As Good As It Gets

It's now early August and Ben is more than 14-months-old. There's plenty I could say about life with a 14-month-old, but wanting to conserve time and space, I'll just say that he weighs 25 lbs and he rules the roost. He is sweet and adorable and strong-willed and a bulldog and a miniature Samarai warrior. (My new mantra: the world does not need passive people. It needs passionate, willful, determined warriors that will fight to save it. That's how I survive Ben's back-arching and melt-downs.)

I just this last week got a staff position at the First Alternative Co-op, so life is changing for all of us again. Ben's other grandparents miraculously arrived almost the exact day that I found out I'd gotten the job at the Co-op, so the Lord works in mysterious way, and I'll accept that. They'll take care of Ben while Maya and Eder work, and Courtney and I can still help, but mainly I'll be working in the deli, slicing that cheese and making those sandwiches. It's a great place to meet lots of people, and the kind of people that I want to meet. The work is busy, easy, physical and limited--when I get off work, I'm off work. Not like the years at the Rosedale, where I was always on-call and never felt like I was ever off work. And not like peace work, where there are small victories, but no end in sight. That's all to say, I'm quite happy to be employed, and the Co-op is where I knew I wanted to work, even before we moved here, so Hooray!!





Ben does not have a piggy nose other than when he smooshes it against our front door. He's a very handsome little boy (really, believe me!)




The other creatures in our lives climb this trellis that Courtney just built for the kiwi, run up and down the trees, romp, leap, scurry and pounce. Unfortunately they turned out to be nocturnal, so much of this romping takes place once we've turned out the light and, silly us, want to sleep. As with Ben, it's a good thing they're so danged cute.




Here's a back view of our house and deck as seen through the 6 ft tall sunflowers (whose seed packet describes a compact 3 ft flower, oh well....) The next entry on this blog (which I promise will be showing up very soon, please stay tuned) will include photos of our gardens, full of vegies, tomatoes, herbs and flowers. We've had incredibly cool weather, only a couple of really hot spells of temps over 100, but as soon as we get a bit more hot weather, the garden is going to be bursting forth and we'll be eating vegies morning, noon and night. Right now the blackberry hedge is producing a good-sized carton of berries each day, but soon it will be more than we can keep up with. We eat them, give them away, and will start freezing the rest. Plentitude!!

We've also been blessed this summer with visits from friends. We enjoy are sweet little town even more when we have friends to share it with. First Frank and Margaret from Pacific Grove came through on their way from Ashland to Portland. They are considering Corvallis as a destination someday in the faraway future, so it was fun to show them the campus, the Co-op and our favorite hippie restaurant, Nearly Normals. The day they arrived we had dinner out in the back yard--just a beautiful Pacific Northwest evening, good company, good food. The mornings were of course full of coffee and conversation. They pitched their tent in the backyard and Frank especially liked waking to the sound of birds.



Shortly after Frank and Margaret's visit, friends from Chico, Chris and Michael, called to say they were in Eureka and heading north. Chris is my old travelling-to-Guatemala buddy and someone I don't get to see nearly often enough, so that was a fun call to get. A few days later they arrived in their Veggie Voyager (pictured above and below). Michael converted the truck to run on vegetable oil and mounted solar panels on the top to power their home in the camper. We were one of their first stops on a 10-month road trip which will take them across Canada and around the U.S. and back to Chico next spring.




That's Sasha, their very mellow travelling dog, in the photo above and, yes, that's their bikes, kayak, and skis mounted on their truck. They had to pack for outdoor living that will span three seasons and many climates that they'll be passing through.

They are dedicated bike riders, so it was divine timing that they arrived just in time for DaVinci Days. (If you've been reading our blog since its inception you'll remember our photos and stories of DaVinci Days last year.) Michael especially was inspired by the human-powered machines he saw in the parade, and I wouldn't be surprised if they came back next year with an entry of their own.

As well as enjoying our time with friends passing through Corvallis, we just celebrated Aaron's 12th birthday on July 27th with a family dinner, on the 28th with swimming and then The Simpson's Movie, and on the 29th with a barbeque in Maya and Eder's backyard. That should be enough birthday celebration, even for a 12-year-old. He's been a great sport about all the change in his life. He has a very spunky and cheerful attitude and I hope he can maintain that throughout his life. I pay him to do a certain amount of work around the house each day, which includes helping with Ben and the kitties. But I also pay him to go to political events with me--documentaries, speakers, demonstrations. So he goes quite cheerfully (knowing that he's going to get paid) but he also pays quite close attention, asks lots of good questions and learns alot. He always says afterwards "That was so interesting that you wouldn't need to even pay me to go, but you already promised, so pay up." Well, I like the sentiment.

Last week we took him to see the film of Bill Moyer's show on impeachment. I highly recommend that you see it, if you haven't already, and that you take an impeach pie the next time you go to a potluck. The movement is happening--it's very exciting--jump on board.

That's it for today. Check back soon for flowering garden shots, and to hear more about what the kitties think about impeachment,

Valori