Million Days of May

May seems like it has a million days in it, which can be good and bad.

The winds have been relentless lately.  Wind is the hardest of weather conditions for me to deal with.  It looks beautiful outside, but you can't be out there.  The sun is shining, but you are stuck inside with a runny nose and doped up on allergy medication.  Yuck.

I've just been put on high blood pressure medication and that freaked me out a little bit.  I've been battling it ever since I was pregnant with Grady, but somehow putting me on a long-term medication really hit the issue home.

I've been trying to get out there and run, but with all the pollen wafting in the air it feels like I'm only making matters worse.  I'm also working on reducing the amount of animal products I consume and focusing on preparing healthier meals for me and my family.

Actually, I love this kind of stuff (not the high blood pressure and visits to Kaiser) because it helps me to refocus my energies and take stock of my life.  I've felt a tightness in my chest over the last few months and I chalked that up to stress and being busy.  I hate that word :: busy.  Every woman I know is busy.  I want to un-busy myself, focus on creating art and beauty in my life, share more meals with friends and family and release those things that weigh me down.  I'm a work in progress.

Maker Faire Shenanigans
G's 10 year old physical exam obligatory mom photo

Steve picked up the parental festival duties and took Grady to Maker Faire a few weeks ago.  I wrote a little bit about it here and here.  It's all about science, innovation, technology, creating and making things.  The crowds were huge this year and the highlight for Grady was watching the Coke-Mentos bottle rocket demo.  Yes, a father-son outing for sure.

Arann Harris & The Farm Band
G's pop-up art sale
G + Kristin, his former preschool teacher & fellow artist

Oysterpalooza hit Valley Ford over Memorial weekend and so we walked into town to see a few of our favorite bands, visit with the locals and G set up shop under a big 'old pine tree to sell his artwork.

G really had a blast playing with new friends he met at the festival, handing out his new business/social  cards and hay bale hopping until the festival shut down around 9 pm.  He used to be one of the kids dancing right in front of the stage, but those days are long gone.  Now he roamed the back garden area with his cohorts, only checking in with me every once in awhile.

We're still making our weekly pilgrimage down the highway to Bloomfield Farms to harvest our weekly vegetables.  G is learning how to identify different lettuces, greens and teaching me how to harvest kale.

We picked broccoli last week and I ended up making a batch of broccoli soup.  Now, I remember back to the days where my son would only consume Odwalla's Green Juice and a cheese quesadilla.  Well, happily, those days are long gone.  I've worked really hard over the past five years to get him to ingest more than a chicken, cheese, tortillas and PB&J.  It has been a long, long road and I'm happy to report that he ate my broccoli soup.  He didn't love it or want seconds, but he ate it without putting up a fight or trying to negotiate how much he actually had to eat.  He just ate it.  Sweet Jesus!

I attribute the above feat to the fact that he hand-picked the broccoli and had ownership of that thick, rich bowl of mama-made love.  Well, that's my theory anyway.

The winds drove us into the library on a school night last week.  I had just finished my book club selection State of Wonder by Ann Patchett and was itching to get out of the house.  All three of us drove into town and loaded up on books, videos and had a little respite from the howling breezes surrounding our little abode.

G's idea studio
Local dairy cows
My favorite sign

We attended the Open House at Tomales Elementary School and brought home mounds of graded schoolwork, the finished Mission Project Model and G met his future 5th grade teachers.

The 4th through 8th grade classes went to Cal Skate on Friday.  I was a little bit nervous about G going because I didn't want him to hurt himself.  If my husband is reading this :: Stop rolling your eyes!  Yes, I am a bit of a worrier.  Be careful is my mother's mantra and, yes, she passed it down to me.

Needless to say he left the house with a pocket full of quarters, his favorite ripped up pants and kissed me on the cheek.  I'll be okay mom.  Tell you all about it after school.  

No broken bones to report.

We spent the afternoon in Stinson Beach over the weekend celebrating a dear friend's birthday.  We were there a matter of 10 minutes and our son quickly changed into his board shorts, hopped on this paddle board (1st time ever being on one) and paddled across the lagoon, tied it up and proceeded to climb into a total stranger's hot tub.  He was soaking for about 30 minutes and then leisurely returned to us with the biggest smile I've ever seen.  So out of character for this careful, quiet boy.  We all had a good laugh at his boldness and I'm sure the hot tub owners got a chuckle out of this kid, too.

Stinson Beach afternoon with the Matthews & Tuchbands

We spent the afternoon reminiscing, storytelling and watching our children enjoy the first (windless) day of June.