Adventures in Merry-Land

Well, it wasn't all merry, but most of it was.    As some of you may have already heard, the day of flying and traveling over to Piney Point, Maryland was quite nightmarish beginning with a couple loud fits in the airport, and culminating with a five minute screaming freak-out as soon as we got on our plane (he got scared and wanted to get off).  But, all's well that ends well, and I think this trip ended well, and overall we had a lot of fun times.  I now understand Erik's complete misery every time he goes to school.  It's a very nice campus, but being stuck there not learning anything, nothing to do but watch TV, nothing within walking distance for about 10 miles other than a dive bar called The OCI, combined with the really yucky, greasy, overcooked food they serve at the school... it gets old fast.  Fortunately we had a car, so Elliot and I typically took off every morning, came back in the afternoon, went for a swim with Erik when he got done with school, and then we all went somewhere tolerable for dinner.  I learned my way around the area pretty quick, and it really helped that we had Mary and Bill's GPS to help us find all the cool things to do in the area.  The place was beautiful!  Surrounded by the Patuxent and Potomac Rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay, there was water everywhere.  And that water was absolutely teeming with life:  Sea Nettles, Cow-nosed Rays, Dogfish, and Comb Jellies, Diamond-backed Terrapin, and of course crabs and shellfish - all of which we saw in their natural habitat.  The landscape was completely green, and sprawling with lots of open space lots of very cute old brick houses, and colonial style mansions along side tumbledown old barns and abandoned old victorian houses with vines growing in the windows.  We didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked because of the small storage space of the old camera I was using, but here they are:

The above are pictures from the first free day we had together.  We went to the Calvert Lighthouse and Museum/Aquarium, which was great fun.  They had a sailboat that Elliot could climb around in, a little lighthouse for kids to play in, a touch tank with a Diamond-backed Terrapin turtle (I fell in love with it - the cutest turtle I've ever seen), rays, river otters, tons of model and real sailboats, etc.  Elliot got to build his own wooden boat, which he named "The Cattyboo", and of course we got to go up in the lighthouse.  Not to mention we make a pretty cute family of pirates and mermaid.

We also went to Washington D.C. and walked all around the Capital and National Mall area.  Elliot's behavior was ... let's just say, not ideal that day.  Hence, the expression on Erik's face in this picture that was taken on our final walk back to the car before leaving.  But it was neat to see everything, and we took Elliot to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, which was cool because we got to see a 3D Ocean IMAX movie.  Ellliot absolutely loved that and kept standing up and trying to reach out and grab jellyfish and other sea life that looked like it was coming over to him.  It was quite entertaining for us all.  Oh yeah, and for some reason Elliot kept stopping and  hugging trees.  That's right, he's a tree-hugger.  So we had to get a picture of that.



Above are some pictures of a lighthouse that Elliot and I visited on our own.  It's the Piney Point lighthouse, just around the corner from Erik's school.  We were the only ones there, so we got our own private tour.  It was very beautiful and old, and peaceful.  There used to be a resort right next to it where presidents used to go for some "down time", kind of like they go to Camp David now.  So, there was some interesting history behind the place.  And here's Elliot looking all touristy in his sunglasses and S.I.U. hat, which he calls his "crusty crab hat", since it somewhat resembles Sponge Bob's hat.

Here is the beginning of the pictures of our visit to Historic Saint Mary's City, which was Maryland's first capital, and is now a living history village.  This means people dress in colonial costumes, and have the village set up in the way it was way back then.  It was very interesting, and Elliot liked it lots more that I expected.  We both had a great day (Erik was in school), and came back with some fabulous souveniers, the best of which was a clay pipe we got for Erik.  It was made by the last clay pipe maker in the U.S.  I am told that after he dies, there will be no more clay pipes made at all!  Anyway, he loves it.  The above is Elliot walking with me through the cemetery at Trinity Church, the oldest church in Maryland.  Some of the graves were from the 1600s! 
Here he is peeking out of an old barn.  The outside is recreated, but the inside is really, really old.  I wish I remember more details about it, but it was supposed to be a really famous barn or something...
You can see the old wood on the right hand side in this picture.  And that's the wagon I pulled Elliot around in for most of the day.
He pulled it some of the time.  As you can see, it was very beautiful there.  The field to the right was full of wild carrots (the ones you can kind of see have white flowers on the top).  And, there were wild berries and roses on the left hand side.
Here's Elliot learning how to water the garden the old-fashioned way.  He scooped the water out of the bucket with a gourd and then let the water go through the holes in the bottom of the gourd, just like a watering can.  He pretty much watered the whole herb garden.  It was a really hot day, so playing in water, and having his shirt off felt good.
Luckily this girl was really patient and liked kids, 'cause Elliot seemed to want to stay in this one house forever.  Here she is showing him how the musket was even bigger than him!  They also had a bunch of games, including dominos made of bone, and dice made of iron and wood.
Here's Elliot in one of the bunks of the Maryland Dove, a recreated sailing ship.  He closed the curtains and decided he was going to take a nap there.
Here's a view of the Maryland Dove.  There were jellyfish in the water that we could see off the pier.

This is the print house where the printer would have lived.  This girl is spreading ink over the lead letters with leather blotters and getting ready to make a print on this old fashioned printing press.
Here we are at the Godiah Spray Tobacco Plantation.  The boy in front is getting ready to fire a musket for us.  It look him a really long time to get it ready.  The most interesting thing about this place was the tobacco field.  To us it would just look like a field of weeds.  They used the Native American method of farming, so to them a "new field" was basically a forest.  They would gird the trees by cutting a ring of bark from the bottom, and wait for the trees to die to let more light in.  They never plowed their fields, but just planted the tobacco in individual raised mounds right among whatever native plants were there, and then picked off the horned tobacco worms by hand.  So eco-friendly.
And here was Elliot's favorite part of the plantation - holding some baby chickens that were wandering around the garden.  

So there's our vacation!  It was so fun to go exploring and spend some time with Erik.  I hope that wasn't too long and boring to read about.  We are really glad to be home and back in lovely California.  And.... I got a new camera!  Horray!  So there will be lots more blogging again, and hopefully lots of lovely pictures!  See you next time!

A World of His Own

First of all, why is it so hard for me to just pack up my camera and mail it in?  It's one of those things that's really simple, but you just really never feel like doing it.  So I have been putting it off for like, a month, and I still have no camera.  Bah!  I've missed so many photo opportunities that now I just feel like rushing out and buying a new one.  Oh well.

So, life has been pretty nice around here lately.  Erik continues to be the funnest person I have ever known, and I am so glad that I get to share life with him.  Elliot is growing up, becoming really conversational, and still has a really great imagination.  He is still pretending to be different kinds of animals quite a lot, but now they have names.  And he's also naming his toy animals.  It all started when he got a little stretchy plastic lizard as a prize after his first trip to the dentist.  He decided to name it Lupine, like the purple flowers he learned of during the spring when they were lining the sides of the freeway.  Then last week at church a friend came over to Elliot and said, "Hi, Elliot", a seemingly appropriate greeting.  But she was sternly corrected by Elliot, who told her his name was Lupine, and that he was a cat.  He was crawling on all fours just as cats do, and got his hand stepped on my an unassuming adult trying to come in the doorway.  He screamed really loud, and yelled through the tears, "Someone stepped on the cat's hand!"  

The next day he pretended to be a fish at the pool, of course, and then later riding in the car, pretended to be a bird.  Out of curiosity, I asked him what the bird's name was.  After a long pause, he answered, "The bird's name is just.... it's just Cattyboo."  Then he had to be called Cattyboo for most of the night and the next following days.  I thought it was cute, especially the graceful flying he does with his wings, though Erik wasn't so thrilled when Elliot told us that Cattyboo is a girl bird.  Hmm....

The next animal, Erik did approve of:  A turtle named Marshall.  Now that's manly.  That's a new one as of today, but I can't wait to see what his creative little mind comes up with next. :)

The Show Must Go On!

Since I don't have a camera, and I have found something really entertaining to share, I thought I would do the sharing here at my blog, my home sweet home that I miss so much.  I'm not sure people will find this as cool as I do, but here it is.

There was a nationwide study discussed on This American Life, a really interesting radio show, about sound.  What kinds of music do people like most, and what do they like least?  Including tempo, music style, vocal variety, instrumentation, subject of the song, length, etc.  They had everything ranked by participants, then formed all the most liked things into a song, and all the least liked things into another song.

Needless to say, the most liked song was rather typical.  A love song with typical instruments like guitar, piano, drums, bass, etc, and a low voiced female singer, and of a normal length.  The least liked song is super long, and has a variety of "horrible", yet interesting sounds.  For instance; an opera singer rapping, accordian, bagpipes, harp, pipe organ, singing about cowboys and holidays, advertising, animal noises, politics, and so much more that most people hate.  I'm posting a link to it at the bottom, and strongly suggest that if you have some time to kill, just put it on while  you do other stuff on your computer.  I have to admit, I totally love the weirdness of it.  Partially because it's so unwanted I feel the need to adopt it, and partially because there are parts of it that really are fabulous and, if extracted, would fit great into "beautiful" music.  Most of all, it's really funny and entertaining for me to listen to.  At least once.  

Please want it.... The Most Unwanted Song

Broke

So, I think my camera is broken.  It wont turn on, and I did drop it the last time I was uploading pictures.  Now it has a crack on the back screen, but it was supposed to be "Eva-proof"!  Erik got it for me last Christmas because it's waterproof and shockproof.  It's supposed to be able to be dropped from 6 feet onto concrete and be fine, but it looks as if a fall of 18 inches or so onto a chair was too much for it.  I bet I can get a new one under warranty.  Until then, maybe you will be blessed with some deep thoughts... we'll see.

As for life, it's going well.  It's been super hot, and Elliot has been in one of his test-the-boundaries phases, and we both have colds, so that's an adventure in itself.  Other than that, it's been a lovely time of hanging around the house, gardening, and trips to the beach.  We went to Pismo today, and it was super fun watching Elliot run around and play in the little waves.  There were a lot of people there, escaping the heat.  There were also tons of ladybugs there.  Flying, crawling, dead on the ground.  It was kind of freaky.  After playing in the sand for a while, we walked out on the pier, and ended up seeing a bunch of dolphins swimming by.  They were so close to the end of the pier, we could totally see their faces!  And, they had a little white baby dolphin with them.  So special!  Then we turned around and saw a huge brown pelican right in front of us, hanging out with a bunch of fishermen on the pier!  I tried to get Elliot to stand by him so I could take a picture, but he was too scared.  Probably wise of him.  The fishermen said he hung out there all the time, and they even had a name for him, and knew how to get him to do "tricks".  Pretty cool day!  Hopefully there will be many more like it this summer.  I bought myself a backpack chair in anticipation of making it a beach-filled summer.  And I know Erik wants to surf a ton on his new board, so hopefully we will get to go together several times a week.  I love the beach.  It's such a peaceful place, no matter what you do there.  Whether you walk, splash, or even just sit in the car and watch the waves, there's nothing like it.  And every time I go, I ask myself, "Why don't I do this like, every day?"  Obviously I can't go every day, but I'm gonna go more.  That's a promise!  Anybody want to come along?

Just to Summarize....

So, here's a little blog to catch you up on all our recent activity.  I think I am ready to start blogging.  I'm just waiting for some deep thoughts to come my way.  Who knows how long that could take, so I better just dive in.  
Here's Elliot at his first day of soccer.  He loves it once he gets playing, but he tends to space out and end up running around by himself in little circles out in the field.  It's pretty entertaining, though.
Yes, the ducks are laying up a storm!  The eggs are wonderful, and this is the first of many quiches made with them.  I ended up bringing it to Ann's house and getting everyone to love it before they knew it was duck eggs!  ;)
I thought this picture was too sweet to leave out.  It's Elliot "ferlaxing" in Grampa Timo's hammock.
Here's Erin relaxing with Roscoe the snuggle dog on one of his last days with us.  It was harder than I thought to leave him.  I guess I was a little more attached than I realized, what with having him since he was so little.  But our house is a much more peaceful place now, and I think he is probably having a wonderful life with three wild little boys.
I tagged along with Erin and Mike and went to see Bonnie "Prince" Billy in Los Osos one night.  It was a great show, and really fun to be in "the scene" for the first time in a long time.  I felt really old compared to everyone else there, but it was a wonderful night, and music was super cool.
Here's some duck eggs.  They are not dyed, these are the colors they are naturally.  Off white, light green, and occasionally brown.  Aren't they pretty?
I decided to include a duck picture for easter.  Here they are poking around a big pile of sage trimmings.  They are always so curious!  I think the sage made them a little wild because after this, Miss Bennet (the fawn and white one here) kept trying to jump up on  my lap!
Easter!  Elliot was delighted with what the bunny brought.
The bunny came to grandma and grandpa's house, too!  There were eggs everywhere hidden and filled by cousin Grace, who played with Elliot all day long!  It was so fun to watch them together!  We also got to see Erik's Aunt Arteenia, and cousins Leanne and Debbie for the first time since Elliot was born.  It was great to visit, and Elliot was showered with attention and love all day long.
And, birthday!  The very next day was Elliot's 4th, and we had all our family, plus the Moores (they're pretty much family) over to celebrate.  It was a great, and wild time.  In this picture Elliot's biting the alligator daddy sent him in the mail from Hawaii, where he has his days off from the ship.
Here's the birthday boy at the end of the night.  He was pretty darned tired.  There was one point while opening gifts that he pretty much started zoning out and doing a blank stare, and not responding when anyone talked to him.  I think all the candy and excitement took it's toll, and today he's feeling sick.  But what a happy happy birthday!

Not Quite All There

So, I haven't blogged in a long time (for me).  I just don't feel motivated or inspired to do much of anything besides play my guitar and hang around in my pj's.  I had a great time visiting Jennifer in Wyoming, which I will post pictures of at some point.  My ducks started laying eggs, which is really really exciting.  And they are delicious.  Roscoe got neutered.  Hopefully it will make him a bit more submissive, but that remains to be seen.  I finally unpacked my suitcase today, which I am kind of proud of since usually it takes me about a month to get around to it.

Things are going well here all around.  I just hope I can start feeling inspired to create some things with Ann for our next event, coming up on April 4th at the Apple Farm restaurant.  We haven't really made anything since Christmas, and I'm totally not in the mode.  Hopefully the creative annointing will fall, and we will be full of beautiful and genius ideas, 'cause right now I've got nothin'.   

Okay.  That's all.  More on the great Wyoming adventure later.  :)

There and Back Again

Isn't it weird how everything goes in cycles?  I was thinking recently about how when I first started learning to play the guitar (a beginning guitar class at SLOHS with Brooke Evans) I was so excited about it.  The two of us would stay up late into the night playing worship songs, and would even walk around downtown with our guitars strapped to us, and occasionally commandeer Woodstock's for a late night jam session.  The guy who worked there got so used to us coming, he started moving the table out of the way before we got there.  I think our playing was probably pretty horrible at the time, but we kind of didn't care.  We just wanted to make music wherever we went.  Well, I haven't felt that way for a long time... until now.  Jennifer Barnett and I were just talking on the phone about how when you're not inspired musically, there's really nothing you can do about it except wait - for a new season, we decided, and that's what I feel like this is.  I am starting to feel the old feeling of anticipation again for music.  Writing little songs in my head, and wishing I had a microphone to try them out properly.  And whenever I hear great music, and especially worshipful music, this deep longing to be in the middle of it and be a part of it, and what it means.

I got a new guitar this week.  A way better one than I deserve.  But I am so excited about it and grateful to have it that I am really feeling motivated to learn to play it better.  And that's saying a lot since most of my musical "fun" is in the singing, not the guitar playing.  So, here I am back where I started, and it sure does feel good.

Speaking of traveling, I'm going to Wyoming this week to visit Jennifer!  Yay!  We are going to have some crazy adventures.  And I'm willing to bet we will have some musical adventures, too!

Here are some random pictures from the past couple weeks.  Enjoy!

It's not funny.  He's a guy.  A cowboy guy with a guy mustache.
Okay, so it's funny after all.  You can laugh now.
Erin got a variety pack of mustaches from somewhere, and we had lots of fun with them.
Here's my new guitar, Brown Rosie.  Oh, the music you will make!  It's a Heritage H535 (similar to a Gibson ES335 only better-ish), and is #18 of 25 special edition matched pairs, so she has an H150 brother (which is like a Gibson Les Paul).  It sounds really great, even at my ability level, so it will be exciting to see what happens with this great guitar.
Oh yeah, and here's a really dark video of Elliot having way too much fun with a toilet paper ball he made himself.  Why do I buy toys, again?

P.S.  This is my 100th blog posting!  Yay!