Goodbye, summer!

This summer has truly been the end of an era around here.  For one thing, I have started working part time.  It has been an exciting new adventure, but my summers of leisure are certainly over!  The other big change is that my little one is off to kindergarten this fall.  My mom came out to help with the child-care transition that occurred as the school year began, but we had a few days off to have some fun.  Ecola State Park is the first beach you get to when heading to the coast, so it was pretty busy there, at least as far as Oregon beaches are concerned!

South of the park, the highway climbs up the coast to some spectacular viewpoints!  Over the railing, it's 500 feet (150m) straight down!  Woozy!

 

Kaksi tarinaa selviytymisestä

Well it was good I had a rare flow experience in July, because come August, I had to set every single one of my creative endeavors aside, as one of my children was hospitalized quite suddenly due to a severe illness. I'm the kind of person who doesn't deal well with medical procedures, whether small like blood tests or big like operations, and have always thought I could never be a nurse because of my proneness to faint in situations like these. Who would have known I would ever stick a needle into anyone, let alone into my own child? My mother remarked in the middle of our crisis that this must be my destiny, because I have always been good at needlework. This thought is what I held onto while taking my first steps in basic nursing skills. I'm a crafty person who can learn pretty much any skill of the hands, and this is going to be one of them. It's astonishing how life-long inabilities can be overcome for the sake of a child.

After we had all been home for a few weeks, we went outside one morning and discovered a young sinitiainen (blue tit) sitting on our deck near the wall. It was immediately clear that something was wrong, because it seemed unable to move away from us but just sat there all shuddering and miserable. We figured it must have flown into our window, and it was such a sad feeling to realize that there was probably not much we could do for it. We started talking about maybe moving it to a more sheltered place, and I took out our bird book wondering if we could find anything for it to eat. After observing it for some time we went inside, and about fifteen minutes later when I went to see how it was doing, it was gone! It had miraculously recovered enough to fly to a nearby birch, and soon a little further to a spruce, where it went bustling about in search for food. After the meal it tucked its head into its wing and went to sleep.

What joy to be here today posting these two stories of survival! It is absolutely incomprehensible and unacceptable that the health of anyone small should ever be in danger, but if anything good can be said to have come out of this family crisis, it is that I value and love what I have even more. Spread your wings, little ones!

Picnic

In case you haven't heard, I landed myself a job!  It's only supposed to be part-time, but for the past few weeks it's been pretty much full-time.  And it's making me really, really, miss great summer days like this one here.  I hope you all are continuing to have a wonderful summer!

Luomisvirtaus

I'm just stopping by to let you know I haven't forgotten. I'm experiencing the dilemma of summer: there would be plenty of lovely things to post about, but they are so lovely that they are sweeping me off my feet and far, far away from the computer. I love the internet, but I find that it's good for me to take a break once a year. This year that break seems to be coming very naturally. I've reached a creative state of flow that is preoccupying me enough to keep me from missing the online world. However, maybe the fruit of that flow will reach the online world in the near future! I hope all of you who have been following are also enjoying your summer so much that you will barely notice if disappear for just a little while longer. I will be back soon, at the latest when the sun stops shining on these walls after 9 pm.

Finally ringing in summer...

Happy 4th of July!  The little carnival rolled into town, so we met our parental obligation of spending way too much money on rickety rides and unhealthy snacks.  Check out some of our adventures!

Uutisia takapihalta

 News from the back yard:

- It's looking wild! Everything green has exploded all over the place.

- I'm still waiting for the new greenhouse to be assembled.

- It turns out we will have something to put in there, too! For a long time, despite my best efforts, it looked like the tomatoes, broccoli, and eggplant were not going to make it. I wasn't sure if they were even fighting for their lives anymore, but I still didn't have the heart to throw even the smallest ones into the compost bin. Now suddenly they are all flourishing, though I haven't changed anything!

- My beloved wild twinflower (Linnaea Borealis) is blossoming abundantly. The one who noticed it was my three-year-old daughter. She came to me with a single flower in her hand and informed me with the correct name that vanamo is blossoming! I was so proud!

- Something that looks like a wild raspberry is blossoming for the first time. There are also a few wild strawberry blossoms. Waiting eagerly...

- We moved some rare sinivuokko (Anemone Hepatica) from the border of our yard to a place where we can enjoy it more.

- On many days we don't even move beyond the back yard. Well, maybe to the mailbox. Happy July, everyone!

Father's Day

Yup, this is how us Americans eat every day.  Just another day in the life of a public school teacher's family.  Actually, this is the first time I have cooked live crustaceans as an adult!  I had a moment of sheer panic before I cooked the first one, but thinking about how much these things cost motivated me to get it done!  The reason I picked these for Father's Day dinner was because a local grocery store had them at an incredible sale price.  So I don't think this will be a part of my regular menu!

After this, the story is too messy to tell with pictures!