Glorious October Days

Aaron's here for his two-week break from school. Our lives are a blur of activity--shopping for Halloween costumes, working on school projects, watching the third season of "Gilmore Girls" on DVD, evening walks on the bike path--all the while trying to keep Ben fed, dry, happy and napping. Somewhere in there we infrequently attend the daily peace vigil in front of the courthouse, help show films at a couple different venues and Courtney tables for the Pacific Greens and still does the Saturday open forum.



Ben is of course more active and lively than the last time Aaron was here, but he's still a baby. Aaron is more pre-teen-like, but he's still a kid. So that Aaron doesn't have to suffer too much baby time, we cut him loose to watch Monday Night Football with his grandmother or play with his friends John and Jen.


The short time that he's here is racing by, but luckily the weather so far has been glorious--cold enough at night that we have a fire in the wood stove each morning, clear skies, warm afternoons--couldn't ask for better. Courtney just harvested the last of the prunes and grapes from Maya and Eder's yard and tomatoes and even a few blackberries from ours.



It's so interesting to see the changes around town as the season shifts but also in our own little yard (bottom photo). We're seeing for the first time the fall colors of our trees and bushes and the thinning of the foliage as the leaves drop. I'm longing for a little greenhouse/mud room on the front of our house where we get this luscious noon-day sun right now, but that won't be the case much longer. Pretty soon we'll open our front door and the wind, cold and rain will follow us in. I'm getting quite attached to gardening, and now I fear for the lives of my new little plants. This winter will be a learning experience for us in lots of ways.




Meanwhile I so appreciate this time I have to spend with my kids and with Courtney. I wish everyone's lives could slow down enough to have that "quality time" we all crave but few get these days. Most days I get to have afternoon tea with Maya and a walk. We put Ben in the Baby Bjorn and off we go. There are so many interesting neighborhoods to explore in town and lucky for us, we've got a scenic walking and bike path right beside our property.



We so appreciate the community we've moved into. Last Friday was the five-year anniversary of the daily peace vigil in front of the courthouse. Fifty people or more showed up to share chocolate cake and to thank the two men who have kept it going. Sunday was the showing of the film "Gaza Strip" by the Friends of Middle East Peace. There were about 60 people there and everyone seemed quite affected by the exceedingly harsh reality the film portrayed of life under occupation. The film focused on the lives of Palestinian children, especially the boys, and the danger that surrounds their every movement in the form of heavily-armed Israeli soldiers.

Three days later we watched "Iraq For Sale: The War Profiteers" at the Corvallis World Forum. Another good and thoughtful crowd for another devastating film. This is one of those films that if more Americans watched it there would be such outrage, and things would change. But instead there's 50 people at this film and meanwhile thousands at the college football game. I don't get it. What's going on in Iraq, in our names, is going to affect us all sooner or later. I wish people with Support Our Troops ribbons on their cars would watch "Iraq ForSale". Who's getting killed and who's making a killing?

Well, my blood pressure is rising (just kidding) and Ben probably needs a dry diaper so I'll give us all a break and stop for now. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Hope you're enjoying your October days,

Valori