Cindy

Birthday Table

For Birthday Dinner I was taken to my favorite little spot, very private, where only the freshest local ingredients are used. We dined on Birthday Cocktail: fresh squeezed orange juice, mandarin vodka, and champagne; beef tenderloin, asparagus, and potatoes. My favorite!

Cindy

My happy morning with Kelley, Todd, & Charlie! So glad to see you guys and hope to see you again soon!

Kelley

An Evening at Smith Rock State Park....no words needed!
But I like words, so:
Golden sunlight, a rocky trail, amazing athletic bodies on
serious ledges, geese with gosslings floating the Crooked River,
Cheerios one-by-one, and a dirt-covered pacifier.
Charlie's first adventure at Smith!









photo credit: Todd

Cindy

Gorge!

Cindy

Imagine if you will a sunny hillside. 80+ degrees. No shade. Limited water. Plenty of alcohol. Lots of pale young skin, bikini clad ladies, and shirtless fellas. That would be the Sasquatch experience. I could have taken a whole series of photographs chronicling the painful yet comical burns of the day. That seems mean spirited, so instead I wish those folks a speedy recovery and a buddy to rub in that sunscreen.

Kelley

"You can call me Flower if you want."
-Baby skunk in the movie Bambi

Today began at 4:45 am with a rude awakening.
Not with a cry from Charlie, or a bright light in my face or an arm thrown across my chest, not even with a beeping alarm clock. Nope. Today began with a smell...a very bad smell.
A skunk found our house last night.
With all the windows open to let in the cool night breeze, we were saturated with skunk.
So when Charlie woke up a little later, our skylight revealing the morning horizon and the birds chirping their wake-up call, I knew what to do. Time to get out!
I placed Charlie in the center of our bed and dashed for my workout bag. Looking back at the two most special guys in my life there on the bed, I knew this would be a moment to remember. Charlie and his daddy, together in the wee hours of the morning. Charlie was drumming his daddy's back and somersaulting across the sheets, while his dad was half asleep and grabbing for an ankle to keep the little guy from catapulting off the bed. Despite the terrible smell of that striped stinker, my guys were laughing and wrestling, tickling and snorting at each other like farm animals. Maybe the skunk smell struck a chord. They seemed to enjoy it.
So me, I did only what a smart mom and lady of the house is left to do: I headed for the gym until the skunky air and morning hour passed me by. And I admit, I do smell better than my family today. You can call ME flower if you want.

Cindy

Mos Def

The hip hoppiest show of the day. Got a good groove on.

Cindy

Sasquatch!

Watching DeVotchKa perform at The Gorge. Beautiful day. Great shows, friends, serious sunshine. Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Cindy

Sun Light & Green Leaves

Kelley

Food for Thought

My kitchen knows me well.
As a mostly-stay-at-home mom, a great deal of my time is spent in that culinary space, the food place of our home. I plan, prepare, feed and clean up after everyone. And then plan, prepare, feed and clean...all over again. And again. And again. And again.
Breakfast-time, lunch-time, dinner-time.
The sun goes down and the sun comes up, and it starts all over.
The reality of this is that my days revolve around food.
Food.
Yes, the most basic element of our human existence. Second to water, food keeps our very species here and thriving on earth.
With this realization, that the clock I live by is driven by the quest to nourish me and my family, EVERY DAY, I am struck by another very serious fact.
Our world food supply is in trouble.
It sounds crazy, because as Americans we are used to seeing our supermarket shelves lined floor to ceiling with every food choice imaginable and worldwide produce at any time of the year at our fingertips. Watermelon in December, no problem. And which of the 24 brands of wheat bread would you like today?
Food shortage? No way!
But agricultural experts have predicted that in order to keep up with the world's population, farmers need to double food production in just a decade.
Twice as much food in our grocery stores?
Lester Brown, who is the President of the Earth Policy Institute in Washington D.C., says we are in a food crisis.
According to him, our fixation on oil insecurity in the United States has actually caused a food insecurity. The price of grain will go up indefinitely, he said, by the demand for grain-derived fuel. "We need to rethink our focus on fuel," he told NPR today. "It really comes down to food versus fuel."
One-fourth of our country's grain production goes toward ethanol production. However, according to Brown, a 25-gallon tank of ethanol fuel would actually feed one person for one full year.
A tank of gas versus one year of food.
Hmmmm.
Those who produce and use such fuel are receiving kickbacks in the form of our tax dollars. We are essentially subsidizing a rise in food prices.
So, I sit here in my kitchen (where else would I be?) and ponder these ideas.
A garden in Central Oregon might give me some of the food I need for, oh maybe TWO months if I'm a lucky green thumb...
And buying locally to support those farmers in my region could help...
But what about the population of China, a huge empire that is growing exponentially and only producing more mouths who need FOOD?
I'm just a mostly-stay-at-home-mom, who revolves around food mostly-all-day-long.
But maybe if I'm a lucky green thumb, and maybe if I can successfully feed my child through adolescence, maybe one day I can revolve my day around the solution to this food crisis rather than the unyielding need for food itself- the very problem.

Cindy

Pure Joy

My beautiful mama and one of the horses she rides, showing off the saddle my papa had made for her.

Photo credit: Papa

Kelley

Baby Days

Gone.
Those mini hands
And bitty toes
Have grown,
Big.
A toothy smile
Grins,
Out shouts
A big belly
Laugh.
You run
And jump,
Throw your shoes,
Far.
Sleeping now,
A spring evening
Rolls into
Your second summer.
And I rock you still,
With feet dangling
An arm wedged
Around
Me.
How long
Will you be
My baby?

Cindy

Lola & The Wasp

Let this be a warning to all wasps: you will be captured, tortured, and left for dead. You only hope the humans catch you first. (At least you will have a chance at survival in a glass jar).

Kelley

Charlie's Garden

Snow's melting on Black Butte,
The experts say.
It's time for a garden
Safe to plant away!
Tear open the packets
Clear out the weeds.
Spread the seed starter
And planting soil please.
DON'T EAT THAT!
And clean off your hands!
The dirt in your mouth
Is from far away lands!
Here, take your toy shovel
While I water the pots.
No! Not the dirt again,
Your face is covered in mud spots.
OK, chase that squirrel
While I move to the deck.
COME BACK HERE, YOU RASCAL!
The street is not for your trek!
Finally, a diversion
You've discovered a hole.
Now, can I please finish?
I'm on a role!
Wildflowers, Snap Dragon
Blanket Flower, Lavender Glo.
Basil, Chives, Thyme,
Rosemary, and Oregano.
Now, if you will finally please take a good nap
WILL YOUR FIRST FLOWER GARDEN ACTUALLY GROW?

(wish Charlie luck!)

Cindy

After seeing what good gardeners we are, the landlord offered up a patch of land to call our own. From here on out known as The Farm, as seen in stage II. (I'd like to get a couple goats but I'm afraid the alley cats would eat them).

Cindy

Rooftop Garden

Cindy

The lovely and talented Joelle, channeling her inner Elton.

Kelley

Learnin' the Lures

Cindy

Birthday Surprises. Happy Birthday Love!

Kelley

With my laptop wedged between me and the steering wheel, I am posting from inside my car. It's parked in the driveway with Wee Sing Folk music blaring, a squirmy child buckled into his carseat in the back, and the seatbelt indicator beeping in my ear. Charlie did not opt for a nap today. Not a wink. I've had a long day. "Mama's little baby loves shortnin', shortnin'....mama's little baby loves shortnin' bread." Oh yes, the music of choice these days! Now Charlie is yelling at his sock, it won't pull off. While it may seem that motherhood is full of these fleeting moments of solitude and endangered tidbits of adult interaction, it really is the best thing in the world. For those without kids, I do have a suggested reading. I recall what it is like without a child.....and this article is a funny reminder. A good look back at a childless life. It's called "Making Friends" by Amy Ozols in the Shouts & Murmurs section of the current New Yorker. I remember those Timmy's. (Cindy, I thought of you when I read this...did YOU write this article under a pen name?) A fitting note to end on here in my ear inside this quickly-becoming stuffy car, "The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be, many long years ago."

Cindy

Snoqualmie Falls.

Cindy

Waiting for tomatoes to sprout.

Cindy

Moss Monkey

robyn

just thought i'd post what i'm working on right now. myself and two other designers are creating poster templates for all 50 states. this was one of my states. i designed 16 more. i'm kind of over it.

Cindy

Bracket Fungi

Kelley

Here and There

Liquid sky
Drips,
In both places
Melting like glass tears
Rolling off cool live
Foliage.
There.
A Mountain on the sea
And salty air
Seabirds circle
Their calls echo against
Creaking sails
Above Puget nets.
And you breathe
Green rain.
Here.
Water pelts down
In gusts
Like falling sheets
Above the pines,
Through the Rockies.
A lazy river rises
In muddy swirls,
As eagles prepare for young
With wet nests
Up high.
And I breathe
Green rain.

Cindy

Fern & Moss

Cindy

Tree Moss II

Kelley

A week in Montana! Cold sunny mornings, spring runoff and the peaceful roll of the Clark Fork river. Best of all, Grampy and Mimi to watch Charlie! I miss the Big Sky country.....

Cindy

Tree Moss

Cindy

Busy May Day. Port of Seattle.

Kelley

Happy May Day! We've been up since 3:30 am with an insane teething toddler. That said, my creative brain is trying to get some sleep. But I do want to give my husband a big congratulations on another fabulous issue of Catch Magazine! It came out today catchmagazine.net
And now that it's finished, maybe I will finally see that man I'm married to...

Cindy

Sailing on the Sound.

Kelley

lukewarm

In her crisp white shirts and proper gloves
She calls herself
Devoted.
Upright
In her faith.
A true
Believer.
On Fire.
A Good
Doer.
Righteous.
But her Time with God,
In quiet prayer
And daily Bread,
The Holy life,
The Walk of Talk
Is tucked away.
Staunchly perfect.
A precious bundle
Like heirloom silver
Wrapped in linen
Placed carefully in a back drawer
Only opened
On Sundays
Or once or twice a year
When her mother visits
Or to dust
And let in
The spring air.

Cindy

Rhodi in Bloom, For Kelley.

Kelley

Patience

Wet snow drips
Outside the window.
Tulips lean
In the vase on my table,
Stretching toward the damp light.
Waiting for Spring.
A promising sun
Seeps through clouds of bone-chilling fog.
Liquid sky
Floats in puddles.
Waiting for Spring.
Still waiting.
Tiny potted seedlings of
Carrots, Onions, Peas
Sunflowers
Sleep quietly in a blanket of new soil.
Waiting for Spring.
Still waiting.
April showers
Bring May Flowers
And all that jazz.
Still waiting
For Spring.

Cindy

Leaping Small Fry, Hungry Sea Bird

Kelley

What the teachers don't tell you...
In the current New Yorker magazine, an article about Edgar Allan Poe caught my attention. Murder, scarey talking birds, signs of death and cold windy nights. Suspense. Chills up the spine. Police and detective work. Ugly. That's what I remember of his works, the assigned reading in high school. The Raven, The Gold-Bug, A Telltale Heart...all are dark and murderous stories with twisted plots in rhythm. However, while it was quite obvious that he was a very strange man, living through two major economic crashes in the 1840s and dreary unemployment spikes in New York city, the teachers never really told us about this guy. About the man behind the words. He was bad. A chronic liar, he was blacklisted among New York publishers for attempting to write crazy, outlandish and false autobiographies. He got off on insulting his readers, and while extremely talented at writing puns and cryptograms, most all of his works were out to dupe the reader. He hated his audience! He showed up drunk at a New York city speaking event, tricking the audience by reading one of his childhood poems instead of the keynote address. He sought money, but he pretty much starved his whole life. His literary criticism reeked with mockery and debauchery, calling out the incredible authors of the time from James Fenimore Cooper to Margaret Fuller. He failed at every magazine he began or edited, and his life was quite sad. An orphan, his foster father disowned him after he lied and stole from the family. And he was found wasted outside a bar, having spent the only 10 bucks to his name, which was intended as a community donation to his sickly wife. She died of consumption. He died of, as if the finale to his life's work, "mysterious causes," just three years later. Stephen King calls Poe the granddaddy of detective fiction. But this granddaddy was a bad dude. Sometimes it's sad that an author or artist never became famous during their life, celebrity achieved only after they're gone. In Poe's case, it's sad that he became famous at all. Bad people should not live on. I'm sure this was not on the lesson plan...

Cindy

Let's Go, Soun-ders! Clap, Clap, Clap-Clap-Clap!

robyn

walking in the rain/snow to the emerson for the ballet for fiona's birthday party.

Cindy

Twin Falls, North Bend, WA.
(I think it should be called Tortoise Head).

Kelley

you...

Do you know what you stand for,
What matters to you..does every action and word coincide with it too?
Answer these questions
And see if it's true
That you are living, not just life,
But a reflection of YOU.
What book are you now reading? What music captivates you?
What did you last purchase, what does your spending say too?
Who are your close friends and what together do you do?
When did you last help someone in need, forgetting your self,
Open the door for someone, or listen instead of saying something else?
Where did you send your last letter, who was it for?
What did you do with free-time today, was it wasted wishing for more?
If your life were a book, every minute recorded in thought and word too
Do you really know this person you call YOU?

Kelley

New Teeth

They're coming through like daggers,
Ripping at the flesh.
These baby teeth don't care one bit
About Charlie's state of mess.
Up all night.
A screaming fright.
And now I'm too tired to write.
Another goodnight.
Yikes.

:(

Cindy

Tree of the Future?

robyn

today i hosted playgroup at my place. 5 moms, 12 kids, age 7 weeks (freddie) to 4 years, 11 months and 25 days (fiona). only two bloody lips (jasper and tobi). two poopies (freya and sadie), one loaf of banana bluberry bread and a pot of coffee. we would have gone outside but there were about 12 inches of fresh snow blanketing everything. sunny tomorrow and then another snow storm due on sunday, many more inches of fresh white snow. really good for the mountains, not really good for mommies with kids, most of whom have put away all the winter gear.

Kelley

My Plot

Today I bought a 5' by 10' plot at the Sisters Community Garden. My chance to become a greenthumb! Planting can begin June 1, so I've got lots of work to do before then. What to plant? And Todd has decided that he wants to attempt a vegetarian diet this summer. The pressure is on... I've gotta grow some enticing veggies. Wish me luck!

Cindy

Making Room for Summer

Kelley

Conscientious Aftermath
of an Earth Day Resolution

Morning coffee-
Bend, Oregon.
Breakfast oatmeal and rice milk-
Seattle and New York.
Snacks of Gala apples and crackers-
Washington state and New Jersey.
Lunch of spinach, tomatoes and dressing-
California and West Virginia.
San Pelligrino-
Italy.
Melon-
Mexico.
Chocolate-
Switzerland.
Dinner burgers on the barbie-
South Dakota.
Apple cobbler-
Washington and 10 other industrial places across the nation.
Mirror Pond Ale-
Bend, Oregon.
Total travel-
Way too far.

At least the day began and ended locally...
It can only get better from here.

Cindy

Weathered.

Kelley

A Garden for Earth Day

By 2050, scientists say the world's farmers will need to double their agricultural output to feed us all.
Twice as much food.
For twice as many mouths.
In just 40 years.
Where will all this new food grow?
If the wheat fields continue their warp into subdivisions, where will our bread come from?
Will we drink orange juice made from incubated seedlings grown in a white sterile building tended by mad glove-wielding scientists who call themselves farmers?
Will "organic" be impossible?
Will biotechnology and genetically modified organisms be the only option?
In 40 years, my baby son will be a middle-aged man. What will his dinner plate look like then? What will he be feeding his children?
Will they know where it came from? And will it look like the food we know?
They say that hybrid seeds will produce more, sustain us longer, conserve the earth's resources.
Maybe so.
Time will tell.
I do know that it's time to make a change.
A garden-sized change.
One day my son will tell his own kids
That he saw his dinner sprouting from seeds in the ground
Before it appeared on his plate.

Cindy

Rhododendron. Nothing is more Washington than this!

Cindy

Everybody is celebrating these days.

robyn

wondering why some dog owners in bozeman think that just because they say their dog is friendly that makes it okay for their dog to lick my kids face.

Kelley

foreclosure

He's here
At our home
In his truck.
Right now.
The man who owned our house,
The man who lost it all.
The bank took it
Because he
In faith of the American dream
Overstretched his imaginary wallet.
Bankrupt.
Here I am
Sitting inside
Looking out
Wondering
What does he see when he looks at our home?

Kelley

82 degrees today.
Stroller rides, sunburns and sweat.
Todd spent the day in the creek,
Testing the POV camera
Inside his new invention;
An underwater housing
made from pvc pipe, toilet hardware
And a latex glove.
I watched...
It worked...
No leaks.
As for Charlie,
He leaked
On me.
Tomorrow I will take
Him to the creek,
If the temperature is right.
82 degrees might do it.

look here! http://catchmagazine.net/pov_wide.mov

Cindy

Green Gone Spring

Kelley

Dishwasher is running. The house is a mess. I'm ignoring my crying toddler in his crib, I confess. Finally it's time to put my feet up and relax. Oh, yes, the blog...I shouldn't slack. So, cheers to an attempt I'll make tonight. And it's time to rescue my son whose making quite a sight. Good night!

Cindy

Snow White

robyn

so, ladies, have to admit i feel a little sigh of relief to have this blog not be weighing on me. i love doing it and i hope to figure out a way to make it happen, right after i sell off my kids...

:-)

Cindy

A Break in the Storm

Cindy

Evening Light

Cindy

Winner!

Cindy

Not your mama's Easter Egg.

Cindy

Cassie & Quentin

Cindy

Saoirse & Mia. Saturday morning brunch.

Cindy

Game Face.

Cindy

Churchy.

Cindy

I just can't get enough.

Cindy

Hell-o Beautiful!