonizing between cloud, marshmallow, or palest wheat, but WHITE. I wasn't sure if I would like it.

after

But I do! It really opens the space and makes it look bigger. I love it, in fact.
P'tit Minou Deux was not sure how he felt about losing the colors, but he said afterward, "It's like we live in Italy!" I'm not sure why that association came to mind, but I'm happy that he likes it too. And his room is now a lovely deep spring green, accented with the wood window trim. He was going for a forest effect.

We will create our color downstairs with art and fabric, but right now I'd really like to leave the walls bare.
I'm looking forward to getting a tree and decorating it for the Christmas season.
The only issue now is the books. What to do with the books?

The P'tit Minous voted not to have the massive bookshelves in the living room now (they were made of recycled gym bleachers, sanded down)...and again, it feels much more spacious.
While Minou and I made a run to the home improvement store, they began cataloguing our collection.
We will have to see where they can be stored. I have always dreamed about having a home library...

I can't believe the weekend is over! What did you do, the last two days?

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.

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?

 

 



senanque

I look back with pleasure on the pictures of last summer at Senanque. We took a day trip through windy roads on a very, very, very hot day from Lattes to the lavender fields of Provence, a place my mother particularly wanted to visit during her time there. It was so lucky that thanks to the weather, the blooming season was late and we were able to enjoy the purple fields.

 

 

Besides filling my eyes with the colors, what I remember most from that day was the fact that we had not one but two ice cream stops, one of them for lavender ice cream (it was good, but the chocolate noisette was better), and that we were rationing water by the end of the day despite the eight bottles we'd brought for the five of us--it's difficult to find free drinking water in France. I also remember the Japanese tourist who was sitting in the shade of an olive tree, painting a beautiful landscape of the abbey at Senanque.

 

 

sunday sniffles

Sniffly days around the maison des minous this week, but we have not let it stop us from embracing the coziness of a rainy November three-day weekend at home. PJs and bathrobes were worn all day by some. Much reading and studying, lounging in bed, and perhaps a little too much computing, took place.
We baked apple muffins (using the last red apples hanging from our tree like globular jewels), and drank lots of tea.
We installed pine tongue-in-groove decking as attic flooring.
It looks lovely, rustic and simple, like a Swedish county cottage.
(where are those pictures I promised you? so sorry.)

We also put on our fancy shoes and took Grammy Minou out to dinner, sniffles or not, because we will soon be losing her to the monastics. She is leaving for a six-month stint at Plum Village in France. We are excited for her, but also feel a little sniffly about our upcoming long separation.

And my mantra for the week: Be nice to yourself.

holding down the fort

I have been on my own with my boys for a few days a Minou is off in the wilds, somewhere near Seattle, hob-knobbing and cavorting with a bunch of eco-builders and designers.

He left us hidden chocolate. That man is so sweet.

As are my boys: I loved watching them be playful, gentle, and encouraging with a little one we know. P'tit Minou Un used his Big Boy influence to encourage Finishing Dinner, while P'tit Minou Deux spent time building Mr. Potato Head and roughhousing on the floor despite being tired. I am so, so proud of them, watching the young men they have become.

Anyway, we are holding down the fort. We bought massive amounts of groceries (two teen boys in the home), we bought chicken feed, we bought cat food and dog food. Our entire household will be well fed (me perhaps a little too much so: see hidden chocolate above, plus some amazing chocolates sent by a dear friend in a surprise package). I'm also hearing a buying theme here. Let's hope (for Minou's sake) that we don't buy a house too.

We're going to an open house today, just to look.
P'tit Minou Un reminded me that this was how our big brown dog Sawyer joined the family--a weekend that Minou was out of town, and the guilty parties went to the Humane Society just to look. Ahem.

In other news, I have discovered some affordable non-code (oops) tiny spiral staircase options that could solve our attic loft access problem. And I have a big week coming up at work, with two events I am excited about. Sometimes I don't recognize outright that I am feeling a little nervous about something--until the behaviors I am employing to cope with the feeling undercurrent trigger me to notice.

Such as: why am I eating too much chocolate? Why am I spending so much time on real-estate websites and driving around town to look at houses, when we are planning to fix up our little urban farmette homestead and make it work for us? And why can't I be motivated to scrub and clean, and go on long-distance runs, instead of these other behaviors?

Oh well. Related to news, I also have several academic deadlines coming up. I had promised myself that this would be the year of No Procrastination--I am tired of the disruption this bad habit can create, as I work feverishly last minute to gallop in and deliver the goods in time for a deadline. As interesting as my online coursework is, I am really, really ready to no longer be a student. So many years of this. And here I am, procrastinating again. It's challenging, with this tendency, to study online, since there are so many built-in distractions--such as blogging and real-estate websites!

Therefore, I'm going to take a little blogging break. I'll plan to check in and post weekly on the weekends as a self-reward for getting my coursework done. I'll fill you in with my decluttering progress, which is proceeding at a slow and steady pace. Thanks to a suggestion from a reader (thanks Sue!) I have been sticking with a set amount of time per day--15 or 20 minutes. When that is done, that's progress.

Have a lovely week...please leave me anote and let me know what you're up to!

mia due to CHN

I apologize for some sparse postings this past week.
There has been a lot going on in the Casa de Minous.
I started a new job this week.
It was really hard to say goodbye to my wonderful coworkers at my past job, my first nursing position.
I loved working in women's health. I loved the privilege of talking with clients about very personal details of their lives.

However. I took a leap, in equal parts for my minous (the hours are much more family friendly) and for myself, craving a new challenge and wanting a broader base of experience as a new(er) nurse.

And let me say that I love, love, love my new position as a Community Health Nurse. My new coworkers have been very warm and welcoming, the job will be (I can already tell) constantly changing (that's a good thing), and it is so, so interesting with many areas to learn about. There are a lot of parts to this job that I have never done before, and it will be a personal and professional stretch. There is much to learn and a lot of support for learning it. In the few spare quiet moments, I have been working my way through a video series based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "Guide to Immunizations and Vaccine Preventable Diseases". This is much more fun than it may sound like.

It is also enjoyable to be downtown. I wander over to the library at lunch time, and walk to P'tit Minou Deux's ballet studio after work to watch the last part of his class and catch a ride home. The location and hours have me feeling more integrated with my family's daily life, which is just what I wanted. I was actually at home cozily cooking dinner in my pajamas at 7:00 p.m. one night, thinking that I would have been just getting off work and starting my 45 minute bike commute home the week before. Now when I ride my bike, it's just 15 minutes!

I haven't touched the attic avalanche this week, but now it looks like a neatly stacked tower that has completely taken over the landing couch rather than an avalanche, thanks to Minou. I'll get to it this weekend, if only a little bit.

How has your week been? What are you up to?

simplify for family

My life is so full of competing goals and desires.
It's often difficult to realize what is most important.
And then something happens...
A child's suffering can be just that.
But it can also be the "canary in the goal mine",
a signal that something is out of balance.
A reminder that daily life without time for snuggles, stories, and home-made muffins is too busy.

Yes, I recognize the privilege in making that choice to slow down, to decline work in order to reduce stress and focus on the needs of my kids (and sweetie).
As a mom, I'm usually trying to teach the skills of self-sufficiency.
But even the most self-sufficient of us need a little nurturing and looking after.

So, slowing down...nurturing myself and nurturing my family.
Making the doctor's appointments.
Making the lunches (they can do it).
Making gingerbread chocolate-chip pumpkin muffins for snack.
Making something yummy for dinner.
Helping with homework with extra patience,
and reading an extra chapter or two of Huckleberry Finn.

Also: making time for friends and support (walks, special meetings out).
Looking for the bright spots and encouraging him (them) to do the same.
Enjoying the warm and cozy glow.
Let's hope this helps restore hope and nurtures optimism.
Putting the focus on what's most important...

thankful thursday

Today I am thinking about the many, many things I am thankful for.
First off is my family. Minou and those two p'tit minous make my life shine like nothing else.
My mom. Living close to her is fantastic.
Friends who are like family.
Good health.

All the basics, which I realize daily I shouldn't take for granted:
Comfortable and beautiful shelter. Healthy food to eat. Access to medical care.
A safe neighborhood to walk, bike, and exercise in.
Ways to get around where I need to go.
More than enough clothing to cover myself (and then some).

Education, which opened up my world. Books. A great public library!

Also, I have been so lucky with my work position and coworkers.
They are a  wonderful, compassionate, committed, fun, smart group of people.
It's been a great two years there.

up & down

I have been driving up and down the freeway...

This morning I was up bright and early, all ready to poke people and get poked myself,
looking forward to some IV skills retraining in the big city of Portland.
Feeling excited and just a little anxious...

A spaghetti of concrete freeway bridges and a bright red sun rising in the hazy autumn morning sky. Fires in the eastern part of our state are very evident in the valley.
Dusty urban brick buildings and cars, cars, cars (and cyclists) first thing in the morning.

And...surprise! Class canceled. Jump back in the car, back down the road, back to work.
Disappointment: I was all ready and anticipating!
Relief: my forearms are intact.

I had a great evening visit with our friends the Yurt People, but I am so, so, so disappointed not to have the evening to spend with my dear friend and Public Health Goddess H.

It was fun to surprise the family this evening, though. "Mama? What are you doing here?!"

dear departing daughters

Two friends of mine, amazing women, mothers, and nurses both, just said goodbye to their only daughters this week. The late-teen daughters set off around the globe on adventures in two countries, one in Asia and one in Europe. One daughter will be gone for one year and one for four years, both to study.

Both my friends are so excited for their daughters, proud, worked to make this happen. It's a testament to their parenting that their daughters have become the smart, confident, capable and inquisitive young women that they are, heading off to explore the larger world and realize their dreams. But it's hard. The daughters are dearly missed.

Now, I don't happen to have any daughters, myself. But I am a daughter, and I remember setting off on my own study abroad adventure many years ago. I remember the dismay in my mom's face as she said "China? Are you sure?...Will I ever see you again?"

But she let me go in the end, with encouragement, love, air mail envelopes (no internet then) and long underwear. Thankfully, my friends and their daughter now have Skype and email, as well as long underwear. And always, love and encouragement.