Going Film and Kevin's Hair

I've left my camera to be fixed so for the next few weeks I'm going to use my Pentax to take pictures. We'll just have to see if I still remember anything about shutter speed and focusing. I'll try to get pictures up every few days, or at least some older ones for fun.

I gave Kevin a buzz cut the other day and I am finally getting used to it. When I first met him he had pretty long hair and a goatee. Slowly the hair has gotten shorter and the beard fuller. I'm learning to like it.

Kevin a few years back.


Before.


After.

What Welcomes Me to the Day

These are the sights of my day.

Making

What is that?!? Well until late last night that was our pin cushion, a duct taped pile of styrofoam. It was an ugly thing Kevin put together five or six years ago that we used. Then last night as I was cutting squares for Alder's quilt I was inspired to put some together and make this alternative. [Aunt Amanda, if you are reading don't look any further]

Much nicer I think.

But the pin cushion was just the end of the evening. What I spent most of my time last night making (building as Kevin calls it) was this bag for Alder's Aunt Amanda's birthday.

It's just pieces of a failed skirt sewed up with handles and I appliquéd the two leaves, which took longer than the rest of the project. [sorry for the crappy pictures]

I have been loving my few hours in my study/studio every night. I have the space and time to work on what ever I want with a dose of public radio in the background. I haven't had my own space for almost six years. That's one of the best part of this place is that we each have our own room rather than trying to work on top of each other.

Alder Update

That was a year ago on a trail near Mt Evans. Today the two of them went off on another hiking trip so I could get some work done [hmm, then why am I blogging?] Of course now Alder hikes a good portion of the time. He's growing and changing so much now. Last night we were having some quiet playing time in his room, I was knitting while he played and I looked up to see that he was making a tower of blocks. Then this morning I offered him another cereal biscuit and he clearly said 'yes'. Of course when I asked him again he went back to his 'gu-a' that means yes or over there.

Since we returned from Hermit's Island he has started to spend bits of time in serious play by himself. Where he will be quietly absorbed in something for up to fifteen minutes without even checking where we are. I wonder if it has helped to get rid of over half the stuff that was in his room giving him more of a peaceful place to play.

He really doesn't need a lot of toys for playing with. We discovered this on our trip, we had only brought a few sand toys and a stuffed elephant and he played with it maybe a total of five minutes. He is much more interested in his environment and the real things of life than toys.



On other side of the Alder updates is his new need for movement when we are out. We met my parents at a the Williams College of Art this past weekend and Alder only made it for about ten minutes before he and I were doing laps on the stairs. I used to be able to have long walks in galleries with him on my chest but those times are over for now, he does better outside. I'll have to save museums for my rare solo days and focus on being outside with him.

I really need to go write that article now.

Camera Dilema What Do You Think?

My camera is broken. It still takes pictures but a day in a bag with a leaky bottle of apple juice has taken it's toll and the lens no longer closes when it is off. So I need to get it fixed, except I can't figure out when I'm willing to part with it there are some many things going on this fall that I want to capture not to mention promises of new england autumn for the in-laws. Of course what I would really prefer is a fairy godmother to swoop down and say "Stacey," with that quivery voice that they all have. "Stacey here is a Nikon D40 or a Rebel XTi for you or somesuch camera"

Unfortunately I do not think I am the candidate for a fairy godmother. Instead I guess I need to spend a week or two with my old pentax, or even kidnap my dad's old conteflex to play with. I do like film camera, I've just gotten so used to being able to take tens of pictures a day. I can't afford to develop hundreds of pictures right now, although it might be worth it for just a few weeks. Any ideas?

Simplifying in Action

It seems inevitable that every time we move we end up taking things to the thrift store on both ends of the journey. Our most recent trip included a very large box of toys and board book and a very large box of clothing. Clothing I have absolutely no problem getting rid of. I get most of it at the thrift store to begin with so if it isn't really love I am not loosing sleep over the money issue.

Toys have presented a different problem, I was having a hard time getting rid of presents people had given Alder. Sure if they were broken or missing parts they quickly made it out, but each gift was chosen for him. The thing is we were starting to have lots of toys. Then I went and visited a family with four children last week and their communal toy bin had only a little more than Alders. This got me thinking, first of all he hardly uses most of the toys, some because he isn't old enough for them others because he has too many variations on a theme, others because they just are not things he likes. So we pared down the toys, keeping the loved ones, the ones that he'll grow into and the ones that will grow with him. Now rather than five small buckets of toys there are three. One for soft blocks, one for random toys, and one for wooden toys. As for the book shelf I was liberal with my editing, I got rid of anything I couldn't stand to read. Stuffed animals were the hardest, I grew up with an entire zoo of animals on the shelves, but really at 1 he shouldn't already have a zoo. So we kept the important ones (no aunt Amanda the monkey has not been sent packing) and the simple ones and the ones we just plain liked.

I know in the future when Alder starts to have his own opinions this process will be one of negotiation but for now I'll make my own judgments.

This trend towards simplicity has been a long time in coming. Before Kevin started grad school we had a fairly simply led life. But with lack of time and other constraints we fell into the lazy habits: eating out often, getting things instead of doing things, etc. Now with creating our lives anew with a business and a family it is the right time for us to create a foundation of simplicity in our lives that can become the norm again. Not only because it makes a dollar go further but also because it becomes a life lived more fully and with more balance.

Simplicity for us isn't only about saving money, it's about the freedom not spending a lot of money creates more importantly it is about focusing on doing and experiencing more than having. Making time to create things whether it's bread or a new print is more important than a iPod (which we still do not own) or a jaunt to the mall. While we are living in a rental a large garden is out of the question, but plants in pots and CSA's are not, neither are farm stands. All of these are just little pieces of the picture. The point of living simply is magnified by having Alder around and the values we want him to see us living by. But even deeper and more selfishly the simple life is the more balanced and freer I feel and that is worth a trillion times any money I save.

So as we learn to deprocess ourselves back to a live of action and creation rather than consumption you may hear me struggling here occasionally, it isn't me whining merely working things through.

Hermit's Island

What a trip! I'm not even sure how to describe it. We arrived a day late due to rain and after five hours of driving. [Note: Hermit's Island in tent and truck camping only no trailers or RVs] We landed in a beautiful camp site with an old old birch tree and only one other couple on the whole loop of sites. The site itself was so nice that we spent hours there. Of course there was one whole day when Alder and I just spent on a beach that we had to ourselves. He got to be the little naked-man he is and didn't wear clothes until the ride back. According to Kevin there were other people on the beach when he joined us but I never saw any.

The third night we walked down to the camp store and bought two pounds of fresh clams. After sitting them to purge in fresh water for an hour we steamed them. They were delicate, everything but the strip melted in your mouth a salty/sweet mix of sun and ocean. Their flavor was delicate and simple a truly one of the greatest mouth sensations I have had.

Saturday morning we woke up early to rain, a good ending to a stay on a mythical island. Quickly packing we drove a misty route 1 to Portland for breakfast. To cheer me as we drove out of the city this crow appeared.