Month: August 2009

Wildflower

Post author By rebecca
Post date August 18, 2009
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My son in his beloved wildflower garden and bird sanctuary, which is only 20 minutes away from our house. He bounces down the winding wood-chip paths like an exuberant rabbit and he makes sure to cover every stretch of the 2-square miles of enclosed park land. It is small enough to feel I can’t lose sight him for too long, and large enough that he feels free to run and run and run.

+ Newsflash: while standing in the center of our prolific garden after work today, I discovered a ball of grass clippings. When I picked the clump up, I saw about 5 little newborn animals, pale grey, stirring blindly in a nest. I was a little surprised, as it is late summer, and a little scared, because I thought at first: mice? rats? I put the grass back on top and jumped out of the garden. But then my husband said he saw a rabbit leap out of our garden this morning and it rushed up to 2 more rabbits like they were having an emergency meeting.

This chance observation makes me guess those little babies are rabbits! I hope they will be okay as it gets colder now at night. The mom rabbit is obviously smart to have chosen a good safe garden for her home. And I now have to be careful where I step! What will it be like when five baby rabbits are jumping around my garden and are too little to escape? This, folks, is going to be an interesting harvest season….

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Chicago L–Brown line

Post author By rebecca
Post date August 16, 2009
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We rode the Brown Line (befittingly) on the L our last day in Chicago. Our son was in train heaven (also my husband looks pretty happy, too; but he also looks like he’s about to give our son a surprise squeeze in this picture, if you ask me).

Afterward when we told our son we were heading back to Minnesota–he yelled “No!” At that moment I think we all wouldn’t have minded moving to Chicago and not going home 8 hours away. The train was that sweet, as were the rows and rows of old brown-brick buildings. This trip helped clarify that deep-down I am probably a big city vs. not-so-big city kind of gal. Although, I admit the wee house atop a hill in a field of wildflowers on a remote island, with no neighbor in sight, also tugs at my imagination, too.

Post author By rebecca
Post date August 15, 2009
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amokgarden

Updated view of our garden, now run amok, taken by husband, with me stuck in the middle. Yellow zucchini, Japanese cucumbers, green beans, sweet peas, basil, daikon radish, purple radish, cilantro, and roma tomatoes–not yet bright red though, all bursting out and over the fence. We also discovered a pumpkin under some big leaves creeping across the lawn, and it is now the size of a baby’s head; thus, we did the proper thing and made a “pillow” for it so its skin will not bruise.

I spent the day cleaning out son’s room and closet, in preparation to paint the walls with fresh (zero VOC) sky-blue paint. This is the fourth room and final room to paint in our now three years’ residence in the apartment. Wow, it feels strange to write this: three years in Minneapolis. I still miss Japan, sometimes it hits me furiously, but I am also accepting that this is the best place for our son to be, for now….but then again, Iceland, Ireland, Toronto, Åland Islands, hmmmmm….these are just daydream-lands, safe dreamlands to carry inside my mind whenever I look to escape the humdrum of now. Well, actually life is not so hum-drum today, as I am in the midst of a mini-vacation, which involves reading Sherman Alexie and gathering up bags of clothes, toys, blankets, dishes that we don’t need and piling it all into a corner. I will soon give it away to The Arc, a non-profit thrift store whose income goes toward empowering people with developmental disabilities.

Feels good then to simplify our home and help the tiny space we dwell inside appear more open. Now we have more room to dance and breathe and jump, which is good for the six-year-old, and good for his parents, too.