Seasonal Sunday

It is definitely pumpkin patch season. In Portland we have had two amazingly dry and warm weekends in a row and pumpkin seekers have been out in force. We went today and got our share. A few pics... 

Oh my gosh! I totally forgot to mention that in all my years of pumpkin patching, I have never ever seen what I saw today. I am thankful that overall Oregonians are wise about the ways of a farm (even a working one). But today there it was, a woman standing in the field full of pumpkins and stems, wearing full on fancy pointy toed high heels! It takes all kinds. 

Disclaimer... I'm not against high heels in general, just in a dusty dirty old pumpkin patch!

More thoughts on getting older (& better)

My last post was one about aging and acceptance. I have always struggled to adjust to the big birthday (you know the ones... they end in 0's). 

It started during the beginning of my 29th year. I spent that year telling everyone that I was 30 years old to which they would reply, "you are still 29." It has been my style to start processing a year ahead of time and then by the time it was ACTUALLY my birthday, I was all good and ready to go! 

Turning 50 (or approaching it) has been the hardest of them all by far. Interestingly, for the most part I have tried to ignore it as if it would go away. Of course it has not. It shall arrive in less than 2 weeks. I continue to process this milestone. 

Forcing myself to say it out loud and to type it seems to be helping. Rather than trying to be the cool lady/mom whom everyone thinks is actually younger than she is, I'm trying to focus on just being my own version of cool. Don't let me kid you, at this point in my progression, I'd really LOVE to hear a bunch of "No way! You can't be 50!"'s but if it doesn't happen, I'm trying not to care too much. I still disdain being called "Mam." I know that it is supposed to be a gesture at respect but hint here people, most women in "middle age" aren't fond of it -- not one bit. 

Regarding my last post, I did say that I didn't have a lot of time to research people I actually admire and then listed some celebrities who are turning anywhere from 50 - 60 this year. Most people seemed fine with my list but I did get a little negative feedback when I shared it with a group of my Facebook Friends who are all women in this age range (or getting close). To be honest I a) appreciate the feedback and b) understand where it came from and why. Good points related to women looking up to other women who are "meeting their age with grace, ferocity, and determination." 


If you have women you admire who are over 50, who are they and what about them do you admire? 

Here are a just a few of my own favorites: 

Here's a quiz. Can you name them? Do you know their age? What about them might I admire? 

Feel free to comment on these wonderful women and/or share your own favorites below. What does aging gracefully mean to you? Do you care if a woman colors her hair? I know I don't. Color - don't color. I say that's your choice. I do like Ellen DeGeneres even if she chooses to color her hair. And as to why I included pictures of Daniel Day Lewis and Johnny Depp along with her in my last post I say this: I enjoy looking at them! I may be getting older but I'm not yet dead! 

Ciao for now, 
Mama Zuzi (Sue) 

PS... a few more days to comment and get in on my Birthday Blog Comment Contest! 

Harvest Faire 2011

3rd Grade sold Hard red Winter Wheat Berry cover crop. I'm pretty sure we've still got some for sale if you need it! I've got to get my bag... was too busy selling to buy.

The boy "bought" us some fresh carrots from a class farmers market! Thanks! Maybe they will balance out the 2 sets of cupcakes the kids won (finally after 7 years of trying!!!) at the Cake Walk, the cookies and the sausages!

July 15, 2011

Sadly, this year I have pretty much nothing growing in my garden. I am not very happy about it. I do, however, have my five blueberry bushes, multiple strawberry plants and I believe I may have marionberries too. The blueberry bushes are starting to show their true colors, ever so slowly. Nothing as delicious as a fresh blueberry or two grown in your own back yard!

Airing our clean laundry

Add caption

Wednesday, June 28, 2011

These ruby jewels may be a bit more watery than I'd planned but we'll do our best to enjoy them anyway.

We picked these (the girl & I) and a whole lot more!

The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses.
~Hanna Rion

Peace baby

It is the first day of 2008 and to that end I tried to gently discuss the idea of resolutions and goals with my children who are not quite 5 and 8. We talked about wanting to do lots of things in the coming year, including going to the ice cream store, enjoying kindergarten, being kinder to one another, exercising and learning Kung Fu (or some other martial art)... but the one that made my Mama's heart shine with hope was what my boy (the one who seems far too often for my taste obsessed with gun toys and enemy play and too often pounding on or in some other way hurting his sister), what my boy said he wished for 2008...

and I quote:

"I want the war to end. I mean I want all the wars to end."

Now please don't get up in arms about supporting the troops or not. That is not the issue here. At the end of the day and the beginning of a new year, we all just want to know that we did something right in our efforts with our children. I'll sleep a little better tonight.

May 2008 bring peace to as many people as is humanly possible.

ThankFul Friday

I just have to say today that I have the BEST friends in the world!

Having a wonderful and green-as-we-can-manage holiday has become so much easier by the efforts and thoughtfulness of others, including my Fabulous Friends!

Thanks to the generosity of my friends, I've been able to give and re-give (even better recycled) two prime goodies on my kidlets Christmas lists! Yay! And I managed to help at least one friend to get some old toys out of her house (any parent knows how good that feels)!

We in turn have sold some old toys, and given away some as well. All this kindness and giving just makes me want to give more to those less fortunate. Ahhh the true meaning of Christmas comes shining through.

Hand-me-downs, re-gifting from friends and their older kids, Craigslist, Freecycle, handmade... how are you greening up your holidays, whether they be Solstice, Christmas, Hannukah or other?

PS... who doesn't love The Hannukah song?

Ho ho ho, recycled Christmas

O.K. up front I want to say I am not a scrooge. I love Christmas and pretty much always have. There was that one pre-teen year when I breathlessly and expectantly opened my much-desired Michael Jackson cassette tape (yes I said cassette), only to find Hank Williams or some other such country artist inside instead. That was pretty frustrating.

This holiday season I have been thinking how I find commercials which make re-gifting out to be the spawn of the devil, to be ... well let's just say misguided. I admit if you regift a dried out old fruit cake or some hideous unrecognizable bobble-head doll to someone who doesn't specifically have an affinity for those things, that isn't really the spirit of giving. Recycled gifts however, can be! A gift to the person you are giving to as well as to the earth and our shared community. Sometimes less really is more. Sometimes homemade is just better.

To that end, I am a blur of knitting needles and yarn whenever I'm not busy doing something that keeps me from it. I have also begun prepping my youngsters with a new campaign. It goes a little like this...

Santa (who just so happens to live at the North Pole) is getting into recycling! It is a natural I say. The man calls one of the coldest places in the earth home and why wouldn't he want to save it, buying less, recycling more and lowering his footprint? My kids think that's a little weird granted, but they got quiet when I said Santa cares about the polar bears, the penguins and the seals. And I'll just bet they enjoy whatever the jolly man brings, even if it has a small dent on one side or a light that won't light at the top!

And why should we feel bad if the fabulous gift we are giving cost slightly less due to a coupon or a sale? Do we? Do you? It is the gift and the giver's intent that matters most. You are welcome to tell me if you think I'm wrong. Mind you I will also admit that one of the best gifts I ever got was a very expensive digital camera with multiple bells and whistles. The zoom lense -- thankfully -- was pre-owned! :-) The main reason I love that camera is because of what I can do with it, not because of it's cost.

Will I buy a few things directly from a store or online new? Yup but pretty much as few as possible. But I'm doing lots of surfing on Craigslist too. How about you?

Enough already

Toys linked to a date-rape drug recalled

I don't know about anyone else out there but I'm not buying any toys I know were made in China for the holidays or anything else right now. Mind you I don't have anything against the Chinese people or the country for that matter except that it is ridiculous that they keep sending us toxic toys! And then there's our government which is supposed to keep our kids safe by screening out things like this before they enter the country, but NOOOOOOO apparently can't do that.

If anyone out there really thought our government was looking out for us or our kids before this, think again. As parents, we have to protect our kids on all kinds of fronts that our parents never dreamed of. The hardest job (and most worthy) on earth just keeps getting harder. As much as possible, buy local, buy natural products, pass down things we know AREN'T toxic and live more simply.

A hankerin'

Apparently the girl got a hankerin' for some fall gardening. She planted an old package of multi-colored carrots we never quite managed to get to as well as some sunflower seeds. She was all prepared -- with "shovel", watering can, seeds and gardening glove -- before she even asked me to help (someone had to help carry the stuff)! She did all the rest. I didn't have the heart (or frankly the time... she is determined and fast when she wants to be) to tell her the plants may or may not (most likely not) make it before the frost... we'll just see what happens. It is kind of fun to get caught up in the fun of believing that all things are possible - and who knows, maybe they are.

Along for the ride

Sometimes, whether it is our own adventure, the greater world's or our children's, we just need to get on that ride, strap ourselves in and go. It may be scary, bumpy, exhilarating and/or exciting in alternate measure, but it will be worth it and far better than sitting at home on the couch playing it continually safe.



When I'm scared or worried, I can tend to get myself into a panic. Often, however, after that initial phase, I find myself seeking out information and trying to formulate a plan where I can have at least some semblance of reassurance.



Whether it is my son's 2nd grade year, my husband's future as an engineer, the great turning or my own creative life... sometimes you have to do what you can and then let it go.



Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Hope you are enjoying the ride along with me.



MamaZuzi

Sweet peas

Happy 4th of July! I could go into a long-winded diatribe about how we need to rescue our country (and in many ways the people are doing that slowly through the Great Turning) from the very politicians who are supposed to protect us and our country, but I choose not to do that today.

I could spend some time talking about how it may be the heat or lack of school that has been causing a great deal of unrest and edginess around these parts. I could go on and on about my daughter (who I lately think of as 4x4 ... since she managed to have 4 tantrums by 4:00 p.m. yesterday) but again I choose not to go there for any length of time.

Instead, I'm going to talk about how amazed I was yesterday when my children actually ate fruit AND veggies (and lots of them)! Amazing stuff that!

FOR LUNCH & SNACK: They munched platefuls of baby carrots and dip.

FOR DINNER: I steamed half the fresh broccoli from the garden and left the other half raw which the kidlets proceeded to eat (again with dip) as half their dinner meal. And the picture above is the most phenomenal thing of all -- I can't keep or freeze any sweet peas, according to my finicky eater son, because he wants to eat them ALL -- each and every one he can -- straight from the garden, right out of the pod.

AND FOR DESSERT: We shared frozen grapes (who knew those were that good) during our rousing family game of Battleship. And today we downed probably a half pound of fresh cherries with lunch. For those of you whose children gladly eat their vegetables, good for you. For my children yesterday seems a breakthrough of major proportions, although I'm certain there will still be picky eating days.

Too much thinking

Sustain This!

The strange thing about parenthood in this day and age is the constant intellectual connundrum (in my mind anyway). There are the stark contrasts between an excellent playdate and wondering what kind of future these fun kids are facing.

I find myself wondering if we really are on the precipice of something horrendous or if there is a way to turn things around -- at least to a large degree. Will the status quo still be the status quo 10 or 20 years from now, even five? Will our kids still be able to pursue careers in anything from new car sales to the entertainment business or will everything be different, all focused on survival and sustainability? Will current career paths be mute? Intriguing to ponder but frightening to really focus on...

And so I will no doubt keep doing what I'm doing, trying harder and harder to zero in on what is really important and building a solid foundation for my kids the best way I know how. I'll continue to try to be a better gardener and pursue avenues of sustainability education. I'll help my children to learn about recycling, conservation and the like. I'll ponder a Sustain This t-shirt line (quirky I know but maybe someday it will make sense).

For now I'm gonna take my mama brain and try to let go of all the heavy thoughts, shifting toward the task of getting my kids in the car, returning the Scooby Doo video I allowed them to indulge in and heading to my office for a few more hours of work on brochures, newsletters and press releases before coming back home to focus on my family again.

Feeling groovy...

"Slow down, you move too fast...
gotta make the morning last,
Just kicking down the cobble stones, looking for love
and feeling groovy... "

Anyone remember that song?

Well I do although I can't remember who sang it. But more importantly, I WAS feeling groovy this week when I not only purchased but installed a 5-line retractable clotheline on our garage -- all by myself! I suppose I could have waited for the hubby to do it but I didn't want to be lame and displaying learned helplessness... (and I wanted to dry a load of laundry while it was still sunny out), so I did it myself! And it felt good.

Did I ever think I'd be an advocate for ignoring my conventional laundry dryer for an outdoor and indoor clothesline (nope). Did I ever think I'd cruise around in an 80's Benz with the sun roof open letting others pass me by on the highway (nope to that too)... but do I? Yup I sure do. The thing I think I notice about both of these things, besides that they are definitively better for our environment, is this... they force me to slow down.

They don't help me to get more done more quickly or to rush around. They literally force me to take my time, get out in fresh air and notice things. Be present. That is good for everyone.

This weekend we will be present ... at T-ball, a preschool meeting, at Oregon's NAMI walk (National Alliance on Mental Illness) and everything in between. What helps you slow down and be present - do tell.

What'cha thinking about Wednesday?

This last Wednesday in April, I'm thinking about:

• a new baby niece (Welcome to the world girlie #3),
• the sunshine outside and wanting to get into the garden,
• being parent helper at preschool,
• lack of ocular migraines (thanks to Norma, hubby and multi-vitamins),
• my daughter doing my makeup (as we speak... no you can't see a photo),
• what to put in my girl's lunch,
• flowers to send to school with the boy,
• how to rid my life of munching slugs and caterpillars,
• the parallels between our national response to 9/11 and the Virginia Tech tragedy,
• potty training and kid bedroom mural painting,
• where to find biodiesel for our new used car and what to wear.

These are the regular daily random thoughts of a Mama in this day and age. What are you thinking about today?

Day #2

It is Day #2 of Turn of the TV Week. So far so good. This is the first year we've managed to make a REAL effort. Last year I think the young boy (a kindergartner then) was home in pain with his newly broken elbow and since he was supposed to rest but unable to read yet, we let him watch PBS and/or videos at least some of the time.

So this year we literally locked up the armoire (in which we keep our TV)! Of course quickly thereafter the hubby had to unlock it and place the lock back on the bathroom cabinet so the girl wouldn't attempt to take more than her allotted number of daily vitamins (yes, she is our reckless climbing speed racer girl who gets into things her brother would never dream of - thanks for asking).

The kids and I have had several conversations about things we can do in lieu of watching television... baking bread (I think we might try bran muffins later in the week), riding bikes, game nights (we've already had one), and cooking dinner together.

While the kids didn't help much making dinner tonight, we did take a walk to deliver their play date mate back home (about 14 blocks roundtrip). And I'm even a bit proud of myself because my girl asked at least two times today (maybe more) for watching, and I managed to hold strong and say "No." And no huge tantrum either (can't quite remember how it worked, but I'm glad it did).

And now frankly I'm tired and so are the kids. We need to brush teeth, take vitamins, read books and head to bed (at least them and maybe me too). The funny thing about Turn off the TV week is that we really don't watch that much if we think about it. However, when you have to "think about it", and plan not to do it (watch TV that is), well it just seems hard -- even if it really isn't. Of course a really nice sunny day didn't hurt our efforts either! Maybe tomorrow we'll wash the cars!

All I want

to do today with all this sun and warmth... is to be in my garden.

I think this scrub jay feels the same way.... and so does the cat.