Tuesday, June 12, 2018

2018 Mid Year's Cards




Why did you get your new year’s card in June? 

It's been way too long since we caught up.

The Portland Period has been dark (2/11 to present). I took on the fight of my life to get equal parenting time with the light of my life. Then I found out Oregon family law favors the under-earner, regardless of the cause or credentials. I have many things to come to peace over as I think about right versus wrong and fair versus just.All I have left in Santa Barbara is the area code in my phone number. Use it if you want to know more.

Whispers of gratitude are nibbling at the resentment as we near the end of a three year contentious, expensive, and acrimonious divorce. For example, I work at a great place, that has been forgiving of the constant distraction I experience. And I have amazing friends on the sidelines.

And, most importantly, Riley is an amazing child, who is loved by many. He plays the flute in the Hosford Middle School Band, gets great grades, and recently won the district championships in discus. I love him more than more. 

Come visit us in Portland. The weather is better than you think, and it offers citywide bicycle boulevards and curbside composting. 

Monday, January 24, 2011


And then there is the story of how Riley saved all year and decided to give his Share money to Foodbank of Santa Barbara. Riley's donation amounted to $17.53 and was proudly delivered on the day before Thanksgiving (which is not the best day to try to find someone at the Foodbank, FYI).

I am so proud of him, and clearly he is proud too.

2010

Finally, the 2011 New Year's card is out. The longhand version is as follows...

2010 started with a paddle in Bergen, where we were visiting Anna Olsson and her husband Morton. This was followed by ice skating near Amsterdam, with Dru's cousins Antoinette and Johan. Highly recommend winter holidays with friends and family in Europe. Lots of springtime hikes and get togethers with friends. For the last six years, Dru has been hiking every Sunday morning before church. Many Sundays she also actually makes it to church, where Riley is a student in the Catechesis of the Good Shephard. Riley rode his bike to school on street for the first time, and Dru made a video of it that was played during Earth Day's Green Shorts contest. Aunt Ginny and Emily visit. Spectacular wildflowers. Easter in New York, where we get to meet Ama’s new puppy Sophie before heading by train to Boston for Nantucket girl’s weekend. Riley stays in Somerville on a big sleepover without his parents. Lots of wading in Mission Creek, tadpole catching with friends. Amazing Big Sur camping in May. Mother’s day in Portland. CycleMAYnia in SBA. Homemade yogurt, bread and apricot, plum, and fig jams. Family travels to Hanover for 25th Dartmouth reunion, and Dru finally climbs Moosilauke. Moosilauke serves as training hike for summer overnight hiking trip in Austria, after van Hengel family reunion in Croatia. Ama visits for Riley’s 6th birthday. Joshua and Riley visit family in Chicago and Miami. Riley plays two seasons of soccer, with Joshua coaching both, while still assessing.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Thanksgiving Weekend 2010


Resolved. Blog at least once every two years. It is fun to reread even just a little bit. Yesterday was pretty much a perfect day. Actually, the whole weekend couldn't have been much better.

It started with the day off on Wednesday. I got so many appointments made, tried on glasses at Ochialli, went out for coffee. Riley had a half day at after school program, which made the whole month's tuition worth it. How nice I am finding it to have some time when I can just get things done without the pressure and disappointment of having to defer playing to "when I'm done" or "five more minutes," when I actually needed 15. Wednesday night dinner with friends before Thanksgiving. Mexican feast with Rori, Luca, Bob, Michele, Samantha, Roman and Riley. They would all be leaving to be with family in the morning, and Joshua and I would be heading to the zoo's pumpkin smash followed by a bike ride over to the Mills' for a lovely Thanskgiving feast courtesy of Lazy Acres. Ann and I sneaked in a hike to Inspiration Point via Jesusita Trail first.

Friday, a second Thanksgiving meal with Stewart, Sam, and Stella. How thankful we are for our Santa Barbara friend-families. But before that, a cheese feast with the boys on Jesusita Trail. We ran into a red tail hawk, a gopher, a dog bite. Riley "rememberized" all of Luca's passwords and was able to gain fairly easy access to the trail. Before that Coffee and mutt-mutts at Daily Grind. Riley spent the night at Roman's and we went to see a terrible movie. Morning Glory. Don't bother.

Saturday, cleaning up, starting the preparation for Arcelia to come help clean our house. The biweekly bad mood maker. Also trying to scale back for a lot of reasons. Last time I did this I think I got rid of 75 books and 100 t-shirts. Well, I went through the T-Shirts again, and it turns out my critical mass is down to about 60 t-shirts. I don't know why I think I need 60 t-shirts, when most of them are too huge to consider wearing anymore, but here I am, 60 t-shirts in the bag, 45 to Goodwill.

Rain threatened, but never materialized. The gym was packed, but the farmers' market was not. This was probably the last weekend for outdoor grown tomatoes, so I bought quite a few. We headed over to Phoebe's house for an early mac and cheese dinner, and came home to take the chicken out of our own crockpot to eat later on.

Finally Sunday. I feel like I haven't worked in forever. Will be shocked to go back to the office tomorrow. Ann and I took off on Arroyo Burro Trail at 0615 this morning. We got back to the car five hours later. It was a two water bottle and a snack hike. Sadly, we both only had one water bottle and no snacks. Saw three red tail hawks, and a trail I had never finished before, so that was terrific. We came back into civilization with mittens in our pockets and triple layers of clothing, and felt a little silly crossing paths with people who were wearing tank tops and shorts.




Riley's Christmas Wishes

Riley's sharing donation of $17.53 was delivered to Santa Barbara Foodbank on Wednesday before Thanksgiving. He wrote:
Dear Foodbank,

I save 5% [mama and dada add spare change whenever it's available] of my money all year to share. This year I'm giving the money to Foodbank to help you buy food for the homeless. The last dinosaurs died because there wasn't enough food. If Foodbank buys food, and with shelter, the homeless can live longer. Thank you for what you do.

Sincerely,
Riley

Riley's Christmas wish list has been staring at me for a couple of days now, and since we have finally delivered the sharing money, and boxed up the railroad tracks, Thomas, and his friends (snif) it's only fair that I share it with you now. I'll get an image of the list itself posted soon, but here are the key items on it:

[We removed the Trail Gator as Gin pointed out Riley has already exceeded the weight limit]

Legos!
8076, Deep Sea Striker
8078, Portal of Atlantis
Atlantis Headquarters
Atlantis Shadow Snapper
Faber Castell Coloring Activity Books
Games:
Sorry!
Blurt
Rat-a-tat Cat
Monopoly Kids
Books:
How the World Works (Dohen)
Tarra and Bella (Buckley)
From Chinaberry.com:
#15364, Buddy Talk Conversation Cards
Clothes
(He is 50", 72 pounds, Hanna's size 130 is fitting well)
Striped Shirts
Rain pants
hanna andersson underpants (HE really does want these) Size Medium LF32616 LF32679 or LF 33935, you pick)

Saturday, August 22, 2009


What, I haven't blogged in a year and a half? Well there's been another Dartmouth Summer Get-Together sandwiched by visits to museums in Lowell and Sleepy Hollow. Miquitoes, swimming in the Connecticut and in the Frankel's backyard pond. Fun.


Sunday, March 30, 2008

Riley Rides a Bike


In February we added the pedals to the BMW bicycle Ama bought Riley for Christmas, and this week, on Easter Sunday, Matt taught Riley what riding a bike really looks like.  So off he goes!  I wanted to post a movie, but I can't remember how...

Sunday, January 06, 2008


Family and Santa Claus were very good to all of us.  I hope they were good to you too.  Here are some photos of R on Christmas Eve with godfather/cousin Peter and Christmas morning.  Terry knit us Riley's stocking and boy did Santa squeeze a lot into it.

Resolved: More blogging

Riley, Peter, Christina, Katherine and Emily help my mother celebrate her birthday in November!  

Monday, September 10, 2007

Get together with TG



The above picture is of most of the kids of my friends' from Dartmouth. I guess we are getting to the age when we think it is better to take group shots of the kids and leave ourselves out. But, I did manage to get one of most of us as well. This was a fun summer weekend at Diane's farm in Pughkeepsie. Complete with swimming, looking for frogs, volleyball, canoe paddling, and long lingering meals.