Happy Birthday Imogen!

Storm King Ranger Station, Lake Crescent

Olympic National Park

Today

Somewhere a Small Girl

Imogen at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center fountain today

Tess Gallagher

Tess Gallagher reading poetry today--Raymond Carver's birthday, his empty chair behind her--at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center during the Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts

Goodwill 2.0

shopgoodwill.com 

For Now

I Stop Writing the Poem

to fold the clothes. No matter who lives

or who dies, I'm still a woman.

I'll always have plenty to do.

I bring the arms of his shirt

together. Nothing can stop

our tenderness. I'll get back

to the poem. I'll get back to being

a woman. But for now

there's a shirt, a giant shirt

in my hands, and somewhere a small girl

standing next to her mother

watching to see how it's done.

-Tess Gallagher

Festivalizing

Immy May having fun at the Juan de Fuca Festival 

Saturday, Port Angeles 

Of Course

Immy is now saying "of course" as in "we'll need party hats, 'uh' course."

Wiktionary: "of course...[a]sserts that the associated phrase should not be argued, particularly if it is obvious or there is no choice in the matter."

Word World

Imogen asleep in her car seat
with my dictionary
Today

Handcrafted

Craft is the handprint of all culture.

Imogen, last night

Microeconomics

At Immy's pretend stores, ice cream shops and fish markets, everything costs "50-god dollars."

Girl's Life

Read-Along

Imogen follows along with her Grammy--on tape--reading Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep: A Yarn About Wool.

Haircut

Duck Derby

Rosy Posies

Happy Mother's Day!

Imogen surprised me today by drawing one of Great-Gramma's tulips on her magnetic doodle pad.

She also named this blog post.

Almost three years into mothering and I still feel like I need to be pinched. I find Immy so exponentially amazing that I can hardly believe she came from me. I don't take credit, I just watch in awe. Thank you Immy for making me a mother. I've never been so proud or felt I had a higher calling. Having you is the fulfillment of my greatest dream.

One Child at a Time

Top: Immy briefly helps her cousin YaYa, who spent more than four hours at the farmer's market today raising money for Pennies for Peace. What a great person YaYa is, spending her beautiful Saturday helping girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Bottom: Imogen shows off the tulips we gently picked out for Great-Gramma.

Three Trips Around the Sun

Imogen turns 3 on May 27

Semper Paratus

Imogen's co-op preschool and cousin YaYa's home-school program went on a field trip last week to the Coast Guard station. We toured a boat, watched a helicopter hoist up a man, and, "always ready," the Coast Guard dads set up a bouncy house where the kids bounced themselves silly.

Think About the Place Where You Live

Simon, Imogen and Niles

Ediz Hook, Port Angeles

Take a Picture of Me Jumping

In Dewy Damps

When I was nearly five in the fall of 1975, my family moved from Seattle to Sappho, Washington, near Forks. Recently, on my way to Forks, with Imogen asleep in the back of the car and a camera on hand, I drove up the road we lived on.

Two of my favorite bigleaf maple trees are still standing, covered in chartreuse moss and old man's beard lichen:

One is partly hollow so that my sister and dad and I could go inside if we crouched down.

The other held a beloved handmade swing.

I'm amazed and happy they're both still alive and reminded to be thankful for the abundance of nature and this enchanted place in the landscape of my childhood.

One Little Girl in a Pale Pink Coat Heard

Me (singing): High on a hill was a lonely goatherd, lay-di-oh, lay-di-oh, lay-di-oh!

Immy: Who sings that song?

Me: Maria…from The Sound of Music…the governess…who takes care of the children.

Immy: Julie Andrews sings it.

Have a Nice Day

Breastfeeding Protects Mothers Too

Women who breastfeed their babies may be lowering their own risk of a heart attack, heart disease or stroke, research suggests.

A US study found women who breastfed for more than a year were 10% less likely to develop the conditions than those who never breastfed.

Even breastfeeding for at least a month may cut the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

On average, it had been 35 years since the women [in the study of 140,000] had last breastfed - suggesting the beneficial impact lasts for decades.

BBC News | Health

Full Article 

Love is Simple

She's Blooming

"I have flowers in my hair."

Friday

Two Years of Pure Gravy

Then

Now

Celebrating two years of Pure Gravy!

Adventuress

Imogen, just shy of 3, on the Olympic Discovery Adventure Trail, April 7

"Hurry"

We stop at the dry cleaners and the grocery store

and the gas station and the green market and

Hurry up, honey, I say, hurry, hurry,

as she runs along two or three steps behind me

her blue jacket unzipped and her socks rolled down

as she likes them.

Where do I want to hurry her to? To her grave?

To mine? Where one day she might stand all grown?

Today, when all the errands are finally done, I say to her

Honey, I’m sorry I keep saying Hurry—you walk ahead of me. You be the mother.

And hurry up, she says, over her shoulder, looking

back at me, laughing. Hurry up now, darling, she says

hurry, hurry, taking the house keys from my hands.

-Marie Howe 

I Bonked My Head

Immy hit the corner of a wall really hard last night while joyfully running around the house.

On the way into "Pre-3" this morning, she told Mama Lori, "I bonked my head. It is so weird!"

Tuesday

Aargh!

Imogen from the backseat the other day:

I want to be a pirate. I like to say 'aargh.'

Bock Obama

Imogen just saw Barack Obama on the TV screen. She said "Bock Obama!" then "he's a very good daddy." I said, "yes, he has two girls." She said, as if beginning a list, "Sasha, ..." I would guess I have mentioned the Obama girls' names maybe twice in passing. I am really surprised she remembered one.

Immy's in the living room yelling "Bock Obama!" as I post this.

The Tide Was High

First Beach, La Push

Sunday

Homekeeping

I'm all about solutions.

We're Lucky

Port Angeles has a historic courthouse with a clock and bell tower. It also has a ferry called the Coho that sails between Port Angeles and Victoria, BC.

Imogen says "so lucky to have the clock tower," and "so lucky to have the 'Coco.'"

I feel so lucky to have Immy!

Clock tower photo: Pili Meyer 
Coho photo: Jean Tyson

How Hard it Rains

Friday, 1.14" of rain

International View

This photo was taken by Benjamin Madison and posted on his blog Victoria Daily Photo. He describes it:

Looking down on Victoria from Mt. Douglas today one can see the rain on the Olympic Peninsula across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Day of the Ad

My sister, Kelly, threw her son "Ad" a Dia de los Muertos 6th birthday party. Everyone loved decorating the sugar skulls Kelly made and the kids had a great time whacking the piñata (that Kelly made too!).

Happy Birthday my Amazing Nephew!

Sunday

All Hallows' Even

(second photo by Deborah Marchant)

Priceless Art

Easel from St. Vincent de Paul: $2

Paint set from community sale: $.25

Dad's paint shirt: Free

Happy child creating art: Priceless

Imogen, a week ago Thursday