school's in

Rowan and I are both back in school. I didn't take a picture of me like last year, but it was a different scene altogether. Today I had the syllabus and notes printed out before class, and zoomed there on my scooter.

Last year, I had a six-week-old, and I took the light rail and was pumping. I had no idea what to expect and I stacked my classes so I was gone for so long. I had my parents coming to help out, and no plan for when I'd get homework done. It was very stressful.

That was really hard. I'm very glad we're all a bit older and wiser, and that my little boys seem mostly unaffected by my craziness. This morning, thanks to not having homework (yet) and our babysitter Danielle, I was able to can the pear apricot butter I made, and actually do all of the dishes. For the first time (and hopefully only) One of my jars broke when I set it in the canner. It sounded like a little pop.

And then there was goop all over in the water, and I had to wash it all out and start the water boiling again.

G is doing a lot of traveling this month, so i'll have to be a bit more disciplined going to bed. it is so much easier for me to stay up late than get up early. But I'd better, because the boys like getting up all night long.

Must be harvest time

First, a picture of REAL food. Okay, I know it's an ugly picure, but it tasted like heaven. Believe me. This is a tomato grown from Monroe farms, smeared Seville-style on Bread from the Denver Bread company. drizzle with Olive oil. sprinkle with salt. Y-u-m.

So the tomatoes are in, and I got to go out to Monroe Farms and pick a couple of boxes to put up for the winter. When I got there, I realized they were also letting us pick green chiles, and then firing up the roaster to roast them. So of course, I picked a huge flat of those, then they were roasted and then sealed in a huge plastic bag to sweat and cool (I think this is the trick if you have some you're trying at home--let them sit sealed in the plastic bag until they are cool, then you can peel them easily).

Very satisfied with all this bounty, I returned home, to the work part!!! I was already canning apple sauce and apple butter because our next door neighbors' trees are busting this year and you can't beat the price or the commute!

We started up all the burners between cooking down the tomatoes for sauce [pizza night!] and peeling the whole tomatoes for use in many crock pot recipes. That, and all the canning stuff.... our house was roasting.

George and I are still trying to figure out how to be a canning family. It drives him crazy to have all these projects going on, all half finished of course. It takes over practically the whole house, and oh yeah, we still have two small children who demand most of our attention. :)

Between all of it, we put up about 15 quarts of tomatoes, 8 pints of sauce, and we've got all the tomatoes that weren't quite ripe yet and were set on the saw in the garage now calling our names. I know it was really normal very recently to can, but now I seem like the wierd one. The thing is, it's the most eco-friendly proposition ever (besides the diaper-less baby).

1. Stuff gets ripe, you pull out your jars from last year, maybe buy new lids (2 bucks)

2. Can all the food you can, pull it out throughout the year and remember your hot weekend in the kitchen. After use, clean the jar and put it back in the closet.

3. Repeat.

Almost no waste, because of course all the junk you cut off of or peel goes into the compost (to help feed your plants next year. Seriously cheap too. and way better if another farm grows the food for you, and you step in at the last minute, like I get to at Monroe!!

Check out that shot of Rowan cranking out the tomatoes for sauce, did you ever see a cuter shot?

So besides all that, i'm unsure of what i'll do with the 20 pounds of pears that are about to be ripe on the counter, but I'm pretty sure it'll end up in the slow cookers for pear sauce. The boys absolutely love it, and we can put it on their oatmeal every morning. one grain, one fruit. voila.

School started for Rowan this week, and next week, when it starts for me, then it'll get interesting. I'm always optimistic that I'll have "time" when i'm not in class, but what happens is that I run like a crazy woman trying to cram in fun and other stuff that i've ignored [like bills] and are falling by the wayside.

Today I took the luxury of going out on my road bike for the first time since I was pregnant with Milo. Yes folks, that would be just about two years... Our babysitter, Danielle was with the boys because this is when I'll normally be freaking out about school work and going to class. I felt like cheating cruising away from the house for a bike ride! I guess two years is long enough to wait.

Thankfully, my trusty gray bike has been pulling the boys around, but it's not the same I tell you. My beauty bike is far more tight and faster. George dusted her off yesterday, thank goodness. You can't be a fancy bike and dusty!

We had playgroup at our house yesterday, and that was really fun. It is surreal to watch these children growing and changing, and I feel so tender for them all. Having this group has been amazing. I should have taken pictures. I will bring the camera next time.

Still Summer

We have had so much fun after the PI ended. Me especially, not having to worry about figuring out how to finish my homework and arrange childcare. After a week of getting organized and recovering, we jumped on a plane to the east coast and got to play at the beach in Cape Cod. What unbelievable weather, and water, and fun sand and family! Rowan and Milo got to hang out with Gino, their cousin, and we got to see the grandparents without jetlag! It's been four days since we returned, and the first time both boys are sleeping at the same time. You wouldn't think this is such a big deal, but it makes such a difference in a day.

On Monday, after dinner, George and the boys were sitting in the front yard and I ran inside to get the phone, when we heard all of this crackling. Half of our crabapple tree in back fell down on the fence, and remarkably, very little damage was done... except of course to the tree! That event called for a little Monday evening chainsaw excitement after that, with George donning the traditional carhartt bib overalls, etc. and now we've got a nice little stash of apple wood to burn in the chiminea this winter. I am pushing for a second garden bed (when the rest of the tree dies) so that I can rotate our compost from bed to bed, and rotate the few crops we have, but George stubbornly doesn't want any more work. I just don't know what to do with him sometimes!!

We knew the tree was dying, but as they say, hope springs eternal, and so we just keep waiting for it to stop dying and return to its former glory. I think eventually we will get a peach tree or two, and another garden bed, especially if I promise to always let one go dormant. :)

I am just thrilled with the produce from our CSA, and we got a special treat to swing by Chubby Bunny farm (in CT) on the way to Cape Cod, and pick up a weeks worth of veg (as Tracy says) to feed our family. We even got a half gallon of milk from Patches, their cow!!! Talk about lucky. I'm not sure there is anything more earth mother than seeing Tracy (pregnant) milking (by hand) her very own cow!!
Of course, Rowan was thrilled to see the pigs, and he and Bea got to hide in the corn, which he thought was so fun. Truth be told, it's all amazing to us too. In their barn was vast quanitities of Garlic drying (or I'm not sure if you call it curing, or what) and all the food, it just feels so revolutionary to know someone who grows the food you eat. We never get to stay there long enough. We have seen approximately 7 minutes of Dan, the life of a farmer is no life of leisure folks, in case you didn't already know this.
Our vacations are too short. This is a national problem, for sure, but certainly we should be able to do something about it! George left work here, and just relaxed. It was nice to see him do that and the last two vacations for him mostly consist of submit-to-what-Rowan-wants-to-do time, and that usually involves sand, dirt, water or soccer balls. In other words, not too bad of a life!

i'm going to upload some pics, then I need to get back to making dinner.

Remembering one

Remembering back to when Rowan turned one, here's what it looked like. My parents, G's parents, us, all..... watching everything that Rowan was doing. We blew out the candle for him, and so is it really any different that he blew out Milo's? nope.

ahem, it's over now, so much for a weekly update

Here is a photo from Milo's birthday. Milo wasn't too sure about the whipping cream that I put as frosting on his zucchini cake (yay Monroe). Rowan was able to help him out by sticking his finger in it, shoving it in m's mouth, and showing him how tasty it was. That was all it took. I sometimes worry about Milo not getting his own gig, but truth be told, it was a much more joyous and fun occasion with Rowan there to spice it up, and bring his little bro up to speed. Not so many adults watching this single one year old. I also had the benefit of experience to recharge the camera batteries which I DIDN'T do for Rowan, and the camera died as the candle was lit on his first birthday... ah well.

Funnily enough, I haven't had another minute to post since the beginning of the course! To sum it up in a sentence or so... Tons of information on my favorite industry.

The sense I got was that all people know that books will change, they're not sure exactly how, but that the "end of the book" has been repeatedly been threatened and hasn't happened yet. I'm not really sure how I see it all, except that I predict that there will be some sort of split in the types of books..... Books that help with research or provide information are much more natural in digital format. As for cuddling up with a Kindle, or the future generation of the ebook, when reading some good tasty fiction-- I don't know that it's going to be a transition like that.

In other news... (I could write about the Dpi for days, but I will spare you all.) Milo is WALKING! I have never seen a cuter child besides my Rowan. Can you tell who the mom is? Seriously, what amazingly cute boys we have.

AND there's three more adorable babies in our life. Welcome Emerson (born on Milo's bday) and Mason, Aug 4 and Michelle sharing that day too! It will be so fun to watch them grow and change. Our mom's group is a total crazy miracle of babies and siblings now. It'll be so fun by next year this time-can our houses handle all these guys?!

I am finally actually sending out our Solstice (ahem, only 8 months late) cards with our picture, so now maybe we'll make it to your fridge if you forgive us for being so tardy. I'm amazed that it happened at all, but it was my single goal this summer besides the pi.

Summer here has been really toasty warm. Tonight though, it's about 60 degrees, and steadily pouring rain... for more than an HOUR. This barely happens here! It is a huge blessing, and feels so cleansing.

We can't wait to get to the coast to be with the Messinas in a couple of weeks. George is beside himself waiting. I hope I can actually post some pics from it because we have come back from really fun trips or had great visits with friends, and then I realize that there's no record here.

For example, we got to visit Tracy and Dan at Chubby Bunny Farm (their CSA) and I never wrote about it, or posted the adorable pics of Rowan and Bea playing-- and that was in April!

And I also drug(dragged?) the kids to Kansas with me and we descended upon Kim and Blake in Manhattan, it was so fun, and I hardly took a picture there! They survived the nights with us, Milo doing an extra spectacular show for them. (sorry sorry sorry again)

And then the following week we got to actually see Jimmy and Marianne and their beautiful girls, got to bunk in their snazzy house far from them so that Milo wouldn't keep them awake, and lo and behold, he slept all night. *sigh* I am almost completely terrible at predicting what these boys will do. They constantly keep me guessing.

I can't wait for Saturday, I get to go meet Mason, and visit Megan and Scott. G is going to hold down the fort with the boys. Today my celebration began though, for the end of the Pi, because we got to go to the zoo with Cindie and the girls. What fun, to traipse around all morning. They were holding mock interviews, and tomorrow, the real ones for the pub industry, and I am in the peculiar place of actually wanting to get a job in the field, but having it be totally unrealistic!!!

School and boys 24/7 is enough right now. oh yeah, and my other four projects/responsibilities on the side.

I'll talk about them some day, maybe. I can't imagine you want to hear/read it.

:) Happy August. Does anyone have hope for the election this fall? Oh yeah, the DNC is here in a couple of weeks. I'll have to post a blog about it, or I'll be the only one who doesn't!!!

Publishing Institute, week 1

I'm almost a full week into the publishing institute, and for the first time today I wasn't sprinting out the door or anxiously (and compulsively) looking at my phone to see if there were any text messages. *big sigh* I never doubted that we would make it, I know it'll be fine, but it is a really big shift in my days.
Considering I almost never stop moving, from when I wake up until well past 9 pm, sitting still in a lecture seat for hours on end is proving to be a big adjustment itself. I have found out about some amazing people in this industry, and wish that I could work with them.
While I love many things in the library world, and enjoy library school, I wouldn't mind getting to meet the most dynamic, innovative people in the field and see if I could work for/with them!!! That's what the publishing institute is all about.
The owner and founder of Sourcebooks delivered the keynote on Monday and in addition to being utterly amazing, she turned me on to some of the coolest books... One "poetry speaks to children" and also the original adult version "Poetry Speaks" please go find these books and buy them. I want them to be in your life, and to support such an amazing person.
And since I'm doing shout-outs.... Ani Difranco did an interview with mindful mama magazine, and you should check this out as well as the mag. Did you see her interview in Mothering too? When I went to Oregon last year, Scott had a copy of this random architectural/design magazine and lo and behold...........! Ani! She is cooler at every turn.
I can't say that I can name quickly many living heroes/heroines in my life, but Ani Difranco jumps quickly from my tongue. And now Dominique Raccah has joined her. Along with the Head honcho lady at the Penrose Library, Nancy... um better find out her last name. She delivered an energizing and provocative speech last year at my orientation. I'd better thank her for that.
Three women! I know I can make a longer list. and this doesn't include my closer friends and family.
In biggest news of all, my baby is ONE!!!! Milo's birthday on July 14th was really celebrated over the weekend. I tell you, I felt so gleeful and happy and nostalgic and proud to have this baby boy. He is a real joy and we think he's going to be a big joker too. I could feel his birthday as a milestone in a way it didn't hit me with Rowan's first birthday, and I'm not sure I can explain why the difference. They are both just treasures, what a lucky mommy I am.

Adventures with the Chariot

To the slightly scary motorcycle guy who brought our flatted chariot, my bike, and the boys home with me in that pickup truck:

Thank you so much, I appreciate your kindness, and your willingness to leave your duties at the shop. I tried to fix the flat, after removing the large piece of glass from the tire. I would have replaced the tube, but I had the wrong replacement size, (for the stroller) and when I arrived home, we discovered about fifteen other slices in the tube, next to my one nice little patch.

I do however, disagree with one of your bumper stickers, which actually scared me much more than you did. The one that said: "Anti-war = Pro-terrorist"

I am decidedly anti-war, for many reasons, but in particular because I am a mother and cannot stand the thought of losing my children, as women all over our strife-ridden planet are, in large part because of war.

I don't think this makes me pro-terrorist. That's the problem with bumper stickers, they aren't open for conversation though. I did put one on our car though, with a decidedly more positive message.