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Down to the lake the three of us went, just as it turned from twilight to night. In time to see a hazy sailboat drifting under, and bats zipping about for their supper.
Blue is away to Bellingham for a journalism workshop. I sent him a message to go out and look at the moon before sleeping.
I hope he listened to his mama.
Blue is home. For two days. Both days he's gone off with friends for part of the day. It's how it's supposed to be, I know, but still . . . sigh. Friday he is off to Bellingham for a journalism workshop. More and more, he is off . . .
While he was gone, we bought him a new bed. A LONG bed for his six-foot-three-still-growing self. So, now he needs some long blankets. Dark blue is his favorite color these days. This won't be anything fancy, or it will likely never get done. Just large swaths of fabric stitched together, with something in the middle. He likes his blankets thick and heavy. I find myself looking for things to do for him, even though he's sure he's got it all "handled". (He still hasn't found the money!)
Have I told this story before? I don't know, but I keep thinking of it during these days of Blue's being off to Elsewhere . . . A few days after he was born, stepping out of the shower, I collapsed naked and sobbing onto the floor. K came running in holding newborn Blue, "What's the matter?!" "I just realized that someday one of you is going to die and I will have to bear it!" K, said the perfect thing, "Maybe you'll get lucky and you'll go first?" It got me off the floor.
Time for another dip in the indigo . . . it's keeping me distracted.
We finished up our road trip with a visit to the Pittock Mansion, built in 1909. A 23 room estate on the west hills of Portland. Quite a change from the Frank Lloyd Wright house!
And what does your staircase look like?
The sewing room. Can you imagine?
The grounds were beautiful.
There was also a stop at the smallest park in the world.
Mill Ends Park, downtown Portland, Oregon.
"In 1948 the site that would become Mill Ends Park was intended to be the site for a light pole. When the pole failed to appear and weeds sprouted in the opening, Dick Fagan, a columnist for the Oregon Journal, planted flowers in the hole and named it after his column in the paper, "Mill Ends"…Fagan's office overlooked the median in the middle of the busy thoroughfare that ran in front of the building (then known as SW Front Avenue). The park was dedicated on St. Patrick's Day, 1948, as the only leprechaun colony west of Ireland," according to Fagan." Wikipedia
Moon loved being up front for the entire trip. He made himself quite at home, while I set up camp in the backseat.
It was a fun trip, but it's good to be back. There was some welcomed rain during the drive home. Blue comes home tomorrow night around midnight. I'm looking forward to us all settling back in.
We are on a sort of road trip for Moon's birthday. His choice, because turning thirteen means you can ride in the front seat!
The cake survived the trip to Oregon. It tasted good, but my cake decorating abilities are another story. The blame is being placed on the lack of proper tools. Moon knew that I was going for a moon, so good enough.
We've visited the Gordon House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (Moon has an interest in architecture), and the Evergreen Air & Space Museum (where the Spruce Goose resides).
Mrs. Gordon was a weaver. Frank wanted to put the loom in the center of the living area, but her arthritis was growing more painful, and she didn't want people watching her while she wove. They argued, she won. He created a small cove upstairs, with her requested view of trees.
The trip continues for a couple of more days. We'll end with a few new sights in Portland and a trip to Powell's Bookstore. We're having a relaxing fun time, but missing Blue! Four more days until he returns . . .
What a strange blurry summer this has been.
That lone heart has been bugging me. I took out the blanket stitched border, replaced it with a quieter running stitch, and am now covering it in criss-crosses. I don't know . . . I used to tell Janie, when she wasn't happy with how a quilt was going, "Just keep stitching, just stitch it out." We'll see . . .
Meanwhile . . . I am making a cake!
The frosting was sliding a little, so I'm taking a break to let it cool some more. Moon's birthday is tomorrow. I make pies. I order cakes. You can have whichever you like for your birthday, but that's how it is. Until we went to a neighbor's birthday last week, and Moon tasted that cake. "Please?!" She promised it was fool-proof. So far so good, but again . . . we'll see.
Limes.
They helped in the weathering of the latest heat wave.
K having another birthday and pie (it was worth heating the house up for).
A walk through the Japanese Garden.
Turtles. What is it about turtles? They are such calm sweet creatures.
Last night's evening sky, that led to a breezy cloudy cooler today!
I hope you all are finding happy moments in your days.
I have many feelings about pink (I wrote about some of them here), and I'm not really much of a heart person either, but "boy hearts" is turning out to be a swell place to spend some time. The heart in this fragment from Heike's may be my favorite so far. There have been a few other self-discoveries about process and trust, and a little more learning about letting go. Good stuff.
Well, Blue made it to Guatemala, almost in one piece.
Our last "discussion" (after the ones about the need for soap, the need to take more than 3 boxers when laundry is happening only once a week, and the need for a few other important items . . .) anyhow, I advised him not to keep all of his money in his wallet, but to put some in an envelope hidden in his suitcase. Right before leaving, I started to ask where he put the envelope? I was cut off with a "I've got it handled, Mom!" O.k.
Guess who got a text today asking if I had seen where he put the envelope? He can't find it anywhere. I sent some ideas on how to really look hard, what he might do if it is gone, and a "good luck". I did not say, "I told you so!" (but It might take a lot of tongue biting not to when he returns! Although, he's probably thinking it's all my fault, if he had kept it all in his wallet it wouldn't be lost.)
I'm continuing to add more details and hearts to "boy hearts". I'm thinking there will be thirteen hearts all together (a favorite number). I had the boys each make a new heart pattern. The pretty pinks came from Heike. Regarding the pale lavender cross-stitchings in the heart up above, can you tell they were made during one of my rantings about the trouble with teenagers last week? I was stabbing the fabric quite hard while going on and on. Which wasn't too safe, since I didn't have my glasses on, but things work out, they usually do.
Tonight my seventeen year old baby boy will get on an airplane and fly to Guatemala for two weeks. Blue and fourteen other high schoolers are taking computers, setting them up in schools, and teaching the students how to use them as part of a service project. I really am very excited for him, honest, but . . .
This last week I have been a stressed-out-anxious-mess-of-a mama (more than usual). I don't think it's so much about this trip, it's all very well organized and chaperoned, and Blue has mostly been on top of it all (although, there was that moment when I told him he needed to pack soap, and his reply was, "What for?"). I think the worry is more of a recognizing that in a year he will be off to college, and how unprepared he seems to be, and even more so, how not ready I am for that.
I know he's hearing a crazy woman ranting about the importance of doing this or that, or remembering everything, but what's behind it is, "I love you, I'll miss you, and I worry that you won't be happy . . . taken care of . . . safe . . . here."
I stitched up this little heart this morning and tucked it into a blank journal, with a note trying to explain some of this, asking him to jot down some his adventures to share with us when he gets home, and reminding him of how loved he is. He will probably roll his eyes, but still . . .
(Cross your fingers that I don't embarrass him at the airport tonight.)
This one heart is so far away from the others. I don't remember why?
Time for some new story with connections.
