sunrise

I spoke with a healer and intuitive last week who was beyond profound.  Incredible, really; she offered me incredible insights and understanding with very little information provided by me.  It may seem a little out there, but I assure you, she understood my situation and the ways that I need to heal more clearly than anyone.  She suggested that I find my color each day and work with it to keep my energy positive.  I wasn't sure exactly how that was going to work, but Monday morning it became very clear to me.  I walked into our kitchen/dining room, and wow - what a sunrise.  Full of the most intense pink-orange that was definitely my positive energy color of the day, resounding fully inside me.  Clarity.

sanctuary

It became clear to me that I need a sanctuary - a place to go in my own home where I can feel safe and calm.  Things can get a bit crazy and chaotic and cluttered around these parts, and I wanted a place that was serene.  But where to find such a place in a home where bedrooms are playrooms, and rope ladders and art supplies and keyboards abound.  It just so happened (always the synchronicity) that my daughter chose to sleep in her own bedroom rather than in the nook off our bedroom THE night after I spoke to a friend about my need for a sanctuary, and about my thought that maybe that nook might just be the place.  We discussed the idea, though perhaps in a little too much haste, for the next day two friends (angels, really) arrived to help me clear my bedroom, AND to help create my sanctuary.  It was an amazing day, and a wonderful way to make space for myself.  I am so happy in my restful, calm, contemplative sanctuary.  Yesterday I spent time there listening to a guided meditation by Belleruth Naparstek (wonderful btw), and found myself in a new state of clarity and calm. 

back to the farm

Tom and I got married at an Apple Farm in the Anderson Valley - the Philo Apple Farm to be precise - over 17 years ago.  We had a wonderful weekend up there, filled with so many beautiful moments and places.  The farm has grown to include sheep, pigs, goats and chickens, in addition to the apple orchards.  We even saw a great blue heron crossing the road.  Karen and Tim have done an amazing job at keeping the place real, functional, and beautiful, all at the same time.  There is some funkiness here and there (I think if Christopher Alexander and his description of "roughness"), which I love and which makes the gems shine even more.

We have had great times exchanging ideas over the years, and I realize how much inspiration their farm has provided me in finding and making joy and beauty in cooking, creating, and making places.  So nice to go back to the fountain and drink it in.

biking

Henry and I had a great mountain bike ride up in Joaquin Miller and Roberts Parks this afternoon. Initially he kept urging me to go faster, which resulted in a good workout. And it was such a beautiful fall day.  My favorite was going fast down the single track - where I urged Henry to go ahead of me. He said I was going plenty fast enough - one false move and down the hill you would fall.  We managed to keep upright and cycle through it all. 

quilting

Emily has been extremely interested in making a quilt for her dolls.  She chose fabrics, cut the squares, and decided for a little applique for the center square.  I wasn't so sure about the latter, but we put the sewing machine and its many interesting stitches to work, and it turned out well.  I was imagining the quilt might have a border or be more symmetrical or..... But I let Emily the designer have full artistic license, and it was very freeing, I must say.

I have been interested in making a full size quilt one of these days.  I even pulled out my old Amish Quilt book - one that includes a quilt by my great grandmother from Holmes County, Ohio.  I think my daughter taught me some great lessons in the last few days - about just starting, rather than taking too much time to plan and plan and revise and perfect; and about losing my perfectionist tendencies, and just starting to sew, even if all those squares don't line up.  After all, the quilts I am most drawn to are typically the crazy quilt varieties, that are far from geometrically perfect patterns. So we finished up the little quilt, and I am ready to at least ponder how I might start to think of beginning a full-size quilt.  Babysteps forward.  And meanwhile, Emily's dolls have a wonderful quilt to use.

pumpkin carving

With nary a night to spare, we finally carved our pumpkins this evening.  With so many independent carvers around here, my efforts were largely relegated to helping with clearing out the goopey stuff.  And separating out the pumpkin seeds for toasting for tomorrow night.  No complaints here, just smiling - kind of like those pumpkins :0)

workshop unveiled

It was down to the wire, but the Park Day School Innovation Workshop was completed just in time for the East Bay Mini Maker Faire.  It was a long haul, with so many people helping out, making and building together.  A community-built workshop without a doubt.  It was amazing to see how everyone collaborated and contributed.  I was a proud mama.  And it was incredible to see the space being so well-used at the Maker Faire.

 

driving

Since getting my MDS diagnosis two months ago, I have been forming a mini-bucket list of sorts.  It focuses me on positive things for the future, which helps lift my spirits and make me happy.  Near the top of the list was going go-karting with my son Henry - something we have talked about, but which had not happened to date.  Until this past weekend.  And we drove and we raced, and..... he beat me.  And I enjoyed nearly every moment.  He enjoyed it even more.  The need for speed is in us all, I suppose, and it definitely runs in my blood lines.  Happiness!

raising the roof

It was a 21st Century barn raising.  We have been working on creating a maker space at Park Day School (now referred to as the "Innovation Workshop") for several years.  We have crossed hurdles, barriers, and so many obstacles along the way.  And today, we worked together, school staff and parents and students, to raise the roof of our workshop.  What an amazing accomplishment, and how deeply rewarding it was.  I feel lucky and rewarded to have been able to pull together such an incredible group of people, and to have finally succeeded in truly raising the roof.  Next up is the shipping container.

camping

We are gearing up, literally, for our summer camping trip up to Oregon. Our cat decided he wanted in on the action.

And my daughter was so excited that Playmobil actually makes a camp stove, that she spent some of her hard earned money and got a new camp set.  Lots of fun camping playtime is ensued. 

Can't wait 'til we get to the real outdoor campsite!

early morning ziplining

My daughter Emily was actively planning her monkey birthday party.  She and her friends decided that a zipline was an important part of it, and that they would make one - that afternoon.  They got out rope, found a handle to hang on, made a sketch, and went to work.  I helped out with some of the tying, and then helped them try it out.  They decided the rope didn't slide down the other rope as well as they hoped, so were more open to my pulley suggestion.  By the end of the night, a fun functional zipline was born.  And 7am the next morning, there we were outside in the garden.  Me planting tomatoes, and Emily enjoying her homemade zipline.

colored eggs

We used natural dyes today in gardening class to make colored eggs from the school eggs.  They turned out beautifully.  The cracked ones turned the eggs inside an amazing web-like pattern. We chopped and boiled cabbage for blue, beets for pink, red onion skins for red, and turmeric (and sour grass flowers) for yellow.  The natural clay bowls were the perfect vessel for the colors.

the egg report

When the chickens started really producing eggs, we started charting how many eggs we got each day.  Only the chart was over in the chicken coop, far away from most people's view.  Thus was born the idea of the egg report; hanging right by the yurt on campus, in view of all those walking across campus.  We turned the yurt into a woodshop for a day, and with the help of 4th graders, made the signs and some great tool racks for the shed.  And now everyone is talking about the egg report.  Next up: weather report.

outdoor kitchen

I have dreamed of an outdoor kitchen.  I have so loved the one I have used nearly every summer when I join 50 folks or so up in Goodyears Bar, where we have baked dozens of blackberry pies and pancakes, and great foods.  And then I found the wonderful outdoor kitchen at Koviashuvik last summer, equally as inspiring.  I knew we needed one at Park Day, but the location of such a place was not clear to me.  I spoke with many people, and did not find an easy solution; that is until I spoke with my 8 year old daughter.  Why not make it a mobile kitchen, Mom?  Hmmmmm.  Now that actually was a good idea.  That way we could use it by the yurt for gardening class, by the pizza oven when we wanted to fire it up, and over in the mini-farm when we wanted to be a little out of the way and close by the veggies growing there.  And thus the idea, the solution to my many, many walks down the hallway to the kitchen, and a way to get the kids involved in the cooking and the clean-up was born.

I started sketching a design, and my building/teaching partner Ilya did some engineering and refining. We started building it with seventh graders, and got the pieces and joints cuts and started assembling.  Then the fourth graders finished off the bottom shelf.  I mastered plumbing when I successfully installed the faucet and hooked up the hose.  And voila!  MOKI, our new mobile outdoor kitchen was born.

nesting

I have always wanted to build a nest.  Must be all those nesting instincts gone wild.  I have seen giant woven nests in books, and one in person, and now many photos on the internet.  When the plan to build birdhouses with the third graders as part of their bird studies fell through, I seized the moment and decided we would study and build nests.  We learned about cup, cavity, pendulum, spherical, and platform nests.  And then we chose locations where the kids thought they would want to "nest".

With lots of pruned grapevine stuffed into my trunk, I headed to campus to start to build the nests.  I was lucky to have volunteers from tweethaus to help me, along with some parent volunteers.  We drove stakes in a circle, and then the kids gathered various nesting materials and got to work.

We built two nests with groups of 8 students, working collaboratively and very creatively.  The nests were unique, and changed character as the different groups worked on them, including several variations of a roof canopy.  We used grape vine, fruit tree twigs, native sunflower stems, and other garden clippings for weaving the structure.  Many other found materials were also used, from sour grass and pine needles for the floor, to flowers and leaves as embellishments, and a barrel ring as the door.   The results were inspiring.

 

The students love having them on campus and love to gather in them. 

organizing things

I started teaching gardening at Park Day School back in October, and started imagining how the garden shed could be organized sometime in November.  Organized so that I can enjoy going in it and putting things away, can easily find things, and most importantly so the kids could do the same.  So it was time, finally.  And with a little help from my hubby, we put up some shelves, and within a day it had become a lovely place to be.

Then last week on a short vacation to Santa Cruz, I rode a one-speed tandem bike (with my son) up the large hill to UC Santa Cruz campus, so that I could finally visit the LifeLab garden and farm there.  It was wonderful and inspiring, and, of course, I found the most perfect solution to the last of my organization challenges.  A wonderful tool rack.  Now I just need to plot a plan to make such a thing with my students.