Time Flies + Clothing Swap

Lately, I've been waking up in the middle of the night or early, early morning - depending on how you look at it.  Our home is quiet and chilly.  I lay in bed thinking of all the things on my to-do list and eventually throw my legs out of bed, grab my eyeglasses and shuffle to the bathroom.  I don't want to get up at this ungodly hour, but I know that sleep eludes me now and I don't want to wake my slumbering husband.

The house is dark and I turn on my desk lamp in the living room and flip on my laptop.  The heater clicks on and I'm alone with my thoughts.  Outside, our home is wrapped in a thick, grey fog and it mirrors how I feel.

I haven't been writing here like I had hoped I would this month.  I made a quiet goal of daily blogging for the month of February that I was keeping to myself.  Today is the 10th day of February and I'm just getting around to gathering my photos and words.

I'm having trouble with the photo editing website I use and I find I'm uninspired to write unless I have photos to prompt me.  I'm flying blind this morning and struggling to find the words.  Since I am a lover of lists, I'm going to try and sum up the past two weeks with a few headers & photos to match what's been going on in our lives.

Community :: Clothing Swap

Clothing donations after set-up

The PTA & ELAC sponsored the 4th annual clothing swap at Tomales Elementary School the first weekend of this month.  There were thousands of items donated and we had a record turn out.  The oddest items found were an "I heart Doobies" belt and a real straightjacket.  Swear.  My farmer friend, Anna, relieved us of the straightjacket and reminded me how very resourceful she is.  She said it was good quality canvas and she'd surely find a use for it!

Day of the Swap Shopping

 I left with a bag of clothing for myself and Grady.  He selected two new baseball hats, two pairs of shoes that are too big for him, and a few "cool" shirts.  I scored a chain belt, three jackets that look very similar to one another and a pretty, silk carpetbagger purse.

The Clean-Up Crew 2013

This event serves so many in need in our community and it's growing in size.  Don't you just love my belt in the photo above?

Books :: What We're Reading Right Now

I'm slowly enjoying My Berlin Kitchen by Luisa Weiss.  She writes a blog called The Wednesday Chef, too.  I've never wanted to go to Germany, but her descriptions of the people, seasons, food & weather have me longing to go now.

February's book club selection was Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and was hosted at Ginny Bassi's house.  Our book club had a lively discussion, as always, and I came home with leftover chocolate cake for the boys.  The best cake.  Ever.

The bi-monthly mobile library came last week to Tomales.  I can't tell you how much that little mobile library and the awesome librarian that drives it means to me.  I look forward to her visits and the chance to talk books, share what we're reading and mingle with the locals.  It is truly one of my favorite days of the month and I try never to miss it.

I popped into the Sebastopol Library and gathered potential books for Grady to read.  Typically, he likes to select his own reading material, but I like to mix it up for him every once in awhile.  He perused the chess books, loved the Nanny Piggins book and shared that his school librarian is reading Bridge to Terabithia to his fourth grade class.  The rest went back to the library unread, which is fine by me.

Make :: Art Projects

"Dowager"

Grady has been studying with a local watercolor artist, Jean Warren (who is also one of Steve's clients).    They are working on paintings that will be shown later this year at an art show with our friend-neighbor-photographer, Scott Van Cleemput.  Grady is reinterpreting Scott's photos using watercolors and they will be hung side-by-side.  I love his first finished piece for the show above.

We've been dabbling in crafts around here lately.  G finished up Valentine's cards for his class and we've been painting and drawing for fun.  When I sit down to paint something, Grady likes to encourage me and tell me how great my work is.  It's so cute.  He's mirroring what I do for him and I think it's the sweetest.

The time spent around our dining room table painting for fun means so much to me.  We have really nice conversations, share techniques and the boy opens up to me about girls, school and whatever interests him.  Lately, we've been listening to NPR's This American Life and pausing the podcast to discuss what we've just heard.  I'm savoring all of this time with him at the end of his 9th year.

Food & Drink 

We hosted a birthday dinner for Jill at the beginning of the month.  It was a dinner for 10 (!) and we served sushi and these sweet little cupcakes.  Lots of sake and bubbly were consumed and it was a lovely way to kick off the month and her 45th year on earth.

I look forward to Friday night pizza.  I wake up and get the dough started in the bread maker early, so that it can have plenty of time to rise during the remainder of the day.  Using what we have on hand, we made due this week.  Onions, kalamata olives, a few fresh tomatoes and sauteed mushrooms, red pizza sauce & green pesto, a smattering of fresh oregano & lots of mozzarella cheese.

This coffee cake is such a staple now in my baking repertoire.  It's substantial and delicious.  Jill's surgery prompted me to make this week's cake and I took it down to her with a pot of french tea.  We nibbled on the remainder for the rest of this week.

Home, home on the Range

The girls are producing after a slow winter of egg laying.  We go through a lot of eggs around here and cracking open their perfect shells and seeing their orange orb-like yolks helps to reinforce why we have chickens in the first place.  Steve installed a new fancy plexiglass door for their hen house this past week and G has been doing chicken chores without much of a fuss.

The weather has been chilly and clear most days.  The rains hit us hard in December, but we haven't seen much since then.  The hillsides are lush and green and soon I will turn my attention to a future garden plot.

Cow funeral procession up the back hillside

A cow died in the back pasture last week.  The farmer was hauling it behind  his four-wheeler and the other cows were trotting alongside, nudging and circling friend.  Later, the cows were heard bellowing and trotting across the back pasture to say their goodbyes.  Steve pointed this out to me and we both quietly watched from the windows of our home, pausing and paying our respects.

Steve spotted this red-tailed hawk at the bottom of Johns Street.  He believes it died of natural causes and found no puncture wounds.  Grady and his friend thought it was the coolest thing ever.  And while I think it's beautiful and all, it kept making me jump every time I exited the house and spotted its quiet mass taking up residence on my bench.  G saved a few feathers and ended up burying it without a lot of fanfare out in our pasture.  What an absolutely beautiful creature.

So we celebrated birth days and observed and honored a few deaths this month, too.  We went to chess club, art lessons, the Farm Bureau Crab feed and Kaiser Hospital for G's ear infection.  I witnessed my goddaughter in her starring role as Charlotte in her school production of Charlotte's Web.  I've harvested tangerines from the orchard at my office and watched the end of season two of Deadwood.  G's basketball team is on a winning streak and heading to the playoffs in the coming weeks.

We've packed in a lot for being only 10 days into the month.

Time.  It's going so fast.

I'm glad I woke up at 4 am this morning and took the time to jot down these words and download the images to this blog.  This will help me remember these wondrous, full days of our lives.