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.

Open Invitation

REVISION: I forgot to mention an important detail. This will be a BABY LUAU, as is the custom in Hawaii on a child's first birthday! Hula skirts and Hawaiian shirts are not required, but fully encouraged. And those coconut bikinis would be cool too.



On Sunday, July 6th, 2008 (revised date!) we will be celebrating Makili's first birthday. All are invited - family, friends, neighbors, strangers. No presents please - we have too much stuff to begin with. Your presence will be the gift. But please bring a vegetarian dish as this will be a potluck. We will be grilling and playing games and hopefully enjoying fabulous weather. More details to come, but please consider penciling us in. We have a huge yard if you want to camp, and a few beds on a first come/first serve basis! Or you can just come for the day!

visitors

Raph's cousin Sarah and her husband Eric came to visit, while there were in town for a wedding. I had only met her once briefly and Raph hadn't seen her for years, so it was fun to get together and get to know them a bit better. Sarah LOVED Makili. He liked her too, but especially her bracelet. I think Sarah may have caught baby fever. Eric too liked the baby quite a bit.



In addition to welcome visitors, we're also now "home" to a pair of swallows, who will just not take no for an answer. We have been hosing off their nest and putting things in the way of their nest for a few days now. It does not seem to be working, though they did move their nest down the hall, so that it isn't right outisde the back door, but above our bedroom window instead. Raph and I decided we don't actually mind as long as they won't be leaving a big pile of poop on the deck and we won't be scaring them off once the babies are born. I've named them Shirley and Simon. They are quite tame. We're hoping they keep the bug population down and don't dive bomb our heads once the babies come (thats what the bluebirds used to do when I was growing up.)

I've really been slacking

I think all the time about putting things on my blog. Makili got three teeth in one weekend two weeks ago, for example. And he waves now. Etc. But then I get home and there is nice weather and so I garden and tool around outside or projects inside that I won't list. One example, though, is that we got our first crop of rhubarb and have made three strawberry-rhubar pies and two batches of canned strawberry rhubarb jam. And so I just have been finding other ways to spend my time. I haven't taken as many pictures either. Here are two quick ones of the new carrier, which I LOVE and Makili doesn't seem to mind either.

What a Lovely Day Indeed

I had such a lovely day. Really. Lovely. Raph took me on a new hike and we sat on rocks in the sun with Makili and watched the vultures soar above in the blue sky. Makili fell asleep in our new ergo carrier (no excuse not to hike now), with his head tilted back, holding on to the hood of my jacket, like there was nothing that would keep him from that sweet sleep. We had a really swell breakfast at the Stolen Menu Cafe, grilled bread, with mozzarella, fresh basil, ramps, patty-pan squash, and a side of delicious potatoes. Ahh. Good. I worked in the garden, stopping by the first bed to see the arugula, parsely and lettuc poking their little heads through the dirt covers. Aside from my first tick bite of the year, it was pretty idyllic. Raph came home from finishing his final project for his graduate class and made me dinner. MAkili and I practiced his newest skill - putting things IN the shape sorters. That's a big step.

He is such a little communicator these days. A typical conversation goes like this.

Makili: Heee Heeee Heee (panting)
Me: No Booba right now.
Makili: Looks at me with puzzlement then shakes his head no as in really?
Me: That's right, no booba.
Makili: Tries the cry.
Me: Sorry, no booba right now.
Makili: Shakes his head no again.
Me: Do you want a banana?
Makili: (head whipping around faster than you can believe) Yeah! (He really says yeah)

This conversation gets repeated in some form about 100 times a day. Since he learned to ask for nursing, he seems to think he should do so at every possible opportunity. Another of his favorite tactics is to push me into the red chair, which he knows is my favorite place to nurse. He sees the red chair or a banana, and the panting and pleading and pointing all start anew. Really cute. You know in the movie Spanglish, how the mom freaks out and says "Do Not Throw the Ball (for the dog)!" In our house, do NOT say banana unless you intend to give one to Makili. Do not even say a word that sounds like banana. Sometimes it is even dangerous to say "do you want" since he will want whatever you say next and will not get up until what comes after is something that he actually wants. What a little trouble maker!

Makili has also been taking after his cousin Jenna, who did not like to be told "no." Makili will stop and freeze in the middle of an action if I say "eh, eh, eh!" Then he will either cry (which is such a fake cry it is ridiculous) or look at the forbidden object and shake his head, reminding himself that it is off-limits I guess. I love him more and more and am so glad to be where I am with such a wonderful husband and a fun kid. I'm a lucky mom.

Victory Photos

After much planning and pulling the pieces together, we did it! The raised beds are built! Next week, they will be sown after the beds settle. This process was far more work than you'd think. First we rented a truck to pick up the free railroad ties. Then we got our neighbor to use his tractor to scrape away the grass. Then we ordered a butt-load of dirt, which is pretty pricy! Tim got a load of llama poop so big, he made the entire 2-hour drive home at 40mph on the highway. Rebecca was kind enough to lend us her rototiller. And yesteday it all came together. All that is left to do is to drive some rebar through the holes in the ties to keep them in place for ever! We're pretty psyched.

Play Date

Quinn, who is a day older than Makili (my Laurie Giarratani if you will), and his mom came over to hang out yesterday. We've had some spectacular weather this week, even nearing 80 degrees today. As a result we got to hang out outside, which is a challenge for Quinn who likes to put EVERYTHING in his mouth. (For the record, Makili now puts some things in his mouth. Like for example, we were in the garden the other day and he sat there playing with the dirt, happy as a clam, for about 15 minutes. I then looked over and saw some dirt around him mouth. "What did you eat?" I asked him. I went and jammed my finger in his mouth and to my horror discovered a llama terd (part of the manure my uncle the llama farmer sent our way.) First coffee burns, now llama poop. What is next?)

Any way we had a great time. Quinn and Anna just moved here from New Mexico and have been adjusting to the winter much like us. I hope we see more of them.



While they were here, our awesome neighbor Steve came over and used his tractor to get rid of the grass so that we can put our garden in. Yahoo! We've have made so many changes to our yard - I can't wait to post before and after pictures!

And of course the mandatory Fort Foster walk.

Recent Diversions.

Among the many projects we've been working on is burning the brush pile that we've been making since we moved in. It has reached sort of an epic size. So big that we couldn't burn it where it was because it was too close to the house and we were afraid of melting the vinyl siding, which Raph hates but not enough to burn. So we had to drag the big sticks one by one to another location until the original pile was much smaller and would pose a threat to our house. This kept Raph out there late into the night tending the fire, which was quite beautiful against the dusk sky.


Friday I had a Pokeeno party at my house. I'm a new-comer to the group, but I really like this group of women who get together to play a version of bingo and talk about their husbands and children and life. It was fun. They pretty much crack me up. Good times. Can't wait for more.

gray days

The last few days have been a little miserable weather wise. I haven't been too interested in blogging lately, being busy with other things. Today I'm going to post a few spring flower pics from NY and CT, to remind me of the sun. I have some good videos and photos coming...but the hiatus has felt good.