An Evening with Anne Lamott

I was fortunate enough to be able to hear Anne Lamott speak tonight as part of the Annual Writer's Workshop held in Homer every June. The guest writer usually has a public engagement that is open to the community, even if you are not enrolled in the workshop. Last year the guest speaker was Amy Tan.

My friend Alana was there with her entire book club. She invited me to their potluck dinner before the speaking engagement. I declined knowing that Matt would be on call for the hospital and it's too soon to leave Maya with a babysitter. I try to give the grandmothers Saturday night off.

But after spending the whole day home alone with 4 children (Riley had a friend over), I was feeling a little confined. My house is cluttered and messy. That means my psyche feels cluttered and messy. It's hard to do any deep cleaning or serious organizing when you have a brand new 2 year old in the house. Last August we had our house painted and put in cement walkways in place of the rotting wood that was there before. That means that in addition to a lovely house and gorgeous cement walkways, we now have 10 to 20 feet of mud around our house where the construction team dug up our yard to do their work. Many of my perrenial beds were disrupted. The project was completed just in time for the bad weather to set in.

Everywhere I look I see projects that need my attention. But so do our two boys and our new toddler. Unlike some people who can prioritize and get things done, I tend to get overwhelmed. I kept thinking about Anne Lamott and her book "Operating Instructions", about her first year as a single parent, recently clean and sober, trying to cope with a fussy baby. I decided during dinner that I NEEDED to go hear Anne Lamott.

Matt programmed my cell phone to vibrate instead of ring in case he got called away to the hospital and I needed to come home. Luckily, there were no emergencies. Anne Lamott was just as wonderful as I imagined she would be. I felt like I spent the evening with a really good friend, attended a political rally for bleeding heart liberals and went to church all at the same time.

Why We live in Alaska

A few years ago while visiting my friends back in California, I was frequently asked: Are you happy? What do you like about living in Alaska? It was one of those questions I had trouble coming up with the answer for on the spot. I vowed when I got home to make a list as things came up. As soon as I got home my mom called and said: "They are going to release three baby
seals that were rehabilitated back to the wild at Bishop's Beach tonight, want to come and watch?" That became one of the things I made a mental note to put on my list. So besides natural beauty, clean air, relative lack of traffic, here is the number 1 reason why we live in Alaska.

Reason #1. This is the view from our deck at 9pm on a sunny day, er...night.

(Yes, this is the same day it was hailing this afternoon.) Hopefully a mama moose will wander into our yard with her newborn twins soon so I can post that as reason #2. Or perhaps a couple of sandhill cranes will land on our lawn for reason #3. I'd rather a grizzly bear didn't take down a moose in my driveway for reason #4. That actually happened to someone we know that summer. You can probably still see the video on YouTube.

Okay, here is the absolutely cutest thing about Maya so far: When she dances to music, she wiggles her fingers and clicks her tongue so it sounds like she can snap her fingers! Watch the video.

Saving Starfish from Sunburn

This is my choke cherry tree on the 6th of June. Just barely past the budding stage.

Today is my mom's birthday. For her first present, I "let" her babysit Maya while I got a haircut. Then the we took her to Land's End for lunch. It was a glorious day at the end of the spit. For my far off readers, a spit is a long, fingerlike projection of land into the water, like a very skinny peninsula. It was sunny and warm out so the boys went outside to play near the water's edge while I paid the bill. By the time I got out there, they had each caught a flounder! A very nice man from Fairbanks thought he should let my boys fish with him so guess who's having flounder for dinner. (Probably not Dave Johnson from Fairbanks!) I did not have my camara with me (after all, I was only going to town to get a haircut). Luckily, Dave thought of everything, including taking pictures of the boys and grandma with their prize flounders. I will post them as soon as he emails them to me. We were talking about the wonders of modern technology and when I told Dave about our recent trip to Vietnam, he told me he had a grown child adopted from South Korea! It's amazing what you learn when you talk to "strangers" on the beach. It's as if we are all somehow connected...

When I walked up the beach to find a plastic bag for the fish, I noticed a pink starfish stranded on the rocks during lowtide. I brought it down to the water so it wouldn't get dried out. On the way back I noticed about a dozen more. I asked a local teacher who was fishing with his sons if the starfish would be okay until the tide came up. He assured me they would be fine. I couldn't help piling them up, 5 in each hand, and bringing them back to the water's edge. I wondered if I wasn't being like one of those ignorant do-gooders. I'm not sure what Amy Tan's book "Saving Fish from Drowning" is about, but it gave me a catchy title for today's blog.

As we headed off the spit toward town, I could see dark clouds over most of the bluff. I told my mom: "I don't want to go back to rain and clouds, I want to follow the sun!" We stopped at Wagon Wheel (plants and pet store) to buy crickets for our pet frog, toad and lizard. There were cute little baby walking sticks there and the boys begged me to buy some. I consented to two as long as they can co-exist with the hermit crab who buried himself and never comes out. I am maxed out on pets in aquariums. We have a third tank for the fish and snail. Maya jabbered away in the backseat between the boys, one holding the crickets, the other holding the walking sticks. I could only imagine her thoughts: in Vietnam people eat creepy crawly creatures, but in America they actually buy them and keep them for pets! As I headed up West Hill the rain was now coming down in torrential fashion, almost worthy of monsoon status. By the time I got to my house, it was turning into hail. Here is the photo to prove it.

My mom will go out with Jim tonight for grown up fun: art museum, dinner, theatre. On Sunday we will throw a big party for her, complete with barbecue and hot tubbing!

Here are the fun videos I promised you:

Real Life

My best friend Alana made me update my blog today so I don't start losing my loyal following.
It's hard to be a professional blogger when you have so many competing responsibilities, like cooking, cleaning, raising children. And I haven't even gone back to work yet! Matt went back on Monday so I shouldn't rub it in. I think he is over the worst part of the shock of re-entry. But enough about us...you just want to know what's going on with Maya!


Normally, I don't approve of children in leopard print clothing, but this was a hand-me-down swimsuit and I couldn't find her blue one (because I just got around to unpacking our Vietnam suitcase last night.) I am requesting an age appropriate one piece swimsuit for my first baby shower so all you feminazis can relax (is it bad to say that?) You have to admit she is adorable. She is pointing to the hot tub.

We found one thing she is not afraid of. She LOVES water. She took to the hot tub like a mermaid. She even puts her head under! Matt and I play "pass the baby" which I learned in mom and tot swim, only I don't let go until the baby is all the way to the other person. When Chris plays, it's more like DUNK the baby, and she just comes up laughing. I am blessed that all my children are mer-people.

Maya is comfortable with the kitty now. She even pets the dog, but still wants to be picked up if he comes near her. When she wakes up in the morning and from naps, she slides off the mattress and walks out into the living room smiling instead of sitting up in bed crying. I don't remember if I told you she has two verbal words now: uh-oh and up. I am still feeding her chao two to three times per day while introducing new foods. First I feed her her chao, then I give her a plate of whatever we are eating and let her play with it while we eat. She can feed herself with a fork and spoon!

Today we hiked down our favorite trail, the Dimond Creek Trail, to the beach for tidepooling during a minus 6 tide. Then we made a fire (No easy feat since it's been raining and all the grass and sticks were wet.) Alana brought hot dogs to roast. I brought watermelon and mom brought chips and marshmallows.

Tide pooling with Grandma and the Greear Family.

Marina shows off a hermit crab.

Riley looks for octopus (or is it octopi?)

Chris showing his standard tough guy pose.

This sea star was about a foot in diameter.

Falcom looking very Polynesian.

The prize of the day: a red and blue sun star, about 12 inches in diameter.

My camara died before I could get Maya out of the Ergo. See the Greear Family Blog for great pictures of Maya on the beach. It really does take a village to raise a child.

I have a couple of videos to upload after Riley's baseball game!

Getting Settled

Riley shows Maya how to ride.

She's giving it her best shot.

Chris gives Maya a push on the tricycle.

Aunt Kathleen helps Maya with her mango smoothie before heading back to Fairbanks.

Maya has met so many new people in the last few days. Our friends Rocky and Araceli came down from Anchorage. Then we went to a party Friday night (Our friend Vince's roast).

Saturday morning our friend Ly came over with some genuine chao ga (rice porridge with chicken) and Maya gobbled it up. I asked Ly to speak Vietnamese with Maya to see how much she understood. Maya sat down when Ly told her to sit down so she could help her put her shoes on and stood up when Ly asked her to stand up.

Maya and Ly (note the empty bowl of chao).

Saturday our friends Rocky and Araceli came over for dinner. Maya actually sat at the dining room table for the first time and ate dinner with us! Araceli and Rocky are Spanish speaking so Maya is getting quite a range of exposure to languages.

She is also trying new foods. She likes salmon and halibut. Tonight Grandma came over for dinner and brought pound cake with strawberries and whipped cream for dessert. Maya ate a little bit of spaghetti and A LOT of strawberry shortcake with whipped cream!

Pet update: She has warmed up to petting our cat and dog on several occasions but still freaks out everytime they come near her if she is not being held by one of us.

The Long Way Home

We arrived back in Alaska without a hitch. Maya slept on the plane from Seattle to Anchorage. Uncle Michael met us at the airport and brought us back to his house. Maya found this balloon in their house and charmed them into letting her take it with them. Besides being bigger than she is, it plays the chicken dance song when you hit it in the right spot.

Maya with Uncle Michael and cousin Michael.

Here's Maya with Aunt Karyn. She was very comfortable in their house since their two German Shephards were safely stowed in the backyard where she could see them through the glass door but they couldn't get in. Then we started on the 4 hour drive home. The giant balloon kept her entertained for the first two hours. But then the battery started to die so it sounded like we were playing a record backwards. We decided we better stop in Soldotna and pick up a couple more musical toys.

With her new toys and sunglasses, she was ready for the last hour and 15 minutes. She only fussed and tried to get out of the car seat a couple of times and yep, you guessed it: she fell asleep during the last 15 minutes. Of course by then it was 10:30pm! But we had a houseful of family members anxious to meet the new addition to the family. (For those of you who are closer to the equator that the arctic circle: the sun is still up at 10:30 at night this time of year!)

The boys donned on their new Team Vietnam soccer jerseys immediately, slept in them over their pajamas and wore them all day today. That's Chris on the left and Riley on the right.

Grandma was so happy to meet her new granddaughter.

So was Nanna and cousin Megan from Fairbanks.

We finally got Maya to bed around 11:30 and the boys to bed around midnight. They woke us up at 9:20am, anxious to play with Maya. We put her in the bath, Chris washed her hair. Riley helped her get dressed and brushed her hair. After breakfast they showed her one of their favorite nooks to hide in: under the counter with the recycle bins.

It didn't take Maya long to figure out what those hockey sticks were for!

After breakfast she met our best friends: The Greear family. They brought over their bunnies for her to see hoping that a few docile, soft, furry friends would be less scary. She was fine as long as they stayed in the box in the entryway! She is slowly getting used to our dog and cat as long as they keep their distance.

We kicked everyone out after lunch and Maya napped from 1:30 to 3:45. While she napped I made rice porridge with shrimp. I found a recipe in my cookbook: Hot Sour Salty Sweet; a culinary journey through southeast asia, by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. It is a beautiful photo atlas of these two photographers who basically eat their way down the Mekong River, encompassing China, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. They take the reader along with colorful photos and stories about the people, the places and the food.

Then she went to a double header. Chris had a Tball game at 4pm and Riley's baseball game was at 5:30. She walked all over the playground and played in the park. She ate oven fried chicken at the game. When we got home she ate a big bowl of chao tom, and a few sips of strawberry milkshake. Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Steve were here. They are down from Fairbanks to catch some salmon. After getting skunked all week long they finally got a couple of halibut today.
We are happy to be home finally. Chris gained two pounds and Riley lost two teeth while we were away! Right now they are camped out in the yard in a tent and it feels too far away!

U.W and the Zoo

Now that's a waiting room. The morning started at U.W. where we met with a very nice Dr. Kertesz. Then Maya got 4 immunizations, 1 PPD, and two blood draws (all counted, that's 7 needle sticks.) It's a wonder she's still speaking to us!

Then we headed to the zoo for some fun.

The day ended at McCormick and Schmidt's for an awesome Seattle dinner.

Now we're off the the airport, again. Next post from Homer, Alaska!