if you lived here you'd be home right now

i just talked to one of my good friends far away for 74 minutes, which was nice.

today was sweltering at 9 a.m. i took miles to his first class at pacific wushu where he learned, among many other things, how to do horse stance, salute, and do two kinds of splits. this is a goofy kid who i motherlyly envision participating in a creative drama group, or learning piano, but here he is running and jumping and kicking and punching and waving his legs in the air counting to ten in mandarin. and looking very proud of himself, indeed.

after getting one day closer to the fabled day you get to use a sword in wushu class we packed up and headed through the neighborhood to garfield pool. where the heck did all these hip looking people come from? i surely am not one of them. maya was looking pretty swell in her mermaid bathing suit, alternative ponytails and twinkle toes sketchers. we had unfancy food at casa sanchez and fancy ice cream at humphrey slocum (maya got pink lemonade, i got vietnamese coffee, miles had secret breakfast which had bourbon and cornflakes), then sat overfull and dazed under a big tree in garfield park waiting for the pool to open. i liked that miles knew one of the "poor kids from the projects" at the playground who is his age but runs around with a group of kids and not her mommy and daddy. i liked that they are school mates and played around a little bit and that he does not only know kids in his mandarin immersion world.

the pool was cold and loud and crazy with every hot kid for blocks around, spider man and sponge bob balls flying, shouts and laughter echoing off the old concrete walls. so joyous to cool down, the water, the noise, the taste of chlorine.

the cousins came over later and how cute is it to overhear two little cousin girls painting side by side at the table saying "i'll make mine for you, ok?" and "i'll make mine for you."

when i listen hard i hear a truck come thundering off the highway, maybe some country-ish music, miles sighing in his bunk bed, now some fast shrieky rock and a bus air-brake.

the sounds of morning are so much clearer and sweeter, mostly birds and more birds, a fresh bus going by, maya reading my anne lamott book to herself out loud.

goodnight

hmmm

okay, is anyone reading this or should i just keep these thoughts in my head? or give up on blogging and become a facebooker. or a hermit. or take up knitting, or start writing poetry, or just get some more sleep?

anyway, has anyone out there been reading about the repair california movement? i am intrigued but not so knowledgeable. this does fit in with the where should we live theme.

let me know what you think. wish we could all chat about this at the argus or the 500 club or someplace like that, but that is not going to happen anytime soon.

and why is it so ^*$##$^ hot?

sappy post

after a brief goodby hug and kiss my big kid only looked over his shoulder for me once as he shuffled into the first day of first grade in a mass of uniformed kids.

my heart is breaking, said maya burrowing into my shoulder.
why?
because my brother is so far away.

i feel it too. tomorrow is back to our fixed schedules of schools and work and being so far away from each other. hopefully there is enough summer in our hearts to get us through.

sorry for this sappy post. but my kids are growing up at too many miles per hour.

back to starr king mandarin tomorrow

awww. look how adorable these little rocker girls are. maya, sorry i mean princess leia, and i went down to the rock and make festival on treat street where we heard about three hours of bands, many of whom, i figured out, were closer in age to my kids than to me. oh well. i may be old but not freakishly old, and there was a 60+year old shirtless homeless guy breakdancing up front who seemed embraced by all the cute young-uns so i have a ways to go. there were lots and lots of parents jumping on the opportunity to go hear music they would not regret the next morning.

the kids were conditioned to like the music with free tootsie pops placed by a few singers' feet.

i still love live indie rock especially the lineup today who did not seem to take themselves at all seriously and who rocked out without their you know-whats out. free and during the day are especially sweet. take a few minutes out of your busy schedule and listen to some links. the drummer from the ferocious few had one of the best drumming styles i've ever seen. kim if you are reading this check out "the shes". lots of vendors more my age selling their jewelry and clothes and handbags and homeade soap and art and big ol' glam belt buckles.

am i just being optimistic or are people actually moving towards something a little more creative now that the last remnants of the dot com tsunami seem to have washed away?

back to school tomorrow. yes, we have signed our kid up for another year of mandarin immersion. our friend asked "what did miles do wrong to deserve that?" last year and sometimes i think we are torturing crazy parents but for now it is o.....k....ohhhhh....kaaaaaay.

random summer pictures of offspring

i love the siblings in this one. we are up in mendocino in lisa's car and by the look of brotherly love and appreciation in miles' eyes i think maya may have been talking about butt cheeks in a funny voice, a real crowd pleaser. maya was actually bossing me around from the seat of her little revolving whale at santa cruz. the backwards shirt trick thing is thanks to peter up in anchor bay.

nice sticker

thank you, kind person who out this sticker on the window of the 33 bus!

just killed about 2 hours reading lenore skenazy's free range children website and comments. verrryy interesting.

i'll post some pictures of the kids in case you forgot them,hahaha.

i can hear our young new neighbors partying downstairs

well, they are starting to make some noise down there. happy loud youngsters. i guess we used to be like them except we were ten times louder and stayed up blasting rock music until 2 in the morning. and let our dog poop in the backyard way too often. i really can't complain, except that i do miss our old downstairs neighbors and how our kids would run up and down the back steps visiting and giving us both little half hours of peace.

the school year starts back up tomorrow and i have my customary end of august nausea. blaaach.

miles will be in a new classroom, away from his best buddy and is very worried about it. when this best buddy was not at his camp last week miles suddenly felt like he was going to throw up, was bawling in my lap, and then his eye started hurting and he couldn't see. i had to hand him over to his counselor, all snotty and red-eyed, knowing the counselor thought i was just a weak mama.

maybe i am, and maybe it will be funny someday but right now (thanks a lot dr. sears) i am feeling his pain, his worry, fear about the unknown. he asked why the kids from his class last year can't be together and i don't know. why DO they split up these little elementary kids each year?

reality is, there are only a certain number of kids in a class, friends in your neighborhood, people in the world, and you are lucky to deeply connect with any of them.

at miles' school they sing make new friends and keep the old and it is so sweet but it is hard, hard to do. i guess we just have to do it.

on a totally different subject, or maybe not really, i saw the pbs documentary playing for change about this guy who travelled the world recording musicians playing and singing the same songs and then put all the tracks together and the result was pretty amazing. all covers of inspirational songs, musicians in israel, south africa, ireland, louisiana, santa monica, all over the place.

so now i want to try and start some kind of all ages music group. good covers only. rich plays guitar, i play drums, we have some interested friends, but who will organize the children?? any volunteers? shake, bang, sing and dance. on a regular basis. sing about love and peace and some funny stuff too.

they are settling down a bit now below. windy greyish purplish evening. listen, above the neighbors voices are car and truck rumblings, guinea pigs sipping on water bottles, a motorcycle, a wierd beep, a bus' air brakes, a distant car alarm, a wind chime. a man laughs loudly, heh heh heh heh.

goodnight dear ones

retreat

well, nobody really wants to hear a summary of our trip, do they?

sorry.

after a week in mendocino county swimming in rivers, playing on beaches, sipping on cider and bloody marys, cooking on fires, making shrinky dinks, being carless and chauffered, i felt a little bit, um, calm and relaxed. ahhh. we then headed to russian river for a stay with my mom and spent a day way back in time at johnson's beach taking turns kayaking, canoeing and paddle boating up the lazy green river with miles, checking out the swallows darting and swooping around. then 2 cheesy days in santa cruz, stuffing ourselves with crappy boardwalk food and then going on rides that swished or jerked the crappy food around. on our way home we stopped in at costanoa and ended up staying one extra day there, in a little cabin, soaking in a hot tub with a view of nothing but hills and sky and trees. i did end up sleeping outside on the floor of the deck because rich's snoring was so loud but it was actually pretty cool listening to the wind and ocean and random animal sounds. yesterday we celebrated my bday with julia and family as well as andy d, and julia and i snuck off for a trip to kabuki hot springs, with massage. i could spend all day in that room....wet sauna, cold plunge, hot pool, sit down showers, lotions and cucumber water everywhere, the gong of silence occasionally being rung.

now things are back to stress and worry--choosing maya's preschool, being audited (randomly, lucky me) by the state speech and language pathology board, looking at unrepaired and painted objects, piles of bills, a still unpacked duffel bag of dirty laundry.

but this getaway time was good, very good. i was kind of shocked to find myself not thinking and worrying about much at all. was it being in the country? possibly. or maybe just stepping out of the usual patterns that are so easy to fall into.

the kids were well-behaved!

i am trying to hold onto the peaceful country nature vibe. and also to appreciate those people and places around me, while not denying the part of me that longs to be with people far away.


i still love point arena. who wants to buy some land up there with me? we can build some tent cabins and a hot tub in the woods and hide out from the small town politics and enjoy the retreat.