Turning Thirty

Last weekend at the cabin Carol, Mom, Jan and I all discussed getting older. The consensus among everyone but me was that turning thirty was the hardest milestone that they had reached so far. Since I haven't yet gotten to forty I couldn't weigh in on their theory, but I can see why they think thirty is tough. There is a definite divide between your twenties and your thirties. I think that especially for a woman that aging can be a really hard thing. I could go on and on about how our culture doesn't value the wisdom that comes with life experience as much as we value appearances and youth, but I think the real issue is that milestones as we age force us to evaluate what we have accomplished in our lives thus far and also, of course, what we have failed to accomplish. Obsessing over what we view as failures is destructive and unhelpful, but a very human thing to do. A wise man once said "Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans."

Kathy from the top of the Eifel Tower, Spring 2004

So, for my sister, who turned 30 yesterday I have a few things to say. In the thirteen months and thirteen days between our thirtieth birthdays I have learned to not be so hard on myself, to not be in such a hurry to get everything done, and to enjoy the ride. Kathy, we are so proud of you and what you have accomplished. You are an intelligent, beautiful, brave person. You spend each day with children that will remember you for the rest of their lives as their very first teacher. You are a loving wife, a compassionate daughter and the best sister anyone could dare to ask for. In our twenties we took a trip to Paris in the spring together. In our thirties I'm thinking somewhere a little warmer... love you, Kat. -M

Autumn Afternoons

Friday night MJ and I walked over to Westside Drive-In, a neighborhood icon and grabbed some meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner. One meal is enough for both of us, and the food at this place is not your typical drive-in food so we were very satisfied. We spent the rest of the evening at home, chatting over a bottle of wine. Saturday morning I got the rest of my plants snuggled into their new home as rain drizzled down all day. It wasn't really what most people would refer to as rain - but in Boise we'll take what we can get... mist, sprinkles, drizzles, dew, downpours, torrents and just plain showers are all welcome here. My new plants will love it, and the snow pack in the mountains is (knock on wood) a good omen of the winter to come. I'm actually looking forward to breaking out the skis this year.
Saturday night after MJ got off work we drove up to Garden Valley to meet up with Carol, Jan, Mom and Dad. It was almost a complete reenactment of our weekend up there with them last year. A late dinner, little wine, a little Balderdash. Wet dogs in and out the door. Rain hitting the metal roof. Cozy as it gets. Nothing smells better than the ground in the woods after a good strong rain. Nothing says fall to me more than a drive along the Payette as the leaves start to change and a night spent in stocking feet playing board games with family.
Sunday as we drove home we stopped by a nursery in Horseshoe Bend.
*A side note here: I linked to this nursery's website because I am amazed that a business in Horseshoe Bend has a honest to goodness website. I'm not sure if that says more about the prevalence of the Internet in our lives these days or how far Horseshoe Bend has come in the last few years.
Anyway, they had some very creative ideas. MJ's favorite was a flower bed. It was an actual old rusty bed frame filled with flowers. I liked the kitchen complete with an old stove and stock pots and frying plans filled with succulents. I can't wait to see what that place looks like in the summer. It will definitely be on our list of places to stop when we are heading home from the cabin.
It was a quiet weekend, exactly what we needed. I hope everyone out there had the weekend that they needed to have as well.One of these days I'll charge up the batteries on the camera and start taking pictures again. Love to all, -M

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Last night we (Granddad, Dorothy, Mom, Dad, Carol, Jan, MJ and I) went out to dinner to celebrate Grandma's 85th birthday. She has the energy of a 25 year old, and is an inspiration to everyone that knows her. Aunt Jan organized the surprise meal last night and also read aloud one of her famous limericks. We stuffed ourselves with cornbread and pie and chicken fried steak. We laughed a lot. We watched Grandma open her presents. We skoled and toasted an amazing woman and her wonderful spirit.


Happy happy happy, Grandma. And many more. We love you so much!

Weekend Update...

My brother Scott was here all weekend from Eugene and it was bliss. On Friday night we had him over for dinner (some fantastic grilled sirloins and MJ's famous wasabi potatoes for the epi-curious) before going to see Bright Eyes downtown. I always enjoy listening to MJ and Scott talk about music since they both know so much about it and all I know is whether I like it or not. In the end we all agreed that it was a great show. Afterward we grabbed the dogs and hiked into the foothills to look at the stars and throw sticks for BB to fetch.
Saturday morning Scott, Mom, Dad and I participated in the KAT walk. The walk was benefiting education for the prevention of kidney disease. My mother manages a home dialysis program in Idaho and Eastern Oregon so this is a cause that is near to her very big heart. Our entire family is so proud of her and the work that she does, and it was nice to be there to support her and the staff and patients of the Boise office for the first annual event.
After the KAT walk the four of us rode our bicycles on the greenbelt downtown to the Saturday Market. The Market runs all summer long featuring fresh produce from local farmers and a great selection of art and craft booths including things like metal sculpture, photography and pottery. While there we picked up freshly homemade (and by far the best I've ever had) chicken pot pie and veggie lasagna for dinner that night and took it up to Grandma & Granddad's so Scott could see Aunt Jan, here visiting from Norway. We alternated between chatting on the deck and hovering around the TV watching the BSU homecoming game, and had a really nice dinner and visit. Later that evening Scott and I headed downtown to meet up with MJ at World Cycle. Scott just bought a used mountain bike so Michael looked it over and made a few adjustments. My brother had to leave the next morning, which always makes me sad, but we are hoping to visit him in the beautiful state of Oregon soon. Hopefully before it is too cold and wet to ride some trails.
Sunday morning I dragged Michael with me to our local nurseries looking for fall deals on perennials. I am focusing on the front yard now because it is so hard to find things that the dogs won't eat or run right on over in the back yard. Next year I guess I'll have to start addressing that with more containers in the borders or some sort of fencing. Anyway, we found a beautiful Japanese Maple and a lot of other shade plants - Astilbe, Joe's Pry Weed, Northern Sea Oats and a couple of other new ones I haven't grown before. I can't wait to get home from work tonight and get my hands dirty! Planting is one of my most favorite things to do. Sunday night Michael's boss and his wife had us out for dinner and to give us a wedding present. They are such generous, wonderful, fun people and their kids are a riot. We had a great time and stayed a little too late... I'm a bit sleepy today.
I hope everyone out there had a great weekend as well... now I am going to take a nap...
Love to all, -M

My husband and our dates...

A couple of dorks mooing in cow hats at the Tillamook Dairy on the Oregon Coast last year.

Before we were married Michael and I would set aside the money and time for at least one date alone together per month. We’d go to the classic dinner and a movie at the Flicks (Boise’s theatre for indie flicks). A lot of times we’d go to see a concert. Once we drove to the top of 8th Street and had a picnic. Another time we had a picnic at Albertson’s park as the sun set. A memorable one we went on a sushi/ martini tour, hitting a couple different restaurants in one night sampling rolls and lemon drops as we went.
Since our big event in July we’ve decided to have our date night on the 18th of each month. Last month we got all dressed up (Michael wore his suit and I wore a dress) went to Milky Way, a nice restaurant downtown and then out to a pub to listen to some live folk/country music by a local band. Next Tuesday Michael and I will celebrate two months of wedded bliss. We are deciding between two options for our date this month... going to one of my favorite plays - Little Shop of Horrors at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival with wine, cheese, and bread dipped in olive oil on their lawn is one idea; going to Boondocks an amusement park out in Meridian for laser tag, batting cages, bumper boats, go karts and greasy pizza is another.
I think that the fact that we are going back and forth between two such diverse options is hilarious. I believe what that says about us is that even though we are still figuring things out on this journey we’ve decided to take together, we really enjoy each other and it doesn’t matter what we do together - high brow or low brow or somewhere in between. I feel very lucky to have married such a truly fun, intelligent, warm, caring person that is interested in seeing a play and still enjoys playing around.

Busy Weekend... (nothing new there...)

This weekend we tackled yet another front of the house project. This one involved beefing up our posts on the front landing. Previously there were just two 4x4 posts, so we got up early Saturday morning and went to BMC West to pick up some 1x4 & 1x6 cedar to wrap the posts with.
A side note here: I really miss working at the lumber yard. The corporate world is just, well, different. I am so weirdly proud of our place up on Franklin Road. MJ compared Home Depot to the Walmart of building materials after seeing it the first time. Is it strange for a woman (and environmentalist) to be so attached to a place that sells studs & siding? I couldn't say, but the smell of fresh cut lumber early in the morning truly warms my heart!
Anyway, MJ had to work so I started our project by myself until the BSU game started. I love the feeling of using a nail gun, its very powerful. I was getting some bemused looks from people walking by, and had more than a few comments from our neighbors. My mother and grandmother and cousin Amy and mother-in-law Peggy are phenomenal sewers (or is that seamstresses?). My sister knows her way around a sewing machine as well. I never have learned and always felt like some day the sewing bug would just bite me and all those good sewing genes would finally manifest. I've always wanted to create, I've longed to take materials and make something of them. As I was happily humming under my breath nailing the cedar onto the posts on Saturday morning it occurred to me that maybe I was destined to create using a different medium than Peggy, Amy, Mom and Grandma do. It was one of those (as Oprah calls them) 'Aha!' moments.
Yesterday we finished the posts and MJ spackled and caulked his little heart out. He's really, really good at finish work which is going to come in handy when we move our efforts into the house over the winter. We were laughing together by the end of the day, which I take as a good sign. I know some of my friends have said remodeling projects can put a bit of strain on a marriage!
I'm hoping to post photos of before all the tile and post projects and after in the next few weeks after we get done painting. Next we have a gravel job to do on our front strip between the sidewalk and the road with some container projects and then (weehooo!) a new willow fence. Can't wait!
Hope everyone is doing well and discovering their passions in life. Love to all, -M

Post Wedding Pics - North Idaho

Self portrait I

Fountain in Sandpoint
Self portrait II




Contemplating life's mysteries or wondering when the heck were going to get some breakfast? You decide...

Self portrait part tres

MJ & I with Josh Ritter

A beautiful venue for beautiful music

North Idaho is... hmmm... how can I possibly do it justice? I keep erasing everything I write about it because I simply cannot explain what an incredible spot North Idaho is. There are vineyards, rolling hills, huckleberry plants lining the roads, a very tempting looking amusement park, mammoth mountain lakes, universities and colleges tucked into every nook and cranny. North Idaho is the best of Western Montana and the best of Eastern Washington rolled into one. We were there the second weekend in August for the Sandpoint Music Festival and couldn't have had a better time. In Coeur d'Alene we walked the streets of downtown in awe of all of the antique shops, restaurants, public art, and quirky places to shop. We bought un-filtered olive oil that had been pressed there in the shop by a family owned business and have been enjoying it since our return dripping from bread and in MJ's case covered in Parmesan cheese. At the music festival we saw Madeline Peyroux, a French Canadian that sounds so much like Billy Holiday her voice puts a shiver down your spine. We also saw our favorite singer/songwriter Josh Ritter, a North Idaho native. He was gracious enough to stand for three hours after his show to meet and greet all of his fans as he always does. We had him sign our wine cork as we did in Stanley and were a bit thankful he didn't remember us. I'd hate for him to feel like we are stalking him when we see him again next month at the Egyptian Theatre in Boise! We camped in the car while we were there and had a fantastic trip, staying at the family cabin in Garden Valley on our way home.

Pictures post wedding... camping trip with the girls

MJ fishing as Zach looks on wistfully

Sleeping beauty... Geneva manages to make even sleeping in a tent in a flannel sleeping bag look glamorous!

Ripley just cannot accept the fact that MJ is NOT a morning (or even early afternoon) person

The first weekend in August we headed for the hills for some fun in the mountain sun. Our camping spot was above Idaho City. We had just girls (Kim, Tobi, Geneva and I) the first night, MJ, Ripley & Wendy and her dogs joined us the second night. It was important to me to spend as much time with my friend Geneva as I could steal away before she went back home to Australia. We camped in a gorgeous area... probably the best place I have ever "car camped" (this is what we call camping when no real effort or hiking is involved in getting to the camp spot). We were on a bit of an island, so the river wrapped around our tents. I woke up a couple of times late into the night and just layed there looking at the stars and listening to the river. We saw a lot of little creatures such as frogs and snakes... the usual suspects - deer & hawks... MJ caught a few small(ish) fish... our friend Tobi grilled up the thickest, juiciest, yummiest steaks ever... the four of us finished all the wine the first night... the sky was FULL of satellites, shooting stars and constellations and since there was a burn ban we sat for hours just looking at the heavens and chatting the night away... good times...

New Picture Website

http://picasaweb.google.com/skipbashnard

This is a link to a photo-sharing website that MJ put together. I haven't seen it yet, but feel free to take a look when you get a chance. Hope all is well, -M