Weekending :: Beach, Art Show + Symphony

We had a bit of a heatwave last week and when that happens we head to the beach in Bodega Bay (just 7 miles west of our home).  

This boy of mine is now 11, but he still enjoys hanging out with me.  I'll take it as long as I can get it.  He dug holes in the sand and chatted with a few locals.  I'm so glad we got our beach fix because it was like hitting a reset button for all of us.

 

Over the weekend we attended Grady's alma mater, Pastures Preschool.  They were having their bi-annual art show and open house and it is an event not to be missed.  We bid on a painting and took in all of the beauty and comfort that this little red schoolhouse had to offer.  I love that Grady never passes up an opportunity to go back here, play with the little kids and climb his favorite trees.

gsh = my little unicorn

Grady woke up with some crazy hair that morning.  He commented that he looked like a unicorn that had run into a wall.  I encouraged him to write a haiku about it.  He wanted to illustrate it out in his art studio and asked me to type up the words.  He gifted this poem and a basket of strawberries to his first (and favorite) teacher, Stacy.

Fake Godfather Posing

Our friends gifted us with their season tickets for the Santa Rosa Symphony.  Grady was less than thrilled at the prospect of wearing a suit jacket AND sitting still listening to old people's music.  He survived and we enjoyed the final symphony of the season, Spring Rhapsody, in the world-renowned Weill Hall at Sonoma State University's Green Music Center.  

It was incredible and Grady even stayed awake.

50 is the new 40 :: Happy Birthday, Steve!

Steve's 50th birthday was discussed at length this year.  Usually, he's not one for making a fuss about himself but this year was different.  We needed to do something to mark this milestone and we discussed so many options that it finally overwhelmed me and I decided to surprise him with a trip to Costa Rica in March and a plan to skip the parties.  I knew he'd be okay with that.

As the days were leading up to his birthday, I became really sick and bedridden.  My mind was racing and all of a sudden I wanted to do something else to mark the day of his birth.

Luckily, we have very sweet friends who own Rocker Oysterfeller's Kitchen + Saloon and wanted to treat my husband to a special meal and libations on Tomales Bay on his actual birthday.  I rallied and drove my husband down to his surprise birthday luncheon at the Tomales Bay Oyster Company.

Our friends are expert caterers and thought of everything.  Bubbly, specialty tequila, oysters, chili and flank steak tacos.  We laughed, sipped and spent the best four hours on the bay catching up and watching our friend, the chef, work his magic and create his art.  The food and company were  fabulous.

Thanks, Shona + Brandon.  You guys are the best.  Thank you for celebrating my husband and being such amazing friends.  We're lucky to have you in our lives.

We had one more celebration the very next night with a quiet dinner party for eight at River's End.  Again, our friends own this magical place and the wines and meal were over the top spectacular.  Bert even bought a cake and busted out a 1979 Fonseca Ruby Port to punctuate the end of the evening.

In addition to the Costa Rica trip, I wanted to purchase a piece of art for Steve that marked this special birthday.  I ended up purchasing original drawing from our friend and artist, Hannah Day.  It's an ink drawing on recycled paper of a red ladder leaning up against a leafless tree and a dozen or so little tiny ribbons on the branches blowing in the breeze.  I think it's just beautiful and told Steve the ribbons symbolize many of his life-to-date accomplishments, with many more ribbons to come!

I hear 50 is the new 40 and you've never looked better, Hecht.

Happy, happy birthday, my love.

Jog-a-thon + Harvest Cup + Tomales Farm & Flea

Columbus Day weekend was a doozy.  

Every year the annual school jog-a-thon, Wesco Soccer Harvest Cup Tournament and the Tomales Farm & Flea Market just so happen to take place on the same weekend.  All three events!  This year, we participated in all of them.  

Holy moly.

5th Grade Class at Jog-a-thon
Grady levitating on lap 17
G's outfit of choice for this year's school photo

The school only does one major fundraiser for the year and it's the jog-a-thon.  Totally positive event wherein the kids solicit family and friends to sponsor them per lap run.  Last year, G ran a total of 20.  This year, he ran 30 laps in 45 minutes, earning about $300 towards his 5th grade class fund.  I love the fact that he made the calls and put a speech together to pitch to his would-be donors.  We have the kindest friends and family.

I volunteered and worked most of the afternoon tabulating lap sheets and cheering on the kids.  Steve even showed up to cheer the boy on in his final laps, helping G gather up his second wind.  

Shadows at Harvest Cup 2013

Harvest Cup weekend is a two-day event wherein the boys play approximately four matches (spread out throughout the day based on rankings).  While Grady's team ended up in 1st place for the regular season, they finished the tournament in 3rd place.  It was a lot of soccer for the kids, as well as the coaches and parents.  The Shadows lost their first game and tied their second on Saturday and left a little deflated, despite the bright blue hair they were all sporting.

Sunday showed that they were well rested and hungry to get out there, play hard and win.  And that's exactly what they did and that enabled them to bring home a 3rd place ribbon from the tournament.

Vying for best dressed at the soccer awards dinner

The awards ceremony was held a few days ago and the coach encouraged all of the boys to dress up in their finest.  They all looked so handsome in their dress clothes.  G put together this awesome ensemble and was selected by the coach as a finalist for best (or most uniquely) dressed.  

I absolutely love soccer season.  The games are fast-paced, the boys are getting great exercise and gaining knowledge at every practice and game.  This year's coach was a dream coach and taught them field positioning, how to lose gracefully and a lot of life lessons on and off the field.  He really inspired the team and helped me to realize it really isn't about winning or losing, but how you play the game and conduct yourself.  It was a needed reminder for all of us.

Tomales Farm & Flea with Calvin
Star Wars Origami

Sunday morning found me up and out early, early.  I loaded the car and brought G along to help set up his little art booth.  He peddled art prints, art t-shirts and handmade key chains.  I sold off some housewares that have been lingering for years in the garage.  G had to leave mid-morning to get to the remainder of his games with his dad and I held down the fort until the flea market ended.  We sold about half of our goods and G earned a little mad money.

Foggy mornings on our property w/ art studio + henhouse
New painting for upcoming art show (with live honeybee landing on it for inspection)

After the weekend, we needed a serious rest and quickly settled into nesting at home and working on a few projects.  The garden got spruced up, the house got a touch up paint job and I set about making sure our fridge was stocked so that we could cook at home this week.

Oak tree
Apple Harvest
Foxy farm hand husband

Steve harvested the last of our apples from a few of the trees in the lower orchard.  They are the most delicious apples and we have no clue what kind they are.  They are crisp and sweet, almost like a Honey Crisp.  

Grady is really in love with himself lately.  He looks in a mirror every chance he gets and is obsessed with looking cool.  He made a cool-o-meter this week and let his father know that he didn't even measure on the scale.  Ouch.  Poor Steve.

I started a new fitness program challenge with a bunch of local gals.  I've been journaling my food intake, eating at least six servings of fruits and vegetables a day, drinking lots of water, cutting down on my alcohol intake and I even went to a pilates class at the gym.  I feel good, but it's only week one.  I lose stamina and interest at about week three, so I'm going to be aware of that and try to stay the course.

Invisible World by Grady Salas Hecht
Watercolor + pencil on watercolor paper
2011

The last good news of the week was that one of Grady's paintings was selected to be published in the Spring 2014 West Marin Review.  Here was the kind note they sent him:

Dear Grady,

On behalf of West Marin Review, it is a great pleasure to let you know that your art work, “Invisible World” (Submission #5A 082) has been selected for inclusion in the upcoming Volume 5. This edition will be released in Spring 2014. 

Your art was selected from over 300 art submissions that we received from artists across the country. All submissions were arresting and unique, which made for a challenging review and selection process.

Your artwork exhibited the attributes of original eye and perspective, and an ability to affect the panel reviewers in a meaningful way. We are very pleased to feature your work in the upcoming Volume 5—the edition promises to be a compelling read and visually rich. 

West Marin Review

His current private art teacher encouraged him to submit his work to the West Marin Review after he received the crushing news that his Fisherman's Festival art submission was rejected.  We could not be more proud of our little artist.  We are sending off all of the copyright agreements today, as well as a good scan of the image and the artist's bio.  Here is what Grady had to say about himself:

Grady Salas Hecht is a 5th grader at Tomales Elementary School.  He is interested in making art, observing nature, reading and sports.  He lives in Valley Ford.

He should have added that he really likes looking in the mirror, taking selfies on his mom's phone, collecting dead flies, taking 30 minute showers, pancakes and giving his dad a hard time.

Happy Campers :: CYO & Bodega Bay

I've officially fallen into summer.  As soon as school gets out, I'm ambitious and still get up around 6:30 am and shuffle about the house doing my morning routine.  I make big plans, scribble to-do lists and sit down to write on my blog every single morning before the guys wake up.

And then life starts to get busy and I realize I want to be participating in it instead of documenting it and I'm okay with that, but that's why you see a string of posts and then...radio silence.  I'll catch you up on the last few weeks here in this gigantic summer-lovin' post.

Sheepy goes to camp
Growth chart on G's door jamb
Reunited Mother + Son 

G packed up for the overnight portion of CYO Camp.  I love that he brought this stuffed animal with him.  It may be the last year for this little sheep to travel and be seen.  G was really excited and just hollered "BYE, MOM!" and bounded down the steps towards his father, who was waiting in an idling car just outside our home.

And just like that, he's confident, independent and eager for an adventure.  It's what a parent hopes for and still I was a little emotional at how he just bolted out the door.  I busied myself during the day, we dined with friends that evening and when I woke up Friday morning...the house was still eerily quiet.  I couldn't wait to pick him up and hear all about his overnight fun.  I counted down the minutes until 4:15 pm.

When we arrived, he was utterly and thoroughly exhausted.  He barely spoke.  We quickly fed him pizza from the Union Hotel and shuttled him home for a nice, warm bath.  I washed his long, golden hair and he quietly told me about sleeping under the stars, how much fun he had swimming and what being a Waste Warrior entailed (eating all of your food, every day).

And, yes, another hand-carved redwood cross adorned his neck.  A gift from his amazing camp counselors.

Dr. Bob + G + Pineapple upside-down cake
Origami Dr. Bob

We helped celebrate Papa Bob's 72nd birthday.  G busted out this origami in his likeness and gifted it to him, along with a promise of a future lunch date.

Summer Fun

Summer has just been full of so many wonderful opportunities to learn.  And while reading has not been on the top of the boy's list this summer (remember last summer?  He read 110 books!), we have been playing new games, creating art, cooking and watching Arrested Development as a family (I know, I know, slightly inappropriate - but we love it!).

BHHA pool, golf + tennis camp 2013

Our dear friends let us use their home in Bodega Bay every July, so that Grady can attend the golf and tennis camps offered there.  We really settle in and I love being so close to the beach, old friends and within walking distance to the pool, bird sanctuary & Pacific Ocean.

Camp friends + fun

We got into a really good groove this year with golf camp first thing in the morning, a quick lunch together, tennis lessons and then we'd hang by the pool for an hour or two.  Every.  Single.  Day.

Pool time with dad + camp friends

We see the same kids almost every year and it's been fun to watch as they get older, more skilled at their sport and the ease at which they slip into play together.

Tennis Camp 10-12 year olds

Grady fell in love with tennis.  Every year he says it's his favorite part of camp.  He had the highest volley count at 108 and really wants to take more lessons.  

Arch Rock + Casa de Mahley

The week also afforded us time to quietly hang out as a family.  Bodega Bay is only seven miles away from Valley Ford, but we really try to sink into vacation during this week away from home.  

Happiest boy on the planet

As the week came to an end, the pull of home and obligations started to pile up.  I went for a 10 mile hike along the Sonoma Coast with a group of girlfriends.  Steve and Grady played tennis.  We had lunch in the clubhouse and said farewell to our Bodega Bay friends.

We slowly packed up, talked about all of the fun we had and drove the short jaunt home in silence.

We were ready to come home.

We were happy campers.

Mission Accomplished

If you live in California and you are in fourth grade, doing a California Mission Report is a rite of passage.  I helped organize G's fourth grade class field trip to the California Mission Museum, which was located on the beautiful grounds of Cline Cellars in Sonoma.

The tour and scavenger hunt were at no cost to the school and we had a picnic lunch in their beautiful gardens.

The kids were rapt with attention and quickly went around the room looking for the mission that they had researched all year long and recently completed building a model of that mission.  The students rang the mission bell, fed the mission donkeys and cruised the grounds burning off their pre-teen energy bursts.

We also went to see the 21st (last) mission built in California, the Mission San Francisco Solano located just off the square in the town of Sonoma.  Our docent was downloading facts as fast as she could, as we were pressed for time at the end of our day.  An outstanding day of California history and I was impressed with the attention span of our gang of 10 year olds.  I learned quite a bit, too.

This week was the last chess class at Tomales Elementary School.  I asked the five chess tournament participants to wear their medals and/or bring their trophies to school for a group photo.  We ended the chess session with chess-inspired sweets & the promise that everyone would play chess over the summer.  I'm so proud of these students and look forward to helping the PTA build permanent chess tables on the school campus next year.

I'm missing my sister quite a bit this week.  She's been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and I worry about her health and my three nieces.  I have got to make a plan to get out to New York for a visit.  Sending you my love, Traci Ann.

Business Cards + Pollock Project

Grady's business card order arrived and he loved all of them.  I ordered a small box from Moo.com, with about a dozen different card covers.  He's been handing them out to friends at school and a few farmers we know.  His occupation is stated as :: Artist.  So cute.

I had the opportunity to work on an end-of-year teacher present with Grady's class this week.  I used an old board that was painted with chalkboard paint and extra house paint I found around the house.  I had done this Pollack project with G's class when they were kindergartners and they loved splattering the paint on this make-shift canvas.  They also were great in deciding what color(s) needed to be added and hid secret messages written in splatters to their unsuspecting teacher, Mr. D.

Bloomfield Farms

Our weekly sojourn to Bloomfield Farms was rewarded with a pop-up, pay-what-you-can farm brunch with guest chef, John Lyle.  We picked our weekly veggie haul and brunched with a few other families before my sinuses kicked in and I sneezed myself all the way home.

I also made an easy strawberry balsamic jam and helped make a double batch of chicken paté with friend and neighbor, Jill.  Having that stash of paté will be great for spur of the moment entertaining, as well as a quick dinner substitute when paired with the fancy Trisquits & cheese.

We were lucky enough to witness the California Amgen Bike Tour come through Valley Ford on Sunday.  We walked down to the end of lane, grabbed a cow bell & cheered on the two leaders and the massive peloton.  It was over in about a minute.

The artichoke harvest has been big this year.  We typically don't cook the chokes, as they are not too meaty and have been on the small side (and filled with bugs & critters!).  I learned a new way to prepare them and that I should cut them in half, remove the choke, slather them with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake them under aluminum foil for about an hour.  They were still on the small side, but tasty.

G as Mr. Demsher

This week was Spirit Week at G's school.

Monday :: Pajama Day
Tuesday :: Twins Day (G and his bestie dressed alike)
Wednesday :: Teacher-Student Switch Day (aka - Dress Like You're a Teacher)
Thursday :: Crazy Day (G wore two different shoes & his shirt backwards.  Crazy, eh?)
Friday :: Wear Orange + Field Trip to Cal Skate with the 4th thru 8th grade classes

The girls are back.  Yes, Jim & Beaula's llamas were moved to the pasture behind our house, where they will "summer" until late fall.  It's such a sight to see these beautiful, quiet, big-eyeballed creatures.  They are such wise, fierce protectors.  Grady loves waking up to them just outside his window.  Actually, so do I.  They give me a scare some mornings when I wake up groggy and half blind without my glasses, but they make me smile and laugh at myself, too.

I've decided to open up my blog to a few friends I've met via instagram.  I just love reading the raw honesty and perusing the amazing imagery on Maggie's blog and I've been quite inspired by Natalie's embroidery on instagram and crafting on her blog, too.  Natalie used to live just a few miles down the road from me in the tiny hamlet of Two Rock Valley and now resides in Kodiak, Alaska.  We never met while she lived here, but I feel like I know her.  It's funny how connecting through social media feels strange and strangely safe.  I've enjoyed sharing my life in pictures with this new medium & words with friends and strangers, who no longer feel like strangers to me.  I feel a connectedness that I just haven't felt with a lot of people as I've gotten older.  I feel like these women and mamas get me and/or accept me.  It's a new feeling, for sure, and I guess it's like a clean slate.  I'm trying it on for size and opening my heart to meet new people, virtually and in person.

This week I was on a mission.  Literally & figuratively.  

I think I have arrived at my destination and it feels good.

Muir Woods

Today we set aside work and school for the day and played a little hooky from our obligations.  We were on a mission for Muir Woods. 

A Muir Woods hike has been on my to-do list for a couple of years.  On New Year's Day I draft a list of things I hope to do or see and each year this one item kept falling to the bottom of the list, only to be added again the very next year.  Well, we remedied all of that and talked our son into missing school (yes, talked him into it!) and took Highway One down to Muir Woods National Monument.

Steve selected the moderate to strenuous Dipsea Trail, which was approximately a four mile hike.  It felt like it was uphill almost the entire way, but I know that just can't be.  It sure did feel like it though.

We reached the top and had this breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean.  The day was warm and clear and the views were sweeping.  We even glimpsed the top of the Transamerica Tower in San Francisco.  We quickly gobbled our lunch and posed for a few photos.  We were on a mission to finish this hike in one piece (we all took turns stumbling along the way up and down the trail).

Steve planned the day, took charge and led us most of the way.  It was a fantastic experience and a worthwhile excurision.  It was an even better day as a family.

The guys humored me with a quick stop to the First Light Farm pumpkin patch in Petaluma.  They selected pumpkins nearest the car (ahem...) and posed for a few obligatory photos in the patch to make me happy.  I just love me a pumpkin patch photo shoot.

Grady had a string of half days at school for parent-teacher conferences this week.  Steve & Grady took the early release from school as an opportunity to hit the Rohnert Park Golf Course and I took the quiet afternoon and turned it into an outing to Occidental for the weekly farmers' market.

G topped off his Friday of fun by spending hours on end in his art studio creating origami Star Wars' creatures.  He was seriously fixated on this project and stayed out there until darkness had fully set in.

The books that spurred all of this origami folding was The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee.  And while I certainly don't understand any of this current fascination, it was nice to see him reading, researching and creating his version of the characters mentioned in this book.  He even made me a Mamoda.

Hot Legs

Steve put together the most awesome bench for our front deck.  He ordered hairpin legs online and affixed same to create this little piece of awesomeness!

I love when my man makes something with his very own hands for our family.  It's so personal and lovely.  A family heirloom.  Yes, indeed.

Our friend, Patty, is moving off the island that is Bodega Bay and heading to Belvedere in Marin County.  She invited us to join her in throwing back heaps of sea glass, abalone shells & sand dollars to Mother Ocean.  We laughed, reminisced and even had the good fortune to spot two whales right off coast.

It was a stellar way to start our weekend and wish our friend luck as she heads out to her very own new, uncharted waters.