New pictures added

I finally got the pictures into my post about my trip to stay with Becky's kids in Colorado. (July 5th) Here's one to give you a sense of how my days started out there. . .
The game they're playing is Trouble (think loud popping thing to roll the die), and the time on the clock was basically 6:15 AM! (I did mention their energy levels are as high as their mother's, right?)

Marvelous Miriam

. . .has a new job, too!

Miriam did so well last year as a summer teen volunteer at the library that they were waiting for her to turn fourteen so they could hire her as a page. There was one opening earlier in the year, just after her birthday, but that didn't pan out. The librarian in charge of pages did ask Miriam to keep her application on file, and they called her back a couple of weeks later to ask about an opening that was coming available in July.

Okay, so what they meant was that they would start the hiring process in July, and we spent several hours one day the last week she was here running back and forth between the high school and the library: pick up the work permit from the school, take it to the library to get the work section completed, back to the high school to get the counselor's signature/permission to work, stop by the bank to open an account for direct depositing her paychecks, return to the library to turn in all the paperwork, . . .and then wait for the central office to give their okay to add Miriam to the payroll and start orientation. With the traveling she's been doing (NC & Boston, MA) with Shannon and her sibs, orientation has been scheduled for this week.

I am delighted that, in spite of the energy I may expend at times getting the kids to do their chores around the house, they have picked up a work ethic that has them in demand in the world at large. Miri-chan, I'm glad you're my girl!

BTW-I looked for a picture to post with this note, and I think Miriam is more camera-shy than Samuel. She's just quiet about it, so we don't realize that she's dodging the spotlight! But then she came in to get Liza for church, and I was able to grab a quick picture. Isn't she turning into a real beauty?!

Powerfully creative---Tori

Tori starts a new job this week.

Before we left for the reunion in Florida, we were talking about how she'd like to rearrange her schedule. She wanted to cut back on her hours at Premier Windows a bit, and let go of the call center support work so that she could pick up more hours at the restaurant during their busy summer months, and get weekends freed up so she could work at the Renaissance Festival. . .but that all meant getting out of the job for which she was originally hired at Premier!

When she got back to work upon our return, they had hired a new employee "downstairs", and he was going to bump Tori to fourth in line for the computer-making it almost impossible for her to do the call center support work she didn't like anyway. They didn't want to lose her, since she is such a marvelous worker, and were a bit nervous about how she'd react. Not only did she get to adjust her schedule to exactly what she'd told me she wanted, Tori got to make it look like she was doing them a favor by not being upset at the change!

The Renn Fest starts next weekend, and runs through late October- eight (?) weekends of dress-up fun!

Have I mentioned how much I appreciate and admire the way Tori is growing up and learning to be responsible? Even more, I'm impressed at how well she is doing figuring out who she is and what matters to her, and living her life by those values. Not knowing exactly what she wants to do/be/study can be a disconcerting space to be in. I think it's easier to take on external standards, and follow the culturally-acceptable path (ie. go to college), than it is to step off that path and admit that there's nothing drawing her into the classroom at this point. Yes, she enjoys learning, and she's good at the academic game, but she's also good at other things. Traveling is definitely much easier before kids and mortgage complicate the scheduling and financial picture.

I appreciate Tori's work ethic. Everywhere she has worked, the supervisors are ready to take on her siblings-just because they're her sibs. One of the restaurant managers she worked for last year is eagerly looking forward to the twins turning 16 so he can hire them! He even wanted Liza for just the few weeks that she's here before she heads out to Washington, but logistics intervened.

The balance in Tori's life is pretty tilted toward work these days, but she's also doing well maintaining relationships and fitting in some fun. Keep up the good work, Tori, that's a lifelong challenge! I'm glad I get to be your mom!

And, oh yeah, the picture . . . a friend did Tori's hair in braids, and my wonderful daughter let mommy play- and I got to weave the braids into a visor. (Something I always wanted to do to mine when my hair was long, but it's hard to do to your own hair!) We laughed and joked while I was weaving-reminiscing about the time we cut iris leaves and wove a basket that fell apart as it dried. Good times, good memories!

She's wonderful!

And she's home!!!!!

If you're noticing that Liza's getting most of the focus these days, that would be because she's been gone so long, I'm delighting in having her here, . . . and it's summer so the twins have been spending much of the time with their dad. (I had my big block of time with them at the beginning of the summer for our Florida reunion.) They'll be back tonight and I start orientations for school this week, so I'm trying to get caught up on my blogging before things get busy again.

This picture is from Liza's homecoming presentation to the Parole Rotary club-her sponsors for her Hungarian adventure. When she made her farewell presentation at this time last year, I was so impressed at how she had grown through the process of getting ready for the trip.

I was in tears of delight that morning (as I am again now) at the young woman she is now! Liza did a fantastic job with her presentation! She put together a PowerPoint presentation with slides from some of her adventures, and used that as the basis of her talk.

She was so poised! The audience was with her the whole time, and she spontaneously included humor that had everyone chuckling, or laughing out loud.

She was real. We all felt her love for the country, the experiences, and most especially the people. Liza let us all see and feel how much her families there mean to her. It takes courage to stand up in front of a good-sized audience of any age. When they're all older than you are, and you're talking about things that evoke strong emotions, the courage required is even more. And to let them see your tears?!?, and then keep speaking. . . Tremendous!

Other parents have asked me how I could let Liza go so far away. How could I not? This was something she wanted and worked to make happen. Yes, I missed her. Yes, it was hard to hear about her challenges. Yes, I've felt her homesickness-for Hungary!, and wished there was something I could do to make it better. But all of this is part of life, and Liza's doing so well with it!

Liza, your mom is proud of you, and loves you very, very, very much!

Maximum mortification, or. . .

I’m really not dressed for this, . . . but why let that stop me?

When we were at Liza’s homecoming presentation to the Parole Rotary club, we were invited to attend the annual family picnic that Saturday. The hosts had restored a home that was originally built in the 1600’s, and then moved on to improving the property. Leon built a wonderful 40-foot (diameter) pavilion where we dined, put in a pool and a hot tub in a grotto, restored the corn crib for a storage shed, and recently built a tower for the antique windmill he purchased and moved to the property.

Naturally enough, a crowd gathered when Leon started explaining the adventure of obtaining the windmill and building the tower. Standing there, I was thinking how much fun it would be to climb the tower, but I was certain that wasn’t on the day’s plan. (Liability and all that.)

Then Leon went to get a ladder, and extended an open invitation for anyone who wanted to climb the tower to do so. Unfortunately, I was in a skirt (my standard summer garb) and my clogs-not exactly the thing to wear when climbing. I said something to that effect, and one of the other women said go ahead, don’t let that stop me. When another woman agreed, I headed for the ladder. James beat me to the ladder, but decided about halfway up he wasn’t going to the top, and stepped aside. I vaguely heard some joking going on, but was focused on climbing. There is a bit of a trick in getting through the opening in the deck (not to mention needing to watch for the windmill catching the wind while figuring out how to get through), but I managed and soon found myself sitting 52 feet above ground and wishing there was a railing around the platform.

Of course, having climbed that far, I couldn’t bypass Leon’s invitation (challenge?) to stand up. You can see from my pose here that I was 100% comfortable, but I did it. I found out later that Leon enjoys challenging his guests with the climb. The last big gathering had seven people attempt the climb, three make it to the top, and NONE of them were willing to stand up. I got lots of points for that!

Then it came time to climb down- much more of a challenge. The pattern was pull my skirt back so I could find the next peg, carefully step down-making sure that I didn’t slide out of my clog, unhook my skirt from the peg I’d just passed, and repeat about fifty times! . . . I think the pegs were something like 9” apart, and the tower was 52 feet tall, with the bottom ten feet using a ladder.

When I got back to terra firma, all Liza could say was, “Mom, your skirt was. . .” (You didn't think I was the one mortified, did you?)
Yes, and was I supposed to let that stop me?

Fortunately, the Rotarians seemed much more impressed by the fact that I’d made the climb than concerned about it being made in a skirt. (It could’ve been worse, Liza. I could’ve gotten stuck on the way down and perched up there, with my skirt blowing in the wind, until a hook & ladder truck got there to rescue me. Now that would really have been embarrassing!)

I made the climb! It’s another marker of how much better I’m doing physically. I couldn’t have made the climb up and back down even two years ago. I did feel my quads & hamstrings a bit later that day and the next. Controlled descent takes much more muscular control & strength than climbing up.

But I think when we build our watchtower, we won’t put a windmill on it! It’ll be much more relaxing if I don’t have to constantly be aware of where the blades are and watch for it rotating in the wind. Or maybe we’ll just put a platform in a tall tree. (Where’s Grandma? Did you look in the tree? Mother, don’t let the kids up there!!! Now, that will be fun!)

Skydiving!

Before she left for Hungary, James promised Liza he'd take her skydiving when she got back. Something about you have to be 18 to be able to sign your life away before they'll let you get in their airplanes. . .

Samuel has the same deal waiting for him to turn 18. Tori and Miriam agreed with their great-grandfather's opinion that "there is no reason to jump out of a perfectly good airplane". James's standard reply to that is, "Who says the airplane is perfectly good? It has a big hole in the side", and that's just for starters.

After much juggling of Liza's busy summer schedule, the big day was scheduled for Saturday, August 4th. I chose not to jump, both holding to that family philosophy, and not being sure how my body would handle the adrenalin. I'm doing so much better than I was two or four years ago, and don't have the adrenalin surges I used to have when the Lyme disease was active, but still. . . 14,000 feet is a long way to fall, and adrenalin is a natural response to the situation.

Tori spent the night so she could go with us, and we all piled in the car at some early hour of the morning for the two hour drive to Orange, VA. James and Liza filled out their paperwork. . .















took a training class on solid ground. . .






and we waited around for a couple of hours.







The tandem team from the Army skydiving team, the Golden Knights, was there taking bigwigs for jumps, and we had fun visiting with them while we waited. It's quite an opportunity for Liza to say she got to jump with the Golden Knights! (And she did-two of them went up in the plane at the same time she did.)

By the time we'd hung out there for four hours, I was really wishing I had signed up to jump also. I'll probably be jumping when Samuel does.

Here's a picture of Liza back on terra firma. . .
Both James and Liza were thrilled with the experience. They both told me I have to do it with them the next time. We highly recommend the Skydive Orange experience to anyone who wants to try it out. I'll try to get Liza to upload her jump video, and will add the link when she does.

Strawberry curtains

So, first I thought the pattern was pineapples, and related to my link to Hawaii, as well as being a traditional symbol of hospitality. I made three panels with the points oriented up. (refer to my previous picture last spring) Those panels were too narrow, and I hung all three in the library/guest bedroom window.

Samuel said he thought they looked more like pine cones, so I turned the pattern upside down for the next panel. I was sitting in the airport on the way to Colorado making the chain to begin that panel, lost count, and didn’t make it long enough, so it ended up being too narrow again.

I finished that one while watching the Tour de France (after carrying it to Colorado and Florida!), and started the next one very carefully. I just finished that one this week, as a surprise for James. (He was taking a class in Reston, VA this week, and stayed with my brother rather than commuting 2+ hours each way every day. Thanks for having him, Chuck!) With the curtains hanging in the window, James says he thinks the pattern looks like strawberries.

I don’t know, or even care, what to call the pattern. I enjoy doing the work, and like the way they’re turning out.

I’m going to try to actually make the next panel match this one! Five panels so far, and no two of them match exactly. The final panel is going to be different again, because I’ve got to figure out how to balance the design in the window, while adding width to make up for the last narrow one.

I did finally use up that first huge (1.5+ mile) ball of thread, and started the next ball to finish the last four inches or so of this curtain.

100 Things (squared) Challenge

Yes, it's been a while since I posted. I'll start playing catch up here. . .

James showed me a link to blog post about a 100 Things Challenge last week, and it’s been percolating since then. (I’ll find the link and add it later.)

We haven’t strictly followed the 100-mile limit for food in a similar locavore challenge, but we do eat quite a bit from local sources. Our favorite meals often include a 100-foot element. There’s a special delight in looking out the window at the vines that held dinner just an hour earlier. (Although Tori prefers to sit with her back to the window so she can’t see the vines “watching her” as she eats their "baby" beans.)

James and I discussed the 100-Things challenge, and pretty much dismissed it at that point. I think it’s going to require some real modification for us, before we can handle the adjustments to that much simplicity. Shoots, we probably have over 3000 books alone in this house, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find the number closer to twice that---and that’s after we’ve been culling books a bit at a time for almost two years (since we painted the upstairs winter before last).

I’m thinking that, in the interest of awareness, we start by listing what we have and sorting it into categories. (I’m hoping that we’ll choose to release many items before they even make it to a list.)

I was only partially joking when I sent James an email suggesting that we start with a maximum of 100 lists of 100 items, but everything goes on one of the lists. That would give us a total of 10,000 items in the house, and that would include everything: books, financial papers (100 items should cover that, although it might need one list for taxes and one for other records), people’s clothes, tools, household and kitchen items, etc. We’ll just break the lists down into sub-categories as finely distinguished as necessary to get the total that we need in that category down below 101 items. My hope is that, as we move along this path, we’ll continue eliminating items and will be able to combine the lists in the future.

Yes, I know, this is just another piece of evidence that we’re teetering on the edge of certifiable lunacy. Would you accept that this started as a way to make a game that I could enjoy out of the idea of getting rid of stuff? Those of you who know me very well at all are familiar with my tendency to pack rat. However much progress I’ve made in the last few years, I have a long way to go (as evidenced by the fact that just getting the household down to 10,000 items is going to be an improvement!). And I’m not the only one in the house with this affliction!

I don’t really see us getting to a place where we have less than 200 items in our house, even when the kids are gone and we’ve really simplified our lives. But we are moving toward a much simpler lifestyle, and don’t want to be putting more energy (time, money, thought) into maintaining stuff that we really don’t need.

Thought challenge: Start a list of what you really need to live comfortably. . . a plate, a bowl, a cup, knife/fork/spoon, napkin, towel, pillow (or 2 . . . plus a Bucky!), sheets (how do you count those? Individually? As a set?), journal, pen, brush, toothbrush, washcloth or shower scrubby, then the consumables-soap, toothpaste, etc.-how do you count those????, clothing (I have 75 things on hangers in my closet right now-with laundry to be done-and that doesn’t count the hangers! And I counted each suit skirt + jacket as one item!), etc. Have fun! And feel free to post your own version/additions to this list.