not a soccer mom

C's first soccer practice was last Monday. It was pouring. Half the kids didn't attend, and the coach thankfully sent them home early.

Lack of practice did not however prevent them from having a game on Saturday. It was at the "Soccerplex," which is a whole lotta fields alongside a highway, the noise of which adds to the chaos. Again, it was raining (though not as hard). Dan and I were surprised at the number of parents who enthusiastically delivered their children to the 9 a.m. game anyway- it was kind of a culture shock for us. We spent much of the morning entertained by the absurdity of the situation and wondering how many of the other parents felt the same way.

C played on half a field, with its lines painted across those of the full field, so it was confusing. That was perhaps the least of his team's problems however, since none of the kids had ever played together and C didn't appear to be the only one who only vaguely knew the rules. (Not our fault, by the way; Dan tried to go over them with him, but C rebelled halfway through.) A lot of the kids had been playing for years though (there were three-year-olds playing the next field over!) and some of them were surprisingly good, and even the clueless kids did better at maintaining their positions than I expected, especially given the well-meaning but disorganized coaching.

C surprised us by his ability to stand up for himself (requesting several times to play offense), management of his mistakes (he was able to shrug off being told to re-do a throw-in because both his feet hadn't been on the ground rather than getting upset/ embarrassed by it), and generally "normal" behavior. He didn't actually talk to any of the other kids, but he wasn't overtly antisocial either, which was good to see.

A was surprisingly patient for the first half of the game but then got understandably bored. She noticed the concession stand and tried to get us to utilize it rather slyly.

A: I'm hungry.
S: Here, Daddy packed potatoes for you!
A (whining): Daddy said he'd bring me a banana!
S: Really? Hmm- oh, here it is!
A (clearly disappointed that we hadn't screwed up): Actually I don't want a banana OR potatoes.
S: Well let me know if you decide you're hungry.
A: I want something different.
S: The game will be over in about 20 minutes.
A (giving up on subtlety): I think they sell food over there.
S: But we brought food with us, so we don't need to buy that.

I managed to distract her by running up and down hills for a while. But five minutes later, Dan appears and she again casually suggests a visit to the concession stand.

D: We didn't bring money for that.
A (bursting into tears): BUT YOU BROUGHT YOUR WALLET!!!!!

garden update, because I know you care

We had a week or so of summer, but now we're back to spring. The summer weather did make it easier to get the peas in our garden. This year we added a layer of horse manure in the fall and then put leaves on top; not the same depth of leaves as the previous year, but hopefully enough to keep most of the weeds down. (Though I have been shocked at the number that have already managed to work their way up through the 2-3" left of the leaves that were there all last season plus the 4 or so inches we put on top this year.) The only problem I had with the leaves last year was the slugs, and I have a few ideas for limiting their damage this year.

We plan on relying on a CSA for most of our produce this year since our gardening time is limited, so I didn't bother planting any greens. All we have in so far are sugar snap peas, which are coming up nicely. I'm putting in another row every week, which is supposed to extend our harvest; in the past I've found that the later plantings catch up to the first ones by the time the plants flower, but it's worth another try.

I harvested the few dried scarlet runner beans that managed to survive the deer last year. I'm not sure where to plant them since they obviously need to be inside the fence- I will sprout them first to make sure they're viable before devoting space to them.

Some of the strawberries' roots miraculously survived despite the damage inflicted by the deer last year. I'm not sure how best to maintain the plot (I'm not good at weeding, but don't want to use a heavy mulch because I don't want to drown out the strawberry plants) or prevent a recurrence of their annihilation. With Paco gone, we can only expect more trouble with wildlife.

We're clearing out our chest freezer to defrost it before we have greens to freeze, and discovered a forgotten bag of farmer's market broccoli that I used in dinner last night. Despite being thawed and refrozen when the freezer was accidentally unplugged, it was still amazing- much more tender and flavorful than commercially frozen broccoli. Maybe it's a different variety that's not chosen for its toughness? I wonder if it's too late to plant a spring crop.

more from the Fuehrer

I had the same reaction as this guy when C brought home his soccer "uniform" on Monday. Even more startling to me, however- the shirt is white. It is going to be covered in mud after the first game tomorrow, and I'm never going to get the stains out. Should I have a party for the whole team halfway through the season to convert from the white team into the tie-dyed team?

Given C's continuing independent study of WWII, I'm surprised he didn't point out the resemblance. Last night he asked me what started "the" war between China and Japan. I confessed to knowing nothing about it other than a vague sense of millenia-long cultural rivalries (which, of course, I could relate most closely to Nazism). He went on a bit about the U.S. not aiding Japan against China and Japan's motivations for bombing Pearl Harbor, which I also knew nothing about. I'll be needing to provide a lot more help with his research if he wants to trace back the antecedents to every war to the beginning of time. And I'll need to decide whether I should be actively engaging in my own study so I know what he's talking about.

gross but good

Fluffernutter bread.

Another reason to keep my posniesd username.

We don't actually live in Appalachia

Hudson-dregs swirl?

Name the new Stewart's flavors.

We'll miss you Paco

We lost our beloved Paco on Friday night. He died suddenly and unexpectedly; he was acting like his normal self for morning and afternoon walks, then after dinner started acting sick and weak. Within a couple hours he was bad enough that I drove him to an emergency vet clinic, but he died on the way...I had one hand on him and was telling him how much we loved him.

It turns out that he had advanced liver cancer, and died from fluid around his heart. If we had gotten him to a vet earlier, it would not have changed the outcome unfortunately, as they don't do liver transplants for dogs...I just wish we had known he was so sick--he never showed it until that night!

He blessed our home and was a loving, protecting member of our family for 10 years; our first "baby"... I still catch myself expecting to see him when I wake up in the morning, and when I come in the door from being out...Sometimes I hear something which sounds a little like him and I jump at the sound; it's funny how our senses and emotional mind play tricks on us, even while our rational mind knows the sad truth.

We are very relieved that he didn't suffer long, or at least as far as he let on, but are still in shock.

Tonight is the first thunderstorm of the year. At least he didn't have to be here for that...but selfishly how I wish he was, pacing and panting and following us like a shadow throughout the house.

We'll miss you Paco!

droogs

Despite the hideous color and antisocial message, I just had to buy this shirt.

darn librarians

I suppose I should be glad that the school librarians trouble to notice the books that interest C and direct him toward others they think he might like. But I kind of wish they weren't actively encouraging his current fascination with Hitler. His current pick is "World War II: Battles and Leaders." He asked me why Hitler commit suicide, what an atomic bomb does, and the definition of "execute." Maybe I should appreciate the fact that the discussion enabled a conversation that didn't involve him storming off in a huff, but....

When I casually asked why he liked WWII books so much lately, though, he said "because I want to think of ways to stop wars from happening again." Thinking that he'd come up with a rather sophisticated prevarication custom-designed to make me happy, I tried to elicit something more antisocial. "Sometimes, even though I don't like to think about people getting hurt, it's exciting for me to read about battles." He looked at me like I was insane, and said, "It's not for me." So just maybe we're raising a little pacifist after all.

We have some 18' chestnut beams

Matchup for reused building materials.

I participate in a strange shadow economy

We just traded a chicken pox exposure "opportunity" for a pint of homemade maple syrup.

wheat prices

When I picked up our last 50-pound bag of flour (organic whole wheat pastry from Champlain Valley Milling) the price had jumped so much that I embarrassed myself by suggesting that Lee had made an error in pricing. It was nearly double what I paid six months ago. Apparently it's not just the local stuff, though. Possible bright side- maybe it will convince more Northeaster farmers to grow wheat?

he's very proud of himself

C's high scores.

water is cheap

Seattle stops buying bottled water. I've always wondered why water coolers were such a mainstay of office employment; everyplace I've ever worked has provided them. Given that there is potable municipal water available from the tap, why is what little money that is set aside for employee perks is used to pay for water deliveries? I'd prefer doughnuts once a week myself, but to be inclusive of those people who actually care about their health, they could instead deliver fresh fruit.

(My favorite random perk was the monthly-ish catered lunch at PRA. I realize now that they could well afford that because they were underpaying all of us. But it both encouraged employee bonding and made us think well of management, all for around $20/ head. Good deal.)

more signs of spring

A couple of the bulbs I planted in 2002 are sending up shoots

I'm losing consistent reception for my preferred radio stations (based in Manchester and Amsterdam I believe; they only reliably make it to Delmar in the winter)

The maple trees along Delaware Avenue are budding

A wants to dawdle on walks, instead of hopping in the stroller for a quicker ride

Traffic at the fitness center around the corner has increased, presumably as people remember they're going to be wearing fewer clothes soon (usually, the New Year's resolution uptick lasts about a month; the warmer-weather jump lasts two or three)

The varieties of birds we're seeing (and especially hearing) are increasing- it's been several weeks since we saw our first robin, and last weekend we saw a V of geese

It's time to start planning the garden in earnest- somewhat trickier this year because we've joined a CSA, and we might want to focus on growing stuff we're less likely to get lots of through there. We do know that we can not have enough sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, or basil to satisfy everyone so I can start there.

A new dress

A's new dress for late winter/spring that her Oma made...angle of photo makes it look shorter than it really is, but I guess I should have added more than an inch to my measurement of one of her old dresses...she's growing fast!

benefit of insomnia

Changing the clocks makes no difference! I'm no more tired than usual!

But loving the later daylight-
and signs of spring-
like the neighbor's lilacs budding-
Paco spending hours in the yard-
our basement flooding-
I'm going to try planting some peas this week; they probably won't make it but it's worth a shot.

someone just sent me this link

to which I just have to say HA HA HA HA

People with normal babies just have No Idea.

When do newborns get easier

why don't gypsies buy kids anymore?

A week of school vacation followed by Dan going away for four days followed by me succumbing to a really nasty cold and pinkeye is now topped off by C getting the chicken pox. He'll be feeling miserable and wreaking havoc on our work schedules for yet another week, presumably to be followed by A breaking out in spots. I'd been looking forward to a return to normalcy, but alas....