Bird and Little Bird

Here We Go...

I'm experimenting with iPhone blogging to pass time in the airport... It might be the only way to post for a bit since I suspect that it will be a week or so until we have internet at home. The guinea pigs have been checked in and our insanely heavy bags have too. Dan called from Vermont to say that our stuff arrived this morning. Apparently, we are actually moving.

Aiport Monday

Hi all!  Just a little note to say that despite my best intentions, Library Monday will have to take a little break this week.  I meant to front load a post or two here for the inevitable move related silence, but alas, I just plain ran out of time (and brain power).  We're headed out the door to the airport in a few minutes and I need to do things like drinking a cup of very strong coffee (didn't sleep so well last night) and packing up the remaining bits of my life for transport cross-country (yes, this includes those guinea pigs!).   Thus, I should probably not be blogging right now.  So, I'll stop- and my next post will be from Burlington, Vermont!

Guinea Pigs on a Plane. Or, the Hazards of Traveling with Small Mammals.

Let me begin this post by saying that the actual guinea pig accompanied travel plans have not yet been executed.  All of the related drama to date has been about the idea of traveling with my daughter's beloved pets. 

For whatever reasons that only the brain of a small child can understand, Mariam's two guinea pigs (Daffodil and Olivia) have become the representative objects for all of her worry and anxiety over the move to Vermont.  Whenever anyone asks her how she is feeling about the move or if she is excited about it, her invariable answer is "I am nervous about the guinea pigs."  Thus, at some point in the moving preparation process, we all became pretty well obsessed with making sure that these ridiculous little rodents arrive safely in New England.  At one point, the director of Mariam's preschool even went so far as to look at me very seriously and say "You have to get those animals to Vermont safely.  Have to."

However, it would seem that the airline industry does not particularly share our dedication to this cause and to some extent, is unclear on what a guinea pig actually is. 

Long story short, we discovered this week that we would not be able to take the pigs as a carry-on (as we had been promised), nor were the pigs a type of small dog (as they were entered into the computer by the airline rep when he was making their "reservation").  Both of these facts were the cause of no small amount of trouble.  We eventually found out that despite the summer "pet embargo" that would keep us from checking the pets as luggage (which is probably about as good an idea as it sounds) we could have them go as cargo via a pet shipper.  This, however, would require some fancy official paperwork that needs to come from a vet.  Most vets, we discovered, are steadfast in their lack of desire to treat rodents.  Who knew?  And, they are especially unhappy about the idea on a holiday weekend.  Luckily, as I was on the way to the all-night emergency pet hospital in San Francisco last evening, fully prepared to pay what can only be classified as an obscene amount of money to get our pets certified for travel (oh, what we will do for our children!) I got a call that had me making a U-turn and heading back over the bridge to Oakland.  The mother of a former student of mine, a veterinarian, was still at her office and would be glad to do the health exam for us.  Nice save.

So, in the end, the girls have the necessary paperwork and are ready to board their flight on Monday morning to begin the Vermont adventure along with the rest of the family.  And, I somehow ended up feeling as though I have been officially initiated into parenthood.  There is something about being fully prepared to take irrational action for the happiness and mental well-being of your child that makes a person suddenly realize that you are no longer a reasonable person.  You are now a mother. 

Etsy Treasuries.

photo by WeeWoodNaturalToys

These lovely little mushrooms are but one of my many Etsy obsessions these days.  The more that I browse over there, the more that I am amazed by all of the beautiful, colorful and creative things that can be found (and bought, if one does not exercise appropriate self-control).  I've gotten just a bit into browsing the treasuries over there, and over the last two weeks or so, have made a few myself.  I put together one tonight, which you can view here. It is a collection of sweet finds made from my favorite natural materials: linen, wood and wool. 

Library Monday: Gail Gibbons

This Library Monday is just a bit different than usual because actually, all of our favorite books are packed and en route to Vermont and our usual (and very large) stack of library books have been returned to the local library.  So, I thought that rather than sharing a particular favorite title, I would instead share a favorite author.

Mariam is a big fan of having all the facts.  She loves to know as much as possible about any given subject and is generally less than satisfied with the simple answers that many of us adults expect will be adequate when answering childrens' questions.  A prime example of this was the following conversation, had while driving through downtown Berkeley one afternoon:

"Mama, how do they build houses?"

"Well, usually they use wood or sometimes bricks or other materials."

"No, Mama. I mean how do they build houses?"

"Do you mean how do they make the foundation and do the framing and the insulation and the drywall and all of that?"

"Yes, Mama.  Tell me about all of that." 

So, enter Gail Gibbons into our lives.  Gail Gibbons is a prolific author and she has written many, many books about a variety of subjects.  Most of these books contain more information than the average person might want, but for my girl, who has to know it all, they are perfect.  We have read about owls, pandas and polar bears.  We have learned about how houses are built, how mail is delivered and how bees make honey.  The perennial favorite?  The Milk Makers; a book that explains all about how milk is made and marketed in exhaustive detail. 

I suppose that there are a lot of books written for children about things like the life cycle of a frog or the happenings at your local fire station.  My family, however, is of the opinion that Gail Gibbons does a particularly good job in writing about these things.  Her illustrations are wonderful, her prose is clear and she obviously gives a good deal of thought to the perspective of the young child who will interact with her text.  Yes, these books might be heavy on the details that seem almost arcane to those of us over thirty, but I think that they are also a good reminder of the ways in which the things that seem like minutia to the average adult might well be fascinating to our little ones who are learning about the world and everything in it for the first time. 

Everything.

Well, the entirety of our material possessions are currently contained within these two shipping pods, which will be on their way to Burlington, Vermont as of tomorrow morning sometime.  Almost the entirety anyway.  We left out some clothes of course, and Mariam's lunchbox since she still has a few days of school left.  And the book that I'm currently reading.  And the two guinea pigs.  And, a half-yard of linen, just in case.  You really never know when you are going to want to cut out some fox bodies for sewing later, you see.  I did, however, pack all of the scissors. 

An Old Favorite.

I found a copy of a favorite poem of mine, tucked inside a book, while packing up the bookshelves in our living room earlier this week.  I haven't thought about this poem for awhile, but every time I reread it, I fall in love with it all over again.  It has been reinstated to its rightful place on our refrigerator door. 

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
A Poem By Wendell Berry

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion - put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front" from The Country of Marriage, copyright © 1973 by Wendell Berry

Library Monday: Blueberries for Sal

My guess is that Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey is already a familiar favorite in many of your homes.  I know that is such a standby title in our house that I hadn't even really thought of reviewing it here until I ran across it while packing Mariam's room today and thought: "Oh, I love this book!"

Blueberries for Sal is a sweet book about a girl and her mother, out picking blueberries to make jam for the upcoming Maine winter.  Out on the hill, picking berry after berry and eating nearly every one, little Sal gets separated from her mother and begins following after a mother bear instead.  The little bear, with berry picking techniques similar to little Sal, becomes equally distracted and starts following little Sal's mother instead of her own.  The usual mix-up-related humorous surprises then ensue. 

Blueberries for Sal is an enjoyable read because of the sweet and funny story, but also because of the classic, simple, and expressive illustrations. These illustrations are all done in white and navy blue, giving the book a style reminiscent of a black and white film or even a Japanese woodblock print.  The threads of the narrative (little Sal looking for her mother and little bear looking for his) paralell one another with repeated phrases that small children seem to really enjoy because of how it enables them  to predict what the mother characters will say and do. 

We are big fans of the other Robert McCloskey titles as well.  If you enjoy Blueberries for Sal and want to look further, One Morning in Maine and Make Way for Ducklings are also both very, very good books and in my opinion, timeless classics in children's literature.  There is an audiobook recording of the tree stories together that we came across a year or two ago that is also worthy of looking up and giving a listen.

Focus.

 

I do, of course, realize that I am supposed to be giving my entire focus to the enormous task at hand; our cross-country move is now only two weeks away.  In fact, our worldly possessions actually leave California for Vermont in only a week's time, with us hanging around here for a few days after to tie up loose ends, clean the house and try to see some friends.  However, there have been a number of really nice things happening with the shop lately and the resulting positive energy has me feeling a lot more like sewing and a lot less like packing.  The end result: this fellow was added to the shop this afternoon.  I've decided that he is officially a summertime fox because he is quite fat- as if he has just had a very good spring with lots of good eating. 

So, you see, it isn't that I'm not focused or productive.  It's just that my idea of these things is a little bit different than the rest of my family...

Planning Ahead.

Photo by Fig & Me

As we get closer to the move, I've been trying to be sensitive to just what a big transition this is going to be for Mariam.  As much as we are all excited to be undertaking such a big adventure and to be going to such a beautiful place, leaving this place behind will be difficult for all of us in different ways.

In hopes of adding a bit of unexpected fun to the whole process, I've begun to gather a few little surprises for Mariam that will appear in Vermont around the time that we do.  Among these, this beautiful custom made papoose from Fig & Me.  Fig & Me is one of my most very favorite Etsy shops and you should probably go look at it as soon as you finish reading this post.  Some of you might remember that the talent behind Fig & Me is Fabiola, also known as one of my amazingly creative swap partners from the Celebrating Handmade Swap.  She sent this lovely gal our way, and this papoose will allow Mariam to roam our new (huge) backyard with her sweet doll while still having free hands to pick up leaves, catch bugs or dig in the garden. 

The next surprise?  I'm thinking one of these fairy doors.  Dan can take it with him when he heads to Vermont (a couple of days before Mariam and I) and put on one of the trees in the new yard for Mariam to find while exploring...