Adventuring :: My Back Yard

Do you ever have days where you feel like all is right with the world?  Well, last Friday started out as one of those days.

I hosted a very casual picnic in my living room for two of my friends and we drank bubbly (because why wouldn't you?) and chatted about life and caught up with one another.

After lunch we threw on our muck boots and went hiking behind my house, up a steep hill, in the cow pasture owned by a neighboring rancher.

The day was beautiful and cool.  The skies had been grey all morning and were just starting to shed their overcast ways.

We bumped into this crazy looking cow at the very beginning of our adventure.  Is it just me or does this cow look like it has a toupee on?  We nicknamed her Mr. Farley from Three's Company.  I mean, c'mon, crazy looking, right?  What we failed to notice and/or notice and say out loud was that this cow had no udders.  Yep.  A bull.  Perhaps a bull with a very unfortunate hairdo?  Oh, most definitely.  This should have been our first sign.

As we hiked and took in the view, we discussed how beautiful it was and how we should do this every year on our birthdays.  We settled in and got situated amidst the surrounding herd of dairy cows at the very tip-top of the hill overlooking the valley.

And that's when the herd of cows started closing in on us.  We had spread out a colorful towel, opened our special bottle of Unti rosé and poured ourselves a glass.  We toasted Jill for her birthday and then noticed that the dairy cows behind us were coming in for a closer look.  Now, these cows look all sweet and innocent from afar - but they were close and there were quite a few of them. We decided to get up, gather our belongings and head down the hill.  A dairy cow is a large animal and I'd had my recent goat run-in to remind me that I am only 5'4" tall and human!  It was more than a little bit intimidating and we sashayed down the hill at record speed.

In the end, we decided that we didn't need to hang out in the cow pasture to have a good time and I guess we should have known that from the start.  Why did we do it?  Because it seemed fun.  But guess what?

Sipping wine on my front deck is just as fun and a wee bit safer!  In the end, all was right with the world and I now have this silly, shared memory of an adventure gone awry with two of my sweetest friends.  Thanks ladies.  Same time next year?

Ground Hog Day :: Shadows

The online photography course I'm taking has forced me to get out there and take a lot of self-portraits over the past few weeks.  One of my favorite ways has been to explore the lovely silhouette portrait.  It's an interesting way to view yourself and the more you do it, the more comfortable it becomes.  My eyes have been noticing colorful backdrops and how the late afternoon light helps to create really beautiful imagery.  I thought it was more than appropriate to share these snapshots with you all on Ground Hog's Day and hope you enjoy my homework assignment from the wonderful and talented, Vivienne McMaster.  

I've been reading my stats on Blogger and thank all of you who pop in and read my posts.  I'm just putting myself out there every week and sharing what I'm learning or loving at that very moment.  Please feel free to leave me a comment if you see something you like or want to see in the future.

Happy Early Spring!

Gifts to the Sea

Sometimes everything has to be put on hold, so that you can have an afternoon like this...

As the minutes ticked by after G's arrival home from school, I came in the house and consulted my Tide Log.  Yep, negative low tide at 4:40 pm.  It was a few minutes after 5 o'clock now and sunset was said to occur at 5:33 pm.  Dark at 6:33 pm.  Hmm.  I ran through the reasons we should just stay put and came up with lame things like I need to make dinner, or clean the kitchen cabinet doors, or work on our taxes...and then I came to my senses and yelled to the husband that it was leftover night, grabbed Grady and flew out of the house like a crazy woman on a mission.  The beach at low tide has a way of doing that to me.

We gathered up our bag of beach treasures and decided today would be the day to return some of them to their rightful owner.

The ocean has been giving us bits of sand-softened seaglass for close to five years.  I've amassed thousands of pieces over the years and they brought me such joy when I searched for them, when I found them, when I rolled them in between my fingers while they were in my jacket pocket.  I would bring them home and give them a quick bath under the kitchen faucet and let them dry on my counter in a colander.  A large vase home awaited them in my living room.

I am now ready to give them back.  If balance is my intention this year, then something had to be done about this hoarding of seaglass.  The scales had tipped over the years and they needed to be evened out.

We walked as quickly as we could down the hill, over the boardwalk and onto the beach.

We said farewell to our little lovely treasures and emptied them onto the wet, glistening sand.

After thinking on it for a spell, I realized it was never the seaglass that I wanted.  It was the experiences I had while I collected the little jewels at low tide that were the true gifts.  The friends I used to walk the beach with and laugh as we got pounded by the surf because we'd turned our back on the ocean!  The early mornings of solitude walking along the coast before my little boy woke up and needed his mama.  The late afternoon escapades with the children dearest to me.  The running and jumping and laughing until the sun set and we were out of breath trying to climb back up to higher ground and survey the horizon like true explorers.  That is what I am looking for when I go to the beach.  True and honest experiences.  The seaglass has served as small reminders.

I needed this ceremony of returning these gifts back to sea.  This has been a month of purging and renewal.  This felt right.

It felt good to release my little treasures.

And I look forward to creating new adventures and memories on this amazing Sonoma Coast at the next low tide.

Monday :: Link Love List

sipping... pots and pots of The Vèrt Marco Polo tea by Mariage Frères to cure what ailed me

cooking... the perfect spaghetti and meatballs a la Molly Wizenberg's recipe

reading... several years worth of back issues from Real Simple and Sunset magazine

learning... about creating a zero waste home here

making... a Year of the Rabbit tableau for Chinese New Year in our entryway

watching... a thought-provoking documentary called Which Way Home

feeling... a bit sad that January is coming to an end

enjoying... the sweet and juicy tangerines ripening on the tree outside my office window

wanting... to find my dream MCM sideboard ~ like the ones featured on this awesome site

loving... the rug featured in this home

Happy Monday.

Monday :: Link List

I wake up early and shuffle over to my desk first thing every morning.  I read my favorite blogs and surf the net for 10 minutes or so before waking the boy.  It's my morning ritual.

In doing the above, I read a lot of blogs that document life in the form of lists.  I get great inspiration from this lady.  I'm a girl that just loves a list and the satisfaction of marking things off is half the fun.  I guess it's the Virgo in me.  I thought I'd try it out myself and will do my best to document a few things that are striking my fancy or that are happening in my life right now and post on Mondays as a nice way to start my week.  Here we go...

sipping... a cup of Taylor Maid Farms Holiday Blend No. 10

cooking... a roasted chicken for tonight from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters

reading... Moloka'i by Alan Brennert for February book club

learning... continuing my photography e-course class here

making... plans for an indoor herb garden like this one

watching... just finished the first season of Glee and couldn't have loved it more

feeling... like my reset button was pushed on January 1st

enjoying... my newly created running playlist on my iPod

wanting... this camera strap

loving... this freakishly warm January weather here on the coast

Happy Monday.

January Balance

I am on the mend from my holiday hangover and trying to restore a bit of balance back into my/our lives.  I have created a balance reminder in my entry way with these smooth river rocks and installed 12 little stacks to symbolize each month of the year.  Grady is also working on his balance by watching Ralph Macchio in the original Karate Kid and gently reminding me that karate lessons are on his New Year's resolution list for 2011.

We had a full moon this week and a King Tide on January 19th and 20th.  Usually these King Tides happen at night and we miss them, but this one was happening mid-morning and I woke up to NPR talking about a photo contest to those who would help document this high tide and submit photos.  I couldn't get to beach, but knew that a King Tide also meant a really low tide and I'm always seeking the negative low tide action.  I'm kind of like low tide's bitch and a slave to my Tide Log.  Did I mention January was my favorite month?  Well, the tides are lovely and the weather is always dramatic here on the coast this time of year.

I signed up to take my first ever e-course in photography called Wading In: Dipping Our Toes Into Self Portraits.  It's a lot harder than you might think taking pictures of yourself in a mirror, but I think that's the point.  This is a month-long course and I'm also learning to use flickr (a photo sharing website) and Picnik (a photo editing tool).  I'm not too tech-savvy, so this is a big stretch for me.   I'll be posting a few me photos throughout the next month and hope to see some progress.

I know I gush about how beautiful it is up here, but it is.  This week has been crisp and cold in the morning, the skies are clear and blue all day and we have had the most amazing sunsets.  This is a big change from last year where we suffered flooding and torrential rains, as well as school being closed.  I guess nature is working on her balance, too.

I had a spare 45 minutes before picking up Grady from the bus and decided to grab the dog and take a run on Middle Road.  The afternoon was warm, my iPod was loaded with motivating running music and I was ticking off New Year's resolutions in earnest this week.

Prior to my run, I noticed that my friend's goat was out and about and quickly texted her regarding same.  They were in Mexico and she asked me to help get the goat back in her pen.  I'm going to make this long story short because it was so ridiculous how things went down on this bucolic afternoon.  This crazy goat reared up on his hind hooves and tried to attack me with his horns, ripping my shirt that was tied around my waist, narrowly missing my left butt cheek and putting a fear in me that I hadn't had in a long time.  It all ended well, but let me tell you this: If this goat gets out again, I'm not telling anyone!

Nicole, Shannan, Me & Peggy @ Welcome Wagon on 1st Day of School

This week was our monthly PTA meeting at Grady's school.  I serve as the PTA President, along with the lovely ladies pictured above.  I'm nearing the end of my two-year term and we're actively looking to recruit a new board.  I look forward to having new members installed on the board and taking a little bit of a breather from all of the service work I have been doing on behalf of the school.  In an effort to work on my balance, I realized that I had to resign from a few of the volunteer positions that I hold this year.  I feel like I'm running out of my volunteer mojo and definitely need to recharge.  I also serve on the school site council and am learning a lot about how monies are funneled through our district and cut out from the large Parcel Tax pie and distributed.  I also get a vote on these matters and that feels really empowering during these times of budget cuts and teacher layoffs.  Grady has been at this school for three years and I'm just finally feeling like I understand how things work.  

Speaking of volunteering and doing less, I was recently appointed to the position of Vice President of the 38th Annual Bodega Bay Fisherman's Festival.  I know, I know.  I just got through telling you how I'm taking it down a notch, but this is a really important organization and I'm looking forward to working hard to help the non-profits of the area earn their allocations and see the money get into the hands of those groups who count on our festival to fund important programs and project improvements.  This festival also falls around the weekend of Grady's birthday and he thinks it's the best birthday party evah!

So, we've been busy this week - but not the insane kind of busy that crept up on us in December.  Grady has started playing for an indoor soccer league on Sundays and LOVES it.  Finally a sport that I can enjoy, too.  He gallops like a horse down the gym and makes this mama's heart swell.  His style is off the charts and cracks me up.  Tiger shirt, lightning bolt  socks and thrifted soccer shorts.  He just had to have a new pair of shoes to help him run faster and "be like the other kids".  Ouch.  That one hurt a little, but I understood.  He had been waiting for so long to play on a soccer team and just wanted to fit in.  He's now the proud owner of a silver and red pair of Adidas.  The silver part made this mama proud.  He still has his flare, even if it's just for a little bit longer.

Steve was gone for most of this week on his yearly solo pilgrimage to Southern California to visits friends and family.  Of course, I rearranged some furniture and moved some art around while he was gone because I wouldn't want him to come home to the same house he left.  This is a running joke with us.  He doesn't understand my need to rearrange furniture and I don't understand how to download software, transfer music on iTunes or read any instructional manuals.  I think that makes us even, right?

We celebrated his return with our homemade pizza night.  We've been successfully making pizza every Friday night and playing games or watching a movie with just the three of us.  I loved this concept when I read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  We don't have a wood fire oven, but my breadmaker does most of the work and a quick stint in our conventional oven does the trick to finish it off.

Pizza Dough in the Breadmaker
Makes one large pizza - 1-1/2 pounds

1 cup, plus 2T water
1-1/4 tsp salt
1-1/2 T olive oil
3 cups bread flour
2 T instant dry milk powder
2 tsp yeast

Put in breadmaker in above order and turn to dough setting (#9 on my machine) and 1-1/2 hours later...Voila!

I lightly cover pyrex bowl with olive oil, so dough doesn't stick.  Put in fridge to slow down rising, leave on counter top covered with clean dish towel to help aid in additional rising.

I sauté onions & italian sausage.  I spread tomato sauce on first, then the onions and sausage and cover with grated mozzarella last (doing it last is key to melting and sealing in all the good stuff you just put on it).  Throw it in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 425 degrees.

I purchased this print from Victoria's etsy shop and finally went out and got a frame for it.  I think this says it all.

Open Love Letter to the Sonoma Coast

My Dearest Sonoma Coast,

Happy New Year!

 We came North on Highway One from Valley Ford for an afternoon visit.

 We took our requisite new year photos.

 The kids help set the stage for many of these 2011 moments.

 They even used seaweed and their bodies to form the numbers.

 We started out as a group.

 And then slowly divided up to climb your craggy rocks.

 And hold hands with our friends.

 And jump so many times that we lost count.

 Oh, how we loved all the softly worn driftwood strewn about the beach.

 The golden hour of sunlight was especially lovely as we trekked back to the car.

 You never disappoint.

 I'm always invigorated by a quick jaunt on your sandy strip.

 Even dried up thistles seem enchanting in your backyard.

 We stood in awe of the sun dipping down into your waters.

And the clouds turned pink like cotton candy and lingered on as we said our goodbyes.

Until the next time...

Tammi & the Secret Beachcombers