I wasn’t going to post for a few days because I know a few friends and family have actually subscribed, which means they get spammed by me whenever I post, so I want to be sensitive to not throw too many posts up or they’ll block me! 🙂 But tonight was just off the charts…so I must capture it while it’s fresh in my mind and heart.

Our little Friday routine lately has been hit a favorite park and then walk into downtown Poulsbo for dinner. Tonight we went to JJs – the boys’ favorite place for clam chowder! So dinner was great, the boys were well behaved, we actually had somewhat of a conversation, Sam telling me things about school (such as, I think his teacher reads him Little House on the Prairie during lunch!). I was literally just yesterday thinking I’d let Sam watch that show because I remember loving it and I am a big fan of the one-room schoolhouse era. I actually belong to a one-room schoolhouse listserv and dialogue with a couple older country folk who remember what it was like back in the day. I have some long, detailed emails from them that I treasure. Recently I’ve gotten some interesting accounts of what they did for recess because Sam’s school is under construction (new building going up) and they don’t have a playground this year. So anyway…all that is to say I am hearing really really awesome things about school. I just want to fist-pump when I hear, for example, “Mom, my teacher LOVES to teach. She said so. She EVEN said ‘Science rocks!'” Back to JJs for dinner now…so Ben is eating his grilled cheese and the waiter asks how it is all going. Ben says “This tastes like BEAR!” I think that means GOOD so the waiter went off to compliment the kitchen staff and Ben gazed over at them with his mouth wide open in a happy smile, grilled cheese all visible inside the gaping maw. So, we’re wrapping up and I’m paying and a nice older man comes over and says “I just wanted you two boys to know how impressed I was with how you behaved during dinner. I’m in the restaurant business and I don’t think I’ve seen anyone better!” How cool! Wow! Another inner fist-pump and glow. THEN…

The waiter comes up and says “Ma’am, are you a Navy wife?” I say “Uh…yes?”  “Well, the man behind you wanted to know.” So I look around and another sweet older man is smiling and motioning that I need to rip up the check – he wants to buy us all dinner! I explained that we’re only sort-of Navy, Dave doesn’t deploy (he stays home and audits my doings which isn’t nearly as much fun!), but that we are so touched and thankful for his gesture – the highest compliment. So I go over to introduce myself and the sweet man is all choked up – even his wife is not sure if he’s swallowed the wrong way, or choked up, and then I nearly got all choked up, so I just said “God bless you” while giving him a few pats on his shoulder. I wanted to hug him, but preserving his dignity is what stopped me. So I finished up paying and then came back with the boys. He’d recovered enough by then to say he was a Korea Veteran (as was my Dad’s dad) and we chatted a little about the difficulties of life at sea, especially in the pre-nuke days. I gave them my email address and joked around with the sweet wife about how the menfolk can just totally mystify us sometimes (she was speechless watching this whole exchange). They literally stupefied me with their generosity. I was absolutely floored. So I told the boys they could find the biggest piece of chocolate in Marina Market that they could find. As big as Sam, if he could find it. (Sam had a smile ear to ear for that mental image!)

So in we go to see Andrea at Marina Market (where we stock up on reward jar treats for the week) and ask for a large hunk of chocolate. She came back with one 200 g bar, and one 250 g bar. So we are well outfitted! On our way (jogging, because Ben just takes off on a run and won’t stop – he jogs a mile without thinking about it) back to the truck I told the boys that they absolutely made my night, my month, likely my year. Sam asked if I would never forget tonight’s dinner, and you know what? I don’t think I will EVER forget it. Andrea at the market said it was really good the boys got to see me being praised, and them being recognized by complete strangers for their behavior. She’s right – it really did make an impression on them, too, that they were so noteworthy that others actually said something to them. I think they got it. We prayed for those sweet people tonight that many blessings would be heaped down upon them because they enriched us so much.

Just yesterday we were totally floored and surprised with another generous surprise from the team of real estate agents that represented us and the previous owners. They are all such good people and were there for us as we dealt with some really disgusting surprises upon moving in. We were grateful for them, and we enjoyed seeing them last night now that we are finally all able to laugh about the creepy crawl space!

It is really hard to get two out of the three men in my family to talk about their day at all. So I try new tactics…Today I asked Sam “What was something that made you think today in school?” So he thought about it for a minute then described how he thought about how to decorate his paper butterfly, making the two sides match. That gave a chance to talk about the word symmetry and how good that was to plan out his decoration just the way a real butterfly is “made.” While Sam was in school, Ben and I went on a bike ride on the SUB (sport utility bike) to the farm stands to get our produce and eggs. I picked up bread and corn from the first farm stand – happy to see corn husks sticking out of the cargo bags like little flags. On our way out of the farm we spied two horses working the land! How cool is that!? So we asked for some information about them. The lady’s name is Betsey and she runs Laughing Crow Farm. She has a blog if you want to Google her (Bainbridge Island) and she owns two draft horses. I reached out to her with an email and really hope to give Sam’s class a chance to come and learn about how she works the land – but knowing Sam’s school, they’ve already set that up years ago. I absolutely love draft horses – they are so kind and big, so reliable and sturdy. Then on to Rolling Bay Farm for eggs (photo above). She also sells soap, bacon, heritage turkeys for Thanksgiving. And works full time in Seattle! Wow. People are serious about their microfarms here, but it’s still hard to even get the farm to pay for itself, just like when we were kids living on a small farm. They just don’t, especially if land is costly like it is here. Anyway…the sun was out and we felt so lucky to have time to spend together, thanks to Dave working hard down in Bremerton. I get to chauffeur Ben around the island, soaking in experiences together. After Rolling Bay Farm we went down to Manitou Beach and parked on a bike path for blackberry snacks. Ben is quite the picker – he knows to check for musty-moldy-muckiness first. Or bird poop. Then he just plows them into his mouth like a bear. He has a big blackberry grin afterwards! Then up to Bay Hay and Feed for a check on the small chicks (the “peeps”) as they grow into little pullets.  Found out from Shelly, who has worked there for 20 years, that the mystery plant in our garden is Brussel sprouts! SO gratifying to figure out what in the world it is. Then coffee and a little muffin for late second breakfast/early lunch and meeting up with locals, gradually making friends. We’re planning an open house so we can thank those who have so warmly welcomed us here to the island. We absolutely love it. We are blessed. I look forward to reading a book called In Praise of Island Stewards to learn more about the farmers here on the island. And Sam continues to plan our chicken coop…he reads a book on chickens every night for bedtime. We are really going to do it…soon. As soon as Richard can come up and help us build it! 🙂

We’ve been exploring our island this weekend and finding little spots with sand. Inevitably we get to talking about Hawaii with strangers because we mention we’ve just moved here and how lovely it is, etc. and they always ask from where. So anyway, it’s been wonderful to meet new people, finding many who enjoy traveling to Hawaii themselves, and taking in all the sun we can before winter sets in. It was quite frankly warm today. There are no real breezes like we’re used to, so when it’s hot, it is hot indeed. But the water is cold! I broke some more trails today and worked up a good sweat swinging my machete, so we decided to get milkshakes and head to the beach. The boys had a fantastic time, and I really enjoyed seeing them relax by the water. If you click the picture above you’ll get to see where we’ve been this weekend and perhaps enjoy a laugh or two about their acclimation to the colder water. I caught some funny faces 🙂

And I’ve been thinking about my own acclimating, making new friends, etc. We moved a lot before kids and I made friends easily because I had time to spend with them after work, etc. Then this last stint in Hawaii was quite a long one, and with kids around my time was limited to those with whom I could hike or beach-it. I was blessed to be surrounded by both friends of many years (my “A team”) as well as treasured new friends. I had more friends in my quiver than I could really invest the time I wanted in – that is a good blessing, to always want more time with friends. But it just wasn’t the season in life to indulge that much in me, which is also totally fine. So now we’re here, and I’m missing my dear friends but enjoying seeing who is brought into my path. And last night I was reminded just how lucky I am that I’m not the One fully in charge of that mission. The right people are invariably chosen for me, and it is so gratifying to be warmly welcomed by such truly neat people.

We were invited to a bbq with a group of new friends whom I met through Sam’s school. When I meet new people, I tend to try to act very normal, and I have been inadvertently sanitizing my memory a bit of all the things that truly make me, “ME.” I am not sure that makes sense. But when you’re around people who have known you a long time, it is easy to be very comfortable – to be the wide range of things and interests that truly represent you. When you’re meeting new people, you end up hiding most of the facets because there’s just not enough time to give them a full briefing on all your pertinent characteristics. They don’t have any history or context.  So they don’t know that I consider a headlamp to be an accessory item, and enjoy parties to which I can carry a flask in my pocket. Or that I treasure the machete given to me by a Samoan chief. Or that I’m into cultivating wild yeast starter and actually name my starter (and further to that point, I am so thankful for a new friend on O’ahu who I met just weeks before moving and who adopted my “Henri” – I just heard from her that he is growing nicely and proudly making sourdough breads, biscuits and even pancakes!) I don’t know where my flask is just yet, and I forgot the headlamp because it isn’t in my usual travel patterns. So they’re not getting the full “Alli” yet, and when they do, will they still like me? Fortunately, I can tell already that these folks are totally welcoming. They are all very unique and interesting people and I look forward to getting to know them. Not sure yet about the mosstache and other initiation rites…but we’ll get there.

All that is to say I am richly blessed with new friends, but I sure miss Hawaii and my friends there. I am thinking of you often, and am hoping you drop in on us here on this northerly island. It’s a warm place, regardless of the thermometer! Hogmanay anyone? Grilled SPAM is oh so shockingly good!!!

We have been HARD at work blazing some trails on our property to the point of being “slipper-friendly” for a walk in the woods. Man what a lot of work! But it is sure fun. You get a total body workout trail clearing. I am not kidding. I’ve been bushwhacked like no 4.5 mile hilly run followed by pushups, situps, weights and yoga can do. I guess what I’m saying is I thought I was pretty fit, but I had no idea just how much work it is hauling logs around in a wheelbarrow, clipping and trimming branches, loading the wheelbarrow with chips and hauling it section by section of the trail. But it is SO fun to see progress. I hope you enjoy this folder of pictures. All were taken within the last 48 hours. Also check the main AUG album toward the end for some more pictures which are newer – like the milk man’s first delivery and dinner with Tres and Jenni. Aloha for now, and thank you for your notes when you stop by to see pictures! I sure miss my Hawaii friends and love to hear from you!

It’s bad when your day wears you out so much you don’t even want to throw a picture up of your cute kids at a carnival. But man oh man. We started with our usual wild morning of running around squealing avoiding bathroom and dressing time. Then breakfast, then the county water guys showed up to continue their investigation of why our water is green (very pretty green when you fill the tub up a bit) while I was on the phone with my fifth emergency water/waste restoration service trying to find someone willing to come out and clean up the sewage that has been building up under the house for the past three weeks. I have not mentioned this yet because it is just beyond gross, even for me. Yes, I know that is shocking to many of you. TAMARA. ANGEL. APRIL. 🙂 So our main trunk line was broken when we moved in and we didn’t know it – long and mysterious story – but it has been fixed and now we need to clean up the horrible mess. Strangely, no one wants to see the pictures of our crawlspace to scope the work (go figure!). I am worn out from trying to get someone to come help us but it looks like tomorrow is the day. We plan to make the guys cookies. The boys split a gut tonight when I said maybe we should make them in little poo shapes and call them “POOKIES!” (I have been trying to eradicate the onslaught of bathroom talk but this episode is making it nearly impossible!) So after finally lining someone up to come out, I talked to the water guys once more on our way out to the FAIR for which Sam had earned a ticket by finishing his reading program lightening fast (a library program this summer that we just joined). So off we went down to Silverdale 30 min away. We wait in traffic to get in (it’s free entry day if you get there before noon), find parking, and make our way through the throngs to the carnival, get tickets and pick some rides. We survived the rides (Sam did a big guy one flying around like Superman while I watched and prayed nervously!) and went on to pet the steer and watch the sheep be shorn, hunt down cotton candy but end up with ice cream, and race home just 2 hrs later for a conference call I had with a doctor in Boston. Then I do some data analysis, write up some recommendations, and throw some kebobs on the grill. Then more fun with the water guys who haven’t turned our water back on yet – they are out flushing the line, watering our weeds basically. There’s going to be some major growth out by the road!  Boy oh boy. Tomorrow is Thurs already, that’s how insane this week has been. But I am thankful for all the fun and laughs mixed in, for our good health, family and friends. Check for new pictures by clicking the one above…

Then after the library, we headed home for Ben’s nap and my work while Sam read his book. Then more trailblazing for Sam and me on our property. We are trying to clear little loop trails in our forest. It is so jammed up with nettles, wild berries, thorns and spiders galore. I took a heavy spade to help clear some steps for us. Interestingly, we found some dung which we have not yet identified. It was huge and possible cougar. I sent it to my two new friends on the island, one an arborist and the other a naturalist. I am so lucky to have these interesting new friends who I can text disgusting photos to. I emerged from the forest with webs in my hair and a strange dinner cooking in the microwave when Dave got home.

I can’t wait to go berry picking and get some huckleberries for more pie! Sam also made this really neat polyhedron out of some magnets, so of course Dave says something about a dodecahedron and I had to look it up to verify the identity. Well…he was close. Dodecahedron is 12 sided. This 14-sided thing appears to be a cantellated tetrahedron? Sam is also learning about project management – he is studying up on rearing chickens. We talked about writing up a proposal based on our research and presenting it to Daddy for grant funding. Then he would interview vendors to build a coop, and research chicken breeds, cost, etc. He is really tearing into a book Richard bought at Bay Hay on the subject. So far we like the Australorp breed…I’m exhausted after our first day back in real life. Picked up Dave’s car from Tacoma (thanks for the ride Richard!) and said goodbye to Gramma and Richard. Then to make fools of ourselves at Bangor Sub Base by barging in through the commissary out door and finding the place empty…we finally found out from the baker that the commissary is closed on Monday. So out we went with our cart and a lone watermelon. Yikes!

We took the little Water Quest kayaks out for a spin this morning – me and Ben in one and Sam in another. It was so fun to see him kayaking on his own! He had a great time. Then tonight we had a bbq dinner with our hosts, Wade and Julia and their family. Wade took us out in his boat to see some seals. The boys had a fantastic time feeling the power of a motor boat! Whoa! What a great time. Dave is out picking up crab pots now around the point in Indianola.”]