Try to remember that kind of September

When life was slow and oh, so mellow....
When grass was green and grain was yellow...

How I love the beginnings of autumn, don't you? This weekend, we experienced that kind of September, beginning on Friday with a lovely outdoor soiree at a local winery called Tyee and a very excellent local band called Bon Ton Roulet. And roulet they did, Cajun music is pretty great live, I discovered. The kiddos danced and played. Gus gave many horsey rides to Lucy and her friend Ruby. Eleanor twirled. Wahoo. Then, on Saturday we went back and did a lovely nature walk and 'nature bingo' brought to us by the lovely folks at Muddy Creek Charter School, especially our friend Jenny. We found everything except animal tracks on the walk, here's some of what we did find:

White Oak

Snowberries

Mossy moss

Yet to be identified wild flower

Already brilliant Oregon Grape leaf

More mossy moss

The plague, the plague!

So, for the second weekend in a row, I seem to have a sickie. Hmmm. I don't know what is going on here, except for perhaps what my friend calls a malaise. You have to say it dramatically: "A malaaaaaaaaise..." Maybe my personal, pregnancy induced malaise is catching? Maybe my house needs to be cleaned deeply because the pregnancy induced malaise has made housework seem even more unappealing than ever. Maybe my children are suffering from malnutrition because their mother, previously chef of 3 fine meals a day, has decided the cereal does NOT have it's origins in the devil's kitchen. Also, toast, pancakes or oatmeal. I mean really, if there were only breakfast foods, I would be fine, because the are bland and comforting. But they do lack vegetables. And we have those coming out our ears since it's harvest time (thank you Gathering Together Farm for feeding my family.) So at some point, I do end up with something other than breakfast--although Mr. Doggett did manage to put an amazing variety of those veggies in the omlette I beseeched him to make for me. More breakfast.
I wonder when it is, exactly, in the life of a Mother when you can take one look at your kid and know that they are sick, or going to be sick. I guess it probably happens early on, when we spend all those hours staring at our babies, because we just can't get over how perfectly adorable and amazing they are. I still do that sometimes, now, of course. We all do, I'm sure. Lucy wants to know, how do I know for sure that Eleanor is sick. "Well, Lucy, when was the last time Eleanor took a 4 hour nap and didn't eat supper?" But, I knew well before then, when she was sort of sliding around the house looking gray earlier in the day, and when she was quiet all day yesterday. This whole mom trip is pretty amazing if ever I stop long enough to think about it, which these days, while attempting to nap myself out of my malaise, I often do.
Kids, they inhabit our bodies for the better part of a year. Really though, when they are growing in there, they are also growing their very own room inside of our hearts, and it just grows bigger and bigger with time. Now, I have a mansion filled with their precious spirits. Sometimes, often, I feel so thankful for the new little room growing as this new little spirit and body grows inside me, even as I cover my head with the comforter and moan. How lucky I am to have the opportunity to open my heart to another magical being.
Now, I have to go eat a bowl of cereal. And I will sign off with this photo of an Indian Paintbrush from the Mary's Peak Meadow (the banner photo is also from Mary's Peak.)

posing

home

playing with food

safety.

So I'm getting lots of messages that you people don't like snakes. Sheesh! At least I know someone's watching. Now it will be easier to behave myself. Well, how about dogs and flowers. Stick with what's safe. Well okay. And that whole plan to post a new photo every day of August, it is not happening. What is? Lots of nothing accompanied by quite a case of nausea. I'm sure someday I will look back on this time and have a good laugh. Anne, like many a good Vizsla I've known, has become my constant companion because she knows I don't feel so hot. See her up there in the sun? Isn't she just cute. Her face is getting so white, she's like a ghost dog. During Gus and Mom Camp week (aka Brownie Day Camp week) when we took her to the coast, Gus kept saying, "She's smiling Mom!" Of course. We all were. She also tries to sit very near me while I do yoga. It doesn't work so good. I keep pushing her out of the way, but she continues to snuggle. Today, Gus was reading Encyclopedia Brown on the purple cloud chair, and Anne basically sat on top of him. He told her to move, moved positions and then she proceeded to sit on top of him again. He said, "Don't take a picture of me, Mom." So, I didn't. Don't you wish I had?

Home again...

We are home from an unsuccessful rental house hunt in Portland. We are going to just tweak the present situation so it works better. This will mean lots more driving for my sweet husband. I hope it works better, anyhow. Gus and Eleanor are lego-ing, Lucy is reading Fox in Socks (this one is so tongue twisty, Mom!) I am cleaning, Dog is chilling, and the weather is ever so much cooler.
Two years ago right now....


I would really like a pasty like this right now.

Happy August

I'm not gonna promise, but I'd like to do at least a photo a day for all of August. I also wanted to tell you that that snake on Gus' wrist is totally real. It's called a rubber boa, and it lives under the tarp on our pile of soil. It will hang out on a wrist for a while, then it gets sort of sick of it and will slither away. Fun, huh? We like to learn lots of tricks with our forest friends.
It has been kinda hot here, I know we all keep talking about it. It's just that temperatures of 100 degrees make us all a little more nutty out here in the pacific NW than we are usually, which means we're a bunch of fried granolas. That sounds like a very very bad thing, doesn't it? I actually got a sunburn on my legs for the first time since the Madison Public Pool, I think. We were escaping the heat in our friend Meg's pond. It was total bliss!
Gus had a great time in this boat after everyone else jumped out. He rowed all around the pond. That boy sure has a nautical streak.
I also wanted to add that I've been having a lot of fun with my new toy, a Canon T1i, a gift extraordinare from my sweetie. We used to have a lot of fun doing photos together, and now we are again. Just ONE good picture is a lot easier to come by when you can take so many and not have to think about all that film you're wasting. That's about all from the woodsy woods.
Oh, except that:
The Cirque de Doggett will be adding a new act to the show come March 2010. That's right, a new Baby Doggett. How's about that for a summer surprise!

Back to the woods

we are back in philomath
having sister time on the purple cloud

hanging out in meg's pond

getting sunburnt

learning how to dive

missing cousins

summer happynings

drinking cold beverages and knitting with yarns like 'fruit smoothie'

relishing amazing colors provided by mama nature

becoming the villian in a ballet production

becoming a princess in a ballet

dancing with a bunch of other swan princesses

I hope if you're reading this, your summer is going well, and you are having new adventures, lots of sun, and good times. We certainly are!

Come summer....

There will be joy!

And there will be creek rambles!

And trips to the coast!

And there will be berries!

Some Brother!

I am just going to brag a bit about my brother, Pete. He was recently awarded a Fullbright-Hayes Doctoral Dissertation Research Award. I have been braggin to anyone who will listen about Pete for a while, but never in the blogosphere, I don't think. His blog, The Artclectic Academic has lots of details about what he's been doing in Uganda. I usually tell people that he's becoming a 'doctor of drums.' His research is so interesting to me, and getting this award means a lot to him, to FSU, where he goes to school and to his department, Ethnomusicology. It seems to be another message from the universe that if you do what you love, and love what you do, the money will find you! Now if there was only some way to zip up the land between here and Florida so I could plant a wet sloppy one on you, Pete, and then some way to zip up the land between there and Uganda so you and Jenn wouldn't have to be so far away for the time you are there. Way to go, little bro, soon to be Dr. Pete.

Mother Warrior

It is late, and I have just read a book from cover to cover for the first time in a while. What book could be keeping me up this late? What book is worth sacrificing sanity and sleep? MOTHER WARRIORS by Jenny McCarthy.

I don't really know who Jenny McCarthy is, being a TVphobe, aside from the fact that she's a comedienne, who also happens to be 'with' a comedian named Jim Carrey. What a home it must be. I also recognized her name because a couple years ago, while picking up another copy of The Baby Book by the Searses I saw her book Belly Laughs which was mostly humor about how round she got when she was pregnant and how sick she felt a lot of the time. Not my cup of tea.

Jenny is now speaking out LOUDLY about the connection between vaccinations and autism. This whole book is about it. It has stories of other mothers and fathers who have helped bring their children back from the abyss of autism with diet and supplements, and other therapies such as chelation and treating candida. OH MY GOODNESS THE WORLD NEEDS THIS BOOK.

I did not vaccinate my children (except Gus and El did have one round of DT before we went to Mexico, to which Gus reacted. Thank goodnes we had homeopathic DT! He stopped reacting after 1 dose.). I do not know the pain and suffering of the parents who did and saw their children slip away as a direct result. I hope they will read this book and find their way to Defeat Autism Now! or DAN! and Jenny's organization, Genration Rescue.

Thank you Jenny McCarthy! You are a true Mother Warrior.

a couple more...

Goodbye May

And now we must bid adieu to the lusty month of May. It is so lusty around here, with flowers going crazy: lilacs, irises like mad, rhododendrons, lupines starting, columbines colliding and hummingbirds and butterflies zipping and fluttering through it all. The squirrels and chipmunks seem to be holding their own in the world of exploding nature around here, and a few mice have found their way in--I have been brutal, as one must if one wants not to lose one's home to rodentia. It seems like there is no better place to be at this time of the year, although we have been spending some time up in John's Landing, which is in Southwest Portland, in a sweet Victorian with real gingerbread. Here's some photos of our woodsy wonderland:

more photos:

Busy busy in the garden and green house, and celebrating Kodomo no Hi with our Japanese Class. Happy Spring Everyone!

Daddy has a new toy.

s

Can you guess what it is? He shared it with me this week... but some of these are his.