Silver Linings

If every cloud has a silver lining, we have spent this month looking for silver, and finding it.
Grace moved to Cal Poly on September 12. We miss her.  Silver lining - she LOVES college.  On the first day of class, I received a text that was a photo of the table of contents of her psychology book with the message, "Can you believe I get to study this?"  Friday night she came home (she had a cold and wanted to take some NyQuil and go to sleep) and for almost an hour, told us all about the friends she is making, the classes she is enjoying, and how much she is loving college.
Cru at Cal Poly and Cuesta keeps us busy - up late (midnight entering names and numbers into a database, or talking to students after a weekly meeting) and up early (6:30 a.m. meeting with student leaders).  Silver lining - hundreds of freshmen have come to the weekly meetings, to the dorm Bible studies, and to an amazing Barn Dance that we put on.  So we are off to an amazing start!
The annual battle for walnuts with the squirrels has begun.  Yesterday I 'scared' one out of the tree and it dropped right in front of Max-the-Dog, who tried to pick it up in his mouth to toss it about (a favorite hobby of his) and got a bite on the lip for his trouble (the squirrel crossed the  fence to safety).  Silver lining - the walnut tree is loaded with walnuts, and Max was quite entertained for several minutes (and his lip is fine!).
As we approach October, there is a heat wave expected and it is supposed to hit 100 over the next couple of days (ugh).  Silver lining - finally, after a summer of nothing, the tomatoes are in!  So we now have a big jar of dried tomatoes, and several cups of tomato sauce ready for winter.  And more every day.  It's about time!
I had so much hope that the Pirates would finally have a winning season, but alas.  A very-late-season collapse has made that impossible (they were so close).  Silver lining - the A's (Jason's favorite team) are in front in the wild card race with just a few games left!  
And now, it's time to make lunch for some students (Grace's friends are coming over for burgers), then hunker down out of the heat and enjoy some football before another busy (but wonderful) week!

What We Did This Summer

This summer, for the second time in 23 years, Jamey and I were given a sabbatical.  For Jamey, this means a break from meetings, emails, leading, and having to keep aware of everything that's happening in our gigantic wonderful mess of a ministry.  For all of us, it meant one precious month of togetherness before Grace heads off for college and Jason starts to drive and we never see him again.  
When all was said and done, we divided the month into three totally different parts, so there really was something for everyone.  Here's how it turned out:

Week One - "Kids At Camp - Parents Staycation at Home".  Jason and Grace headed off to Hume Lake for the week and had a blast of course.  Jamey and I stayed at home and were amazed at how easy it was to decide where and what to eat.  The highlight was probably the 4th of July - we have friends who live on the beach (yes, the beach is their back yard) in Cayucos, and because it is always crowded there on the fourth (they do a very popular parade and fireworks - people come from Fresno for Pete's sake) they head for the mountains.  Soooooo, they graciously allowed us to bring ourselves, our picnic food, our truck, and our dog to their home and enjoy a wonderful cool holiday.  Best moment of the day:  Max-the-Dog does not at all like fireworks, so when they started, he got up and tried to walk into the house, forgetting that there was a sliding glass door in the way.

Weeks Two and Three - HAWAII.  One of the great by-products of job travel is air miles and hotel points, which we had been racking up for years.  This provided us with free airfare and ten amazing nights at the Marriott Waikiki on Oahu (they have big dispensers of pineapple-infused water in the lobby).  Generous friends of ours brought us three surfboards and, through a friend of theirs, a free car to use.  Our general schedule was: sleep in, surf/beach/sightsee/hike/shop, lunch, surf/beach/pool, eat a great dinner (Rainbow Drive-In, pho restaurant, Korean BBQ, poke, for example), play cribbage/hang out at hotel.  Unbelievable, and utterly relaxing.  Pretty much the vacation of a lifetime.  

Week Four - Jamey's Solo Bike Trip.  Jamey loves to mountain bike, so he had the opportunity to head up PCH for a 5-day solo trek from SLO to Carmel.  Along the way, he met quite a few people who were doing the same thing (although most go north-to-south, because of wind).  Some were from Europe or Canada, most were doing a longer trip (San Francisco to San Diego for example), and one couple was riding in honor of a family member.  Now, Jamey is fairly neat and well-kept, but we found it amusing that people did offer him food a couple of times (either they were a: being nice, or b: thought he was a hobo).  Also, he did have the opportunity to sleep like a hobo one night, as the bike camping spot at one state park in Big Sur is actually located under a bridge.  


All in all, it was a wonderful, amazing, refreshing summer.  We once again felt overly-blessed.  It felt surprisingly long and luxurious, which is good, because August is ending and the blur of fall is right around the corner!

Summer = Zucchini

This is a picture of what happens in your garden around here when you go away for 12 days (note the 12-inch ruler at left).  There were four of them, but we were able to slice and grill one of these babies and eat it the day after we returned from our vacation.  That of course left me with about 10 pounds of zucchini to use up (we planted one zucchini plant in the garden this year, mind you).  Fortunately I have joined the trendy web site Pinterest, which is actually really helpful when searching for new recipes.  So when I searched 'zucchini' and found a recipe for zucchini hummus, I was happy to give it a try.  It didn't involve any cooking whatsoever, was easy, used up an entire zuke, and I figured if it was a huge fail, it wouldn't be that big a deal since it only takes about ten minutes to make.  I am low-commitment and really lazy this summer.
But it wasn't a fail!  In fact, it was delicious!!  So delicious that I have now made it twice - once for the family and once for the neighbors at our local farmers' market, who raved about it and are putting the recipe in our neighborhood 'Garden Farms Gazette'.  We used it as a dip with carrots, cucumbers, peppers, and with crackers.  I realize that if you don't enjoy hummus, you might think it looks gross, and in that case, feel free not to try it.  But if you, like all of us around here, spend time during the summer trying to come up with creative uses for the ever-prolific zucchini, this might be for you!

Here's the recipe:
4 cups peeled and chopped raw zucchini
3/4 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp ground cumin
Combine all ingredients in blender and puree until thick and smooth.  Garnish with paprika and parsley.
(Recipe from "I Breathe....I'm Hungry")

"Kids-At-Camp-Week" 2012

I love my kids so much it's crazy, but they left for Hume Lake on Sunday morning, and holy cow  are Jamey and I having fun at home all by ourselves!  On Sunday, we had our friends Reid and Misty over for dinner (without their kids - they have 3 and 1 on the way; clearly they needed a break!) and Jamey smoked a tri-tip and we grilled a bunch of veggies and had a big salad and cake (food that grown-ups like to eat).  Yesterday I made some shrimp po' boy sandwiches and we took them down to the beach, along with the dog, and enjoyed dinner by the ocean (doesn't the photo look absolutely peaceful?  Well, truth be told, it was horribly windy, so we didn't stay all that long, but still....).  This afternoon we are heading to SLO for some thrift-store furniture shopping (we are looking for a coffee table) and then dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant, Upper Crust.  I think the best part is that we decide what we want to do and then we do it - it's just so easy!  No negotiating, no working out schedules or rides, we just go!  This gives me hope for the future, because Jamey and I have joked about having to move to separate houses when we retire, since he loves the warm-water surf of southern California and I love the foggy rugged coast up north (better for hunkering down inside and reading!).  But now I have confidence that we will indeed be good empty-nesters when the time comes (still years from now).  And of course I couldn't relax at all if I didn't know that my kids are having a fantastic time at camp.  Grace is a counselor for the week with the junior-high girls she's been leading all year in Sunday school, and I'm sure Jason and his friends are having fun although I really don't want to think about what exactly they might be doing at this moment (chances are it involves a game of some sort, or eating some kind of food, or a bodily function...). I think about them often but I hope they have such a blast that they don't really think about us at all.  Or all the fun we have planned for the rest of the week (Fourth of July in Cayucos, drive-in, bike rides, neighborhood bbq, and so on).  Who knew that not going anywhere could be so relaxing?!

Milestones

 I am not quite sure how it happened, but when Grace left for school yesterday, she looked like this girl to the left, proudly holding a Little Mermaid lunchbox and so excited about seeing her friends and teachers.  And then, in the blink of an eye, she turned into the most amazing person and graduated with honors as Senior Class President!  Jamey and I have been receiving all kinds of 'congratulations' from people who have been telling us what great parents we are, but the truth is, our daughter is just pretty much the best thing ever, and, being the first-born, of course we basically had no idea what the heck we were doing most of the time.  So when we get these compliments, the first thing that comes to my mind is, "Well, this is just proof that God is really gracious to me!"  Which is true, because not only did I get the most incredible daughter, but I have the most spectacular son as well (but this was not his graduation, so I will write no more about him today - he is at a friend's house playing soccer and riding a pig.  Yes, a real pig; no joke!).

Grace graduated with a GPA of 4.3-something, which means she is both smart and determined, which we know very well at our house- in fact, I told her years ago that I will bake her a cake to celebrate her first 'B'.  It hasn't happened yet.  The cake will have to wait until college, alas.  Miss Smartypants will have an extra-long summer (well-deserved) and then start at Cal Poly (a quarter school, so move-in day in the dorms is September 11) in the fall.  She will be majoring in psychology with an emphasis in child development and is interested in doing some kind of work with kids who are in crisis.  After watching her counsel and care for her friends over the years, I have no doubt she will do a fantastic job.  Of course, this could change, and that would be fine - she once wanted to be a nurse (until she realized she doesn't really like sick people) and then an interior designer (which is rather a hobby of hers anyway, and explains why her room is ever-changing).

A friend warned me that I would need to bring a box of kleenex to graduation, but I didn't cry (although I admit I did get teary when I thought about all of the kids out on the field and how darn proud I am of all of them - some of them went through an awful lot in high school!).  I think the emotion I've been feeling the most is excitement - I just feel like Grace is going to make the greatest grown-up!  And I can't wait to see what happens next.  I don't expect time to stop, but it would be nice if it could just slow down a little.

Behold the Sqirrelinator

ADVISORY: If you are one of those people who think that no creature should ever be killed, including flies, mosquitos, fleas, gophers, and other vile critters mentioned in stories of plagues and pestilence, please stop reading this now.  And remember, "Judge not, lest ye be judged".  That is all.

We have ground squirrels in our chicken coop.  This is bad, horribly bad.  It's an amazing set-up if you're a ground squirrel: being inside the coop keeps you and your family (of millions, it would seem) safe from the dog and the cats, safe from the poison pellets I would otherwise cram down your hole but don't since I don't want to hurt my hens, and gives you unlimited access to fantastic table scraps, lay pellets, and two delicious fresh eggs every day. That's right, the little buggars have been stealing our eggs.  I put two plastic Easter eggs in the nesting boxes and they both disappeared, one at a time.  One later reappeared with a hole chewed in one end.  What a disappointment that must have been!


Tuesday was the last straw. I was out in the yard early planting the garden before it got too hot.  I have taken to checking for eggs about every 20-30 minutes from 9 a.m. on when I am at home, trying to gather them before 'the devil critter' can steal them.  On this day, I finished planting and gave a final check (no eggs yet, but a hen was just getting into her box), then put away the tools. In the 15 minutes it took me to put away the tools, those blasted squirrels took 2 eggs, ate the insides out, and left the broken shells by their hole for me to find.  I thought I could hear them snickering at me.  Maddening!  I went inside the house with tears in my eyes because of my frustration. 

About 30 minutes later, Jamey came through the back door saying the following words that brought joy and hope to my soul: "Hey, want to light a Roman candle and shove it into that hole and see if they come out so we can shoot 'em?"  That's why I love him.  Alas, the candle did nothing.  So, after a visit to Grace's place of employment, the Santa Margarita Feed Store, we invested in The Squirrelinator, a trap with two doors that comes in a box complete with a photo of a squirrel in the crosshairs and a redneck guy who has apparently is the world record holder in stuffing a trap with squirrels. We set it up in the coop, just under the nesting boxes.   I have personally heard from families who have caught up to four at once. We were just happy this morning when we heard Max-the-dog's "critter bark" and found our first squirrel in the trap.  First, I hope, of many.

Finishing

While spring is usually a time of beginnings, for our family this year it is a time when many things are ending.

Things at Cal Poly are heading to a wrap-up.  Once again we celebrate our graduating seniors and second-year interns who are moving on.  It's hard to imagine SLO without some of them!    

Freshman high school baseball ended with a close game, Jason beating out yet another throw to first, a tri tip barbecue and a banquet, and one last picture of mom and son in his uniform.  When I looked at this picture I noticed something odd - Jason is so much taller than me now.  At the start of soccer season, just 7 months ago, he was just shorter than me.  This explains why he has been so hungry!  And why he started the school year in size 8-and-a-half vans and is ending them in size tens.

Grace is experiencing a bigger ending - the end of high school.  Graduation is in a few short weeks.  I have never really worried about Grace doing anything well - she is weirdly good at just about everything she tries. Recently she learned to sew and made me 5 pillows that look like they came from a designer home store.  So it has been no surprise to me that about once a week we have gotten a nice letter from the high school inviting us to some kind of event to celebrate great students, meaning Grace.  This week we will be going to the 'Top 30' Reception.  Next week, scholarship night.  I will try not to gloat too much, but it is really difficult when you know that your child is the best of the bunch.  It's strange for Jamey and I to feel so conflicted - proud, joyful, and excited for Grace's accomplishments and future, and yet sad and a teeny bit scared that she will be heading off into the world (ok, I know that 'the world' is Cal Poly SLO, a mere 8 miles from our door, and a place we go just about every day, but still...it's symbolic).

 After all of the 'end-of-the-year' events are finished, I am really really looking forward to a little down time with these amazing kids, just enjoying their company.  And trying not to get too nostalgic and sentimental.