greenclogs

summer radio silence

Summertime has arrived with our annual decampment to the beach. This year it's only 2 weeks (I know -poor me) but there will be many day and quick overnight trips for the rest of the summer and fall. Last year when we left the beach, I swore that when we came back this year it would be for good, and we came darned close to that. We're only 75 miles away now. While I'd rather be here full time, things like steady income and good schooling choices make living in Portland our best option for the next few years. 

We'll be soaking up salty air and sand in our shoes for another week and I'll report on our doings when we get home. There are many. Beach discovery for the littlest being the most prevalent. 

I have declared this to be the screen-free summer now that we're able to be outside and exploring instead of hiding from the giant scorching fireball in the sky. I'll try to check in once a week or so but if I don't then you'll know that we're busy outside where we belong. 

Have a great week, friends. We have some digging to do, a fire pit to build, and sticks to gather. xoxo from the beach.

all about the food

One of the reasons we look forward to the beach so much is that we can indulge in the fresh local food. We regularly shop at our farmer's market in Arizona and enjoy it, but much of the produce at the market is trucked in from California. There isn't enough farmland in the Phoenix area to support much more than restaurant supply for a few restaurants and limited farmer's market offerings. Truly eating local food is difficult at best. When we come to Oregon, we can fully commit to eating local, fresh food. After a seriously rainy spring that delayed harvests, our Cannon Beach market opened last week to the community's delight. Gunnar took charge of the camera while I spent our farmer's market dollars. 

We came home with eggs, ground beef, blue cheese, baguette, Romano green beans, carrots, green onions, English peas, snap peas, salad mix, raspberries and strawberries, salted butter, mushrooms, and 3 small pies (for taste testing purposes, of course).We've enjoyed our peas, carrots and onions with the salad mix, ate our baguette with the butter and the blue cheese, had sauteed mushrooms over panfried polenta, and ate the berries right out of the box. We carefully split the three individual pies into 4 portions each and tasted apple-huckleberry, marionberry and rhubarb (it was a split decision on the best). Last night we made sloppy joes with the local beef and onions over homemade biscuits and this morning we ate leftover biscuits with scrambled eggs and Tillamook cheese. This weekend we'll finish off our bounty, except the eggs and butter and be ready for another trip on Tuesday. I think we eat so much better when we stick to what's available at the local farmer's market, with short trips to the grocery store for staples like milk, flour, rice and pasta. The kids are excited about the trip to the market and about preparing foods that we can't always get at home, like the beautiful maitake mushrooms. 

There are so many reasons why I love coming home in the summertime, and this is a big one. I hope you all are enjoying your local farmer's markets as well. Supporting local, sustainable agriculture is so important. While I feel sad that we can't fully eat the way we want to year round, I'm thrilled to support Arizona agriculture in the winter/spring, and Oregon in the summer. I'm a lucky woman, indeed. 

knock knock.... is this thing on?

Umm, hi!! I've been gone for a while. Spent a week at my in-law's house where my computer had no internet, but Jeff's did (thanks to a fancy wireless work modem) so I had no motivation to take mine somewhere. Now to get back in the habit of the blogging. We're in Seattle until Wednesday and staying at my mom's house now, where there is wifi! Yay! Then we head for Montana for a few days before beginning the journey back home to the heat. 

Rather than trying to catch up everything, I'm going to just say "whew! we have had so much fun! trust me!" and move forward. However, I do need to share the day that we spent with Lecia because it was such a great day. 

We went to the beach, because Lecia is lucky enough to live across the street from the beach. Her older son and Annika are the same age, and they were two peas in a pod. All four kids played and played without a cross word for hours on end. So we talked and talked. Lecia is a thoughtful, funny and warm person - she's such a pleasure to be around. It was like being with an old friend. 

The kids played with sticks (why are sticks always guns? why?)

me: Annika, is that your telescope?

Annika: no, Mom. It's my bazooka. 

Lecia and I looked for pretties on the beach, and Gunnar helped. We found shells and beach glass and rocks. We speculated on how the tile and the brick got on the beach. Some things we left for others to discover as well. 

A really great day. Thanks Lecia!!

much better now

First of all, THANK YOU. All of you. You are so very sweet and kind and understanding about me and my issues. I was brought to grateful tears so many times by both the comments and sweet emails. Mothering (parenting) is tough business sometimes, and it's so much better when there is support and understanding. So much better. 

Secondly, I apologize for leaving my whininess up for so long. We decided to accompany Jeff to San Diego for a conference. When I booked his hotel on Hotwire (which I love, btw) he was booked into the one hotel in San Diego that has an open pet policy, which meant no finding a pet sitter. Whee! We packed our bags and we all piled into the car and headed west. 

I'm digging the bugs on the windshield. You're looking at the view that we had for the bulk of the drive to San Diego, other than the curvy mountain pass with high winds that were not so fun. 

We arrived, unloaded, and headed with the dogs around the corner to Petco Park for a potty break and some playground fun. The grassy area of the park is open to the public other than on game days, and it's the meeting spot for downtown folks with dogs. By the way - my dogs were amazing. We've never brought them to a hotel before and had a small twinge of dread. They were perfection. Polite, well mannered, and firmly in control of their bladders and intestinal systems. I was very very proud. I also discovered that they won't take off down the beach if I let them off the leash and that they will return when called. Charlie, who is my phobic dog, got over his fear of riding in the car, discovered and overcame his suspicion of the elevator, and learned to love the ocean. They both charmed the pants off of the hotel staff and guests alike. Well, not literally, but you know what I mean. 

After that? We went to the beach. And that's pretty much it. 

(have you ever seen a dirtier dog? I have not.)

We had the Best Time Ever. I brought a book that I didn't read. I was too busy watching my kids and my dogs run on the beach (we were at the dog beach on Coronado) and frolic and play and get wet and filthy and come dry off and eat and then go back for more. Oh, were they exhausted. We'd get back to the hotel and they would just crash. As I was standing there watching and listening to the waves crash, I felt an enormous wave of peace. And I was grateful. 

Thank you, friends. I don't know what I'd do without you. 

all about the science

A primary purpose of the trip to San Francisco (as if one needs a purpose) was a visit to the newly reopened California Academy of Sciences. We loved loved loved it. The building is a Platinum LEED certified building that houses a fully digitized planetarium, an aquarium, a rainforest biosphere, and comprehensive exhibits on global warming and evolution. What did we learn?

That we're pretty green in our living and can do even better if we minimize our driving (this was the perfect way to drive that point home to the kids). Notice on the picture that we do no public transportation. Boo Phoenix and its terrible public transit system. When we were in San Francisco, we never even thought about getting in the car. We were saved by our low driving miles and our high bike riding. 

That the food we love may not be so great for the planet. This exhibit prompted Gunnar to try a week of eating vegetarian. We talked a lot about responsible meat eating and supporting local farms and ranches with our meat buying. 

That small things all add up to make a big difference. All these little slips of paper add up to a whole lot of change. 

We marveled at the space and the exhibits. 

the green roof and the skylights

aquatic wonders

fantastic creatures made even more fantastic by the steamy spooky setting

butterflies flying around our heads

So many wonders and so many things to ponder. So go. Observe. Learn. And do. We are. 

San Francisco, city of my heart

too tired for lots of words, so here's our photo essay of the last two days. 

our home for the week in the Richmond District

 

some of the food options within a block - we're totally overwhelmed by choices. So many choices. We could be here for a year and never try them all.

food for the eyes - all the details to be discovered while we meander. 

watching my kiddos explore the city and rediscover their urban selves. 

Tomorrow I'll talk about today - our trip to the CA Academy of Sciences and what a powerful experience we had there. 

Oh, and for those of you who stuck around to the end:

Those signs are here too. Remember your poo bags! The neighbors are watching. 

vacation day one - Morro Bay

We meant to get further along the road but the resulting traffic from  this event (that we were very unaware was happening) meant that it took us an extra 3 hours to get through Palm Springs. I will say that we saw some really impressive/wasteful off road vehicles, trucks and shiny trailers. A lot of them. So, we drove to Ventura, filled up on our make it yourself Belgian waffles in the motel lounge, brought along our bowls of froot loops and hit the road. We detoured at Morro Bay because Annika wanted to see the beach. Here's our little photo essay of the day.

hot cocoa and a book from Top Dog. Super little place with a really friendly owner.

stealing mommy's coffee. He doesn't care that it may stunt his growth.

down to the water with the birthday boy (did I mention that he's 39 today? He is and he isn't very happy about it)

I have a thing for strange shrubbery. Someday I want to publish a coffee table book about the weird things people do to their plants. I think this one could be cover worthy. How do you make a shrub look obese?

The birthday boy. Did I mention that he is 39 now? He is giving me the look that he gives me when I say things like "how does it feel to be in your 40th year?" 

Seriously? We were wondering if it's okay for people.

We got back on the road, stopped in Sunnyvale to kiss the nephews and headed into the City. We're happily settled into a vacation rental apartment in San Francisco. We walked one block to sushi for Jeff's birthday dinner. One. Block. And it was delicious. And the tuna rolls were $1.99. I want to live here forever. 

Pine

After our wild adventures at the swimming hole and a much less squirrelly drive back up the side of the mountain, we went back to the house and rested a bit. There was an auction of chairs painted by artists going on in Pine, so we piled a couple of kids into the car and headed down the road a few miles.

We found the better way to drive around on the local roads.

When we walked up to the auction site, we discovered that the entry fee was $12 a person and $60 was more than we were willing to spend to look at fancy chairs and eat questionable appetizers so we moseyed on down the road to the Honey Stand.

This was nothing like the honey at the local grocery store. There were several different kinds of honey, ranging from pale golden to a deep reddish brown in color, which is the honey that comes from pecan blossoms.

It was delicious - full of deep, rich flavor. We ended up opting for the big jar to the right of it - the local Pine Wildflower honey, which was also so much more complex in flavor than your everyday clover honey. Last night we ate it on cornbread with our ribs. mmmm....

We headed back to the cabin in the woods for a night out on the deck watching the bats swoop by and prepared to head back home to our last week of summer before school starts next week. This week is that much sweeter with our fun weekend memories and honey drizzled on our toast.

And wishing we were still sitting here, resting for a spell.

wave a magic wand

And we'll be on vacation instead of packing boxes! I thought I'd share some of our vacation pics as a distraction from my Very Boring Week. I apologize if some of these are repeats from my brief posts while traveling.

The sweet nephews. When we went back 3 weeks later, the wee one was so much bigger. Amazing to see the changes that take place in that amount of time.

We learned spoon balancing from the masters.

 

We drove and drove until we arrived here.

 

And suddenly the drive was all worth it. Tomorrow - the beach.

back on the wagon

The blog wagon that is. We rolled into town this afternoon, and I'm digging us out of dirty laundry, mixed up travel bins, and collected road trip stuff, along with facing the fact that my dear husband was solely devoted to studying for the bar exam while we were gone. That's a good thing, but I'm still marveling at his ability to not see things that are right in his way. Singleminded, that man is! Jeff - if you try to rebut me, I will just delete your commentary. You've been warned. I just think it's part of your everlasting charm.

The trip was fab. Really really wonderful. I'll have a lot to say about it and about all of the reflecting that was done on the trip, as well as the completed crafts (!!) and the treasures we found. There's much to tell, but I'll sum it up by saying that I spent 4 weeks straight with my kids and never tired of them. We had a fantastic time together. I think G is ready to spend time with another child - any child not named Annika - but he didn't truly tire of her until the last couple of days. I think that's a big accomplishment for a 10 year old boy with a very talkative 6 year old sister.

I'll start trying mightily to answer the comments that have piled up while I had very limited internet access, but if I miss yours, please forgive me. I did read every one of them - I'm glad you stuck with me.

Now on to packing! We're just moving about 10 miles away, to a neighborhood that is near the kids' school and will allow me to lead a nearly car-free life once it cools off a bit - a rarity in Phoenix. We're really excited about the move and I'm dying to start purging stuff. Living out of your car for a month teaches you a lot about what you really need.

You know what I do need? Internet service. It's good to be home.