Life and Death

I'm sure that I've experienced spring before but maybe not with such intensity. I think it's partly because we've moved to the Willamette Valley with its incredible profusion of blooming trees, bushes, bulbs--everything happening at once, right now! And partly it's because, for the first time in my life, I have the time and space to pay more attention. We have this beautiful little paradise of home and garden, and spring is jumping out and enveloping us.





Since I last wrote Courtney has planted two apple trees, a Meyer lemon, a kiwifruit, a black currant bush, a climbing rose, two baby Douglas Fir, a baby Ponderosa Pine, and the 10ft Redwood you see in the photo above, sticking out of the back of his little Hondita. (Some people would consider his Honda an economy car, but we consider it a work horse.)

Our front window boxes are full of the colors of primrose and pansies. After the gray of winter it is thrilling to see all the color, color, color everywhere. Courtney has bought posts and a post hole digger to build the framework for training the apple trees to grow espalier-style along the west side of our house. We've checked out library books on how to build trellises and arbors. We've pulled out all our gardening books and begun to plan what's going where.




In the midst of all this spring bursting forth, Aaron arrived on March 15th for two and a half weeks of school break. The first night he was here it was so warm that Maya and Eder had a barbeque in their backyard and invited Aaron's friends John and Jen and their parents Kathy and Douglas. I think the time change has also contributed to the feeling that we've leapt overnight from one season to the next.




Two days after Aaron arrived we had a 4th Anniversary March protesting the war in Iraq. About 400 people gathered at the park along the river and then marched up and down the streets of downtown Corvallis and ended up at the County Courthouse. Below is a photo of Aaron before the March started, holding the sign that he and I made the night before. (To his left are the Raging Grannies in full costume singing as the crowd is gathering.) Aaron's become quite the veteran sign-maker, as I told the reporter from the Gazette-Times who interviewed us. She ended her article about the March with a comment on Aaron and his sign-making skills and long career of protesting the war, plus a quote from me about teaching our kids about participating if we want them to live in a thriving democracy. That's the second March in a row that reporters have singled out me and Aaron to interview. What does this mean?!




It wasn't because Aaron was the youngest at the March. There were lots of families with young kids. And it was wonderful to see so many teenagers there, on their own and in big groups (obviously into it, not dragged there by their peacenik parents).

While Aaron and I marched, Courtney rode his bike ahead and photographed the impressive procession that stretched for 10 blocks or more. We ended the March with a Rally in front of the Courthouse and a student band from campus playing political songs.




Two days later, on the actual 4th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, 130 of us marched single file through the OSU campus, in silence and dressed in black, carrying signs. We were led by a single drummer who kept us at a slow and mournful pace. Part way through the March we stopped in front of the Memorial Union Building and had a die-in. (At first glance I was skeptical about how many of our elderly marchers were going to lay down and "die" on the cold, wet concrete in the misty rain. But you know peace people are a hardy bunch and they almost all laid right down!) Ten minutes later, when the drummer resumed the beat, everyone slowly arose, gathered their signs and we continued the March. Aaron was the only child at that one, except those like Ben who were in strollers, but he seemed proud to participate and wore his black armband and pushed Ben's stroller the entire hour without a peep of complaint. (Ahhhh, the way to a mother's heart! I took him right out for Starbucks!)

The next morning I read the accounts of the larger March in Portland. They had young Iraq War veterans speak at their Rally. They described their disillusionment after seeing the mistreatment of Iraqis and the war profiteering going on. One said, "Americans pay with economics. Iraqis pay with their lives. Soldiers, with their sanity."

Another said, "The war is going very well. Oil is now $57/barrel versus $18 under Clinton. Halliburton stock has tripled. Exxon-Mobil reported a record $10 billion profit last quarter, the largest of any corporation in history. Mission Accomplished."

Another older vet said, "I long for the days when our leaders were crooks nd scoundrels, like Nixon, instead of war criminals."

Meanwhile, in the midst of the Marches and Rallies, another very sad anniversary happens each year. March 16th marked the 4th anniversary of an Israeli soldier, driving an armored Caterpillar bulldozer, crushing and killing 23-year-old peace activist Rachel Corrie. I attended a memorial service for her at the Unitarian Church in Salem that doubled as a send-off event for my friend Josh, who was leaving for 3 months of studying Arabic in Damascus.

And one last sad note: Earlier in the month we got the word from Monterey that our dear friend and cohort, Charlie Turk, had died after years of valiantly trying to beat the cancer. For years he had worked tirelessly, when his health permitted, as a Board Member of the Peace & Justice Center. (He was, in fact, one of the first people I broached the subject of starting a Peace Center with and his support and encouragement helped make it happen.)

Shortly after the news of Charlie's death, we received this email from President of the Board, Joyce Vandevere: "Monterey Peace and Justice Center received 501c3 status four days after Charlie died, and mostly due to his persistent, hard work on the application, his great parting gift to us." We leave behind so many ways for people to remember us.

On a happy note from Monterey: Our dear friend Darby was just awarded on the ten Women of The Year for Monterey County for her lifetime work of peace advocacy. Congratulations, Darby! Acknowledgement for all your efforts towards justice for all and a more peaceful world.

Meanwhile, on the homefront, our little crooked tail cat has moved in casually. She comes around for food and loving, checks the house out quite respectfully and then heads outside to stalk and prey. Aaron's happy to finally have a "pet" and Benny is entertained by her very presence, so.......so far, so good.

Last bit of news: Courtney was elected to the Board of Trustees of the HOUR Exchange (local currency). They're so happy to have his energy and enthusiasm. He and I are both trying to find our particular passions and focus on them. It's so easy to get pulled in so many directions. And meanwhile the gardens are calling to us, and spring won't wait, so I'd better get off the computer and head outdoors!

Many thanks for reading this, and happy springtime--hope for renewal,

Valori

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Here comes Ben!

We tremble with fear when we hear him coming. We call him the 20 lb. bully (but he's 22 lbs. now). The house shakes, like Godzilla's coming, when Ben crawls down the hallway. He is a most determined child (it's good he's strong-willed, don't want a lethargic baby, we're lucky, we tell ourselves) and crawls with full purpose.



Needless to say, we don't get a heck of alot done while he's here. And so I am always torn between the feeling of wanting to give him all my attention and play with him, like he wants, versus working on emails, reading the stack of books I've checked out from the library, writing postcards to those stupid congresspeople, potting plants, cleaning the house, well.....you get the picture. There always seems to be just a little too much to do in all directions.





As you seen below, he's taken to feeding himself. Now if we could just get him to change his stinky diapers, that would be progress!




I can't tell you how many photos I had to take before getting a laugh out of this boy while in his confinement pen. Bruises on his forehead and cheek testify that he's up for anything if it includes freedom of movement.



We have a very small neighborhood. (There are three other little houses, all the same size as ours and built at the same time--1960, that share the same driveway. Then to the north of us is the Benton County Fairgrounds. To the south is a veterinary hospital.) The neighbors across from us have a cat with a crooked tail. She has now had two litters of kittens, maybe three, and one of them (also with a crooked tail) is attempting to adopt us. It has not decided for sure; I feel like we're being interviewed for the position. Below you can see Ben watching the cat watch me to see when I'm going to fill the little blue bowl with catfood. We feed on demand, trying to make a good impression, but don't feed too much, hoping the cat that will supplement its diet with mice. Stay tuned--will Courtney and Valori take on a small, furry expense?!




Aaron arrives is less than two weeks for his spring break. I'm not telling him anything about the cat until he gets here. As a result of living at the inn with his dad or in an apartment with me, he's never had a pet before and of course always wanted one. We'll see how the next couple weeks of kitty courting goes, and then surprise Aaron.

Meanwhile, we can feel the thrill of spring right around the corner. In the past week we've bought two apple trees to plant espallier-style along the west side of the house (the Orchard) and a black currant bush, Courtney has brought grapevines cuttings from Maya and Eder's to plant here, we've been offered and accepted a redwood tree for the forest just beyond the edge of our property, and we're picking up two small evergreens from some friends today. Whew!

How, you may ask, are we going to keep up with our little living and breathing paradise here, when, over the winter months, we have taken on more and more tasks and roles in the social justice realm than we can hardly keep up with. Good question. Yesterday we delivered, for the first time, the Oregon Peaceworker monthly newspaper from Salem. We volunteered for the monthly delivery route that includes about 30 stops around Corvallis. The paper is great so we're happy to help spread it around. It was actually pretty fun. We call ourselves Bonnie and Clyde. We're so lucky--whenever we do something together, it's almost always fun.

I think I'll stop for now. If I may ask everyone to do something for the greater good: please write, call and email your congressional representatives (that's right--they are supposed to represent us!) and tell them (because I'm sure this is true) that you do not want the US to engage in a nuclear war with Iran, or jump in if Israel starts launching nuclear weapons, and that you do not want additional funding for or more troops sent to Iraq for the continuing illegal and immoral occupation.

That's all. Have a nice day!

Thanks for reading this, and good luck to us all,

Valori