Saturday, October 16, 2010

Liam turns 7 and other events of the past MONTH






Can it be that I really haven't had time to post in over a month??? Is that possible? And yet, I believe it. Amid the chaos of harvest and winter encroaching, we have, among other things, "finished" the house project, thrown a big party, acquired a itty-bitty puppy with enough energy to power a small community, helped Liam celebrate his seventh birthday, built a root cellar, stocked said root cellar, attended a French opera, visited with friends, weathered awkward and not-at-all-awkward introductions, and endless other projects and efforts.

The hoop house got frosted by a deep freeze weeks ago, wiping out all the tomatoes and squash, etc. It was a shock to see - walking into the hoop house and finding all the plants frosted was a surprise. But it got so cold one night - mid-20s, I'd guess - it just couldn't keep out the cold. We had a big salad of my own lettuce tonight, though, and last night dined on bok choy from the hoop house, so it's still doing some producing. I need yet to harvest the rosemary and lavender. The rest needs to be cleaned out and the beds readied for next year. Hard to believe the season is over so quickly. It truly feels like I just started.

Yesterday, Liam and Christopher's daughter, Nora, harvested the cabbages all by themselves. That was the last veggie left in the outdoor garden. Turnips, beets and carrots were pulled a few weeks ago, and good thing, as the ground is pretty frozen now. If it snowed, it would stay at this point, I think. I should till the soil, and if things warm up at all, I'll try to at least clean up the beds. But right now, I'm going to need some serious warming trend.

Yesterday afternoon, Liam and I went for a ride up Crossman Ridge to visit my friend Craig. Liam had never been up there, and since he had a new bicycle, it seemed like a perfect fit. But the road was so muddy that we couldn't ride, and in fact, abandoned even pushing our bikes at a certain point due to the conditions. On the way back, we actually had to leave the bikes and sprint to the car because the tires were so clogged with mud that it was impossible to even push them. This morning, while everything was still frozen, we rescued the bikes in the truck. What an adventure! But it was still a great time. Craig let Liam drive the wood truck back up the hill with a full load of wood in the back - I had to sit on my hands the whole time to keep from grabbing the wheel - and what a glow of pride on that boy's face. My goodness. Glad we captured some of that beautiful, sunny day, because while the mud was a pain, it might have been the last day of temps warm enough to produce mud.

On Oct. 2, I threw a Giving of Thanks party for all the people who helped me in the past year. It's been a crazy year, and so many people have helped Liam, Théa and I during these months of chaos and overactivity. People stepped in and helped out and lifted me up and listened to my endless anxieties. I am so grateful. The party was wonderful - cooked up one of my bigbirds, salmon, halibut, crab... lots of food. And there were so many kids there - it was crazy! We used to have dogs, and every party was a mosh pit of canines. Now, it is kids. We have, without a doubt, done our part to repopulate the world. But being surrounded by these wonderful people I call my friends was humbling. I can tell you for sure that it was not lost on me that this is absolutely why I live here, and why I am so lucky that my children get to be raised among people who love them.

Liam's seventh birthday celebrations were equally wild - we celebrated his actual birthday by a dinner at Land's End with Frida's family. Liam got a bicycle ( a real one with gears and hand brakes,) a jackknife and a piano. Pretty good stuff, I'd say. On Saturday, he rallied a bowling party with his buddies. Fun stuff. Liam has a certain flare with the bowling ball - he slides up to the line on one knee, free arm out behind him... it is hilarious. Where did he get this stuff??? Not from my side of the family tree, that's for sure! Liam's a good kid. He's funny. He's sensitive. He's wonderfully precocious. He made spaghetti and meatballs all by himself the other night. Wow. Good stuff.

1 comment:

Anika said...

Okay, I have just caught myself up on the publishable news of the past three months of your life... you are a busy wonder! If you find a couple minutes to fill me in on the rest of it, that'd be awesome too. I'm doing awesome; very happy and finally content just being. I'm homeschooling Zephyr now. Gazelle is taking a dance class with her best friend. Coho turns one next week. I spent three hours shoveling manure yesterday. Great things! Love, A.