A Dream Come True

My father has had many grandiose life long dreams.  He is an artist after all.

The one that his three kids talk about and roll our eyes about is the one where we all work together as a family...either making jewelry, working on the land, selling baked goods, a family commune/dynasty of sorts.   It's a running joke amongst us kids.

Now I don't know about 'yalls family...but mine...we got some communication issues.  And control issues and power issues and difference of opinion issues and obligation/resentment issues.  Each of us thinks we should be in charge.  But clearly...it should always be me charge.

We are a lovely family...but working together...not so much.

As we have gotten older and wiser though,  things been gettin' easier.  (I don't know where all the bad grammar is coming from...please don't let it scare you away...I am sure it won't last forever.)

So after many decades...(My dad will be 65 this month, my brother 43, Nava...well she won't let me say, but it has a 0 and four 1's added together...that's all I'm gonna disclose this time.  And me, I am at the ripe ole' age of 35...someone get me a Lark.) we finally had ourselves a commune day...we finally were all together, four generations...being productive.

Miracles never cease to occur.

We worked together on my dad's property, he is getting ready to put in a football field size organic garden.  We also worked on the shed...he needed a new one, the old one housed some rats that were bigger than Luna...it had to go.

The blue shed on the left was torn down.

This is my grandpa...Grandpa Padilla.  He is 83.  He is the architect of the new shed.  He drew some beautiful plans on the back of an old 60's hippie poster with swirls and naked ladies.  I never got around to taking pictures of those plans or the poster..dang it!

My dad and my grandpa...not known for working together well...did just fine.

They actually worked well together...beautifully some might say.

Fourth generation bad communicators.

Maybe he needs glasses.

Now this is my dad...and for us to see him using power tools...it's just so odd.  He is an artist and during my entire youth...I don't ever remember him using power tools.  He was way to bohemian for that.  I guess there is a first time for everything.

Another father-son combo...disfunctional communication carries on.

See my grandpa in the back...he is amazing for 83!

This is my brother (The one who backed me up on the Bigfoot sighting.) and my brother in law Trent, Nava's husband. He was smart...gloves.

The walls going up.  There's Grandpa Padilla in the corner.

Uncle Mountain scaring the kids with under pit sweat...and relishing every minute.

Marcus using tools...I could commit to having another baby with this man when he uses tools.  Maybe that is why he chose a desk job.

The boys...Kai and my nephew Hayden getting the hang of things.

These were used somewhere in the process...don't ask me where...I bet Marcus knows.

This is the site of the future garden in question.  Most of us worked on the shed or somewhere else.  The work done out in this field...has been done and continues to be done by this man.

Farmer Trent...still the gloves.

Sadly, the rest of the family continues to work on the shed and the garden while we are stuck here in Oregon, eating blueberries and enjoying temperate weather.

But for one day...if never again...a dream came true for someone I love.  And that makes me happy. 

 I think it made him happy too.

It has been a hard won battle over the years to get to this point as a family. We have lost a few along the way, and we have gained a few too.  We have laughed and cried, yelled and fought.  

It ain't easy being a family.  

So love the ones you share blood with...you have them for a reason.  

Celebrate your family...even if they fail to see that you are always right.

Blueberry

I think I mentioned a few posts back that I have blueberries growing in my yard.

They are just wonderful...such a perfect summer treat.

As a child I did not like blueberries, I don't know why.  I think that I thought they were tart and had a funny consistency.  I didn't like pear either because of the consistency.

Now I know better.

Blueberries are so good for you, they are considered a superfood.  Whatever that is?!  Actually it means it is high in antioxidants, vitamin C, manganese, fiber, flavinoids...good stuff for 'ya.

Anyway, this morning I picked berries in my back yard.

And then I did this with them.

But don't worry...those were for the kids and Marcus.

I had this for breakfast.

I ate the cold leftover pancakes later.

On the Water

During our stay at our summer home in California (it's really my dad's house) we were blessed to have been given  the gift of a day on the American River.

The American River Canyon is in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas in Nor-Cal.  There are three forks of this river the South, the Middle, and the North.  They all begin high in the mountains west of Lake Tahoe.  They converge east of Sacramento and then flow into Folsom Lake.

Now this river and it's canyon are something pretty special. During the gold rush of the 1800's these canyons housed two mining communities with populations around 10,000 that disappeared when the gold disappeared.  The largest gold cache found in the foothills of California was along the Middle fork of the American.

 These days, the river and the canyon are a pristine area for recreation and wildlife.  Auburn,  my home town, is a gold rush town from the 1800's.   It is also known as the endurance running capital of the world.   It is the finish line for the Western State Run, a 100mi. grueling endurance run that begins at Squaw Valley and ends in Auburn.  The Tevis Cup is a horse race along the same route and was the inspiration for the endurance run.  Both races bring individuals from across the globe to challenge themselves in the canyon.

Marcus and I were thinking about entering the Western States Run this year, but we didn't want any of the other runners to look foolish when we won by like a whole huge bunch...sooo we did the honorable thing and skipped it.  We are big into humanitarian moves like that.

Instead, we got to experience this wonderful stretch of the Middle folk of the American with our amazing guide Eric Peach who heads up PARC (Protect the American River Canyon).

This is Eric...he is awesome.  And rad.  Remember that word, short for...radical?  80's children?  Any of you?

 The canyon was in danger of being damned and lost forever, but with the hard work of PARC, assisted by hundreds of dedicated volunteers including my dad, the issue was finally put to rest.  The damn would have sat on a fault line, so I think that has a little to do with it as well.

Having helped saved this wonderful jewel of Nor-Cal history and vital ecosystem, Eric spends much time hiking, biking, kayaking and rafting the river and canyon...And sharing it with his friends.

I told them I had just seen Bigfoot.

My brother saw it too.

Kai didn't care.

He was hot.

Then...Marcus finally saw it too!

Now the best part about going down the river with someone who knows it so well is that he knows all the cool spots...and the dangerous ones.  We did see some rapids...there was some white water, my personal favorite.   

But the one draw back about having Eric for a guide, was that he told me when to put my camera away.  He didn't want me to loose it or get it splashed by water.  I guess the ziplock bag I put it in wasn't good enough...he made me put it in a special water tight bag.   Oh...and apparently I was suppose to be paddling or something.  I wanted so much to get some pictures going down the rapids...but NOOOO...I had to paddle.  The nerve of some people! I don't like when people block my creative process man!  Safety and expensive camera equipment be damned!

Eventually I forgave Eric...like I said, I am big into humanitarian moves.

One of the cool spots Eric took us was this one, where we stopped for lunch.

Then there was this spot...The Jumping Rock.  Notice there are no pictures of me...I don't jump off rocks, they scare me.

Sophia.

Kai.

Olivia.

God I hope he doesn't land like that...

Oh good! (Marcus)

And this is my brother, Ian...Mountian Lion, it's long story.

Our day was long and glorious.  Once out of the river...some of us had to shuttle up to get the cars.  

The kids and I did this instead.

And we all lived happily ever after.

The End.

Back

I am back from vacation.

Back from California.

Back from the edge of reason...wait, no that was Bridget Jones.

We had  great trip, but as always, we didn't get to do everything that we wanted to do or see everyone we wanted to see.

Next time...always next time.

We did have a really great time doing what we did.

We went to San Franciso.  Some of us (not me) went to a SF Giants game.  We spent time with our niece Lily.  We saw Marcus' parents.  We helped out on my dad's property building a shed.  We had a spiritual out of body experience.  We went kayaking.  We visited with old family friends.  We made jewelry.  We slept in.  We ate yummy things.

I don't know quite where to start, or what to share first.

So, when in doubt, jump in with both feet...blindly.  Don't ask questions and don't look back. (That is my advice for today.)

When on a long road trip with teenagers...you hardly know they are there.  At least mine.  Now that they have ipods, and one has a computer, they are totally tuned out and plugged in, much to my dismay.  Don't worry, I will get over it.

This trip, for the very first time ever...(and we take a lot of road trips, always have.)  They got to watch a movie.  I think they have before when they were on trips with my sister Nava, but NEVER  with me.  I like to make them suffer, make them miserable, make them unhappy.  I feel it is my personal responsibility as a loving mother.  What I like best about making them unhappy is that they have to get creative, learn something, be bored, use their brains.  I think there is much to learn from being bored.    But today, that is beside the point...kind of.

After our long day in San Franciso, we were all  tired.  My family had spent 8 hours on the road the day before.  We were like zombies.  My kids had those evil ipods plugged in and as I thought, tuned out.   I thought that they were missing out on visiting with their aunt and uncle and cousin.  But only for a second...then I fell into a sleep like trance state.

I was awoken by giggles.  The out of control, body shaking, exhausted giggles of a four year old on too little sleep and a long day away from home.

Maybe the kids weren't missing out on as much as I thought.

Bonding with family...check.  Me being put back in my place...check.  Creating life long memories...check. 

Keep on running and running...

I just got back from running.  Next to the canal at my dad's house.  Here in lovely California.

 I am now on my way to the hospital.

I used to run regularly.  Years and years ago.  When I was young and fit.  Don't tell anyone, but that may have been why I was so fit.  But we will keep that just between us, I want everyone to think it came naturally, effortlessly.

I have elaborated on the 20lbs I have packed on in the last 3 years right?  And I told you about how I didn't really want to wear muumuus for the rest of my life?  And I said that I was going to have to have a shift in perception to work my way through this?


Well  F@#$ all that!  I want to eat things and make pretty things with glitter and take pictures and look through cookbooks and organize the basement, and watch my kids play ball and eat things...and I don't want to run or lift weights or eat light frequent meals!

Okay...now that I am done with  that, and it's out of my system,  I can go on to my higher place now.

 In an effort to get out of the muumuus and back in the proverbial saddle again, I have been making better eating choices, (for the most part) and I have been trying to get out once a day and sweat.  I either go to the gym, walk  Luna up the mammouth hills in my neighborhood, bike to the grocery store, walk to market (and sometimes to the ice cream store) and go to yoga.  I love yoga.  I have been going once a week for the last month.  I want to go more, but the yoga teacher I like only teaches once a week where I work out.  I should branch out and try different teachers...but I don't like trying new things.

In yoga the other day, as I was sweating and trying to breath while twisted in some position I haven't been in in at least a decade, the yoga teacher was saying that one of the benefits of yoga is that it pushes us to expand our comfort zone.  (If you know anything about yoga you would know that it isn't just about the physical body.  It is about all the other bodies as well,  the emotional, the spiritual...)

So when the teacher said that yoga helps us to expand our comfort level...I thought, "Are you crazy lady, there isn't anything remotely comfortable about this?!"  And once that was out of my system, I could really vibe with that thought, that idea, because from past experience I know it to be true.  I know it to be true not just in yoga, but in all my physical activities.  Actually, in all my activities.

In addition to my new fitness and health routine,  (I have been on vacation since Thursday...it isn't going so well.) I have also been reading a lot and one theme that keeps coming up for me in my books and life is space and matter.

We are mostly made up of space.   When we look at our cells, there is very little matter in proportion to space.   We have a tendancy here in the Western part of the world to feel the need to fill that space up.  Not conciously mind you, but if there is an empty place...we find ways of filling it up.  We don't like pauses in conversation, we don't like quiet moments, our homes are filled to bursting with all our stuff, our houses are close together...and if our outer world is cluttered, what does our inner world look like?

 I think we could all use some space.  And I think that in the world we live in now, we are going to have to conciously create that space.  I don't think by just non-action it will be achieved, becasue stuff (and I mean physical, emotional and spiritual) is just swirling around in the ethers waiting to find a home.  I think that we need to be vigilant and discerning about what we accept in our lives to maintain that space.

It isn't an easy task...like I said our culture bombards us with noise, images, things, ideas, news, options, choices...and too much of anything is never a good thing.

Space isn't always comfortable, we are not used to it, we haven't been conditioned for it.  When there is space, we are out of our comfort zone.

Now me....I mostly need space in my pants, but I could use a little space in all areas of my life.  Space to open up to new things to come into my life.

So today when I was running, I was meditating on creating space.  Space in my pants, space between my vertebrae, space in my thinking, in my feeling, space in my lungs, and space between me and the guy chasing me!

This creep kept yelling things like, "Where are you going?"  "Why are you trying to get away from me?"  "You are going to have to run faster than that if you don't want me to catch up!"  "Hold on...I have to tell you something!"  "Hey...wait for me at the top of the hill!"  "I'm right on your tail!"  "I love you!"

I turned around and told that guy..."Shut up Marcus...I am trying to run here!"

Some people are just sick!

Anyway...I think that I created a little space today in my life, and I like it.

Today...see where you might create a little space in your life.  Make space in your home, in your fridge, in your lungs, in you mind, in your relationships, in your garden beds, or maybe even in your heart...goodness knows we could all use some space there!