berry time

The first delicious strawberries of the season have entranced us. For my half birthday this year, I'm requesting a morning bike ride to the farmers market for some fresh strawberries and a delicious muffin and coffee at Woodstar Cafe. All of this before the 10:30am baseball start. Hopefully the lure of more strawberries will get everyone dressed and ready to ride early this weekend!

mt st helens

Always in my heart, my time at Mt St Helens.  And 32 years ago, she came alive to remind us all how powerful and life altering this earth can be.

happiness: future imperfect

I wonder: what makes us truly happy?  Is it where we are now, doing what we're doing?  Is it an expectation we've set for ourselves for a future time? Sometimes I find I need to slow my head down to really see and appreciate what is in my grasp right now.  Of course there are times when I'm feeling down about where I am currently and look ahead to an afternoon bike ride by myself, a weekend with my family, a summer trip west.  I also have to keep in mind, though, to keep my expectations for those future perfect times to a minimum.  Imperfections always creep into the equation and I need to remember to slow down at those times and move through them with grace.  Of course, I should also remember to slow down at the 'perfect' times to immerse myself in them and savor them appropriately.  To feel the sun on me, to close my eyes and listen to my children's imagination, to see my sewing project come together into something functional and educational.

current podcast list

I've dumped some dead wood, clearing away some podcasts that were too depressing to listen to or just too raunchy. The Nerdist had an awesome interview with Sir Patrick Stewart; but mostly their interviews are too dumb for me, relying on so much swearing and jokes where they crack each other up or their sound is just bad/not recorded very well.

So here are my new favorites:
Here's the thing with Alec Baldwin (really... only once every two weeks?)
After the Jump from Design*Sponge (technically I haven't been able to listen to this yet, but I can't imagine it would be anything short of delicious)
WTF with Marc Maron - only the ones without too much swearing or listening to a guest reminiscing on their drug histories (man, does that ever get old FAST)and I skip through his dialogues at the beginning (yawn)
Guest DJ Project - via KCRW One of my favorite podcasts
Good Food - via KCRW
The Dinner Party
The Treatment - via KCRW
Pop Culture Happy Hour - sometimes they can go on and sound full of themselves. but my fave part is when they talk about "What Makes You Happy"
Science Friday
99% Invisible

I also like:
Only a Game
Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me
But if I don't get to them that week, I feel like they're easy to delete and start with the new week of show.

Honestly, KCRW is the place to find whatever interests a gal. KEXP has amazing podcasts of past performances, if you want to try out a band, be they up and coming or proven to rock.

not to buy

"There's this idea that somehow you've got to keep changing things, and as often as possible. Maybe if people just decided not to buy anything for a while, they'd get a chance to think about what they wanted; what they really liked." ~Vivienne Westwood Yeah, it's about fashion. But can't this be applied to SO much more than that in this world?

Mummy's day

At the end of the day Huxley shared with me that he wished it could be "Heather and Huxley Day".  Dashiell wanted every Saturday to be Mothers day, every Sunday Fathers day, then 5 days of school.  Repeat.  He also told me when he's grown up he'd like to have a shop called 'Popsicle' because he knows how to make popsicles.  I'm welcome to go if I'm not dead, when I'm a hundred. I had my hair braided, brushed and coloured this morning.  I was fed strawberry french toast and hamburgers.  I was handed a lovingly drawn card, with Dashiell and I hand-in-hand, a sunset behind us.  An all-family hike to a new-to-us part of the state.  While we never made it to our destination, the adventure the stream provided was epicly memorable.  End of the night footrubs brought it all to a satisfying close.

Weekend away

A weekend away at the ocean.  The light was spectacular for memorable photos.  The mood was relaxed and goofy and went late into the night.  Swimming in the pool.  Floating in the bubble bath.  Exploring the audobon sanctuary.  Entertaining ourselves at the beach with only the sand, rocks, shells and water.  For hours.  Day after day.  It just never got old.   We saw: an eel in a freshwater pond, crayfish & empty exoskeletons, b&w ducks, fiddler crabs dancing to their own beat, endless low tide beaches that looked like the end of the earth, horseshoe crab shells, oriole, lady turkey, channeled whelk egg casings, mermaid purses (mermaids' purses?), kid toes in sand whenever possible, wild warrior dances on the edges of waves, sand and rock sculptures, leaping out of swings and off of lifeguard thrones, lots of sliced strawberries and a can of whipped cream.    FYI: a can of whipped cream is a great way to relieve a kid when he's exhausted by a 2 ½ hour drive.