tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36596360339068801312024-03-06T02:15:23.314-08:00Moonshine Junkyardmoonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.comBlogger707125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-71253119615987440812022-03-31T23:23:00.006-07:002022-04-05T19:59:05.591-07:00A Moment in the Sun - a literary journey<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9YGCivwIGr7c5lEo1Yl7KTQHdRdJGTGm8NQQU8fZV91GAGWN0dh3F2Eb9ywhmPPHt60Rq8DznKw8SVpDRujfDsQMtTX5suGh651RJ-8FRJwaGW-Z-A09b_T1B2VotRwvGPwbjZUX6LLUfMBSsbuNElWdoCNp9yP4xTW-A6TFkkWP7ILX7T209O-IGMg/s3088/C2761FB0-572D-42A9-8E7F-03883D37302D.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2320" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9YGCivwIGr7c5lEo1Yl7KTQHdRdJGTGm8NQQU8fZV91GAGWN0dh3F2Eb9ywhmPPHt60Rq8DznKw8SVpDRujfDsQMtTX5suGh651RJ-8FRJwaGW-Z-A09b_T1B2VotRwvGPwbjZUX6LLUfMBSsbuNElWdoCNp9yP4xTW-A6TFkkWP7ILX7T209O-IGMg/w480-h640/C2761FB0-572D-42A9-8E7F-03883D37302D.jpeg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I just finished reading this huge novel, <i>A Moment in the Sun</i> by John Sayles. It felt really important to me, the experience of reading this, so I wanted to expand on it a little bit more. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">John Sayles is an award winning film director whose work I have enjoyed in the past. Anybody seen any of them? Some people complain that his films are more like novels and I think that's why I like them. My favorite is <i>Matewan</i>, about the coal miner strike in 1920 (that featured a young Bonnie Prince Billy in an amazing role as the young preacher). We also just rewatched an old favorite, <i>The Secret of Roan Inish</i>, which I had forgotten was also a John Sayles film. I love the way he digs into the cultural relevance and communities of place.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">But I hadn't realized he is also a novelist. His 1977 novel, <i>Union Dues</i>, even won the National Book Award. I didn't know any of that when I picked this book up and was surprised to see his name as author. I could tell at once that it was gritty and adventurous and that it started in the Klondike gold rush with some rough characters. That's a period I know little about and find intriguing. It mirrors the history of my own geographical region here in Placerville, history defined by the California gold rush and I knew that John Sayles would treat the problematic elements of this time period of destructive resource exploitation with attention to detail and care. He writes the stories of the underdogs, the outsiders, the broken and forgotten, the fighters, dreamers, and even reluctant heroes. He writes about resignation and change and grit. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix0P3ouinElK9ymOJrXK7IItWr5c0m981KYANkcSPbw09IOB3V3RE5zXZbjXlKF1WZG2QC6oI6lIMo8k3xngkEj7UoUVO03QpKybPfOqB6E2TIn8fsBp8OC5rDNhHsc6UBaOQKOqMV6IiaDo5tYIi0xQ2kjVgUE2lKiBp4hC7rDBXSugqS1T5aDUjrVA/s500/prisoner%20laborers%20at%20turpentine%20cap.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="233" data-original-width="500" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix0P3ouinElK9ymOJrXK7IItWr5c0m981KYANkcSPbw09IOB3V3RE5zXZbjXlKF1WZG2QC6oI6lIMo8k3xngkEj7UoUVO03QpKybPfOqB6E2TIn8fsBp8OC5rDNhHsc6UBaOQKOqMV6IiaDo5tYIi0xQ2kjVgUE2lKiBp4hC7rDBXSugqS1T5aDUjrVA/w640-h298/prisoner%20laborers%20at%20turpentine%20cap.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">prisoner laborers at a turpentine camp</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimzGbAOwWdtEGOa5zB1O-iC6w8K22yAGS1sw6uSTbTmqdqiflslpIZShzxSAxeWZpdSKXqeKJ70OuwwOY0LKVySLx20qeA11NDdj7Qc2WeeMDWZe6l2Q3NMcpob9MX2LlN9O5IIZ5VZNLCRiUwX4pR02v5Z2cOl8joFEmrSW9S5UVu3_XxXfmopoKJmw/s432/denver%20and%20rio%20grande%20railroad.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="291" data-original-width="432" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimzGbAOwWdtEGOa5zB1O-iC6w8K22yAGS1sw6uSTbTmqdqiflslpIZShzxSAxeWZpdSKXqeKJ70OuwwOY0LKVySLx20qeA11NDdj7Qc2WeeMDWZe6l2Q3NMcpob9MX2LlN9O5IIZ5VZNLCRiUwX4pR02v5Z2cOl8joFEmrSW9S5UVu3_XxXfmopoKJmw/w640-h432/denver%20and%20rio%20grande%20railroad.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">the Denver Rio Grande railroad</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I put this massive book in the stacks by my bedside. I knew I'd eventually read it, but it was intimidating and felt like a big commitment, so it took a while to really get started. I picked it up again on March 7 and read enough pages that I met a female character ("they call me Sparrow but my Christian name is Addie Lee" page 41) and was hooked. I finished reading it at 11:00 p.m on March 29.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i>"Smokey holds the ropes apart and Hod ducks in to more jeers than applause. He stands trying to look above the men's howling faces and sees the red haired girl from the little room leaning against the far wall with her arms crossed. He wishes she wasn't there." </i></div></div></blockquote><p>In the first few chapters we encounter the treacherous Golden Stairs in the Klondike, robbery and betrayal, illegal boxing, a harrowing turpentine camp in a northern forest, escaped prisoners, a blood ritual to pledge to a secret revolutionary society, and a racist Southern judge. All in the first 50 pages. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This novel spans a few years around the turn of the century (1898-1901) and is truly epic in scope, with characters and settings ranging from Alaska to Montana to North Carolina, to Cuba, Hawaii, China, and the Philippines.</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSStbYxaOBqDPcJpoUHp9ysWXvLZjbSs3-1GnX36wJEoBrUiQJQmETiOHEx5Jv-6W8DXPkI3fRRgD6gDIvR0Ri5WjB5rD_gNGPy5cZP7oXpbx4SjkDUAh0XGwwCaStYQpP_SnqgGuS7PJ27hN6jcMksUf_C5Rdnjqm8WKNfS3ZK13dJao_wEkM8RXbZA/s450/sayles%20group%20turn%20of%20century.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="358" data-original-width="450" height="510" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSStbYxaOBqDPcJpoUHp9ysWXvLZjbSs3-1GnX36wJEoBrUiQJQmETiOHEx5Jv-6W8DXPkI3fRRgD6gDIvR0Ri5WjB5rD_gNGPy5cZP7oXpbx4SjkDUAh0XGwwCaStYQpP_SnqgGuS7PJ27hN6jcMksUf_C5Rdnjqm8WKNfS3ZK13dJao_wEkM8RXbZA/w640-h510/sayles%20group%20turn%20of%20century.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Did you know about the Wilmington coup and massacre of 1898? I am sorry to say I did not. I didn't know anything. Reading certain parts of this book actually hurt as I felt reality shifting around me. I wept tears of grief to imagine what humans are capable of. I didn't have to research before I knew it was all real, based on real history. It had to be. Still, I was devastated to find out that I was right. These events are real. A lot of the details and some of the characters are real. Even though I was reading a fictionalized account, this book did what good books do, it taught me truths and expanded my heart and it evoked empathy so much that my heart ached. I didn't know much about the restoration period in the south or the "in between" states and I didn't know much about the beginning of Jim Crow. After reading this book, my heart is so full of devastating knowledge. And it's all true. I've always suspected that anything we can imagine has probably happened. When I realize some of the horrific attitudes and behaviors that were normal in 1900, I see that we've come a long way, but I also reexamine ways we think now. What will break our descendants hearts to imagine from our lifetimes? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Do you know much about the Spanish-American War? I knew very little. I didn't know what happened in Cuba, or that the war in the Philippines quickly bloomed into a bloody battle between the U.S. and the Philippino <i>insurrectos </i>that were fighting for the independence that they'd been promised. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> I didn't know the overt role thatAmerican racism played into crucial events in the beginning of overseas American Imperialism. I mean, I knew, but I didn't KNOW. </div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3V0s04FCrPILETUiss-Qc9ScZYQe4djEHdPh6fiB6NT8mIc_vhJpjidBAq9Ot4GQRkj1fjl6F6pt7ahX5mz7sffO3vbOLpvgpwEEiq89qMOMvGBXKYu0JOQz0OfneDgUwWvQLTQiSH2cdzNfQAnQtn8-4XSOxpTJtZlQHsC7toMxoCm3Q7Rg1w-lGIw/s500/25th%20infantry%20leaving%20missoula.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="500" height="461" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3V0s04FCrPILETUiss-Qc9ScZYQe4djEHdPh6fiB6NT8mIc_vhJpjidBAq9Ot4GQRkj1fjl6F6pt7ahX5mz7sffO3vbOLpvgpwEEiq89qMOMvGBXKYu0JOQz0OfneDgUwWvQLTQiSH2cdzNfQAnQtn8-4XSOxpTJtZlQHsC7toMxoCm3Q7Rg1w-lGIw/w640-h461/25th%20infantry%20leaving%20missoula.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">25th infantry in Missoula</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Did you know that four black regiments fought in the Spanish American war, the 9th and 10th cavalry and the 24th and 25th infantry and that many thousands more served as volunteers? Black soldiers won many medals for bravery under fire and faced unspeakable conditions. They were considered "immune" because some erroneously believed that black people were immune to tropical diseases. The communities back home and some of the soldiers themselves were torn on the idea of fighting for a country that had so relentlessly oppressed them. Although many soldiers hoped their brave actions in battle would help to improve racial conditions at home, "African Americans gained little from their important role in the war," according to the Rise and Fall of Jim Crow by PBS. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3h_HJ9a5P12Aff1BhQroQIvvaWGCZBR6T-Uk4Bbcd0J27WPy7iP_lfLF_hcDCfuV3K5cuFL5Fv9lmNRFwzJT0UIoFuwDScXaaOktIAb23TuwJzQ3BC46Lu6U3gq5KKkasN5kH21VcquGKyBv_aVISaeXBx6XMe6tpzkWwS_-2J9uEn-8FHgWKqi7oCw/s500/25th%20infantry.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="296" data-original-width="500" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3h_HJ9a5P12Aff1BhQroQIvvaWGCZBR6T-Uk4Bbcd0J27WPy7iP_lfLF_hcDCfuV3K5cuFL5Fv9lmNRFwzJT0UIoFuwDScXaaOktIAb23TuwJzQ3BC46Lu6U3gq5KKkasN5kH21VcquGKyBv_aVISaeXBx6XMe6tpzkWwS_-2J9uEn-8FHgWKqi7oCw/w640-h378/25th%20infantry.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I don't know where this infantry is fighting but they look weary.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyX-xUi9tv3cQxvQyPKi9JDYPnQpuH7mm6vAbCOWV9HvsbiQW6dG2VoCpzm0f8epLddnmc5tsqZns-Hb7aa0H7-sVzPdObknTJrg-tkoyqH8mAoBAiisgpcpdUZRdyZ20D0r0Wds1kXzGH2BiXmOtftSAVMToM-xcBGLu-fjLKYdf2dC3NT9uXZHPSvQ/s500/philippino%20villagers.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="426" data-original-width="500" height="546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyX-xUi9tv3cQxvQyPKi9JDYPnQpuH7mm6vAbCOWV9HvsbiQW6dG2VoCpzm0f8epLddnmc5tsqZns-Hb7aa0H7-sVzPdObknTJrg-tkoyqH8mAoBAiisgpcpdUZRdyZ20D0r0Wds1kXzGH2BiXmOtftSAVMToM-xcBGLu-fjLKYdf2dC3NT9uXZHPSvQ/w640-h546/philippino%20villagers.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJFmbP5cgflj4UM483trwMhK9Pn-VSL4Qbiwzp29dUmBtlVUeSDQT0B4o7ftvZmYt5vfSl2a9wYFPKGbt_Hd8MaYK82zRsjwo60Iw3s1fxznZqWyJ_Kot255U26P6gBh028wsUWOstd0NF_kKAlIOjvF1_HxRi214-GOfMfyL40QxQMtVTGE7BHzMYsw/s500/philippino%20insurrectos.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="500" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJFmbP5cgflj4UM483trwMhK9Pn-VSL4Qbiwzp29dUmBtlVUeSDQT0B4o7ftvZmYt5vfSl2a9wYFPKGbt_Hd8MaYK82zRsjwo60Iw3s1fxznZqWyJ_Kot255U26P6gBh028wsUWOstd0NF_kKAlIOjvF1_HxRi214-GOfMfyL40QxQMtVTGE7BHzMYsw/w640-h448/philippino%20insurrectos.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Philippino insurgents</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRn0bzxIXzw3kCij2jhS_ZkzsReaC7_DYmZkjMpc6KitTltdap4avJ9PI_5LWByJofkd9LiBei5ARCe0aeRAotlinmStJ2g3g2ltPOkqWe0m3z_BpPB-aiyQI3KB6sOM5Mdr0fKPCSYzbRoBJT4ZMXc117JDs4PG1rjJg29_C9KLGR55x3x0TpF0Pe7g/s500/opium%20den.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="357" data-original-width="500" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRn0bzxIXzw3kCij2jhS_ZkzsReaC7_DYmZkjMpc6KitTltdap4avJ9PI_5LWByJofkd9LiBei5ARCe0aeRAotlinmStJ2g3g2ltPOkqWe0m3z_BpPB-aiyQI3KB6sOM5Mdr0fKPCSYzbRoBJT4ZMXc117JDs4PG1rjJg29_C9KLGR55x3x0TpF0Pe7g/w640-h456/opium%20den.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">opium den in the Philippines</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbUnOzb6W4gb5MQwt190_gV-uS4Op1OH1y0D2cQqC1MQLbd0iP2ln5VUUFFRMLpqcoTdq-aJVX-GE7Ftn6bcLMrUC6KXrWPWuoY6a3b644q0t9IOAbqCJejKXeZd1vMHCwCXhBadyG4a-bZhFZa4D4SfUZUuBydwJ_Vmu9FamW-SPSm9zlJftZlPmZKQ/s473/colonel%20theodore%20roosevelt.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="473" data-original-width="363" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbUnOzb6W4gb5MQwt190_gV-uS4Op1OH1y0D2cQqC1MQLbd0iP2ln5VUUFFRMLpqcoTdq-aJVX-GE7Ftn6bcLMrUC6KXrWPWuoY6a3b644q0t9IOAbqCJejKXeZd1vMHCwCXhBadyG4a-bZhFZa4D4SfUZUuBydwJ_Vmu9FamW-SPSm9zlJftZlPmZKQ/w493-h640/colonel%20theodore%20roosevelt.jpg" width="493" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Colonel Theodore Roosevelt</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiJHglYB8ZcttpcC33sigsYYDlGUZgLNnqyFLbY7LZFJ-O84eoDAF1CK7UssOj2_IXo-iMdeH98aEyMnR0Ep6yyufepUpcxnnwD8wFqe0fpipLbd41SYEMEokAOY8Lqfmjd6r60ip_usL2t9r8DSDvtg_pzinqZD-Yfn-MjxDFo7CMTuDmcqNMGvtn-A/s500/zoopraxiscope.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="500" height="528" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiJHglYB8ZcttpcC33sigsYYDlGUZgLNnqyFLbY7LZFJ-O84eoDAF1CK7UssOj2_IXo-iMdeH98aEyMnR0Ep6yyufepUpcxnnwD8wFqe0fpipLbd41SYEMEokAOY8Lqfmjd6r60ip_usL2t9r8DSDvtg_pzinqZD-Yfn-MjxDFo7CMTuDmcqNMGvtn-A/w640-h528/zoopraxiscope.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">zoopraxiscope</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGQuJaR7i40U_znJXve3ti50cq_3WIfJISYmdDk_dC_KOL2Ki0KEpWrNhcWw7DqKL6zU4l1x1OJIQO9OhKDWcHxvHHG5QpVbzyW8CQh7mH5QRul_YvaNlCMgOBvSQaEBjQ_jJcrP0OOfW-cOH-uZ_AmjfL8K1ZXO4JtdjIWRns8ni84Cwt-j1dGVie4A/s486/w%20k%20l%20dickson%20early%20sound%20film%20test.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="362" data-original-width="486" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGQuJaR7i40U_znJXve3ti50cq_3WIfJISYmdDk_dC_KOL2Ki0KEpWrNhcWw7DqKL6zU4l1x1OJIQO9OhKDWcHxvHHG5QpVbzyW8CQh7mH5QRul_YvaNlCMgOBvSQaEBjQ_jJcrP0OOfW-cOH-uZ_AmjfL8K1ZXO4JtdjIWRns8ni84Cwt-j1dGVie4A/w640-h476/w%20k%20l%20dickson%20early%20sound%20film%20test.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">early sound test for moving pictures</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsJZ2uxHSRu6c-S35EwNNUG5E3VLmQhRmjrzIeLEbBO-duJug7i4sFeEYjgdR1QInYkAmKdTqszOsUplSRO9iCz8gqw_1QXqqoSywda0Ch_76fsHAn9mgG72GZ-FpvJelmZrN9cB2pNyFbePbVo16MuYoDdHDeytSujO2VzV89pPcgFQRGFlfzd-iAtQ/s500/insurrecto%20helper%20woman%20shot%20through%20leg.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="446" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsJZ2uxHSRu6c-S35EwNNUG5E3VLmQhRmjrzIeLEbBO-duJug7i4sFeEYjgdR1QInYkAmKdTqszOsUplSRO9iCz8gqw_1QXqqoSywda0Ch_76fsHAn9mgG72GZ-FpvJelmZrN9cB2pNyFbePbVo16MuYoDdHDeytSujO2VzV89pPcgFQRGFlfzd-iAtQ/w570-h640/insurrecto%20helper%20woman%20shot%20through%20leg.jpg" width="570" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72N3Lx1eQI1HeKifk_XmPQkn-h_vzcY-53oYhDvoSAGqGhvf4ZLvpoAnaNTC0ciHq7QBqcsxroPxyl2CyyMe2lpR1uCyGzFPc886w2_b1AZQ34j6Xn6PvxZJwuS4sEdibuqjuLdaGRmV3xj14kMO3lzyu_tfuhQcp3JRQcf-VvoDxpu0fJ7EVUJsq8Q/s500/bicycle%20corps%201986.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="500" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72N3Lx1eQI1HeKifk_XmPQkn-h_vzcY-53oYhDvoSAGqGhvf4ZLvpoAnaNTC0ciHq7QBqcsxroPxyl2CyyMe2lpR1uCyGzFPc886w2_b1AZQ34j6Xn6PvxZJwuS4sEdibuqjuLdaGRmV3xj14kMO3lzyu_tfuhQcp3JRQcf-VvoDxpu0fJ7EVUJsq8Q/w640-h408/bicycle%20corps%201986.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">bicycle corps, 1896 - missoula to st. louis</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjesMk4PoULdZ7kNnCMplSw-wXl4VyesaSuP_ZUKped6907mkoIS1aCfHxaGuwEoK47AxSyFVKYeCeCV_TpS029UAlfrO7GBhQ1KxZCZIAmqphhShCgyXX6Rcs9FJpfAAExirNlPT0331EKhl_toA14uayrEg32LWNL4cPgevKK9y_kN0wkbjhcJ6Lb3w/s500/ojibwa%20family.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="323" data-original-width="500" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjesMk4PoULdZ7kNnCMplSw-wXl4VyesaSuP_ZUKped6907mkoIS1aCfHxaGuwEoK47AxSyFVKYeCeCV_TpS029UAlfrO7GBhQ1KxZCZIAmqphhShCgyXX6Rcs9FJpfAAExirNlPT0331EKhl_toA14uayrEg32LWNL4cPgevKK9y_kN0wkbjhcJ6Lb3w/w640-h414/ojibwa%20family.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Ojibwa family</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh86h6QIi2h1-AzuD6RJflZmlOhlvKPDOQDagkGKtNzy2YhYaKF7OH7wt-NztPF_5sB_JNA7VPIPpAHe-rVpdkGbrzPr1mFX0jRw5XxDTZE5V6ATUVL_yVSGKcii6J28DZ_f8UVpvnkBEOxZstWSDava7_NQgO_bNB2suTwdfmq6O57EXK2vGs1VxXYYQ/s500/stampeders%20on%20the%20chilkoot%20trail.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="347" data-original-width="500" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh86h6QIi2h1-AzuD6RJflZmlOhlvKPDOQDagkGKtNzy2YhYaKF7OH7wt-NztPF_5sB_JNA7VPIPpAHe-rVpdkGbrzPr1mFX0jRw5XxDTZE5V6ATUVL_yVSGKcii6J28DZ_f8UVpvnkBEOxZstWSDava7_NQgO_bNB2suTwdfmq6O57EXK2vGs1VxXYYQ/w640-h444/stampeders%20on%20the%20chilkoot%20trail.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">stampeders on the Chilkoot trail</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Y0jAHh_YVFY_q61sncF2ruOmvM2RbjrdBJh2dNTkOd8eF7fqHe9KWwuBxhewez9CDpS6UpZab_DOe_Yeqzc-7m9Zg4_XKCS4HEgoWNV-rVSskoV-SxggpCxb3XoCaVU7QNHY59MaxTsDYxyO4Cn10CD35Xw-H9qXTNe_JgbmilAQsVFRpLiQHgT90g/s500/the%20elevated%20railway%20ninth%20avenue.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="500" height="454" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Y0jAHh_YVFY_q61sncF2ruOmvM2RbjrdBJh2dNTkOd8eF7fqHe9KWwuBxhewez9CDpS6UpZab_DOe_Yeqzc-7m9Zg4_XKCS4HEgoWNV-rVSskoV-SxggpCxb3XoCaVU7QNHY59MaxTsDYxyO4Cn10CD35Xw-H9qXTNe_JgbmilAQsVFRpLiQHgT90g/w640-h454/the%20elevated%20railway%20ninth%20avenue.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSoorDQTapFqJtEq92sa-oBj6LeR3Nm4UIHEem-xNFLr7YfJiAQ5qZDmZve5jOMexYYq_rjPmtOZVYGBKF82Hqq39AJ4OKkUoVkbU_OHXyPGRlCmJzaSMr-BaYpE8f1wk2NClJ2TdRl3ATNQa1jj38mgyoT8hBAgpcCK6xslzwwoKolU_6kHS9-PIjUg/s500/horses%20in%20manhattan.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="500" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSoorDQTapFqJtEq92sa-oBj6LeR3Nm4UIHEem-xNFLr7YfJiAQ5qZDmZve5jOMexYYq_rjPmtOZVYGBKF82Hqq39AJ4OKkUoVkbU_OHXyPGRlCmJzaSMr-BaYpE8f1wk2NClJ2TdRl3ATNQa1jj38mgyoT8hBAgpcCK6xslzwwoKolU_6kHS9-PIjUg/w640-h482/horses%20in%20manhattan.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAZbPDdScEIyTWK9aATBFG7RgjWnhZAN1k1QXu20c308-UIPnHompNDAkzcYtFrPJ1OKcczchcWbQXphc_XchkI11KY4-dPAdU7hn66bTTPA0qxgBOK45bFqyRHUNKw4phRidnnO8GdRTfjkA-7jsJYZeeH78wqfwAonomqqBniXiEvnnStaIxu5szjg/s500/manhattan%20carriages.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="500" height="502" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAZbPDdScEIyTWK9aATBFG7RgjWnhZAN1k1QXu20c308-UIPnHompNDAkzcYtFrPJ1OKcczchcWbQXphc_XchkI11KY4-dPAdU7hn66bTTPA0qxgBOK45bFqyRHUNKw4phRidnnO8GdRTfjkA-7jsJYZeeH78wqfwAonomqqBniXiEvnnStaIxu5szjg/w640-h502/manhattan%20carriages.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSpXkUjFNK1bdOLpjbANlqdGKRpcmNV8C6a1nquF7KMHKFENXfdACibxXzaDQHuJT_0Lqcw-eOW0baBPVuT66SLXruD9eSF_hUFukUMv_CqD5z2Dgj8-MMV8KxhyO7CJ37dWHyGuDJhOZL328ifzIa7tKbG88ud-6ooByVDMGX-IUct2TCYLABxrE_8g/s500/manhattan%20carriages%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="500" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSpXkUjFNK1bdOLpjbANlqdGKRpcmNV8C6a1nquF7KMHKFENXfdACibxXzaDQHuJT_0Lqcw-eOW0baBPVuT66SLXruD9eSF_hUFukUMv_CqD5z2Dgj8-MMV8KxhyO7CJ37dWHyGuDJhOZL328ifzIa7tKbG88ud-6ooByVDMGX-IUct2TCYLABxrE_8g/w640-h432/manhattan%20carriages%202.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Have you ever imagined what Manhattan was like when horses were machines? Have you imagined what they did when the "machines" break down? It is gruesome, and your heart will break once you can truly imagine, but I am willing to be a witness to gruesome moments in history because I feel we have a responsibility to learn and to therefore grow our empathy through stories. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI1y_Vses-3RErPUYpufkaLs6xDnskmWTpPJOdzBKduyW3NEjfNtM3-vEXGFSQ3dopjcmUHzDAozIZ5RYCh1ygNzL_R0RJC-HS_FC7QTOT0d_bjYG99sHi-q5oZX5296jsMDd5RLYwpxL-Poh40iU8SUXlwldKiXSeIEiZH4crRR0JcVbUB5ddhgevsQ/s400/el%20caney.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="381" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI1y_Vses-3RErPUYpufkaLs6xDnskmWTpPJOdzBKduyW3NEjfNtM3-vEXGFSQ3dopjcmUHzDAozIZ5RYCh1ygNzL_R0RJC-HS_FC7QTOT0d_bjYG99sHi-q5oZX5296jsMDd5RLYwpxL-Poh40iU8SUXlwldKiXSeIEiZH4crRR0JcVbUB5ddhgevsQ/w610-h640/el%20caney.jpg" width="610" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">El Caney, Cuba</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj49bMvw7Fy9d7tqM1CjxsLsrs6rJlxuGDAaQrs11FAwNdDYYa_mYbtBNLLpYTWAh5RjBKVmofFuO3w8wf9yrOONYWJBdXBfc1uz9AZoZ96II1Ypu4Ghcp0Jh4jRYDTNrDEWJyS7YSZNl7prdWd-vUbIIE8j3AyrtK2k17bn_NhE0JFlopXwFWXrDiVGQ/s500/philippines.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="500" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj49bMvw7Fy9d7tqM1CjxsLsrs6rJlxuGDAaQrs11FAwNdDYYa_mYbtBNLLpYTWAh5RjBKVmofFuO3w8wf9yrOONYWJBdXBfc1uz9AZoZ96II1Ypu4Ghcp0Jh4jRYDTNrDEWJyS7YSZNl7prdWd-vUbIIE8j3AyrtK2k17bn_NhE0JFlopXwFWXrDiVGQ/w640-h500/philippines.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Phillipines, 1899</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I don't even want to say too much more in case you read this book, which I hope many will although I realize it's a huge undertaking. Also, all the time at the bookstore I meet people, usually women, who don't want their fiction too dark. Life is already hard. So I get it. But for me, I've been compelled to read all my life and I have always learned through fiction. So this being my m.o., I guess I feel a bit of a responsibility to read the hard stuff, the edgy and the terrifying and the heartbreaking. Even just learning more about the foundation of US relationships with the Philippines and other Pacific islands has been an important step for me in growing and learning. Understanding some of the building blocks of our racial history in this country is also crucial. The way our racial foundations spread out to everything for centuries. There is so much more to know. There are so many stories untold. We can expand our hearts and mind learning through these stories. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">All of the photos above are taken from the <a href="https://www.mcsweeneys.net/books/amomentinthesun/bonus">bonus materials on McSweeneys,</a> who published this novel, in which Sayles provides photos and documents and annotations that served as inspiration for the text. You can also find a list of works consulted full of eye opening materials, mostly non-fiction and also including biography and fiction. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I went from the huge world of this book to the small story of my own family. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I grew up with stories of my great grandparents' life in the Philippines. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT3o6nZRs9boCX1Rs8i-0u9EIEjeJN4Ps20Otvotsg-FPnejQ4zC0X5vHUyD1lQ-EXK5dQVX6O-5H1x0Du8blCiUDsQMv5MDFvZgUh-T1kRddsarwby6NpoofGl_rN4Y7ZKm_kGyDckwhOdkKJZEUtkk_zgR4b-UV93V3OpgsEfA48f_flqaDkV-QKvw/s960/D2B21431-B764-4020-9C1F-F61347DB3878.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="960" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT3o6nZRs9boCX1Rs8i-0u9EIEjeJN4Ps20Otvotsg-FPnejQ4zC0X5vHUyD1lQ-EXK5dQVX6O-5H1x0Du8blCiUDsQMv5MDFvZgUh-T1kRddsarwby6NpoofGl_rN4Y7ZKm_kGyDckwhOdkKJZEUtkk_zgR4b-UV93V3OpgsEfA48f_flqaDkV-QKvw/w640-h512/D2B21431-B764-4020-9C1F-F61347DB3878.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Beatty family passport, Philippines, 1919<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">After I finished the book, I realized how little I knew about that connection to the Philippines. I mostly only knew that Beattys are notorious for loving white rice, my sister and I included. My dad infamously brought a rice cooker to his first date with my mom, a little Thanksgiving dinner that she had prepared, to make sure they had white rice with the meal. She was only a little bit offended. ;)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">So seeking more knowledge, I went to our family history facebook page where some relatives have posted many old photos and documents from Beatty history. I always knew that my great grandfather, Walter Kirker Beatty, a descendant of Ulysses S. Grant, was a doctor in the Philippines in the early 1900s. But first, he worked in Honduras where he met his young bride, Matilde Garcia, daughter of a Spanish general. They fell in love, and he swept her up and took him with him to the Philippines in 1905. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Digging a little deeper, I found out more. What I hadn't realized is that he actually served in the U.S. military during the Spanish American war. He was a hospital steward in Cuba. Later he served as a contract surgeon with the American army, posted in the Philippines, then Fort Huachuca, Arizona territory, which is also a setting in the book, and the Presidio in San Francisco, back to the Philippines, and the Presidio again. It was in 1903 that he left the military and went to Honduras as a private citizen, serving as a physician at at the Rosario mine. He and Matilde married July 9, 1904 in San Juancito, Honduras. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">It's like they are straight out of a John Sayles story. So many of the intricacies are lost to me though.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This is my great grandfather, Walter Kirker Beatty, at their home in Manila. I believe this photo is from about 1913.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwTWW8a6RVY3sO94MlE983AnC1wyH-G1gViDfNyLKDsayHTGaiCzqtrlNdJXTVnv6af335Knh0Z00ajJtv0aAIYlJtZ-OeKJevAsea758MWUAM-0SeNllRLKKE_ABFQSrjwJ6Z1MUYVE4W7rgNgcVNvsMZwT3q9YwWsUgllPsVxX60I4GnzqRNDsP7dQ/s1477/4D3DDDC8-1D21-49EE-9A58-95F5C1442376.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1477" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwTWW8a6RVY3sO94MlE983AnC1wyH-G1gViDfNyLKDsayHTGaiCzqtrlNdJXTVnv6af335Knh0Z00ajJtv0aAIYlJtZ-OeKJevAsea758MWUAM-0SeNllRLKKE_ABFQSrjwJ6Z1MUYVE4W7rgNgcVNvsMZwT3q9YwWsUgllPsVxX60I4GnzqRNDsP7dQ/w640-h416/4D3DDDC8-1D21-49EE-9A58-95F5C1442376.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3DAkbWZJ7GurDFxafpm9FFZg2tExCVnGidPbOS0ifoxR-KIMOepxcg_t-zy8rCQnxSwamh88LLdrtYYgF-Pwt8LCeVKytXGXdzo13fl7okNNcM_wilArCEsmKW873u2_w_2wHvRmydwtDwq5ADYFZMcIp4KlkrtFqThMuPSAbTOlOvPtzod-uGsnlyg/s1221/1906%20philippines%20matilde%20walter%20and%20john.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1221" data-original-width="843" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3DAkbWZJ7GurDFxafpm9FFZg2tExCVnGidPbOS0ifoxR-KIMOepxcg_t-zy8rCQnxSwamh88LLdrtYYgF-Pwt8LCeVKytXGXdzo13fl7okNNcM_wilArCEsmKW873u2_w_2wHvRmydwtDwq5ADYFZMcIp4KlkrtFqThMuPSAbTOlOvPtzod-uGsnlyg/w442-h640/1906%20philippines%20matilde%20walter%20and%20john.jpg" width="442" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">1906, first son John and his parents, Dr. Walter Kirker Beatty and Matilde Garcia Beatty, Manila, P.I. She was pregnant with their first son on the boat from San Francisco to Manila. Here is an excerpt from a letter that Walter sent to his mother Mary Jane back in Washington D.C:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dear mother,</div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"> As we are now but a little over one day from Honolulu, I will get a few lines to you.....My love for Matilde is overwhelming & abiding and I shall love my baby for I already love her. We have already named her in our insane love, we are going to call her Inez (which is Spanish for Agnes, you will have to pronounce it as ee-ness', accent on the last syllable) We don't allow ourselves to think of a boy.</div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">.....Your loving son, Walter<span style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl gpro0wi8 m9osqain lrazzd5p" href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1400579986718700/user/100002732212024/?__cft__[0]=AZXOJUja4t_LNFjVOSbois1sc-4RYkDo7F9WpM5lwGPdUH6hATShLkChwKoERabUZAGh4IEei0EOMq9jEtMyxvW8IpiDQwV-eFvtDlZXkvrZE5RcwHwyHXHp7sKzLyKMgog&__tn__=-]K-R" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; animation-name: none; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition-property: none;" tabindex="0"><br /></a></span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Note; It's a 12 page letter telling of Matilde's sickness and weakness and how he looking forward to their future in the Philippines.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">Guess what. They ended up having eight sons! </div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2P90CIl9L8kyPcAU7CQ6QPn9Th-8BcuIaEAglTbXr4dLpffLcVve1MNmjoXBa7VNo9SJTftmS_hz8TmcrQcfhXBsMnwqX99pvUbF63_p3iyx5WXK6Q0DX0JYo2vehA_eKbn6EC5-Vfx2y9yag6-gdga4ejLmSIqdcEX8dwonDTS8aLqd4Ji0gZVjPOw/s2048/6334BD6F-DF53-46EE-AE83-F0E301D781C5.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1322" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2P90CIl9L8kyPcAU7CQ6QPn9Th-8BcuIaEAglTbXr4dLpffLcVve1MNmjoXBa7VNo9SJTftmS_hz8TmcrQcfhXBsMnwqX99pvUbF63_p3iyx5WXK6Q0DX0JYo2vehA_eKbn6EC5-Vfx2y9yag6-gdga4ejLmSIqdcEX8dwonDTS8aLqd4Ji0gZVjPOw/w414-h640/6334BD6F-DF53-46EE-AE83-F0E301D781C5.jpeg" width="414" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Here is Matilde with her two year old son John. She is only 19 years old herself in this photo; this must have been around 1907. Their second son Frank was born August 23, 1906. Maybe he was too fussy or something and was not shown in this photograph? Six sons were born to them in the Philippines, two more born after they moved to Delhi, CA in 1918. My own grandfather, Carlos Garcia Beatty, the fourth son, always known as "Buck," was born December 13, 1908. The brother right before him, little George, died as a four month old infant. Maybe she was pregnant with him in this picture? I have so many unanswered questions. I have always felt drawn to my great grandmother and want to understand her experiences more fully.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFhOb1468FKjOsBR5iPoI55p5gUglEBP2Z_uLdoZBcY8qQot0LniFT090UEdTF2C_Jvt1MFLYLGnsqNxGb-tXDZbRXQBYuvdlMXhzz_4xY1Xj3pCks4Ft0l5gVcg_qYmHmbvIuoqXV8Ns7duDX6Nhxjus_X-QMoYkjhxJ7n1dDx54HL4PMZGdfDRSvgA/s1553/48146F00-5845-4C14-82D3-AED4DF5ECF6F.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1553" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFhOb1468FKjOsBR5iPoI55p5gUglEBP2Z_uLdoZBcY8qQot0LniFT090UEdTF2C_Jvt1MFLYLGnsqNxGb-tXDZbRXQBYuvdlMXhzz_4xY1Xj3pCks4Ft0l5gVcg_qYmHmbvIuoqXV8Ns7duDX6Nhxjus_X-QMoYkjhxJ7n1dDx54HL4PMZGdfDRSvgA/w494-h640/48146F00-5845-4C14-82D3-AED4DF5ECF6F.jpeg" width="494" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVRfTb4XfkJcnY76wnijZ6CM5S41mA5LTG4CiEaO-shbNJlFUksmqZaY8Odv7wavZxkDUcIu88AZYOURNymZWHLgvQmXWX5dJipQna-Y5aXlUonsBRyu6g7g9wideW_FCvYyu5QhRmChbVXF49zFBJvJZ381ufZLnrHBV74eGR-ah09CY18fRTqbf3uQ/s1513/D91852E3-F55A-4763-97FF-D0294D11C4B6.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1513" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVRfTb4XfkJcnY76wnijZ6CM5S41mA5LTG4CiEaO-shbNJlFUksmqZaY8Odv7wavZxkDUcIu88AZYOURNymZWHLgvQmXWX5dJipQna-Y5aXlUonsBRyu6g7g9wideW_FCvYyu5QhRmChbVXF49zFBJvJZ381ufZLnrHBV74eGR-ah09CY18fRTqbf3uQ/w508-h640/D91852E3-F55A-4763-97FF-D0294D11C4B6.jpeg" width="508" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>So, to sum it all up: I read a big 955 page novel by John Sayles that taught me a lot and that I can't stop thinking about. My heart exploded. I went places in my imagination through space and time for those reading weeks, places that I never before really knew existed, encountered (in my imaginary journey of these pages) places and ideas and people who broke my heart in so many ways. And I felt I knew them. Some of them I deeply loved. If you read the book too, I'm sure we'll agree on a few favorites: Royal Scott and Junior Lunceford, Dr. Lunceford and Jessie, Jubal and Hod and Mei and Diosdado. I'm sure we'll agree about a few of the most heart-rending moments. This experience awoke a renewed interest in my own family history. The turn of the 20th century was a wild time in history, and formative to a lot of what we experience today; then, more revolutions were fought and many people died in that bloody century and you wonder how things got so brutal and your heart breaks again and again. I have been devastated and awakened through Russian fiction, through Haitian and Dominican and Ghanian fiction, stories from the Caribbean and South Africa and India, and now I have been devastated and awakened all over again by this very American story that spreads all around the world. It didn't bother me that John Sayles sometimes took the opportunity to explore any interesting invention or occurrence or news clipping or devious character who passed through his field of vision as he researched and wrote this massive book. It made it that much more alive. Life is full of random details and occurrences. <div><br /></div><div>The frontispiece says it best: </div><div><br /></div><div><i>In the drawing Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty stand side by side on the shore. </i></div><div><i>We see them from behind, but know, by their dress, whose pensive vista we are sharing...</i></div><div><i>We are looking west.</i></div><div><i>We can't see their faces, of course, can't tell if they are seeking adventure, longing for treasure, anticipating unknown horrors. That will come later.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>I thought about the ways we are all woven together. The ways stories live and reshape us again and again, later, and later. </div><div><br /></div><div>And that's about it. Thank you for reading along with me. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div><p></p></div>moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-6489873004958367182021-01-13T10:39:00.000-08:002021-01-13T10:39:55.514-08:00Kids and Bodies<p>If you know our family, you probably know that our parenting style is not very restrictive. I don't try too hard to restrict much of anything because I know it just draws attention to that thing and makes it seem desirable. We're not super overboard about candy or cuss words or plastic, you get the point. But there are two things I care about keeping away from my kids. One is personal screen time. I don't mean watching tv shows or movies (especially good ones!) as a family. We are wide open to that. But ugh, I reject the small personal screens that draw kids in to their own little worlds and away from togetherness and quality activity. But that's a topic for another day. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSiW4KFske8YAumx2RtxTORnuLL24kFKELQ-15Zj9vZhM3bjKeT6VBrtqhnnqj9cI1Q52UIVL-rZWZ-LGjopkIuWgNU3OFrQKqLZ5TBB9RrFNaPibd75YnOyyOkHTay0DM1XdMR4V0jwtA/s4592/P1000109.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3064" data-original-width="4592" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSiW4KFske8YAumx2RtxTORnuLL24kFKELQ-15Zj9vZhM3bjKeT6VBrtqhnnqj9cI1Q52UIVL-rZWZ-LGjopkIuWgNU3OFrQKqLZ5TBB9RrFNaPibd75YnOyyOkHTay0DM1XdMR4V0jwtA/w640-h428/P1000109.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p>The thing I least want my daughters to witness is negativity about body image. I don't allow weight talk around my kids. I would never make a disparaging comment about my body or any other body; in fact, I would only offer praise and positivity. At a glance, this might seem disingenuous, but it's totally not. All bodies are beautiful and have done great things. Human bodies are amazing. There is no one particular way we are "supposed" to look or feel, and I strongly oppose a society that gives kids and women in particular that idea. Even when it's "just about health," it's still not anyone else's business what a body looks like. When we denigrate our physical bodies, even playfully, we obviously make a strong impression on our kids. But the thing is, it's not even just about them. It's giving them the idea that human bodies, and particularly female bodies, are meant to be discussed, judged, and valued accordingly. Ours, theirs, and everybody else's. We all hate this dilemma, and yet it is perpetuated every day in our thoughts and words. I want to be constantly vigilant against that. </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaMxkUhHle849y3ZphP_V3Zv1wMM0N0gcQjlfJMnxFYgPytZqzNk8UkJoLZAIu-9Y4TFkjnfUSkRxIqj7t445-s-E1v_kT_czMcQJjN9ZoS2gUhNUS9072oLqiyXKL56HwkuQhqgAsQ5at/s4592/P1000134.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3064" data-original-width="4592" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaMxkUhHle849y3ZphP_V3Zv1wMM0N0gcQjlfJMnxFYgPytZqzNk8UkJoLZAIu-9Y4TFkjnfUSkRxIqj7t445-s-E1v_kT_czMcQJjN9ZoS2gUhNUS9072oLqiyXKL56HwkuQhqgAsQ5at/w640-h428/P1000134.JPG" width="640" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Normally I don't at all like to be didactic about parenting. I know parenting is an intensely personal experience for families, to navigate our children and ourselves healthily through this challenging and ultimately extremely superficial society. But in this area, I would openly beseech others to heed the call: do not talk about weight in front of children. Mothers and daughters especially, but I really only say that because it's the experience I'm most familiar with, and I know that in this area it's an extremely powerful relationship.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyNuUdxzU9VCvurDHqMR92eLJcWmSgT-jioLxjEWBetVy8gDo13ybvngjb1DRNHkTq4ytArmHvzQu5KvVDZmVIYRoTV0gOCROiDAHhsKvtMOdO9ydg2D-my-Mlzj4gej4vLAbzQb37UcMQ/s4592/P1000511.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3064" data-original-width="4592" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyNuUdxzU9VCvurDHqMR92eLJcWmSgT-jioLxjEWBetVy8gDo13ybvngjb1DRNHkTq4ytArmHvzQu5KvVDZmVIYRoTV0gOCROiDAHhsKvtMOdO9ydg2D-my-Mlzj4gej4vLAbzQb37UcMQ/w640-h428/P1000511.JPG" width="640" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p>As a mother for eight years now, I have made a conscious effort to be only positive about myself and my body. I also make an effort to be natural and to normalize a womanly body. I will shower together with my girls and dress in front of them. It has taken effort for me to be casual and confident in this way; it doesn't come naturally for me. I was raised Mormon and extremely modest. But I can tell intuitively from the easy and casual way they act around me when I'm naked or half dressed, that it's good for them to see their momma like this. Just not batting an eye about my big bottom or my belly or acting weird, covering up my boobs or any part of me or acting like any inch of myself is shameful. </p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbrZrOD9014zP1nYkUc-qBUswBD_KqKOViOZi3rPX15ESNi-zJAr-fQfqWjXaouHZ8PGCjOE5O2w20YhU0DkF724PBBMibg_x7_ZtAw8ZdpqW6qAnYT3NoUPGajxiT2_AAbl293xRTEbm4/s4592/P1000738.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3064" data-original-width="4592" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbrZrOD9014zP1nYkUc-qBUswBD_KqKOViOZi3rPX15ESNi-zJAr-fQfqWjXaouHZ8PGCjOE5O2w20YhU0DkF724PBBMibg_x7_ZtAw8ZdpqW6qAnYT3NoUPGajxiT2_AAbl293xRTEbm4/w640-h428/P1000738.JPG" width="640" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p>Likewise when I put on my spandex shorts to run on the treadmill, I don't act embarrassed or expectant in some special way. I am not a great runner; over the years I've built and lost and then rebuilt stamina. And they see it all and they know I like it when I run. Even when I sweat like a horse or pee my pants a little from running, I'm laughing about that. When my face is beet red and I'm out of breath. When they watch me on the treadmill I smile as big as I can and even dance and jive to the music in my ears. I want them to see that the reason I run is for fun and for a good mood. When I do yoga I invite them to join me. They climb on my "wobbly tabletop" and we make a game of it. Doing yoga alone is more productive, of course, but when they're around I want it to be fun.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDjuk8JI32K-nG6Qfy7E5D_8N4OAXk8xDkO8q7ldsm9JBm2yCB6OOaD5hRHGRFYX_ypafhDVUtIhpSWMFYOJUzMA07UU6q3OSnt6K2V8hGKsrCURUCMSFDbisoNXM8TJH2AcG-aZeYYT1H/s4592/P1000152.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3064" data-original-width="4592" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDjuk8JI32K-nG6Qfy7E5D_8N4OAXk8xDkO8q7ldsm9JBm2yCB6OOaD5hRHGRFYX_ypafhDVUtIhpSWMFYOJUzMA07UU6q3OSnt6K2V8hGKsrCURUCMSFDbisoNXM8TJH2AcG-aZeYYT1H/w640-h428/P1000152.JPG" width="640" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUBEasOXAVNKzsruNKYRJiHaIUaTuKfauyKGvWJQHqtIi1gxAroNO9PulUOJFZ2BOUMeL-YZqPNyf3mLffwJ9oF6bdIoTJILgD0BvIU0q1ZlVNbD6M4_TIicO-sPtFog4Mf4E8YBu1KhZ5/s4592/P1000011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3064" data-original-width="4592" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUBEasOXAVNKzsruNKYRJiHaIUaTuKfauyKGvWJQHqtIi1gxAroNO9PulUOJFZ2BOUMeL-YZqPNyf3mLffwJ9oF6bdIoTJILgD0BvIU0q1ZlVNbD6M4_TIicO-sPtFog4Mf4E8YBu1KhZ5/w640-h428/P1000011.JPG" width="640" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p>They have also witnessed my growth with my gray hair journey. They know that once I dyed it when Polly was two, and then I decided not to ever again. They think it's pretty. I talk openly about what it means to be 44 years old, to feel young inside, and to have gray hair in our society. I am grateful that the overall vibe on graying seems to be shifting, but still, most women my age I know do dye their hair or despair openly over a gray or two. When a little boy in Lucy's class told me his mom hates gray hair, I told him I like it. I searched my soul to find out how honest that was. I think it actually was true. Silver is sparkly, beautiful and unique, when you view it without any cultural associations and try to separate yourself from societal expectations or norms. The girls know that I am proud to be growing old and affectionate toward my silver hair. I also like my wrinkles, body hair, and the twinkle in my eye. </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPnrWvji_GUgF6HclmhvrrEvHepgUmnf79Oo5pyvocrnaNF_yKoeafbWEhHJ86uhfn6v9ZGxZRlsd2RY0MJSaUpAMWIu8YpPn1RkxSx23FY-Uih4yG0LkWGDwcgig1xUaYknSi1vE_Jxns/s4592/P1000007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3064" data-original-width="4592" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPnrWvji_GUgF6HclmhvrrEvHepgUmnf79Oo5pyvocrnaNF_yKoeafbWEhHJ86uhfn6v9ZGxZRlsd2RY0MJSaUpAMWIu8YpPn1RkxSx23FY-Uih4yG0LkWGDwcgig1xUaYknSi1vE_Jxns/w640-h428/P1000007.JPG" width="640" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ckifWlJoOBKjCs78zoAuk1GvGMjd1FExxqUxn-R_KzkGrRo0WZzWUkaDquyqR5iiaruKYA60h9fwuqpwpR2uj0sY75aJu55zHkw5PvtMDIY9EDD5R6zs4Zd4C5oY7c0EskeCcHjD83NO/s4592/P1000001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3448" data-original-width="4592" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ckifWlJoOBKjCs78zoAuk1GvGMjd1FExxqUxn-R_KzkGrRo0WZzWUkaDquyqR5iiaruKYA60h9fwuqpwpR2uj0sY75aJu55zHkw5PvtMDIY9EDD5R6zs4Zd4C5oY7c0EskeCcHjD83NO/w640-h480/P1000001.JPG" width="640" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p>I remember many years ago, my friend Sadie posted something about her own butt in a picture of her in a bathing suit on the beach. Something about "look at that cute booty!" I remember that it took my breath away. What a shock to hear a beautiful woman with a great body ADMIT that she looked cute. It was utterly refreshing. It also made me sad that this was my reaction, because it showed how rare that kind of confidence (or at least outward display of it) was. I hoped to be more open with my confidence. But I feel strange sharing anything vulnerably personal still to this day. Even this post!</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9MdaP58rduPBK8jQ9w2DA_aI2qX5a-d8r4w3sAlkgQY8X-83SEE1vGbx-POo8uIrPJNyaS0UQE0hTNcQBWCfy40mp0wYXl5xqYCK4sO7yj9Gz0KFQXL4nOgbW3bjdY2EruOdwwN2H2v82/s4592/P1000620.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3064" data-original-width="4592" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9MdaP58rduPBK8jQ9w2DA_aI2qX5a-d8r4w3sAlkgQY8X-83SEE1vGbx-POo8uIrPJNyaS0UQE0hTNcQBWCfy40mp0wYXl5xqYCK4sO7yj9Gz0KFQXL4nOgbW3bjdY2EruOdwwN2H2v82/w640-h428/P1000620.JPG" width="640" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p>When we were little, my dad would say how beautiful or cute we were but "not to get a big head about it." Both my sister and I have laughed about this ever since, exclaiming, "if he only knew how FAR we were from getting big heads!!!" In the place and time that we live, I think there's almost no such thing as over-confidence in a young girl. We are obliquely taught to question, doubt, and judge our physical selves since we are very young, which we can see even just looking at the attention we girls get. Attention for our looks in varied ways. Again, I am not a stickler about not mentioning looks at all, we are physical beings and it's natural to notice physical traits. But I try not to focus too much on my kids' looks. I mostly talk to them about their strengths, weaknesses, interests, and dreams. Not their hair, skin tone, or god forbid, body shapes.</p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN59FV90OOSqp01r6eq__IH9sKXuxUrvAbPewxVWu0wPlxrXC_HzC00ImOMkaU6IfDyLWhuDI6tnHyNGy1zOfioVDi7p2tuQWaqSw-P5F-2xr_IU-EZ-1-qV5nFRLb55LO-Zq-Z_XRgBjc/s4592/P1000051.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4592" data-original-width="3064" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN59FV90OOSqp01r6eq__IH9sKXuxUrvAbPewxVWu0wPlxrXC_HzC00ImOMkaU6IfDyLWhuDI6tnHyNGy1zOfioVDi7p2tuQWaqSw-P5F-2xr_IU-EZ-1-qV5nFRLb55LO-Zq-Z_XRgBjc/w428-h640/P1000051.JPG" width="428" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p style="text-align: left;">My young college students write often about the superficial world they encounter in social media. One that I had foolishly thought we were moving away from. The way they tell it, it's worse than ever, the despair it brings them, the hollowness it evokes. Maybe that's why most of my students seem hung up on working out and getting rich. I thought we were advancing philosophically beyond that, and I have hope as I also witness a strong level of critical thinking among students. </p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">We have choices to make, and luckily, we know it. </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrAwterlIdNhVoG4Lo_kMVFIe3Defqo-gTlo_82c7f9kbXMA75MQ6k5LfLtm-CoMjwbpdHmbXwvL-SmlhvMdMoVpbqBwveHoDXNHvwCSB4ch3InabwU7fGq9hBKiL1B9sKfW14mdDUZkW_/s4592/P1000391.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3064" data-original-width="4592" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrAwterlIdNhVoG4Lo_kMVFIe3Defqo-gTlo_82c7f9kbXMA75MQ6k5LfLtm-CoMjwbpdHmbXwvL-SmlhvMdMoVpbqBwveHoDXNHvwCSB4ch3InabwU7fGq9hBKiL1B9sKfW14mdDUZkW_/w640-h428/P1000391.JPG" width="640" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p> By changing the way we think and talk in both inner and outer conversations about our wonderful physical selves, I hope that we all will usher in a society that is finally free of the degrading, objectifying, standard of judgment toward a woman's body. We have lived this way too long. I reject any social media or imagery that I feel furthers this hurtful situation, and I hope you will too.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw1MBJoQKWm9T8orzh9Svq7sOHxx9yLi2l-0K4IC0cI3ektmCkM06alY1sG3JlunRctcY48BRJVnKqs21_MPZXvyGU6fwP4Z8mMjfwhAj17sUaAn-4ctbQ_dar33gvwZ9UBg_c-YMlvIH3/s3232/P1000101.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3232" data-original-width="2160" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw1MBJoQKWm9T8orzh9Svq7sOHxx9yLi2l-0K4IC0cI3ektmCkM06alY1sG3JlunRctcY48BRJVnKqs21_MPZXvyGU6fwP4Z8mMjfwhAj17sUaAn-4ctbQ_dar33gvwZ9UBg_c-YMlvIH3/w428-h640/P1000101.JPG" width="428" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj627erZ2caTpCabAjhVNiP7HAvlMKGTUtoLqJ6StXeWTP2ocH9BeAv1n7ggzGnc618j1LTnyc9CKmvUHyfc-vP5gEG-N7Gmcq9pIfqX1Bgi_fPFfN5p375oTXCcT35CU-JR0WzaVSWIkCI/s4592/P1000565.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3064" data-original-width="4592" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj627erZ2caTpCabAjhVNiP7HAvlMKGTUtoLqJ6StXeWTP2ocH9BeAv1n7ggzGnc618j1LTnyc9CKmvUHyfc-vP5gEG-N7Gmcq9pIfqX1Bgi_fPFfN5p375oTXCcT35CU-JR0WzaVSWIkCI/w640-h428/P1000565.JPG" width="640" /></a></p>moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-70872693645079163472020-03-29T00:41:00.001-07:002020-03-29T11:38:09.021-07:00Be Sure to Touch the Ground - Ramblings While Staying at HomeThanks Cole McKenzie for reminding me about <a href="https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/waxahatchee-saint-cloud/" target="_blank">the new Waxahatchee album</a>, of which I'd heard three songs and loved: "Fire," "Can't Do Much," and "Lilacs," but yesterday the whole new album dropped and today I listened to its entirety.<br />
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Incidentally, I listened while on a five mile treadmill run, building back up to where I was at the beginning of this month, after a short period of taking it easy due to the current situation with the Covid 19 scare and a brief cold-like illness. I read that building up your natural immune system means working out but not overdoing it. I am still "taking it easy" but finding it imperative to push myself a little, because that's when I feel most healthy. It felt good to be out of breath and to pull beautiful air deep into my lungs and to appreciate that in a way that makes me want to cry. Another side note is that I am now able to run to all kinds of music, and find running the best time to really take in and absorb new music, whether fast, slow, whatever. For about four years it has been the case that I could only run to super upbeat pop music. Now I can run to disaster podcasts and mellow music. I've come a long way. ;)<br />
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In any case, listening to this album today had a profound effect on me, one that I did not expect. It was beautiful and sparkling and fresh, but beyond that it moved me in deep ways to reflect upon my childhood. It wasn't so much the Americana style of the music or the sound of Katie Crutchfield's voice, but her lyrics. I don't think she's trying to talk about what it's like to be a little girl growing up in the country with a happy family, but that's what is great about music: it makes us all reflect on different things.<br />
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The album reminded me of the things I will never forget because they are such obvious parts of me, but I spaced out and enjoyed knowing:<br />
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<br />
<ul>
<li>That I grew up with a sister and little brothers who loved to play outside all day long; that we lived in the worlds of our imaginations, while fruit trees bloomed and our knees were dirty and we ate popsicles.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>That we were "free as the air" as Waxahatchee says in her song "Arkadelphia" and we were breathless with it and exuberant and wild</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>That my dad would tell me "don't forget to touch the ground," because I ran and leapt and skipped everywhere, and later around age ten, after I started clogging, I clogged across the house and everywhere I went instead of walking.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li>That grandma Georgie used to make Easter egg shaped cupcakes sprinkled with coconut for us every spring.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>That we watched Voyage of the Mimi and pretended to be the voyagers at dinner time; our canned green beans were seaweed and our spam was deep-sea fish and our rice was some natural grain from the island. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>That my favorite tv show was Reading Rainbow.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>That we always had cats. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>That we ran around the neighborhood at Sage Oak Ct. and the kids came to our door and asked "Can Matt play?" or whichever kid, and the group grew bigger, and it overflowed into our backyard and out into the court, and parents weren't around. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>That once I rode my bike to 7-11 with my friend Becky and her dad had given me a five dollar bill to spend there which was unheard of in my life, and I lost it, and I was devastated. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>That my sister and I rode our bikes to piano lessons every week. I started lessons when I was six and I quit (by my own choice) when I was twelve. I remember that my piano teacher smelled like sweet flour dough. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>That Grandma Cherie taught me how to take care of my nails but I was never very good at it. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>That my dad played handball and we played around by the chain link fence and ran to grab the balls that were lost and every moment was an adventure.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>That we made a time travel machine in our closet and a haunted house in our bedroom and a lake out of a tiny plastic swimming pool and underground tunnels in the sandbox. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>That the best person to play Barbies with was Addie because other girls just liked to sit around and brush their hair but we made our whole room (or backyard) into towns for them and created wild, elaborate stories for them with lots of romance and intrigue. Addie's girls were always "17" and thinking about throwing themselves over cliffs in desperation. I liked making families.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>That my mom ran a tight ship while also never once making us feel stifled, and I'm not sure how she did that to this day. Our house was clean and tidy and we always had clean clothes and good food and fun projects. Five kids. Five kids.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>That Saturday morning chores often led to fun trips to rollerskating or the library.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>That alone time with mom and dad was rare and special. And alone time in the whole house was even more rare and a nice time to listen to records. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>That the land of make believe is right there, and you can get to it if you spin in circles long enough and believe in it.</li>
</ul>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My girls wear this outfit now. My sister and I had matching ones made for us by our aunt.</td></tr>
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The other day, Darin's <a href="http://www.theartofskinner.com/" target="_blank">artist friend Skinner</a> was in town. Before the show at Volution, he was at our house, and we were talking about small towns, coming back to where you're from, how a nonconformist gets silenced and ridiculed, dysfunctional families, traumatic memories, making peace, moving forward, coming back. And he and Darin were kind of sharing difficulties from their childhoods and he asked me, "What about you?" and I said, almost sheepishly, "I had a happy childhood." and the genuine surprise and happiness reflected on his face to hear that, in turn surprised me. He was delighted. And I felt it. And in my 43rd year of life, I was grateful all over again to that beginning.</div>
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These words are for my siblings, my parents, and most of all my little girl self:</div>
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We can try to let stillness be</div>
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But if I spin off will you rescue me?</div>
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Or will I beg you to set me free?</div>
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I think that's what wild might be meant to be</div>
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You and me. </div>
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-Waxahatchee, "The Eye" from <i>Saint Cloud, </i>2020</div>
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<br />moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-19612348873887561852019-12-23T14:50:00.003-08:002019-12-26T23:17:14.203-08:00Cozy Nooks and Christmas Books<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Have a cup of cheer!</div>
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Obviously the best thing to do in midwinter is to find a cozy nook and read a good book. </div>
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The girls had their last day of school before winter break on the 20th, so we're about to do a whole lot more of that.</div>
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So far, though, we've found some moments to revisit our favorite traditions and create merriment.</div>
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<b>Part One: Children Laughing, People Passing</b></div>
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During the annual Placerville Christmas parade downtown, we gathered with friends and family in front of the Bookery. I was technically working with Darin that day, which made it convenient to watch the parade too! There had been a strong chance of rain, but the sun came out about an hour before the parade came down the road. I think for that reason, it was less crowded than usual, and just about perfect as far as I'm concerned.</div>
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The girls took their chance to get cozy in the kids' section at Bookery and read for a good long time. I love how comfortable they are here. They are growing up in a bookstore just like I always hoped. I have so much to be grateful for this season, seriously.</div>
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<b>Part Two: Deck the Halls</b></div>
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It has been a rushed holiday season since Thanksgiving came so late this year. We were in a hurry to get our tree and had to decorate the next day. Tootie is always my best tree trimming partner.</div>
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These next five little ornaments represented all the five kids in my family as we were growing up. It went like this:</div>
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Addie = angel</div>
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Heather (me) = stocking</div>
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Matt = snowman</div>
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Mikie = Santa</div>
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Joey = cherub</div>
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Tootie gave them characteristics as we hung them on the tree. This was her litany. </div>
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Addie: Magic and happy. Heather: Kindness and Smartness. Matt: Adventurous and Good-hearted. Mikie: Funny and energetic. Joey: Fun and loving. (I wrote it down while she chanted it out.)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC5MCcUcWLSh_OELarwsvVGbqgts0XAx0rMZowoGuPMa-R0Kn_n4YqQmappFzM-I6z53Hiplunv_iLtOQd-nolR4c_8CYIrMMGPe5yD99wCKAfIyZy7pP6rcQWiRebaYCGmfFZrq1lO7jN/s1600/IMG_0555.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC5MCcUcWLSh_OELarwsvVGbqgts0XAx0rMZowoGuPMa-R0Kn_n4YqQmappFzM-I6z53Hiplunv_iLtOQd-nolR4c_8CYIrMMGPe5yD99wCKAfIyZy7pP6rcQWiRebaYCGmfFZrq1lO7jN/s640/IMG_0555.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl34XaTQmtI17gc8_8w-oITVw4iGatcMIsUEZMomLqekS6lAmKqI5EFJxOiaoIzu4C4CJJXH183oJGs-Rf6dlQZLjYADLXJT6JQsd_20znHAwplSKP5bun1z5fNDodFbBT_dwW_680Fvvc/s1600/IMG_0642.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl34XaTQmtI17gc8_8w-oITVw4iGatcMIsUEZMomLqekS6lAmKqI5EFJxOiaoIzu4C4CJJXH183oJGs-Rf6dlQZLjYADLXJT6JQsd_20znHAwplSKP5bun1z5fNDodFbBT_dwW_680Fvvc/s640/IMG_0642.JPG" width="426" /></a></div>
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A few other favorite decorations. I just got this snowglobe this year and I love it. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7JTGexp2hdlD5r5y0cdq5p6izDTwJrlxT4Zg0-nKmmVQ7HB8uSmY3vCtR7TILH1F63xoFhafwiMOqYB1YKbJuW4lRsG1XQf15zGiCgwkYaJbkuEU1cfpGdfS6ZeVXmW9hO7CeJr3qdo-i/s1600/IMG_0664.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7JTGexp2hdlD5r5y0cdq5p6izDTwJrlxT4Zg0-nKmmVQ7HB8uSmY3vCtR7TILH1F63xoFhafwiMOqYB1YKbJuW4lRsG1XQf15zGiCgwkYaJbkuEU1cfpGdfS6ZeVXmW9hO7CeJr3qdo-i/s640/IMG_0664.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGLjDQtJLSirh8eim2c-ku7RimgAa3NDum8aGXR_nG0DUKvUvFhBMKCTPeMikewxZupbKhX8IycjP-fTKTnRb41aWowT88BM4dZGJJfYpkLYbr6oDGkg7tyUlZxcsaNNj3wg1JOddMSNNR/s1600/IMG_0653.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGLjDQtJLSirh8eim2c-ku7RimgAa3NDum8aGXR_nG0DUKvUvFhBMKCTPeMikewxZupbKhX8IycjP-fTKTnRb41aWowT88BM4dZGJJfYpkLYbr6oDGkg7tyUlZxcsaNNj3wg1JOddMSNNR/s640/IMG_0653.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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I made the welcome sign when I was pregnant with Polly, for my "winter burrow" baby shower, and I use it pretty much every year. It had a second part that said "BABY." And even though I obviously don't use that banner anymore, it still reminds me of a Christmastime (2013) when I had one beautiful one year old and one beautiful huge belly with a baby inside!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvQ2ym67HZejb8GJHzTxJSnmtR1vjk8osrJ9jnp0FEYlYsQJ4QytHnSrjpxYBOUz-g3qvSa2N4QHjB6_YoEaoa2zV9VP_z4NoJMKjMP5gRaSnS-8IS6yCwvMFS3y6vK33Eunq8s6W0jygu/s1600/IMG_0656.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvQ2ym67HZejb8GJHzTxJSnmtR1vjk8osrJ9jnp0FEYlYsQJ4QytHnSrjpxYBOUz-g3qvSa2N4QHjB6_YoEaoa2zV9VP_z4NoJMKjMP5gRaSnS-8IS6yCwvMFS3y6vK33Eunq8s6W0jygu/s640/IMG_0656.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ8VdNd5B7xkLLhxHelmCBka6uBAHQlCF8JtDjf8dInkAo5BTfv6qWE-LRmm51xvz7P4l8_yPdn9TFScdSAYDJRy3fsg-adbwbh_0oiiG-IQBJHS-e8gXXof22XyfNNs8WcPfU78GfDIYR/s1600/IMG_0665.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ8VdNd5B7xkLLhxHelmCBka6uBAHQlCF8JtDjf8dInkAo5BTfv6qWE-LRmm51xvz7P4l8_yPdn9TFScdSAYDJRy3fsg-adbwbh_0oiiG-IQBJHS-e8gXXof22XyfNNs8WcPfU78GfDIYR/s640/IMG_0665.JPG" width="640" /></a><b></b></div>
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<b>Part Three: Don we now our gay apparel.</b></div>
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In December, I pretty much enjoy being festively attired all month long.</div>
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I liked my outfit on parade day. I think big billowy roses should come into play more often during the holidays. Also, my favorite color scheme for Christmas this year has been red-pink-turquoise.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY1a0q1UOQakb9ObYF-goEPQLiJc2uLdD7uxtAtptkwAj6op3bdKd-qkyzYT1OukGJA0LRdwOlm9llbYQVGb-JmbwovveyZlQejf36n3Kfk5f7xTr-rLzW8jdxYU6gL33niuq8lgnxza6h/s1600/IMG_0607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY1a0q1UOQakb9ObYF-goEPQLiJc2uLdD7uxtAtptkwAj6op3bdKd-qkyzYT1OukGJA0LRdwOlm9llbYQVGb-JmbwovveyZlQejf36n3Kfk5f7xTr-rLzW8jdxYU6gL33niuq8lgnxza6h/s640/IMG_0607.JPG" width="426" /></a></div>
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But mostly I wore my Bookery apron.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLDasSUht1ntcogu4EpFstwgi3CwwRk2fYE8_nJebtgeH4A0s46rQoZ8ynxzdv32V9CBPN_o0WWkn6tYFLdEekmgfuNlpzrsqiucCPrPYJGEkDazEO3GXEaZoYYvwIaFSmtlPdL6UbsUK6/s1600/IMG_0599.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLDasSUht1ntcogu4EpFstwgi3CwwRk2fYE8_nJebtgeH4A0s46rQoZ8ynxzdv32V9CBPN_o0WWkn6tYFLdEekmgfuNlpzrsqiucCPrPYJGEkDazEO3GXEaZoYYvwIaFSmtlPdL6UbsUK6/s640/IMG_0599.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Darin thinks it is hilarious when I want outfit shots so he took this close up to tease me. But I actually like it because it captures what I love about the outfit! The colors and the flounce!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8IxXoof3EsEOTrzXZNRzKyeI0_yIQqZPWlRsklovc_GY9iqBUfEn6Hq85pIT5D_27JrqUHeEXHZX4ejcMUIUtVRzl2esKATMjflyEMFv9vKnwHPT4vaxrc-GzlzdsLKM5FMyxKx5cQwhB/s1600/IMG_0605.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8IxXoof3EsEOTrzXZNRzKyeI0_yIQqZPWlRsklovc_GY9iqBUfEn6Hq85pIT5D_27JrqUHeEXHZX4ejcMUIUtVRzl2esKATMjflyEMFv9vKnwHPT4vaxrc-GzlzdsLKM5FMyxKx5cQwhB/s640/IMG_0605.JPG" width="426" /></a></div>
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We all wore velvet to Polly's kindergarten winter performance on the 19th. She was so proud and adorable up there!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdYl5e00uLzDIrh1g1yFsh6iubViCyWabdgVomViEP6Lslne0ak0diU-Wn_vpuLhQkhO2r5d-vgV8G5p_GyHCG0SOtbs2pI3vGdN2_jVq7nrzYvU7tS7VYkizsCt9mKbdDcs0TJXyLxJI1/s1600/IMG_0706.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdYl5e00uLzDIrh1g1yFsh6iubViCyWabdgVomViEP6Lslne0ak0diU-Wn_vpuLhQkhO2r5d-vgV8G5p_GyHCG0SOtbs2pI3vGdN2_jVq7nrzYvU7tS7VYkizsCt9mKbdDcs0TJXyLxJI1/s640/IMG_0706.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Without planning to, our two kindergarten stars Polly and Scout both wore evergreen long sleeved dresses and were so excited to "match." </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSg4zJEPJ93bdvRNabhNguKOzY0rulGZJ1cYWjODv6LC9itzu9w8sjlef5GWTq6ID9h7iQ8eKSqHh1o1v21hDyB2KrWFKGMfHkGnnYRMLPdxhFKABInsEWicvn8nyZg16AebFqnSCa8u2W/s1600/IMG_0714.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSg4zJEPJ93bdvRNabhNguKOzY0rulGZJ1cYWjODv6LC9itzu9w8sjlef5GWTq6ID9h7iQ8eKSqHh1o1v21hDyB2KrWFKGMfHkGnnYRMLPdxhFKABInsEWicvn8nyZg16AebFqnSCa8u2W/s640/IMG_0714.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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And then it turned out that Lucy also matched (by accident) with her adorable best friend, Lauren.</div>
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Their deep red velvet dresses were making me jealous. ;)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1UhV3_pOqjLY6iY-zMcNU0hyphenhyphenshpLL9qEWr3XSG_NDDWtD1bSfMHo4uK2Py3qmCQpi2JqKeI_yIBjmJY9cMPw54jSGFve7ij_T0xtxpl745fpAQ-7XTezSr_qTr3lyV5PIZQrEjb9H511v/s1600/IMG_0709.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1UhV3_pOqjLY6iY-zMcNU0hyphenhyphenshpLL9qEWr3XSG_NDDWtD1bSfMHo4uK2Py3qmCQpi2JqKeI_yIBjmJY9cMPw54jSGFve7ij_T0xtxpl745fpAQ-7XTezSr_qTr3lyV5PIZQrEjb9H511v/s640/IMG_0709.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitrGb9q6Hi9VoSyKXG2vegrBCvaB-itAxkrL58QNOH3XjxvEysG4_Pd_gAyOLB8PEBeKS0QfFyV9SF135M4gGj5Mk2QVO-8QGlND4TDDbkEDoHy1DENtzFAXPQ2ldXX9F2271WcUq4OxbT/s1600/IMG_0724.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitrGb9q6Hi9VoSyKXG2vegrBCvaB-itAxkrL58QNOH3XjxvEysG4_Pd_gAyOLB8PEBeKS0QfFyV9SF135M4gGj5Mk2QVO-8QGlND4TDDbkEDoHy1DENtzFAXPQ2ldXX9F2271WcUq4OxbT/s640/IMG_0724.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here is Lucy's solstice outfit. My mom thrifted her the dress, which we are calling her "Meet me in St. Louis dress." </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLOhvRHwYqUX1_3m8XpHHPsFXvjDbEdl8fWHBBHiYKGhUX_0GQ3REPKVQ3OX-kP5q8gdEiOhiJNeURn5pB-MgNYkzPx6nbkoj_05scfENT-ObbwZcRTCMKDVRlIjrowdWwPrpekP9AtU0J/s1600/IMG_0777.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLOhvRHwYqUX1_3m8XpHHPsFXvjDbEdl8fWHBBHiYKGhUX_0GQ3REPKVQ3OX-kP5q8gdEiOhiJNeURn5pB-MgNYkzPx6nbkoj_05scfENT-ObbwZcRTCMKDVRlIjrowdWwPrpekP9AtU0J/s640/IMG_0777.JPG" width="426" /></a></div>
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This was my solstice dress, a vintage one Emily gave me years ago, and I'm posing in front of a moon painting that Darin gifted me for Winter Solstice, made by our amazing artist friend, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lorenchristofferson/?hl=en" target="_blank">Loren Christofferson</a>.</div>
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Whenever we bake in December, of course we all wear our Christmas aprons. We made our Christmas sugar cookies early in the month, and had plenty of time to frost and decorate the extras! One of our favorite holiday traditions, and the girls have gotten really good at it.</div>
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Darin and I also donned festive outfits for the Bookery Christmas party that Nancy and Celia always host. A rare date night for us, my mom came to babysit the girls and snapped this picture of us.</div>
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But most of all, what I love to wear all December long are my festive flannel nightgowns.</div>
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In fact, we all love our Christmas jammies around here.</div>
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The kids even got to wear their jammies to school on the last Friday before our winter break.</div>
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<b>Part Four: There'll Be Parties for Hosting</b></div>
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That same day, the last Friday of school, my mom hosted her annual kid-cousins Christmas party. She had crafts for them to do and lots of treats. The kids strung up dried citrus to make pretty natural garlands, and they each decorated a gingerbread house made of graham crackers. She even had little gifts for them. </div>
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They had so much fun!<br />
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I love love love all my mom's vintage Christmas decorations. Her little cottage is always warm and cozy and inviting.</div>
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As for parties, we also hosted a small bonfire party on Solstice eve. By lantern light, I read everyone my new favorite book, <i>The Shortest Day</i>, which has the most incredible illustrations by Carson Ellis that take my breath away. </div>
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My favorite thing about Solstice night is letting the kids run wild outside with lanterns. Link and Lucy pushed each other on the swing and went for wild rides through the sky in the darkness. I was happy to witness to their sparkling flight.</div>
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Lucy and Polly made snowflakes and hung them to decorate the night before. </div>
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I still haven't fully incorporated the level of ritual I seek for Solstice, but our bonfire is always a wonderfully cozy and uplifting gathering. I am taking inspiration from all corners for next year's celebration. The girls and I talked a lot about why we celebrate the Solstice, and I think that the connection between the reborn Sun and the baby Jesus has become clear to them. I feel more richly full with the spirit of celebration this time of year when I attempt to make connection with our ancestors. </div>
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<b>Part Five: Where the Love Light Gleams</b></div>
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Reading books and getting cozy is the very best midwinter activity. I usually like to show some of our favorite holiday books, so I'll add a few more this year. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5P_cZ1eI_3rRH0OSqrDVh_1YnEJccYwEQVRnCqx6R6VVE8N4rNZxzzdBHHMjyI0-1XxG7h73_lSbbjPFrrhk5jGv22s6GdaRD7d40l7FN5Auvw3zA1qRIG6aqAttkrVenRvZAS4J2bUzR/s1600/IMG_0643.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="1600" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5P_cZ1eI_3rRH0OSqrDVh_1YnEJccYwEQVRnCqx6R6VVE8N4rNZxzzdBHHMjyI0-1XxG7h73_lSbbjPFrrhk5jGv22s6GdaRD7d40l7FN5Auvw3zA1qRIG6aqAttkrVenRvZAS4J2bUzR/s640/IMG_0643.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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This is an advent book I ordered online because I could tell we were going to love it, and we did. </div>
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Each day has either a song, activity, or story, and the pictures are so cute. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxeczP0ve7LdPTuwCifWVtk_-rVC6kxrHJvoSX2OH8jbOo0mVACg48mpyrulDhwnh0CssxW2eoIK8VNItD-iktyBVmt5eqzt_fFMIbquZJOmVj4MgNVKOmuEtiIPFfhtsQkubMWEmCS_pC/s1600/IMG_0647.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxeczP0ve7LdPTuwCifWVtk_-rVC6kxrHJvoSX2OH8jbOo0mVACg48mpyrulDhwnh0CssxW2eoIK8VNItD-iktyBVmt5eqzt_fFMIbquZJOmVj4MgNVKOmuEtiIPFfhtsQkubMWEmCS_pC/s640/IMG_0647.JPG" width="426" /></a></div>
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Here is a fun old book we discovered this year with some cassette tapes from my childhood. The colors in these illustrations make me happy.</div>
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A new one I've gotten a hold of this year that I want to read to the girls. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg510tOMwESbQJymn_xz5G0_GSWU0zB1SGg5BJ5YKe1LmDg_xhk7CklLXSjlSrezlzmL952sOz2LH_0D-BkMUhLywZ5m1sD2upE4tcfo0PymZJWUClBDz9W4hZSLQJ5k5q_UdEmx5hcYlLp/s1600/IMG_0672.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg510tOMwESbQJymn_xz5G0_GSWU0zB1SGg5BJ5YKe1LmDg_xhk7CklLXSjlSrezlzmL952sOz2LH_0D-BkMUhLywZ5m1sD2upE4tcfo0PymZJWUClBDz9W4hZSLQJ5k5q_UdEmx5hcYlLp/s640/IMG_0672.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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It's really fun having a true reader in the house this Christmas. She can read to her sister, read to me, cuddle up and read for hours with almost any book. In addition to reading Christmas books, she's starting the Series of Unfortunate Events and reading Harry Potter with daddy.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA33AAevag9srHjYfcp5NmfLZILHGInrkc5v3t99FQ89PmsfyQ1_1kw627YJfXJ9B7Q5zcKgr9IqL68wvi9rQ-uk8M4OCcet_Wyc5R0VJ5hwIYWsllIEAMdPCMRQHpXY8m5okaRCGQC9dU/s1600/IMG_0644.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="1600" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA33AAevag9srHjYfcp5NmfLZILHGInrkc5v3t99FQ89PmsfyQ1_1kw627YJfXJ9B7Q5zcKgr9IqL68wvi9rQ-uk8M4OCcet_Wyc5R0VJ5hwIYWsllIEAMdPCMRQHpXY8m5okaRCGQC9dU/s640/IMG_0644.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here is another lovely book we fell in love with this year. My girls have been really into the nutcracker story, Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Mouse King and all of it!</div>
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<b>Part Six: God Rest Ye Merry Kitty Cats</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7LahIpNgZPHjsYd3TyCdyaZNWcLqQeahX4Pyt17o3QY0y2Rkn_LwLhBqeuqM0ydcZY6HLNgFIwoLgWr6XyoMjUesuy-GBZZM0zdBeP1O9s3FxtyTmuedrJVnfpweHAgHMBNuJZIrSPg-b/s1600/IMG_0773.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7LahIpNgZPHjsYd3TyCdyaZNWcLqQeahX4Pyt17o3QY0y2Rkn_LwLhBqeuqM0ydcZY6HLNgFIwoLgWr6XyoMjUesuy-GBZZM0zdBeP1O9s3FxtyTmuedrJVnfpweHAgHMBNuJZIrSPg-b/s640/IMG_0773.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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What would the coziest midwinter season be without cats curled up everywhere.</div>
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Even in the doll's cradle. All is right with the world.</div>
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From our home to yours, I wish you all the joy and exuberance of the solstice revels, and all the peace and quiet of the Silent Night. My Christmas wish for anyone reading this is a healthy body and a happy heart.</div>
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<br />moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-84186661425576323782019-12-12T23:33:00.000-08:002019-12-12T23:46:37.639-08:00Our October 2019<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuiRVqMub3gOk5_6ZSTZLwisP2Qiiv15hS3QuB3Hk1dq_LYxEkUbTTLaxQUtIyDbQcdsLgIiPoXC4UliqD_3Yj8aQZEX53o3_gSSglv-g9cvkXUDWiXZCF04vXCy6bZ5YFcxk1q2e55M3t/s1600/IMG_9783.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuiRVqMub3gOk5_6ZSTZLwisP2Qiiv15hS3QuB3Hk1dq_LYxEkUbTTLaxQUtIyDbQcdsLgIiPoXC4UliqD_3Yj8aQZEX53o3_gSSglv-g9cvkXUDWiXZCF04vXCy6bZ5YFcxk1q2e55M3t/s640/IMG_9783.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">amazing altar candle by <a href="https://goldcountrywitch.com/" target="_blank">Gold Country Witch</a></td></tr>
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October, 2019 was a crazy month here in Placerville, California. We didn't have any rain and the land was parched. When winds blew up, as normal as that may seem in some places in the fall, our state felt a collective grip of fear. Two years of record breaking fire seasons will do that to a population. Our electricity provider PG&E, being held culpable for the catastrophic fires and facing billions of dollars in liability, took the preventive step of turning off power to millions of Californians several times throughout the month. In total we had seven days without power, or about a fourth of the month. The schools closed and many people couldn't work. The girls missed a lot of class time.</div>
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For me personally, this was a little bit fun. But I am also well aware of the insurmountable hardship it caused for others. We happen to be in a pretty good position, not relying on any electronics too heavily for anything other than convenience. The outages came during warm days, so it didn't really matter that we didn't have heat, and we have camping gear to use outside for cooking and making coffee and all the important stuff. We have propane for our water heater so we could still bathe and wash dishes.<br />
Darin even went to work and helped customers find books by flashlight. </div>
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We certainly did not miss our chance to frolic at the pumpkin patch early in the month at <a href="https://www.24carrotfarms.com/" target="_blank">24 Carrot Farm</a>! We like to dress in old fashioned dresses and pretend to be ghosties. </div>
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All their pumpkins are organic and most are still on the vine. </div>
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Afterwards we went downtown, admired the Halloween decorations up at <a href="http://www.panicandswoon.co/" target="_blank">Addie's shop</a>, and ate dinner at Pizza Bene, where she is a bartender.</div>
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One of Lucy's homework assignments this month was a nature walk. She was on the hunt for insects, and we saw plenty, especially dragonflies!</div>
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Lucy's field trip <a href="https://www.coloma.com/california-gold-discovery/gold-rush-events/" target="_blank">to Coloma</a> on October 11 came after two days of no school (Wednesday and Thursday) due to the first long power outage. Friday was an exciting day to be back together and heading directly back in time to the Gold Rush era, but the air was filled with smoke due to controlled burns in the mountains that weren't so controlled anymore. (I still don't understand why they would choose to do "controlled burns" during "high wind events," so supposedly dangerous that our power is shut off. hmm.) Down in the Coloma valley it wasn't too bad, and we quickly forgot about the smoke as we hiked up to the Marshall monument, ate snacks together, mailed letters to our friends "back home" using the old fashioned postal service, rode on a horse drawn wagon, saw campers and workers in tents, watched an old-timey funeral procession, drank Sarsparilla, and perused pioneer toys, pelts, and whistles at the trading booth.</div>
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our friend Lily was my charge for the day and such a fun companion. She was given a task from the bucket maker: to seek out the blacksmith to acquire a handfull of square headed nails, and she took this seriously until she was able to return with them and help to hammer them in! </div>
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Cute second graders on the wagon.</div>
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Another power outage. We spent the nights cooking on our campstove outside and then listening to <a href="https://www.rei.com/blog/podcasts/introducing-camp-monsters" target="_blank">REI's Camp Monsters podcast</a> (spooky stories good for the whole family) on the bluetooth speaker. </div>
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We had a mid-October visit from Amy and the kids, including Bella's best friend Sidgie! It was Sidgie's first time in Placerville.</div>
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there is a story behind this skunk. I love having a skunk visitor, but the only reason catfood was outside at night was that a thin little sweet stray cat we were caring for had been hanging around, lying in that pet bed moments before.<br />
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That night the skunk scared her away by stamping his dainty front paws at her, and I never saw the cat again. I'm pretty sure it was that night she crawled under our house to die. Later on (November 2) finding her decomposing body under the house was something that I'd have to deal with alone when Darin wasn't home, going into the crawl space under our house for the first time and eventually calling Joey and Pops to help me, and crying my eyes out doing so, because I felt I had failed her and also it was a nightmarish discovery. We had meanwhile found out that it was a neighbor's cat, Melody, which gave the time we spent with her more poignancy. Melody was about 18 years old and very thin and disoriented, obviously looking for a place to spend her last days. I am glad that my girls and I gave her a lot of love on October 21, the last day we saw her. The cat's owner, Trina, and I became friends as we searched for her together, hoping she had just made her way further down the street. It was an emotional experience for me to have to call Trina to let her know that I'd found Melody's body, and we have kept in touch. She even donated to Lucy's school read-a-thon and brought Lucy a little mystery book. Somehow this all feels important to mention in my write up of October 2019.<br />
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Sierra School Fall Carnival, October 26. </div>
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My first ever trunk-or-treat. I learned that you decorate the trunk and there are even prizes given out. I made our car into a haunted library, borrowing lots of spooky and weird books from Darin to fill the shelves, and making the kids reach through spiderwebby books to get their candy. My mom came to be a ghostly librarian with me and help me give out candy, and she brought her skeleton to be a ghostly reader. We took second place!</div>
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We even gave away a few chapter books donated by Bookery!</div>
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Our friends took first place which was well earned because their Curiosities spectacle was everything.</div>
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Haley painted the sign and their daughter, Marilyn, who is one of Lucy's best friends, helped with artistic vision and designed the oracle cards. Her dad was dressed up as a fortune teller and he collected the roadkill. The bear is real!</div>
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The power went out again. We took a day to go down to Art Beast in Sacramento. </div>
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Carved pumpkins two days before Halloween. I had class that night so Darin did all the work with the girls. They did a lot of their own carving this year and did a great job!</div>
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Halloween 2019! I had a little leopard and a dalmation prancing along with me on Main Street. Polly had been sick the day before, (thanks Art Beast) but she was feeling well enough to be a normal kid on Halloween, thank goodness. I made a huge post on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/moonshinejunkyard/" target="_blank">my Instagram</a> about Main street and the festivities this year, which I loved more than ever. The costumes were so creative and spirits were high. Old folks and young came out; we got to see Penelope dance; I had a quick glass on wine at <a href="http://www.eatpizzabene.com/" target="_blank">Bené</a> where Addie was a bartending bat creature, and the girls lounged at Bookery reading when they got burnt out from the crowds. </div>
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People have been so furious about the power outages; insurance companies have been dropping those with rural homes in California due to fire danger, and I see a lot of generally disgruntled complaints on the local facebook groups. I saw many people say they wanted to get out of this state. </div>
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Yes, October was a hard month in some ways. We missed lots of school and that was a hardship on so many families. Many, many parents weren't able to work. Businesses were closed and Apple Hill lost tons of customers during the busiest time of year. It was a strange time, and my girls were restless and they made mistakes and tried my patience and we all lost our tempers and also learned and grew together.</div>
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I love this place. I love our Main Street, and our peaceful little college outreach center where I teach, and my kids' public school. I love our neighborhood (for the most part!), the hill we live on and our house with its cedar trees and oaks and the blue spruce out front. I love that many of my friends and family have successful businesses here; they are teachers and farmers and solar company founders and scientists and toy store owners and musicians and bartenders and coffee roasters and grocery checkers and medicine makers and of course, booksellers. </div>
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This place is filled with all the people I love and...</div>
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Even though it was a hard month, it was also a perfect month because it was October and the veil is thin. This is what the time felt like: dry cider and little friendly ghosts and golden hills charged with an air of uncertainty. It felt like crackles in the air, sparks, and sympathy. Shrugs of unknowing and checking in with each other. It felt like falling leaves making the wind king's music, forcing us to look up and around in wonder and it felt fearsome and sublime. A cat dashing like lightning across the yard. The sun shone with honor and power. One night after teaching my class at the college, where the power was still on, I drove back into town, where the power was still turned off, and it was the darkest night I've ever driven my car on a road. My headlights cut holes into the dark and I felt like there were black spirits racing alongside me and I was honestly kind of spooked. Then a homeless guy on a bicycle (yes, dressed in black) flashed by and made a sharp turn off the embankment. Police cruisers prowled. I wondered what it would have been like hundreds of years ago, going places in the dark by torchlight, with a shudder up the spine. It was a dark dark night, and it was October, and we were listening to spooky stories so I had strange beasts on the brain.</div>
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The land, even in dark dry days, is a haunted landscape of ghosts and stories, and it is home.</div>
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<br />moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-26238935214211828932019-12-07T16:39:00.002-08:002019-12-07T16:39:34.633-08:00December Merriment<i>A massive post I made last year and never published. Publishing it now in advance of another merry December!</i><br />
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I could never choose a favorite moment from the month of December. From the town parade to exciting school festivities, to friend's birthday celebrations, to Solstice bonfires. From each of our family traditions that lead up to the big day itself, and then the aftermath with extended family and drinks and feasts and parties and hang outs galore. It is a month packed full of all my favorite things, and I live for it and drink it in. And post over a hundred pictures of it. Sorry.<br />
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I have read <a href="http://www.thewomanwhomarriedabear.com/blog/2018/12/1/holy-days-and-celebrating-them" target="_blank">Milla's inspiring post</a> about quiet, restful time during the midwinter season, and I have tried to make space for that in my life too, here in the midwinter time, the kind of deep peace we can usually only find intentionally these days. Meanwhile, I think Milla says it best: "In winter, in the dark time, we are meant to rest, to be together, to make, to marvel." Looking back on the month of December, even though it does feel busy and bustling, I also find that the ways we spent our days are the ways that nourish my soul.<br />
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Zack's 40th birthday was December 5. His called his party "IB40" and made buttons and we celebrated at his art gallery with lots of good food. The community babies showed up with their parents, little Miles comforted Polly (they adore each other) when she fell down during the obligatory kids race around the gallery, and the grown ups stayed late for a rousing game of Secret Hitler. (I took the girls home so Darin could stay and play and he had so much fun being a bad guy.)<br />
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Cookie making day came about a week later! I should've remembered from last year that making sugar cookies is a massive endeavor that takes more than one day and almost two pounds of butter. The recipe I have (from my childhood) must make at least four hundred cookies. (I exaggerate. but only a little.) Kids can only frost and decorate so many cookies and sneak so much frosting before freak outs happen. And after bedtime, tired moms are left doing the lion's share. I still have a huge ziploc full of plain unfrosted cookies in my freezer. Still...totally worth it, and a tradition I hope to never give up.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXfOzfJik1yXKtqkOi6hyphenhyphen67oufsKSjssTVo97F8t3jV4NPcmyFcHHBSzHRHTHk9sPySbzul7J6vYDmgzfeTPsuwBmof96HpvfymwgKNnfWX9EiTmKhnySP5ROjPgGnxFZpit2H_0dPOFmS/s1600/IMG_1030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXfOzfJik1yXKtqkOi6hyphenhyphen67oufsKSjssTVo97F8t3jV4NPcmyFcHHBSzHRHTHk9sPySbzul7J6vYDmgzfeTPsuwBmof96HpvfymwgKNnfWX9EiTmKhnySP5ROjPgGnxFZpit2H_0dPOFmS/s640/IMG_1030.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(and by next year I'll have a new kitchen!!!)</td></tr>
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As the winter break approaches, teacher cards must be made and little gifts purchased. And I must be totally hands off now that my girls have very specific ideas about the design of their cards. We are truly so lucky to have the most wonderful teachers again this year that my girls absolutely ADORE. </div>
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We had a bonfire this year for Winter Solstice. The girls and I made some decorations and read all about ancient rituals and practices as the day came closer. I found the book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1017328.The_Winter_Solstice" target="_blank"><i>The Winter Solstice: The Sacred Traditions of Christmas</i></a> by John Matthews to be a delightful and scholarly read on the subject. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC2ClhlCoiZasars2uIVvwLrT9UQoLVK9Nz5AyxXqTKr2wVeZGDDT97stY_rsNPfwRBsw6yJnTabrdc7MYrVs_psBHqQfwGrL61dqZhTPiuW0f-Zr9pYzSzTNIoVy9q0pOpXWp0Cjzrp8k/s1600/IMG_2953.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC2ClhlCoiZasars2uIVvwLrT9UQoLVK9Nz5AyxXqTKr2wVeZGDDT97stY_rsNPfwRBsw6yJnTabrdc7MYrVs_psBHqQfwGrL61dqZhTPiuW0f-Zr9pYzSzTNIoVy9q0pOpXWp0Cjzrp8k/s640/IMG_2953.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">dropping off Lucy at the elementary school</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-2F-D4kmBvnbwAUoYeGmaTbNy1wk3qQDBNa5INtcZAWx2JdT6cEGcpl7o52lcsPrhcBd6c4t5ts-3YCu43qkVi60eaZ8bhfd_I4oESUJ1ShjPxUXiiy1RJTWnRBMxhTiFuKhSgjEFU63Q/s1600/IMG_2985.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-2F-D4kmBvnbwAUoYeGmaTbNy1wk3qQDBNa5INtcZAWx2JdT6cEGcpl7o52lcsPrhcBd6c4t5ts-3YCu43qkVi60eaZ8bhfd_I4oESUJ1ShjPxUXiiy1RJTWnRBMxhTiFuKhSgjEFU63Q/s640/IMG_2985.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I wasn't the only parent who wore my pajamas too. But almost. </td></tr>
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Winter Solstice this year also fell on a full moon night, and it was the last day of school before the break. The girls both got to wear pajamas to school and have hot cocoa. It was a really special day for them, and it just kept going. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnZZz6odhUKxwYZfVFAN5VrTmLpSFfxh-sRfLX5cZVAINsaEym1tJfJ0K7h06QYw2xU2v4GNOE503j8EGLVPJqcOdN0lkVMLSQmaUcykRCmuItS70hnWpgi2edWCKHEUdYxJ4lIZ6dUJDk/s1600/IMG_2997.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnZZz6odhUKxwYZfVFAN5VrTmLpSFfxh-sRfLX5cZVAINsaEym1tJfJ0K7h06QYw2xU2v4GNOE503j8EGLVPJqcOdN0lkVMLSQmaUcykRCmuItS70hnWpgi2edWCKHEUdYxJ4lIZ6dUJDk/s640/IMG_2997.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">dropping off Polly at preschool in her jammies. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPe2pN6KB4gtk-dvBap2uvmDF_a_JwMWwcaQhpNFt8UMcvLWeBkYpNC5Geyl2yt0O2r_42-V7PYmidyOJ__4ilejxqgdZc1lER0bthJ4bb3tNnMHWV5LkKd5VXPM-Klwc5D7OPuelMGNU1/s1600/IMG_3020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPe2pN6KB4gtk-dvBap2uvmDF_a_JwMWwcaQhpNFt8UMcvLWeBkYpNC5Geyl2yt0O2r_42-V7PYmidyOJ__4ilejxqgdZc1lER0bthJ4bb3tNnMHWV5LkKd5VXPM-Klwc5D7OPuelMGNU1/s640/IMG_3020.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">To add to the excitement, the girls also got to open gifts form their teachers after school, and each one got a funny new book. </td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: center;">They changed into "solstice outfits" after school and helped me make Friendship soup (the recipe from Polly's preschool) and set out snacks. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8wq_F_bRvzgpFVDpYZBMFAmG_kpg8O7BOw_cuDEdPh96kQSAJJFCq1rmNaAd9QZFoaDBXyRyOAxMLqWDqdnzZOc_fo8tpfwpsvaDJ2DykDEZQqwy-nydGNuogRJkHYue2pPgXnj-Sk0Rz/s1600/IMG_1055.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8wq_F_bRvzgpFVDpYZBMFAmG_kpg8O7BOw_cuDEdPh96kQSAJJFCq1rmNaAd9QZFoaDBXyRyOAxMLqWDqdnzZOc_fo8tpfwpsvaDJ2DykDEZQqwy-nydGNuogRJkHYue2pPgXnj-Sk0Rz/s640/IMG_1055.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">our friends begin to arrive!</td></tr>
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Every year, in fact, every season, I try to celebrate with a nod here and there to the old ways. Because we are not churchgoers, I want to incorporate in our family an element of spirituality and holiness in rituals that center around the earth. Bonfires at the solstice are a good way to do this, and we've had them before, but I was hoping this time for something just a little bit more than just a rollicking good time with warm drinks and laughter, although that too is great medicine. When <a href="https://pollycompost.com/" target="_blank">Dolly</a> asked me if we could co-host a bonfire in my backyard, I knew I might really have a chance at building a wee bit of spiritual earth/moon community. comoonity. haha. Her partner, Chris, mushroom hunter extraordinaire, made a delicious mulled blackberry wine, and the children ran wild and played in the backyard late into the night. It was a cold night, but none of us were ever cold.</div>
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And then, it was actually Lucy and Polly who helped me begin to introduce the sense of reverence I was seeking by dressing up as "St. Lucia" and her "Full Moon Princess" in all white and coming out during a quiet moment when all other lights were turned off except for the fire's flames. They were really into it, which was exciting for me, needless to say. Lucy carried a candle and loudly announced, "I AM ST. LUCIA, BRINGER OF LIGHT! LIGHT YOUR CANDLES FROM MINE!" Polly had painted a full moon and stars on a rock and she solemnly brought it around the circle for all the people to see and for the children to touch. Her part was a hundred percent her idea. </div>
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Soon after, Darin had a day off and made a burn pile, and he helped the girls make and tend their own tiny fire and add sticks to it and even roast marshmallows. </div>
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Just a couple days before Christmas, we had our annual candy-making day at Nana's, another newish tradition that the girls really enjoy. And I really enjoy a little too much the fruits of our labor, which is simply called Christmas candy, which are little balls of pecans, coconut, and chocolate. Nothing could be more perfect.</div>
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Nana had snowman mugs for the girls and little gifts, Cindy Lou Who dolls for each of the them.</div>
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Afterwards, we decided to meet Darin at work and spend a little time on Main Street with some last minute gift shopping. We met up with Pops and Joey to hang out at my favorite cozy winter hang out, Placerville Public House, which always has a really good sour on tap.</div>
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Capped off the night with a visit to "Santa Claus Lane," which we also do every year just before Christmas. Their decorations are always the same, with a giant nativity and many vintage light-up Santas, including one in the front seat of their RV in the driveway. It's a local family (I have a feeling they're getting pretty old) who I don't know, and I can only be silently grateful to them for their cheery display and their persistence year after year in providing such an old-fashioned and festive display for our little town to enjoy. </div>
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Christmas Eve we always open one special present. The girls had each picked one out for each other and were very much looking forward to this moment. They also chose gifts for Darin, and the gift that I always cherish most on Christmas Eve is our family DVD of all the year's footage put together and edited by Darin for me. He makes a special case and a menu screen and it is simply called "The Girls 2018."</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the pride in their faces giving gifts to each other just kills me</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">daddy got Grinch socks from Lucy</td></tr>
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Then we went to see<i> <a href="https://movies.disney.com/mary-poppins-returns" target="_blank">Mary Poppins Returns </a></i>and I was blown away. I felt like I went walking into a magical painting myself. For some reason, I hadn't mentally prepared myself for a musical, and it just lifted me straight out of this world. I also cried several times and just kind of blissed out.</div>
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Christmas morning. "The elves really MADE this!" Polly exclaimed about this little doll clothes closet. They have been so into their dolls. Even though they have way too much stuff, the amount that they love and care for their dolls and the imagination that goes into their play together really makes it worth it.</div>
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I made my favorite cranberry orange muffins and a nice big breakfast. We had quiet time together before Joey, Scout, Nana and Jack arrived. My dad and Addie and Utah came a little bit later. </div>
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Darin and Joey took the girls for rides in the early afternoon and we played outside a little bit while we had sunshine. </div>
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Then, time for more presents!</div>
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We broke for a couple hours, then came back together at our house had a nice dinner together. Everything went so smoothly. I probably don't need to report all this. But Mom made chile relleno and cheesy potatoes; Jack made Polly's favorite guacamole and a side dish of braised balsamic Brussels sprouts that were incredible. Joey made his famous frittata. I made potato kale enchiladas à la <a href="https://www.isachandra.com/" target="_blank">Isa Moskowitz,</a> who creates all my favorite recipes to make and eat, as well as confetti rice with chayote. We also had marmy's beloved strawberry jello salad with crushed pineapple that reminds me of every mormon gathering of my youth and is still as refreshing. </div>
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Here we are minus Joey, Addie, Utah, Pops and me. Sounds like a lot but we all fit like a puzzle!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">loading on the whipped cream</td></tr>
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It was a beautiful Christmas day. </div>
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the day after Christmas we met up with my best friend from forever Kimmy to get ice cream downtown.</div>
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And the joyousness continues! Mikie and Marisa and Matt and Amy's family all arrived on the 27th and we had another big Beatty family Christmas! </div>
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More presents, more coziness, more fun! Now with the addition of big kids and teens!</div>
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Was really proud of these presents for the big kids.</div>
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Matt licking his new Himalayan salt crystal lamp.</div>
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And an even more massive Christmas dinner! I spy Jack's guacamole. </div>
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Stash brewery on a perfect winter afternoon. The girls wore their new skirts Matt and Amy brought them from India.</div>
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My favorite way to spend an evening in winter. Outdoors around a bonfire with a ton of people I love.</div>
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More playing. More fun. December coming to an end.</div>
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I wore my India pants. </div>
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And we all went to visit Grandma Cherie one last time before she moved to a care facility in Arizona near my uncle.</div>
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Then more meandering on Main Street. Polly tried out her new baby Ergo.</div>
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New Year's Eve! Welcome 2019!</div>
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Zack and Rebecca had another cozy party at the gallery. They set up movies for the kids. </div>
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glittery doughnuts! xoxo</div>
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Polly fell asleep but Lucy made it midnight this year!</div>
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Saying good-bye to Joey as he skateboarded home down an empty Main Street at 1:00 in the morning. Saying goodbye to a delightful 2018 as well.</div>
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Here's to love, life, and a million more memories.</div>
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<br />moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-69006713980774383052018-12-18T10:02:00.001-08:002018-12-18T10:02:10.519-08:00More Christmas books for Kids!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Four years ago I wrote a post about s<a href="http://moonshinejunkyard.blogspot.com/2014/12/childrens-christmas-books.html" target="_blank">ome of our favorite children's Christmas books</a>. Four years ago. How can that be?!</div>
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We still love all those books and every single one of them has been read at least once this December, some many times. Some that were library books have since made their way into our permanent collection. This year I thought I'd make a new post with ten more wintry books we've picked up and enjoyed along the way.</div>
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Our Christmas books come out of hiding the day after Thanksgiving. Here is our dear friend Ryann braving sick kids to read to the girls when she was home on a visit. </div>
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We picked up<i> The Christmas Whale, </i>from 1945, at a thrift store and we adore it. I see now as I look it up online that it's actually worth a little bit of money. Ours is a battered ex-library copy, but we absolutely love its delightful story and pictures.</div>
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When the reindeer get sick, all the northern animals want to help Santa, but they all have reasons they're unable. So together they call on their friend, the Kindly Whale, load her up with the goodies, and Christmas is saved!</div>
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I just picked this tiny board book up at the local bookstore. It's just a quick little introduction to Sibylle von Offers' magical snow children world, and I don't usually buy my girls board books anymore, but this one was so cute that I had to have it for our winter book collection to tide us over until we get the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Story-Children-Sibylle-Olfers-2012-09-01/dp/B01K15D1AY/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1545155683&sr=1-2&keywords=the+snow+children+sibylle" target="_blank">full Snow Children story</a>.</div>
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Plus it paired nicely with this miniature Elsa Beskow book Nana just brought us. <i>Ollie's Ski Trip</i> is a story first published in Sweden in 1907 that tells the tale of Ollie visiting King Winter, along with his jolly friend Jack Frost, pulled on a sleigh by four strong polar bears. So the Snow Children is like the girl version; it has little Poppy playing with the dancing snow children and visiting the Snow Queen and return home with a snowman on a sleigh, also pulled by four strong polar bears!</div>
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We love Russell and Lillian Hoban's proletarian, slightly melancholy, enchanting animal world. We have Emmett Otter's Jug-band Christmas too, and this year we also have the dvd of the Jim Henson production! </div>
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But the Mole Family's Christmas might be even sweeter. The family is humble and simple, but they have an enterprising and curious streak just like so many Hoban characters, and once they find out about Christmas, they're determined to surprise each other. </div>
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And with a homemade telescope and observatory, they do a wonderful job of it.</div>
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We've had <i>A Pussycat's Christmas</i> in our collection for a long time, but for some reason I only recently just read it to the girls for the first time. It's by Margaret Wise Brown, whose writing always has the strangest lilting rhythms, and it's illustrated by one of our very favorite cat artists, Anne Mortimer. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsUqtztlVdR_WF0XQdrLBOKjTGEDCQxThJ8aKLuA_VguaZMpxGGa7foXADf_JZbUP2UfweOBNbZxbFzl6llorXuthFPYYG_uGucpYkaIzCcvtlaLQQHTHW0vPYRFeD2a1mxgASpGkmfRWb/s1600/IMG_2908.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsUqtztlVdR_WF0XQdrLBOKjTGEDCQxThJ8aKLuA_VguaZMpxGGa7foXADf_JZbUP2UfweOBNbZxbFzl6llorXuthFPYYG_uGucpYkaIzCcvtlaLQQHTHW0vPYRFeD2a1mxgASpGkmfRWb/s640/IMG_2908.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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Pussycat loves to be out in the snow!</div>
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Anne Mortimer perfectly captures a cat's playful inquisitiveness, intense curiosity, and serious contentment.</div>
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We checked out <i>Eloise at Christmastime </i>again this year and it's so good. </div>
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She's certainly a wild one, with all her breathless ideas and enthusiasm, and her pets Skipperdee and Weenie are our favorites. </div>
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The pinks, reds, and whites of her fairytale Christmas dreamworld appeal to the sparkling core of my six year old heart. </div>
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And Eloise's relationship with sweet, patient Nanny brings stability, warmth, and love to her unconventional hotel life that, when reading aloud, seems to bring a kind of comfort and predictability to that wild imaginary world.</div>
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I saw this Richard Scarry book for sale at World Market this year and almost bought it. Luckily Darin and the girls reminded me that we already have it! Ours is a nice large paperback version from 1972. It's fun to pick this one up and turn to any short, festive story for a few minutes of fun. </div>
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I want to live in a Richard Scarry book. </div>
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This year I bought each of the girls a new Christmas book for our collection, hid them in October, and then promptly forgot about them. Luckily Darin found them around December 1, so we've had plenty of time to enjoy them!</div>
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<i>The Little Reindeer</i> is Lucy's, and it's a magical tale about a little girl waking up in the middle of the night and making friends with a flying reindeer.</div>
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Polly got the merry story, <i>Pick a Pine Tree</i>, all about the seasonal fun of bringing a tree indoors and decorating it.</div>
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I like to inscribe their special books, but this time Polly emphatically dictated what I'd write. She wouldn't let me write "For the star on our Christmas tree" or "to my sparkling sprout." I explained what a metaphor is, and finally she agreed to being called a bell. </div>
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This beautiful book, <i>The Black Sheep,</i> from 1985, I found at the Bookery two years ago. Like many of my favorites, it's the nativity story from an animal's perspective. The black sheep is a brave wanderer and the watercolors have the feeling of that wondrous deep haunting of December.</div>
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And Polly just adores how the baby Jesus nestles into the black sheep's soft wool.</div>
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May your holiday stories bring you joy and peace. Let me know if your kids have any favorites we might not have seen.</div>
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Next up, I hope to make some best-of lists of holiday songs and albums!</div>
<br />moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-25024839214383167672018-12-02T20:32:00.000-08:002019-12-04T17:45:23.248-08:00A Parade, A Tradition, A Community<div>
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I know everybody says "Jesus is the Reason for the Season," especially in this little country town. And don’t get me wrong; I love the baby Jesus. But for me there’s a little more to the story. For me a powerful reason for the season is </div>
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the town itself, the home that holds and supports little families, neighborhoods, friend groups, classes full of teachers and students, work teams, hospital staff, small businesses, bars, restaurants, grocery stores: in other words various social hubs, the places where we find ourselves most part of community.</div>
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Since I believe in love and togetherness I think community is the reason for the season.</div>
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And so I enjoy taking the girls down to the traditional Christmas parade in Placerville immensely. This year, maybe because our Festival of Lights the night after Thanksgiving was rained out and had a pretty pathetic turn-out, the parade seemed more busy than ever. Then again, every year it seems busier than ever. I'm tempted to think that's because, in these distracted and often-isolated times, with our faces behind screens way too much of the time, we crave it. It feels good and even necessary to get out into a real community. To go to an event where you don't even shell out one ha'penny, and everyone is smiling and waving and greeting each other merrily, and every. single. organization of the town represents itself, merrily rumbling past.</div>
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I've written about our town's parade in <a href="http://moonshinejunkyard.blogspot.com/2014/12/for-i-have-sung-my-child-to-dream.html" target="_blank">Decembers past</a> because we have not missed it since the girls were born.<br />
One plus in 2018 is that it is actually fun to walk with my girls to town now. We have a pretty long stretch of road to traverse before the sidewalk starts, which can be scary without a stroller, but they're finally cognizant enough to be careful, to enjoy the walk and not complain, and to know when they have to hold my hand. At first as we headed down our hill, Polly slipped about fifty times in her cowboy boots, but once her knees were duly scraped up, she held my hand tightly so I could support her. Both girls also brought dolls in their backpacks this year.<br />
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Beautiful friends that I am so lucky to call community.<br />
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Our parade is full of old-timey goodness and that's what I love best.<br />
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The girls got to meet Madeline!<br />
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Of course the Grinch makes several appearances, which is fine by us. The Grinch hype this year could almost be annoying to true vintage aficionados like ourselves, not to brag or anything ;) but we have hope that the actual message takes hold. Fah who foraze!<br />
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Lucy got so excited when she saw the schoolbus and her school mascot, Sparky the Dragon, coming down the road.<br />
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Sparky love!<br />
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Polly's favorites of late are the Shetland ponies. Darin and I are pretty smitten with them too. We want to own one someday.<br />
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Most ingenius merging of seemingly disparate interests: Christianity and Four Wheeling.<br />
"On Christ the Solid Rock We Crawl."<br />
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Parade cousin love!<br />
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Placerville Hardware employees walked along handing out these darling little ornaments.<br />
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Somebody gave Scouty an American flag to proudly wave.</div>
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While still others kept randomly filling Joey's hands with candy, like huge handfuls at a time!</div>
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It's so fun to meet up with the family downtown. This year we hung out in front of Addie's shop. I had a swollen cheek from a tooth extraction Friday afternoon, so I couldn't smile as big as my heart felt. But I still had fun and tried not to be embarrassed about how weird my face looked!<br />
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Nana was the only one who could get Polly to smile for the camera.<br />
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Love my beautiful elves beyond all the treasures of this world.<br />
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We visited with Addie a little while in her shop, and Tootie tried on this gorgeous Mermaid crown made of sea glass.<br />
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I recently read <a href="https://www.mtdemocrat.com/prospecting/pull-up-a-seat-the-small-bookstore/?fbclid=IwAR2tG8kbASxTlznNcmItqp5yxKVMmwSDSI6Ivl3dfa046mTHiCUg9z1ylEQ" target="_blank">an article in our local paper</a> about the importance of supporting small local businesses during the holidays. The columnist happens to own a popular restaurant and bar in El Dorado Hills called Milestone, which is right next door to the lovely bookstore there, Face in a Book, where he witnesses a woman ask for help with titles popular for teenagers, and then proceed to order them all on Amazon where she could get the paperbacks for a couple bucks less.<br />
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He writes:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "noticia text" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 17px;">"I’m sad that I cannot remember the days when a general store, the butcher, your jewelry store, a cobbler, your banker and the like serviced a community. Providing the thin but robust threads that would knit together the Main Street where we live. Healthy communities have been replaced by chains and big boxes where people drive down the street looking at their phones and shopping for better deals as they consume more and more stuff. Main Streets have been replaced by freeway interchanges and folks make weekend vacations to small mountain towns where they can visit small boutique operations." </span><br />
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He goes on to mention that the seemingly small act of using these businesses for ideas and inspiration and then turning to big online sources for actual purchases ultimately contributes to the folding of said small businesses over time, and something so vital is lost in this transaction: the warmth and real life experience that we find on our Main Streets and in our local communities.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "noticia text" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 17px;">"As our economy booms and our homes flourish it is wise for us all to remember that the entrepreneurial spirit of these businesses enrich our lives directly and indirectly. They supply first-hand expertise. They feature various versions of “the American dream” for the next generation to aspire toward. They offer a unique perspective and respite from the cattle-like nature of our growing American consumerism. They supply hospitality, warmth and a local connection that no chain or corporation can ever supply, no matter how hard they try."</span><br />
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I hope to live in a world where a downtown like ours in Placerville continues to flourish for generations! And I'll meet up with my own grandkids every year at the Christmas parade.<br />
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<br />moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-68825246043733400612018-11-25T14:59:00.004-08:002018-11-25T15:10:51.436-08:00Thanksgiving A-Z<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A is for Addie.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRPvQH3dmziq9mpVRsMGpFtCKf6jm34FPPEO6AIKSmtubJTeaTjMqLHYFZXUfAcUNly8KJb90eoTJTTcBgovFVOgvem2CH-9GV17lcduUY1qGqI9V38uWi19XGXuiAbPLzN-W_0aCiL1r9/s1600/IMG_0718.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRPvQH3dmziq9mpVRsMGpFtCKf6jm34FPPEO6AIKSmtubJTeaTjMqLHYFZXUfAcUNly8KJb90eoTJTTcBgovFVOgvem2CH-9GV17lcduUY1qGqI9V38uWi19XGXuiAbPLzN-W_0aCiL1r9/s640/IMG_0718.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Addie was so excited to host our Thanksgiving morning festivities. She has cable this year, so we were actually able to watch the Thanksgiving Day parade on tv like we did when we were young. She made monkey bread for all of us and Mama helped make eggs and tempeh bacon. The kids played and the grown ups had mimosas and Dolly and her family showed up with baskets of walnuts for the kids to crack, and we had a super cozy gathering, just the way the day should begin.</span></td></tr>
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B is for Beanie. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLzUFiiUGsGgHwYUJxPZ4iNYyNQjBcZmiGSHA7aS2WXGCS_SxS5buRUzx0jAMy1VMpTPsB40NiCjmjKLUSz-DkgTvz-Jb4vQO_k4jOJr1crJs0E4CEtZ18fD9B5AFFrh-D7u-4YJUjuLWs/s1600/IMG_2082.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLzUFiiUGsGgHwYUJxPZ4iNYyNQjBcZmiGSHA7aS2WXGCS_SxS5buRUzx0jAMy1VMpTPsB40NiCjmjKLUSz-DkgTvz-Jb4vQO_k4jOJr1crJs0E4CEtZ18fD9B5AFFrh-D7u-4YJUjuLWs/s640/IMG_2082.JPG" width="480" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">On Monday before Thanksgiving, we took her to the vet. She had been super sick over the weekend, and we thought she was dying. Her health has never been super strong; she's 14.5 years old, very shy, with a chronic upper respiratory infection. She was so bony, hadn't been eating or cleaning herself, and was just resting in one place all the time. Worst of all, I saw drips of brownish blood underneath where she was laying. I thought surely her systems were failing and we were losing her. Lo and behold, when we got to the vet, he found a huge abscess in her lower jaw that was dripping pus and blood, not allowing her to eat or lick herself, and causing her great pain. He lanced it for drainage, gave her a big shot of antibiotics, gave her IV fluids, and of course sent her home with more antibiotics and pain meds. She also had some bloodwork done to rule out kidney failure. We brought her home and she immediately started feeling better! By that night, she'd eaten half a can of her restorative food. This week she has steadily improved. She has the sweetest disposition and I'm just so grateful to see her feeling so much better.</span></td></tr>
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and for Books.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIQj8CBPNLrIB5ZO3n4qtrxrrzRrYL21Rt63Aiwz0YNAOidW0aneu-2t5VRET3NsShMIr-e82jqbjemSwy7e6qyfSL2ju0CD5lg9ra8wYVAuN_4EkyLwmbEBiDzSMENay0hkvuh9ffBrt_/s1600/7527018480_IMG_0786.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIQj8CBPNLrIB5ZO3n4qtrxrrzRrYL21Rt63Aiwz0YNAOidW0aneu-2t5VRET3NsShMIr-e82jqbjemSwy7e6qyfSL2ju0CD5lg9ra8wYVAuN_4EkyLwmbEBiDzSMENay0hkvuh9ffBrt_/s640/7527018480_IMG_0786.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">My girls will always take a time out to read together. It's always the most appealing option for how to spend their time, and I'm so proud and grateful for that. </span></td></tr>
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C is for champagne</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvMFR9R70Q7uS8XwgwxC2l2svCI9hY41l6W7zgobty2MU_s_b8S9goRJXDI8z_EwM2Fn8qyi-YE3VXqIwGRS7u996o30t9Ql9b56B8dKl3HtMuKcGwp2lOIeDCTGdBZFyn1FJ8BikbCp8_/s1600/IMG_2212.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvMFR9R70Q7uS8XwgwxC2l2svCI9hY41l6W7zgobty2MU_s_b8S9goRJXDI8z_EwM2Fn8qyi-YE3VXqIwGRS7u996o30t9Ql9b56B8dKl3HtMuKcGwp2lOIeDCTGdBZFyn1FJ8BikbCp8_/s640/IMG_2212.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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and cats.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">One of the pure joys of my life. After all the devastating photos of the animals affected by the Camp Fire, I've been feeling so grateful for my healthy, comfortable, lucky kitties. They're going into snuggly mode, for which I'm annually so grateful.</span></td></tr>
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D is for Darin.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">My heart. My weird wizard. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Sometimes I just suddenly realize how lucky I am to have a partner with whom I consistently enjoy building life, someone who inspires and encourages and loves grandly and makes me laugh. </span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWlcWaXMN8R1AHsu_5Re6VPotpP0UhldOpzTJKoo8UT-AfaR2vu4qrK3tistXi6DEDEGnSpapAMD5rvqoWby8-Xhyphenhyphen4wEDuLzaCnFa5alCKBgcUTnUfz3qVaC1N5MxpvCeYCZISP2Dd5K2n/s1600/IMG_2183.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWlcWaXMN8R1AHsu_5Re6VPotpP0UhldOpzTJKoo8UT-AfaR2vu4qrK3tistXi6DEDEGnSpapAMD5rvqoWby8-Xhyphenhyphen4wEDuLzaCnFa5alCKBgcUTnUfz3qVaC1N5MxpvCeYCZISP2Dd5K2n/s640/IMG_2183.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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E is for Emily.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAxchEwYPStZymBLWypC9c4Bf04mseYw0skMw0zJqCk2MNKe5urWu-hrq4GNJ53otgpVigudZxNUuYi4qdtF8DdqOuPtM8u7uvpHdRNrWkX-wsI9WSvyZ3UhfXksNTpnTBqc8jngb42DjM/s1600/IMG_0761.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAxchEwYPStZymBLWypC9c4Bf04mseYw0skMw0zJqCk2MNKe5urWu-hrq4GNJ53otgpVigudZxNUuYi4qdtF8DdqOuPtM8u7uvpHdRNrWkX-wsI9WSvyZ3UhfXksNTpnTBqc8jngb42DjM/s640/IMG_0761.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">We headed up to Em's brunch after the parade morning at Ade's. Emily lives in a mountain cottage with her boyfriend Christian, and they had prepared so many delicious treats: berry scones, pumpkin muffins, mini spinach quiches, elderberry lemonade, spiced cider mimosas. A bunch of friends and family were coming and going all morning and into the afternoon, and the vibe was cheery and cozy. The girls ran around playing with the wildest joy from the moment we arrived. It's so nice to see how families can still blossom after divorce. Even though she's technically my ex-sister-in-law, she is family. Em is my niece's mother and my daughters' aunt; we love each other forever, and we are all comfortable around each other. This is something she and Joey have consciously worked very hard to build, based on constant open communication and genuine respect, and it's something I cherish and admire.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Being the cutest hostess. </span></td></tr>
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F is for Friends</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCNiP_DYuggK6N4pQiaTJSu14LgMi8yUBfjiQDdUIZcjUGIncqedzXGSWaswJHAv8tjMgTW5SSmsOKruYlYoZdIsvjQUNKSNlD467KLz5GWQSNugqId5-OFImd97kAlp84ark-_agtFL4g/s1600/IMG_0711.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCNiP_DYuggK6N4pQiaTJSu14LgMi8yUBfjiQDdUIZcjUGIncqedzXGSWaswJHAv8tjMgTW5SSmsOKruYlYoZdIsvjQUNKSNlD467KLz5GWQSNugqId5-OFImd97kAlp84ark-_agtFL4g/s640/IMG_0711.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">D<span style="font-size: x-small;">uring the three days surrounding Thanksgiving, we got to hang out with so many friends! The night before, Doniella made an incredible pecan pie; Rebecca brought warm spinach dip and we had wine down at Volution, Zack's gallery. This is where Mikie and Marisa showed up, and where we all watched the big screen version of some western video game Zack plays, and the girls chased Marisa around everywhere, and we all laughed a lot.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVummj_TkrSWFXj2aSzSbY6CkzcpkVB7Puqi_SQJ_wGLzxDum24uahLVr5Q0tfo5Ut9ZXUyphy9tunjEmzr6pbFoXfb8Kn7JLVt2e-0wPFaruBemnaB3ePKeBD8cMGjLJBlalScCLIZyZM/s1600/7527039648_IMG_0731.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVummj_TkrSWFXj2aSzSbY6CkzcpkVB7Puqi_SQJ_wGLzxDum24uahLVr5Q0tfo5Ut9ZXUyphy9tunjEmzr6pbFoXfb8Kn7JLVt2e-0wPFaruBemnaB3ePKeBD8cMGjLJBlalScCLIZyZM/s640/7527039648_IMG_0731.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Grateful that the holidays give us a chance to catch up with beloved friends we don't see enough, like Katie and her marvelous babe, Lorelei.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWV3q2nR93ke9xsgVDCgViDxTPFFzqFKeLOVtwEaGxnSrZAAfCmiDT9XEEFMZwkx35DiKcZSnjY8z687zy-87uMT8_16e9HP8ToBXR18aph2N9sDIF0aVV6Sb4QKgEUMB5avCT8YinnCwr/s1600/IMG_0735.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWV3q2nR93ke9xsgVDCgViDxTPFFzqFKeLOVtwEaGxnSrZAAfCmiDT9XEEFMZwkx35DiKcZSnjY8z687zy-87uMT8_16e9HP8ToBXR18aph2N9sDIF0aVV6Sb4QKgEUMB5avCT8YinnCwr/s640/IMG_0735.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Joey with Maya, Adam, Brett at Em's.</span></td></tr>
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G is for games</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjapSRk0OciSSv_3lJHPxZsYFmGx20UmofV8RSzP-Fvl7jO0XeTibfDLpLY9SHV9faIRAsSOa2Kalz44QggXntK7fPxj_0M6MgqdGWkSXV2ZQdEBsDyEadO0IWNSQQIn_-qhqcWoonRiq2W/s1600/IMG_2215.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjapSRk0OciSSv_3lJHPxZsYFmGx20UmofV8RSzP-Fvl7jO0XeTibfDLpLY9SHV9faIRAsSOa2Kalz44QggXntK7fPxj_0M6MgqdGWkSXV2ZQdEBsDyEadO0IWNSQQIn_-qhqcWoonRiq2W/s640/IMG_2215.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">two rounds of Secret Hitler that is! We can't stop. Our whole family is pretty obsessed with that game, thanks to Mikie and Marisa for introducing it a few years ago. Marisa has the best poker face, see below, and created quite an upset as she and Darin formed a terrible fascist alignment we never saw coming. YIKES!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDrmcD09ZOB3pP0wmJb-H_Cxx8cHbVdookc8LREoU7BezDkZt8RNodhHiXgk9luhyphenhyphenQSgqc4IOngQUtXMyXcJpg8XlA2SxEEFPrhXPyXJ_ovND00CxKj4MtpOGCgPxC-_E7Fi9XW9tAGLxl/s1600/IMG_2216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDrmcD09ZOB3pP0wmJb-H_Cxx8cHbVdookc8LREoU7BezDkZt8RNodhHiXgk9luhyphenhyphenQSgqc4IOngQUtXMyXcJpg8XlA2SxEEFPrhXPyXJ_ovND00CxKj4MtpOGCgPxC-_E7Fi9XW9tAGLxl/s640/IMG_2216.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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and G is for Gunne Sax, which I wear every year!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb4qslzv_XUBjS5b-F0EJjmgVuqIxJP5EDfFksf2JWHsGuclIRvt2lv1igkITPVAgc8b245lAEHEkZStKz4KhH2HBbvghLwoVl3dNk7ADT6gM2hD8zzgZLh2PYxVPMkvWvzyXb5MsXsiTr/s1600/IMG_0727.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb4qslzv_XUBjS5b-F0EJjmgVuqIxJP5EDfFksf2JWHsGuclIRvt2lv1igkITPVAgc8b245lAEHEkZStKz4KhH2HBbvghLwoVl3dNk7ADT6gM2hD8zzgZLh2PYxVPMkvWvzyXb5MsXsiTr/s640/IMG_0727.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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H is for our house</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrbi7yGnotEg6JpweCg9shdQO9Bq9axZlTa6O6kGtnmd5JjMmSnzg_-xL3sdBozVaAUAV9wiS5guTjwBc19N1hFA8HCvZKwCBOb5jGkSf_JBhaOMp17WhJUTiKFM293kgBYBNZ_90PJFk7/s1600/IMG_0677.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrbi7yGnotEg6JpweCg9shdQO9Bq9axZlTa6O6kGtnmd5JjMmSnzg_-xL3sdBozVaAUAV9wiS5guTjwBc19N1hFA8HCvZKwCBOb5jGkSf_JBhaOMp17WhJUTiKFM293kgBYBNZ_90PJFk7/s640/IMG_0677.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">We now officially own our house! We closed escrow last month, and begin repairs and remodels in the near future! There will be a lot of changes, but this will always truly be our home. Could not be more thankful for that unexpected development this past year. It was hard for me to picture us as homeowners in California; it seemed so unrealistic. Needless to say, to have the opportunity to create our dream home right here on the little patch of land we love, means the world to us.</span></td></tr>
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and our health!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxkp7D7RQGaicBDLCpeyAQb-XsVE2buBPHnNXiHMXW4um4tro_6fcOT8LLfjZgUqWQVd1mEUD8QdDLCt-ZnQy79J02iw3Cjmh5LDzfXirD1m-9eHGvkydwHPe0SS5bXnOEjPzGvDLLnjqA/s1600/IMG_2207.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxkp7D7RQGaicBDLCpeyAQb-XsVE2buBPHnNXiHMXW4um4tro_6fcOT8LLfjZgUqWQVd1mEUD8QdDLCt-ZnQy79J02iw3Cjmh5LDzfXirD1m-9eHGvkydwHPe0SS5bXnOEjPzGvDLLnjqA/s640/IMG_2207.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">"I love to frolic!" shouts Tootie.</span></td></tr>
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I is for insects</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9MsEHAwuGZTQOBfKlAD3ayQhixn7u4eR3Vgx_eHrwfJk3JnM26MD5w1E0E-CMrCmD43WChtsnuzWnGY3W1oANDEEEzWxylPZ92w-MBVU-Gei24nfaZVSCI7evX-nTvCLdyy6pwOgROd2f/s1600/IMG_0767.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9MsEHAwuGZTQOBfKlAD3ayQhixn7u4eR3Vgx_eHrwfJk3JnM26MD5w1E0E-CMrCmD43WChtsnuzWnGY3W1oANDEEEzWxylPZ92w-MBVU-Gei24nfaZVSCI7evX-nTvCLdyy6pwOgROd2f/s640/IMG_0767.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Scout and Polly "rescued" this rain beetle, and I was impressed with their utter nonchalance about holding and caring for such a guy. Love these brave little explorers beyond words.</span></td></tr>
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and India!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHmqfYdXwTSDnNKWeF9WFNtj6FIA-AaoDKRbpxlFrKM6LvvI6Re-Kx6dAX96O_w4Ye0TSLACX3epcTyjfUc_DneA2FS8gyKeK9T5Cs2M-J9nsKPLVCxGlJAekOTkw0VhyphenhyphennZsDh_M0krs74/s1600/fullsizeoutput_4c58.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHmqfYdXwTSDnNKWeF9WFNtj6FIA-AaoDKRbpxlFrKM6LvvI6Re-Kx6dAX96O_w4Ye0TSLACX3epcTyjfUc_DneA2FS8gyKeK9T5Cs2M-J9nsKPLVCxGlJAekOTkw0VhyphenhyphennZsDh_M0krs74/s640/fullsizeoutput_4c58.jpeg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">India is where the little Beatty family, Matt and Amy and kids, spent an unforgettable Thanksgiving this year. We missed them, but I'm so inspired by them and the adventurous life that they have created, and I can't wait to see them over Christmas and hear all about it! I seriously kind of live vicariously through them when they travel, and I feel grateful and lucky for that. What lucky kids, who are on Instagram, so I get to see some of their travels through their own eyes! Pure magic. </span></td></tr>
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J is for Joey</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRbxLleQocaxnzUDI9tbdG_ovvjTjxtiN2gysQsKVWqFBD31xHwIhuKkyK28yV7puh5LCysytUvhzUBiiduRyNt5wiU_BarS8yucd7u5FBv7lBNoV9lUNk2SeHvL0f_oZAcURiE0gGzMBF/s1600/7527023040_IMG_0721.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRbxLleQocaxnzUDI9tbdG_ovvjTjxtiN2gysQsKVWqFBD31xHwIhuKkyK28yV7puh5LCysytUvhzUBiiduRyNt5wiU_BarS8yucd7u5FBv7lBNoV9lUNk2SeHvL0f_oZAcURiE0gGzMBF/s640/7527023040_IMG_0721.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">my hilarious and considerate and devoted little brother! Here he is probably making fun of something about the parade. </span></td></tr>
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and Jack.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx3Lg_1fImSA65OOESR-KZMBhrlIqs066c__1ceD1TngxnZCxIPE8gLsXV_UBYroPPrB_qJ4CHhErR1uWwyqbBDVkWL_03SBhEL_WAfEZiXTcbxcIcgXc4yieANLy7a_TPhDbebBOsduNa/s1600/IMG_0569.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx3Lg_1fImSA65OOESR-KZMBhrlIqs066c__1ceD1TngxnZCxIPE8gLsXV_UBYroPPrB_qJ4CHhErR1uWwyqbBDVkWL_03SBhEL_WAfEZiXTcbxcIcgXc4yieANLy7a_TPhDbebBOsduNa/s640/IMG_0569.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">my mom's husband, whose quiet presence and immense support are so important. An artist, a builder, a thinker and a do-er, he has made such a lovely little life with Marmy!</span></td></tr>
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K is for kids!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEginzcMV_o6ZcByvRSWgGcO-akNu8XRh64zUhkKQ106I_fEhFedBc9p48ZQkBGR0xixNp_BOICgpF70bSQ2j2Nut4_YQFS5TGNZo7M8gGPRNr-pbgmiRxC0YqQZHTVXtOsNVl1QqzQ4sUJb/s1600/IMG_0793.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEginzcMV_o6ZcByvRSWgGcO-akNu8XRh64zUhkKQ106I_fEhFedBc9p48ZQkBGR0xixNp_BOICgpF70bSQ2j2Nut4_YQFS5TGNZo7M8gGPRNr-pbgmiRxC0YqQZHTVXtOsNVl1QqzQ4sUJb/s640/IMG_0793.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The BEST! The very most biggest wondrous thing I'm grateful for at Thanksgiving and every single day.</span></td></tr>
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L is for Lucy</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg68BhmzKH4TyVrr3V7oO3hXF6PdWYsZlwLW6BPwqRqkjBR3h_2KKMp_qbYZZaLM8_JoO1LdZ4IqjYoF5wSA4GFnNnKaRWzdDXh8ZlI4byH9smUCW9u9KnP4Zwa_dzDeyjeARCLbc1pg-j7/s1600/IMG_0768.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg68BhmzKH4TyVrr3V7oO3hXF6PdWYsZlwLW6BPwqRqkjBR3h_2KKMp_qbYZZaLM8_JoO1LdZ4IqjYoF5wSA4GFnNnKaRWzdDXh8ZlI4byH9smUCW9u9KnP4Zwa_dzDeyjeARCLbc1pg-j7/s640/IMG_0768.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I mean, look at this sweet girl! I learned from my dear friend CarolAnn that six is the age of social awareness. I can see it all the time; she's blooming with care, consideration, and compassion. She loves her friends and cousins and family, and she loves to help. She sees what others are doing; she learns about the world around her and is interested and empathetic. For a girl that's always been a free spirit and super independent, this is an attribute that I'm so appreciating seeing blossom. My vibrant, creative, lively little spirit. I am eternally grateful for her, and that she made me a mother after all those years.</span></td></tr>
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and love.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTGFeN55YA3Q-JFy49FnruZ3bxPH09ol1BMXJwvQkozHUPGWcrWayKk1SC3wSZquikPay-jEqmm2QHnD954DFt5wBczAXeaLgzH7VgPq_Oinu8WT81ll1Sv-W9ChhSlH3GVzdVNns0siIH/s1600/IMG_2201.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTGFeN55YA3Q-JFy49FnruZ3bxPH09ol1BMXJwvQkozHUPGWcrWayKk1SC3wSZquikPay-jEqmm2QHnD954DFt5wBczAXeaLgzH7VgPq_Oinu8WT81ll1Sv-W9ChhSlH3GVzdVNns0siIH/s640/IMG_2201.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The cozy scene at Addie's Thanksgiving morning.</span></td></tr>
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M is for Mikie and Marisa</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie06XX58tm_ZtrIhD0PmeNSGVQ7JYXxocP6zerHL2xqobq6koPp4m0TPYlayUT3Iq00C-8uEM70U5b19sEu3XxSnVebW9Ow6ZC1BXljBVlGp6jchXeWY6DGoBLWXGHAvq16JPzqoGfii2j/s1600/IMG_0707.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie06XX58tm_ZtrIhD0PmeNSGVQ7JYXxocP6zerHL2xqobq6koPp4m0TPYlayUT3Iq00C-8uEM70U5b19sEu3XxSnVebW9Ow6ZC1BXljBVlGp6jchXeWY6DGoBLWXGHAvq16JPzqoGfii2j/s640/IMG_0707.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Marisa is so incredible with my girls. Like Mikie, she has abundant energy and playfulness, and really gets to know them and BE with them at their level. Most adults don't do this, which is totally fine and I understand, but how incredible it makes it to have Marisa in my life! I love her so.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXCpntfBRcvRj7XdIIuapHEn24YPMgwZ0Utz6XzKHCm2qtVHl_nA5R3BcNkuRPHGwUaOlINevRhsnomb1ZD-uRSzTgIVOb_KrQq2R2LKS4VTmArIZ7JMK55JXGJ2H11fLn6pJmqIJTxfBn/s1600/IMG_0729.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXCpntfBRcvRj7XdIIuapHEn24YPMgwZ0Utz6XzKHCm2qtVHl_nA5R3BcNkuRPHGwUaOlINevRhsnomb1ZD-uRSzTgIVOb_KrQq2R2LKS4VTmArIZ7JMK55JXGJ2H11fLn6pJmqIJTxfBn/s640/IMG_0729.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mikie: ever jolly, hilarious, exuberant. Such a treat when he's in town.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsg9PY0qR810q5h3ftvEijZihDZNtwRDFjgY1fzgcoLOHuC-jT4LekdePzc3FJRHCeVeg0uBerIc_EPsGHdL97cnBi1u_ZPQKG3n0Xo0M7fUmaCdkuyk561eg4tmwEac20AyAJbHrnvxLe/s1600/IMG_0702.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsg9PY0qR810q5h3ftvEijZihDZNtwRDFjgY1fzgcoLOHuC-jT4LekdePzc3FJRHCeVeg0uBerIc_EPsGHdL97cnBi1u_ZPQKG3n0Xo0M7fUmaCdkuyk561eg4tmwEac20AyAJbHrnvxLe/s640/IMG_0702.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toots wearing Marisa's things and feeling pretty cute about it!</span></td></tr>
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N is for Nana.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyHd08O7Q9GLAOTpF-J9qgmS7flbK0EqttV2z7sinYsAX_-3tIuGPL6lls7Xrj4PgZOYGgpFPbthhztCROpoi_Kca63tGVp7TvAshTYKdA_8l0sNtSjLYznvOMDchjtoIK1nlQyEnwFATj/s1600/IMG_2263.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyHd08O7Q9GLAOTpF-J9qgmS7flbK0EqttV2z7sinYsAX_-3tIuGPL6lls7Xrj4PgZOYGgpFPbthhztCROpoi_Kca63tGVp7TvAshTYKdA_8l0sNtSjLYznvOMDchjtoIK1nlQyEnwFATj/s640/IMG_2263.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mama does so much for all of us. We couldn't be luckier to have her. She made so much food for Thanksgiving, from stuffing to cranberry sauce with walnuts, to pecan pie; she reads to the kids, washes dishes, sends home leftovers carefully parcelled, shows enthusiasm for any conversation, movie, or song, and can get pretty silly too. What a joy she is!</span></td></tr>
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O is for outside.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOtPsc2_owpN0Ti0_IkcP_B5rutSyBmmVqpJ-iAtUqueAQ7gVFUbU2t0DBvR9qBYNmu0OR49sl3HD_iN9iCqJK9gnP3hU3tiRqHe6uD7YfKjo8tkoi1ChPIzqtJIViNjL2TJ9awmrwc5lA/s1600/IMG_0781.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOtPsc2_owpN0Ti0_IkcP_B5rutSyBmmVqpJ-iAtUqueAQ7gVFUbU2t0DBvR9qBYNmu0OR49sl3HD_iN9iCqJK9gnP3hU3tiRqHe6uD7YfKjo8tkoi1ChPIzqtJIViNjL2TJ9awmrwc5lA/s640/IMG_0781.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So nice to take some time outside on Thanksgiving. At this point we were at home and it was just us and Joey and Scout. After Darin rode the girls around on his bike. Tootie and I took time on the swing together. We got going pretty high (ewven though my weight makes it almost touch the ground, haha) and I'd push off the jungle gym with my feet so we'd go flying! She snuggled under my shawl to stay warm. It was a moment of pure bliss.</span></td></tr>
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P is for Polly! (and play)</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd5C7e-WC7iw_tF0L3EGKzjLFoK95gnuiALOLhgRPJ8lpoMbg1wE_w8uB0jxDcEA3Kx3FVUH9NCQsZRfw_s9rv7G9yAOjgU4VI3oBLFpF8Js8XtXYE5DhPUqP8q99gyxW_DuKjIHAwVGgM/s1600/IMG_0737.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd5C7e-WC7iw_tF0L3EGKzjLFoK95gnuiALOLhgRPJ8lpoMbg1wE_w8uB0jxDcEA3Kx3FVUH9NCQsZRfw_s9rv7G9yAOjgU4VI3oBLFpF8Js8XtXYE5DhPUqP8q99gyxW_DuKjIHAwVGgM/s640/IMG_0737.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Polly is so busy busy busy these days that I barely got a picture of her on Thanksgiving because she was too excited and she'd never stand still! She lives in a world of her imagination a lot of the time, with babies, animals, trips, rescues, and dramatic scenarios. She's always the helper: dressing a baby in warm jammies and rocking her, or taping up a doggie's leg that got "in an accident" and nursing it back to health. She builds shelters and carriers and can make anything be anything. Pure pretendland. She and Scout play so deeply together, fully and utterly immersed in their imaginative world, that it's an honor to just watch. Polly is my loveygirl who wants to snuggle a cat first thing when she wakes up and routinely kisses me on the arm just to show a burst of love. She gets insanely excited about toys and sincerely enjoys them, especially dolls of all sorts. Besides being my hilarious little jokester, she also is sensitive, compassionate, and a storyteller. She's also mercurial and learning boundaries for her outbursts. She's almost five! So much is changing all the time, and I am along for the beautiful ride and so incredibly thankful for her. </span></td></tr>
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Q is for quiet time. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjypb4HMscDhe97-LA4gg0QSJLJwATSodvUKss-KgUjqx17i0O-g3VM-BalyiK0L5RFWXCFN_EtveCsOIs0TKkt0zahopJllOnCGU0vV_jFMlywzY6gkno-9d5FjS7z4hqCN7l43e2fxfdV/s1600/IMG_0765.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjypb4HMscDhe97-LA4gg0QSJLJwATSodvUKss-KgUjqx17i0O-g3VM-BalyiK0L5RFWXCFN_EtveCsOIs0TKkt0zahopJllOnCGU0vV_jFMlywzY6gkno-9d5FjS7z4hqCN7l43e2fxfdV/s640/IMG_0765.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">When we got home from our morning's activities, we had some down time to color and do crafts.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiytRYTlj0h8O-wIyvo-0b8K7bIAxouU6gCBj3nS5Zik4hTOHHVBX2xsmYSyfcjUd7SzufVF5EyWuW9XgUySYsZsS7_naLXjgFnz_pkK5EhsigeejVCrKweJRO_q6Pv3Xrm9ZgW5cgyLYwJ/s1600/7524906640_IMG_0750.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiytRYTlj0h8O-wIyvo-0b8K7bIAxouU6gCBj3nS5Zik4hTOHHVBX2xsmYSyfcjUd7SzufVF5EyWuW9XgUySYsZsS7_naLXjgFnz_pkK5EhsigeejVCrKweJRO_q6Pv3Xrm9ZgW5cgyLYwJ/s640/7524906640_IMG_0750.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmTJ9zVwGF8dR18PFH__vVCKbegp0p8kCtFFYB_e4cosIhIK6gKx5yqpz1D5bJZ93ly9I6jSk0hB7sLG4lovwlzGJ28pUZi_cIwkUBOMIDY0lc7ntuXyQdoJnzL2PfwhfmUNofFf7922AT/s1600/IMG_0746.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmTJ9zVwGF8dR18PFH__vVCKbegp0p8kCtFFYB_e4cosIhIK6gKx5yqpz1D5bJZ93ly9I6jSk0hB7sLG4lovwlzGJ28pUZi_cIwkUBOMIDY0lc7ntuXyQdoJnzL2PfwhfmUNofFf7922AT/s640/IMG_0746.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I also had some quiet time when I took the chance at Emily and Christian's house to walk around their mountainy neighborhood for a few minutes by myself and enjoy the trees and the sunlight peeking through the rain. </span></td></tr>
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R is for RAIN!!!!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq7j_1AhU5MZ0kUb0yy1Klnuuk9rvhTjD3Bb5-lPlT8FSjgCPyZvX-qB5ozEVSeCLwf5rpVFjTnAqCn3mM4SYV1g2WY5sz8iNQRL8tI66fr00mHQzS_bo9gCctoItL4YoNn5sWefgpT6n0/s1600/IMG_2170.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq7j_1AhU5MZ0kUb0yy1Klnuuk9rvhTjD3Bb5-lPlT8FSjgCPyZvX-qB5ozEVSeCLwf5rpVFjTnAqCn3mM4SYV1g2WY5sz8iNQRL8tI66fr00mHQzS_bo9gCctoItL4YoNn5sWefgpT6n0/s640/IMG_2170.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Need I say more! We have waited and waited and waited for this rain. We had one brief spell of rain in early October that did nothing for our parched land. We had been waiting for real rain since May. It was a pure balm to the soul, and so perfect that it came for Thanksgiving.</span></td></tr>
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S is for Scouty!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp4xj7lh4pye-88s8Ki_50uxlkxqUjj9Kbjg7Gw6kZHgtmCtCEhoD9___Fmto72G-9BB19dysG6ATgNWgSKwzUpWn904yFtZBQO0Es4DDpkcMiAOZ7-k-XG6ZXKqeIbcqsN-t2mhVZk-oL/s1600/IMG_0753.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp4xj7lh4pye-88s8Ki_50uxlkxqUjj9Kbjg7Gw6kZHgtmCtCEhoD9___Fmto72G-9BB19dysG6ATgNWgSKwzUpWn904yFtZBQO0Es4DDpkcMiAOZ7-k-XG6ZXKqeIbcqsN-t2mhVZk-oL/s640/IMG_0753.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The little songstress! </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Here Scouty shows off a picture that Lucy made her for Thanksgiving. These cousins together, oh man, they're so sweet. </span></td></tr>
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T is for table,</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheuwjT6QXqlq2wEcg3Rt09w3b_Ju6RgSEY6w1VvmzosKnr3ilEix_0vq6tCizahrW-hYd_gob2lWyPSfcRQolB1NvPngAoxZZmlkNrQm3WHtFp8grG0On-TLch3t8JKsAFo376rt1mwCkk/s1600/IMG_2143.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheuwjT6QXqlq2wEcg3Rt09w3b_Ju6RgSEY6w1VvmzosKnr3ilEix_0vq6tCizahrW-hYd_gob2lWyPSfcRQolB1NvPngAoxZZmlkNrQm3WHtFp8grG0On-TLch3t8JKsAFo376rt1mwCkk/s640/IMG_2143.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">We got our new table on Monday night, just in time for the festivities this week! We had a rain check on it since last week, when World Market ran out due to their big furniture sale. So on Monday when it came in, my dad met the girls and I at Costco for some shopping, then a quick dinner and over to World Market to pick up the table; this whole process took forever and Pops helped them load it up in his truck and bring it home, bench too; those boxes were HEAVY as hell. The girls getting so wild and out of control, running amok, sneaking away, spilling drinks, shouting, fighting and crying, as we left bedtime way behind in the dust. We came the back way home on country roads, following Pops in his truck so he could go nice and slow; I followed right behind with the girls finally falling asleep. It was 10:00 when we got home and luckily Darin was able to set up the table then next morning before work.</span></td></tr>
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and trees,</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRe9aFA_psCM3T8zMBpIgRN-2-lPdaJMUJM_FJ_HNgzVuu0Cfx1xWFQek11Rp-30fI0uc5GR3GCwIa4f7zbibLC_mxKTaI2BpIkP68s5MJJXbV_2X0oy5gzLkT4-x2Xg7CWIv9ydqHbvCG/s1600/IMG_0741.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRe9aFA_psCM3T8zMBpIgRN-2-lPdaJMUJM_FJ_HNgzVuu0Cfx1xWFQek11Rp-30fI0uc5GR3GCwIa4f7zbibLC_mxKTaI2BpIkP68s5MJJXbV_2X0oy5gzLkT4-x2Xg7CWIv9ydqHbvCG/s640/IMG_0741.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">When walking around the neighborhood admiring the woodsy setting, I had the chance to talk to Em's neighbor about this bright red tree, which is a flame amur Japanese maple from the local nursery. Now that we're homeowners, we've been working hard on cleaning up our yard, and I'm hoping to plant some new trees, so I get all excited to learn the different types.</span><br />
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And our town!</div>
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U is for Utah!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The sprightliest elf! He and Toots are besties who see each other at school every day now too and give each other the biggest hugs. On his way to our house for dinner later, he told his mom he "couldn't wait to see his darling cousins." </span></td></tr>
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V is for vegetarian feast!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsFjB6fkxVDdC4O0_CtYa-e_PCADBDuuPDQ7UkglMtYmeIlory9R_6w4xh2FE2gHGGg1WS0cwKH1iOpGuaJPpba51f9pGNsRZimaAEbxyyCaAO14apCLjewoC46B3cMk-BNCkE4-pdpyWq/s1600/IMG_0783.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsFjB6fkxVDdC4O0_CtYa-e_PCADBDuuPDQ7UkglMtYmeIlory9R_6w4xh2FE2gHGGg1WS0cwKH1iOpGuaJPpba51f9pGNsRZimaAEbxyyCaAO14apCLjewoC46B3cMk-BNCkE4-pdpyWq/s640/IMG_0783.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipZcz-bKT4I0lJOjqDilRYqqmi9fuKbYHCIYoYO-hEjgDgYsi0ihR_BxHxBPHwrMfEEsiuRM4X-fODZLzXp6uU5eLnpyB1aTZsbkXYsEG7uk203ubSs2-0bODjXpiDiDnDIUVXqnP-8QYd/s1600/IMG_0796.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipZcz-bKT4I0lJOjqDilRYqqmi9fuKbYHCIYoYO-hEjgDgYsi0ihR_BxHxBPHwrMfEEsiuRM4X-fODZLzXp6uU5eLnpyB1aTZsbkXYsEG7uk203ubSs2-0bODjXpiDiDnDIUVXqnP-8QYd/s640/IMG_0796.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Three tofurkeys, one gluten-free Quorn roast, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, brussel sprouts, kale salad, cranberries, veggie gravy, and rolls! Plus two pies and homemade whipped cream for dessert. Who could ask for anything more?</span></td></tr>
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W is for wild!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha_VMg_aOqLUjxtRCIapl89uH_Wru4M8HjvjBPAizt-NaW4-rslufx1Lg9j5aGOeJXcy0ZT8CZJIG3CU993q-BgE52f3aNAWq0rtiRNc0yNqFCbZPcRB0l0oZSsWM7xwRKyUYJgrMkZ5z8/s1600/IMG_2218.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha_VMg_aOqLUjxtRCIapl89uH_Wru4M8HjvjBPAizt-NaW4-rslufx1Lg9j5aGOeJXcy0ZT8CZJIG3CU993q-BgE52f3aNAWq0rtiRNc0yNqFCbZPcRB0l0oZSsWM7xwRKyUYJgrMkZ5z8/s640/IMG_2218.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As the grown ups played games later, the kids watched Rudolph and stayed up way too late till the true crazies began!</span></td></tr>
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X is for Mix! Tootie gave me this one :)</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVSf4aevKLIkixI-KhBaE0mIYOGGrsee1ZKXVLGsiBMdaCSkJfOSZpwoBwRfaqcCZiz_dB4zjeJA_hOd6gYFOqjRoycwddp9NS7Gq_E7EbTCXiFuCEGv7izvgz0K2u-igPj3h1uLasMvpS/s1600/IMG_0782.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVSf4aevKLIkixI-KhBaE0mIYOGGrsee1ZKXVLGsiBMdaCSkJfOSZpwoBwRfaqcCZiz_dB4zjeJA_hOd6gYFOqjRoycwddp9NS7Gq_E7EbTCXiFuCEGv7izvgz0K2u-igPj3h1uLasMvpS/s640/IMG_0782.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">She definitely helps with all the mixing!</span></td></tr>
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Y is for yard.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Our favorite place to be. </span></td></tr>
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Z is for zoom! (Lucy gave me that one too.)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7rXOuM4Hb9dkhPOBsoa2gKELFr9y24z9PCRoarxIpj-9omPjtSkgKJGvddjBkdpu5r7iTvIUAjfpGNffoUGio23OnzAHDSHoCC-mr_xLYQs_kIZ-NA99fMOrbZl8W5m-PR1mJlzCnbphZ/s1600/IMG_0778.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7rXOuM4Hb9dkhPOBsoa2gKELFr9y24z9PCRoarxIpj-9omPjtSkgKJGvddjBkdpu5r7iTvIUAjfpGNffoUGio23OnzAHDSHoCC-mr_xLYQs_kIZ-NA99fMOrbZl8W5m-PR1mJlzCnbphZ/s640/IMG_0778.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW7N6SjjJT_clvaRKtZEZ7lian643W6ND3YCNzEDeWBtnjBEiE8ZBlinHDITV1Nvw2BUrosg-i7vNECtahGOnhbsKi0LpAZN4TtAVxM5LaUgPVjcRXDFaDHJPQFw6cpkVFf1m7IUS8nrPR/s1600/IMG_0773.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW7N6SjjJT_clvaRKtZEZ7lian643W6ND3YCNzEDeWBtnjBEiE8ZBlinHDITV1Nvw2BUrosg-i7vNECtahGOnhbsKi0LpAZN4TtAVxM5LaUgPVjcRXDFaDHJPQFw6cpkVFf1m7IUS8nrPR/s640/IMG_0773.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The girls chased Darin around the backyard as he gave rides on his bike, shrieking with laughter.</span></td></tr>
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Not only did the kids zoom around, but the day zoomed by, and in fact I can't believe it's already time to go back to school tomorrow. But with the cozy season finally here, schoolwork and grading papers is so much more inviting and I look forward to every single moment of the next month. </div>
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I could not be more grateful for each aspect of my life right now. I send out love and wellness and joy to anyone reading this, straight from my heart to yours, like a damn cheerful CareBear. xoxoxoxo</div>
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<br />moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-53182900522819662342018-11-10T12:22:00.000-08:002018-11-10T19:19:05.103-08:00Sonora Pass in the Fall<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We took a little overnighter trip a couple weeks ago to travel <a href="https://www.monocounty.org/places-to-go/mountain-passes/sonora-pass/" target="_blank">over Sonora Pass</a>, a fall drive I've always wanted to do. From our home in Placerville, we head straight south on the tiny, historic, curving Gold Rush Highway 49 all the way to Sonora. Then we make a left onto Highway 108, a spectacular alpine road that takes us winding through and over the Sierra Nevadas to the east side and Highway 395, where we head north and eventually back over the mountain passes to the western slope again. </div>
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We left after work and arrived just after dark at the Wildwood Inn in the heart of the tiny mountain town of Twain Harte, basically at the foot of Sonora Pass. The little lodge is modest and unassuming; we were pretty disappointed to find out that the hot tub was not up and running! But we had a cozy sleep there in the middle of the tiny town, walking distance to a good coffee shop and the city park in the morning.</div>
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Plus nighttime Spongebob on the cartoon channel, a rare treat. </div>
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Ready to go in the morning!</div>
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The corner store on our walk to coffee had quite the Halloween graveyard set up. The girls were fascinated. </div>
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We were happy to find this cute little coffee shop just half a block away, and it was a perfect autumn day for warm drinks and morning sunlight.</div>
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The girls did stop/go dances for passing cars. </div>
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And then, just a block in the other direction, is a wonderful park and playground, <a href="https://www.twainhartecsd.com/parks-and-recreation-services" target="_blank">Eproson Park </a>.</div>
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They have the best double-decker swing, and a little wooden wagon where we could play Ma and Pa and Laura and Mary.</div>
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Side story: Polly had my 1987 Cabbage Patch premie, Penelope, with her that day. (She always brings a baby.) We realized much later in the day when we were almost home that the doll was missing. This photograph (below) was our proof of where we saw her last! I called Parks and Rec in Twain Harte the next day and the kind receptionist sent out an "operator" to the park who actually walked around searching and found Polly's doll over by the fence near the creek where we'd taken a walk! They are holding it for us and we're going back (it's a two hour drive each way) to pick her up on my birthday, November 13. </div>
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I love little country mountain towns. The setting of Twain Harte is just breathtaking. </div>
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And cool enough for one of my favorite fall Gunnes!</div>
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After a brisk frolic down by the creek, we got in the car and hit the road. Highway 108 goes winding its way up into the Sierras, and our first stop was at the Ranger station for a walk around the Mi-wuk Village trail. </div>
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Inside the little Visitor Center there, the rangers gave the girls goodie bags of Smokey the Bear stuff: crayons, coloring books, frisbees, bookmarks. The girls diligently carried their bags and used their Smokey pencils to record things they saw in their journals. It was pretty sweet. </div>
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It was heartbreaking to find out at the ranger station that the place had sustained some vandalism over the summer and some of the reconstructed Miwok village had been destroyed. There were still a couple structures standing, and we went inside this cedar bark dwelling (umucha) and talked about what it would be like to gather around a little stone hearth in the center and sleep on animal skins. </div>
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Lucy is my rock scrambler! Also, she was pleased to find out that there happened to be a first grade class finishing up their field trip here right as we arrived (she's in first grade this year) so we knew we had come to the right place.</div>
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We followed the trail guide and learned a lot: the different kinds of trees like Sugar Pine and Incense Cedar and the ways the Miwok used them as resources, the meadow that was once the resting place of a giant glacier, and the natural inhabitants like mule deer. Lucy's favorite thing to learn about was the shaman who could transform shape and the spirit world of the Miwok, like the water spirit, Hushepi, that lived in the rivers and streams. </div>
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Darin took some of my favorite pictures of the girls that day, like this one of Polly below.</div>
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We even learned a bit about processing acorns and took our turn sitting and doing some pretend work at this ancient grinding stone (chawsay).</div>
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A favorite quote from the trail guide:</div>
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<i>"Names of plants and trees are fun to know, an effective catalogue for studying nature's order.</i></div>
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<i>But verbal knowledge is meaningless without feelings of a greater essence. To the Miwok, this mountain forest was home. They knew it intimately and sensed the greater essence fully." </i></div>
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Next we headed up further up the mountain and started getting into the area damaged from the recent <a href="https://www.mymotherlode.com/community/fire/donnell-fire-summary-timeline" target="_blank">Donnell fire</a>. We stopped at the breathtaking Donnells Vista to clamber about and gasp as we looked far down at the gorge and the river and reservoir below. </div>
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Fire closure measures were still in order all along this section of Hwy. 108, past historic Dardanelle Resort that burned to the ground and other heartbreaking damage blackening this haunting section of road. We pulled down a narrow side road and drove slowly into Kennedy Meadows, another gorgeous and stunning historic backcountry resort and pack station that started in 1917 and was narrowly saved; fire damage was visible right up to the edge of the campgrounds. The coffee shop barista had told us this had always been a favorite stop of hers along the highway, describing a little shop and a field where the girls could romp and play. </div>
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The lodge had just closed for the winter, and a worker was cleaning out the supply store. There were dogs lounging lazily around the empty main lobby and a cheerful fire in the woodstove. The friendly lady who worked there gave us all the snacks we wanted for a deep discount, and handfuls of string cheeses for free, as they had stocked up recently for the fire fighters who had worked so tirelessly to save the resort. This is a major stop along the PCT and even though it was quiet and nearly deserted, there was a warm sense of community filling the comfortable lobby where one dog jumps for the ceiling fan and another stays curled up near the woodstove.</div>
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We did some wandering, of course. </div>
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And we even found a swing by the cabins!</div>
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Leaving Kennedy Meadows with a car full of Pringles and graham crackers, we headed up over the mountains and down the steep grade of the east side. Here we saw some of the most beautiful autumn scenery I've ever seen. The sky was intermittently cloudy, light striking yellow leaves, massive granite cliffs jutting up around us, dramatic quiet vistas ready for the approaching silence of snow. The pass is closed all winter; last year it was six months.</div>
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We were nearly alone on the entire drive. </div>
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We took our family Christmas card pictures out in this meadow with a valley of gentle light behind us.</div>
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Then we drifted down to Hwy 395 and headed north to make the long loop back home, stopping in the tiny town of Walker for some fries and a malt.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">reading the Smokey Bear comic</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">running around Walker Burger's pretty grounds</td></tr>
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We had a cool encounter there. </div>
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Just before we left, Polly had spied a feral cat in the neighboring field and really wanted to somehow get to it, which wasn't going to happen. So she freaked out as we were trying to get back in the car; she was resistant and fussy and fighting us. But a whole vanload of Tibetan monks and nuns happened to stop and they were milling about and smiling at the kids. Polly had run up to one of them and breathlessly asked "Is that your cat?" The nun didn't seem to speak much English, but enjoyed Polly's exuberance and just kind of chuckled and smiled kindly, and later we saw her again as we wrangled Polly into the car. Polly was essentially frowning and fussing and twisting about and wouldn't really respond as she said to Polly, "You good girl." The nun looked at me with a deeply sympathetic look in her eyes, as I shrugged apologetically at Polly's rude behavior. "Really, she a good girl," she repeated meaningfully, looking right into my eyes with her own twinkling warm eyes. It felt like a blessing. Of course I know Polly's a good girl, but four year olds can be challenging and we tend to worry about how others see us and our parenting reflected in our child's behavior. </div>
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It's so nice to sometimes get a glimpse of true acceptance and peace in the midst of that frustration. </div>
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Minutes later, Polly was asleep peacefully and the beautiful new <a href="https://gregoryalanisakov.com/" target="_blank">Gregory Alan Isakov album</a> was playing and we made our way back over Monitor Pass to the other side through a mountain thunderstorm as the "finest music of the wind" played in the pines outside our windows.</div>
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<br />moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-33567870806503248872018-11-04T08:12:00.002-08:002018-11-04T08:12:57.837-08:00No Girl is An IslandI grew up going to Girls' Camp for the mormon church. In my teenage years, up until the very year I stopped going to church and stopped believing at age 17, I enjoyed camp immensely. It was so fun to be with friends, adventure in the wilderness (the last couple years we did overnight or multiple day backpacking trips), to swim in the lake, make crafts, eat, salute the flag, and, best of all, sing together.<br />
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Every night before we'd all head off to bed in our little A-frame cabins, we all gathered around a big campfire and the girls sang songs together. Most of them were funny and active songs like "Rise and Shine," "Sippin' Cider Through a Straw," and "Just a Boy and a Girl in a Little Canoe." But at the end of each night, the Big Sisters (I was one for two years in a row) went up to the campfire, put our arms around each other facing inward, swaying together, and quietly sang "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5sL8f-aucM" target="_blank">No Man is an Island.</a>" It always felt so sleepy and comfortable to me, hearing my friends' slightly off-key girlish voices warble up with the gentle smoke into the fir trees and pines. Then we'd quietly say, "Good night," and all the campers would shuffle silently off to their cabins with the song's words echoing peace for each of us.<br />
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Fast forward many years later, and as a new mother, I found myself singing this same song at night to help my restless baby, Lucy, find a similar peace.<br />
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Since my 20's, I've had a scratchy voice on and off, and I have found that I can't always hit the notes like I used to. The pitch goes too high for me when it says "each man as my brother," and then immediately goes too low with the lyrics, "We need one another." But I'd talk-sing through those parts and go on, because she loved it.</div>
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Slightly more troubling was the gendered language, especially as she started to get older and was insistent on proper pronouns. She and Polly didn't like to be referred to as "you guys," and wondered aloud about particularly patriarchal language, "mankind," "brotherhood," etc. This happened naturally; I never really said anything to prompt it, as I had long ago myself accepted the limits of language and gender, and learned to rationalize in my own head. Now I had to think of their perspective, in which girls and sisters are life, and I'd start to switch back and forth between singing, "No man" and "No one." Just like in "Ba Ba Black Sheep," Lucy preferred a balance: "the little boy who lives down the lane," and then in the next verse, "one for the little girl who lives down the lane." She doesn't like to totally give up common expression like "Each man as my brother," but she'd like the next verse to say, "Each one as my sister." </div>
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But for the first time, the other night right before we went to sleep, she asked me to sing it a second time and to sing "girl" <i>every time </i>it says "man." So I indulged. And I don't know why, singing it that way, deliberately and as a blessing for my own daughters, gave me goosebumps all over. It's such a small change. I started singing it that way without a second thought. But then I found it somehow made a big difference. With "girl" and all that word's implications and associations, the song felt so much more visceral to me, empowering, complicated, beautiful, <i>personal</i>. </div>
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A song I've always loved, one that has brought me peace.</div>
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But now, it brought me peace and something else. Power.</div>
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Try it. If you know the tune, sing it aloud. It feels good.</div>
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<i>No girl is an island.</i></div>
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<i>No girl stands alone.</i></div>
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<i>Each girl's joy is joy to me. Each girl's grief is my own.</i></div>
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<i>We need one another,</i></div>
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<i>So I will defend</i></div>
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<i>Each girl as my sister,</i></div>
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<i>Each girl as my friend.</i></div>
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<i>I saw the people gather;</i></div>
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<i>I heard the music start.</i></div>
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<i>The songs that they were singing were ringing in my heart.</i></div>
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<i>We need one another. </i></div>
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<i>So I will defend </i></div>
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<i>Each girl as my sister,</i></div>
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<i>Each girl as my friend.</i></div>
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moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-44310552034247965382017-10-12T20:47:00.000-07:002017-10-12T20:47:08.720-07:00Twin Lakes Tradition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
"This is my lake country." </div>
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I quote Thoreau, who references Wordsworth. "They are great crystals on the surface of the earth, Lakes of Light."</div>
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I posted about our trip to Twin Lakes <a href="http://moonshinejunkyard.blogspot.com/2016/09/already-looking-back.html" target="_blank">last year</a>, which doesn't even seem that long ago, and was only about six posts ago given the irregularity of my presence here. But it truly is something that brings me bliss, and it seems that around the seventh week of the school semester I start to crave it desperately. </div>
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"Talk of heaven! ye disgrace earth." </div>
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It was Addie's idea this time to go again, and maybe make it a yearly tradition, and we went in July, right before Lucy's birthday again: Pops, Joey, Scout, Addie, Art, Utah, me and the girls. Darin couldn't come, and I'm more confident now; I think I did a pretty great job with the girls and our gear, driving and camping together.<br />
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Course I always have Pops and Fofe to back me up.<br />
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"This was an airy and unplastered cabin, fit to entertain a travelling god, and where a goddess might trail her garments" </div>
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As Addie and Art and Utah drove up in their motor home, the girls excitedly put on paper masks to go surprise Utah. </div>
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Four little critters standing in a row. </div>
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"Girls and boys and young women generally seemed glad to be in the woods. They look in the pond and at the flowers, and improved their time." </div>
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Addie played board games with the kids (this strikes me as odd now, looking back, since she hates board games?) while Artie started prep on everyone's favorite camping meal: spaghetti with browned butter and mizithra cheese, with steamed garden veggies on the side. </div>
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The heartiest feast. Everyone eats at least three plates full.</div>
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"I have, as it were, my own sun and moon and stars, and a little world all to myself." </div>
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"The morning, which is the most memorable season of the day, is the awakening hour." </div>
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"The life in us is like the water in the river."</div>
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Then we went down to the lake to spend the rest of the day. We brought picnic lunches, beers in little coolers, bathing suits and floaties. We set up camp on the beach, and later in the afternoon Papa rented a little motor boat, just like last year, to take a whirl around the lake!</div>
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Our little camp and the glorious parade of peaks beyond.</div>
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Ice cream cones at the little stand at the lakeside resort. </div>
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Boat dock fun! The girls always make me nervous here....</div>
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"A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature."</div>
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"I grew in those seasons like corn in the night."</div>
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"We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn."</div>
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The child's got style.</div>
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Addie and Art had to leave that evening, they only got to do a one-nighter. So she read us all a gem of a Mary Austin story before they left, and the kids all hitched a ride in the mote around the campground.</div>
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I hope my girls' childhood memories smell like campfires.</div>
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That night, Joey and I had put out the fire, tidied up camp, locking up food items in the bear cabinet, and finally gone to bed around midnight. We were each half dozing off to sleep in our neighboring tents when a loud crash jolted us both fully awake. There was some scuffling and a ruckus just feet away. It was unmistakable. A bear was in our site.</div>
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"Joey, are you awake?" I whisper-hissed into the darkness from inside my tent. "Yeah...." he answered, and my voice rose a notch as I asked, "Was that a <i>bear</i>?" "Yeah, I think so," he answered. "Did we leave out our cooler? Let's check it out." Our voices had quieted the situation out there, and we both zipped open our tents and sprang through the darkness to the picnic table, where sure enough, we had left out our cooler on the table and it was now on its side on the ground. We were silent as we lifted it together, hurried it into the bear cabinet, locked it up, and scrambled back to our tents. Looking back, I'm surprised I was brave enough to go out there knowing a bear was close by, watching us. But at the time I didn't even think about it. We were mortified that we'd forgotten to put away the cooler.</div>
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We both snuggled back up with our sleeping babies, who had not even budged, thank goodness. My heart was pounding, and I knew Joey was still awake over in his tent, but the night was quiet again, so after a few minutes I whispered, "Okay Fofe, I'm going to try to get back to sleep. Good night." </div>
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It was only minutes later that more scuffling in our site woke me again. He was back, looking for our cooler I presume. I froze in my tent, arms around my two sleeping babes. In the daytime, I love the idea of bears in the mountains. At night, protecting my children, vulnerable in our tent with no weapon, heads exposed with just the thinnest layer of vinyl between us and the night, I was terrified. I could hear the bear sniffing around; I could hear his footsteps. I could hear his breathing, clear as my own, and it seemed like he was right outside his tent. Riiiighhhtt there...scuffle...shuffle...sniff...sniff. </div>
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"Joey!" I whisper hissed into the night, hoping my voice would scare the bear away from our tent. "Yeah!" He whisper-hissed back. "I think he's back. Do you hear that?" "Yes I do!" Our voices rose to normal pitch as we talked back and forth between our tents, hoping to scare him off, and his breathing and footsteps receded. I had one bar of cell phone service and I texted Addie, who I knew was still on her way home, that there was a bear in our site. Then I heard neighbors in the campground banging pots and pans. Later I'd drift off, and then wake to a dude's far away voice yelling at the bear, or more crashes. That bear definitely made the rounds. Wish I could've caught a glimpse of him! But not really.</div>
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"Morning is when I am awake and there is a dawn in me."</div>
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In the fresh, cheery air of mountain morning, we dressed Scout and Polly in matching dresses I had brought, and we all decided on one last dip at the lake after packing up. That put a pep in our step.</div>
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We found a playground by the camp store. </div>
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And then made our way down the rocky shore on the east side of the lake. The girls and Papa dipped their toes, waded and skipped rocks and Joey and I both jumped in! I wanted that cool lake water refreshing my skin as much as possible for the long hot drive home. Then Pops jumped in too. It was a good leave-taking celebration.</div>
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Well that and push-up pops, of course. </div>
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"I delight to come to my bearings -- not walk in procession with pomp and parade, in a conspicuous place, but to walk even with the Builder of the universe, if I may -- not to live in this restless, nervous, bustling, trivial Nineteenth Century</div>
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, but stand or sit thoughtfully while it goes by." </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">All quotes from Thoreau's Walden. </span></div>
moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-958453102707801732017-09-04T00:31:00.001-07:002017-09-04T00:31:07.926-07:00Summer Dreams<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It was all Joey's idea, as soon as school was out for summer. And I'm so glad he had it, because later it turned out he and Scout had to miss most of the big Beatty family trip, and he was super bummed about that. Luckily by that point we had made a hundred extraordinary summer memories already. </div>
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"How about we plan a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium?" Joey suggested in late May. He made the camping arrangements at <a href="https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=545" target="_blank">Manresa State Beach</a> for the third week of June. At first Darin was going to come along, but then it turned out he had to work. Luckily by this point I've become quite confident about taking the girls camping on my own, setting up our own gear and being solo road trip mom. And it quickly became a family affair as everybody else started jumping on the bandwagon: Addie, Art and Utah were ready for a getaway, and Pops is always up for anything. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stopped for an early dinner at an old fave in Santa Cruz.<br /><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Herding these energetic kids around Santa Cruz was quite an adventure!</td></tr>
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Getting around the southeast bay area, no matter how you try to skirt it, is a nightmare. Lately it seems to take two extra hours to finally make it down through San Jose and cross over into woods and mountains again (phew!) and into Santa Cruz. I don't even mind the crowded curves of Hwy. 17 once you're back into the forest at least. We made it (frustrated but alive), and headed straight into downtown Santa Cruz, which is busy too, but refreshing and familiar and beach-towny, to grab a quick meal. Of course, everything takes longer than you expect, especially with two three-year-olds and a four-year-old who have been stuck in the car for hours. At Planet Fresh we met a friendly surf instructor and his entire camp of jubilant would-be surfer teens, who later turned out to be camping at our same campground! At last we made it south to Manresa and set up camp before sunset, and it all was worth it. It turns out out campsite was a walk-in site, so carrying all our gear with my little "helpers" was an unforeseen challenge, but it also made it more special. We were tucked away from cars, from parking lots, from anything extraneous, in a pretty little woodsy cove with a 1/3 mile path to the beach. Just beware of the walls of poison oak! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisHOEKapnji6xS-Kp1YotIe8KQpIjJxniwPdfJPHatujaLFq88wWf9Xhn2n3HjFS1L0NvqcpM3k4YE-vrvfaSjvTl6lwsq8DR3SIFHWc4jr6rxYRTnEIhQdOGuS0RsNv1MGyVqro0QqZZC/s1600/IMG_2890.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisHOEKapnji6xS-Kp1YotIe8KQpIjJxniwPdfJPHatujaLFq88wWf9Xhn2n3HjFS1L0NvqcpM3k4YE-vrvfaSjvTl6lwsq8DR3SIFHWc4jr6rxYRTnEIhQdOGuS0RsNv1MGyVqro0QqZZC/s640/IMG_2890.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Okay, Joey probably helped me <i>a little</i> with the gear. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three little cousins who love to wake up to each other's faces.</td></tr>
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As per their uze, Addie and Art had rolled in about midnight and hurriedly stumbled in and set up camp. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Art rocking and rolling next morning. </td></tr>
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After coffee and breakfast, Joey and I took the girls down the pleasant little butterfly-escorted path to the beach. There was a rustic amphitheater they romped around in for awhile, singing Moana songs of course. And then we spent a couple of perfect hours at the beach. Joey brought a kite and the girls played in a driftwood fort. We found an injured bird that we could really do nothing for except offer kind words. </div>
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Addie, Art and Utah do their mornings a little later, but they joined us for a few minutes, looking pretty stylin. </div>
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But we all agreed it was time to move on to the <a href="http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/" target="_blank">Monterey Bay Aquarium</a>. As it was, we didn't arrive there until about 2:00 and it's only open until 6:00 p.m! But we hit the ground running, inhaling every moment, every interesting creature, every seahorse, mollusk, shark, surprise.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I got to pet a bat ray this time! This is Tootie's favorite sea creature, and she got to pet it too. It really felt good, so firm and strong under our questioning fingertips. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joey made one put on a show somehow, I guess by putting his hand in the water? It went up against the side and started flapping like crazy! Collective gasp, as it felt like some inter-species communication was going on!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8VlIaXF4L_ppnFXX2bhheez3YXPKCyER_1a0EMgOVj7EyU7oYr2Ho7lL5DZdjveR6bVbhZjHgEuIuke7yXniZDCax-e2kgRm_4yQFeW72SqfbTszzvn-uxrmRbsQgSAvwxnHE2cJU2E6z/s1600/IMG_7242.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8VlIaXF4L_ppnFXX2bhheez3YXPKCyER_1a0EMgOVj7EyU7oYr2Ho7lL5DZdjveR6bVbhZjHgEuIuke7yXniZDCax-e2kgRm_4yQFeW72SqfbTszzvn-uxrmRbsQgSAvwxnHE2cJU2E6z/s1600/IMG_7242.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We love the touch zone.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1TYqorpogjUYvP6Qi_Dw9-FcE-W_F9yQDG4l52HI8s1eWV-YiBWWTOh6EqsSv8pVceRGasa0LMqc76y1X5QEmzvUtst-ntr8SdX2v-R8xatv4bc87Um_7nP60KXXvSBawfuWe1TB8TV-R/s1600/IMG_7244.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1TYqorpogjUYvP6Qi_Dw9-FcE-W_F9yQDG4l52HI8s1eWV-YiBWWTOh6EqsSv8pVceRGasa0LMqc76y1X5QEmzvUtst-ntr8SdX2v-R8xatv4bc87Um_7nP60KXXvSBawfuWe1TB8TV-R/s1600/IMG_7244.JPG" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJBbHyhObqX8dcikQ9OY0ipyQmfyNW9y2sNTrVmQ1pk_dkmB0xXlAUk_nqJA0rHpfK478IyMWcEHnpDn3V1kMRr7XQv99h1FDJzE4vPNLyFpFqC9adNgUiXoUO1rtCANspYEijflxAKmiH/s1600/IMG_7249.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJBbHyhObqX8dcikQ9OY0ipyQmfyNW9y2sNTrVmQ1pk_dkmB0xXlAUk_nqJA0rHpfK478IyMWcEHnpDn3V1kMRr7XQv99h1FDJzE4vPNLyFpFqC9adNgUiXoUO1rtCANspYEijflxAKmiH/s640/IMG_7249.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Polly's favorite area was probably the wave tunnel; she could NOT get enough!!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3on6zTyVOVnUNPNyYbxW8mZu-b-2PfSFrOwpUVxGGJxFPm9EI-ozRnMlq_jIXJu_OCUHhV86QzUUaRy0JA-Hl49mIp2OCs6j_nmjvVyUN2oGO7S72MCR1N4g7RLK4ExN3WK796syNd4i8/s1600/IMG_7250.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3on6zTyVOVnUNPNyYbxW8mZu-b-2PfSFrOwpUVxGGJxFPm9EI-ozRnMlq_jIXJu_OCUHhV86QzUUaRy0JA-Hl49mIp2OCs6j_nmjvVyUN2oGO7S72MCR1N4g7RLK4ExN3WK796syNd4i8/s1600/IMG_7250.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All the kids love it!</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU9faXE8PMwRHPQac4USxZ5osKnkKGGNNlM5550zzpWnN061jA7_svdONRKSsVCh-KsExtwmGdUrri12DdT8KjUVrs50EaQaBTGIPcoI9X788fnbxU0WueR6UOIhyXYOhq3_VOB_lt07Jg/s1600/IMG_7273.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU9faXE8PMwRHPQac4USxZ5osKnkKGGNNlM5550zzpWnN061jA7_svdONRKSsVCh-KsExtwmGdUrri12DdT8KjUVrs50EaQaBTGIPcoI9X788fnbxU0WueR6UOIhyXYOhq3_VOB_lt07Jg/s1600/IMG_7273.JPG" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJV2po592tU6sudrix-dEGAYiBQG1tp0Au6Qwe0FihbwbQ4tyJVSZj2qeNQDg6m9B-OG6SysSCLT6rghZkTN15GIxKJauVqizho-O7VjYUKqlyNfFM8kt0XZmRkcrNhLo1CG6YPVk2A4pA/s1600/IMG_7286.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJV2po592tU6sudrix-dEGAYiBQG1tp0Au6Qwe0FihbwbQ4tyJVSZj2qeNQDg6m9B-OG6SysSCLT6rghZkTN15GIxKJauVqizho-O7VjYUKqlyNfFM8kt0XZmRkcrNhLo1CG6YPVk2A4pA/s1600/IMG_7286.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Souvenir decisions are a <i>really </i>big deal.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAFqMoX8jWNAYrGQkm3LEaZo0GGtXBJZ06U-eNiCyICmMWyn0BMMUE_g08vgRYzWOTFLAj3nqDGA42B_BhyphenhyphenXzGf6ThCFmEDgaUrhwFSHnQ1dtvgH8JbwFH8rFQRrFrrJ8-XDJAQ_lwoDWi/s1600/IMG_7297.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAFqMoX8jWNAYrGQkm3LEaZo0GGtXBJZ06U-eNiCyICmMWyn0BMMUE_g08vgRYzWOTFLAj3nqDGA42B_BhyphenhyphenXzGf6ThCFmEDgaUrhwFSHnQ1dtvgH8JbwFH8rFQRrFrrJ8-XDJAQ_lwoDWi/s1600/IMG_7297.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My very favorite exhibit was the Tentacles Room. I fell even more in love with cuttlefish than before, and delighted in the octopus's weird undulations. Plus, the mythology behind them!</td></tr>
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<i>"Below the thunders of the upper deep,</i></div>
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<i>Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,</i></div>
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<i>His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep,</i></div>
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<i>The Kraken sleepeth..." </i></div>
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<i>-- Alfred Lord Tennyson</i></div>
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This was especially fun for us because Lucy has memorized a kids' version of the Kraken that she repeats all the time: </div>
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<i>"Neath icelocked waves the Kracken lies</i></div>
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<i>In wait for passing ships,</i></div>
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<i>To gobble them up as you or I</i></div>
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<i>Might munch potato chips." </i></div>
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<i>-- X.J. Kennedy</i></div>
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(It's from <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/eric-carles-dragons-dragons-and-other-creatures-that-never-were-eric-carle/1101075401" target="_blank">this book</a> that Joey got her last Christmas.)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigQJurTN1xO170PKUnPaK-v0xcTrIgDBEYi3CkRj7uK89KwzA9AlMANFNWCkfYScTxmydHpc8TbPm0Og56VhZBrowarRlsz8oLQA5Oo93KLFVbxDQ16l3K65v-7fISJmCHfdguTtqW9GT0/s1600/IMG_7308.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigQJurTN1xO170PKUnPaK-v0xcTrIgDBEYi3CkRj7uK89KwzA9AlMANFNWCkfYScTxmydHpc8TbPm0Og56VhZBrowarRlsz8oLQA5Oo93KLFVbxDQ16l3K65v-7fISJmCHfdguTtqW9GT0/s1600/IMG_7308.JPG" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2SDgJON4lwqEUHTo6oBO4XocDGiaQF-W8_mD2tNL2xHMYcLgu0iu1Z8Bb8HD8fiQtGzm-z6Ly-8Cg9MmvSE41xVeXi0dm9FJXJ6UXkPtNPoyMbtT9pbiiuF6CwRkLyJOi_XLgPgr9w4Wa/s1600/IMG_7314.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2SDgJON4lwqEUHTo6oBO4XocDGiaQF-W8_mD2tNL2xHMYcLgu0iu1Z8Bb8HD8fiQtGzm-z6Ly-8Cg9MmvSE41xVeXi0dm9FJXJ6UXkPtNPoyMbtT9pbiiuF6CwRkLyJOi_XLgPgr9w4Wa/s1600/IMG_7314.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have a crush on you, cuttlefish.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thanks for the whole idea Joey!</td></tr>
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After the aquarium closed, we were starving and found ourselves roaming Cannery Row, amongst the gathered and scattered. </div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">“Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and whore houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flophouses. Its inhabitant are, as the man once said, "whores, pimps, gambler and sons of bitches," by which he meant Everybody. Had the man looked through another peephole he might have said, "Saints and angels and martyrs and holymen" and he would have meant the same thing.”</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">- Steinbeck</span></div>
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Up the street, the girls went wild for these balloons and the young lady that owns this shop made sure to blow them each up their own balloon with her helium tank, even putting up with squabbles about color. She was seriously badass and I recommend <a href="https://www.yelp.com/biz/atomic-1800-monterey-2" target="_blank">her shop</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinJNFCnMr4D_rwmYmuGiR3Pxsf1ak_M6dpvdAnKLj0GAx-WnqnzzJ9MlSsUtms2q9Jdr2OkEn8Bcv-Kl48l1uWujf276bLsM9woU8FLjZ6HJ6BZ6Upa5jNtdoaFeKOryPXwm2tkHoe6U4Z/s1600/IMG_7342.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinJNFCnMr4D_rwmYmuGiR3Pxsf1ak_M6dpvdAnKLj0GAx-WnqnzzJ9MlSsUtms2q9Jdr2OkEn8Bcv-Kl48l1uWujf276bLsM9woU8FLjZ6HJ6BZ6Upa5jNtdoaFeKOryPXwm2tkHoe6U4Z/s1600/IMG_7342.JPG" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-pGfMAd6PeQ-20XnBWXqoqVQActYvd9c8GmPmJ3pl8u0oftmrU6Yr2ZRXY_T2nx3uCFEmDmM2oZoxZ0xuRnnwt7Hlpkx8-GeKPaDq5BQBP1x2j1Tlwq9o4VvszaqgY0Sd1oFkM9AGO18j/s1600/IMG_7345.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-pGfMAd6PeQ-20XnBWXqoqVQActYvd9c8GmPmJ3pl8u0oftmrU6Yr2ZRXY_T2nx3uCFEmDmM2oZoxZ0xuRnnwt7Hlpkx8-GeKPaDq5BQBP1x2j1Tlwq9o4VvszaqgY0Sd1oFkM9AGO18j/s1600/IMG_7345.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-pGfMAd6PeQ-20XnBWXqoqVQActYvd9c8GmPmJ3pl8u0oftmrU6Yr2ZRXY_T2nx3uCFEmDmM2oZoxZ0xuRnnwt7Hlpkx8-GeKPaDq5BQBP1x2j1Tlwq9o4VvszaqgY0Sd1oFkM9AGO18j/s1600/IMG_7345.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-pGfMAd6PeQ-20XnBWXqoqVQActYvd9c8GmPmJ3pl8u0oftmrU6Yr2ZRXY_T2nx3uCFEmDmM2oZoxZ0xuRnnwt7Hlpkx8-GeKPaDq5BQBP1x2j1Tlwq9o4VvszaqgY0Sd1oFkM9AGO18j/s1600/IMG_7345.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-pGfMAd6PeQ-20XnBWXqoqVQActYvd9c8GmPmJ3pl8u0oftmrU6Yr2ZRXY_T2nx3uCFEmDmM2oZoxZ0xuRnnwt7Hlpkx8-GeKPaDq5BQBP1x2j1Tlwq9o4VvszaqgY0Sd1oFkM9AGO18j/s1600/IMG_7345.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-pGfMAd6PeQ-20XnBWXqoqVQActYvd9c8GmPmJ3pl8u0oftmrU6Yr2ZRXY_T2nx3uCFEmDmM2oZoxZ0xuRnnwt7Hlpkx8-GeKPaDq5BQBP1x2j1Tlwq9o4VvszaqgY0Sd1oFkM9AGO18j/s1600/IMG_7345.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-pGfMAd6PeQ-20XnBWXqoqVQActYvd9c8GmPmJ3pl8u0oftmrU6Yr2ZRXY_T2nx3uCFEmDmM2oZoxZ0xuRnnwt7Hlpkx8-GeKPaDq5BQBP1x2j1Tlwq9o4VvszaqgY0Sd1oFkM9AGO18j/s1600/IMG_7345.JPG" /></a> After some indecision and dead ends, we ended up at Gianni's on Lighthouse for pizza and pasta, and it could not have been more comfortable or family friendly, so that was a plus.<br />
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We stopped and bought all kinds of marshmallows and chocolate, but the kids were so exhausted they all (except night-owl Utah) fell asleep on the way back to camp. Even us grown-ups were pretty worn out.</div>
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But there's always plenty of french press coffee on camping mornings.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrWizJv92U6AGjn8yzVgVM8gxVFpO9bQALw8DB-N4jsMpuyUYLviINfsEQuizjJE55Mu0-lH7pSOWOVsDRM6GV_p3p5w6UaGNEeoEfB5I9G8p36OrPuiTOjytvj7qAj8yqkOkoyWMIC4db/s1600/IMG_7347.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrWizJv92U6AGjn8yzVgVM8gxVFpO9bQALw8DB-N4jsMpuyUYLviINfsEQuizjJE55Mu0-lH7pSOWOVsDRM6GV_p3p5w6UaGNEeoEfB5I9G8p36OrPuiTOjytvj7qAj8yqkOkoyWMIC4db/s1600/IMG_7347.JPG" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjfnXQhW7xYlfkRgWe55ZWzBvZZ-B-ZocRTvh_UhEl0FPTVq7BlxeN8hh2klBtVIhoAwDlUiCa7uX7GikVnXNAf0cT3kc7ncHari4DRNuKqPYLSFhkf4-XOCnvS__OPRenGK3Z_eOMe7Ee/s1600/IMG_7346.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjfnXQhW7xYlfkRgWe55ZWzBvZZ-B-ZocRTvh_UhEl0FPTVq7BlxeN8hh2klBtVIhoAwDlUiCa7uX7GikVnXNAf0cT3kc7ncHari4DRNuKqPYLSFhkf4-XOCnvS__OPRenGK3Z_eOMe7Ee/s1600/IMG_7346.JPG" /></a></div>
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It was a weird morning because we were all worried about Pops, who had left super early to go pick up our niece Bella at the Oakland airport and then get back down to Santa Cruz and meet us all at the Boardwalk. If you know our lovable but oft-distracted dad, you can see our concern, but he was the only adult (since he wasn't parenting) that could reasonably pack up and leave by six a.m. In any case, we got word about 9:00 a.m. that all had gone smoothly, he'd made it through morning traffic in a breeze, navigated the airport and the pick up, and he and Bella were now safely on their way back to meet us! We were ecstatic, seeing as how we had worried about him even finding his way out of the campground. Don't tell him we said that, please ;) </div>
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Finding parking near the Boardwalk is never fun. If anyone has tricks, I'll pay you.</div>
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At least we got to walk by this cute building on our way in. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV2O1kpkG4izcOM3XUiCZXSyX4oc_uRwASM1jTbmJfSff5vye9Pthxwh5rS3bkZhujNAl3RMBlOjOohKXTCVIqxzxk7dPKk1nGJWM15SjJ_eZQu6tQgB2f_yiGcfjd-G_4Ewx8PrCXoGg8/s1600/IMG_7371.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV2O1kpkG4izcOM3XUiCZXSyX4oc_uRwASM1jTbmJfSff5vye9Pthxwh5rS3bkZhujNAl3RMBlOjOohKXTCVIqxzxk7dPKk1nGJWM15SjJ_eZQu6tQgB2f_yiGcfjd-G_4Ewx8PrCXoGg8/s1600/IMG_7371.JPG" /></a>(And at least Joey only had to sprint a few miles to feed the meter twice during the day, and at least we only had one parking ticket in the group). (Sorry Pops.)</div>
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We went straight into the arcade area and found our greatest delight: BELLA!!! She had decided to come out to California early; her family would be joining her in a week. California got Bella a whole extra week, and there's no exaggerating that bounty. She sweeps the kids right up, always has a fun game or idea up her sleeve, has infinite curiosity in the world around her, and has an unquenchable thirst for adventure and fun. She's the coolest 13 year old girl ever. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKTGn5AoLQg7E1b14X2VXSqJF18TEdHyci1I7KDLODhkOhb0Ryat2CLzen4ZyYJztXeMeqOsoi_wYvtTi20ChZH842u8D8pVlXFk7QAE5BcbGNfx0NviIKnm-z1bbT-VbnOrG94XECF0wi/s1600/IMG_7372.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKTGn5AoLQg7E1b14X2VXSqJF18TEdHyci1I7KDLODhkOhb0Ryat2CLzen4ZyYJztXeMeqOsoi_wYvtTi20ChZH842u8D8pVlXFk7QAE5BcbGNfx0NviIKnm-z1bbT-VbnOrG94XECF0wi/s1600/IMG_7372.JPG" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIg8j_OIlYPHv-XA6hmGe4F6XTkQJVcy6sl4YiIULGTd6d2IJo92H1N7LyEP-Ww_cAqaoZ0Sv1xusMeAu43xnLmptuubz3-ALznVbY1-zs9xkrNDif8qWgzcPYXQWk-sOca-HGoloXD9W8/s1600/IMG_7387.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIg8j_OIlYPHv-XA6hmGe4F6XTkQJVcy6sl4YiIULGTd6d2IJo92H1N7LyEP-Ww_cAqaoZ0Sv1xusMeAu43xnLmptuubz3-ALznVbY1-zs9xkrNDif8qWgzcPYXQWk-sOca-HGoloXD9W8/s640/IMG_7387.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pretty cute couple, don't you think?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHgH5x_tTE7OuBZecroh90NpdUzqiD0YIYHNQgF_Ezr12v56hmkEcuRG3j8VwL5TkPbuFXm1L6MfSqJhvSta5HFVN8TQvo4s4X0VuMqI4wWEyLudbcN10pl4CvywpFBbZu6E-osToHSUIN/s1600/IMG_7389.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHgH5x_tTE7OuBZecroh90NpdUzqiD0YIYHNQgF_Ezr12v56hmkEcuRG3j8VwL5TkPbuFXm1L6MfSqJhvSta5HFVN8TQvo4s4X0VuMqI4wWEyLudbcN10pl4CvywpFBbZu6E-osToHSUIN/s1600/IMG_7389.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Addie and Art probably wasted twenty bucks winning these for the girls.</td></tr>
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And then...we couldn't resist... to the water! Polly got completely soaked running into the waves. She didn't even care about rides, she never wanted to leave the ocean! Bella is right there with her.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP-SSqyKhehHeJPw32j17tBlv1vG1GF7Qwa1RmioudBHZNPKIiJDbyvGXgLwGSk6I3RmgkvyzYPnNtQjNINKmWELdhC8lkMTBlah2L1Xerh0x1Sb3p0EBt1A209pNX8JltlGVTWoziPSGg/s1600/IMG_7401.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP-SSqyKhehHeJPw32j17tBlv1vG1GF7Qwa1RmioudBHZNPKIiJDbyvGXgLwGSk6I3RmgkvyzYPnNtQjNINKmWELdhC8lkMTBlah2L1Xerh0x1Sb3p0EBt1A209pNX8JltlGVTWoziPSGg/s1600/IMG_7401.JPG" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCZ5iR7U-TLXHaXmx5JZIHszemwnjMCyS3-T66A_4utvucilR1-h9Iya9vMw-blKX8lqJLmo_pZFIUekQxMqtAd0HJcA8ndTlaIismVbkqDdl3pU2Z5pG2IEQ-QlvyZdE4hxzzRWfLk1Le/s1600/IMG_7412.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCZ5iR7U-TLXHaXmx5JZIHszemwnjMCyS3-T66A_4utvucilR1-h9Iya9vMw-blKX8lqJLmo_pZFIUekQxMqtAd0HJcA8ndTlaIismVbkqDdl3pU2Z5pG2IEQ-QlvyZdE4hxzzRWfLk1Le/s1600/IMG_7412.JPG" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2UJeKI1_kJchOMpVE1rScH0VZcs7DcklSh_8-Hjo49E7paJGtkzkY9nbYRzzsFvMJiWwcVQzZ2aRqJ2KFPRe57f2n_yzG0OjenpaeSejlB0ca9T2j6IRhisp8OQ6T2BGYMS9hTAfNxeXu/s1600/IMG_7396.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2UJeKI1_kJchOMpVE1rScH0VZcs7DcklSh_8-Hjo49E7paJGtkzkY9nbYRzzsFvMJiWwcVQzZ2aRqJ2KFPRe57f2n_yzG0OjenpaeSejlB0ca9T2j6IRhisp8OQ6T2BGYMS9hTAfNxeXu/s640/IMG_7396.JPG" width="426" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-PvrHp9tESUVoeM9unV7aZh5FLOEfYLq7KjntY0FfnjxeC0bJHArfqnlP8Zq_dhJllb9PPSCyvjXFdluZXRuHW_Ka8qth6HcL_QTs4NEpJLyo02bwkID0TVHx6j8JrG4nAUpHGIgy7bel/s1600/IMG_7418.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-PvrHp9tESUVoeM9unV7aZh5FLOEfYLq7KjntY0FfnjxeC0bJHArfqnlP8Zq_dhJllb9PPSCyvjXFdluZXRuHW_Ka8qth6HcL_QTs4NEpJLyo02bwkID0TVHx6j8JrG4nAUpHGIgy7bel/s640/IMG_7418.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Once Utah found us, he got soaked too!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyzfbWMmeIiORNsS1fdulkjd9PR0PX80Z-igCL0GmqzfGqsHz5n5OsXLKZWr1LJxRXFOF33k_o1Q-r4cffbzpcDEMFCLQZnm2d54YSDFbgf2ICYkgxhP7uXqZTPCJcenU1xGeWRz4mph0v/s1600/IMG_7421.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyzfbWMmeIiORNsS1fdulkjd9PR0PX80Z-igCL0GmqzfGqsHz5n5OsXLKZWr1LJxRXFOF33k_o1Q-r4cffbzpcDEMFCLQZnm2d54YSDFbgf2ICYkgxhP7uXqZTPCJcenU1xGeWRz4mph0v/s1600/IMG_7421.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scouty plops on the beach and works on a sand project with great concentration, every time.</td></tr>
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But onward to the rides! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaeGJzoCMPF4EuIjCtueFvxunerPpvL6uFeWBSvyZC2HGxlOHpfj__cGdDNPsRTEVLmFgopLIbHqvBbM4OE-Ko3xm1qCVwkPKCIiRfK_-_X7dWcq8CS576bImYBW7bjF9qBC1I_mwyTjT/s1600/IMG_7478.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaeGJzoCMPF4EuIjCtueFvxunerPpvL6uFeWBSvyZC2HGxlOHpfj__cGdDNPsRTEVLmFgopLIbHqvBbM4OE-Ko3xm1qCVwkPKCIiRfK_-_X7dWcq8CS576bImYBW7bjF9qBC1I_mwyTjT/s640/IMG_7478.JPG" width="426" /></a></div>
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Oh, and funnel cake, and smoothies, and beer....</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was Toot's favorite: the Rock n' Roller, which she got to ride with Bella so she felt really special. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">gettin tired, but still going....</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bella, Joey, Addie and I left all the kids with Art and Pops and rode the Big Dipper, basically the thrill of my parenting life! I was telling Bella, "Oh, this is a mellow ride, it's easy, you'll just be able to enjoy it." HA! I was screaming my pants off, holding on for dear life!<br /></td></tr>
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Best of all was probably the Logger ride. We bought the funny picture at the end, with the girls mouths' agape in hilarious horror, and the adults laughing their heads off, but I didn't take any with my regular camera to show you here. It's sooooo much fun, the gentle curves around the top, looking out at the view, the ocean and the parking lot: the kids feel so high up and so free, little hearts pattering, water spraying around the corners, sloshing through the sky. But most of all, of course, it's that feeling of dropping down into that big splash, that moment lasts forever!</div>
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Both Scout and Utah both had to ride it again, immediately. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just before leaving, we all gathered to watch Bella and Joey ride the Drop Tower. Pops helped me with the kids, who were basically rolling around on the ground at this point. It was worth it to see Joey and Bella's look of thrill!<br /></td></tr>
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It was late when we were leaving Santa Cruz, and we had to drive all the way back to Placerville, so we had to hit the road. Pops was heading down to L.A. to visit Mikie from here, and we had lost Addie and Art at some point late in the Boardwalk mayhem. </div>
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But we made one more Santa Cruz stop: an old stand-by, <a href="http://santacruz.saturncafe.com/" target="_blank">Saturn Cafe</a>. It was empty; our server was amazing; there are a million vegetarian options; the kids colored: basically perfection.</div>
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And then I drove until 2 a.m. while the kids slept and Joey used his phone to research and help a very tired on-his-own Pops finally find a midnight motel room (which proved to be nearly an impossible task, oddly enough). And then, the girls woke up bawling ten minutes from home.</div>
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What a whirlwind! But I keep imagining that path to the beach at Manresa and that cool air, and every fun little delight that happened along our way, and it's one more trip whose memories make summer last all year.</div>
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moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-29593384546018841132017-08-02T22:19:00.001-07:002017-08-02T23:20:39.741-07:00Anniversary Paradise - part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
I want to get back to blogging like a scrapbook for myself and my family, telling our stories. This trip was over a month ago, and I have had so many other adventures this summer, but I have to start somewhere, so here goes!</div>
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The story is just like before, last year's anniversary trip and so many others. We take off early, except we're never actually that early, and we drive through the hot hot valley until we reach the cool cool coast. </div>
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In Davis we stopped at In-n-Out for a bathroom break and fries for the road. I only list it here because I want to remember the sweet family I talked to there. The middle aged parents were enchanted with my girls, as their own beautiful daughter had just graduated high school, their son right on her heels. They watched our chaos through the gentle haze of time passed, with a nostalgic fond gaze that took in the girls' excitement over strawberry lemonade, opening their own straws, waiting for our number and asking for ketchup packets, climbing on the booths. The things that can harry a mom enchanted strangers. As we left, the dad said softly and earnestly, "Enjoy." I could tell he truly meant it with all his heart and the word settled into me; I herded my wild little creatures out the door with a little more <i>enjoyment </i>than usual. Sometimes those well meaning comments from strangers come at the right moment. I felt like it set a tone of gratitude in my heart for the whole trip.</div>
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It's becoming tradition to stop at <a href="https://avbc.com/" target="_blank">Anderson Valley Brewery</a> on our way to the coast. We love the <a href="https://www.viamagazine.com/road-trips/californias-highway-128" target="_blank">foresty drive</a> out there; we love the tiny town of Boonville where we stop to buy a baguette to have with lunch, and most of all, we love the beer! It's a tough choice when you're just having one. I had a hoppy saison and Darin had the Holy Gose. Both were delicious and the girls were thrilled to have snacks, run around, and try their hand at cornhole. </div>
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I probably wrote almost that exact same paragraph last year.</div>
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We arrived at our Airbnb rental around 5 p.m. Our kind host, John, met us there to show us around. He told us that nothing was off limits in the eight acres of gardens that he has carefully and lovingly cultivated these last nineteen years. We stayed in a studio on the property that became truly like home. The girls loved cozying up in the windowseat as a reading nook, and they loved adjusting the dimmers on all the lighting. But most of all, we all loved wandering the breathtaking gardens! </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside the greenhouse.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Being "Tefiti" </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ripe berries for the pickin!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> It's good for the soul to be surrounded by pathways instead of roads. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The hunt for banana slugs became the girls' favorite pastime.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John told us there was a shy turtle named Ibiza living in the pond, so we tried (unsuccessfully, except for Darin) to catch a glimpse of her the whole time.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">first visit to the magical hot tub, through the rhododendrons and into the Redwood forest! </td></tr>
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On our first night, we walked out along the <a href="https://noyocenter.org/trails-parks/coastal-trail/" target="_blank">Noyo Coastal trail</a> where the old lumber mill used to be. It's part of an initiative to build a public, interconnected trail system along the California coast that stays as close to the ocean as possible! How rad will that be? Anyway, it was delightfully windy and cold, so we bundled up and ran forth through the meadowed bluffs to catch the sunset.</div>
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Next morning we awoke to greet the occasion of our 10-year-anniversary. We had a playlist going of some of our favorites over the years including Tom Waits, Bonnie Prince Billy, Neil Young, Lucinda Williams, Cat Power, and Songs Ohia. We had cozy coffee in the morning and then I took off on a run down Pudding Creek Road all the way to the ocean. I wasn't planning on running quite that long, but once I caught a glimpse of the ocean and the bridge, I had to go all the way. I was even going to call Darin and the girls and have them come meet me, but my phone battery died before I could even snap a photo. So I begrudgingly ran back. ;) The girls played in the garden and I relaxed in the hammock and even took the time to look at a magazine! Quite the life.</div>
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We decided to get in some beach time while the sun was shining! We headed north to an area we had never yet explored, <a href="https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=436" target="_blank">MacKerricher State Park</a>. It was a welcoming place, with a big sign that said "Day Use Free," a whale skeleton at their visitor center, and lots of recommendations for walks and tidepools. There are six miles of sandy beaches and dunes, and a wooden boardwalk around the southern headlands where the seals live, with paths down to the rocks. We had a wonderful time exploring. Tootie and I got addicted to tidepooling and could barely look up from the lively little creatures down amongst the seaweeds and crevices. We loved the hermit crabs most. Polly got addicted to filling her skirt pockets with shells and rocks, and later carefully laid out all her treasures on a bench for Lucy to admire.</div>
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Back at our studio, we got ready to go out to dinner and took a walk around the gardens and groves with a plan to get in our traditional "anniversary" photo shoot. I always wear my white eyelet dancing dress that my mom made me for my wedding party. It's been worn exactly eleven times now. :)</div>
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Fairies live here.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Toot snapped some pictures.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6qiEA64ve3gG3E88h6oZ1W-8O2vTUtGwjDr8pYrOnXKndBCxByz9HGPNBC9z9hB8qKPBjFbn3Gp7iMkgkKs2li39FJwS0qwLElU2gZ-x2YD0B_h2GfCHBV4v2s5YUo_PzDRcdBk-t19XP/s1600/IMG_7910.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6qiEA64ve3gG3E88h6oZ1W-8O2vTUtGwjDr8pYrOnXKndBCxByz9HGPNBC9z9hB8qKPBjFbn3Gp7iMkgkKs2li39FJwS0qwLElU2gZ-x2YD0B_h2GfCHBV4v2s5YUo_PzDRcdBk-t19XP/s1600/IMG_7910.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here in the redwood temple, even the children peace out.</td></tr>
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We walked around downtown a little bit before dinner. The girls loved Windsong books, where there is a great kids section and play area. They played so contently, it was hard to ever leave. They created a whole world with the stuffed animals, building them homes and cooking them "salmon feasts" and making important telephone calls for them to meet up with friends.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz11bEA1yuAOguxqy63Sd62XR1xQInYYjDXjMSn9Sh1OE2rhseFwT4FAeNzO66W6UZDdnA8rJflI0-FbxAeWZqoG1Ag9QiaNbQJVpKLDyFOpYKEFc9PPhL76_aBMDoEV_7GOgBk-YMZrx-/s1600/IMG_7920.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz11bEA1yuAOguxqy63Sd62XR1xQInYYjDXjMSn9Sh1OE2rhseFwT4FAeNzO66W6UZDdnA8rJflI0-FbxAeWZqoG1Ag9QiaNbQJVpKLDyFOpYKEFc9PPhL76_aBMDoEV_7GOgBk-YMZrx-/s640/IMG_7920.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Polly fell in love with this "baby bear." "Look at his face, isn't it sooo cute?!" She'd exclaim.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Darin in his element.</td></tr>
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Eventually we arrived for dinner at <a href="http://www.northcoastbrewing.com/" target="_blank">North Coast Brewery</a>, the same place we had our anniversary dinner the year before. (Again, there are probably matching photos from <a href="http://moonshinejunkyard.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-coastal-anniversary-part-one-fort.html" target="_blank">last year's post</a>.) We love their beers, particularly the <a href="http://www.northcoastbrewing.com/beers/year-round-beers/le-merle-belgian-style-farmhouse-ale/" target="_blank">La Merle</a>, we never get tired of their nachos, there's a new kids' menu, and the girls were a lot easier to handle this year! </div>
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After dinner, we waited in line at <a href="http://www.cowlicksicecream.com/" target="_blank">Cowlick's</a> (a name that both confounded and delighted the girls) for homemade ice cream. SO good.</div>
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Back at "home," our evening dip was becoming a ritual. </div>
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We even had matching bathrobes provided for us.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A peek at the koi. </td></tr>
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Then we got dressed warmly and headed back out to wander the gardens again. Darin and I each had a beer and brought a book; the girls played a rousing game of Simon Says. </div>
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There were still two days left, which I hope to document in another post. It was a peaceful and joyful time, the perfect anniversary trip: we felt like kings in rich celebration of love and the little family we've created.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flowers from my morning run</td></tr>
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<br />moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-20774742786836593932017-04-10T23:07:00.002-07:002017-04-10T23:41:11.106-07:00Austin Adventures<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Sunday after many hugs and kisses good-bye to family in Troy, we headed down to Austin for one last hurrah.</div>
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We had booked a night at the Austin Motel right on South Congress. I could tell when booking online that it was going to be cute, but how could I have anticipated the perfect vintage charm, the totally walkable neighborhood, the beautiful retro style swimming pool, the warm night breezes and the constant sound of music floating around the street? </div>
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The girls were SO EXCITED. They kept saying "our home is so cute!" The beds were perfect for clambering and jumping, obviously.</div>
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As much as we loved just chilling in our motel room, we were starving and took a walk to find food. There were plenty of choices, but we wanted something super fast and easy, so we opted for <a href="https://homeslicepizza.com/" target="_blank">Home Slice Pizza</a>, which was bustling and fun, friendly, and delicious.</div>
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We lingered on South Congress for a little while, found an <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2017/01/18/american-apparel-to-close-pair-of-austin-stores.html" target="_blank">American Apparel having a massive closing-down sale</a>, so that Darin could buy swim trunks since he'd forgotten to pack any. One pair of bright yellow swim trunks for $6, check. We sashayed past the <a href="http://continentalclub.com/" target="_blank">Continental Club</a> to the vibrant twang of Tex-Mex horns, hurrying because we wanted to enjoy the pool while the sun still shone hot!</div>
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I bought us a couple beers and busted out my journal and book, but all I could really do was keep helping Darin chase two rambunctious non-swimmers without floaties around, reminding them that the number one pool rule is no running!</div>
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Suddenly a huge group of dapper dudes showed up, totally ignoring our wayward sprites getting in their way, setting up photo shoots at the edge of the pool, displaying and photographing a zine of some sort, and taking pictures of each other with really nice camera equipment. Darin finally asked about their project; turns out it was an "insta-meet." </div>
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It's always cozy to head back to a motel room after a pool dip, shower, and get comfy. </div>
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Darin and the girls shelled pecans we'd brought from Troy, and we got ready to go see BATS!</div>
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Just a few blocks down is the South Congress bridge, where thousands of bats exit en masse at dusk for their nightly feeding. We'd been told this would happen around 7:00; it was actually quite a bit later, which means one thing to parents of rowdy kids. Too. much. waiting. We had to move around some, let them run around the grassy area, which meant we lost our prime viewing spot by the river, as the crowds thickened. There was no missing out on the sight, though, once those bats started to fly. You could see them for miles, swirling across the sky in a long, dark, unbroken, twisting funnel of bat-cloud.</div>
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We watched them with proper awe, seeing them spiral away in their well regulated stream above the newspaper office, but just for a couple minutes, as the girls were tired and hungry again. We found a HEB (my initials happen to be a popular market chain in Texas) grocery store where we bought hummus, cheese, bread, fruit, water bottles, and beer. Then back to our motel to zone out!</div>
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But it turned out we just couldn't stay put; we couldn't ignore the sweet temptation of street music wafting through the warm night and into our open window. We took a nighttime walk to find the source, and the girls danced joyfully to this trumpet player's jolly renditions of "If I Only Had a Brain," and then "Elmo's World." A nice lady took a video of our whole family dancing and tried to text it to me, but for some reason, it never came through. I'll always remember though.</div>
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We waited in line at <a href="http://amysicecreams.com/" target="_blank">Amy's</a>, across the street from our hotel, for scrumptious homemade ice cream to cap off the night. Blueberry and white chocolate!</div>
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After a great night of sleep we woke up ready to play some more.</div>
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Right next to our motel was the famous <a href="http://www.joscoffee.com/south-congress-jos/" target="_blank">"I love you so much" wall on the side of Jo's Coffee</a> where a crowd had been consistently gathered the night before for photo ops. We ordered their signature iced coffee, a Belgian Bomber, and some great potato-egg-bean breakfast tacos at Jo's, and yes we snapped a photo on this much-quieter Monday morning. </div>
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Then we took a leisurely walk up South Congress toward, of course, the used bookstore.</div>
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Darin talked books with the proprietress while I snapped pictures of her cute wooden signs.</div>
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His playing was so good, and he even played them Puff the Magic Dragon, but the girls wouldn't give <a href="https://www.dailytexanonline.com/person/james-anthony-johnson" target="_blank">James Anthony Johnson</a> the time of day!</div>
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I bought the motel's souvenir sunglasses for myself and we said good-bye to room 303. </div>
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Checking out at the lobby:</div>
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I had read that <a href="http://zilkerpark.org/" target="_blank">Zilker Park</a> had a great playground, so we headed there next. Meanwhile, I had been in contact with my Austin friend, Tera of <a href="http://beatsvilleblog.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Beatsville</a>, and we were planning to meet up for lunch at 2 p.m. However, once Tera's daughter August caught wind that we were going to the park first, they decided to show up there and surprise us. </div>
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I was locking up the car and Darin had run ahead with the girls to start playing. He later told how shocked he was to suddenly hear a child's voice calling out "Lucy! Polly!" as they saw August running toward them! </div>
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As I walked down, camera in hand, expecting just to be photographing the girls, it took me just a moment to make the mental leap that I was finally seeing my beautiful friend in person! We hugged instantly; it felt like I'd known her forever. Tera was exactly as I'd expected she'd be, warm and funny and kind, a fountain of stories and knowledge.</div>
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August is almost exactly the same age as Tootie; she's wildly imaginative, engaged and curious, stylish, an animated little storyteller, vibrant with life and action. She and the girls hit it off splendidly.</div>
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It was hot and we were all rosy and glowing. Tera showed us where we could walk down to Barton Creek and dip our toes in to refresh. (Of course, my girls were ready to get naked and get all the way in immediately, crying because it wasn't in the cards.)</div>
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This dude who had been swimming across the way at the large flat rock had heard Lucy crying and called out, do you need to get across? Haha, of course I answered, no, we are fine! She's ok! But a few minutes later he clambered up with this offering: a turtle he had found to show the girls.</div>
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The guy was gently poking the turtle's head with a stick. He told the girls it could bite their finger clean off. I added, the poor sweet thing is not going to bite anyone; it's just scared. I was kind of worried about the gorgeous creature and made him promise to treat it gently and release it promptly after he joked around that "I could sell this thing!" </div>
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We headed back to South Congress where I'd seen a taqueria that looked fun: <a href="http://gueros.com/" target="_blank">Gueros</a>. I <i>really </i>loved their oak garden outdoor seating area, which looked like something out of Swiss Family Robinson, and I'd thought we could order inside, then eat out there. But it turns out that area only opens for live shows. It was okay though, as the inside was equally appealing, with giant palm fronds and green plants everywhere, tall open ceilings and lots of light, and a fish pond with a little fountain and huge goldfish. (And very patient host and servers who didn't mind little girls running back and forth between our table and the fountain.)</div>
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No shortage of good food in Austin!</div>
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After we ate our tacos and beans and tamales, it was just too hard to say good-bye. We were posing together for a photo by the oak garden when August realized it was over and started crying that she hadn't got to have a "drawing break" with Lucy and Polly. We had some crayons and markers and paper in Polly's backpack, so we just plopped down right there next to the street kids and made some art and continued our chatting. </div>
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These travelers had a sweet young cat and pup and were very friendly about petting and conversation; the girls were addicted.</div>
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Our whole fun group. We had so much fun talking about any and every old thing that it felt like old neighbors chatting in the front yard. It was really hard to say good-bye. Tera carried August, who kept peeking back over her shoulder trying to hold back tears. It was the sweetest thing. My girls acted more nonchalant; I think after all the excitement of traveling it was hard to wrap their minds around the fact that we were really going home soon. But later they would bring up August, asking a question or mentioning her upcoming birthday, with this underlying expectation that they'd see her again very soon. It was hard to explain that it might be a long while! </div>
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We got lots of interesting Austin scoops from Tera about how the city has changed since she first moved here in 1989. She even bought Daniel Dale Johnston art around the streets back when he was first selling his little comics.</div>
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Our last stop in Austin was to drive up through the university area and check out <a href="http://www.hihowareyou.com/" target="_blank">DDJ's </a>mural, which Darin and I posed in front of years ago, in 2002, when this was still a record store. Why can't the good record stores last forever? It's now the wall of a restaurant called Thai How Are You. (*cringe*) After reading the shaky history, I'm glad that at least this mural is still here and well cared for. </div>
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Polly had fallen asleep in the car so we took turns walking over to see this landmark that we love. Meanwhile, several cop cars and an ambulance, sirens blaring, were congregating directly in front of where we had parked, to assist an apparently mentally unstable fellow. We gave them some space and headed out. </div>
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We felt rushed, stuck in traffic, heading toward the Austin airport and needing to clear all our stuff out and return the rental car. Luckily, it all went smoothly and we ended up with a little time to wait at the airport and share one more Amy's ice cream at the terminal. </div>
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Funny little travelers.</div>
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Lucy snapped this photo of me on the plane, requesting that i wear my new shades, and then we were off! They were so good on the flight, although the grump in front of Polly turned around and ordered me to make her stop playing with her pony on the tray. Granted, I'm sure that could be annoying, but couldn't he have been just a little more polite in his demeanor? I think grumpy people who hate kids forget that they were once children too. I wish more air travelers were as kind as the older gent across the aisle who thought the girls were seasoned travelers and commended their behavior. </div>
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After a crazy transfer in LA with a rickety shuttle ride straight down the tarmac (the girls were thrilled) to our tiny transfer gate, we flew into Sacramento on a very crowded, small plane and arrived just before midnight. The girls were fast asleep and we tried to carry them and juggle all our luggage to no avail. They woke up CRANKY! It didn't take long for us to meet up with Pops, find the van, and head home. </div>
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The whole trip was unforgettable. If you've read my detailed and utterly long winded log here, I thank you for coming along. </div>
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<br />moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-45038869634646832922017-04-03T17:03:00.003-07:002017-04-10T23:33:52.715-07:00Bluebonnet Spring<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
If you can, turn this on and listen to this song during my post. (But don't watch the video) It's one of my lifelong favorite songs by an old favorite folk singer, Nanci Griffith, who is from Texas. The nostalgia of this song extends back at least twenty years for me, probably more, a nostalgia I share with my mom and sister. </div>
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We woke up early Saturday to follow Annette to Hubbard in order to get the house ready for the memorial luncheon that would follow the graveside ceremony for Debby. It had been a very late night, and we carried our sleepy girls in their jammies to our little blue Prius.</div>
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Driving along the small bright morningtime highway out of Waco toward Hubbard, Texas, I kept trying to remember the name of the Nanci Griffith song that talked about bluebonnets: "This is the only place on earth bluebonnets grow..." There were meadows of bluebonnets along each side, horses, and old fashioned buildings with rusty signs from sixty, eighty years ago. My mind wandered to the 1950's, to little bright smiled curly haired Debby's life here in the Texan country, with her milkman daddy and her cowboy uncles, old houses, Mama B's close encircling arms, cousins all the same age, all together in Texas as if time will last forever and nothing will ever change. </div>
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In the meantime, I played a few other Nanci songs with strong Texas vibes, full of the haunting memories, low lush trees and slow, long sunlit afternoons that strike me as particularly central Texan. Driving along slow and steady, tiny roads not paved for decades going off to either side, every street holding ghosts of someone else's memories, it wasn't long before I was weeping.</div>
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And I did find the song, "Gulf Coast Highway." Tears streamed down my face. I was behind the wheel so I had to check it a bit, wiping my cheeks quick, trying to laugh it off to Darin, who was tearing up too. "The only thing we've ever owned, is this old house here by the road. Days were sweet, our nights were warm. Seasons change, jobs would come, the flowers fade. This old house felt so alone when the work took me away. And when she dies she says she'll catch some blackbird's wings and she will fly away to heaven come some sweet bluebonnet spring." </div>
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I guess when you're traveling everything seems more alive because of the new things you encounter. We heard a calling in the trees, the day before in Waco, and all over our Texas ramblings after that, a call that stirs the bones. It is commonplace there. The grackle makes <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great-tailed_Grackle/sounds" target="_blank">a call so crystal clear and alarming</a>, we would stop in our tracks. The bluebonnets, spreading so wildly across lands that probably abandoned care long ago. Texas, state of oil rigs and rocket testing and little care for recycling, state of big trucks and big tractors, smoke and oil and traffic. Old weathered metal water tower standing tall, marking the two laned entrance to every tiny new town. Names like Corsicana, Hubbard, Dawson, Mexia, Temple, Moody, Malone. Tucked away in these quite little corners of land, bluebonnets wild and free, as far as the eye can see.</div>
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Down a tiny street in Hubbard, after the Dairy Queen, down tree lined East 2nd avenue a couple blocks, past tire swings and small unassuming homes, lawns and trees so green you shade your eyes, there is this beautiful white two story old home that immediately strikes you. A place of family and old times and memories. This is the Savage family home, the house that Darin's pop Mac Savage bought for his parents after the war, the place that Auntie Jean Savage still maintains, the place that the community holds dear for holding its past close.</div>
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The girls were still in their pajamas when we arrived, and immediately had to try out the porch swing.</div>
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The girls and I took our chance to explore while Daddy and the others set up coolers full of Shiner on ice, chairs and tables and programs and photographs.</div>
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Top of the stairs:</div>
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The girls found a rag doll, and we love the antique quilts.</div>
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The old wooden staircase (all original) that every Savage descendant fears their kid will tumble down.</div>
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Daybed on the sun porch with cousin Mackie and Louisa, second cousin Mark's wife, who loves babies.</div>
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A couple miles out of town is the family cemetery. We were all here fifteen years ago to bury Debby's father, Macca Savage, the youngest of the nine Savage kids. Many of those original Savage siblings are gone now, but at that time I got to meet most of them. Smiling and jovial Uncle Pat, sweet and hospitable Aunt Fran, they made such impressions on me. Now I got to see many of their children, Debby's cousins, who grew up with her and remember her so well from through the years.</div>
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Infant gravesites everywhere. It seems this particular couple, G.W. and A.E lost three small babies over the years. My girls are related in some distant way to everyone in this plot, just as this land and these bluebonnets sing in their blood. </div>
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Saying good-bye. We had this beautiful urn made by our friends, local potters <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hayesandmurraypottery/" target="_blank">Brian Hayes and Sarah Murray</a>, who open their peach orchard every summer. My mom's husband Jack made each of the three sons a gorgeous handmade smaller vessel so that each could keep a portion of the remains. Darin traveled with this weighty urn in his carry on bag, weighty in every way. What a journey. What a long way back to Texas, the land of Debby's birth and the homeplace for her spirit. It felt right to leave her here, with the heart shaped stone that Annette and DeeDee had made for her.</div>
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It still feels unreal sometimes. Debby was a huge part of my life for so long. I still think of her in pain when I was in pain, in childbirth with Lucy, she and Christy pacing the halls; she couldn't watch. I think of working with her years ago at New Morning Shelter, where she was my boss, and how we'd spend <i>hours</i> on the phone during my graveyard shifts, gossiping and bemoaning and discussing every tiny thing. She never slept through the nights. She could laugh long and loud, and she could cry as easily. I think she was looking for deep connection around every corner, but it was harder to find and took more work than she expected, something more than she could do. I think that she felt lost, alone. despite her huge and desperate love for her sons and grandchildren. It breaks my heart to think of the misery she endured as she grew older, got injured, took medications, and gave into despair. Mostly, on this trip, it reminded me that our childhood is a real and vibrant part of us, one that we must never reject, because its truth, our families and connections and memories and landscapes, can save us.</div>
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Back at the Savage house, the kids played with toys that Mackie provided, coon skin caps and plastic cap guns and dress up. We were warned many times of fire ants, and we watched them clamor on tree roots and earthpiles, and we got bit anyway. (Especially Jackson, who was very brave!) </div>
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The street</div>
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Darin with Aunt "Nub" (Lena), Grandma DeeDee's sister, who lives in neighboring town, Dawson. </div>
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The scene:</div>
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As the group disbursed in the afternoon, we followed cousin Mark to a vast field of bluebonnets. What a treat to romp around there! The kids plunged waist-deep, rolling around, laughing, scampering up the hillside. Ashley and I followed behind, worried about the ones we were trampling and trying to lift them back up. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJVW3j4-ZggVFde7eVCuP0SdWCstbs69UTYk6tOY58DNYUBXi_Apv56JdBQ2QaCOS2h_7ORbGQVLfRQWUWk9bV6wfQgrL38MIJG15wans_J1wPoJlTwg4Yu8hcx4N-V-B4BHY23PBtYFYV/s1600/IMG_8991.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJVW3j4-ZggVFde7eVCuP0SdWCstbs69UTYk6tOY58DNYUBXi_Apv56JdBQ2QaCOS2h_7ORbGQVLfRQWUWk9bV6wfQgrL38MIJG15wans_J1wPoJlTwg4Yu8hcx4N-V-B4BHY23PBtYFYV/s640/IMG_8991.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Darin's aunt Annette and uncle Mike.</td></tr>
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This amazing blueberry field and a massive expanse of vibrant paintbrush directly across the road are right next to cousin Tara's farm, Rancho Starvo, which I remembered very well from my last visit 15 years ago as one of my favorite places on earth. It's been owned by her branch of the family at least forty years. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGZkmBbp8WC1nlefq-2QKZPoANPiXjxHVLnOI8kgTAp7kyPTEZUcp9LegWggt8LXvpYgA2ftLkCOg-t9mYYnRrnmAAO8WfHcymhLY5ClrkVZ-nj6yl3F5gLAVhJfo8A6WwI5eXOPMqAfN1/s1600/IMG_9035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGZkmBbp8WC1nlefq-2QKZPoANPiXjxHVLnOI8kgTAp7kyPTEZUcp9LegWggt8LXvpYgA2ftLkCOg-t9mYYnRrnmAAO8WfHcymhLY5ClrkVZ-nj6yl3F5gLAVhJfo8A6WwI5eXOPMqAfN1/s640/IMG_9035.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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We went tumbling onto this property like it was Disneyland. There are three tire swings, a wrap around porch with all kinds of kid stuff including bunkbeds where the grandkids sleep on summer nights, a pond for fishing or taking a dip (as Sinjin and his friends did!) and donkeys and cows to feed and adore. There are kiddie cars to ride and ATV's for the bigger kids, and 150 acres to explore. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWWXgmRPgIXqtXAeZguG721I1wfO3mWWoaP4PTvijeeJ4s3JMZKa-F_TvmfCxzs9Myj0ca2whOo3IOSGqoO-tfOAhrm2UXI-OSiqiYNsMztjjiK68w_SN2-ZbzDUi0woADcFMpQQGMkDav/s1600/IMG_9041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWWXgmRPgIXqtXAeZguG721I1wfO3mWWoaP4PTvijeeJ4s3JMZKa-F_TvmfCxzs9Myj0ca2whOo3IOSGqoO-tfOAhrm2UXI-OSiqiYNsMztjjiK68w_SN2-ZbzDUi0woADcFMpQQGMkDav/s640/IMG_9041.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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But maybe most exciting for me is the interior of the beautiful old farmhouse. Tara has remodeled three times now. She always maintains the classic rustic Americana style and many original details and artifacts. Ahhhhh, I could just breathe it all in, sleep and and eat and relax here in my dreams!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">dining area.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">downstairs bedroom</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEier-0s1oIrI38NcRKusCbvqIMaMwt93Cg2WcGs9kbRzH3GkDqOQUS6wCsyovhFT8poysnF_ELhzxHJHAoIsrhRCKqzzCizwoIpGoYNCMofHgZ_EjenuTjGQvWrHotO0bTzMxCHmNvC85XP/s1600/IMG_9043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEier-0s1oIrI38NcRKusCbvqIMaMwt93Cg2WcGs9kbRzH3GkDqOQUS6wCsyovhFT8poysnF_ELhzxHJHAoIsrhRCKqzzCizwoIpGoYNCMofHgZ_EjenuTjGQvWrHotO0bTzMxCHmNvC85XP/s640/IMG_9043.JPG" width="426" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the parlor</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">nook at the top of the stairs</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8eFUQd7nUJMwFwQW75Z7nNkU8UTTVK44DBObpqOgum-DO3mnqlsTyMsfxfzJvSu4nCEBfaJimyIWIPQYl68cGpOUoIvFxWVlP5PoKQx5VyiO0J7Qr5yeMHjYyEY5PQ_NnPDoApiMFWv8z/s1600/IMG_9047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8eFUQd7nUJMwFwQW75Z7nNkU8UTTVK44DBObpqOgum-DO3mnqlsTyMsfxfzJvSu4nCEBfaJimyIWIPQYl68cGpOUoIvFxWVlP5PoKQx5VyiO0J7Qr5yeMHjYyEY5PQ_NnPDoApiMFWv8z/s640/IMG_9047.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> the stairwell</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbbaRILofOPFYOxTlW_UuO-w6yoTtpSpOH94TOLgeOYTim-WiC5l8jZpxsrzpFYiBafXkI3L_HbQI0EkuIwezN4MGtbPZYZmolhC8oB_PowrVjq359E9Kpf_2yFU9AS8cA_hGibcqsQHHJ/s1600/IMG_9048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbbaRILofOPFYOxTlW_UuO-w6yoTtpSpOH94TOLgeOYTim-WiC5l8jZpxsrzpFYiBafXkI3L_HbQI0EkuIwezN4MGtbPZYZmolhC8oB_PowrVjq359E9Kpf_2yFU9AS8cA_hGibcqsQHHJ/s640/IMG_9048.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the nursery</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj07cKn9YALlSB1B3RQFy0hRXX3rcdlQ1VXQmDJj0sVVMhVwKE07o-hb9s8C1HbbWKdnThmkvUWtNhrZTArTe5HDvWPSxzhAt0p5Re5i4A5gFg7hbtnukFQpLF36v8mGgw46IzCuxPMLbDm/s1600/IMG_9049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj07cKn9YALlSB1B3RQFy0hRXX3rcdlQ1VXQmDJj0sVVMhVwKE07o-hb9s8C1HbbWKdnThmkvUWtNhrZTArTe5HDvWPSxzhAt0p5Re5i4A5gFg7hbtnukFQpLF36v8mGgw46IzCuxPMLbDm/s640/IMG_9049.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">that antique iron crib held all nine of the Savage babies!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5EqFh9AjUDS1uckTcQApiGcLW5fUM4ycZR-aPfJKL9Hv-YC7vFH0uUw7iRNUJHxumzBbuiVSWPZX0taEWGAsC8zc4FaymSQcpqfa0K6BSQkv90Uke-vsxK6tlIgSuxxHxlsA1hWTlr7CC/s1600/IMG_9051.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5EqFh9AjUDS1uckTcQApiGcLW5fUM4ycZR-aPfJKL9Hv-YC7vFH0uUw7iRNUJHxumzBbuiVSWPZX0taEWGAsC8zc4FaymSQcpqfa0K6BSQkv90Uke-vsxK6tlIgSuxxHxlsA1hWTlr7CC/s640/IMG_9051.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">these antique quilts!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmDlR3KI99a1lvU1FG-Hkb-9SprFlcWJx3ELJMf1cK4S7KAT1hPp9C-pFJLXZ1_YBL-T3WbWh45ffnXgM9-pPfvIKUThXi4KIyGEEugFBoT1qOj6pIXAgC7TpHQpbYVASh0JKm3Wp4FVt4/s1600/IMG_9053.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmDlR3KI99a1lvU1FG-Hkb-9SprFlcWJx3ELJMf1cK4S7KAT1hPp9C-pFJLXZ1_YBL-T3WbWh45ffnXgM9-pPfvIKUThXi4KIyGEEugFBoT1qOj6pIXAgC7TpHQpbYVASh0JKm3Wp4FVt4/s640/IMG_9053.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQYojbP2PoAMh_jwEt4J4KHMW661WfSymneBrAD1KBU4hdxBWEqNuw6mbxNC45UmqlUwkhOnxyXgZK8_lWynf_QbTc49WR9i9DoWu4dITt9u77f3U2mJsIo8d314_9neE8y3lsDw5UWImU/s1600/IMG_9054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQYojbP2PoAMh_jwEt4J4KHMW661WfSymneBrAD1KBU4hdxBWEqNuw6mbxNC45UmqlUwkhOnxyXgZK8_lWynf_QbTc49WR9i9DoWu4dITt9u77f3U2mJsIo8d314_9neE8y3lsDw5UWImU/s640/IMG_9054.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tara's three sons, who are now all grown with little ones of their own.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-DzzgVQ3XJWXYPXlOCZtMBCenl31V060vqOPzDKKPknPhS3C5mSngdNr7II9roGwrKqk9pWLxGqpMykOszig64jBmxArHT1s4vSXs97bcGyHtztMhOZ8_UyQMOccPyOL7NBCJxaT5MqXV/s1600/IMG_9056.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-DzzgVQ3XJWXYPXlOCZtMBCenl31V060vqOPzDKKPknPhS3C5mSngdNr7II9roGwrKqk9pWLxGqpMykOszig64jBmxArHT1s4vSXs97bcGyHtztMhOZ8_UyQMOccPyOL7NBCJxaT5MqXV/s640/IMG_9056.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">cutest kitchen</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSLEIeJ7hNRQajs_AA_rPxmSOiIlpHN4CrWqUoq3rzOljf42daUuyJF5xJ41MwVdwNi8zdwr8bkXcT9BgOsv00F_oly44qRMwvKXchSFctgCX5RsDVSm_ooP87ASMIZQgWNjLwq3_eVRQS/s1600/IMG_9057.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSLEIeJ7hNRQajs_AA_rPxmSOiIlpHN4CrWqUoq3rzOljf42daUuyJF5xJ41MwVdwNi8zdwr8bkXcT9BgOsv00F_oly44qRMwvKXchSFctgCX5RsDVSm_ooP87ASMIZQgWNjLwq3_eVRQS/s640/IMG_9057.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeuemG2-J4SEKjfz08RdaXjlcw_YduNU1wvNYVFtfNiQjuOw_nyGz9Hh3ogB3S8TXcq7MPuQrwBtYGVOIYmWBffuGqaCe5MLiyKUECyFWQ8PdqwtN7gjdp_iAecBzmQ6fk06mfY0ClZIsf/s1600/IMG_9062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeuemG2-J4SEKjfz08RdaXjlcw_YduNU1wvNYVFtfNiQjuOw_nyGz9Hh3ogB3S8TXcq7MPuQrwBtYGVOIYmWBffuGqaCe5MLiyKUECyFWQ8PdqwtN7gjdp_iAecBzmQ6fk06mfY0ClZIsf/s640/IMG_9062.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This building wasn't here when I was here before. It's an outdoor entertainment area. Now I HAVE to come to one of the family reunions!</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg51e6d3AjkgThilCD4gIn5at0puzQ2lMlD4DwbEI2uUl78SSO38ZqFh2lxLBnH5ALqkkcuRVHOpzWdlEhGcoMysERp6Nl5m3g15gZK1f8XsW0vDLZodAn9V3YAeo7y8L08GsGvFPBmyzEU/s1600/IMG_9066.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg51e6d3AjkgThilCD4gIn5at0puzQ2lMlD4DwbEI2uUl78SSO38ZqFh2lxLBnH5ALqkkcuRVHOpzWdlEhGcoMysERp6Nl5m3g15gZK1f8XsW0vDLZodAn9V3YAeo7y8L08GsGvFPBmyzEU/s640/IMG_9066.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQlVhPr1VpMLL9KUdu0HzHZgenrN-lf7-5osbgrrAeB-7n6y4DzNwEcolWHhKtXqJdky6u6ayAFJFNBlQ-7afGv3f40Z_VluYQjiApNhsFfvP5y3Zthddvf96IIDV1jA11HB7xRGUV9pm-/s1600/IMG_9068.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQlVhPr1VpMLL9KUdu0HzHZgenrN-lf7-5osbgrrAeB-7n6y4DzNwEcolWHhKtXqJdky6u6ayAFJFNBlQ-7afGv3f40Z_VluYQjiApNhsFfvP5y3Zthddvf96IIDV1jA11HB7xRGUV9pm-/s640/IMG_9068.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">back of the main house.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigx7lX8n2ol28wewJ1AlI-9xbMgswn21PQzZBixaaqBfPA4RIU0soBZ0QBvjtaUXExL_ivJhGcQSL3gQgMkv9NcZSwaTnAXSBoULFigSQ1j9O7Wv2Y7FW_8godJRmh_agy_RvMjr1-ZCw8/s1600/IMG_9074.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigx7lX8n2ol28wewJ1AlI-9xbMgswn21PQzZBixaaqBfPA4RIU0soBZ0QBvjtaUXExL_ivJhGcQSL3gQgMkv9NcZSwaTnAXSBoULFigSQ1j9O7Wv2Y7FW_8godJRmh_agy_RvMjr1-ZCw8/s640/IMG_9074.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Tara brought Ashley and I each white wine in a tall plastic wine glass to sip as we roamed about. It was my first glass of white wine for the season (I drink it most in springtime on warm afternoons) and it was PERFECTION. Made the already gorgeous day just that much more dreamy.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIktRz1rfHx9N8EGBc-tV_fasakgI5rHhjwosNV75eCKSiS61wT59R7HZ4kv8JaCfDXMhn8fsAcbsH5KPMR8fYczFiuwcXHGhaE9I158ovIFtiIhGZ2EGBiwUdAAw7zkRVEz_DbFhbBV3i/s1600/IMG_9122.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIktRz1rfHx9N8EGBc-tV_fasakgI5rHhjwosNV75eCKSiS61wT59R7HZ4kv8JaCfDXMhn8fsAcbsH5KPMR8fYczFiuwcXHGhaE9I158ovIFtiIhGZ2EGBiwUdAAw7zkRVEz_DbFhbBV3i/s640/IMG_9122.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wine buddies.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXS3LwHgj4qfmGOW4BzY4gMQWw1cKf_aBtDHswHTbS3oQfhpjOVIOZ_9wwUJrQqjHpOEE9wTWEcj3TawBS6HfI77UWSOQCyywMRejwlDTqf4nbYMS-3_8S4gKLxd6Cyf7ccvGQC-1F64Pr/s1600/IMG_9076.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXS3LwHgj4qfmGOW4BzY4gMQWw1cKf_aBtDHswHTbS3oQfhpjOVIOZ_9wwUJrQqjHpOEE9wTWEcj3TawBS6HfI77UWSOQCyywMRejwlDTqf4nbYMS-3_8S4gKLxd6Cyf7ccvGQC-1F64Pr/s640/IMG_9076.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Tara had heart-shaped buckets of carrots for the donkeys and heart shaped buckets of broken up crackers for the fish. The kids were in heaven!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQrkERXuHPyGmRPSYG2KJSdUiKlpWmDkJ1yTG6vmu2gAholZQOKbH_5AVdJuHAHPJf4tjpKdQdKiPTC1OVZ0XGOQBeys0rnnO7_eUPxNgq47GMc08vg3KtnCfWwrmUZatdf84X-tf2gQkc/s1600/IMG_9081.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQrkERXuHPyGmRPSYG2KJSdUiKlpWmDkJ1yTG6vmu2gAholZQOKbH_5AVdJuHAHPJf4tjpKdQdKiPTC1OVZ0XGOQBeys0rnnO7_eUPxNgq47GMc08vg3KtnCfWwrmUZatdf84X-tf2gQkc/s640/IMG_9081.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOeDHUG2ivFWWKhYDcJBW_HLc-P0gkIGNod818T62Z58NRD_IXOUEYdk4traxukIYJvaszsExkp7X0rDSqLNaBGnRw5pNRFzyGXrZlvinsIZtdxQmfMjDQV_HcKB7AogdaQrPbZLMMVeOV/s1600/IMG_9084.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOeDHUG2ivFWWKhYDcJBW_HLc-P0gkIGNod818T62Z58NRD_IXOUEYdk4traxukIYJvaszsExkp7X0rDSqLNaBGnRw5pNRFzyGXrZlvinsIZtdxQmfMjDQV_HcKB7AogdaQrPbZLMMVeOV/s640/IMG_9084.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Tara says the sun sets just beyond that pond; they sit in the big colorful Adirondack chairs when they're out here and just rest and watch. </div>
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It's so unbelievably beautiful out here. In your bones, you feel the truth of the Thoreau quote: "There was pasture enough for my imagination." You feel how we need space, openness, green and blue, land to allow our hearts and bodies to flourish, our inner worlds to expand. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBR1T5RLgz7lHafQVZP4rVWWJ-nL5-4b3Df_uJ8-0uG1kkwkNfgW8sliCoCNqsRTlgU5obLDrpwC8vTgEGYlA5tLiViyhOCik1ZxS3r0rFAx0BpP1y7x9-zjE5aQGULstcokGFUggxXnQQ/s1600/IMG_9087.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBR1T5RLgz7lHafQVZP4rVWWJ-nL5-4b3Df_uJ8-0uG1kkwkNfgW8sliCoCNqsRTlgU5obLDrpwC8vTgEGYlA5tLiViyhOCik1ZxS3r0rFAx0BpP1y7x9-zjE5aQGULstcokGFUggxXnQQ/s640/IMG_9087.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsou9075WtR2c7E0otbXdKo0ln4hL-01-if7MgkufvjiIMh1aOY7OAuZvPrWK-6LLKa1umZugraYFlzFtsw7SimPRaQj_xte5bFd3SL1kvOFqW89-7cNAq7WVkkcfC8etiRPDM-jhY7Ukd/s1600/IMG_9114.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsou9075WtR2c7E0otbXdKo0ln4hL-01-if7MgkufvjiIMh1aOY7OAuZvPrWK-6LLKa1umZugraYFlzFtsw7SimPRaQj_xte5bFd3SL1kvOFqW89-7cNAq7WVkkcfC8etiRPDM-jhY7Ukd/s640/IMG_9114.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLHPeQC9TBe0QlJB6GduWqeoKgcTnHVgwwyojf5MMj5ZjITm5R_Kz_EnaheaIbtbgkKqcHzc4ow2ZK_zpshl72PGDZlpTJ_HRERRcv0_vOPDfpxmL6MNl8jnlFlWID7jZWcuzW1PBkomj/s1600/IMG_9110.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLHPeQC9TBe0QlJB6GduWqeoKgcTnHVgwwyojf5MMj5ZjITm5R_Kz_EnaheaIbtbgkKqcHzc4ow2ZK_zpshl72PGDZlpTJ_HRERRcv0_vOPDfpxmL6MNl8jnlFlWID7jZWcuzW1PBkomj/s640/IMG_9110.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">she'd never stop!</td></tr>
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That day spent amongst bluebonnets and old houses out in the middle of Texas made me feel wild as a flower, rooted as a tree, and free as a child. </div>
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I am so glad we got to spend our last day with Debby that way.</div>
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<br />moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-15375655186524049702017-03-30T23:39:00.001-07:002017-03-30T23:44:32.213-07:00Troy and Waco, Texas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Last weekend we traveled to Texas for my mother-in-law's funeral. Debby was born in Waco, Texas, and raised for the first several years of her life in that area. Both her parents' families had ranches there; her daddy and uncle tamed horses together, and the family home her daddy bought his parents in Hubbard is now a historic building, decorated and maintained by Darin's great aunt, who is nearing 90 now.</div>
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It was the girls' first time flying on an airplane and we had geared up for quite some time. The excitement was palpable on our way down to Sacramento, and when we got there, my dad refused to just drop us off, insisting instead that he park and help us carry in our luggage. We were also bringing our own two carseats. </div>
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But when we got to the Sacramento airport, we found out that our first flight to San Francisco was delayed four hours! That would put us in San Francisco <i>after</i> the time we'd need to catch our connecting flight to Austin. So they cabbed us in a mini van, along with one other passenger, to San Francisco, right in the thick of rush hour traffic. Pops escorted us all the way out to the cab loading zone, seeing us safely off as we sped away to catch our next flight in San Francisco.</div>
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Our cabmate was a pretty young lady in colorful harem pants named Camilla. The cab driver had us put one of the carseats in the back, the third row; this happened to be Polly's seat. At first I worried how Polly would do sitting alone with a stranger in a seat behind us, as nice as Camilla seemed to be. But never fear! Suddenly Camilla pulled out a pile of children's books to read aloud. It turns out she is studying to be an elementary school teacher; she loves kids, had heart shaped sunglasses that matched Polly's (they took a selfie together), and can chit chat with a three year old for three hours, no problem!</div>
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We arrived at the San Francisco Airport in plenty of time to grab our last California burritos and play on the Spirograph before heading out.</div>
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We still had a couple hours of daylight as we took off out of San Francisco, flying out over the sparkling water of the Pacific Ocean. Polly was such a fun traveling companion, squealing with excitement and joy at the sensation of the plane lifting off. We were sitting next to a businessman who was not so impressed with her friendliness and glee, but that seems to be the norm traveling by air; it happened on the way back as well. Luckily I had other passengers commend the girls on their good behavior and tell me what good little travelers they are.</div>
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Darin and Lucy sat right in front of us, but we were hemmed in by grumps in the aisle seats. Luckily we never needed to get up even once. I found the tech on this United flight super confusing, so no movies or anything like that for us. The girls just played, looked out the window, colored, and read books for the three and a half hour flight to Austin. </div>
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When we arrived in Austin, it was midnight their time and we had huge airport to navigate. It was a long walk to the Hertz rental car area, 12:30 by the time we arrived. The girls were still in high spirits, despite not having slept at all! They grew weary of their backpacks, but carried them nonetheless.</div>
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The line at Hertz took soooo long. Darin and the girls waited and their exhaustion and commotion grew and grew. Finally we got our contract and got to go choose our "economy compact" car. We were expecting a Kia, but the only cars left were nice little Toyota Priuses, one in bright blue, so Polly was in heaven, her very favorite color. It felt meant to be. </div>
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We arrived at Darin's aunt Annette's house in Troy, Texas, at 2:30 a.m. Annette and Mike sold their home in the bay area, Newark, CA, last year and bought this beautiful five acre ranch with an adjoining guest house and music studio in the middle of Texas for half the price. Grandma DeeDee came with them.</div>
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It was super windy out and after all that traveling, the night felt dramatic. Driving down the dark, lush green Texas roads, enveloped on either side by low lying brush and pecan trees reaching out, creeping up onto the road, I felt like we were in the movie <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478304/" target="_blank">Tree of Life</a></i>. Wind blowing, stars twinkling, crickets humming, everything felt a little bit darkly magical, nostalgic, and so alive. It is a feeling I never captured in a photograph and I can hardly put into words. Anyway, we punched in the gate code and turned down their long, tree lined driveway in the dark. White solar lights twinkled around every tree, showing us the way. We parked in the wide drive, wrapped the girls in their blankets, and entered through the garage, waking Annette in the process, who showed us around and showed us our room. </div>
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Dave and Ashley and the boys, Jackson and Sam, were staying in the guest house, and what a joy it was to all wake up together in the morning! Annette had fruit and pastries for everyone, and the kids had baskets of little toys like bug catching kits, sunglasses, plastic ponies, and cowboy hats, picked out by their cousin Mackie, Annette's 11 year old daughter, who likes to consider herself the kids' big sister. </div>
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Busy Texas mornings:</div>
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Along with the already crazy winds, a downpour started that we could hardly believe! Each raindrop seems as big as your finger, and they all come at once, buckets of rain, bathtubs of rain, all hammering down on everything at once like a flood out of the clouds. It was a fairly warm rain too; everyone else was staying in, but I kind of wanted to go outside and play in it, while the girls wanted to capture the beetles flailing on their backs.</div>
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The coolest thing about those Texas afternoons is how the rain comes pouring down and washes everything clean and then immediately the sun comes out, hot and bright, and dries it all, leaving the patio smooth and clean under your barefeet, the grass refreshed, and the birds singing.</div>
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We headed to Waco after the rains to check out the everybody's favorite couple's pet project, <a href="https://magnoliamarket.com/silos/" target="_blank">Magnolia at the Silos</a>. It's just as fun and busy as it looks.</div>
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The best thing about it is how it's situated around a large green "grassy" area for the kids to run and play. There are footballs, cornhole, lounging beanbags, wide plank swings, balls, and games. We got smoothies and watermelons and settled in for a while!</div>
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The train rumbles right on by, and you can see downtown Waco just a few blocks away.</div>
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Ashley and I snuck away to go in the shop. It's totally beautiful, and really not at pricey as you might think, but the line is incredibly long, so I bought souvenirs for my mom and sister (who were jealous I was there) at the garden shop (<a href="https://shop.magnoliamarket.com/collections/seed-supply" target="_blank">Magnolia Seed and Supply</a>) instead. </div>
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The kids loved playing on the toadstools in the little garden teepee.</div>
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Back at Annette's the sun was out, Mackie was home from school and done with her homework, and Darin's youngest brother Sinjin and his three road-tripping friends had arrived. Party in full effect! <a href="https://www.shiner.com/beer/bock" target="_blank">Shiners </a>all around. Mackie was driving everyone around in the dune buggies and golf carts. Later, the road trippers stayed up late into the night running wild, shooting off bottlerockets, up to all kinds of Texan mischief. 'Merica!</div>
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Buddy the dog was so sweet to mellowly accommodate this wild bunch the whole time.</div>
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This little gal is a recent rescue named Millie. I didn't get a good portrait of Penny, but they run around like spunky sisters all the time.</div>
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Fireworks every Texas night. The girls' first sparklers! Polly was brave, but Lucy wasn't so sure.</div>
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The family has two golf carts for roaming around their five acres. Every kid in Texas gets to practice driving young, Darin says.</div>
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The next day we spent almost completely out in Hubbard, which I'll write about tomorrow, but here are some more pictures from Annette's house in Troy the next night. We had a memorial bonfire in celebration of Debby. She had spent almost two months there last year with Annette after they moved DeeDee out, helping her mom settle in, and everyone says Debby's favorite thing to do during that time, even though it was summer, was to make a fire at night and sit out by the fire pit. Mike and Annette had a commemorative stone engraved and we all did sparklers with cousin Kevin around the fire. </div>
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Cousin Kevin used to play football for Baylor and has a hearty Texan accent, a real hoot to hang out with.</div>
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By the way, don't go barefoot around sparklers. I totally blistered the bottom on my foot stepping on some bit of hot castoff.</div>
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Our last morning in Troy, Sunday morning, Annette made pancakes on the outdoor grill. Meanwhile, the kids were still catching bugs enthusiastically and running from the horses on one side of the property to the cows on the other, throwing the toy airplane glider, drawing with chalk on the patio, catching rides with Mackie on the golf carts, and never wanting to leave.</div>
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What a wonderful treat it was to stay with Annette and the family in Troy. </div>
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I'll be back tomorrow with more on Hubbard and the historic family homes there. </div>
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After that, a final post on our time in Austin.</div>
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See y'all soon!</div>
moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-55472609899118413302017-02-19T19:55:00.000-08:002017-02-19T20:07:10.733-08:00The party goes on and on...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(I wrote this post over a month ago; I just found it again and I thought, hell, I'm going to share it.)</span></i></div>
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My two favorite shirts at the annual <a href="http://moonshinejunkyard.blogspot.com/2010/12/more-parties-loot-treasure-to-boot.html" target="_blank">Pangbroehrn Holiday Party</a> (which returned to its traditional date of Dec. 28):</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0zmUkOxx8y8OR-P2mpUWXoce_QIWbp6wY3pa_xf7jmvWx6Ux7D4ZT30pNkHOI7Hx07xNNmGv-ym3YJyZn1d9Y90YOVAVfoxBJ8pk-iGYo7HN1AQ0kzSI91JnvqMAZwQpd3BpX6XYDXZ1F/s1600/IMG_7165.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0zmUkOxx8y8OR-P2mpUWXoce_QIWbp6wY3pa_xf7jmvWx6Ux7D4ZT30pNkHOI7Hx07xNNmGv-ym3YJyZn1d9Y90YOVAVfoxBJ8pk-iGYo7HN1AQ0kzSI91JnvqMAZwQpd3BpX6XYDXZ1F/s640/IMG_7165.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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A Christmassy geode cake made by Aiko:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_NETvLJVuW3mf0nfF_KYAeTr5ql8HqCBsMPUgWoOUQj0rkCt_F0gn7VuwPm6b7xrxFPFSk1e59DGEO_w2z5Z7Vj1fNc8-fg7uKvP4opbiVhek1DjxnBXTK9eaGGH_wClwQgTs3eQazrZk/s1600/IMG_7159.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_NETvLJVuW3mf0nfF_KYAeTr5ql8HqCBsMPUgWoOUQj0rkCt_F0gn7VuwPm6b7xrxFPFSk1e59DGEO_w2z5Z7Vj1fNc8-fg7uKvP4opbiVhek1DjxnBXTK9eaGGH_wClwQgTs3eQazrZk/s640/IMG_7159.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Rebecca always serves up a great array.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4h20f9kqjmOhEqAwmgYKJKghZn-Js0MdV7T78Zp1ojcLgrcRR2IbP4E9Bt8P9S0GV9vG8GKUqWVpghuTBnMCV8Xeh8fVxgDM8tx160La2d5lNB8i0OeG7hduOzgjjw73g-5PFQ5RRxam5/s1600/IMG_7160.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4h20f9kqjmOhEqAwmgYKJKghZn-Js0MdV7T78Zp1ojcLgrcRR2IbP4E9Bt8P9S0GV9vG8GKUqWVpghuTBnMCV8Xeh8fVxgDM8tx160La2d5lNB8i0OeG7hduOzgjjw73g-5PFQ5RRxam5/s640/IMG_7160.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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It's almost the only night of the year that we get a nighttime babysitter. My mom is not a night owl and hates to drive after dark. We had Polly asleep and left Nana to snuggle and watch movies with Tootie on the couch, but of course it's never that simple. But meanwhile...</div>
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Grown ups gathering!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPyYWTWly8qf3JHhrIiaI9Q6oXzthDL16lmx2Sp9RUSlSTzxo-jk3NCF17auHa113jCfOvQtULKU8ql4Rn7423IqKhyphenhyphenOB3FMeKiOinOTjuaAXhDfot5fov6tcPqJrMI1bFp1Lh6Rw4vTrF/s1600/IMG_7170.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPyYWTWly8qf3JHhrIiaI9Q6oXzthDL16lmx2Sp9RUSlSTzxo-jk3NCF17auHa113jCfOvQtULKU8ql4Rn7423IqKhyphenhyphenOB3FMeKiOinOTjuaAXhDfot5fov6tcPqJrMI1bFp1Lh6Rw4vTrF/s640/IMG_7170.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Mikie and Marisa basically bounded into town (from LA) and straight into the party. </div>
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Therefore, in this picture is the sum total of the chidlike energy at this party ;)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo3gU2hlXM9T_4Oj3bnhXsnNeqVcoMPOs-bueLmVsYUA9ssfByzEltwnusNQb0FpdN7moCCOc2gyZFaL9n6PXc9Qvvh3EhyphenhyphenLrl88MuJ1Ov5j97h8qoQ1IYvL38oZlsaMe6VECNh2S2IBoi/s1600/IMG_7172.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo3gU2hlXM9T_4Oj3bnhXsnNeqVcoMPOs-bueLmVsYUA9ssfByzEltwnusNQb0FpdN7moCCOc2gyZFaL9n6PXc9Qvvh3EhyphenhyphenLrl88MuJ1Ov5j97h8qoQ1IYvL38oZlsaMe6VECNh2S2IBoi/s640/IMG_7172.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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This party's White Elephant is a gripping occasion; people get SERIOUSLY invested, and Zack's presents (usually rad artwork) come with enigmatic instructions to the receiver, to be modified as the gift is passed along. I always bring something relatively cool (blu-ray of Edward Scissorhands) and go home with something pretty dumb (coffee cup shaped like toilet bowl). </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDESxgYcCTw4G31BxVqF2jm5nzIn5YSYgHxgPE85KFDehcb_U0s8n1AnSYahajOslt7Fv7QD-QaB8VeZC2xoVR3K7s5YXcMBVz8zzlD5QzOIIvLx0dCfShPAve-waml9q6Pmw3qE_NkVFQ/s1600/IMG_7173.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDESxgYcCTw4G31BxVqF2jm5nzIn5YSYgHxgPE85KFDehcb_U0s8n1AnSYahajOslt7Fv7QD-QaB8VeZC2xoVR3K7s5YXcMBVz8zzlD5QzOIIvLx0dCfShPAve-waml9q6Pmw3qE_NkVFQ/s640/IMG_7173.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDKWebntEjOITaRgw7TGEe8UnZu7wVIEkiMzDyETTbMYYSUV3EVdwVH3_uKPuTIAk2Dwm5-KNGApuCoc7sVevsLMddw61lYVjtGD5LAoqJKbpNwYvZ01eCqNuNZquMbjQSdXpbsELaXJMl/s1600/IMG_7178.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDKWebntEjOITaRgw7TGEe8UnZu7wVIEkiMzDyETTbMYYSUV3EVdwVH3_uKPuTIAk2Dwm5-KNGApuCoc7sVevsLMddw61lYVjtGD5LAoqJKbpNwYvZ01eCqNuNZquMbjQSdXpbsELaXJMl/s640/IMG_7178.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Coincidentally, two gifts from the party three years ago made a reappearance, the ever-popular stack of a hundred T Rex posters, and the 1970's erotic photography book <i>Boyfriends</i>, which Joey found when cleaning out our 101 year old grandma's garage after her death. I think Ryann went home with that this year, lucky girl indeed. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT8K75yE8CT63I08SebpabX0vyuK6zdWHmo67SERYlIjovbA19iq59usID0sqfNjMFu3gKxfG8pZXW4TYjcWMtriTKkff75fdWUe6NX7tU0LjfqMpVJm2FOge2Jaf3H-LWDmrsAlP8TEok/s1600/IMG_7182.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT8K75yE8CT63I08SebpabX0vyuK6zdWHmo67SERYlIjovbA19iq59usID0sqfNjMFu3gKxfG8pZXW4TYjcWMtriTKkff75fdWUe6NX7tU0LjfqMpVJm2FOge2Jaf3H-LWDmrsAlP8TEok/s640/IMG_7182.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Darin had left the party early because we promised my mom she'd only have to babysit until 10:30; now Polly was awake, and Tootie had never gone to sleep, and they were rambunctious. So he went home to relive her and I hooked up a ride with Joey and Scott and our friend Heather. It was about midnight when we and Mikie and Marisa left the Pangbroehrn's and headed down to the <a href="https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-liars-bench-placerville" target="_blank">Bench</a> for "one drink." Our other friend Scott met us there. I was still in vintage high heels and didn't even have my purse. It was a wild night for me. We leaned in close and talked each others' ears off and belted out 90's tunes from the jukebox. We closed down the bar, and then ended up back here in our messy playroom (the worst room in our house is always where people hang out) trying in vain to not wake Darin and the girls. You guys, I was up to my old shenanigans and it happened again two nights later! </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWLdZSHo-0PyjjSA4qh-fCAK2GErEGSvw5Tsa7wI5wEBPq6UnZWDrijkvCDHrkz60vYYkPyyNgsqc-ejfVGDCY-U8dwAivO0bqavTmfoOD2SsGXg8ZcJ4kGVoaDjUA0EEdJTWgPOL6Tw1T/s1600/IMG_7184.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWLdZSHo-0PyjjSA4qh-fCAK2GErEGSvw5Tsa7wI5wEBPq6UnZWDrijkvCDHrkz60vYYkPyyNgsqc-ejfVGDCY-U8dwAivO0bqavTmfoOD2SsGXg8ZcJ4kGVoaDjUA0EEdJTWgPOL6Tw1T/s640/IMG_7184.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My only capture of the after-hours madness!</td></tr>
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Two days later the whole Beatty clan was together at last! Now Matt and Amy and their kids and Mikie and Marisa and all of us Placervillians got to have "second Christmas" together. </div>
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When the kids arrive here's how it goes down:</div>
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Jarom immediately searches for the cats.</div>
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Bella picks up babies and never stops again for the whole night.</div>
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Oey looks for something to climb.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOK0GxtR0SQdaaYaOA215Gkwf3hg0RkC39K1yrRFH62wGICHUPF8nr8LfBUZ9uP3-A-iDDgRqFGyBiaGJQScPTgEZEscslMbprncFh_s2UTJEdp-vb-Xy5nVxk8q8yGxp_YRAD-KoTjNc2/s1600/IMG_7216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOK0GxtR0SQdaaYaOA215Gkwf3hg0RkC39K1yrRFH62wGICHUPF8nr8LfBUZ9uP3-A-iDDgRqFGyBiaGJQScPTgEZEscslMbprncFh_s2UTJEdp-vb-Xy5nVxk8q8yGxp_YRAD-KoTjNc2/s640/IMG_7216.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Pomegranate seeds in prosecco: it's a little trick from <a href="http://www.theforestfeast.com/cookbook/" target="_blank">Forest Feast Gatherings</a>. I had my dad buy this beautiful book for Amy and Matt for Christmas, and looked through it for ideas before wrapping it, completely falling in love. Then (before we open gifts together) Amy starts describing the one gift she bought for Matt, how it was this rustic cookbook with pretty party ideas, and it didn't take me long to realize it was that same book! So I got to keep the other copy. lucky turn of events for me. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZcvZP0PMHfm6RaFzo4xnxFMBI9b2RPqJyEeheSgmAw8FGBKl2yEKVwdflPiWQPvuwvUu47K9OYsCJ0giQKXSAADSDjWQcTAFxQ541iCQBH7C1d_e3itWDk1DPmay3i2AP0nr9cxDQn2sp/s1600/IMG_7217.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZcvZP0PMHfm6RaFzo4xnxFMBI9b2RPqJyEeheSgmAw8FGBKl2yEKVwdflPiWQPvuwvUu47K9OYsCJ0giQKXSAADSDjWQcTAFxQ541iCQBH7C1d_e3itWDk1DPmay3i2AP0nr9cxDQn2sp/s640/IMG_7217.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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The chaos that is my house when we are all together:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh1Xndr5WDncE8JF6E1Pp5potb-8cTR6q4g1fSkPsStg7ImkrCglojvZdCnQq1LFaxWQ0cqG3PwKSUoeSSLPxKTsZ0JTJm-Mfqbyaq3t2-umNnCJzT7CaIfPgxYkuAiC6g_73dJV5sy8WK/s1600/IMG_7226.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh1Xndr5WDncE8JF6E1Pp5potb-8cTR6q4g1fSkPsStg7ImkrCglojvZdCnQq1LFaxWQ0cqG3PwKSUoeSSLPxKTsZ0JTJm-Mfqbyaq3t2-umNnCJzT7CaIfPgxYkuAiC6g_73dJV5sy8WK/s640/IMG_7226.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Mikie took over gift distribution; it was even wilder than Christmas day. The little ones watched and waited patiently. (sort of.)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuJBFr9RxYlSjyrOKFafniezpvSEtHS3Ishi_bquelwD9fAJVdX3S0EmHjFbMDk3anMUGXJrOY4lkmihUMWwAnJIdNkna0UI6_b47qp8KiHS_uvOIXIVjJzHligGaeiDppzQdVynnytyd3/s1600/IMG_7229.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuJBFr9RxYlSjyrOKFafniezpvSEtHS3Ishi_bquelwD9fAJVdX3S0EmHjFbMDk3anMUGXJrOY4lkmihUMWwAnJIdNkna0UI6_b47qp8KiHS_uvOIXIVjJzHligGaeiDppzQdVynnytyd3/s640/IMG_7229.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikMlr1cAQBJmF2DeOBuFHVo10et_8hQQL12xp8WaCl2KzbGLt416HcmOJYRCeSbqbEpKBeAb_c7yEiNoGFrF_gmJOzxW5_iDhJLxCkFVhHY2QxcAMkZfbV1GNx37Skr2OvI2uoA0mQ_658/s1600/IMG_7232.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikMlr1cAQBJmF2DeOBuFHVo10et_8hQQL12xp8WaCl2KzbGLt416HcmOJYRCeSbqbEpKBeAb_c7yEiNoGFrF_gmJOzxW5_iDhJLxCkFVhHY2QxcAMkZfbV1GNx37Skr2OvI2uoA0mQ_658/s640/IMG_7232.JPG" width="426" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQs7Ad_3u0Oenl6XQY4bGwbNsHKgXXe9tcMp2kNYfeZjp7KZzAeeAhpVmk8qpOLTTwrgPtWxGADHMWAONZeUxTa-gLqEfB_r0vOo_moA9xtZBEs27lDQI2W77Jkj6QiUm31j4EYWM5tPiy/s1600/IMG_7238.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQs7Ad_3u0Oenl6XQY4bGwbNsHKgXXe9tcMp2kNYfeZjp7KZzAeeAhpVmk8qpOLTTwrgPtWxGADHMWAONZeUxTa-gLqEfB_r0vOo_moA9xtZBEs27lDQI2W77Jkj6QiUm31j4EYWM5tPiy/s640/IMG_7238.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Oh my ridiculous, handsome, hilarious, disgusting, dorky, brilliant, sparkling, sweet brothers. Mikie, Art, Matt, and Joey. Darin didn't even get home from work until after all this had died down. </div>
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But the fun continues....</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvXac7P-MxkZg6slsbbr3bFpVWK5pGnrJAe0sDrpZ01VqCafQuZl1CUPhzeJD462EuV-rAVAnuyYzV3k5BGGZNNz66hWipc-01Rj0LR0ehBdqoFfu3VD_aJgDqk4z-Ze521a28U9JkZu7j/s1600/IMG_7243.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvXac7P-MxkZg6slsbbr3bFpVWK5pGnrJAe0sDrpZ01VqCafQuZl1CUPhzeJD462EuV-rAVAnuyYzV3k5BGGZNNz66hWipc-01Rj0LR0ehBdqoFfu3VD_aJgDqk4z-Ze521a28U9JkZu7j/s640/IMG_7243.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-34194423032926574712017-01-07T00:46:00.001-08:002017-01-07T01:14:09.332-08:00The Bells Were Ringing Out<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
December moon.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0AJB0s9RhZZHiJP2gP4m5Sx0kwS4XeUl1-FcYdE2wMy7cimEnZGM8FMig0PhXX2pOhodSeys1-ktEzedIw77VnUEi9i04xzpEYiMmyz31ZorJ_p06YWZvjSfQfnNuP5Cyg5pAmSL_LlRv/s1600/IMG_6706.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0AJB0s9RhZZHiJP2gP4m5Sx0kwS4XeUl1-FcYdE2wMy7cimEnZGM8FMig0PhXX2pOhodSeys1-ktEzedIw77VnUEi9i04xzpEYiMmyz31ZorJ_p06YWZvjSfQfnNuP5Cyg5pAmSL_LlRv/s640/IMG_6706.JPG" width="426" /></a> </div>
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I taught up until December 14, finals night. I brought in magic cookie bars and fudge for the students; encouraged a festive atmosphere, and gave them back their graded portfolios that night, the last of my essay reading and grading for the class! I input grades the next day and the Fall 2016 semester was officially done. It was a great one. I had the best group of Advanced College Composition students anyone could ask for. We only had one drop and no one got lower than a C; our discussions were consistently incredibly lively while also maintaining a healthy dose of respect and caring for each other. Despite our varied values and backgrounds, especially politically, I'd say we developed a pretty strong bond. </div>
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I continue working a few hours a week at The Bookery. Sometimes I go in early in the morning before the doors open and work in the kids' section. I also have been cleaning <a href="https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/6072408?s=JLmzjICN" target="_blank">the Airbnb property</a> that my sister manages, which pays well and is surprisingly relaxing. One morning on my way home after working a couple hours, Darin and the girls were on a neighborhood walk and mushroom hunt. It gave my heart a jolt of pure joy to see them tromping along with the red wagon and rosy cheeks, shouting and waving as I pulled up the road in our proud mini van. As soon as I hopped out, they bombarded me with, "Mama, we saw EIGHTEEN mushrooms in the front yard! In the back yard there are MILLIONS! There are PURPLE ONES. Wanna see\?!' And they took my hands to repeat all their deeply inquisitive little adventures.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE2ejYfmQoPiBaMVukNPubiuFn8k0tP6C-jpwmOBqfW7vDYUIOknyLShM7sv2DpQ6G0jVOL_VV7uLvDZBJ5I78SD9sOXYkyCHcN53VnSr-59N3IS2Ux4ddNlFTRlKlpt4zNUd9fYHpslJS/s1600/IMG_6750.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE2ejYfmQoPiBaMVukNPubiuFn8k0tP6C-jpwmOBqfW7vDYUIOknyLShM7sv2DpQ6G0jVOL_VV7uLvDZBJ5I78SD9sOXYkyCHcN53VnSr-59N3IS2Ux4ddNlFTRlKlpt4zNUd9fYHpslJS/s640/IMG_6750.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">little wasp galls on our oak leaves</td></tr>
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We made our traditional sugar cookies shortly after that. I have real helpers this year! Yes, it's still lots of work, and the results are not pinterest worthy by any means, but it was fun and cute and cozy. Lucy is by my side every step of the way on any household endeavor. She did a great job with rolling pin and cookie cutters this year. Expert level already.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwVV3QHcl1Y3JEGqKfp8aPfNsMF-Q8jxwqjgUuKRaSU4_QDBilFM6vTE54lt29WopyilzgdYvhZdAiJwqSpLP6tqMk5hAnpDNqND7jMU765MPfC12pGoo1OKxqV8yL4rZH91b8dRIr-iDO/s1600/IMG_6765.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwVV3QHcl1Y3JEGqKfp8aPfNsMF-Q8jxwqjgUuKRaSU4_QDBilFM6vTE54lt29WopyilzgdYvhZdAiJwqSpLP6tqMk5hAnpDNqND7jMU765MPfC12pGoo1OKxqV8yL4rZH91b8dRIr-iDO/s640/IMG_6765.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Both girls did a great job at sneaking bits of dough.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpIp34GmgTkpqVvXFDi_JE7pmqyEUisdIAN45l7BPoT0tl7NeByrv4TqxZyTvS9ZRTqWfyUOZb0NROvYd9iqba3YVOVsxGcfV43ZfxfD47w_MlvEkKkTIpILhyphenhyphen7Ush3w_nCW59WnMz1zyo/s1600/IMG_6766.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpIp34GmgTkpqVvXFDi_JE7pmqyEUisdIAN45l7BPoT0tl7NeByrv4TqxZyTvS9ZRTqWfyUOZb0NROvYd9iqba3YVOVsxGcfV43ZfxfD47w_MlvEkKkTIpILhyphenhyphen7Ush3w_nCW59WnMz1zyo/s640/IMG_6766.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I didn't really take pictures at our Solstice bonfire but it was a lovely soul warming night. A few friends gathered, each showing up at various points and staying for varying lengths of time. I had read up extensively on the Solstice this year and felt determined to start incorporating more ritual into our seasonal gatherings. As friends gathered in the dark with mugs of mulled cider or tea, pulling up every random chair from our yard, as the topic turned and turned again, and the children came and went and even clambered on hay bales and went swinging by cold moonlight, and the fire kept burning until almost midnight, the night itself felt like a ceremony in its own right. We did talk a little about the long night, the way the Yule and the various versions of Christmas all center around these ancient practices; my heart was buoyed and enriched. </div>
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Pops on Solstice night.</div>
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Next day I took the girls on a little nature ramble picnic by the river. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTouoB-AqRQXpn5LtzPyUkzxVj6T1sF1LMB6xsd7okdjFzqcqMnofEQcB2QCfKdFXlcIu7pqIo0IAhyphenhyphen6DwRtWXTf-QAMNevRGxGupXlPGRv0Kp_pwmjODpJsGMKdJkCIVWdp_6IFm7s_nm/s1600/IMG_6854.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTouoB-AqRQXpn5LtzPyUkzxVj6T1sF1LMB6xsd7okdjFzqcqMnofEQcB2QCfKdFXlcIu7pqIo0IAhyphenhyphen6DwRtWXTf-QAMNevRGxGupXlPGRv0Kp_pwmjODpJsGMKdJkCIVWdp_6IFm7s_nm/s640/IMG_6854.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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It was colder than it looks, but when the sun peaked through the trees we put our faces to it and made up songs and chants of adoration. Here is a sun Tootie drew in the sand.</div>
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Starving after our walk, we called Darin at work and had him meet us for dinner at Mel's Diner, and then went to look at our favorite Christmas lights on <a href="http://www.lightsofthevalley.com/Properties/Detail.asp?i=451" target="_blank">Santa Claus Drive</a>. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhypb-eQFXCQ5WaD8Cmih-313kNYS_CrDJpCiw3dTIl-Cobgvq9E7D12TRjThYNxZ9Wonu87GjTNrq9N_q7ggM0ZBeJudWeaaPNhnm9JonQGqUkfBlkex1JJZzzbGEhLzgs1-9_aNJpW0JB/s1600/IMG_6882.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhypb-eQFXCQ5WaD8Cmih-313kNYS_CrDJpCiw3dTIl-Cobgvq9E7D12TRjThYNxZ9Wonu87GjTNrq9N_q7ggM0ZBeJudWeaaPNhnm9JonQGqUkfBlkex1JJZzzbGEhLzgs1-9_aNJpW0JB/s640/IMG_6882.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Christmas Eve's Eve, the excitement was mounting. Nana had us all over to her new place for her homemade fruitcake and to watch The Snowman. We were in festive attire every day at this point. Tootie is wearing a jumper and blouse that were mine when I was little. With her hair this way, she strongly resembles little me in my childhood photos.</div>
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Polly wore one of my very favorite gifts handed down from Missa and Clover, a little vintage German sweater dress with matching tights that she thrifted <i>separately</i>!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFR6nr1Q9FD6tB0CihkoQ1IjhtNtk-1NFb3YC7MUBm4tmCz37Mnz8Z-Ze-dyvzig1poqPEgxqcWdGH6QktgcJbr-4pruqdWiqHReGZhp9Kf4FNjvhaMmWGQtke6Hbb4NXt0dO-lzartn3/s1600/IMG_6898.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFR6nr1Q9FD6tB0CihkoQ1IjhtNtk-1NFb3YC7MUBm4tmCz37Mnz8Z-Ze-dyvzig1poqPEgxqcWdGH6QktgcJbr-4pruqdWiqHReGZhp9Kf4FNjvhaMmWGQtke6Hbb4NXt0dO-lzartn3/s640/IMG_6898.JPG" width="426" /></a></div>
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My Mom moved to a more rural location about ten minutes from town. Here is Nana's new woodsy little forest home all decked out for the season:</div>
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It boggles me that not everyone likes fruitcake. I am definitely a fan, and my mom's is incredibly delicious (and gluten free)!</div>
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tiny live tree with only a few treasured ornaments:</div>
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The kids get immediately comfy at Nana's house. </div>
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She gave them each a water bottle as a little early Christmas gift.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf1iSkOvb7nobDBdykP1YKFaUsNgOAKtN4fOLcWSttDDnQ21h7riLTepYNU6yConjgpHEj8WDGUgY5C_kHJQ9ezSf247NabETfOky6zRVcI6DnTFiDIsKdcGqBEYS3ZZBmB49zQbP18JqH/s1600/IMG_6914.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf1iSkOvb7nobDBdykP1YKFaUsNgOAKtN4fOLcWSttDDnQ21h7riLTepYNU6yConjgpHEj8WDGUgY5C_kHJQ9ezSf247NabETfOky6zRVcI6DnTFiDIsKdcGqBEYS3ZZBmB49zQbP18JqH/s640/IMG_6914.JPG" width="426" /></a></div>
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Christmas Eve, again the girls are wearing vintage pinafores from when Addie and I were little. </div>
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Nancy (owner of the Bookery) came by with a gift for each girl. </div>
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So here they are, posing with new stuffed animals. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPKGcx2Jmq8T_dWf7lsIV_tIK8AzZ6ckPgoCeHVPnQspTxSl8uH21d1JVHIOrx9h5amoWkxCY4NqypFkGprl9ZgN5ljJTsm5bSk4p5xhXzw5qYteyoHwglIiaeRcmljjqez-9atrlvDsFK/s1600/IMG_6928.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPKGcx2Jmq8T_dWf7lsIV_tIK8AzZ6ckPgoCeHVPnQspTxSl8uH21d1JVHIOrx9h5amoWkxCY4NqypFkGprl9ZgN5ljJTsm5bSk4p5xhXzw5qYteyoHwglIiaeRcmljjqez-9atrlvDsFK/s640/IMG_6928.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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My favorite thing about the holidays is all the friends and family just stopping by spontaneously. Carol Ann and Ezra were in town and stopped by briefly with little Elan. They were getting ready to make latkes at her mom's house for Chanukah. We talked about the challenges of mixed symbolism for holidays, and they admired the details of our tree's many ornaments. Elan's favorite was a little deer for whom he carefully chose a new spot.</div>
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Christmas Eve we each open a little gift from each other. The girls each opened a game that the other had picked out for her sister. They were delighted and we played both games that night.</div>
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Darin gets to open one from each girl. Polly got him <a href="https://www.sockittome.com/men/crew-socks-men/raven.html" target="_blank">raven socks</a> this year (last year it was sharks) and Lucy got him a little book from the <a href="http://woodenbooks.com/" target="_blank">Wooden books</a> series, The Sun, the Moon and the Stars. </div>
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That night I got my annual family DVD that Darin makes me, an edited version of all video footage we take during the year. I started it after the girls went to bed, wrapped presents and cried.</div>
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And then....the joy and the spirit and the magic of Christmas morning. The bells really were ringing out for Christmas day, and it was the sound of my little girls' voices. </div>
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They definitely loosely believe in Santa Claus. We don't really go out of our way to make a big show of it, and we try to refer to the idea of Santa and the spirit of giving in a more vague, mystical sense. This December we spent enough time in our friend Tony's toy shop, Bonkers, that the first thing Lucy shouted when she saw her snake and Polly's kangaroo was, "Santa must have gone to Tony's store!" </div>
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We spend a long, leisurely time Christmas morning going through the contents of our stockings.</div>
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We got an Instax mini to share!</div>
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Polly adores her Calico Critter babies.</div>
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I made cranberry orange muffins,scrambled eggs and veggie sausage, and we all had time to get dressed in holiday attire before my family started to arrive. </div>
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Pops and Joey and Scout arrived first. Joey and I had gone in together on a popcorn maker for Pops that makes movie theater style popcorn, his favorite. </div>
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Then our friend <a href="http://www.oranmiller.com/" target="_blank">Oran</a> stopped by bearing gifts. He makes these "lasso rings" of twisted sterling silver and he fitted us each for one on the spot. He told me they look nice on ladies as a thumb ring so that's what I've been wearing. Oran's sons are the nicest kids on earth. His younger son helped the girls build their new Peppa pig pirate ship out of big Legos.</div>
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Then my dad gifted us a new camera lens. It's the one I broke last year, a wide angle lens with a low f-stop so I had to try it out right away. Thanks Pops! Now we can see the total chaos of our living room in one photo. ;) </div>
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Playing with new toys and waiting for everyone to arrive is part of the fun of Christmas.</div>
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Poor Gelf is always along for the fun whether she likes it or not. That kitten's sweet patience knows no bounds! Sometimes I honestly think she kind of likes it all.</div>
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Nana's here! She and Jack brought his daughter Moriah this year too.</div>
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Addie and I assembled a stocking full of goodies for our dad. Actually, we had too many goodies, so he got two!</div>
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More gift opening madness ensues! </div>
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Homemade playdough:</div>
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Head tingler:</div>
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Calico Critters adventure treehouse!</div>
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Play cupcake set:</div>
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And of course, books, books and more books:</div>
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A couple of my new favorites:</div>
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When Emmy came to pick up Scouty to take her to her mom's for a little while, my mom bawled. Joey and Em's divorce will be final soon. We all still love each other very, very much and will always be family. Honestly, the holidays have not seemed much different than before; Joey and Em are still together often, and she often joins us for family activities. Scouty just has two houses now. </div>
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Meanwhile, the playing went on and on and on.</div>
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We rejoined for Christmas dinner a couple hours later. The girls said their own grace. Here is how Tootie usually says it (in triumphant, loud tones) "Dear UNIVERSE, thank you for this wonderful meal. We love Christmas. I love my new toys. NAMASTE." They do this funny exaggerated head bow and say "namaste"to each other after any prayer. </div>
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Pigging out, potluck style. We had two different kinds of enchiladas, a green salad, cheesy potatoes, and garlic bread and we all stuffed ourselves!</div>
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After dinner Addie played piano. It was a merry night. The kids occasionally marched through in full-on parade mode, with kazoos and shakers and tambourines. The noise level at our house is off the charts; everyone has gotten used to it. Addie was learning "Fairytale of New York" with Joey's help on guitar, and we'd pipe in singing periodically. Later when my other two brothers were here for "second Christmas" on the 30th we all sang it together, but that's another post!</div>
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The Christmas season could not have been more glorious for me this year and I hope that you all had a wonderful one as well, surrounded by those you love dearly, with happy hearts and warmth and light inside during the dark midwinter. </div>
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<br />moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-17014471834857169612016-12-28T00:04:00.002-08:002016-12-28T00:04:54.588-08:00Trim up the tree, it's Christmastime<div style="text-align: center;">
Polly has been singing that song from the Grinch lately and it's so cute.</div>
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We got our tree at <a href="http://www.indianrocktreefarm.com/" target="_blank">Indian Rock Tree Farm</a> again this year, a beautiful and welcoming family-owned operation on North Canyon Road in Apple Hill that also offers fly fishing lessons in the summer. We have made it a tradition to not only pick out our beloved tree and have candy canes by the outdoor fire, but to take some time to wander the grounds a bit, down to the cascading river in the mossy woods. </div>
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The girls were really into assigning ages to all the trees, "I think this one is about a four year old." "This one is a newborn!" "Here is a big kid, an 18 year old!"</div>
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We did have some slips in the mud, some tumbles down hillsides, but the whole day was so jolly that no one seemed to mind. </div>
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The fairy world around us breathed and watched.</div>
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First candy canes of the season!</div>
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As for me, I was most excited about the rustic homemade crafts I was finding inside the little general store; all these delightful little carefully constructed Christmassy doo-dads running about the same price as cheap made-in-china ornaments at Target. I bought a little burlap santa, a felted top-hatted elfin gent, local dried persimmons for my mom, and mulling spices. </div>
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We headed down the enchanted rocky staircase to the river.</div>
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Darin carried the tripod so that we could try to get a family photo for our Christmas card. I never knew, before I became a mom, that one of my biggest frustrations would be the excruciating attempts at getting a good picture. Utter mayhem seems to ensue anytime we pull out the camera, especially if I dare to have high hopes.</div>
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This was about the best we could do:</div>
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Sometimes it pays to stop trying and just let them wander and play.</div>
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One of my favorite times of the season is decorating the tree, pulling out all the sentimental old ornaments, choosing our favorites and thinking about the stories behind them all.</div>
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Matching:</div>
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It is so fun to have such careful little helpers. "Mommy is this one breakable?!" They'd shout, before attempting to hang anything. The bottom have of our tree was considerably busier than the top this year.</div>
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Our tree withstood the season even with our little wildcat Gelfling around. </div>
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This is basically the extent of Darin's helping.</div>
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Almost done! And then I was off to teach class that night.</div>
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Bubble popper extraordinaire.</div>
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We've had a glorious December. I have a lot of hope in my heart this time of year, and our Solstice night stoked my internal fire even more. It's a time of tradition, ancient ritual, and great love and trust. May the winter journey be brightly lit for you all.</div>
moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-62607907776116550472016-12-09T23:07:00.001-08:002016-12-10T11:38:43.502-08:0040 birthday wishes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
My birthday this year, November 13, 2016, I turned forty. Forty flickering candles on my Texas chocolate fudge cake, my favorite cake made for me by my sweet mom Susan almost every one of those 40 years. I'm grateful to have never been too far from my mom, and if you know her, you know what I mean. I like to think about her the day I was born. When my dad took her to the hospital to have me in the fall of 1976, they had a 13 month old baby child, my sister, back at home with Grandma Cherie. My mom birthed five children naturally, something she was proud of although she never held back the scary details accompanying this fact. She always said she labored 24 hours with my sister, was miserably sick with the flu when she had me, and screamed and tore badly when she pushed out my brother Matt. By the time Mikie and Joey were born she was straight up a pro. Although she had little breastfeeding success, I always knew she was just a natural childbirthing baby mama. I bet she was polite and dainty at the hospital, doing everything they told her cheerfully and doing it well. The other thing that she stands by is her refrain: "my time spent raising my babies was the best time of my life." For a little while she had four kids under the age of six, roaming our ragamuffin spirits around Escondido, California. </div>
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I've always liked that I was born in November, that I'm a Scorpio and a fall baby. I feel like at a glance it seems incongruous for me; I like that bit of surprise. </div>
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I turned forty a week after the gut-punch of the 2016 election. The most devastating election I've ever witnessed, with results that we will continue to absorb, reject, resist. I planned my birthday party (meant to be a jolly affair) amidst heartbreak, and with a bleary head cold that I picked up the day after the election. So many people had a visceral reaction, our bodies displaying the misery that our hearts could hardly bear. I've never been a crier (used to say that, now I guess I decidedly am) but I cried spontaneously for days. It felt (and continues to feel) unreal to me that a man who so blatantly disrespects women, immigrants, our planet, could be voted into our nation's highest office. It actually hurts my heart. No matter how many times someone said or wrote or posted the words, "Get over it," I knew those were hollow words, and I knew we never would. </div>
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But it was my birthday, and I felt I owed my life thus far, my forty years of love and stories, a celebration. My dad, a staunch conservative, showed up Thursday morning with my requested hay bales filling his truck bed. Through the window I saw him, my kind and humble dad who I love so much, unloading my silly hay bales just because he remembered that I'd wanted them, and I started weeping. I had been thinking of cancelling my party. I went out in my pajamas and put my arms around him and wept. My family (we love each other so deeply) was torn by this election, with the younger generation all disagreeing heartily with the older. I only hoped that they could understand why we took it personally. I think they did.</div>
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And then that night, Leonard Cohen's death was announced, an unspeakable severance. A world without Leonard Cohen? <i>This </i>world with its garish messes and criminal atrocities, without L. Cohen to soothe our way? But at least we had his 150 songs to listen to while we grieved, and I had a neverending text thread with my best girls to share tears and lighten our hearts.</div>
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I didn't even mean to tell this story, because it is a post about my birthday, not politics, but never before had the two seemed so related, and by that I mean that <i>everything </i>is related, especially when you teach the idea of synthesis. And during the last several months I've been excited about turning forty, about what it means to be a <i>woman </i>in our culture <i>proudly and happily turning forty</i>. One day in class the students were doing groupwork and I left to fill my water jar. When I came back they were all discussing something together. They stopped and one vocal young woman said good-naturedly, "Okay, we just have to know! How old are you?" I hesitated just for a moment before I told them, "I'll be forty next month and I'm having a big party to celebrate." The only part of that I regret is the moment of hesitation, I decided on my way home, because I want to make it clear that I solidly reject the mindset where any smidgen of <i>shame</i> exists around the natural fact of aging, especially a woman's. I hate the expression, "a lady never tells her age," with all my might because fuggggg that. It must be connected to the quote from Oscar Wilde, the great satirist, who wrote, "One should never trust a woman who tells one her real age. A woman who would tell one that would tell one anything." He's mocking that idea vigorously, ladies, in case you couldn't tell. Please: more discourse, more openness, more clarity. Less hiding, less falsity, less obscurity. </div>
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I will shout my age from the rooftops forever. </div>
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To me, it has never felt more important to me to be an authentic, wise, honest, loud, wild, witchy woman. Our country and our earth needs us more than ever. </div>
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And on that note: my 40th birthday.</div>
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Party prep the day before is always part of the fun.</div>
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On my birthday morning, Darin made french toast for breakfast and the girls gave me homemade cards and gifts with hand-decorated wrapping paper.</div>
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We put on our country girl frocks because my party was a hoe-down. We all wore barefeet and pigtails in our hair too. </div>
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This little family photo is a simple reminder that at forty years old, all my dreams have come true. Sure, there are fun things I'd like to do, trips I'd like to take, a dream house with a tower library I'd like to live in, and books I'd like to write, but this right here is the truest heart of my heart. </div>
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My girls love to sing "Strawberry Wine," by Deana Carter with me. It's a song I loved during my country phase at 21 years old; it's the perfect sing-along, and it makes me cry. I think I'll always treasure the memory of sitting on those hay bales with my little four year old and two year old daughters, arms wrapped around each other and belting it out with gusto on my birthday.</div>
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Notes about my party:</div>
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hay bales</div>
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globe lights borrowed from Addie</div>
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red gingham oilcloth table covers</div>
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the beautiful bench Jack made that he and my mom gifted me</div>
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daisies</div>
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wheelbarrow rides</div>
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baby Iris loving all the kiddie cars, but falling as 18 month olds tend to do</div>
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Marya so cute in one of my vintage sweaters when the dusk grew cold</div>
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Celia's artichoke dip</div>
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Rebecca's eyes that get teary more easily that she'll admit, how I love her for it</div>
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Hop Cider from <a href="http://www.bumgarnerwinery.com/" target="_blank">Bumgarner </a></div>
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two crockpots of veggie chili and a big pan of cornbread made by me</div>
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kombucha scoby from Dolly </div>
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gorgeous bouquet from Courtney and Melissa</div>
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homemade card from Penelope, and her cute boots</div>
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kids on the trampoline for hours on end</div>
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bonfire - oh bonfire, you perfect November treat</div>
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roasted marshmallows</div>
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blasting Darin's country playlist with lots of my old favorites from Lucinda Williams to Townes to Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton</div>
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Texas chocolate fudge cake with forty tiny flickering candles and babies gathered round to help blow them out</div>
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Emily and Joey staying later than anyone, letting our exhausted kids keep playing while we listened to Leonard Cohen until all hours.</div>
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<i>The birds they sing at the break of day,</i></div>
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<i>Start again, I heard them say.</i></div>
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<i>Don't dwell on what has passed away</i></div>
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<i>Or what is yet to be.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>Yeah the wars, they will be fought again.</i></div>
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<i>The holy dove, she will be caught again.</i></div>
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<i>Bought and sold and bought again,</i></div>
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<i>The dove is never free.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>Ring the bells that still can ring.</i></div>
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<i>Forget your perfect offering.</i></div>
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<i>There is a crack, a crack in everything.</i></div>
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<i>That's how the light gets in.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>We ask for signs, the signs were sent.</i></div>
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<i>The birth betrayed, the marriage spent.</i></div>
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<i>Yeah the widowhood of every government: </i></div>
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<i>Signs for all to see.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>I can't run no more with that lawless crowd</i></div>
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<i>While the killers in high places say their prayers out loud.</i></div>
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<i>But they've summoned, they've summoned up a thunder cloud,</i></div>
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<i>They're gonna hear from me.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>Ring the bells that still can ring.</i></div>
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<i>Forget your perfect offering.</i></div>
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<i>There is a crack, a crack in everything.</i></div>
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<i>That's how the light gets in.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>You can add up the parts, you won't have the sum.</i></div>
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<i>You can strike up the march, there is no drum.</i></div>
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<i>Every heart, every heart to love will come.</i></div>
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<i>But like a refugee.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i>Ring the bells that still can ring.</i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i>Forget your perfect offering.</i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i>There is a crack, a crack in everything.</i></div>
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<i>That's how the light gets in.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i>Ring the bells that still can ring.</i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i>Forget your perfect offering.</i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i>There is a crack, a crack in everything</i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i>That's how the light gets in.</i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i>That's how the light gets in.</i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i>That's how the light gets in.</i></div>
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Next party, I say we all sing that together.</div>
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Keep celebrating! Keep singing!</div>
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And I hope more posts are in the near future of this 40 year old. </div>
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<br />moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-66468189155024042752016-09-29T23:04:00.001-07:002016-09-29T23:04:27.310-07:00Millview Ranch <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
The early trips to Apple Hill always just make me long desperately for fall. It feels wrong to be sweating in a tank top at a place selling pumpkins and gourds and hot apple cider.</div>
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Millview Ranch is up the street from my sister's house. It's my favorite apple ranch to take the kids because of the big old-west style playground. By the time we leave, they are brown with dust from head to foot.</div>
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But first, the girls each had a dollar to spend on an apple doughnut.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha0Ok-6KTcdeWhPaPk3APJtrJpAYo9e-g-XcwI5KcfUYyDBD7M7DKMycWvcmW5dI5CMaqloOh63tbSVtNPic2EKayIveqYiQa3WKuz4xoBOmWlcj3DIaRKVmUo8eR5wIDbHTaK06Rj7TNe/s1600/IMG_9547.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha0Ok-6KTcdeWhPaPk3APJtrJpAYo9e-g-XcwI5KcfUYyDBD7M7DKMycWvcmW5dI5CMaqloOh63tbSVtNPic2EKayIveqYiQa3WKuz4xoBOmWlcj3DIaRKVmUo8eR5wIDbHTaK06Rj7TNe/s640/IMG_9547.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Lots of deliberation for the big choice.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-p-LgO9ELTnahSiKpPyr8j3uk3_Dxsp91cFB55geaXn-HnY5tRXO3lyesPrJvr3IM-NE7rtObweYFJYbFWoAqu0k3S2s__C2t4oGexgbxYHUK-iGNhnCEjBwRMrv5YV9aiRTmhpLTE_rq/s1600/IMG_9550.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-p-LgO9ELTnahSiKpPyr8j3uk3_Dxsp91cFB55geaXn-HnY5tRXO3lyesPrJvr3IM-NE7rtObweYFJYbFWoAqu0k3S2s__C2t4oGexgbxYHUK-iGNhnCEjBwRMrv5YV9aiRTmhpLTE_rq/s640/IMG_9550.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg23g_XCVezINEksqbvB-g-80dAf16QU5wJFLWesubQEO_Uvb1kDCmdk-ZaWwEheK-v4A1E7GHIhumG0svEM5_wFcYs8T-YgV30C5c5cjzR7578u5Hg_ujBV2J3hpttvMuA3_t7SwY6yz4V/s1600/IMG_9549.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg23g_XCVezINEksqbvB-g-80dAf16QU5wJFLWesubQEO_Uvb1kDCmdk-ZaWwEheK-v4A1E7GHIhumG0svEM5_wFcYs8T-YgV30C5c5cjzR7578u5Hg_ujBV2J3hpttvMuA3_t7SwY6yz4V/s640/IMG_9549.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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After devouring our treats, the girls hit the playground, all homemade structures that lend themselves to wild little imaginations.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv__wTfumnePd2tUnyj5WKgdG-ezRGnUGymNnYlH03ElnQEry1sB3dxgeVWpFrpWRoG0LbwauJDOs1ff0sulHl8JtkGPVTtceM36-XOW1kH-pztoAfUmIChrKbEQq9ZKznXa-viJxDNXKF/s1600/IMG_9559.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv__wTfumnePd2tUnyj5WKgdG-ezRGnUGymNnYlH03ElnQEry1sB3dxgeVWpFrpWRoG0LbwauJDOs1ff0sulHl8JtkGPVTtceM36-XOW1kH-pztoAfUmIChrKbEQq9ZKznXa-viJxDNXKF/s640/IMG_9559.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Lucy is choosing most of her own outfits these days, and she has some real pizzazz.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYW1EB_2O1IhAKigyQsDCFRJsg0S5JxS8oi3o5wfXgoZcrHyjrly8v07jUkcY4oPfPKkpPyxBTlveWalR8RIadj7g0yK-wRa1XAeXR9EibIvyjcoYBXFKWHXIm9qEA8CXUHGRRqdedimmq/s1600/IMG_9570.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYW1EB_2O1IhAKigyQsDCFRJsg0S5JxS8oi3o5wfXgoZcrHyjrly8v07jUkcY4oPfPKkpPyxBTlveWalR8RIadj7g0yK-wRa1XAeXR9EibIvyjcoYBXFKWHXIm9qEA8CXUHGRRqdedimmq/s640/IMG_9570.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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The girls played "Little House on the Prairie." Polly likes to be baby Carrie, while Toot is always Laura. It pleases them very much to go by pretend names, and they call out exuberantly to each other. They gathered bits of leaves and twigs, and maybe some litter, to make a stew, and ran in from the "rainstorm" which evolved into a blizzard. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPqsSONlRz0cEmKDL3g99xn3-SzTk6VXkZTODZgd8bs4b3EBdW9isA6Lm65uDKBQ8Uj7at0YiKlO8lLRp5ysrruTU959JdPDS5M65VU9-Odlk63np6lEJEUylByASqxa0GfZd1SzbmZ2hE/s1600/IMG_9577.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPqsSONlRz0cEmKDL3g99xn3-SzTk6VXkZTODZgd8bs4b3EBdW9isA6Lm65uDKBQ8Uj7at0YiKlO8lLRp5ysrruTU959JdPDS5M65VU9-Odlk63np6lEJEUylByASqxa0GfZd1SzbmZ2hE/s640/IMG_9577.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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"Ma."</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg27EiBTYXNIBfD7cnyD7rkgdag22d0xFMabuM5eWsUgfAvYM4JZbh4RahPLRyW5decBq-hae2uK1VIH-ha_X2zQJ4BxH4P5E6unMe6R6wPuaNRC58G0O28HnfxbjWF3I3rVwfTbaZsxnhU/s1600/IMG_9596.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg27EiBTYXNIBfD7cnyD7rkgdag22d0xFMabuM5eWsUgfAvYM4JZbh4RahPLRyW5decBq-hae2uK1VIH-ha_X2zQJ4BxH4P5E6unMe6R6wPuaNRC58G0O28HnfxbjWF3I3rVwfTbaZsxnhU/s640/IMG_9596.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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"Pa."</div>
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Maybe our next apple doughnuts will be eaten on a cool day! And maybe that dust will even have been tamped down by rain. A girl can dream! </div>
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<br />moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-67471902818972028302016-09-15T11:37:00.003-07:002016-09-15T11:37:40.061-07:00Already Looking Back <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
In mid-July, we took an unusual camping trip: it was my first time taking both girls camping without Darin. We were with my family (Dad, Joey and Scout, Addie, Art and Utah) so I totally wasn't flying solo, but I did do our tent set-up and take down by myself and all the food prep and all the bathroom trips and headlamps and marshmallow roasting and teeth brushing and bedtimes and all that other stuff that comes with camping with tiny kids. </div>
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I loved it.</div>
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On our way to Bridgeport, Joey's car started overheating. Stopped in Markleeville to suss it out and let the kids run free a bit. Joey was stressed, but we decided to continue on, taking the backway through Nevada instead of over Monitor Pass. </div>
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And we made it to Bridgeport! I rocked out to beautiful mix CDs I made myself and this new guy Joey introduced me to, Andy Shauf. The girls are so good on the road nowadays, I can totally just veg out and let my mind wander. It's freeing and expansive, and makes me so happy to imagine how much I will always love traveling with them. </div>
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Of course, we immediately stopped at Jolly Kone. </div>
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Just a few miles outside town, up a gorgeous mountain road, is <a href="http://www.recreation.gov/camping/crags-campground/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=70758" target="_blank">Twin Lakes</a>. My family has come camping here for years, and thus our desire to return this year. Lately our smaller camping trips have given way to longer, more extended whole-family trips to more distant locales. This year we wanted to go back to our old stomping grounds. It was nice to find so much the same. Best of all to camp here in this bright mountain sun, surrounded by sagebrush and gentle Jeffrey pines, with all our little awestruck sprites along. The girls clambered out bursting with excitement and said, "let's go for a hike!" </div>
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They were ready to wander all the way to the top. We had to make them stay where we could see them. My girls were so rowdy! That's the one downside to traveling a long time in the car. When they get out they are READY TO RUMBLE. Tootie kicked dirt right through the mesh of Joey's tent and that's when we had a nice little talk. The dirt factor was out of control, the no-shoes-in-the-tent rule had never been more important. </div>
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There was quite a production when the girls found out that Papa had a tiny first aid kit with a band-aid for Scouty's fresh ouchie.</div>
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Still waiting for Addie's crew to show up, we headed up to the lake for the rest of the afternoon. Midweek remnants of beachgoers were packing up their shade tents. Along with a family of ducks, we pretty much had the beach to ourselves as dusk came on, the Sawtooth Range looking over us, like before, like always. </div>
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Headed back to camp for chili beans and rice; a bunch of hearty little girls ate well.</div>
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And then look who showed up! </div>
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Little cousins together in nature was the whole point of this trip. After dinner, all four of the little ones did crafts and drawing and played ring-around-the rosies together. It was pretty much too cute to bear. </div>
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There's nothing my girls love more than waking up to Scouty's face.</div>
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Addie and Art had their motorhome just a couple sites down from us. They joined us for all meals, stories, and festivities.</div>
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Verrrry friendly deer will visit your campsite and make themselves at home.</div>
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We packed up sandwiches and headed over to hang out at the lake for most of the day, where we rented a little motorboat to take out again and again. It was a busy day at the beach and our kids had fun watching bigger kids on SUPs and borrowing sandcastle toys. SO FUN.</div>
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First ever boat trip! They were enthralled.</div>
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Joey took turns giving all the girls splashy spins through the water, which made them shriek with delight. </div>
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This little gang just warms my heart right up. I hope I never forget this stage, just before Lucy turned four, when Utah was three and Polly and Scout were two. Just a big bundle of kid imagination, spirit, laughter and demands.</div>
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That's Pops out there on the boat by himself, zooming by to wave at the kids!</div>
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I stood and watched in terror as I realized I just let these two guys and their box of PBR leave with ALL four of the kids. (they were totally fine.)</div>
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They had a grand time.</div>
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It was cold but I had to get in one quick dunk!</div>
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Late afternoon, we headed back to camp to find the only shade by the back of our cars. We had a watermelon dirt street party. </div>
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Before dinner, Addie let the kids all come take a shower in the motorhome. Such a treat! I knelt by the little shower and bathed all three little girls at once, which was just adorable. Then we dressed them in clean clothes and socks and boots, and they explored the motorhome. On our way back to our site, the super sweet neighbors gave the kids bubbles to play with back at camp.</div>
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Artie was grilling us up some corn on the cob, which never tastes better than when you're in the mountains camping.</div>
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Champagne in plastic cups and pure beatty dorkness transferring seamlessly to the next generation.</div>
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Our little heavenly camp home.</div>
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The girls found a tiny dead snake in the road.</div>
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Our last morning on a whirlwind campout. We'll never get enough. </div>
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That Scouty is a pure delight.</div>
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Addie read us some <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Hunter_Austin" target="_blank">Mary Austin</a>, her favorite Eastern California Desert turn of the century writer. As Joey packed up to get going, Addie read aloud the story "The Cheerful Glacier" from Austin's book of short stories called The Basket Weaver. There were no dry eyes. I highly recommend her writing.</div>
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Lucy went over to the motorhome to spend some time with Addie and Utah and came back gussied up. Addie had tied one of her own blouses around her and with her boots and frizzed hair, she looked like a dreamy little gold rush mountain girl.</div>
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Polly was fussy that morning, so she stayed with me and we stopped to play in Robinson Creek together before heading back down the mountain to meet up with everyone in Bridgeport. It was a sweet parting gift, and she was cheerful the rest of the day.</div>
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Back in Bridgeport, walking my little troopers to the general store for snacks for the ride home. </div>
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While Addie explored the museum, the girls played with Utah at the park for a while before we hit the road for home.</div>
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It was only two nights, but the girls and I had such a wonderful time on this little camping trip to Twin Lakes. And even though we totally missed having daddy along, I found that it was super cozy to be snuggled with my two little cubs in our tent at night, and to do the work of camping as a little team. Just like all my favorite adventures, this one haunts me already. </div>
<br />moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-60175678145349884472016-07-31T22:25:00.001-07:002016-07-31T22:25:07.453-07:00Octonauts Birthday for my little Explorer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My little Lucy turned four years old! It is a shock to my system, sometimes, to look at her and see this big growing girl with long legs and unruly hair and a constant sparkle in her eye. She was my newborn baby just yesterday! Every mother says this, I know. But I seriously feel like I remember every day of her life so clearly. I remember the way she was practically born smiling, her ready smile and curious wakeful eyes even in her earliest weeks. I remember her big round baby face at ten months old, snuggling me in bed, always near, always cuddly, sturdy and soft in my arms. I remember her learning to walk in Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone, madcap and gleeful. </div>
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Tootie has always loved cartoonish characters. Even as a young baby she would thrill to the sight of Elmo's face across the thrift store, pointing with excitement. I never even introduced these things to her, she just naturally adored them. She has never been drawn to the "princess" type of cartoon character, but instead loves oddball types like robots, creatures, aliens and animals. I find it so interesting so see what different children are drawn to. Polly couldn't care less about cartoons or characters, has never really been into television shows or movies, and was never captivated by Elmo or Pooh or Totoro or Littlefoot the way Toot was. (Polly just loves babies.)</div>
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Anyway, no surprise that Tootie has been completely in love with the <a href="http://www.octonauts.com/" target="_blank">Octonauts </a>(the style of illustration is her favorite type) for quite a while now. They are a gang of animal creatures who live under the ocean in their big Octopod and go on missions to rescue and protect sea creatures. It took me a while to get to know these characters, but she would fill me in with details all the time. She is quite observant, knows the colors of their ears and the details of their suits, what function they serve and what they like. At the end of each brief episode (we watch on Netflix) there is a "Creature Report" with some educational facts about the real versions of the animals they protect. </div>
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Lucy has been talking about her Octonauts party probably since her last birthday!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wearing two little barrettes just like Dashi, her favorite character. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Birthday morning excitement</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trying out the hats we made.</td></tr>
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This was our first "commercial cartoon character" party and to tell the truth, I was not looking forward to that aspect of it. I don't really like the look and feel of store-bought, mass-produced, heavily marketed kid stuff and at first I didn't quite know how to go about throwing an "Octonauts" party while avoiding that type of consumerism. So even though it's not that easy to find Octonauts party stuff, that turned out to be fine because I decided to make all the decorations anyway. </div>
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Making big cardboard cut-outs is one of my favorite party preps, although it's the most time consuming. Tootie helped me glue the letters on our banner: "Explore Rescue Protect" is the Octonauts' mission statement. We hung blue and orange streamers and blew up simple balloons, many of which got popped earlier in the day. Even with the more commercial theme, it turned out to be maybe my favorite party to prepare. I loved making five big cardboard Octonauts: Captain Barnacles, Qwaazi, Tweak, Dashi, and Peso. I also ordered six handmade felt Octonauts masks from Etsy for an great price, and they were beautifully done. </div>
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Tootie helped me color in little signs for some of the foods. We went with a loose "sea life" theme, calling the kale salad "Seaweed salad," for instance, if only in our own minds. Baby carrots because Tweak the engineer bunny loves carrots, that sort of thing. </div>
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The fruit bowl was supposed to resemble Gup-A, the Octonauts' little deep water vehicle with a dangling headlight for the midnight zone.</div>
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I just served citrussy ice water for the kids.</div>
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Polly was so stoked when Abby arrived. She is so in love with this dog. She pulls around a little toy telephone and calls it her "Abby." She'll even say things like, "Abby wants to go to the river, Mommy. Abby loves water," and bring that broken phone thing in the car with us! One night she wanted to take it to bed, and it's a real clunker. Haha!</div>
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My mom made the cupcakes, vanilla with cream cheese frosting and little toppers that I ordered from etsy. And we were so lucky to have our big cousins in town for the party this year! Amy, Jarom, Bella and Oey basically led the PARADE of fun that day. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All little kids adore Orion. Something magical about that boy. He creates a fantasy land wherever he goes.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Her big moment! </td></tr>
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The best thing about these parties is just the pure element of HANG OUT. We love each other so much. You'd think we'd see a lot more of each other ... all of us. If it takes a four year old's birthday to bring us together all afternoon, so be it. </div>
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Out of all her sweet presents that day, this little woodland fawn named Phoebe from Sara was probably her favorite. She carried Phoebe around constantly the first few days, likes to snuggle her at night, dresses and undresses her, and makes up stories about her. We even went to the website to look at the other <a href="http://hazelvillage.com/" target="_blank">Hazel Village</a> creatures, and now Polly fantasizes about having one of her very own too.</div>
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Birthdays are a whirlwind. Her party was so, so fun, (I actually took like half the pictures I usually take this year!) but I decided that the day-after is actually the best day ever. The girls played together so sweetly all day. We were still wrapped in the birthday glow, but everything was super mellow. I finally had time to pause and daydream and reflect upon the fact that I have a four year old child. And she is a bright and beautiful light on this earth. </div>
<br />moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3659636033906880131.post-26836715509976452652016-07-28T15:13:00.001-07:002016-07-28T15:15:30.570-07:00A Coastal Anniversary - Part Two, Bodega Bay<div style="text-align: center;">
We had big plans for peace and quiet as we traveled south, but kind of forgot it was a three day weekend for fourth of July. There was a huge fireworks display planned in Bodega Bay on Saturday night that we hadn't even been aware of, so now I understood why it was so hard to book a room even a month in advance! </div>
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Our drive down to Bodega Bay was gorgeous of course,with those unforgettable views that I fell in love with so long ago and that now bring me back to circles of time just like so many things these days. The mundane act of driving becomes magical. Music plays that has become the soundtrack to my memories: Grandaddy, Elliott Smith, Lucinda Williams, Ryan Adams. Little forest nooks around every tight curve, tucked into eucalyptus and pine, rusty shacks and crumbling rooftops, airstream trailers and VW busses create dreams of other lifetimes. I see the drop of the cliff and the tops of the redwoods and the magnificent canvas of ocean that would catch us all and it's like traveling for a while on god's most majestic tightrope.</div>
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We checked in at <a href="http://bodegaharborinn.com/" target="_blank">Bodega Harbor Inn</a> with our customary excitement and general enthusiastic approval. No kitchenette here, but the vibe was super laid-back, it's dog friendly so the girls were in heaven, and there's a big wide front yard for kids to run amok, presided over by a row of colorful lawn chairs for parents to lounge. </div>
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We explored town a little, bought some deli stuff for a picnic dinner, and found a little playground right up the street at the elementary school. (Note to future self: it's really hard for non-seafood-enthusiasts to find anything to eat in Bodega Bay. Plan accordingly)</div>
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A youth group showed up to play basketball while we were there. We met the leader who grew up on a neighboring dairy ranch. Two little boys made it their mission to show off as many playground tricks as they could to us. </div>
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We walked around the school a little bit and fell in love with this community mosaic.</div>
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We made our way up the coast to a pretty view just in time for sunset, making a cozy nest in the back of the van and pretending the sun's sinking show was a drive-in movie. </div>
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Darin did some photography....</div>
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Guess who got to stay up late reading? ;)</div>
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Morningtime motel breakfast accompanied by a strong case of bedhead.</div>
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Nursing break.</div>
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Tootie collected these dried snailshells and had about five of them she wanted to bring home. We later forgot to bring them with us on our way home, so she was devastated and spent a tearful half hour or so trying to call and have the staff mail them to us.</div>
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Saturday we headed down to Point Reyes National Seashore.</div>
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Busy day at the Visitor Center!</div>
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Stump dance.</div>
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We took the long drive out to Drake's Beach out near the lighthouse on the ocean side of the peninsula, but it was so absolutely foggy and windy over there that literally no one was there. We had expected crowds. Saw a lady in a parka practically in tears getting back to her SUV. We thought we were tough, tried to brave it, but even we wussed out. </div>
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I've always loved his seaside hair.</div>
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Then the girls fell asleep in the car, so Darin and I made the executive decision to head back up to Bodega Bay where, even though it may be foggy, it wasn't near as bitterly cold. It meant we spent way too much of the day in the car, but it worked out: the girls woke up just as we arrived at Salmon Creek Beach, stoked and ready to play. It was totally packed so Darin dropped us off to make our way down to the beach while he parked the van. We took our time meandering down,; as soon as we got to the bottom of the wooden staircase they plopped in the sand, ecstatic. And it wasn't even too chilly to get into bathing suits a bit later. It turned into a perfect beach afternoon which was all the girls had wanted anyway. </div>
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I love this girl's little beachy lion mane too.</div>
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Making "potato soup."</div>
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We knew we wanted to make it into Sebastopol in time for dinner at an old favorite joint, <a href="http://www.papasandpollo.com/" target="_blank">Papas and Pollo</a>. Missa had mentioned that they expanded their outdoor seating and had a kids' play area. Once we got there, it really sunk in what a great idea this was. They really upped the ante.</div>
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Even the food seemed like it tasted better...?? Or maybe that was just after 24 hours of crusty bayside deli food out of the ice cooler. </div>
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When I asked if the fireworks were visible from the front lawn, the owner of the inn told me that they used to be, but that the trees across the way had grown too tall, so "now we just cross the street and watch from Diekmann's store." So that's what we did. It was so fun to be out with hundreds of other revelers, families and teenagers and grandmas and all in between, bundled up and excited for the show. </div>
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The girls were so excited to stay up extra late, riding on our shoulders as we walked and waited, they were chanting at the top of their lungs, "FIREWORKS FIREWORKS BOOM BOOM BOOM." </div>
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Unfortunately once the show finally started, a thick fog had settled in that made only the bottom half of the fireworks visible, but hey, we didn't care. We even busted out the glow sticks and continued the party on the motel lawn.</div>
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Next morning: styrofoam cups of cocoa (more on the rug and the towel than in the cup) toast and toesies. </div>
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Hard to say good-bye to our little home away from home.</div>
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But it made it easier once we said we were heading to a park in Sebastopol.</div>
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We grabbed breakfast at another old favorite haunt from when we lived here, <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/grateful-bagel-sebastopol" target="_blank">Grateful Bagel</a>. </div>
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Then we set off for a stroll around downtown Sebastopol.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPGqVaEy3ktZkm7UtOxJFTZM5XHWOu849TwuDD_YbYDwtGxFV2cftV7zE3vAjNvzTq-dkDCt0BBC_xulAOPUdOODcQKpZWBOJDoRQcs89val7cPftZ6Nz9D4M3eQ3tQiDJ_z6jkGcsfwoI/s1600/IMG_0342.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPGqVaEy3ktZkm7UtOxJFTZM5XHWOu849TwuDD_YbYDwtGxFV2cftV7zE3vAjNvzTq-dkDCt0BBC_xulAOPUdOODcQKpZWBOJDoRQcs89val7cPftZ6Nz9D4M3eQ3tQiDJ_z6jkGcsfwoI/s640/IMG_0342.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/copperfields-books-sebastopol" target="_blank">Copperfield's </a>Books has the BEST kids' section. </div>
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But we also found some gems in the used bookstore, <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/mockingbird-books-sebastopol-sebastopol" target="_blank">Mockingbird</a>. </div>
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And then the most important stop: <a href="http://www.screaminmimisicecream.com/" target="_blank">Screamin' Mimi's</a> for delicious homemade ice cream. I worked here for a year back in 2003 and, thankfully, not much has changed. Peppy young people serving up scrumptious and unusual flavors all made on site with the finest ingredients. I had the signature flavor, Mimi's Mud (espresso ice cream with thick fudge) in a homemade waffle bowl with hot fudge. I used to make the hot fudge, so I know the deliciously rich ingredients that go into it, butter and cream and cocoa and imported vanilla, yes please! I'm a lifelong fan, and the whole visit, the warm smell of waffle cones cooking, the mellow hippie clientele, the flavor samples in tiny delicate spoons of coconut lime and other treats, the salty taste of cajeta in Tootie's scoop, it all took me right back to when I worked here with Nichole and Brianna and other buddies years ago. (See the end of <a href="http://moonshinejunkyard.blogspot.com/2015/10/make-new-friends-but-keep-old.html" target="_blank">this post</a> for an old pic.) I even waited on Tom Waits and his wife Kathleen at this counter once. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqFDjXLvq9skj666qH73s1_QWxBwnpvh02VZwb60OGMHdgS2XkNjHSPusbk8B6TFA2C_sstVgasliGnBWgVNScDuj_3sRBWmq567MxH8u_rBLfAFbe4I2nVXWjUYmJFR_y4nNtpoOfWFLj/s1600/IMG_0348.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqFDjXLvq9skj666qH73s1_QWxBwnpvh02VZwb60OGMHdgS2XkNjHSPusbk8B6TFA2C_sstVgasliGnBWgVNScDuj_3sRBWmq567MxH8u_rBLfAFbe4I2nVXWjUYmJFR_y4nNtpoOfWFLj/s640/IMG_0348.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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It was hard to leave town, just too fun to be out running and around and exploring with this gang. At the very last moment I jumped out and ran back into Copperfields to buy the new Terry Tempest Williams book, <a href="http://www.coyoteclan.com/books.html" target="_blank">The Hour of Land,</a> a gorgeous signed copy I'd been eyeing. It felt so good in my hands as I jumped back in the van where Darin was waiting in the alley. We were in high spirits, richly refreshed. I felt like I could go home now. </div>
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<br />moonshinejunkyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02401889178583608877noreply@blogger.com1