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The Magical Fruit
I had the opportunity to glean a farmer’s bean field yesterday and am now up to my elbows in fresh, green loveliness. I’ll be back Monday.
Someplace New
One of our rules for Summer is “Go someplace new every week.”
So we went here:
I have lived in Oregon, an hour from the beach, nearly all my life and I had never seen the inside of a lighthouse. On a whim we decided to remedy that situation with a visit to Yaquina Head Lighthouse in Newport, Oregon.
It was so windy up there on the bluff, GW threatened to blow away, much like a young Mary Poppins, sans umbrella.
Hold on sweetie!
We fought our way through the gale to the lighthouse entrance.
That little house-like section originally held oil for the lantern nearly 90 feet above. I’m not sure when they stopped lighting the lamp with oil. The lighthouse was automated in 1966, but they may have stopped lighting the oil lamp earlier than that. However long ago it was, it has not been long enough to erase the scent of oil that still faintly permeates the area.
We waited in line, listening to a guide share some of the lighthouse’s history and shooing the flies that gathered so thickly about, until it was our turn to ascend the 114 stairs to the top. Once again I thought of Mary Poppins and envied her ability of sliding up banisters.
Why was Mary Poppins so much on my mind?
GW is not a fan of heights.
Nor of open riser stairs.
I wasn’t sure she’d make it. At one point she made the mistake of looking down. She then turned back to W and tried to give up.
However, since down was just as bad as up at this point she decided to continue. We assured her that the view from the top would be well worth it.
We were wrong. It wasn’t even photo worthy. The sea and sky were behaving like eighth grade girls and wore coordinating outfits that day. We could hardly tell where on began and the other ended.
Tell me girls still do that. That it hasn’t gone the way of other fads from my own dusty past – like wearing overalls with one strap undone.
So the view outside the window was ho-hum, but the lamp was fascinating and beautiful. And It still lights: two seconds on, two seconds off, 24 hours a day.
You can’t actually go into the bulb room. You view the light from a hatch in the floor accessed by a set of steep, ladder-like stairs. We took it in in all of it’s grandeur for about 4 seconds and then climbed down to make room for the hundreds of people waiting their turn behind us.
And then there was this:
I have to admit that coming down caused me to feel a bit shaky and dizzy. It really was high. But we made it down without incident.
Look at this face.
What you see here is a mixture of triumph and relief.
Back on solid ground “terrifying” was downgraded to “thrilling”.
It turned out to be a jolly holiday after all.
Announcement
Our baby is ugly.
But our dog is cute.
Periwinkle Priorities
One day last week, as I sat by the edge of the pool, I struck up a conversation with another swim team mom. She made a comment about how most kids don’t have much unstructured time these days. Though I fully agreed, I felt that we are an exception to that. I mean, I homeschool, you know. GW has plenty leisure time to play at what she likes, to watch clouds, or explore the world around her. Doesn’t she?
Take, for example, the recent day we spent at one of her favorite places.
We took a leisurely stroll through the well manicured English gardens, pausing to admire the paper lanterns that had been hung for an upcoming party.
GW stood on a brick platform and noticed how the construction seemed to magnify her voice, causing a bit of an echo. That brought to mind the myth of unfortunate Echo in love with the vain Narcissus who only had eyes for his own reflection. I shared the tale as we walked under the ivy covered archways and down to the creek.
It was a warm day, so we slipped off our flip-flops and waded in the cool water, laughing at our own distorted reflections. A photographer was there shooting senior pictures of a young woman. She and her subject ventured out into the creek near us, trying to forever capture the girl’s youth.
The girl’s mother watched from the bank while the photographer’s assistant bravely balanced on a log to soften the light with a photographer’s umbrella. Suddenly, his arms began to pinwheel, and down he fell, bottom first into the creek. GW and I gave sympathetic looks while laughing behind our hands.
The soggy man and his party moved on to a drier location, but we stayed on, enjoying ourselves.
Looking down, I noticed that there were hundreds of tiny snail-like creatures clinging to the rocks. When I was a girl I called them periwinkles, though I don’t know if that is their true name. I could look it up, but I’d prefer to allow them this bit of nostalgia.
GW was enchanted. She picked one up and examined it closely. Then another. And another. Each new find was a revelation.
After a few more moments, I began to get bored. I decided it was time to go and made my way to the edge of the creek. I turned back to call my girl but was struck by how absorbed she was in her study. I chose to allow her this time, thinking to myself that it should be short-lived. In another five minutes or so, she would tire of periwinkles and be ready to go home.
And so I waited.
And waited.
And waited.
It was difficult to be still, to forget about the things I felt were more important, and yet I waited. Nearly an hour later, GW carefully returned her new friends to their home and joined me on the bank.
As we walked to the car, I considered how I often impose time restrictions on my daughter’s activities.
Yes, you can do that. Be creative. Dream. But do try to wrap it up before lunchtime, please.
Schedules are important. But perhaps they are less important than a creek full of periwinkles and the freedom to experience them on your own terms.
I’m going to try to remember this lesson.
I am sure that my daughter will remember this day.
Winner
Finished.
The day was long.
And hot.
But overall it was a pretty cool experience.
I am so amazed at my girl! Her best event is the butterfly. The butterfly - that’s hard!
At least, it looks hard. And I’ve heard other people say that it is. But I can’t say for sure, since I never learned how to do it myself.
It is an amazing and humbling thing to watch my child surpass my abilities for the first time. I can’t wait to see where she passes me up next.
Cranky
Hello my lovely blog.
I really don’t have time to post tonight.
I should be in the kitchen packing up the meat I bought in bulk on Monday for the freezer before it spoils. If I am not already too late… When I am done with that I have to pack lunch-and-snacks-and-water-and-gatorade-and-a-blanket-and-chairs-and-towels-and-sunscreen-and-books-and-card-games-and-GW’s-swimsuit-and-goggles for the final – let me say that again – final swim meet tomorrow.
Can I get a hallelujah?
Whoever thought that practicing each and every day plus a meet every week for the last four weeks would be a good summer activity?
Oh. I guess that would be me.
And it really has been. GW has made friends, engaged in healthy competition, improved her swimming stamina, and exercised her little buns off – literally. Her swim suit is actually a bit too big now. But we are both burned out on the every dayness of the whole thing.
And tomorrow? Oh my, tomorrow will be the queen mother of exhausting days:
At the pool by 7:30 am(!)
In the pool by 8:15
Swim
Wait
Swim
Wait
Swim
[Repeat until you feel a bit swear-y]
Leave the pool somewhere between 5:00 and 6:00 pm(!)
It is possible that my crankiness has more to do with the fact that my father in law has spent the week in the hospital and today he was transferred to a care facility, somewhat against his will.
Today was especially trying.
In order to support my husband and mother-in-law, I have spent much of the week in the hospital and now would like nothing better than to willingly check myself into a care facility. Especially if said facility cared for me with spa treatments and a chocolate IV drip.
But since I noticed some cellulite for the first time on my arms today I suppose I’ll forget about the chocolate.
Next week, my dear blog, I plan to shower you with love and attention and posts. Remember those? I plan to tell you about the cherries and berries I’ve picked and my the completion of a marathon read aloud to GW that has largely consumed the last ten months of our lives. I plan to tell you about the lovely day we spent a a creek where I watched my girl gather periwinkles and she watched a professional photographer’s assistant fall in the water. I will share with you our day at the beach and how much I have fallen in love with Oregon (again).
Next week will be better.
But tonight, I have to save my bacon (and chicken and beef and pork chops).
For My Dear Sister
It was actually yesterday. Sorry I missed it. Hope it was happy.
Speaking of anniversaries, today is my parent’s. They have been married for 38 years. This is for you, Mom:
Love you!
Sweet
Earlier this week we celebrated W’s birthday. GW and I were torn as to whether we should make him cookies or cupcakes.
So we made both.
I give you the Chocolate-Chip-Cookie-Filled Cupcake.
Recipe found on allrecipes.com.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 (18.25 ounce) box yellow cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
1/3 cup canola oil
3 eggsDirections
1. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and sea salt; set aside. Beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Add 1 egg and the vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips; mixing just enough to evenly combine. Form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls; place onto a baking sheet, and freeze until solid, about 2 hours. Very important! If you don’t freeze the cookie dough it will bake too fast and dry out.
2. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
3. Beat 3 eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer to break up. Add the cake mix, water, and canola oil; continue beating for 2 minutes on medium speed. Spoon into the prepared cupcake liners, filling each 2/3 full. Place a frozen cookie dough ball on the top center of each cupcake.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the cake portion of the cupcake (not the cookie dough ball) comes clean, about 16 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.
Though we made our cookie dough from scratch, you could use pre-made to cut down on time. Just don’t forget to freeze it. We topped our cupcakes with some freshly whipped, sweetened cream and chocolate sprinkles.
The birthday boy was suitably impressed.
Confidential aside to W: Thanks for being born so we could celebrate your day. That was very thoughtful of you. Please do not take the pink candle as an affront to your manliness. It was all we had in the cupboard. We love you so much!
Once upon a time there was a Heidi…
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