Puppy tails!!

We just got a dog this Saturday. He is kind and gentle and obedient, a pleasant surprise. We think he is a German Short Hair Pointer, possibly a purebred. Very wirey and sprite. Full of love and already answers to his name. He has cow spots and freckles, great wirey hair, and points when he is inspired to do so. Definitely not the Hound/Dalmation mix the pound labeled him as.



His name is Edison, just like the inventor. D finds he is a kindered spirit, since he was sent home from public school and told they couldn't help him also. A fellow homeschooler indeed! We studied many of his biographies and inventions this year. Finding they have many personality familiars, and D being an inventive guy loved really delving into it.

Hard to believe someone dumped this poor puppy in the woods to fend for himself, he is only 6-8 months old! We all feel better, knowing that we are giving him a loving home. We searched for the right one, and got lucky. We had to drive to Longview to get him (an hour away) but well worth it.

He is a perfect fit for the family. A little bigger than we originally planned on, but worth the extra efforts. It seems to be our luck with animals for the most part, we find gentle souls.

Wow!

We really Do live in a beautiful place.

I am so truely happy that my son has passed his state mandated test with flying colors (99th percentile) so now we can explore freely, and just be. The season has started, and we are out of the gates running as fast as we can. We love to be out and about. The family harmony is truly rejuvinated this time of year.

Yesterday we went to Seaside - to the toy store, to the carousel, to the beach, flew our kites, made sand castles, laid down and cuddled, had a bit of a nap and got a bit of a tan/burn - it was wonderful!!! I love home schooling, we can do these sorts of things in the middle of the week, when no one is out really.

Not having any pressures to crunch my son with is a big relief. I still have my own school work to do, but I feel like we can start our summer now. We are still "doing school" though, just not at a break neck pace.

The other day we went for a huge hike and I made press books for the kids to gather any plant they wanted to keep; we collected at least 50 samples between the 2. They had a blast. We came home and organized all the plants, and we will identify them and sort them when they are dry. I want to do this with all the different terrains we have here. We covered the Columbia coastline, we will be doing the Pacific coastline, and at least the rainforest species; I would like to cover the mountain plants too, if we have time. What will be neat is to do all this and then have a Spring sample to compare the other seasons with on future hikes. This is something we can build on over the years. I am very pleased that my kids love to hike, and love plants as much as I do.

To kick off the Plants theme I checked out tons of stuff from the library, and D came home and gobbled up 1/2 the books that day, with M at his side taking it all in. I was so proud. I find that when I cover topics he is interested in, we go through everything like lightning. And M is right along with us the whole way. She is a sponge, and comes up with the most amazing things, days or weeks later, describing the world to me; so I know the retention is there. And she loves it when I quiz her, which I do regularly, just asking about details of things we have done or read about. I love my job (most days) ;-)


HAPPY SPRING EVERYONE!

That which is loved is always beautiful.
~ Norwegian proverb


I love my garden and have always had a major soft spot for any plants that I may possess. On that note, really, they possess me.

The obsession started as a small child picking weed bouquets for my mother, whom was tragically allergic to them. She had chronic asthma and bronchitis and was allergic to everything under the sun. I don’t think having me around helped, at all.


I have a very compact yard to work with at this house, to my frustration. But I have managed to find a small plot for organic vegetables by moving several trees and tons of ground ivy and I thinkg a million lilies of the valley. I needed to till the top 24" of soil to make it workable and add some new organic topsoil for my own peace of mind. I framed out the plot with stone work and of course threw out my back in the process. But it was all worth every ache and pain. I was so enthralled that I ended up making another small plot right next to the first one, for tomatoes and herbs! As soon as my back recovered that is.

I started everything from seed inside, my dining room looked more like a grow room. About 2 weeks ago I moved all the babies outside, and most of them took pretty well, the last heat snap we had (90 degrees) killed my sweet yellow pear tomatoes though. So at this point I have quite a variety for such a small space: Heirloom steak tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, chinese long beans, shallots, garlic, green onions, butter leaf lettuce, purple basil, sweet basil, thai basil, mint, oregano, cuban oregano, thyme, tri-color sage, liquorice sage, lemon balm, chocolate peppers, pablano peppers, and a row of calendula flowers right done the middle of it all... I used the laws of companion planting this time around, I am curious to see the results.

So far, all the plants are little, but very well loved.

Altruism??


We here in our house are bored with the daily grind but I always try to stir it up a bit ya know, in order to keep what sanity I have. Something as simple as running errands can be a chore, but Mommy stops at the park along the way while the milk gets warm in the trunk. She's so fun! We love you Mommy! Your are the best!

Well little do they know I am not the best, just trying to earn brownie points where ever I can. If they think the world of me, great, the extra effort pays off. They are not aware, as I am not usually, that I am giving them this chance to run free so they are not crazy monkeys when we get home. It is really self-serving, not fun for them as much as it is a relief for me.

I think most actions we do for others are not altruistic, very little is really, if you think about it. Look at all we do in our days here on Earth. What actions can we put aside to become more universally pure in thought? Act on the notion of Dasein. No ego. No self. Only the universal order or chaos, whichever way you see it. No conventions, labels, preconceptions. Be here now. In that I find my purest moments. I strive for this often, don't usually find it in the mundane buzz of daily life.

Think about it - how much of what we do along our path in life is to feed our egos? Do you do the things you do for you, or for the satisfaction of pleasing others? Is the act of pleasing others in reality pleasing you? Do you like making your kids happy so they will behave better for you, or to just make them happy?

I think it would be nice if we truly put ourselves aside for one day (maybe make it a holiday) and we all did nothing but self giving acts. Not something in the name of others to please our own needs, but completely 100% selfless acts. We would all see ourselves in a different light, and have a pure perspective on things the way they really are. As a whole, we would be better people, that would make for a better planet, I think. Or at least it would lend chance to us finding some universal synchronicity.

Be, just be.... try it, you may like it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Going with the flow:

A Taoist story tells of an old man who accidentally fell into the river rapids leading to a high and dangerous waterfall. Onlookers feared for his life. Miraculously, he came out alive and unharmed downstream at the bottom of the falls. People asked him how he managed to survive. "I accommodated myself to the water, not the water to me. Without thinking, I allowed myself to be shaped by it. Plunging into the swirl, I came out with the swirl. This is how I survived."

Welcome to my world....

Kids - everything, they are still young
playdates
schooling
clothing
bathing
entertainment
feeding/drinking
cleaning up after
pet upkeep

shopping
cooking
dishes
laundry
housecleaning
maintenance and upkeep

book shopping
page thumbing
researching
creating curriculum
teaching kids homeschool
grading and reviewing

studying for myself
homework
papers
presentations
research
tests

Cooking
Herbalism/Natural Health
Gardening, when I can :-)
Reading - too much
Meditating - as often as possibly, never enough peaceful time though.
TV - only a few shows I like - HUFF, Weeds, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Carlos Mencia, Daily Show, CSI:Miami (when I catch it) and sometimes ER.

Personal issues and ailments - the list is too long and sad...

Husband never home, friends spread out all over, everyone just as busy it seems.

Still feel new to the area, met a few great people and alot of duds, unfortunately. Don't have much time to see the ones you want...

I keep telling myself that living in a small community brings everything into extreme focus, like a microcosm of the real world. That's is the only logical explanation I have to this place. Trying to make it wonderful for the family, and I guess myself.

Just a snapshot into my daily grind. It is all worth it, since I always seem to have coffee in my cup every morning!!