Joachim is still a very early riser so we are up for the sunrise every morining (unfortunately I don't always look out the window). I'm getting ansty to finish our house, but I will miss being surrounded by hundreds of acres of open space.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
sunrise from our bedroom
Joachim is still a very early riser so we are up for the sunrise every morining (unfortunately I don't always look out the window). I'm getting ansty to finish our house, but I will miss being surrounded by hundreds of acres of open space.
play-dough + peppers
I dug up my grandmother's play dough recipe because every time I bake bread or get out cookie cutters I have an all too enthusiastic helper by my side. He actually wasn't interested in the play dough at all (as you can see above), but I gave him a few pointers and he poked it for a few minutes.He's particular about messy hands so I should have known it wouldn't last long. I realized what he likes best about baking with me is the cookie cutter part. I wanted him to play contentedly by himself with the play-dough and he wanted me to roll it out endlessly so he could cut out circles.
Probably it's just as cheap to buy play dough and maybe the store bought stuff has a longer shelf life, but there's something nice about the connection I feel to my grandmother. In looking, I also found the yellowed typewriter written directions to the mittens she had made me and all of my cousins in our early childhood. She passed it on to me when arthritis prevented her from knitting any more and I'm looking forward to knitting Joachim his first pair this winter. 
Joachim's other favorite activity these last few months is the toaster oven. I was surprised when at playgroup he found the toy toaster and carried around all morning unwilling to give it up. Later, when he was by my side at the counter, he lined the toaster oven with peppers and turned it on. I unplugged it and he was way more entertained toasting things than he ever was with the play dough. He even found the oven mit and donned it to remove his finished products. The best part, though, was when Ben disovered the peppers, plastic eggs, spoons and carrots the next morning.
a lot about Telluride
We spent the weekend with my parents at a timeshare in Telluride. It's only a little more than two hours from Delta, but a whole world away. This is where the average single family home sells for $2,115,200, and condos around $1,100 per sq ft (not bad for a town with only 1,500 permanent residents). The only diapers in the grocery store are Seventh Generation and they sell for $17.89 a pack. I wanted to bring back some trendy clothes as souvenirs, but even though it's the off season and everything is marked down 40% the cheapest skirt I liked was still $60. Ha! But, also in Telluride is a Free Box (recycled clothes) just off the main street. Since discovering it, I've stopped by several times and I've been delighted by my finds. I've seen these in San Fransisco and Ashland so they're nothing new, but this certainly wouldn't succeed in Delta, although I can't quite express why. 
Price aside, Telluride is truly an inspiring place to visit for all of it's progressive aspects. Free Gondola and bus transportation, bike friendly, dog friendly, good coffee and pastries, and an abundance of outdoor activities. It's a fascinating pocket of affluence and environmental conscientiousness in contrast to Delta. They can afford to do anything here, even lift houses.
I'm not quite finished expounding on the things that impressed about Telluride. On a personal note I've been on a quest in Delta to find like-minded, slightly alternative, craftsy moms who fall in the Mothering magazine demographic and like Waldorf-esque stuff. I've found some things close, but nothing like what Telluride offers and what I know exists in other pockets of the country. On Monday a kind mother told us about a toddler hour at the library so we went. Joachim and his grandmommy are pictured below. Now, I went to story time in Delta, but after three weeks of Joachim and I being the only ones I decided I could save myself the trouble and read him 2 books and sing him 3 songs at home. Here, there is not only story time on Monday, but also Wednesday and Friday, one of which is a children's yoga. 
Joachim also got to use his size computer and if he needed there was a child size toilet (and if I needed, clean diapers at the reference desk). Not to forget the water fountain.
And of course at the grocery store a Joachim size cart (which actually proved be a big problem for me). Delta Hardware does have them too.
I apologize to any of my friends who read this blog and are bored with all of my motherly musings. I'm finding I had all of these expectations for what my mothering experience would be and the kind of shared experiences I would have, and I feel in some ways alone where I am. That said I'm grateful for each friend I have in Delta and especially my sister-in-law. I've been collecting a file of all the things special about Delta and sometime I will post them.
Price aside, Telluride is truly an inspiring place to visit for all of it's progressive aspects. Free Gondola and bus transportation, bike friendly, dog friendly, good coffee and pastries, and an abundance of outdoor activities. It's a fascinating pocket of affluence and environmental conscientiousness in contrast to Delta. They can afford to do anything here, even lift houses.
I'm not quite finished expounding on the things that impressed about Telluride. On a personal note I've been on a quest in Delta to find like-minded, slightly alternative, craftsy moms who fall in the Mothering magazine demographic and like Waldorf-esque stuff. I've found some things close, but nothing like what Telluride offers and what I know exists in other pockets of the country. On Monday a kind mother told us about a toddler hour at the library so we went. Joachim and his grandmommy are pictured below. Now, I went to story time in Delta, but after three weeks of Joachim and I being the only ones I decided I could save myself the trouble and read him 2 books and sing him 3 songs at home. Here, there is not only story time on Monday, but also Wednesday and Friday, one of which is a children's yoga. 
Joachim also got to use his size computer and if he needed there was a child size toilet (and if I needed, clean diapers at the reference desk). Not to forget the water fountain.
And of course at the grocery store a Joachim size cart (which actually proved be a big problem for me). Delta Hardware does have them too.
I apologize to any of my friends who read this blog and are bored with all of my motherly musings. I'm finding I had all of these expectations for what my mothering experience would be and the kind of shared experiences I would have, and I feel in some ways alone where I am. That said I'm grateful for each friend I have in Delta and especially my sister-in-law. I've been collecting a file of all the things special about Delta and sometime I will post them.
us in telluride
Joachim has started to pose with this delightful scowl. We went on a most beautiful hike and Joachim ended up sleeping for ninety percent of it.
I like this candid moment.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Baking
Joachim & Kelti
Joachim had a few precious days with his little friend before she and her parents moved on to their next job location in Nevada. Thank you Kelti Lou for teaching Joachim how to go down the slide. We miss you already.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
cool weather & canning
Cool weather has arrived as most of the nights this last week were in the high 30’s. The plants are slowing down and are in danger of their first frost, which is just fine by my, I’m pretty much done with the garden.
Recently we had a canning day at Grandma’s house and I put up ten pints of salsa with tomatoes from my garden and peppers from hers. She put up way way more than me, but still, I’m proud of our bounty, I've also been trying to dry a lot of produce. I think I’ll put up some applesauce when the season comes, but that's enough for me this year. It’s not long before Joachim gets tired of me peeling and cutting things. He has a lovely fascination with spaghetti sticks and the canning rings and he’ll gladly stab potatoes with a fork for you, but that all only lasts so long.
As far as our garden update, we definitely had a bumper crop of tomatoes, and we could barely keep up with eating the cucumbers off of our one vine. We also are enjoying zucchini, basil, radishes, butternut squash, kale and cantaloupe and we still have carrots and beets in the ground for the winter. We lost the beans and lettuce to some mysterious bug that no one has yet to identify so there will be no pictures of Joachim’s bean house but we will try again next year. It is very difficult to garden at a house one does not live in, but my very capable husband stopped by many an evening after work to harvest and waterone of our Cantaloupes
bucking hay
Over Labor Day weekend we helped my brother and sister in law buck hay. I think we brought in about 120 of more than 2000 bales. It was fun for one afternoon, but as you can see they had their work cut out for them. I think it’s pretty much all in now.
Here's the circa 1960’s tractor I pictured in a March post. My 11 year old niece drove the tractor while we “bucked" hay (ok, I couldn’t lift the bales over my head so I sort of just lopped them on the trailer). The tractor was an exciting draw, so by the end of the afternoon there were three kids crowded in the cab. Sometimes I really envy their childhoods.
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