On being dragged into the 21st century

Kicking and screaming.
Our kids all did double-takes when we told them we were finally breaking down and buying a flat-screen TV. And let me just say, here and now, that the only reason we did it is that the rec room TV was on its last legs.
Of course, you can't just buy a new TV. You have to buy a Blueray player so that you get the FULL impact of all that HD. And a bunch of new, expensive cables. And then a new stereo receiver because the old one doesn't have all the necessary inputs and outputs.
Hmmph.
So, two weeks later, we just about have all the kinks worked out. Except for channel 6, that inexplicably loses the stereo vocal sound when the show is on, but not the commercials. I'm hoping that when we have our Thanksgiving crowd over, one of the boys can figure it out.
Luckily, Jonnie loves to play around with wires.
He's also small enough to fit in the armoire.
Can't see Jeff in there, can you?


Thomy has very good fine motor skills and likes to put things together. Unlike his Dad, whose forte at that age was taking things apart. Thomy reconfigured the Dora hopscotch squares and he and Jeff had fun jumping on them while his Daddy was making up for past sins.

Riding...

...the art of keeping a horse between you and the ground.

I was looking over my Adobe files and noticed that I had missed reporting on some fun events of late summer.
While Charlie and Annie were home in September we had a family horse-riding afternoon.
You may recall from earlier posts that when I was a girl, all I wanted in life was to be a ballerina and ride horses.
Instead, I got piano lessons.
For which I am very grateful.
But a piano is not a horse.
I used to read Black Beauty and cry.
I read the sequel and cried.
My friend Janet got a horse and I was jealous.
(But I didn't cry about it.)
We used to walk around the village and feed the local horses carrots and apples and I would wish that they were mine.
I guess I didn't know enough to nag, not having a TV and all. All my bad habits were innate, not learned from bratty kids in a sitcom.

Years later, as an independently wealthy teenager, I would rent a horse for an hour and make it go as fast as its unwilling legs would carry me. It fulfilled a little of the old childhood yearning and by then I had lots of other interests anyway.

I haven't climbed on a horse for decades, so I was unsure if I would ride, but the kids were excited.
Some of them.

The day was gloriously sunny. We picked up pizzas from Little Caesar's and headed up the mountain.
Annie is an equestrian from way back. She used to exchange babysitting for riding lessons from our friend, so was the most experienced of us all. Kenzie has been hankering to ride for a long time and she loved it. She rode alone a little later.


Annie and Charlie galloped fearlessly around the path, as did Jon. The boys both rode horses at Camp Baldwin when they were scouts.


Bethany had never ridden before and she was leery. We all told her she would be fine. Unfortunately, her horse decided to gallop downhill about 20 yards into her ride. She managed to stay on, thanks to all the good advice we were shouting at her, but when she returned to us her face was white and she was shaking. No, she didn't go for a repeat performance!
I think this was taken after the ride. Notice the rather desperate quality of her smile.


Jenny was just as apprehensive as her face suggests. She had a nice calm ride, being led the whole way.


Big Jeff and little Jeff. Little Jeff isn't scared of anything.


And moi?
Yes, I braved it.
Strangely, my gammy leg was a bit of a handicap because of the limited range of motion.
But it still felt good!

Charlie had so much fun he went back again a couple of days later.
With a GIRL.

We, the people...

...owe every moment of our lives to the men and women who have fought for freedom. I don't say "our freedom," because more often than not, they have fought for the freedom of other nations and peoples.
This Veteran's Day, let us pause for a few moments to remember all those who have died in the name of freedom. Let's remember also those whose lives have never been the same because of their war experiences. Their offering is hardly less just because their lives were spared. Remember, too, the sacrifices made by the families of the military.
This video is a little long, but how many minutes of this day are you willing to give up to honour our dead?

Happy (belated) Halloween

Saturday night was Halloween, bringing back fond memories of traipsing around our neighbourhood streets with the kids, urging them on to "Just one more street" long after they were tired and wanting to go home. Then we would return home to Jeff and the cosy woodstove. The kids would tip all their candy out on the floor of the family room and inspect the goodies. The Butterfingers went to me, a tariff for their night of gathering booty. Besides, I don't think any of them really liked Butterfingers. We usually watched Garfield's Halloween Adventure, which ran annually on CBS from 1985 till 2000. You can watch it in three parts here, here, and here, if you have missed it. It's full of quotable lines...
I'll have you know Halloween is my middle name...Gar-Halloween-field.
Arrrgh, it do be a landlubber who be shoving lasagna in his face.
Come along matey, we've got a village to pillage.
...and was the first time Binky the Clown showed up on Garfield. It also has memorable songs by Lou Rawls and Lorenzo Music.
I was going to find some old photos and scan and post them here, but it has proved to be beyond me today, so maybe tomorrow.

Meanwhile, here are way too many photos from my evening with the next generation.
Jenny is a real party girl.
She decorates for Halloween in September.
I kid you not.
Early September.
She painstakingly sewed all of the dots on Thomy's costume this year.
I was impressed.
Jeff is Bob the Builder, of course.


We went downtown Newberg, where hordes of children and their doting relatives descend on 1st Street every year and hold the shopowners for ransom.
Here is the most impressive pumpkin of the evening, made by my best friend's sister.


It curdled MY blood, for sure.

Tinkerbells abounded.


One of the many civic volunteers who controlled traffic for the little ghosts and goblins.


We got lucky in that the weather dried up.
There's nothing worse than a wet and bedraggled Halloween, although over the years we have had surprisingly few.


A delicious treat at the pet store.
Giant mealworms amidst the mints.


On our travels, we drove past this magnificent haunted house.


This fellow scared the dickens out of the boys when Jenny took candy from his bowl.


Jenny was excited to have her photo taken with Mr. Spock.
Jeff, not so much.


We went back to the apartment to pick up Jon, who had been sleeping off his shift, and drove up to the best Halloween street in Newberg.
Jenny had many photo opportunities!
I was torn between using the flash for detail and not using it for better ambience.


I got home and the house was dark and locked up tight.
Not the homecoming I fondly remember.

Musical discoveries

I went with my friend Kathy to see Lisa Hannigan in concert tonight. Her voice blew me away. Again. It is unlike any other voice. Expressive, hauntingly beautiful in its upper range, quirky in the rest of it. Lisa can draw a word out into more syllables than anyone I have ever heard, so that the words themselves become almost irrelevant and all that remains is the melody.
Here is a rather fun version of "I Don't Know."
Thanks Kathy, for the idea.



My accidental discovery of Lisa at a Jason Miraz concert reminds of the time I first heard Jamie Cullum. We were at a Tunes on Tuesday concert a few summers ago in downtown Newberg. The group that was to perform that night was playing a CD of a guy with an amazing voice. I rather nervily went up and asked them who it was, and for some reason the name stuck with me. A year or so later, Jamie came to Portland, so we went to the concert. Jeff and I both agreed that it was one of the best we have ever attended.
Jamie is a cocky little Englishman.
With a wicked sense of humour.




And now, I think, I might go to bed.

The many faces of Natalie

I haven't shown you much of Natalie yet. She is Bethany's youngest, who turned two a couple of weeks ago. Bethany dotes on her, and Natalie returns the adoration, which means that the rest of us haven't had much of a chance. I love babies, but I love toddlers better. They are so ornery and cute and full of personality and you can send them home to their parents when they wear you out.

We spent a few hours together today, while everyone else went to Chuck E. Cheese to play games. Natalie is a happy little soul who sings and jiggles and wiggles her way through the day. She is quite self-sufficient in her play, just needing to know that I am in the same room or she will come looking for me. She loves animals and her "babies" and food and music. Her little bottom starts wiggling as soon as she hears a good beat.
Natalie has an immensely expressive face and I captured some of her "looks" as she was playing with my koala that sings "Waltzing Matilda." Yes, her bottom was wiggling, I should have taken a video.


Natalie's Mom was born 29 years ago today.
Happy Birthday, Bethany.

An old/new trend

My latest passion is composting.
Did I hear you groan?
It's part of my resolution to live lightly on the land. If you missed my old posts on related subjects, you can read them here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Crikey, that was a lot. Some of my blogger friends have also been posting thoughts on related topics. Go see Lisa or Jon.
Back to composting. I bought a black compost bin several years ago when the city of Portland was beginning to encourage the habit. To be honest, I haven't used the compost very much yet, because it seems to degrade down so far that I just keep piling the food scraps and yard debris on top. I figure there has to be some killer compost at the bottom of the bin, if I just dared to shovel it out. Maybe next spring.
There was an article in the Oregonian a few weeks ago that raised some points concerning composting that I hadn't thought about.
I was raised on the philosophy that you don't waste food. Very little gets thrown out in my house. Ask my kids! Turns out that this is an environmentally sound ethic. So often, we think about how far food has to be transported, as in "eat local." But throwing food away actually has more impact on the environment than the distance it traveled. The amount of energy that it takes to grow, transport, and cook a chicken, for example, is exacerbated if it then creates methane as waste in a landfill or is put down the garbage disposal. The bottom line: composting is good, but careful planning so as to not waste food is even better. We need to plan our shopping, storage methods, cooking quantities, and be innovative with leftovers. In our society that touts excess in everything, it is a sombre thought that we might have to return to our grandparents' mindset of "Waste not, want not."
Commercial compost bins are quite expensive, but this video tells how to make your own out of an old garbage can. I have one waiting in my vegetable garden for this very purpose. This blogger and this one also give good instructions and tips on the whole process.
Now go.
Compost.
You'll feel so good about yourself.