March :: Out Like A Lamb? Never.

Awesome sign painted by yours truly for the ceremony

Last week we attended the Tomales Elementary School's Honor Roll Ceremony.  G received the highest honor, Principal's List, for his straight A's and 4.0 GPA and he was beaming and so proud of himself.  He was one of two in his class to receive this honor and takes it quite seriously.  This is his second time achieving same this year and he's going for three next trimester.  

Books + Earless Bunny

We hit the mobile library last week and G quickly filled our book bag with graphic novels, a few movies and art books suggested by our amazing librarian.  I love when we leave the mobile library.  G can't wait to get in the car and start digging through his overflowing bag of books.  He opens a book and immediately is transported.  Once we arrive home (about 10 minutes later), he usually stays in the car, absorbed in the make-believe world he's reading about and emerges slowly from the vehicle, walking towards the house with his eyes firmly planted on the pages of a book.  I love library day.

My muses + birdie watercolors

These gals have been my painting inspiration lately.  They've been out roaming the lush, green hills surrounding our house.  They are quite the adventurers.

Me + Owl-loving Boy + Signs of Spring

After last week's blow-up with Grady and re-strategizing my parenting techniques with Steve, I worked on spending more time with my boy and really listening to him.  Sometimes I think just because I'm the parent that I'm right.  I'm correcting or rolling over his sentences with my words of wisdom and not taking the time to hear him out.  I've been snappy with him and loud with my responses for effect, too.  It's funny what you learn when you just shut up and listen to your kid.  He has a lot to say and I'm working on listening to what he has to teach me.

This was a week full of celebrations and art-making.

My little sister turned 39 yesterday and we sent her a care package last week and a special-ordered purse with a picture of her three kids on it from Snaptotes.  I hope she loves it!

Handmade Goodness by GSH

We also carved new stamps for our stationary endeavors.  G wanted to hand-carve his logo which consists of his initials and flames shooting out of the stop and bottom of the "S".  He did a fine job and even carved a really cool skull stamp.

We hosted a friend for lunch to celebrate her birthday (belated at this point) and the date ended up landing on the five year anniversary of her son's death.  G drew her a mourning dove and made fish tacos, rice and Grady's guacamole.  It was delicious and I think she really appreciated spending time with my boy on this hard, hard day.

We were honored and happy to attend the 75th birthday celebration of local birding legend, Don Toms.    This celebration also marked his accomplishment of seeing over 50% of the world's bird species (he reached this amazing milestone two years ago).

Mr. Toms has been kind enough to share his love of birding with Grady and they have gone on two summer birding expeditions in 2011 and 2012.   Their avian bond is really sweet and despite their 65 year age difference, they like hanging out together.

Best Friends 4th Grade CYO Awards Ceremony

Last week was also the CYO basketball award ceremony.  G's team ended up being the 4th grade  league champions and took home the coveted champion t-shirt and a trophy.  Calvin, his best friend, dressed up for the occasion and looked really cute in his all black suit.

I logged 11.5 miles last week on Middle Road Loop (just down the hill from my house).  I've been following a training schedule for a 5K, even though I'm not registered for any such thing.

I'm kind of a rule-follower-list-maker-goal-setting kind of gal and I figured I'd have more success on getting myself moving and exercising if I had a written chart telling me what to do.  So far, so good.

The sage is waking up from its winter slumber
My stack of "on-deck" reading

I've been trying to dive into my bedside stack of books and get caught up on my reading lately.  My stack is a bit schizophrenic with fiction, gardening and cookbooks, magazines, memoirs and a little creative self-help.  It definitely reflects what's on my mind right now and what I'm interested in at this very moment.

G spent a lot of time in his studio on Friday night and Saturday during the day.  He was inspired by the book Darth Vader & Son by Jeffrey Brown.  He drew almost all of the characters on this one sheet of paper and did a really good job.  He didn't trace but, rather, copied by looking at the images and drawing them on his own.  I'm constantly amazed by his artistic talent and admire the way he just dives in and starts a project.

A friend asked him this weekend was kind of medium was his favorite and he answered sketching.  This was news to me, as I thought watercolors were his current medium de jour.  Changing.  Always evolving.

And last, but not least, the guys attended the 50th anniversary of "The Birds" screening at the Bodega Bay Grange, along with Scott and Jill.  One of Steve's clients is an expert on Alfred Hitchcock and spoke prior to the film viewing.  There was also this really fun photo booth that Grady's art teacher put together.

I love where we live.

Crazy birds and all.  Feel free to replace the word birds with people, farmers, tourists, farm animals, ranch hands, neighbors, community members...

Equinox + Spring Growth

Leprechauns left G a jar full of rainbow-colored jelly beans and gold foil-wrapped rolos in the center
Fog lifting over the beautiful maze-like fields in Valley Ford

The hillsides are receiving their inaugural mowing from the local farmers.  They are mowing rows and patterns into the swaths of land that gently roll through our valley.  They are trying to beat the rain that is in our local forecast.  I think farmers are really artists and dreamers at heart and I feel in sync with nature monitoring their field work and snapping pictures of their art-form.  The soil is their canvas and they put a lot of hope into the itty bitty seeds they place in the ground.  I just love me a farmer.

Moody Ranch mustard (the thin strip of horizontal yellow above left)
Our yard has hundreds of daffodils opening this month 

The mustard fields are in full bloom and the daffodils are just waking up from their winter slumber and dotting the neighbors' yards and roadside stretches along Highway One.

Common thread :: Pink

I've taken pleasure this week in trying to find a common thread with my photography and syncing them up here for the blog.  The pink camellias fell in an unorganized heap on my entry into work, so I stopped and gathered them up and made this heart on the entryway to my office.  It made my co-worker smile when she arrived and that's all I wanted.

The peach tree at my house had small, pink bud break and I just hope with all my might that we get a good crop this year.  I have plans for canning peach jam.

Grady painted me this sweet painting and titled it "Lone Flower".  It reminds me of the post-apocalyptic world in The Road by Cormac McCarthy.  Sad and beautiful at the same time.  I love the titles he comes up with for his paintings.

I've been using a training schedule to get me motivated to start running again.  I love how I feel after I run, but it is damned near impossible to get me out of the house.  I'd much rather take pictures, read, talk on the phone or putter around with G.  Those activities would not get me in shape for our future trip to Australia and so the time was now to start moving this body.

Grady has been a big help in this department.  He rides ahead of me singing a little ditty, spotting birds and riding back to tell me their names and location.  I keep my eye on his little body fading into the distance and I run after him at a steady pace - a metaphor for the transition we are both taking part of right now.  My breath is ragged when I catch up with him, but I feel healthy and strong.  He rides the last mile home with me and downloads about his day or a cool stick he just spotted.  I'm really enjoying this time together after school on Middle Road.

This house saw a lot of cooking and entertaining over the weekend.   This ooey gooey concoction (pictured above) consisted of a rustic loaf of french bread, smothered with Époisses (the stinkiest cheese around), crème fraîche & sauteed fresh rosemary and then melted in the oven for about 15 minutes.  It was aptly named.

I also made my first loaf of Irish soda bread using local food writer, Michele Anna Jordan's, recipe.  It was so easy, had a fantastic crumb to it, served warm and slathered with honey butter.  I'm definitely going to add this to my bread-making repertoire.  It's not just for St. Paddy's Day.

The weather has been fantastic and I've dug around in the back garden beds readying them for planting.  Not sure what I'm going to plant this year, but it will most likely be used as my kitchen garden.  Herbs, onions & I may try my hand at snap peas.  We'll see.

Grady and Steve have been doing little projects out in his shop and I love seeing them out there together.  This weekend they worked on a vintage clock that was running a bit loud.  I have no idea how or if they fixed it, but I think the part I liked was seeing Steve impart his fatherly wisdom on Grady and see G's eager eyes transfixed on his father's every word, asking good questions and his general interest in learning something new.

Took my first trip to our local Pasta King to purchase fresh pappardelle.  Walking into that shop was like stepping back in time.  The sign above spoke to the small town nature of the business.  They've been around over 50 years and it will be hard to go back to store-bought pasta after tasting the amazing freshness of this man's flat, plump doughy, delicious ribbons of pasta.

G has been adventurous lately.  He kind of needs a push to get outside and explore, so I've tried to be the impetus for this over the last week.  We tried to hike the back hillside behind our house, but some snappy cattle ranchers yelled at us from afar to get off their private property.  The day was dreary and there was a little chill in the air.  I wandered around and snapped photos and Grady explored his treehouse and played with lots of sticks-turned-swords, of course.

The week was also filled with new routines and trying my hand at reinventing the old with yogurt-making and repairing my vintage typewriter.  The yogurt making was a mild success and I'll keep trying to perfect it, but knowing I'll be able to use my typewriter in the near future brings me a simple kind of joy.  Being a former legal secretary and having a fondness and affection for the written or typewritten word, I think of this turquoise beauty as a vehicle to bring me a tiny bit of happiness.  I want to add typed words and phrases to my watercolors and see what the end result looks like.  Stay tuned...  

Life has been full and the weather has been gorgeous.  Grady has been maturing and pushing limits and I think it's about time I start letting go a little.  It's hard for me like I never thought it would be.  Having Grady turn into a 10 year old has opened my eyes and made me realize that I need to soak up the quiet moments and celebrate his transition.

It's a hard balance, you know?

Birthing, coddling, swaddling, feeding, walking, preschool, talking, creating, sending to public school, encouraging, supporting, getting involved, documenting, loving, absorbing it in bits and pieces and then feeling like I need to voraciously absorb and document so that I don't forget.

Border on smothering, taking stock, pulling back, still documenting, analyzing, pondering, discussing our parenting roles and the next step.

Feeling a heart string get pulled and letting go.  Just a little, but still letting go.

Watching, hoping, fearing and celebrating this wonderful, smart, funny, imaginative young man.

It's gonna be a long, hard couple of years ahead of me.

I'm ready, but I may cry and stretch my heart in order to absorb it all.  I'm learning that parenting is much the same as being a kid.  I get to experience the joys of childhood all over again, through him.

It's like your do-over and do-better.

Grateful for the chance.

Arizona :: Spring Training

Childhood dreams were realized this week for both my husband and my little guy.  We hopped on a plane at the break of day after a stormy night at our house and flew into sunny Phoenix Sky Harbour Airport.

Pueblo Indian Bronze Sculpture in the courtyard of the Heard Museum
The Hopi Indian version of Princess Leia

We arrived so early (in and out of the airport & car rental area by 10 am) that we had time on our hands before we could check into our hotel.  I had researched a small museum in downtown Phoenix, the Heard Museum, and we pointed our car towards their doors.  

What a beautiful museum focused on the people of the Americas.  Lots of Native American tribes represented under one roof.

We watched a short film about the Navajo Code Talkers during World War I.  It was fascinating and informative to learn about their role in covert communications and how their language was unique and undetectable by the enemy.

SL randomly found us the best mexican restaurant not too far from the museum.  The indicator to me was that it was almost noon and the parking lot was packed.  Yes, we would eat here.  Fantastic deep fried tacos and a mediocre margarita.  It his the spot after our long travel day that started a little after 3 am California time.

We finally arrived at our resort hotel, the Hilton Squaw Peak Resort in North Phoenix.  This place was a kid's paradise with eight pools, a water slide, a lazy river with inner tubing and an 18-hold miniature golf course.

My mom joined us for the afternoon and we lounged by the pool, sipping cool drinks and taking sporadic naps.  It had been a very, very long day.

The highlight of the trip was SL & Grady's day at the Dodgers' Spring Training Facilities.  They watched the Dodgers play against the Texas Rangers.  The day was warm, but not too hot, and they started out in their assigned seats and eventually moved directly behind home plate.

Lots of ballplayers signed autographs for Grady and the VIP signature was definitely Mark McGuire, the new batting/hitting coach for the LA Dodgers.  This is now cemented in both of their brains and I hope they look back affectionately at this adventure.

Day 2 of Spring Training was a lot different than Day 1.  The clouds moved in and rain spit down us as we walked onto the Seattle Mariners field to watch their match up against the Oakland A's.  Grady was now seasoned in getting autographs and set to it.  He asked anyone that walked by to sign his baseball.  

I loved seeing the players take time to stop and sign their name and jersey number for the little ones.  And for that reason alone, I would definitely go again.  Not to mention the gorgeous field and great seating.  

This game only lasted until the top of the 4th inning.  They called the game and we fled to our car as the lightning cracked open the sky and rain started pouring down on us.  It didn't matter.  We had fun, had a hot dog or two and the boy was perfectly exhausted by the end of it all.

Our friends arrived from Hawaii and joined us at the A's game (they are big fans!).  After the rain out, we let the kids soak in the warm pools at the hotel before we headed out for dinner.  The rain continued throughout the night and we cozied up in the steamy dining room of Pizzeria Bianco over a bottle of Flowers Pinot Noir and melt in your mouth handmade pizzas.

It was a great ending to a great day.  I love when you reconnect with friends you haven't seen in a long while and it feels like not a day has passed (except my memory and sight are worsening!).  Our visit wasn't long enough, but we hope to remedy that with a trip out to see them in Hawaii in the near future.

I wasn't really up for this trip initially, but I'm so glad I went.  I thought it was going to be all about baseball and statistics, boy was I wrong.

It was about family time and friendships that have stood the test of time.

It was about margaritas and swimming.

It was about a father and son making memories.  And I was there to tag along and document it.

It was awesome.

March :: Like a Lion!

3 eggs a day from our hens

Spring just crept up on me and I'm not sure I like it.  Our winter storms hit us around the end of December and we haven't really had a storm since.  I love a good rain storm, local flooding and spending all day inside drinking tea and watching movies.

Loving the new app Over on my iPhone - let's me quickly add captions to my photos

Grady was sick and missed a few days at the end of the school week.  Of course, he kept himself busy reading his dwindling stack of library books.  He also worked on his illustrated casa project for Spanish class for hours on end in his art studio while listening to hours and hours of Harry Potter on CD.  After four days at home, he was ready to get back to school.

Temperatures reached 76 degrees last week and I prepped my garden bed at the office.  I planted radishes, carrots & beets.  It felt good to be out in the warm sunshine and digging my hands in the dirt.  I came home to find our field dotted with dozens of yellow daffodils.  And as much as I'm sad winter is coming to an end, I'm slowly coming around to spring.  Everything is blooming and I can't help but like it.

Tomales Elementary School's inaugural chess club 2013

We had our last Chess Club meeting this week and all 16 students showed up.  They signed the sweetest note to the instructor and were genuinely enthusiastic about all they had learned.  There is a chess tournament in May and I think the boy wants to give it a whirl.

Signs of Spring in Valley Ford

We're gearing up for a trip to Arizona for spring training.  Steve & Grady have tickets to see the Dodgers play, as well as the A's.  I think this will be a great opportunity for them to bond over baseball and I'll get a little time to bond by the hotel pool with a good book.  A win-win for all of us.

Speaking of winning, Grady's 4th grade CYO basketball team are now league champions!  It was a fantastic game and came down to the final seconds until we secured a 20-19 point victory.  This team was comprised of 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade boys (the only one in the league with such a young group) and they played their little boy hearts out.

Steve kept score every game this season and I was cheer leading from the bleachers.  I'm happy they won, but I'm more happy to have our Monday and Wednesday nights back as a family.  The weekends are free, as well, for now.  More neck jewelry for Grady with this awesome medal.

I've been inspired in the kitchen this winter.  I've been reading some great cookbooks, pulling inspiration from magazines and trying it out on the guys.  They are always up for whatever I'm cooking and that just motivates me all the more.  We have been eating lots of fish tacos, homemade pinto beans, braised ribs, cherry pies, coffee cake, pizza and lots of eggs.  

I went out to our mint patch to grab a handful and found one of our hens had a secret laying spot nestled into the corner of the mint bed.  Twenty-two eggs!  I let Grady smash them into the compost bin and crossed my fingers that the hens were done laying there.  

Saturday afternoon we went to the McLean Homestead in Two Rock for an art show and walked into another world.  Beautiful metal spheres dotted the landscape (some filled with roaring fires) as we made our way to the dilapidated former chicken house, wherein we found barbed wire sculptures and massive pastel portraits, both mediums by Jennifer Pulchinski (she had me sit for her in early January and I can't wait to see my portrait.  Her stuff is amazing!).  There were dozens of mechanical robots, a light tower and a pretty wild group of people.  Jason McLean is a sculptor and tinkerer and his tools, shops and materials captivated my husband.  Grady ran around looking at all of the gypsy wagons and forts that their little girl, Xenia, had access to and thought it was the coolest.  It was.  It is.

The vibe was Burning Man-esque and we weren't staying for the band and performance art, which was going to be Farmer Anna (the one who wrung my rooster's neck on xmas eve - yes, her!) playing Jolene by Dolly Parton on the upright piano.  The kicker was that someone was going to set it on fire while she played that song.  God, how I wanted to stay and see that performance!

More Grady stuff:

G is officially a tween.  He says things like Totes, OMG!, TMI and LOL.  He thinks it's hilarious that I make a big deal about this.  He's even making up his own silly acronyms like ISHICB!, which means I'm So Happy I Could Barf!  Cute, eh?

9 and 11/12 years old

I can't get this outfit off of his body.  It's his uniform as of late - ripped up converse high tops, some non-descript grey or blue shirt, turquoise hoodie, camouflage pants and his LA Dodgers hat.  Every. Single. Day.   I'm over it and by the look on his face...he's over me, too.

We spent Dr. Seuss's birthday at the Rohnert Park Library and their courtyard was exploding with plum blossoms.  The trees just outside our kitchen window are bursting with tiny white blooms.  Spring has sprung in Valley Ford.

I've been dabbling in watercolors lately.  I'm finding it really relaxing to cut up watercolor paper, get out my favorite vintage paints I scored from a flea market and just start painting.  I'm sticking to simple, familiar forms like hearts, circles, birds and messy paint splatters.  It's the one thing that has been making me really happy these days creatively.

This entire post sums up in photos and words the last week of our lives.  So much happens in a week and sometimes I'm dumbfounded at all that we fit in.

Grady thinks I take too many pictures, but I don't want to forget this time in my life, our lives, so I'll just keep snapping away.  I love coming here to this space to slap it all down, relive it with my writing and hit publish.

These days are fleeting and I know that now more than ever.