...while it lasted.

This is a picture that I took first thing in the morning yesterday. No snow but we got ICE. Today we are at the tailend of an ice storm. Yesterday we were truly in the middle of it. It was Martin Luther King Jr. Day so we laxed on the homeschool. We were going to walk down to the library and participate in the MLKJD festivities that they have there every year. Artie has got a job at Saratoga Coffee Traders and we decided that we would walk her to work then we would go on to the library. We walked because our van is at the garage where the mechanic is trying to figure why we don't have any heat. (it's because something is wrong with the radiator but they can't find any leaks in the radiator which means they now have to search in the engine. it is starting to sound expensive!)
This is the next picture that I took. Notice that we haven't put away our hose yet. Personally, I keep forgetting because the weather here has been so absurdly mild. I think that I'm going to leave it there so that I can be reminded that Spring is on it's way. And when it gets here I'll have to buy a new hose.
So, we putzed around in the morning. Xan and I did some reading. We folded laundry. We talked about all the ice outside. I made us all sausage, scrambled eggs, and toast for breakfast. Then it was time to bundle up and trek downtown. There was one tense moment when no one could figure out where Artie's snow boots are. The case has not been solved but we had a pair of rubber boots that fit her handy. (I swear that I unpacked them...but maybe I am having a memory of years gone by.) Then the power went out. No worries. We have a gas stove and a propane heater that we use in our booth sometimes. We are good if the power stays out.
We are off. It is very icey out there!! Artie and I choose to walk in the road where there is not a thin layer of black ice waiting to catch your ass. Michael has on his "Yaktrax". He is immune to ice now. He got them last year to use walking to the kiln and back outside. They are these metal gidgie things that you attach to the bottom of your shoes.
So, we are off. It is beautiful outside. Everything is covered in a thick layer of ice. It's an ice world out there. We walk Artie to work and then head down to the library. The picture above is off the trees outside the library. The library is closed. No festivities. It's the first time I have ever seen the parking lot empty.
So we do what anyone else would do...we play with the ice. We are having a blast getting as big a piece as we can and then smashing it on the ground. Very theraputic, very fun. We did that for a while then we walked back to Saratoga Coffee for some hot drinks and a rousing game of Scrabble.
When we got home the power was still out. I shoveled ice off of our sidewalk outside. Michael and Xan set up a candle wonderland inside.
I did the dishes and made dinner by headlamp. After dinner a friend of ours who had power picked us up and we went over to the land of electic and played a game. When we got home at 10 the power was back on.
The magic hour was over and the TV got turned on.
It was fun while it lasted.

...just what I need.

It's official. I've booked us on a flight out of Albany, NY on Feb. 21st. We are flying to Tucson via 3 lay-overs. First we fly to Chicago, then Omaha (this is the excuse I've needed to get to Nebraska), then Denver, then finally Tucson. The destination. We'll be in Arizona for 9 days. We fly out at midnight on March 2nd and arrive back to Albany on Saturday morning of the 3rd.
Doesn't all that sound like fun?
A vacation. We get a vacation. I am delirious with disbelief and anticipation. Our lives have been so emotionally distraught since Michael's mom passed away. A vacation is just what we need.
We used to live in Tucson and it will be so nice to be with old friends. Friends that have known us for over 15 years. Friends who know us and know what kind of people we are (not the kind of people that my sister-in-law keeps saying that we are).
We arrive just in time to go and see the Tucson Rodeo Parade. It is the largest non-motorized parade in the country. We will go the Arizona Ren Fair and visit with our Florida Ren Fair friends that have changed venues this year (good for us because we get to see them). We will drive up to Phoenix and see Jane. Yippee!! And we will go to Art Celebration in Scottsdale to check out the show. We have two artist friends there that we will visit with.
Xan is going to spend a night working in the kitchen at Janos Restaurant in Tucson. Michael worked for Janos when we lived in Tucson. Janos is an innovative and charismatic chef and has graciously agreed to spend time with our chef wanne-be daughter. This is a major thrill!!!
Now if we can just make it to Feb. 21 without bursting.
Time in the desert is just what I need.

...from the well

This is Artie arriving from WA. Happy family.

This is the makeshift menorah that Michael made because our other menorah is packed away.

This is our Dr. Suess style gingerbread house that we made.

Annalise wrote and asked if I had fallen down the well again. Yep.
It all started at the beginning of Chanukah when we finally received an appraised inventory of my mother-in-law's personal property. I spent some time going over the list and then looking at pictures that we have from the interior of her home before she passed away. It soon became clear that there were things that I was seeing in the pictures that I wasn't finding in the list. One thing led to another and Michael and I spent Chanukah creating our own list of items that we could not find.
On the Friday before Xmas Michael, Xan, and I came down with the stomach flu (my second round). We had to postpone leaving for my Mom's for a day. We had a funny thing happen on the way to MA. We were driving on the Mass Pike. I was driving and looked in my side mirror. There was a small car coming up in the fast lane with an Xmas tree roped to the top. I told everyone to look out at the car that had it's Xmas tree on the top. The car passes us and it turns out to be some friends of ours from Saratoga. We called each other on our cells and met at the rest area. We had a fun visit with them with no hugs because we were getting over the flu. Our friends were going to their family's house and bringing a tree to set up and decorate. How fun, huh?
So everything is good until Xmas night and after dinner Michael and Xan revisit the stomach flu and Artie gets a whopping, nasty respiratory flu. The poor kid was congested within an inch of her life. My mother has a sort of boy friend, a bridge partner, that joined us for Xmas dinner. My mom and he drank before dinner, had a bottle of wine at dinner, and then drank 1/2 a bottle of Drambuie after dinner. My mom woke up in the wee hours of the morning quite ill. I think that she did not get the stomach flu, I think that she poisoned herself with alcohol. I must admit that I felt like the "typhoid terras".
There was no going to see "Blue Man Group", no driving up to NH to stay with our best friend Andy, no going to Maine and having a lobster dinner, no seeing our friend Toby in Maine, no fun trip to LL Bean, and no going to the La Cruset outlet to look at groovy cookware. I didn't even get to visit with my brother because he couldn't come over because we were all sick. We stayed at my Mom's the whole time and watched a billion hours of TV. She has dish so we got to see many movies. I found the groovy health food store in New Bedford and got to know them pretty well over there. I got to visit with them 3 times. I can't tell everyone enough how good the Boiron homeopathic remedies are. They saved us!!
We are back home now. I have a cold and feeling marginal. Everyone else seems healthy and happy. Artie still has a nasty cough but she's in good health.
Yep...that was my second trip down the well.
I work at the Saratoga Farmers Market and last Saturday all the talk was about Global Warming and how sick everyone has been this season. We still have no snow here....very weird! and I am a walking testimony as to how sick everyone has been.
I hope all my cyber friends had healthy, happy, merry ones!
I am now planning a vacation. I decided that we need to get away and have some fun. So we are thinking of AZ. Flying into Tucson and visiting there and driving up to Phoenix to do some visiting there. I'm just waiting to talk to our lawyer and see if the timing is good. He might tell us that our timing sucks and we need to stick around and be available for estate stuff. I really hope not!!!
Hello to all from the well.

BACK FROM MY TRIP DOWN THE WELL

It's been so long I can't even fathom where to start. First it was the nagging never ending cold which would go away and then come back after a weekend art show. Then it seemed like it was art show after show. Then it seemed like I was not having any time to rest during the day because I'm the "teach" and if I don't homeschool Xan, who will. Then I got the flu just as we were preparing to leave for 2 back to back shows and be gone for two weeks which changed the schedule to Michael and Xan leaving for one show without me and then they had to drive home to pick me up for the other. Then it was our best and busiest show of the year in Chicago with me just getting over the flu. Then we arrive back home to have Artie arrive home (Yippee!!!) and now Michael, Xan, and I all have the flu. And, of course, this all has to happen during our busiest time of the year.
And how is everyone else? My dear cyber-space companions. I haven't even read anyone's blog in ages. I feel like I dropped down a well or something. I am wondering how Mons flummen's surgery went. I have been holding her very dear to my heart this week. I want to know all about Jane's births she's attending...I do so miss her quick wit. I wonder if Annalise finally got her house and what terrific places her family has been to and what books on tape they listened to on the way.
Happy Holiday's everyone. I don't think we are expecting a white christmas it is presently raining this day before the day before christmas. This is the day after the longest night of the year, the Winter Solstice (we missed the solstice celebration/ritual at the UU church last night becuase we are sick). It is also the day after Chanukkah. In my house we celebrate them all. Mostly, the 2 latter.
I wish for peace to enter all your lives. For your days to be as enjoyable and soft as a purring cat. I wish that humans will wake up and do everything that they can to help save our mother earth (watched an Inconvenient Truth this week). I hope that love abounds in your lives.
Hopefully I'm back from my trip down the well.....

UNTIL NEXT TIME

Hey, I'm still sick. Still have this crummy cold. I am very tired of green snot. Yep, I'm infected. The best remedy I have found this time around has been raw garlic. Am I the only person on the planet who has a hard time eating raw garlic? It burns. How come Michael has a geographic tongue (meaning his tongue has more surface area than most other tongues and it is very weird) and raw garlic doesn't burn his tongue.
Every day for the past week I have been dutifully getting out the spelt bread, slathering it with butter (we get an Amish butter roll that is to die for) and then I squeeze a clove of garlic on it and eat it. Tears roll down my face. I like the taste of it but it burns my mouth and it burns on the way down. Oh poor me...I'm still sick and we are going into our crazy, busy time of year.
This week I had to drive Michael to a show in Hartford, CT because he was too sick (we kiss, what can I say?) to set up on his own. It is only a 2 1/2 hour drive so Xan and I took him down and then came back home because Xan is in a chorus and they had a concert on Friday night. Michael is sharing a hotel room with a friend and today we drive back to the show to break down our booth. Ya gotta do what you gotta do, right?
Before Xan and I leave for CT I am going to take all of our food off of our shelves and rearrange everything. Doesn't that sound fun? It's all part of the rubic cube lifestyle that I have at the moment. Since I packed up most of our kitchen stuff and now we are staying I need to make do with what we have blah, blah, blah.... I am also trying to rearrange furniture and such to make room for the arrival of Michael's inherited things (Yes, it's all still a bloody mess!). That mean's that I am going to rearrange the food on the shelves so that when inherited furniture arrives we can take some of the cabinets out to make room. I have this gut feeling that we are going to be notified like 1 day in advance that it's time to pick up the stuff. That's how it happened in September. The pick-up never happened because my sister-in-law was demanding that her brother's sign blank receipts for the stuff that she said was their portion of the equal distribution of the personal property. Of course they didn't sign anything....it was blank...they did not know what they were getting. The rest of that tale is more bullshit. I am refraining from telling all because we are still in the middle of it. One day when this is all over I'll put it all down for all to read.
So I am off to the kitchen for some rearranging fun. Yesterday I made 3 batches of strawberry jam with the strawberries that I had frozen in the freezing. I bought 5 organic, freshly slaughtered chickens (I helped slaughter last year and couldn't this year because of my crummy cold. It's a very ancestral experience and I'm sorry that I couldn't participate this year) from my farmer friends and I needed to rearrange my freezer to make them fit. Thus I had to make jam.
Is there end in sight? Is Victoria going to spend all winter rearranging her apartment? Will she still be sick next week? Stay tuned, same blog, same weary woman writing it. Until next time....

FOR ELOISE, WITH LOVE

I have been taking a weaving class. Not only do I love to weave but it's the only time that I get to go do something that is just for me. I pay $6 an hour for the opportunity to leave my family behind and emerse myself in something that I like to do. I find it funny (I mean funny as in strange) that I get to pay someone for my opportunity to leave my family behind. Sound familiar women? A couple of years ago I was thinking about taking the class and one of my daughters thought that it was so cool and they wanted to do it to. Instead of saying "no, this is my time" I just never did anything about it. Now I'm over that and I've been taking classes since the spring.
This is a scarf that I made for my friend Eloise.

She graduated from acupuncture school this past spring. I chose to use fibers that came from non-animals (cotton and rayon) and I chose to use specific colors for their healing properties.

Green for balance (and it's the color of american money), purple for serenity, and white for connecting to one's higher self.
Eloise is an amazing woman that I know and love. I am so pleased that she is out there "filling her cup" and doing her thing to make the planet a better place.
For Eloise, with love.

AND SO MUCH MORE.....

Wow. I'm back. My pinky finger is feeling much better. It's still not a pretty sight but it's not hurting like it did. As for my cold...I've got that Lauren Bacall husky, sexy voice thing going on and I need to take a nap every afternoon. We were in New Hamshire this weekend (another blog entry) and we went to the state liquor store and bought a bottle of Jim Bean so that we can have hot toddies at night. If nothing else I get loopy enough to get a decent night's sleep.
This is going to be a brief blog because I need to get dinner going and I have my weaving class this evening.
I want to share some Halloween pictures with you all.....
Halloween is one of our favorite holidays. We set up our 10x10 Easy Up tent out in front of the house and give out hot mulled cider to the grown ups and non edible treats to the kids. This year we had tombstone stickers, halloween tattoos, bloody hands and feet (these were sticky and gushy), and trick candy (they looked like taffy but when you unwrapped them there was a plastic bug inside). We order all our non edible goodies from the Oriental Trading Company. It's the most amazing outlet of cheap crap that I have ever come across. It's amazing the shit you can buy in gross. This is a picture of our set up this year...

This is a better picture of Michael's pumpkin. Pretty cool, huh?

This is Xan and her friend Gretchen. Gretchen is the little old lady who bakes and Xan is her plate of chocolate chip cookies. What a crack up they were....

Lastly, this is a dish that Xan made for us. She makes dinner one night a week and the week before Halloween she made spaghetti with eyeballs.....

This is my brief post about Halloween. I hope that everyone else had as much fun as we did.
There is so much more to catch you all up on....a scarf I made for a friend, my mother's quilted clothing fashion show, and so much more.....

OUCH

Can you kinda sorta see my finger? The nail on my pinky? I got it slammed in the car door on Sunday morning. And to top it all off I have a crummy head cold.
So many wonderful things to type and my pinky is pretty sore. Hard to type.
Will return, ouch, in a few days, ouch.

OUR LABORIOUS ENDEAVORS

Yesterday's moving of all of our stuff went really well. We were aided by Xan's friend, Gretchen, and that made all the difference. Gretchen is strong and she kept Xan cheerful. So, everything is moved. My living room still looks like "early college" because of all the stuff I brought inside that I have to sort. But, we are all happy campers.
Last night we went to a Halloween/Sowhein party at our friends' Bairbre and Hanks house.
This is Bairbre's website. We got to know each other when we played sisters in "Dancing At Lughnasa". A great play and way fun being her sister!
Here are our hosts:
They are up at the bonfire.
And here are some more pictures of other party goers:
This is Andrew. I just loved his costume. He also made ice lanterns that he put candles in and had outside. I wish I had thought to take a picture of them. This is how I think you make the ice lanterns. You fill a balloon with water and put it into the freezer. The ice is going to form from the outside in and in a day or two (I think that he said two days for his) you are going to empty out the water inside the frozen ball. Make a hole in the top and empty out the inside water. Put it back into the freezer and take it out when you want to use it. Put a candle inside and you are ready to party! I gave Andrew this blog address so, if I'm wrong...leave a comment and correct me.

This is our neighbor Kara. She's a riot.

And her daughter, Elisabeth. She had a stuffed cat pinned her butt and was walking around asking everyone if they had seen her cat. What a hoot.

This is "Wonder Bread Girl" and her sidekick "Mushroom Sister". The older used to be in a dance class with Artie and I've forgotten her name. If Artie wants to leave a comment and remind me that would be nice..hint...hint. "wonder Bread Girl" brought back fond memories of going on field trips to the Wonder Bread factory as a kid. I remember coming home with a loaf of Wonder Bread and thinking that I was just the bee's knees.

And lastly, Michael and I went as delegates to Star Fleet (now is that one word or two?). I walked around and in very slow speed with a made up accent saying, while pointint to my Star Fleet emblem, "SSStaaarrr FFFFlllleeeeeet". Then I would nod and put out my hand to shake. Michael was saying, "Don't blame us, we're not from here." I love this picture because Michael looks like a pre-occupied kid.

We just love Halloween and the party going was a great reward for all of our laborious endeavors.

GOING TO BATTLE...

We have created a bunch of work for ourselves here at Terra Cottage.
The first, and most pressing, and time consuming is the moving of our posessions from one place in the house to another. Ahhh, the constant shifting of our shit (I truly mean our most prized and cherished household items that are packed in boxes ready to be lovingly moved out to Lopez).
That's right folks. I was very busy this summer packing up all our stuff. Leaving only what we couldn't live without using unpacked for the the last minute packing that I was going to be doing in July, no wait August, Ok September, What? October. Now, as you all know, we have decided that we are going to stay the winter and hopefully, HOPEFULLY move in March, maybe April. Victoria will be a raving lunatic if it's May.
As a result, our school bus (Big Red) is stuffed with boxes, my livingroom's got the decor of "early college", and we are in the process of doing the rubic cube manuevers of the poor and infamous. This week we took the kitchen table that Michael made to fit our kitchen here and replaced it with a table that my Mom gave us this summer. Now the replacement table is a bit wider than the old one but we needed to get it out of the living room where is was leaning up against all the boxes. I am going to have to take a picture of my her (I really think it's a she) and show you all. It's a table that my mom was using in her studio and I think that it came from my maternal grandmother. She (my table) is probably from the late 1800's and has the most beautiful legs and feet that you ever saw. Kitchen Table (that's her name for now) was fun to set up. Setting up a piece of family history and her being so gorgeous was a treat.
TODAY we are heading out into the garage. UCK.... the garage. The back room of the garage is full of junk. It's one of the places where we just dumped the stuff that we don't know what do with. I think that I've got clothes hanging out there from the conception of our owning this house. It must be cleaned out so that we can get our box decor out of the living room, out of Artie's part of the girl's room, and out of Big Red (we must sell BR for a larger school bus...and that's another blog, trust me). All because we decided that we are staying the winter and Victoria is going to pop a gasket if we don't make our living quarters livable. That's makes today "garage day". We've put off "garage day" for a while. Of course, who wants to deal with a bunch of stuff that you haven't missed in years. And it requires LABOR. And it requires that we do it TOGETHER because I'll be damned if I'm going out there all by myself. Oh no...this misery definetely needs company.
It is time to go outside and move the car.
I am going to end this missive with promises to post pictures of Kitchen Table (J...you were such an inspiration with Ethan Allen).
Think of me fondly for I am going to battle....

PROBABLY

A conversation with Xan while we are in our booth...

Xan: Mom I'm hungry.
Me: There are chicken salad sandwiches in the cooler.
Xan: I don't want that.
Me: Ok, there are also apples, have one of those for now.
Xan: I am going to eat the apple and I am not going to have the sandwich.
Me: Yeah you are. You can't just eat the apple for lunch.
Xan: Why not?
Me: Because even though the apple is great food it is natural sugars and the sandwich has protein. You need the protein. You must eat the sandwich.
Xan: Mah-om you know that I hate tuna and chicken salads. If I eat that sandwich I will barf.
Me: This does not have to be your favorite sandwich. You need to eat the sandwich.
Xan: Than I am going to barf on your head.
Me: Then you will probably get no treats today...probably.

GETTING READY.....

Have to get ready for a show and procrastinating.....

1. FIRST NAME? Victoria

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? The queen. Mom is an anglophile.

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Monday morning when I turned the phone back on (I never turn the phone off) and there was a message from Artie needing to have a "mommy talk" because she missed me. Learned my lesson....I am NEVER shutting off the phone again.

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? I live with an artist who has really cool handwriting. Mine is boring and nondescript.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Umm? Honey roasted turkey, I think.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Oh jeez, I certainly hope so. I like to think that I've grown into being a desirable friend.

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Only here, baby.


8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Why yes I do.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No way!!!!

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Oatmeal with maple syrup and soymilk. Does that count as cereal?

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? With laces....yes. Tevas....no.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Emotional rock....physical?....read my last blog entry.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Coffee, hands down.

14. SHOE SIZE? 8 to 9

15. RED OR PINK? ICK! Neither really. But, I must admit that I just bought the most cool pair of leather high top sneakers that have stitching on them like they are cowboy boots. It's more of a "left to center" pink so they are acceptable to me.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My pointy nose or the stress hump that I am developing at the base of my neck right up above my shoulder blades or the fact that I am a very self conscious or that I hold things inside and don't fully express myself. "These are a few of my least favorite things..oom pa pa...omm pa pa"

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My grandfather, Dado (long o). He had the gift of truly paying attention to someone. I have only met one other person in my life who can do that. Dado was a treasure.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Don't get it....going on....

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? I'm in my pj's. They are peachy colored with violet and blue flowers on them printed on waffle cotton. I love pajamas!


20. LAST THING YOU ATE? A chocolate covered oreo. Michael and Xan went to a gallery opening of Michael's work in Northampton, MA on Friday while stayed and worked in our booth at a local show. They went to two different chocolate stores and brought home truffles to try and some other goofy chocolate covered things. I was pleasantly surprised by the oreo. I'm not a big oreo fan. The dark chocolate covered ginger was my favorite.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The hum of the computor, the occasional car driving by, my keyboarding, and I'm sniffling (think a cold is coming on).

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? I want to be a beeswax crayon made by this woman I use to know on Lopez. She made the most amazing colors from these powders that she had. She made them for her children. Can you believe that? I want to be irredescent (sp?).

23. FAVORITE SMELL? Low tide.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Miss Artie.

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Eyes. Smiles.

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON YOU STOLE THIS FROM? Yes, very much.

27. FAVORITE DRINK? I have a few. Apple Cider mixed with Goya ginger beer, Moose Drool (Micro-brewery beer from Missoula, MT), water...always water.

28. FAVORITE SPORT? I like to watch figure skating.

29. EYE COLOR? Brown.

30. HAT SIZE? No clue. But, I do have a small head. Round hips, small head...go figure.

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No.

32. FAVORITE FOOD? Too many to list.

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Scary Movies.

35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Fall.

36. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs.

37. FAVORITE DESSERT? Creamy chocolate things.

38. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Jane and Annalise.

39. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Everybody else.

40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel & Abarat by Clive Barker.

41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE Pad? Don't have a mouse pad.

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? The last 4 episodes of "Surface" on DVD.

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? The ocean, rain on window panes, wind in the trees, laughter.

44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Beatles.

45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? Saudi Arabia...at the time it was home.

46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? Loving it all.

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Concord, MA.

48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? I copied it from Jane.

And this is how I have productively spent my time getting ready......

I MUST DO THIS AGAIN

On Sunday Xan and I went on a hike with our friends Terry and Mark. Terry and Mark are our best friends here in Saratoga and they get out into nature whenever they can. Terry and Mark are going to come out and live in our house on Lopez Island when we take off for our year abroad. The point here is that I love them and trust them.
On Friday night at dinner together they invited Xan and I to go on a hike with them up north in the Adirondacks. Michael was in Baltimore doing a show and Xan & I stayed home to go to a wedding. So, yeah, why not? A hike sounds nice. Xan and I would love to join them for a nice day outside.
We got picked up at 7am (after a late night because of the wedding) and drove 1 1/2 hours north to some trailhead somewhere admist mountain peaks. Mark had brought a hat for Xan (haven't unpacked winter stuff yet that is in a box in the bus with all the other things that I have packed to go home and now we're not until the Spring) and 3 water bottles for us. I only took two, they were big we didn't need three (and water is heavy, you know). I had a backpack with sandwiches, extra socks, chocolate covered ginger, apples, and almonds. What more does one need? Again, in life, I am humbled.
I didn't ask where we were going? I knew that is was an all day affair and that Terry had a potroast in the crockpot for us waiting at home. I was thinking about a nice hike/walk in the woods.
We hiked up Cascade Mountain. 2 1/2 miles up. Did you see that "UP"? I am not a totally unfit, out of shape, 44 yr. old. Or so I thougth. I have been humbled into the realization that I am a really totally unfit, out of shape, 44 yr. old. About 3/4 of the way up I could of layed down and wept. But of course I am with 3 other people and I can't stop.
Mark has a GPS unit and every once and while he would take it out and tell us how far we've gone. "Well thank-you, Mark!" because it was never far enough. We were never at least 1/2 way there to the elusive summit.
Lots of people passed us. I told my companions that if the couple from Quebec with the small toddler passes us than we know we are really slow. They passed us. We got to chat with the people hiking down that had passed us on the way up. I learned that I can still be charming and engaging even when I think my heart is going to pound out my ears and I my thighs are going to quiver off my body.
At one point, when we truly were half up the mountain, there was a group of kids coming up fast behind us. Our party stopped and moved off to the side to let them pass. I shook every kids' hand and welcomed them to the half-way point and told them what a great job they were doing. "Yeah, yeah, right, wacko lady"
Terry and Mark had planned that we would get to the peak and then hike another 1 1/2 miles RT to another peak. Had to let them down on that one. I'm a one peak kinda gal. Xan too. We were whipped but we made it to the top. And yes, it was truly an astounding view. Worth the struggle up. Worth the bad thoughts I was having about healthy, vibrant people.
At the peak, there is a cairn. A beautiful, beautiful cairn:

I took a picture of Xan:

Xan got a picture of me:

Believe it or not...the descent was a breeze. OK until the last 1/2 mile and my legs were feeling like some sort of squiggly desert. The peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches were devine. We dranked all of our water. After Xan and I powered through the first bottle on the way up we figured we better conserve it. We did and it all worked out.
All in all it was a fabulous day!!! I mean it, really. All complaining and funny storytelling aside. What a view! Terry and Mark have the pictures of us at the top. And...my "Wild Ravens" friends (this is their celtic art biz, the link is in my index) were blessed with 7 ravens at the peak. Watching Mark run with his camera and dive and stand way to close to the edge of the rocks photographing the birds was a wonderous and terrifying sight.
Monday morning I could barely move. Sunday night I woke up and took 4 tylenol and finished reading my book. Now it is Friday morning and I'm feeling much like my ol' self again.
Spectacular view.
Invigorating hike.
Wonderous nature.
Me?..out of shape and humbled again.
I must do this again.

HE LIKES PUNS

Funny story...Michael is working on these "cuppa joes" for someone and he mailed them these pictures. Now the person who ordered these cuppas can't open them in their email and Michael is away in Baltimore at a show so I came up with this idea posting them on my blog because I have no idea how you send pictures in an email. So, here are the pictures of the "cuppa joes" to view. In all their glory for the whole world to view.....





What can I say? He likes puns.

MAY OUR BOWLS NEVER BE EMPTY...

On Sunday we spent the afternoon at the Empty Bowls Project in Albany. What a great way to raise money for hunger and what a great way to have fun. There were over 1,400 bowls donated by local potters

(Michael being one of them) and 6 or so restaraunts that donated soup. For those of you that don't know what an Empty Bowls event is here goes:
It's a way to raise money for any organization that helps with hunger issues. Potters donate bowls and restaraunts or organizations donate soup. An individual pays $10 and gets to pick out a bowl and then goes and gets soup and bread.The individual gets to keep their bowl as a reminder that no being on earth should ever go hungry. How cool huh? I had a blast!! My afternoon couldn't have been any more fulfilling. The event was so much bigger than I had imagined it in my head. I was thinking of a couple hundred people in a room eating soup and communing. There must have been hundreds of people packed like sardines in this building all have a great time. It was really crowded and hot.
Here are some pictures that I took of friends and people I don't know. I got turned on by seeing what people picked as their bowls and I walked around and took a bunch of photos. I really couldn't help myself. Here are a few:
This one is of some ladies that I saw in line picking out bowls while I was picking out my bowl.

This is my friend Rebekah and her daugher Margaurite.

This a delightful little girl and her stunning bowl.

This is our friends Lily & Don.

This is my best friend in the world, Andy, he was visiting with us this weekend.

I end my photo parade with Miss Xan eating soup.

An inspiring event for such a worthy cause.
May our bowls never be empty.....

STORM KING SCULPTURE PARK

On Saturday we went to Storm King Sculpture Park. Here are few pictures of our trip:

I REALLY, REALLY DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS

Like every mother......

I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS

We have decided that we are staying here in Saratoga Springs for the winter. Not a choice that we particularly like but one that we are comfortable with. Things are not going to well with my mother-in-law's estate and we need to stay to be on top of the situation. For a few weeks I have been chirping into Michael's ear that even if things got worked out by November that would mean that we are driving through two major mountain ranges in December with a bus and a van with cargo trailer attached. I was having concerns! So we decided on the eve of Rosh Hashanah that we take this choice into our own hands. We took my sister-in-law out of the equation (we don't want to be making choices based on feeling backed into a corner) and we choose to stay and see this estate stuff through. We plan on leaving in March or April when it will be safer to travel.
Next comes the part where we tell the girls...
Xan is fine, she's got good friends here and is rooted. Artie, who promised me that she would get on a plane willingly the next time I told her to, is not fine. She doesn't want to come back to NY. She's got very good and compelling reasons not to come back here. She has a job working in a day care center (her very first serious job), she has friends, a good home with our friends, she's teaching herself her homeschool stuff, the adults on Lopez take her seriously and don't treat her like just another teenager (like here in Saratoga).
I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS!!!
Damn, sometimes I just don't want to be the Mommy. I want to be VICTORIA THE DICTATOR and just tell everyone exactly what they are supposed to do and they do it. It's a nice fantasy. I comfortable wishing for this. OK, I'm not.
So, Michael and I have many heart to heart and private conversations about our oldest and what is the situation that we can figure out that is going to serve everyone.
AND THE COMPROMISE IS:
Artie is getting on a plane sometime in December and we promise to have her back on Lopez sometime on or before
April 1st. That way she gets to keep her job at the day care center. We could just say, :"Ha, Ha, April Fools" when the time comes. Fuck....we're just not like that.
This means that she is only here for 3 months. I was hoping to have her all spring and sign her up for some groovy classes at the local colleges. She is interested in metalsmithing, and glass work, and wants to learn stage make-up. I wanted to offer these things to her in WA this past summer but we all know that didn't work out. We had found a great stage make-up course in Seattle. What now? What now....all I got was a pissy compromise that serves her better than it serves me....
I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS.
I'm not done hands on parenting. This was not how I saw my #1 chick leaving the nest. I don't want to be selfless and put her needs first. I want to stomp and cry and have me a major hissy fit. I want the time back that I've lost. We had no clue that we were not going to get home this summer.
I REALLY DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS.
Trying to get pregnant is fun, being pregnant is ethereal, giving birth is a state of grace, babies are warm and fuzzy, toddlers are a crack up, little kids are fun to banter with, kids are humorous, puberty is to be taken in stride, teenagers are great to hang with....
and entering womanhood is like trying to push an elephant through a keyhole.
I feel like I'm on the merry-go-round of life and trying desperately to kiss her on the forehead everytime I pass by.
I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS.

GARLIC INFUSED FUN

This weekend we were at the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival. One of my favorite shows of the year! Because of the delays with my mother-in-law's estate and never imagining that we would still be here on the East Coast we do not have a Fall show schedule. We were on the waiting list for the Garlic Festival and we got the call on Thursday night that someone had dropped out and there was a spot open for us. Whew!
It was a blast of a weekend. We normally do art shows not street fairs/festival type events. We do two festivals in our year. One is the Garlic Festival and the other is the Fremont Fair (in Seattle). They are both just "to die for" fun.
At the Garlic Festival there are craft vendors, food vendors, garlic farmers, lectures, cooking demos, people wearing garlic and people dressed up like garlic. Everyone is in a good mood. Lots of laughing, smiling faces. I saw garlic ice cream go by a few times but never got motivated enough to go and buy some.
We rocked. We were so busy that I only had enough time to go to one lecture or demo. I chose to go to one about growing garlic. It was way interesting. Do you know that garlic needs alot of sulphur in the soil to do really well? Or that garlic, like the banana, has lost it's fertility over time? Garlic's roots grow to about 4 feet in length. It's one of our most ancient plants and there are only 10 varieties in the world. There are many variations of the 10 original but only 10 original. I can't wait to get back to Lopez and get into the garden and plant me some garlic.
Michael and I walked around on Sunday morning before the show opened and bought garlic. We just had to go back to a few growers that we bought from last year and just loved their garlic. We bought Elmer's topset (I bought this last year because it had a funny name. The farmer doesn't know exactly what variety it is and his neighbor, Elmer, got the seed from his grandfather). We bought Korean Red (very spunky) and music (my all time favorite, it is mildish and has uniform large cloves). We bartered for jazz (a variation of music), reisig, and italian red. We also bartered for some fantastic locally made garlic-ginger chutney and some lemon-fig chutney. They are by a woman out of Cooperstown (I think that it's good for the homeplace of the Baseball Hall Of Fame to have good chutney joo-joo).
Since we were so busy, I didn't get to walk around and take pictures of my favorite artists there. So, I came up with the idea of trying to capture reactions to Michael's work on film.
I was sitting outside our booth with a table full of garlic roasters:

Here are few pictures of people's reactions to the garlic roasters:




It was a much harder task than I expected. I learned that there is a big difference between looking and reacting. Capturing someone reacting was really hard. I think that I want to play around some more with this idea.....
We got to stay in Woodstock with our friends Bernard and Judy. We had two fabulous dinners at some amazing restaraunts. One of them, New World Home Cooking is a place that I wanted to eat at last year but we never got to. I have heard the owner/chef on NPR often and like his philosophy on food. The meal we had there was great! On Friday night after we set up we were driving to meet Bernard and Judy for a celebratory Rosh Hashanah dinner and we passed this place called Lucky Chocolates. It was closed, lit up like a christmas tree, and there was someone running around inside with pink hair. Of course, we had to stop and look in the windows. Rae, the pink haired owner, let us in and we bought lots of delicious chocolates!!! Rae is a talented chocolatuere. If you are ever in Woodstock you should check her out.
So that was our weekend. With all the angst that we've been going through this summer we needed some garlic infused fun.

LOVE IN MOTION

Last Sunday Xan and I went to our friend Elizabeth's wedding shower. Our wonderful, totally spiritual, and body beautiful Elizabeth has found her soulmate and is getting married.
It was a potluck. We arrived and milled. I met Elizabeth's fiancé, Andrew, and then he had to leave. I got to meet Andrew's sister and Eliz's Aunt. We munched on a bunch of yummy food and then the fun got started.
We sat around and made some prayer bundles for Eliz. We had lots of groovy herbs and spices to choose from. All of them with properties that reflect all the wonderful foundations of a meaningful relationship. After we were done with the prayer bundles we had Eliz take center stage and we wrapped ribbons with our good wishes for her around a branch wreath that we put around her waist. In the middle of our ritual together I realized that it was the first time that I was enjoying circling with Xan, just the two of us. I had to lean over and tell her.

Eliz is such an elegant spirit. She was in her element.


















She danced in our circle of love.



















She moved like a woman who knows her greatness.



















We were graced, in our ritual circle, to be able to drape our Eliz in womanly prayer.






It was a great evening. Eliz played the piano and we took turns reading poetry. We feasted on good wine and food. Eliz and Andrew got foot massages. We saw Eliz open up her gifts. Everyone drew all over her body.
Xan captured this moment of love in motion.