End of schoolyear BUSY-ness

It's just been crazy around here: something going on most every single night!

We're still managing to eat dinners together, but then have to rush off:
Volleyball practice & icecream treat after -this Saturday is Pixie's last game!
String Instruments getting hauled around - lessons, recital (both kids, played beautifully last night), and Wolf's orchestra also played "Pomp and Circumstance" at High School graduation the night before.
Babysitting - Youngest is in high demand.
Phonecall - Eldest called from PCT, made it to Big Bear City, and we all talked to her for a long time. She's 1/10th of the way.
Birthdays - 3 celebrations this week.

All is well, just super BUSY!
Next week school ends, and we go CAMPING!!!

Golden Wedding Anniversary

My parents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary this past weekend!
I wish I could have been there to help celebrate the big event, but alas, it is a rather long way from here to Germany (there are no direct flights from here during winter!)

From all the reports, it sounds like the weather in Germany was rather Alaskan -- snow and unseasonably cold temperatures. But the weather did not dampen the spirit, and relatives and friends congregated for a big feast. Note to Americans: Europeans really know how to mark special occasions! While many Americans prefer to hide the passing of time, Europeans will acknowledge and celebrate big birthdays & anniversaries by inviting their friends to a big formal affair!

Here's a picture of my parents -- in icing -- from their wedding day 50 years ago!I've always thought that when my mother was young that she resembled Ingrid Bergman, whereas my father has always looked like a quintessential professor to me, then and now!
I want to wish my parents all the best on this special occasion!
And I'll excuse them & my siblings from having to travel to chilly Alaska in another 10 months, when I reach the ripe old age of 50! Instead, we'll all get together in Germany at some other time (preferably when it's warm) and celebrate a family reunion...

For an anniversary present, I gave my parents a Llama.
Yes, that's correct!
I donated funds in their name to Heifer Foundation. I actually chose the category "where most needed", given the crisis in Haiti right now, and a food- and income-producing animal (such as a llama, goat, chickens, rabbits, cow) will go to a needy family somewhere to help them move toward self-reliance, with the animal providing a sustainable source of food and income.

Why a llama in particular? Our family lived for many years in Chile, and thus our family has a soft spot for the people of South America.
Read more about llamas here.


Liebe Mutti u.Papi, Hier sitze ich im kalten Norden und ueberlege mir was ich Euch zur
Goldenen Hochzeit schenken kann? Es soll etwas besonderes sein, etwas sinnvolles, etwas
was lange haelt, darf nicht viel Platz einnehmen, und es soll Bedeutung haben --
immerhin habt Ihr 50 Jahren, viele Weltreisen, 3 Kinder, 7 Enkelkinder zusammen-- und so
kam mir die Idee: Ich schenke Euch ein Llama.
Keine Sorge, dieses Llama kommt nicht auf den Balkon! Eine arme Familie irgendwo in den Anden bekommt in Eurem Namen dieses Llama durch Heifer International geschenkt, und verhilft ihnen zu einer besseren Existenz. Dieses Geschenk ist in dem Motto von Confucius: "Give a man a fish, and he has food for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he will eat for a lifetime."

Ihr habt uns Kinder durch Euer Beispiel und die vielen Jahre in Chile und Philippinen gelehrt auch an andere Menschen zu denken, und ich hoffe Euch mit diesem Geschenk eine Freude zu machen.

Sankt Nikolaus

I do love this time of year!

Yesterday was Sankt Nikolaus, and being German, that means I sneak out of bed late at night and stuff everybody's boots with lots of chocolates, nuts, oranges and other gifts. This is one of my favorite parts of this time of year, with baking, crafting, and Christmas music, but mostly I love just "hanging" with my family & dear friends.

Here in Alaska we use some pretty serious boots this time of year, which is handy for getting lots of Sankt Nikolaus loot: our kids are savvy and take the felt boot liners out on Nikolaus-Eve, to maximize the haul!

Sankt Nikolaus is when I really start getting into the spirit of the Advent season -- yesterday we got our Christmas tree, put some Christmas CDs on the stereo and started hauling the decorations out from the basement. It's wonderful to watch the kids re-discovering and reminiscing as they unpack nutcrackers and ornaments they made in Kindergarten!

Yesterday, as we all sat around the tree, sharing memories, the kids asked their dad about his memories, and were surprised to hear how different his childhood experiences were from their own. His own dad died of cancer when he was 4, right around the the holidays, and sadness was forever intricately associated with Christmas-time -- I'm sure his mother had a difficult time for many years after, especially around the holidays...

Not everybody loves the holidays -- in fact, some detest it. Children of divorce often find this time of year very stressful -- everything from making a craft and school and having to decide which parent should get it (how cruel is that!-- teachers, please let them make 2!!!), to having the holiday itself split up, feeling torn apart between two parents.
For years I watched my Eldest, a child of divorce, stress over Christmas, and there was little I could do for her other than to try to provide as calm an environment as possible at home. My wish for her is PEACE & JOY, but especially inner PEACE. That is also my wish to all children of families affected by tragedies such as divorce, illness or death. Hang in there, and don't feel there's something "wrong" with you for not being full of holiday cheer!

THANKFUL

I don't know what's wrong with me, but instead of the usual winter slump (a.k.a. mild depression) that usually hits me by the time this dark time of the year, I continue to be basically HAPPY -- you know, cheerful, ready to sing "The hills are alive..."
What gives? Instead of getting grumpier as I get older, I get happier. I'm just plain old THANKFUL for the good life our family has. Soppy, I know...

It's been a very nice relaxed Thanksgiving for the Borealkraut family.
On Turkey Day, Eldest came for the feast together with her 2 roommates, and we really enjoyed visiting with them, including playing a rousing game of "Apples to Apples" and telling various embarrassing stories of when the kids were small. Eldest wrote me a sweet Thank you email the next day, where she shared that she and her roommates thought our family was very "loving". Shucks -- I'm just a sucker for stuff like that -- I'd have been ready to hand over my car keys if she'd asked for them right then...

We did not end up going on our annual ski-into-the-cabin trip the next day: the Prof and I both were suffering from back pain, and decided that we just were not up to pulling sleds and sleeping on hard bunkbeds (yes, we were definitely being whimps, but we're allowed at our ripe old age!). So instead we just laid low and enjoyed hanging out with the kids, reading, watching movies, and nibbling on turkey left-overs.

But other good things happened as a result of us not going to the cabin. We got to meet Wolf's new girlfriend, A, and her family: first we had a chance to meet them all at the sledding hill in a downtown park, and then tonight A and her sister came over for dinner. They live in the Valley (another valley than our little valley: so it's at least a 30 mile drive), so the families meeting was a big step -- yes, a little awkward at first, but I think it went well, and we're really pleased how nice A and her family are! It's like in the movie The Sound of Music, when Maria tells of how Mother Superior always said "When the good Lord closes a door, somewhere He opens a window." Not that I'm particularly religious, but I have to admit, I'm really happy for the Wolfman that it worked out that way -- Howl!

Photo credit: http://www.artknowledgenews.com/files2009a/Julie_Andrews_The_Sound_of_Music.jpg

It was my birthday yesterday, and I'm feeling great (despite the fact that the stomach flu is making the rounds in our household -- so far only through the male population!).
True, I'm another year older, but strangely, that does not bother me at all. I don't feel old, even though now I am as close as I can get to the big 5-0 without actually being there yet!
Here's a photo of moi, taken by hubby when we went blueberry-picking this fall. I usually don't like to have my picture taken, as I'm not photogenic at all. But on that particular beautiful fall day, I didn't mind him clicking away...

I'm a really lucky person: I've got a loving family, good health, and live in a really nice place!
I know that it's more luck than earned -- luck to have met and married a wonderful man (I suppose I can take some credit for having at least been at least a decent enough person) , genetic luck in that I have not inherited lousy DNA, and luck that the winds blew our little family to Alaska (the last great frontier!)

What makes me ponder this right now is that I recently received a real good rating when I applied for life insurance -- I got a clean bill of health! Apparently my health history and blood results indicate that I'm at a low risk to keel over from a heart attack anytime soon.
I can thank my parents for good genes -- on my father's side everybody seems to live well into their 80's without any heart problems, cancer, diabetes or Alzheimers. Watch out kids, you may not see any of that life insurance money for at least 30 years!

I'm truly lucky to be healthy. Besides inheriting healthy genes, I suppose I can take a little credit for a reasonably healthy lifestyle. What does that involve? What helps is not smoking or drinking (I do enjoy a glass of wine or beer a couple of times a week, however), sleeping well and not having a stressful life or job, eating reasonably healthy foods, and staying active.

I'm no sports nut, and certainly don't run marathons. But I do manage to be active everyday -- it may not seem much, but at a minimum, I guess I easily get those minimum recommended 20-30 minutes of light aerobic exercise every day. Most days that's just simply walking (lots), but it might also be gardening, snow shoveling or yoga.

Food is something everybody seems to be focused on these days, or even posessed by. Yes, I try to eat reasonably healthy, but I'm no health nut, either. In fact, I have a pretty healthy appetite: I eat a lot, and I have never really gone on a "diet". I'm not skinny, but not overweight either. But I do watch what I eat in the sense that I'm aware of what I eat -- what I aim for is to eat whole foods. By "whole" I don't just mean "wholesome", but also "real", as in not highly processed. As much as possible, that means fresh produce, whole grains, healthy proteins. But I also enjoy food, and if one day I feel like a Reese's Peanutbutter cup, by all means, if I crave one, then I have one. Preferrably just one, savor it, and then not have the need to eat another for a long time.
Depriving oneself of certain "forbidden"foods (such as chocolate or icecream) is just a bad mind game, in my book, and can lead to breakdown and overeating. I find myself doing much better around tempting desserts now that I've made "peace" by allowing myself simply to eat "anything". I am now often just as happy to have a carrot for snack, instead of a cookie, without feeling deprived. Perhaps this comes with age, because my younger self would have gone for the cookie!

Last, but not least, another factor in being healthy and happy, to me, is having a creative outlet. This is often not considered when people list necessary ingredients for health. But exercising the mind is as crucial as exercising the body. Without that, my life becomes rote, routine, listless. I need to have a creative outlet in my daily life, be it knitting or sewing, discussing politics, listening to music, cooking a good meal for friends and family, reading and/or writing. These are all things I can and will continue to do for many years to come.

I leave you with a story I read once about a very old lady who loved to quilt, and continued to quilt even when her eyesight had long gone dim. How did she do it? Whenever her grandchildren came to visit, she had them thread all her needles for her, and stick them into the curtains. Thus she always had a ready supply to keep on quilting...

I'm at the point now that I need reading glasses for fine print and threading needles, and pretty soon you'll be seeing me with a pair of granny glasses dangling around my neck from a beaded chain. But hopefully I'll have a smile rather than a frown on my wrinkled face!

Birthday Pixie

Today my little, nay, long and lanky girl turns 12.
Happy Birthday, Liesl!
I remember well the day you were born: those alert big blue eyes taking in the world. You've always had an intensity about you -- even as a toddler you insisted on "self", doing by yourself anything your 3.5 year older brother did. With determination and grit you did it, too!

Now you're a young lady -- graceful, funny, still intense, and amazingly generous & wise.
Someday soon you'll be breaking boys hearts, but right now, you're perfectly happy hanging out with your family, friends, and pets (I know you'd have a whole zoo if we let you!).

You have a great sense of "self" -- don't ever let peer pressure take that from you. Stay true to yourself -- you're unique and wonderful.

Eldest in Munich

She made it to Munich, and even to the "tail" end of Oktoberfest!

Here's my sister (in the dirndl) and my daughter -- you can see the family resemblance. How I wish I could be there too...

This week I'm cooking German food in their honor (see Borealkitchen, my other blog).

As we were sitting around a good German meal last night, the kids were comparing notes on their visit last summer to Munich and their Tante Elke, my younger sister.

Youngest: "She's like a darker-haired version of mom, and really funny."
Me: "How's that?"
Wolfman: "She's a trickster-version of you, mom! I love how she made fun of you. Like teasing your American pronunciation of 'genau'."

Eldest is blogging about her experiences in Germany on her blog Kitchensister.

Recital

Both kids kept up their string lessons over the summer, and got to show off their musical prowess at a recital this week.
Wolfman played "Nina" by Pergolesi, and he played it beautifully -- really "polished" that piece! Too bad Pergolesi died so young (age 26) as he wrote excellent lyrical music -- read here for more about Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736).

Liesl played a fiddle tune named "Leatherbuttons", accompanied by big Bro on the cello. She did very well (seems to have gotten over her stage fright earlier in her musical career), and it was so sweet to hear the siblings perform together!

Here are a few more pictures of the recital:
the wonderful accompanist Ruth,

there's always a beginner playing variations on "Twinkles",

many more cellists such as this one playing Bach,

and this last violinist who gets my vote for the most unique shoes!

Forensic Motherhood

Envision yourself coming home from an afternoon of shopping (dad gives mom of three kids a well-deserved break), and as mom walks up to her house, she finds it deserted. BUT, there is a trail of blood leading up the stairs, and the front door is wide open. What happened? Who got hurt? Where did everybody go?...
This happened to my mom some 40 years ago -- before the days of cell phones, or, apparently, before the days of pencil of paper. My mother nearly went out of her mind until my dad finally arrived back from the hospital, where my little sister had gotten stitches on her forehead, after having run into my brother on the swing (remember those wooden boards with sharp edges -- this was before someone smart designed the soft butt-hugging type that does not require surgery when you rammed another kid...)

Nothing that scary happened to me, but the other day I got home from work to a rather strange scenario, hubby having taken the kids to their music lessons in town.

Door is wide open...
I walk into the kitchen: there are 4 cereal bowl with the remains of milk and granola. I only have 2 kids living at home, so how is that possible? Easy, teenage son probably ate 3 bowls, and the 4th belongs to his little sister.
It gets better! I need to get some dinner started, so I turn to the stove. There is a black liquid oozing out from under the stove, and a yellowish-red powder dusting the counters and floor. Several pots and pans are on top of the stove, with various blackish-graying substances on them. Ahhh, now I remember, they had wanted to cook black beans for burritos -- Son had declared that he was tired of PB&J, and wanted to learn how to make burritos, from scratch!
I had soaked some black beans overnight. Instructions were to "cook until soft", mash them with a potato masher for "Refritos", then add spices. Turns out the pot of beans boiled over, explaining the black ooze. There was an attempt made to mash the beans BEFORE they were soft, which caused quite a few chunks of gray-black matter decorating my kitchen. Lastly, Son attempted to grind the spices -- problem was that he opened the lid while the blade was still spinning....

There are days where I would have been mad at the mess, but that day I only chuckled, being rather proud of myself for having figured out what happened. This is as close to CSI (=Crime Scene Investigation, which Germans would call a "Krimi" ) as I'll ever get -- I love watching the TV series -- the scientist in me enjoys a bit of detective work that goes into figuring out the clues left in the evidence at the scene of a crime...

Ahhh, the joys of forensic motherhood!

For the Black Bean recipe, go to my other blog, Borealkitchen

Photo credit to www.all-about-forensic-science.com for the blood spatter picture.

Camping at Eklutna

Last weekend we celebrated Father's Day by going camping, which is one of our favorite things to do during Alaskan summers. We went to Eklutna, which is really only one valley over, but a world away (no phones, no computers, no worries...). Eldest didn't join us -- alas, she's got her own life to live...

Here are some pix:

The family portrait with the Eklutna lake (actually a reservoir) in the background.


For kids, going to Eklutna is all about the MUD!!!! Our own kids seems to have gotten too old to get really INTO the MUD, so I photographed a bunch of other kids who were obviously relishing the fine glacial flour -- this is what ours used to look like whenever we went up there (they had a set of old clothes that were simply labelled "Eklutna").



Our own kids: portraits of Liesl and Wolfman.




Our friends, J & J, who joined us on Saturday.


Last, but not least, yours truly in a rather silly state, after just having re-discovered German Weizenbier!

Best and Worse Part of the Day

We have this ritual in our family: every night we gather at bedtime and each of us shares our "best and worst" part of our day. We do this even when one of us is traveling -- whoever is gone will try to call around bedtime to participate, if possible.

The rules are simple: we start with the kids, and everybody shares something from their day in each category. You gotta have one of each: finding a "best" part helps put some perspective on even the lousiest of days. Similarly, we sometimes laugh how good a day was if the worst we could come up with was "xyz"! But the "worst" is not meant to be a complaint or "dumping" feast -- no, merely sharing the facts with the rest of the family, perhaps the telling helping to process and put the event in perspective...

Lately we've added a third category, the "sensory experience" of the day, and that has quickly become a fun addition that we all look forward to! The "sensory" may be good, bad, (&ugly), and can involve sight, sound, smell, taste, or even just plain weirdness. For example, the first ever was when papa reported seeing a transport of stacked port-a-potties (latrines) on his commute home from work! Sometimes the sensory experience ends up being the taste of a new food, hearing or seeing a wild animal, or, invariably, the occasional description involving a public restroom or the school cafeteria...

Above all, this little ritual helps our family gather one last time before we go to bed -- even though we're together for most of our evening meals, and we tell each other about the events of the day -- it really helps to have a dedicated time for each & everyone to share, and then be able to put it all "to rest" before going to sleep.

HOW and WHY? When the kids were younger, we always cuddled and read aloud at bedtime (and we actually still do!). But as kids get older they often outgrow cuddling, yet still need that closeness to their families.
We started this on a family vacation in the Utah, and even had a "Talking Stick" (a Native American tradition -- click here for instructions on how to make one). Only the family member holding the stick gets to speak -- no interruptions are allowed! Now we don't need the talking stick anymore, but whenever we find that the speaker is getting interrupted too much, we grab the back-scratcher I keep next to my bed, and whoever yields it, he or she hold the floor!

Celebrating Eldest's Achievement

Eldest, my daughter, has been selected to receive a 2009 Student of Achievement Award, sponsored by the Montana State University Women’s Center and honors "students who have made outstanding contributions to their community". Yesterday was the reception, and I sure wish I could have been there, beaming with pride over this lovely young woman I gave birth to nearly 22 years ago!

The professor who nominated her, describes her as "strong, outgoing and caring deeply about the world and where it is going."

Here are some excerpts of Eldest's own words from the essay she was asked to write about herself. What I especially admire (and I think the committee must have felt similarly) is her honesty and realism.

When I was young, I did not really think about how I would impact the greater world. My vision of the future was that I would probably end up a lot like my mom and dad... and thought that with my extreme genius, I would single-handedly save the planet. When I started college, I discovered that I was no genius, and had to work in order to achieve limited success... My saving-the-planet-as-an-engineer goal morphed into being part of saving humanity and I joined Engineers Without Borders.

As my workload increased, my own personal life fell to pieces. I destroyed a few relationships, rarely saw the few friends who still put up with me, was diagnosed with depression and an eating disorder, and saw my GPA suffer. The harder I struggled to regain control of my life, the worse it seemed to get. I finally accepted that I was no superwoman, learned to work with and even celebrate my shortcomings, and allowed my expectations of myself to be more flexible. I also took a good, hard look at my priorities, including school, myself, family, friends, and the rest of the world.I realized that attempts to save the world were a moot point if I could not even maintain healthy relationships and take care of myself. My new save-the-world goal was downsized to the simple but powerful,“I want to be a good person."

After I changed my approach to life and grew up some more, I started taking better care of myself, became more effective in school, and actually became a contributing, beneficial member in the relationships I was able to salvage. Today, I focus on the small effects of my day-to-day life on the world, and even if I cannot afford to drive a Prius and buy local and organic, I can pick up litter on my way home, be lest wasteful, lend an ear to a troubled soul, be a fiercely devoted friend, and offer strength for those who feel lost. My vision of the future is to continue in this path, with daily choices for responsibility, kindness, strength, empathy, honesty, and integrity. In order to meet my one simple goal, the work I do must be meaningful beyond just my employer. I will judge the quality of my work not just by my job description, but its impact on the world. For instance, I cannot single-handedly stop oil production or urban sprawl, but the difference between myself and someone who doesn’t care doing the same job for such “evil empires” will be the context of the greater effectiveness of our work. Our methods or designs will both be effective for the need at hand, but I will do my best to make sure that my work is effective on a larger scale too- environmentally, socially, and culturally.

Interview with my daughters

I have 2 lovely daughters, Eldest and Youngest, who are 10 years apart in age.

Using a set of questions circulating on Facebook, I interviewed both about me, their MOM (which we joke sometimes stands for "Mean Old Mom"):

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Eldest (age 21): "Hi Sweetie"
Youngest (age 11): "Hi Pumpkin"

2. What makes mom happy?
Eldest: Getting something done- the house clean, the other sock knit, the quilt top pieced together
NPR and coffee in bed.
Youngest: When she doesn't have to cook breakfast or dinner, like on the weekend.

3. What makes mom sad?
Eldest: Septic systems, seeing lack of love in the world. I would say carrots that are lethal to fingers, but she's got the highest pain tolerance of anyone I know. It's more like the inconvenience of them that makes her sad.
Youngest: When my brother and I argue and fight.

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Eldest: Silly things like . . . me not know.
Youngest: When she speaks a whole bunch of German.

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Eldest: Totally Bodacious- big boobs, long legs. Damnit, why didn't I get those genes?
Youngest: Maybe a good big sister, but also a bit of a trickster.

6. How old is your mom?
Both: 49!

7. How tall is your mom?
Eldest:: 5'9"? 5'10"?
Youngest: 5'8"? She's a head taller than I am, and I'm 5 feet tall!

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Eldest: Quilting, knitting, baking for her girlfriend get-togethers.
Youngest: Mop the kitchen floor (NOT)! Cuddle with the fam while listening to Papa read a chapter.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Eldest: Live life. When I was at home- Mom would teach nature programs, run errands, and shuttle the children without driver's licenses.
Youngest: Blog!

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Eldest: Developing an ecology-for-kindergardeners curriculum that somehow rid the world of all evils when her students are grown up.
Youngest: Being a good cook.

11. What is your mom really good at?
Eldest: Doing stuff (you are not very good at not doing stuff). Specifically: PARENTING, cooking, handicrafts, connecting people to the natural world, talking politics, being relaxed at parties.
Youngest: Knitting.

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Eldest: Not doing stuff. Chilling out before parties. Anticipating the sheer volume of German pancakes to make.
Youngest: Keeping the house clean.

13. What does your mom do for a job?
Eldest: Teaches nature-stuff at the nature-center, and administrative stuff too now. Runs the family as a volunteer position. (Blogger's Editorial note: I totally get a kick out of that last one! If that's a volunteer position, does that mean I could resign and take on a new hobby?)
Youngest: Teaches kids about nature stuff.

14.What is your mom's favorite food?
Eldest: Ventaglio and latte, most things not from this continent.... spaetzle, that corn and beef casserole, cardamom cake, vegetables that her family won't eat, strawberries.
Youngest: Salads, and of course, coffee.

15.What makes you proud of your mom?
Eldest: You're a wonderful woman, a wonderful mom, and a wonderful wife. You're an excellent role model.
Youngest: Makes sure we improve ourselves.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Eldest: The mom from For Better Or Worse or else the human in Get Fuzzy.
Youngest: The mom in Calvin & Hobbes. And maybe Jon in Garfield (not because he's stupid, but in how he's responsible in making sure people don't eat too much food). Mom won't let us snack right before or after dinner!

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Eldest: Chit chat, cook.
Youngest: Bake and craft.

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Eldest: A lot of ways- hatred of water wasting, inability to sit still and wait, love kids, food, girl-crushes on Barbara Kingsolver, caring about the world (society, humanity, and planet), distaste for TV.
Youngest: We're both girls, and we have the same blue eyes, but I have freckles.

19. How are you and your mom different?
Eldest: Music tastes, stubbornness (I think mine will wear off with age), shopping, exercising, and cooking styles, body types (I still look like a body builder--- just a pudgy one now)
Youngest: I have freckles and a tint of red color in my hair, and mom's is getting gray! And our taste of music is different.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Eldest: How much she's put up from me and still doesn't hang up the phone when she hears my voice.
Youngest: She cuddles with me. She'll squish spiders on the ceiling in my room. She'll let me use her laptop when she's not blogging. She's funny...

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
Eldest (her father and I are divorced): ummm..... the fact that she's not married to him anymore? That they were able to have a functional divorce and co-parenting arrangement?
Youngest (her father and I are married happily): To sleep on his shoulder. And he cooks mean omelettes for breakfast on weekends. And he's really funny!

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Eldest: There's probably some trail or deck on Rodak trail or whatever, where the trees frame the water just right, underneath the mountains, and when she looks at it, all is well and good in the world. I bet also the sauna after working out at the gym and her favorite bookstore, Tidal Wave, and maybe the refrigerated section of Fred Meyers when she has hot flashes. Plus, as 5-yr old Marius said about his mom: the bed.
Youngest: Germany, and anyplace sunny and warm, like Utah. Here at home her favorite place is in bed with her laptop, blogging! (Editor's note: busted!)
Credit: Paintings by Mary Cassatt

Shakespeare is running our life!

The little man from 16th century England is literally making me run in & out of Anchorage on a daily basis. For the last few weeks, Wolfman had rehearsals every school night, and often did not get home until 9:30 or 10pm (just think of all the blogging time I've lost...)




But the end is in sight: tonight is opening night!
Hear ye! Hear ye!
After Sunday, our lives return to normal -- or as normal as our eccentric little family ever gets...

Noodle Necklaces from my big girl

Eldest sent me a sweet letter from college today, and it included a drawing. She was apologetic about that drawing, and likened it to the noodle necklaces she made for me when she was in pre-school. Here is what she wrote next:

It is surprising how much college resembles pre-school: crying for mommy, crossing the street without looking for cars, the necessity of snack time, not caring how stupid we look all bundled up with big mittens, playing in the snow, going over to your friend's house and puking, taking naps, and the excitement over a grilled cheese sandwich. And, don't forget, the truly awful handmade gifts (like noodle necklaces)!


This is a random picture I just found on the web (searching for "noodle necklaces", of course), and it does remind me alot of my blond little pre-schooler eons ago. That same intent concentration on the job at hand -- now she applies it to her Engineering degree.

For the record, I LOVED every noodle necklace and Christmas ornament, drawings then and now, the early pottery (where it's your guess as to whether it's a candlestick or a holder for a single pencil), and of course the wonderful pottery she now makes!

Here is my noodle artist all grown up.

In High School, she got a notion to sport dreadlocks -- and we let her. Some of the other moms asked "How could you?!?" Our rule for teens is they're allowed to rebel within reason, such as experiment with fashions that are not permanent (such as tattoos) -- but hair grows! So here are the "before" and "after" dreadlock fotos.



For the record, the dreadlocks only lasted for half a year -- she was on the swim team that semester, and dreads proved a bit cumbersome. I missed those dreads, though... They fit her earthy personality very well (Even though I never had dreadlocks myself, I can see that some of my Granola mama ways have definitely rubbed off on her).

Her nickname from that time was "Medusa".

Nocturnal Animals

There are a few creatures stirring in the night at our house in the wee hours of this morning: humans who cannot sleep, and our new pet, Licky! On Christmas morning Liesl finally got her wish fulfilled -- she had wanted a pet for a long time! We got her a Leopard Gecko, an easy to care for reptile that's also a lot of fun. He/she (juvenile - gender yet undetermined) eats insects, and you should see him hunt the live crickets: he stalks them and then pounces!

Liesl has been very busy with her new pet: besides reading and learning all about her new pet "Mom, did you know that geckos lick their eyeballs?", she has been rearranging the interior of the tank numerous times with logs, rocks and hiding spots. She's worriedly anticipating his first shedding, and is concerned about feeding him a healthy diet "Too many waxworms are not healthy because they're too high in fat -- it's like us eating too much bacon."

Well, rest assure, this little lizard will be well cared for!

Ghosts (photos) of Christmases Past

This year Eldest stayed in Montana for Christmas, and we miss her, of course! We'll be getting together with her after the New Year on a family vacation in sunny Lake Tahoe (California/Nevada). So, in the meantime, here are some photos from Christmases past.

Christmas Eve with all 3 kids. Eldest is reading the Nativity Story aloud. Looks like they already set out a treat for Santa Claus: the American tradition is to set out a plate of cookies with a glass of milk, but by the time Santa Claus makes it to Alaska, we figure he's tired of sweets and would prefers a refreshing beer (he's partial to India Pale Ale).

Our good friends from Mountainpulse always come over to join in some Christmas Cheer!

FOOD: Christmas baking at our house is heavily influenced by our respective cultural backgrounds: German and Scandinavian. But Christmas dinners are less so: no pickled herring or lutefisk at our house! Instead we've developed our own traditions based on what we like, and it so happens that we like it spicy!
On Christmas Eve (and New Year's Eve too), our family always eats Cajun Gumbo and Alaskan King Crab. It's delicious! On Christmas Day we always eat smoked turkey. We all LOVE turkey, and I think the left-overs are the best: turkey soup with dumplings, and, of course, making the next batch of spicy gumbo a couple of days after Christmas (or Thanksgiving, or Easter)...
Here Eldest is cooking the roux for a giant batch of gumbo. Of all her many talents I have to say she's a wonderful cook, quickly surpassing her parents' skills.

Here's wishing ya'll a merry Christmas, good eats and good cheer!

The violinist

Meet the young violinist. Youngest played a Minuet by J.S.Bach at the Christmas Recital a couple of days ago-- and she sounded great! She has gained so much confidence in the year and a half that she's been playing. She's just about outgrown her 3/4 size violin, so we're on the look-out for a new instrument (it's one thing when they outgrow their jeans every semester, but this one's a little pricier...)

Below are pictures from the day she first got her violin. There she is learning how to hold her instrument and bow -- so many things to concentrate on! I am just amazed at how quickly these young people are learning: it is such a JOY to watch them master new skills!

BRAVO, girl, you've come a long way!