Monthly Archives: August 2010

A distant acquaintance of mine passed away yesterday.  Dr. Frank Ryan.  I always knew him as Dr. Frank. He had an amazing ranch up in Malibu and would throw the most amazing parties – I mean, imagine 20 – 30 tents pitched for invited guests to spend the night in tents that had sleeping bags, flashlights, food, drinks, party favors…….any thing you could imagine.  Dr. Frank sat with me the night I met him and talked about trail riding, hosting, cooking, religion, and life……….and how to turn a piece of land into a place that welcomes anyone and everyone.  I’ve often thought of Dr. FR when I have planned parties.  One day, just in his honor, I’m going to host a party with tents pitched everywhere; bbq pits all over; and fully stocked bars overlooking amazing vista points — all in his honor.  And just to confirm the news reports – I had a very deep conversation with him about his abstaining from alcohol and drugs – and he helped me understand my husband’s decisions.  For those of you he knew him better than I did, I can’t imagine the impact this has on you; I’m lucky to have had the moments that I had with him.  His phone number has joined a few others as the “inspirational crew” who can’t be reached by phone.  Thank you, Dr. Frank, for being cool as all sh** and still living your life by your convictions.  As Alec said, “[He was] such a good guy.”

I have tons of photos from Dr. Frank’s pony ranch, but I still have no idea how to retrieve them from my backup files that my husband so cleverly set up………….

Moving on.

Ellie and I cooked, cleaned, shopped and laughed together today.  I love how this little person has become my companion: conversing, arguing, challenging, and teaching me.  If I start writing more, I might border on obsession and boring you guys, so I’ll spare you the gushing.  Suffice it to say, my daughter kicks ass, and I adore her!!!!!!

breakfast.........

We woke up late, but made zucchini bread/muffins, sweet pickle relish, chicken tagine…………

ok, I'm cool with putting whatever is in this bowl in that cloth bag....even though I think you're nuts.

Ok, I'm doing it.....................

That is just simply disgusting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MOMMY!!!!!! NO LIKE IT!!!!!!

Since we got cucumber on the previous dress, we decided to wear ONLY an apron for the zucchini bread

She actually HELPS.....

OH, and we managed to fit in an hour or two in the garden pulling weeds, zucchini and carrots, followed by a quick introduction to Shrek (the most important part of the movie being in the first 30 seconds……….Shrek jumps into a pool of water…that’s all that the movie is about for my little 2 year old.  “Shrek. Jump. Agua……….MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHREK! JUMP! AGUA!” is about all I have heard since 6 pm tonight).

I LOVE zucchini bread.............though I did burn the first batch

The Moroccan Chicken I made in the tagine

Jake's birthday gift that I decided to use. Le Creuset's Tagine

Homemade Pickle Relish. Hmmm...I hate relish, so I can't tell if it's good or bad. It tastes like relish - so I think I might have been successful.

Sigh. This whole decision I’ve made to maintain discipline might be working to snap me out of my mood…….oh, and the trip I just booked to Nashville for a random weekend with Gina and Renee is going to be AMAZING! AND since Gina is working for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, it might even be philanthropic!  Things could be worse (that’s a nod to you, Philippe!).

RANDOMS

It’s amazing how lack of sleep, chasing a two year old around, and a broken air conditioner on a ridiculously hot day wiped me out.  I’m grateful that I can type with my eyes closed, because that’s exactly what I’m doing.  Hmmmmm…………….I wonder what would happen if I were to actually fall asleep…I wouldn’t be surprised if my fingers kept on going, and I suddenly was typing my dreams.  Wait. That could be incredibly embarrassing…anyway, I’m tired.

Despite what my exhaustion might seem to say, the last few days have actually been pretty laid back.  Jeffrey was home all last week, which was fantastic.  We stayed busy doing things as a family – a real treat.  With the hot weather here and the aforementioned broken A/C, the pool has proven to be a life-saver (though as of today, the temperature is at 90° F!!!!).  Ellie was thrilled to have Will over for a swim on Sunday, and was so tired from no nap and hours of swimming.

Ellie and I have been trying to coax the garden into health and growth, but it just doesn’t seem to be working.  I have found some consolation in the fact that even many seasoned farmers have had difficulty with their crops.  I swear all that darn work that I put in to this year’s garden, all my excitement, all my anticipation feels like it was all for naught.  I think that’s a huge part of my lack of motivation to write.

There ARE lots of plants that are starting to finally grow!  For the last couple weeks, Ellie Graye has been able to go pick herself carrots to munch on (with the greens still attached), and now she’s loving picking herself a big ol’ cucumber and chomping on its fresh crispness.

Today we picked our first real harvest of zucchini, cucumbers and tomatillos, so the next few days will be focused on canning and preserving.  Zucchini bread, stuffed pattypans, green salsas, pickles and relish will hopefully be filling the basement and freezers before the end of the week!

I am hoping that the air conditioner will get fixed sooner rather than later, because canning is a very, very, very heat intensive process, and the thought of raising the temperature in the house any higher than it already is is ALMOST enough to make me skip the canning for this year…or figure out a way to switch to the graveyard shift and do it at night.  Hmmm…maybe I’m on to something there – I’m sure Ellie would be FINE playing alone all day while I sleep. Right?  Ha.

Tomorrow I’ll also need to go pick blackberries from around the property.  Unfortunately, the blackberry hedge that we have historically picked from is on our fence line, and our dear neighbors thought they’d do us a favor and spray it with crossbow. Yeah. No blackberries from THOSE bushes will be coming anywhere NEAR my kitchen!!!!!  I’ll just have to go scrounge around and see what I can come up with.

On another note, Ellie and I have been having a blast together – her sense of humor is blossoming and she makes so many amazing connections.  The other day as we walked through the prenatal development exhibit at OMSI (Oregon Meuseum of Science and Industry), she stared at the representation of a baby in the womb.  She turned to me and said, “Mommy! Baby Ryder and Lenore!”  It just blew me away that she made the connection between Lenore’s amazingly beautiful belly and what she was staring at in a museum exhibit.  Aaah, the wonder of toddlerhood!

Ok, now it’s really late. Off to bed. Nighty night.

RANDOM SHOTS OF EG

EG and Jax enjoying Mary Poppins