Among the many amazing things that happen at Isaiah's school, and more specifically in his class, are project nights. Every six weeks or so the kids (and their amazing teachers) host a unit celebration that showcases the work they've done during each unit. This unit's theme was fairy tales and government. They explored a million and one different fairy tales in a million and one creative ways. They had a visit from Donna Frye in their classroom, they held their own class name election, and they learned about so many different things that were all some way or another tied into the theme of fairy tales and government.
Isaiah decided to do his project on comparing the three houses of the three little pigs. He wrote how-to books about building each house and he actually built a diorama of each house, set them up, and turned on a fan to simulate the big bad wolf's breath! He was so very proud of his work, and I have to say I was thoroughly impressed with how far he has come since the first project time last year. He also played the narrator in one of the student-written plays of the night, which for Isaiah is huge since reading in itself is something he is just starting to love and reading that much to a whole audience of people was definitely something new for him. He was amazing though and I couldn't have been more proud!!
All About My Project: I did this project because I thought a project like this would be interesting because you are comparing houses! I like the straw houses because it's fun to make. I like the stick house because it is hard. I like the brick house because it is safe.
How To Build a House of Straw: First go on a trale and loc around and try to see som straw. and if you see som straw then tack it. So build the house strg or the wolf wel bloe it down.
How To Build a House of Sticks: Go on a tral and pick up sum twigs and mac a house but you have to mac it strog so the wolf wont blow it down. Huf puf.
How To Build a House of Bricks: go to a town and asc for some bricks. asck for some bricks then ask for some morter. Yous the morter to past the bricks and past them together. When you put the bricks together you put them like this. Mack a house out of bricks.
Then, turn on the fan!! I think the only disapointment of the night was that none of the houses actually blew down. The straw house blew off the table, which I think was satisfying enough. But, apparently the pigs didn't use a hot glue gun or, as we discovered, they wouldn't have had so many problems with the big bad wolf!
Things are growing here, in this small little oasis I call my "backyard." It is amazing all of the life that can accumulate in such a tiny space.
Creepy crawly things, fluttering flying things, squirmy squishy things....buzzing things, humming things, clicking and ticking things. I never appreciate fully the life I have to observe, right in front of my eyes, in my little concrete jungle. But it is there, busy and working the whole day, while I ponder my thoughts and sip my tea in a little nook I have created for myself back here. I have to admit I get lost back here in this little space, my mind wandering through a maze that has no outlet. Pondering and wondering all of the musings of life, all of the what-ifs, all of the could haves and should haves and didn'ts of the day, week, year, life. But something about this constant growing and life swarming in this little space makes me ponder the now more than the before or the after I seem to always dwell on. I can focus here and sit still here....things I can't seem to do anywhere else. In this age of electronic mayhem while we drown in a sea of off and on buttons and instant, immediate gratification that is constantly evolving and taking new, better-than-ever-before form, some things, like this tomato plant for instance, are completely satisfied with the way things have always been.
I think that this is where I find my peace, in knowing this. I find myself constantly seeking something new, something different, something to remind me that there is something else out there than what is here, that there is something else other than this. But this tomato plant, and these amazing tiny creatures that weave their lives before my eyes, they remain indulgent in a simple world that seems to lack this hyperevolution momentum to disregard the now and embrace only what comes next. They seem to know that their existence can be satisified now, here, and they seem to offer no resistance to accepting this. So I think for now, I will enjoy this little space for what it is, here and now.
Our first trip to the beach to officially kick off summer is planned for tomorrow. I can't wait to soak in the sun, swim in the ocean, take sandy bites of sandwiches, watch little ones chase waves and dig castles, and just enjoy every minute of one of the longest days of the year!!!
We love him more than anything. He is the mountain to our landscape, the dragon to our butterfly and centipede, the sky to our dirt road... always loving, always thoughtful, always very, very, very, very patient.
With summer fast approaching, as with every year, I have a million and one plans for what we want to do and and a million and two ways to avoid doing (or at least delaying/procrastinating/accidentally forgetting about) what we have to do, all before September comes tumbling along. So far, here is the list:
1. Backpacking in the Sierras 2. Road trip up North 3. Beach camping 4. Wild herb/flower harvesting/nature walks 5. Lots of swimming/snorkeling 6. Read lots of books of our own choosing, especially People of Sparks to Isaiah 7. Find a yoga class 8. Puerto Nuevo trip 9. Farmer's markets, farmer's markets, farmer's markets!
10. Replace windshield and front tires on car 11. CLEAN THE HOUSE (I'm talking closets and everything!) 12. Work, work, work 13. Fix the dishwasher 14. Passports for everyone 15. Organize my life....ha!
As much of an animal lover as I am and have always been, I have never taken much to little dogs. They seem to have a different energy that's all too unpredictable for me. Simply put, I can't read them. Well, I realized that my aversion to little dogs is not unfounded a few days ago when walking by a cocker spaniel tied up outside it's owners house this happened:
Mind you, this was through a pretty thick pair of pants. I wasn't approaching the dog or paying any attention to it. I thought that since it was tethered in the grass I could just walk by on the sidewalk...in fact, it was the only way to get out of the complex! Apparently, or so I have been told, Cocker Spaniels are responsible for more dog bites than any other breed. I find it ironic that as someone with a pitbull mix, a dog with a vicious reputation (Boss happens to be the sweetest dog EVER) I get attacked by a cocker spaniel....go figure.
Family Herbal by Rosemary Gladstar. This book is very reminiscent of my time up on the north coast, when I scoffed at things like doctors, antibiotics and tylenol and treated many childhood ailments like earaches, pneumonia, rashes, and fevers with herbs and love alone. Okay, so maybe I still have a distrust of doctors... and antibiotics and tylenol I reserve as miracle drugs, but the point is this book is literally a life-saver and has a cure for almost every ailment. It's even divided up into sections for men, women, children, and the elderly. Then there are sections that cover herbs and their uses and a section on different types of medicine that you can make such as syrups, pills, teas, creams, poultices, etc. I just simply love it....the only catch is that you have to know of a good herb store that's close enough to where you live that you can get what you need in a pinch....even without an herb store, I was able to calm my screaming 2-year-old with an earache in the middle of the night with a slice of onion thanks to this amazing woman and her book, I have healed cuts and scrapes at the park with plantain leaves growing in the grass, and made my own diaper rash cream out of calendula flowers that grow like weeds in our front yard. Bottom line, this book has saved my life and I thought it was time to share it with all of you...
Dmitry, the teacher I am student teaching with, will be a papa soon (his baby girl, Luna, was actually due 3 days ago) and talking to him about his experiences has brought a flood of memories back from the days when Rick and I were waiting for our little one to arrive, the amazing experience of giving birth, and the first year of his life that was oh so precious and so very new! There are all the things people tell you to expect or not to expect as if you will never find out for yourself and then there are all those things you wish people had told you. As most of you know, I have a song for just about everything...and here is my song for this:
Ten Fingers, Ten Toes, 10lbs. 10oz.
Zion I and The Grouch
Hey Baby Rio,
My first born,
You’re finally here,
I’m gonna make a song for you,
Daddy’s gonna make a song for you:
Rio Amor, double Gemini
Born on a Saturday mornin
Swimmin right, out the womb
The midwives, mommy, and I in the living room
Plus the grandmas
Water delivery hand-off
Now you’re on her chest and my manhood ran off
How’s the heart?Count the parts
She’s a perfect 10
Alright then, we walk to the bedroom
Umbilical attached still
Mom’s a soldier, how natural does that feel?
We let it pulse, when it slowed down
I cut the chord, you’re your own now
And I swore I had shit figured out before
Baby, the "oh me!" went right out the door
I just wanna be the father, folks rarely do
Stand up and be there for you
Baby girl
Sol serio
Quedes envoca en mi corazon
Eres mia
Yo soy el mar y tu eres mi rio
You are the reason that I come home faster
You are the source for my energy lasting
You are the bounce in my confident step
You are an angel on my shoulder I will always accept
So I’m changin diapers, arrangin a life for
A new kind of cipher
I look just like ya
Ya got mommy’s lips though, and dimples
Can it be that it was all so simple, before?
And that it still is
Glad we waited till thirty, now I can really feel it
Might have missed the whole point of this
A tighter gift I’ve been anointed with
They never tell you the joys
Only baby gripes and sleepless nights, oh boy!
It’s our parade, don’t rain
Now there’s smiles for miles
And I’m so changed
My baby girl
Sol serio
Quedes envoca en mi corazon
Eres mia
Yo soy el mar y tu eres mi rio
Well you deserve the best, we bought you a Bugaboo
That’s material, ain’t worth what a hug’ll do
We’ll hit the zoo, when you’re two
I’ll sing to you, when you’re blue baby
Ooh baby we’re new
The trinity, divinity
You’re the centipede, mom’s the butterfly, and I’m the dragon
Get in the wagon
Let’s see the world, my sweetest girl imagine
What I’m thinking when I’m tryin to read your mind
From above, in the bed and you’re closing your eyes
Yawning and stretching
It’s the dawning of a new age, you’re our greatest blessing
River of Love, I give you my blood
You’re my heart out of body
Teachin us to be godly
And you can have whatever you wish
Just focus your thoughts and listen to this:
My baby girl
Sol serio
Quedes envoca en mi corazon
Eres mia
Yo soy el mar y tu eres mi rio
See, when you came into this world
There was a thickness in the air
Unexplainable to any other feeling that I’ve felt before
You know, I sat there in the water with mommy
And I felt between her legs
And when I touched your head, I was a new man instantly
Immediate understanding of that which I did not understand before
What is it about boys and dogs? Dogs seem to be magically drawn to Isaiah, could care less about me, and tense up around Rick. Is it their smell, their energy, their dog-like crazy behavior???? Whatever it is, Isaiah is enjoying every bit of spring break with his dog Boss at his side. I've heard him tell Boss that he's his best friend "in the whole wide world" and how when he's all grown up and moves out he will take Boss with him so they can get an apartment together. The only other person I've heard Isaiah talk like this to is his dear friend Emmett who he simply adores.
He becomes so sweet and caring around Boss, almost as if he is a big brother (something we all know Isaiah has been longing for!). Today he just had me cracking up...he insisted on playing tennis with Boss as the "ball boy," while washing the car I sprayed them both down as they ran through the stream of water together (it was quite the sight...Isaiah screaming, Boss trying to bite the water as they ran in circles), I caught them rolling in the grass together, and at dinner Isaiah saved the last piece of his sushi to give to Boss. I guess there's just something about boys and their dogs...
While meandering the endless aisleways of Target looking for gifts for my eco-savy 12-year-old neice I noticed this shirt dangling amidst a sea of t-shirts sprayed with various catch-your-eye phrases: As you can imagine, the cynic in me was dying to leap out. Support organic farmers? Since when has Target, of all places, been concerned with organic farming or supporting anything unconventional. The wave of questions was lapping at the shores of my brain. However, I was able to manage my cool and nonchalantly took a peek at the tag on the inside of the shirt. Ha! What hypocrites, I thought to myself, the shirt itself isn't even organic, therefore purchasing it would defy the very phrase printed on the shirt, which is the initial appeal for purchasing it in the first place. In order to buy this shirt one would have to be a hypocrite, I concluded. I then decided that Target must simply be marketing to a particular segment of the population. Another shirt nearby contained the phrase "Think Global, Act Local" which also nurtures its own sort of hypocrisy in that in order to act locally, one would not be shopping at Target. I turned, disgusted, and continued my errand run. However, I couldn't just leave it at that. Something was eating away at me, "Am I a hypocrite for shopping at Target?" I mulled this idea about a bit and came up with 1,001 rationalizations for why I am not, in fact, a hypocrite. I do the best I can...maybe if I was a billionaire I would never shop at Target again, commit to local products, and only buy organic food and clothing, but I'm not. So, therefore, I shop at Target and purchase products, like this shirt, that relate my ideals but don't necessarily support them. I guess I'm a hypocrite too.
one of my favorites- a self-heal flower harvested a few summer's ago
