Post 300 packs in the Summertime!

Summer started on Saturday. At Ryan and Jess's pool. Heated to a comfortable 83 degrees - perfect for Makili who amazingly escaped the house without a pool picture. SO nice and followed with dinner and a trip to the ice-cream parlor. So summer time.Followed by our first official beach outing. With Mark, Lauren and Kayden. I couldn't take enough pictures. Kayden loved through sand into the ocean and shrieking when the water touched her. Makili would crawl into the water until a wave touched him then he would hightail it out of there and do it all over again. We got some sun (Raph a bit too much). It was absolutely delightful.




Clothes were shed along the way.
And Kayden didn't reall know what to think of Makili nursing. So she decided to give it a try.



We wrapped the weekend up with a trip to Fort McClary to jump into the ocean. A new spot for us and it reminded us both of a lake. SO beautiful and refreshing after our first day above 90 degrees. Hot enough to almost stop garden work, but not really. I was still out there shoveling dirt at 8:00 tonight and Raph put Makili to bed.

I told Raph, "When I was kid, this is the kind of place I'd get to go on a special occasion, or on vacation. Now I can come here EVERY day! " And it's true. I'm loving our location lately. A LOT! (Did I mention the affordable house for sale around the corner!)
I should point out that we topped off the great weekend with a salad from our garden. Oh yeah.

Whew.

Before leaving Pittsburgh, I was finally able to put the binding on two quilts I finished earlier this year that just came back from the quilter. I was quite happy with both and am now pumped up to put the binding on the other two. I have to hurry up and have another productive period like that before too many people announce babies and weddings. I can't keep up.
My stay in Pittsburgh was great and I was sad to go. I was sadder still on Wednesday night after having spent 13 hours in transit with a baby. Yeah you read that right. 13 hours. When I got to the airport all seemed well. No delays reported. We boarded the plane, they took my carryon because there was no room in the overhead. I figured the couple of diapers I had in my purse would last me the three hours to NH. Then 45 minutes later, we were getting off the plane again and not expected to leave for at least another 2 hours. So I re-routed. First through Laguardia, which as soon as I sat down at that gate, was delayed indefinitely, and then direct through Boston at 6:00 (my original flight was 1:30.) So I had time to kill so my mom came out and had dinner with me at the airport and entertained Makili a bit. Then that flight was delayed until 8:00. Finally we made it to Boston, and of course my luggage didn't make it. But I couldn't file the claim until all the baggage from the flight was on the carousel, which took an hour and then I had a bitchy woman do my claim, who gave me the impression that I was wasting her time. Isn't that her job? At midnight we got home. And this morning while I was at work, my luggage was left on the front porch in the rain (luckily Ann was there to find it!)

But I made it. And though you'd think I'd post a picture of my cute husband to document my return, instead I ran to document my garden. We ate salad straight from the garden last night! YES! Oh the arugula! It just keeps coming! And look at that absolutely adorable radish. It is all I can do not to pull them out of the ground to admire them!


This is the new corn bed by the way, which will also host beans and squash.
The lettuce

The radish


The beds
Sprouted beans, peas and cucumbers!
The first corn stalk, a little blurry!

Things We Do At Grammy's House Part II

Makili's first birthday celebration happened - a surprise for Makili and Grammy and I.  The Giarratani's invited us over under the pretense of a coffee, but instead they had a birthday cake and gifts.  A main reason for the brithday extravaganza is that Makili and Frank are birthday buddies, that is they share the same birthday.  In reality, he couldn't share a birthday with a nicer guy.

Cathy was VERY excited about this super-cute horse that she gave to Makili.  For his part, Makili was also interested for a little while, but I'm sure his interest will grow as he does.

We've spent a lot of time eating at Grammy's this week.  New foods include watermelon, peaches, blueberries.  Yummy stuff.  Makili really likes watermelon and I'm convinced it's because it runs ALL OVER HIM.
And Makili got his first piano lessons.  No complaints there either.  Aside from playing in the dirt, climbing the carpeted stairs, cruising the room with the neighbors walker, the piano is right up there at the top of the list for his preferred activities.  What a luck kiddo.  (And what a lucky mom who got to be a lazy mom all week!)

What we do at Grammy's House - Part I

At Grammy's house, there are a lot of people to hold Makili, so he'll dive out of arms to get to the person who looks like they might bring him somewhere interesting.  Here Uncle Blair stood still too long, and Mom happened to walk by.  Don't be fooled though, he'll dive out of my arms as quick as can be if a better boat sails by.

Grammy lets him crawl anywhere he wants.

Through the flowers
He can turn the furniture upside down.  (Look at his mini farmer's tan!)
The neighbor's lent us this walker.  Makili adeptly pushes it to one corner of the house, screams for someone to come and turn it around, then pushes it to the opposite corner and starts screaming again.  OVer and over.
Lots of buttons!  Remotes!  Phones!  OoOoh!
Grammy takes him on nature walks.  Here they are checking out the tadpoles.

MOst importantly, Makili is learning to play cards.  Somewhat ironic that Aunt Amanda is teaching him the card-playing skills, since the Beals are a little too game-obsessed for her, but he'll take the lessons where he can get them.  This is the equivalent of learning to love food at the Mattys, ice-skating with Dad, sewing with me.  This is important stuff!

Up Up and Away

Frequent Flier

Makili gets around.  Seriously.  This kid has been places.  We made our way to Pittsburgh on Wednesday.  Makili was awesome, sleeping on both flights and being generally amicable all around.  We had to leave the house at 4:00am to catch the flight and I think he actually liked being woken up because he smiled at me the whole drive there - a drunk happy smile, like "I don't know why I'm happy, but I am."

Makili thought the airport was great.  All the people and the long cruising opportunities.  He wasn't worried about laying all over the dirty floor or trying to grab other people's trash.  That was me.

Once arriving at Grammy's house, he had to check everything out and see how it worked.  He quickly latched onto Grammy who he realized would carry him around and show him stuff.  

He even helped her make coffee.
He has also spent some time playing with next door neighbor Elena, who clearly has a mind of her own and decides what to do with her time.  She is not so fond of my dad and quickly decides it is time to leave when he appears.  That whole waving the arms making funny noises thing will do it I guess.  

My Kind of Fun

We came back from Larry and Ann's last night so that we'd be able to get some things done today. YARD WORK! My kind of fun. Seriously. I can't get enough. We built two more beds today, planted our first tomatoes and pepper, got our neighbor to bull-doze some stumps, Raph mowed the lawn, and I'm sure there is more. It has been so beautiful here, although not much rain for the garden, and our hose doesn't quite reach the beds so we've been improvising until we get a new one...


Makili had to be moved to a different bed so that he wouldn't tear out the new plants, but he didn't mind so much so long as he could continue to sink his hands in the dirt.

Look at our little lettuce heads just starting out. That there is the front row is Arugula (or Baluga as my Dad calls it.) My favorite! I'm such a proud mama of my little ones.


Have you EVER seen a more beautiful tree than the gorgeous horse chestnut (or Buckeye where I come from) in front of our house!

On a Lighter Note...

Ignoring my outburst yesterday, I'll move right onto nicer things, like the fact that Makili is 11 months old today. Already. Unbelievable! Can you believe he'll be a year old in a month! I can't. We went up to visit Larry and Ann for the weekend and Raph has been helping out with siding the roof. Makili unfortunately has another fever, though has been pretty good-natured none-the-less.


Makili has been really into pushing his car around backwards, though he can't turn it. He pushes it from one end of the room to the other until he runs into something and then he whines until someone comes and turns it around for him. He gets into moods where that is all he wants to do. Or he'll want to try to walk back and forth between Raph and Ann over and over. He is still pretty cautious about the whole walking thing though he is definitely testing the water.
He has developed great coordination lately and wants to do whatever it is that we are doing. For example, here he is stirring . After all, he saw daddy doing it.

He's been quite the love-bug, with giant hugs all around. He'll reach for anyone that will carry him around incessantly, though he especially like to watch cooking.

Eating is officially Makili's favorite pastime. An art if you will. Bananas the preferred medium. He can down the bananas too. He freaks out when he sees them and yells "du, du,du" which means, "I want that!" If I say "Do you want a banana,?" He smiles and says "Da! Da!" which means "Yes! Yes!"


This is the "du" which I hear ALL day long. But look at those luscious lips.

And this is what you get when you don't provide wanted objects
He's been a fun little boy lately and I love him to death. I'm so lucky.

I'll admit it's scary

Ever since I read Collapse, I've been making a mental list of what we need to have stockpiled in our basement for when the shit hits the fan and the world starts to collapse. That book was based on environmental degradation being the cause of collapse. Today however, Larry got me started reading about Peak Oil and I'm pretty much scared to death all over again.
Here's a link - check it out: Peak Oil
Then read this: The Long Emergency

I now have a list on my computer called: Apocalypse Preparation. I'm going to start storing food in my basement tomorrow. I'm trying to address questions that I think will seriously affront ALL of us in the not-too-distant future.

How will we pump water when we don't have oil (or coal or gas) to burn for electricity?
What will we eat when we can't get grains, etc. because they are so oil dependent?
Where will I get medicine for Makili when he is sick like right now with a 102 degree fever (Nadine?)
Who will teach us to farm our land when there are so few farmers left to teach?
How will I get information about herbs, sickness, building, when the internet infrastructure collapses since it is totally energy dependent (like 10% of total energy consumption)?


The scariest part of this is that the timeline is probably much closer than I or most likely you ever thought.

Our future, MAKILI'S FUTURE, will depend on communities banding together, working together to feed themselves, keep themselves warm, protect themselves. Anyone want to move here? The house around the corner with 3 acres is for sale. Totally Farmable. Small, heatable. Well - easily pumpable with solar. Any takers?

PARTY - JULY 6th!

PARTY IS NOW JULY 6, 2008!

Raph and I started fretting about bad weather. After all, our house is only 700 square feet. So we called to see if we could reserve the pavilion at Fort Foster, the beach park two miles from our house. And it was available for July 6th, so there you have it!

Makili's Baby Luau!
Sunday July 6th, 2008
Fort Foster Large Pavilion
($10 entrance fee per car. No alcoholic beverages permitted in the park.)
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
grilling, swimming, walking, horseshoes, badmitton?, eating, cards, sunbathing, etc.

Please don't bring a gift; we have too much stuff. But please do bring a vegetarian dish, your hawaiian regalia, your swimsuit, and sunscreen!

Might be wetland, but it ain't no swamp.

I've been waiting for the bugs to hatch. The last time we lived in Kittery, we moved here in November and left in mid-May. I distinctly remember SHORT weeks between when it warmed up (like hit 50 degrees) and the bugs hatching. Blissful wonderful weeks with fiddleheads on the side of the road and clear trails in the woods. The marsh mosquitos and black flies then hatched and being outside was no fun again. So I've been holding my breath. Enjoying the weather, waiting for the inevitable.

So yesterday we went for a hike on some trails near our house. They go down our road and then off into the woods and across a "wetland" over to a railroad trestle and then back to the end of our road which is not really a road, but a 4-wheel drive path through the woods. We saw cool stuff. A porcupine lumbering down the trail. The work of the beavers - seriously it was like a cartoon the way they gnaw the trunk to a point until the tree falls over - and the sawdust they create! But the biggest news was that in fact the bugs HAVE hatched. And perhaps we'll be spared the infestation at our house because they were TERRIBLE in the woods with the big swamp. Our little wetland just must not be big enough. DARN, huh? WOOHOO. I don't want to count my eggs before they hatch, but I am hopeful working in the garden won't be torture until the dragonflies hatch and eat the mosquito larvae. Maybe it won't be torture at all.