FIMBY

Wrote this post, journal style, 3 days ago on our first day of vacation. Today we have wi-fi access at our campground, in the Maine woods no less. Don't despair, subsequent days improved...

Miserable, am I allowed to feel this way when camping? What about selfish? Miserable and selfish, and this is supposed to be my vacation. Think I'll eat another marshmallow...

I'm an expectation person. Day to day life often doesn't disappoint me but an expectation unfulfilled can frustrate and in this case deeply disappoint.

Up until 3 months ago I hadn't expected to upgrade my camera for another year or so. And even then I wasn't expecting much. Let's see we're a family of five with one modest income (I haven't earned a cent
for 9 years), kids who eat like caterpillars, car repair bills, immigration lawyer fees and a house that's freezing cold 6 months of the year. Oh, and all our family lives in another country. You don't want to know how much international plane tickets cost these days.

Then the government announced it's economic stimulus package. We did the math, 2000 bucks. Wowsers! Maybe we could get those replacement windows afteral so I wouldn't freeze through yet another Maine winter. But then my thoughtful husband suggested we get a new camera, and a nice one, sooner than later. My artist self easily convinced my cold winter self to wear more layers.

Prior to this I had no expectation for photographic greatness anytime soon. And it's that expectation and the subsequent months of camera researching that made today's discovery so heartbreaking. Because Damien has a work visa and I have a dependant visa and therefore no social security number (I will when we're permanent residents) we don't qualify for the stimulus check. Not even Damien and the kids qualify since we file taxes jointly. Of course Damien is a tax paying resident just like any other. Go figure.

All those months of planning, pining and drooling over a beautiful camera that would soon be mine. And dreaming about all the images I could capture and share - gone.

And when do I find this dream shattering news out? 30 minutes before we leave the house for our much anticipated week long summer camping trip. When I decided to investigate why our check still hadn't arrived after yet another week of waiting. We'd expected it would be late because we filed taxes late, but we didn't expect it would be never. Better late than never, ain't that the truth.

Now to add injury to insult I'm beating myself up for being upset. "Yessh, you're so selfish girl. Lots of people in this country, especially this state, can't afford their winter heating bills and you're boohooing about a fancy pants camera. And on top of that this is your vacation, you "should " be enjoying yourself and being a peppy mother, your kids depend on you." Yada, yada.....

Bitter diappointment with a generous serving of guilt. I can think of better ways to start a vacation.

Today I'm tired, very tired. But I'm also thankful for the sun finally shining on our little corner of the world. The first day nice enough this month, August 13th for pete's sake, to go to the beach.

So, I'm sitting at the beach with one eye on my fish and the other on this notebook*. In the warm sunshine, listening to the splashing and laughter I'm able to forget the mess I left behind at home.

We've just had an intense 2 nights and one day visit with three Appalachian Trail thru hikers. A visit that included a potluck supper last night opened up to coworkers, homeschoolers, friends and pretty much any ol' stranger that wanted to come.

This morning Damien drove our new friends back to the trail in the mountains about 1.5 hours from our home. I was left to face my own "mountain" of clean up. Three disheveled guest beds (I'd like to point out we don't actually have a guest room so these beds are located here, there and everywhere in the house), a front porch full of trail debris left behind by smelly backpacks and mounds of dishes and food littered floors from hosting 20 people, half of them rugrats 9 & under, for supper last night. Faced with this daunting reality I did the only sensible thing to do. Left it all and came to the beach.

I'm so thankful for the opportunity to have hosted and met the three hikers who left this morning, they had trail names (an AT thru hikers tradition) so this is what I'll use to describe them.

(Sm)ellie, the quiet, well prepared and easy going woman from Georgia. On her way to grad school (2nd time around) to further her studies in the interconnectedness of anthropology, bio-medicine and computer science(!). Philly, the storytelling cartoonist from Virginia and Kentucky. Also on his way back to school to pursue a playwright and acting career. And of course Vagabond, also known as Daren Wendell, the man walking around the world on the Earth Expedition to raise awareness and funds for the Blood:Water Mission in Africa. A guy who literally owns only the what he is carrying on his back (Myke you would of loved meeting this guy).

What an awesome experience and privilege to host these folks in our home. If you ever have a chance to put up AT thru hikers in your home - do it! I'd do it again in an instant once the fridge was re-stocked and the sheets washed. People who have been hiking 15-20 miles a day for months, sleeping in the rainy woods and eating ramen noodles and potato flakes for days are pleased as punch with whatever hospitality you have to offer. Just make sure to have lots of food on hand. Hot water and laundry soap doesn't hurt either.

Someday when our family is trekking through North American mountains, backpacking across Europe or doing mission work in Costa Rica, carrying our beds and shelter on our backs I hope we'll be able to crash on someone's floor and get a fresh meal. Afterall, as our guests told us "on the trail, hikers take care of hikers". We're all on a journey, a trek through life. Too bad more people don't live by the creed "travelers on this journey of life take care of fellow travelers". What a nicer world that would be.

Show hospitality, share your table and your garden veggies, make up a bed on your floor. Although you'll be providing rest to the weary you'll be the one enriched. Let's take care of fellow pilgrims on this journey of life.

*post written yesterday in my notebook while at the beach.

Ack! I haven't blogged for 3 days. I'm starting to twitch.

It's been a busy weekend. The sun shone (hallelujah!) and once the flood waters in the backyard receded I tried to rescue the beans and staked leggy perennials. We had a supper around the firepit with friends and watched an outdoor movie at a riverfront park in our community. Ah... summer.

But mainly we started to pack and plan for camping later this month. My contribution was to spend 5 hours yesterday, our anniversary, at the laundromat washing and drying our down sleeping bags. Which take like, forever to dry. But are oh so warm, fluffy and light so I guess are worth the extra time and expense of cleaning them.

At least I didn't just sit there mindlessly watching the tube. In between swiping my "laundromat debit card" a gazallion times (coin-less technology but alas no wi-fi) I finished putting together the kid's portfolios for their yearly homeschool review which takes place this week.

An evening out with friends at our favorite restaurant in the Old Port redeemed "the anniversary" aspect of the day. Wonderful Japanese food, with lots of laughs and these lovely gladiolus given as an anniversary gift.

As if that wasn't enough activity for the weekend we also prepared to host Daren Wendell of Earth Expedition, for a couple days this week.

My best friend Damien (my date yesterday night) has been following this guy's trek for months and invited him to stay at our house on his way through Maine. We weren't exactly sure when he'd be here, sometime in August. When you're walking around the world it's kind of hard to pinpoint these things exactly.

Well, we now know exactly when he will be here. In a couple hours. Damien's picking Daren up right now, along with 2 extras. Apparently, when you find friends on the trail you stick together.

I'm so excited. Finally we're having some strangers stay, something I've wanted for years. To host travelers and pilgrims, practicing real Christian hospitality.

We're also planning a potluck supper for tomorrow night. If you're reading this you're invited. Daren's not just hiking the world for fun. He's doing it to help raise awareness for Blood:Water Mission. And we're hosting a potluck, hopefully the RSVP list will outgrow our home, to help him spread the Blood:Water Mission message, "to build clean wells in Africa, to support medical facilities caring for the sick, to make a lasting impact in the fight against poverty, injustice and oppression in Africa".

So, we're all really jazzed around here. To have someone stay in our home who's hiked the Appalachian Trail (something my crazy family aspires to), who's walking around the world, and who's raising awareness for something we believe but haven't done much about. Lets face it, "life" easily gets in the way of all our convictions to fight poverty, injustice and oppression..

Woo-Wee. There is some serious fun happening in my back yard...

PS. If you want to come to the potluck you have to RSVP for directions and such. Contact me here.

Ugh... the first week of August, the pinnacle of summer, has been a wash out, literally. It's rained, rained and rained some more. Those beautiful beet juice pictures were taken on the one sunny day this week. Crops are rotting in the fields at the farm, my bean plants were floating this morning in my yard and my beautiful tomato plants that I've mulched, staked and lovingly pruned are all ravaged by blight - AH!! It's been a frustrating gardening week.

The artistic prompt today at Shutter Sisters is abundance. Specifically, "where is the too much, too little, never enough showing up in your camera lens". That's easy to answer today.

Too much green (or should I say purple) beans. I don't like canning but I had no choice when we got our 5 lb bag of beans yesterday from the farm. With last week's 5 lb bag I blanched and froze, gave away and of course ate. With yesterday's bag I made 7 jars of dilly beans this morning, and I still have beans left over!

Canning beans takes forever. All that rinsing, washing, boiling, and stuffing each individual bean by hand into the jars. So not my thing... but neither is wasting food I've paid for and I know on a snowy January day the kids and I will appreciate those dilly beans with our lunch.

We also have too much rain. Way to much rain. This morning we tramped through the swamp, also known as our back yard, rescuing drowning slugs and arthropods of various sorts. So I guess you could say we have too little sun.

Too much rain, too much beans (a blessing I suppose), too little sun and never enough fresh tomatoes. That about sums up the first week of August.

As you know I'm taking a break from writing long philosophical rants and soap-box posts. But I have so much to say about local and organic foods being for everyone, not only those who can afford to shop at Whole Foods (we certainly can't), that sticking to this writing break is killing me...

Oh well, the photos will have to speak for me. The kids and I attended the Local Foods Festival at our farmer's market this week, organized by our favorite community organization, Lots To Gardens,

That pretty much says it folks. Oh, and my kids learned their first parade slogan this week "We want local foods. When do we want it? NOW!" My children are community activists and I'm darn proud of it!

Picked pounds of blueberries (hadn't planned to but how could we resist all those berries) on a hike with friends up Bald Mountain this weekend. Read Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey tonight to the kids. I love Maine.

I steamed farm beets for supper last week (a vegetable I'm learning to love) and saved the "juice" left in the bottom of the pan. I stored the juice, about 2/3 cup, in a glass jar in the fridge and pulled it out yesterday for the kids to paint with.

The kids also mixed up a yellow paint with 1/2 cup hot water and 1 tbsp tumeric mixed together.

The resulting artwork is beautiful and my own art (photography) is inspired by my children's creativity. For more natural painting inspirations check out one of our favorites, Berry Smudges and Leaf Prints by Ellen B. Senisi.

Today I really enjoyed reading these posts. One by a personal friend on Fear and Possibility. And another on the Me Ra Koh photography blog on art as an act of faith. Funny, just noticed the common thread in these two very different blog posts - having faith.

kid's beet juice painting: with a little tumeric for contrast

I'm very pleased to share a web resource I recently stumbled on via a comment left on my blog.

Playful Learning is a website with blog posts that feature "simple, playful learning experiences that parents can easily share with their children". I personally like the simple part.

Discovering this website/blog comes at a perfect time. I find that the first months of late spring and early summer are intoxicating for my children and they want to be outside all day. It's bliss for me, I get so much indoor stuff done without distraction!

But mid-summer has hit and although the days are gorgeous the kids are less inclined to spend all day outdoors. That's ok, it's hotter and they need a break from the sun a bit (we don't like using sunscreen).

When they're indoors they craft and create. Now that we've found Playful Learning we'll have more inspiration for projects. But the really cool part is Playful Learning posts include aloud books and on-line resources that go along with the project.

Mariah, the educator and mother-mind behind Playful Learning, wants to "create a community of families who document and share their playful learning experiences so that we can learn from and collaborate with people around the world." So if you blog about cool activities with your kids pass them on to her. I shared the shadow puppets activity the kids created earlier this summer and she posted it on her site but added a materials and resources list complete with books and on-line videos. Wow, this woman's good!

If you have young children check it out. It's a great resource. If you forget where to to find it in the future (you should really add it to your RSS) I am featuring it in the sidebar of FIMBY Natural Family. It's the quintessential "how-to" for natural kiddo activities.

Celine recently sewed this adorable circus sea lion.

Here is the pattern. To print, click on the picture, then chose Original. Drag that to your desktop and print from there. I have a Mac and this works for me. If it doesn't work for you get a Mac (seriously they rock) or leave a comment and I'll try to get a pattern to you.

When Celine sewed it she added a magnet to the nose and in the stuffed ball (pattern not shown) to make it "stick". We recommend using felt for easy edge sewing for kid's projects.