Our two little lights, shining brightly in the dark night.
A memory for our kids’ CO files. :)
Author: Jana
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Peace Rally
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another episode
John and I put together podcast #4 on the big brown bed last night. It should be posted in a few days–after John finishes all of the technical tweaking. :)
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schedule
for a day without the kiddoes:
7:30 wake up and test the bed springs w/John (yup, they still work)
8:30 shower, where I use my new favorite shampoo. It has good lather, a fresh scent, and leaves my hair oh-so soft & shiny! I start the day with happy hair.
8:47 light incense, sit on bed in lotus position and meditate
8:49 pet Elly when she leaps into lap as I meditate in lotus position
9:01 snuggle w/Elly on bed
9:20 get dressed in garden clothes
9:23 ride bike to garden; water
9:58 ride bike home
10:01 change clothes & check email
10:09 start watching ‘youtube’ videos; chat with John about internet tubes, macacas and toilet trained cats.
10:34 make a list of errands we want to run today, including the running store, a local coffeehouse, a plant nursery, a comic book shop, and a bead shop
11:05 go to lunch at sushiboy (blech. stale sushi)
12:00 mail overdue netflix movies on the way to the running store/coffeehouse (I grade papers at the coffeehouse while John buys new running shoes) [FYI Uncle NikeJohn, he bought Adidas this time]
3:15 leave coffeehouse and go to bead shop. I peruse beads while John pops into random stores throughout the adjacent strip mall.
3:45 go to plant nursery where I buy some flowers and John heads for the comic book store across the street
4:45 I join John at the comic book store. He shows me Ticket to Ride and we buy it. [John figures I’ll be willing to play a game that’s about _trains!_]
5:15 we drop by Rite Aid, where they are having a clearance sale on garden kitsch. I buy two solar lamps for the garden at a pretty hefty discount.
5:30 arrive home from errands. I change clothes and head back to garden to plant flowers and attend a Garden Council meeting (I’m the treasurer for our community garden).
8:30 I leave the garden, which now looks like a fairyand in the pale blue glow of the new solar lanterns. The lights turn on at dusk and will illuminate the central pathway of the garden for about 8 hours, running on solar power stored up from the day’s light.
9:00 over a plate of noodles from a local restaurant, we play Ticket to Ride. A super close game, John wins by only a few points.
11:10 reading, writing and time for bed.
A long and enjoyable day. We miss the kiddoes terribly, but they had lots of fun climbing Mt. Baldy with Suz&Chris. :) -
down memory lane
My first blog was at www.enivri.com. When I ceased paying for my own domain name, the blog disappeared and I never bothered to save my posts anywhere.
John recently showed me how to use the “wayback machine,” which gives a window into my world from 4 or 5 years ago through its archives of my old blog. This is cooler than cool.
–See my post on enivri.com after my first attempt at rock climbing [Note: my butt is not really as big as it looks in this particular picture]
–The post where I write about our move to a teeny-tiny apartment at UCI–a rather momentous event in our family’s history.
–My farewell post at www.enivri.com. -
tart
A recipe, with goodies from the garden…
Tomato and Squash Tart
2-4 large fresh tomatoes, thinly sliced
2 large zucchini or summer squash, thinly sliced
1 large potato, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cup diced onion
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese, divided
1 tsp salt
2 tsp eash fresh oregano & thyme or 1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Butter
fresh sweet basil for garnishPreheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a shallow casserole dish. Combine squash, potato, onion, 3/4 cup of the Swiss cheese, eggs, salt, thyme & oregano (or Italian seasoning). Arrange half of the tomato slices on bottom of pie plate. Spoon vegetable mixture over tomatoes.
Arrange remaining tomato slices on top; sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Garnish with basil leaves.
Bake until vegetables are tender–about 45 minutes. -
sock dreams
Am I the only one who swoons when cashmere, angora and thigh-high are mentioned in the same sentence?
Not to mention the satin, mohair, and chenille…
[Can you tell I’m sitting in my sister’s chilly basement, wishing for something to keep my toesies toasty?]
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blogfriends
To all of you who I met during the Sunstone Symposium (and even those I didn’t get a chance to talk to):
Would you mind leaving a comment with your name and the URL to your blog? I’d like to have the opportunity to get better acquainted with each of you by visiting your cyberhomes.
Thanks!
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The Agony and the Ecstasy
I’ve been detached from my umbilical cord (a.k.a a functioning wireless network) for the past 2 days. The pain of the disconnection!
In the meanwhile, having a blast at the Sunstone Symposium. Meeting tons of cyber-friends in person. Discovering that they are just as cool (or even cooler) than their online personas. What fun!
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thoughtful
“Who is not afraid of pure space–that breathtaking empty space of an open door?”
~Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift From the Sea -
on my nightstand…
Here’s what I’m reading right now:
King Leopold’s Ghost
Required reading for the World History class that I’m teaching. It’s one of those books that shocking–millions of Africans killed to satisfy the greed of a Belgian monarch. Helps put the challenges of post-colonial Africa into perspective.
Survival in Auschwitz
Another read for World History. One man’s perspective on life in a concentration camp. This book is almost impossible to put down because of its candid horror and lucid writing. I can’t wait to discuss this one with my undergrads.
Plain Living
I’m reading this text as I study Simplicity this month. In addition, I’m reading selections from Simple Abundance
The Water is Wide
This book tells about a teacher on a an impoverished South Carolina island in 1969. His upper-grade students don’t know how to read and they think the biggest city in the world is Savannah. A ripping good story by an awesome writer.
Giants in the Earth
It’s a classic tale of danish immigrants homesteading the Dakota prairie. I found myself gripping my seat, almost wanting to yell at them, “Get that harvest in NOW” as I knew the crickets would be coming. And they did, in hordes, every year. Protagonists Beret and Pers Hansa felt like friends by the end of this book (I just finished reading it last week). It reminded me of the Kristin Lavransdatter series (another must-read!), though KL is set in an entirely different time and place.All of these books are probably in your local library, and almost all are available on amazon.com for less than $5 each. You can click on the hyperlinks to read more about them :)
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like me
I realized recently why I’ve been so interested in studying Civil War amputees. To explain, I will use an analogy:Suppose you were living in a community were everyone had pre-pubescent bodies. Then your body went through puberty, and as a result your body became somewhat more complex than everyone else’s that you knew of. While you had an understanding that puberty wasn’t anything to be ashamed of, and you had a sense that there were other people in the world who had passed through puberty, you were really alone in your experiences and in trying to figure out how to manage your different body. Then, one day in the deep recesses of the library, you come across a book that has descriptions and images of people who have passed through puberty. The changes in their bodies were explained in case study format, and the images were clinical and informative. All of a sudden you realized that your feelings and appearance were not so unusual. You knew that others had experienced the same things. You no longer felt so alone.
Hmmmm…so that’s how I feel when I study the historical medical records of amputees. Their bodies look like mine. Their challenges–even given the better technology nowadays–are remarkably similar to mine.
Is it odd to feel such kinship to men who lived 150 years ago? Whose socioeconomic circumstances are so different from mine? Perhaps. But we’ve all waged enormous battles with our bodies, we have experienced the necessity and horror of loss, as well as the unspeakable pain that accompanies amputation. We’ve each had to address the reality that life goes on, despite the social prejudices that surround our physical difference and despite the fact that we have to ‘accomodate’ ourselves and our surroundings to maintain mobility.
