Ouch! I Think I Sprained My Ego

D: See Wrigley? See how I'm not picking the ladybug up with my fingers? I'm just putting my hand in front of her and she can choose to climb up if she wants to. (after several unsuccessful attempts to entice the ladybug into my hand, I say) Obviously, she doesn't want to be picked up.

W: Maybe she's just afraid of old people.

Tidbits

Here are some random past conversations and compositions of Wrigley's:

Seven little bumblebees
sitting on trees
gathering their pollen
fly away back to their hive
and make the pollen into honey
and eating it for winter
********
Summer sun summer sun
way up there in the open sky
see it rise, rise
it's so big you know that
summer is here
********
"I'm a dog. I'm a dog. I really don't like being a dog, but I really can't change it. I am a dog."
********
W - "I am not a reglyer dolphin."
M - "Oh, what kind of dolphin are you?"
W - "They live in the Midwest underwater with their clothes on."
*********
And here are a couple of photos of Wrigley checking to see if Lentil is right about harmonicas sounding best in the bathtub.

Good Advice

Camping: noun, meaning "an family-friendly activity designed to create dirty laundry at astronomical rates. From the Latin "camp" ("without showers") and "ping" (“to play table tennis").

Of all the advice our (poor, poor, blogless) friends Nicholette and Brook gave us about camping (along with a trunk full of camping equipment), the best advice was this: If you wake up in the middle of the night and you have to pee, just get up and go to the bathroom. Don't think about how cold it is or how far the bathroom is, just get up and go. Otherwise, you'll lie in your tent all night, not sleeping, getting colder and colder, and you'll just end up going to the bathroom anyways."

So when I woke up in the middle of the night last night, I only mumbled and grumbled for a couple of minutes before beginning the trek to the potty. After about 15 feet of walking through trees, I stumbled into the field next to our campsite: I have never been happier to take a friend's advice. The moon was full last night, or nearly so, and it hung high in the sky. The entire field was awash in blue light, bright as daylight. As I walked further and further from the camp, sounds slipped away. Eventually, I heard nothing but the crunch of my footsteps on gravel.

For those two minutes, just me and the moon, alone in a field of blue grass, I completely understood the allure of camping.

Where've We Been?

There is always an element to gambling when heading to the Oregon (or Washington) coast in the Summer. Once, we drove all the way there and it was so windy and cold that after we played on the parking lot side of the sand dune for twenty minutes we turned around and headed the two hours home. We did stop at one of our favorite favorite (just after the Hash House A Go Go) resturants on the way home, so the trip wasn't a total loss. Another time, Wrigley and her friends swam in pools on the beach on a sunny warm February day. Go figure.

This summer we headed to the Long Beach Peninsula on the South Washington Coast to stay in Ocean Park. We enjoyed ourselves immensly despite having only a single hour of sun all week. Every cloud cover has its silver lining, though. Three different groups of friends (apparently this summer was go to Long Beach summer) that went to the peninsula before and after us had sun and so much wind the beach wasn't much fun. We had no wind at all, so we played on the beach everyday.


We stayed at Shakti Cove in Ocean Park. It was an excellent place for people who like to walk. We walked at least a couple miles each day - to the store, to the bay, to the beach, and to the ice cream. Wrigley was a real trooper when we took her on a two plus mile hike through Leadbetter Point. Ed and I each finally found unbroken sand dollars. Wrigley walked the whole 1.3 miles there and walked about a third of the way back. Ed and I took turns telling a story about a crocodile who moves to Florida and a mouse who moves from Florida to Oregon. So long as the story kept going, the feet kept moving.

We discovered the Cottage Bakery in Long Beach, home of really really big doughnuts. Ed recommends the Devil Dog.

Wrigley met a couple of 7 year old twins and had a fabulous time making mud pies with them. For about an hour all four adults in the two familes read in deck chairs (wearing sweatshirts and jackets and sipping coffee). Ed and I read and read and played gin rummy. I was reminded about how much I dislike Scrabble. We stayed off the internet for a week (it's possible!) , but watched baseball and The Daily Show each night. I started and undid my new knitting project about five times (that is in addition to the half dozen times I started and undid the same project before the vacation). I am having a hard time determining the exact shape of this new purse. All in all we did a bunch of the stuff we love to do.

Here is a slideshow of more photos.

Sumthin' for Nuthin'

Free concerts in the park... a great excuse to eat in a park with your friends while your kid runs free and dances with a balloon. Does it get much better than this?

You're it!

Tagged by Romy ...

10 years ago: I was preparing for my first full year as a teacher, at Clackamas High. We had just bought our first house. I don't think, in late July, we had even moved in yet. What a terrifying experience. Talk about committment! We had been married for less than a year, and the committment required to say, "I will spend the rest of my life with you" was nothing compared to the obligation of a 30 year loan!

5 years ago: I was telling people that there really wasn't much difference between Bush and Gore, so I was voting for Nader. Um, oops? I was spending carefree, lazy summers while my hardworking wife bustled off to work every day. Man, I miss those easy summers.

1 year ago: We had just returned from three weeks in Breckenridge. While we were gone, our cat moved in with the neighbors across the street. Though she grudgingly accepted our food, she didn't truly forgive us until the weather turned cold. The neighbors behind us planted sunflowers that stood taller than the fence. We would eat dinner on the back deck, watching the robins dine on the huge sunflower heads. I planted half a dozen cosmos before we left, and spent a good deal of time in July and August deadheading them. Found a nice poem in there. I'm sorry that neither I nor the neighbors replanted.

Yesterday: Spent a good deal of time procrastinating about this post. In the morning, we went berry picking on Sauvie Island. I thought I found a poem there, but it didn't want to come home with me. Too bad. In the afternoon, while Christie chatted with some friends about O! Pioneers, I painted a bird feeder with Wrig. Then I slapped a little paint on our house - we'll be painting this August and we thought we'd found a winner. Wrong-o!

Today: We were awoken by a cinnamon roll-french-toast-breakfast-delivery from Jeff and Cindi. Oh my! Nothing like a little sugar rush to start the day. Ambled to the park with Wrig. Bought more paint samples. Hit the grocery store and the library. Nibbled on berries all day today.

Tomorrow: Muffin making in the morning, testing paint in the afternoon. Christie and Wrig are headed off to swim lessons (I'm really hoping Christie finally works up the courage to put her face in the water!). In the evening, we'll be headed to Sellwood Riverfront Park for a little zydeco!

5 snacks I enjoy: apples with peanut butter, banana smoothies, snap pea crisps (we call them green cheetos), havarti and crackers, anything sweet

5 bands/singers I know the lyrics of most of their songs: Dire Straits, TMBG, Violent Femmes, Boomtown Rats, Lyle Lovett

5 things I would do with a $100,000,000: Find a way to teach high schoolers without having to wake up at 5:30 am, knock down my house and build a new one in the same location, pay someone a considerable amount of money to keep my life weed free, travel compulsively, buy a baseball team (or at least season tickets)

5 locations I’d like to run away to: Honestly, I don't want to run away anywhere (though, for some reason, the thought "I'm going to move to Canada" keeps popping into my head).

5 bad habits I have: laziness, sweet toothiness, sarcasm, not paying attention while driving, mindlessly surfing the 'net.

5 things I like doing: playing guitar, listening to baseball on the radio, playing games, napping, eating dessert

5 things I would never wear: I'm not likely to be seen in a tux again any time soon.

5 TV shows I like: The only thing I watch on tv is baseball, basketball, and football. I miss Homicide: Life on the Streets and The Simpsons.

5 movies I like: The Fisher King, Casablanca, The Princess Bride, Pulp Fiction, Young Frankenstein

5 famous people I’d like to meet: Shakespeare, Kurt Vonnegut, Laurie Anderson, um ... I secretly suspect that most famous people are A-holes and - even though I like their work - I wouldn't really like to know them.

5 biggest joys at the moment: sleep, Harry Potter #6 (only a dozen chapters to go), cuddling in a wide variety of forms, free live outdoor music, chipotle chile powder

5 favorite toys: the Squish (it's my all time favorite kid's toy), my guitar, any power tool, iTunes, glow in the dark juggling balls. Bonus favorite toy: whatever Christie is currently fidgeting with.

I tag: Stephanie, Ali, Lesley, and Julie and/or David

Sunny California

Everything about California makes me cranky. Everything. The entire state leaves me dumbfounded. I don’t understand who so many people can conspire to create such vast ugliness. I know such ugliness sprouts up around the country and the world, so it’s not just the Californian’s fault, but I’m having difficult reconciling the apparently antagonistic concepts of human nature and nature.

Actually, almost everything about California makes me cranky: I took a quick walk out to the car in my bare feet. For me, the feeling of bare feet on hot asphalt is a particularly “California” feeling, and for a moment I felt sweetly nostalgic. I’m just not certain what I felt nostalgic for.

Carlsbad, CA is experiencing a “red tide,” which (naturally) turns the water brown. JD and Courtney agreed that it was just a “Galveston tide.” At night, the algae turn phosphorescent, lining the cresting waves with an electric shade of green. Truly a lovely sight.

Heaven, Thy Name is Hash House a-Go-Go: We went down to San Diego to visit long-time friends Krista, Bryant, and Amanda. Krista owns (and is owned by) her own ice cream shop (Golden Delights – all natural, handmade ice cream! Yum. Go visit if you ever make it down to San Diego).

We spent the afternoon sampling away (I highly recommend the red mint chip – which, unlike the tide, is red – and the ginger. Wrigley had TWO dishes of ice cream in the same day. For dinner, we went to the Hash House a-Go-Go, which is a truly amazing dining experience. While we were waiting for our food, Wrig and I went for a walk to let of some energy (did I mention all that whipped cream? and the sprinkles?). When I returned, the waitress had delivered a bowl of huge rolls. I’d say they were about the size of croquet balls. With great fanfare and build-up, the whole table revealed to me the exciting news that these were not just rolls – they were biscuits! And they were as fluffy as they were big. And for my entrée? Sage fried chicken served on top of a … bacon waffle tower. Let me repeat that: BACON. WAFFLE. TOWER. We’re going to Legoland on Thursday and I cannot think of any structure you could make out of Legos that would be nearly as impressive as a BACON. WAFFLE. TOWER.

Go Buy Train (tickets)

When you travel with the airlines, your flight can arrive exactly on time yet you arrive so stressed that the first two days of your vacation are ruined. When you travel by train, you can arrive four hours late (in the middle of the night, no less, and after 36 hours of travel) and feel refreshed and ready to take on the day. Go figure.

Picture this: it’s about 4:30 am. You’ve had about three and a half hours of sleep. The gray light of dawn creeps through the half open curtains of your cabin. Your daughter sits at the foot of your bed, wrapped in a blue fleece like a babushka (it’s her turtle shell, naturally), reporting with wide eyed wonder everything that slides by your train. I don’t think I’ve been more relaxed in my three year career as an amateur Dad.

Heaven, Thy Name is Chocolate Pyramid: A chocolate pyramid is a chocolate mousse desssert (desssert is spelled with three s’s because you can’t help but want more than two!) in the form of a … pyramid (well, duh). Surrounding the pyramid’s base are delicate clouds of whipped cream. Inside the pyramid is a puddle of molten vanilla crème. It tastes even better than it sounds; I’m literally salivating as I type this.

Our train stopped in both Sacramento (where we saw somebody get arrested from our window) and Davis (where we saw probably 50 bikes locked up at the train station bike racks). As we rolled through the Central Valley – sad brown hills dotted with scrubby trees, I said to Christie, “Oh. So this is why I never went hiking or camping when I was a kid.”