The Wonderful World Of Cheese

In true Darcy form, she has decided over the last six or eight months that she loves cheese. All cheese, of course, because she doesn't do anything by halves. 

At Halloween, she won the award for best girls' costume and got to choose a prize from a big basket of prizes. Her category was the first awarded. The basket was filled with chocolate bars of many kinds, games, toys, jars of olives. She chose the round of Humboldt Fog cheese, an rinded goat cheese with a layer of ash. And she loved that cheese.

As part of her birthday present, I found this magazine about cheese. It became her bedtime reading. Michael tells this story as if it is an odd choice, but this comes from a man who used to keep three encyclopedias of classical CDs by his bedside. 

Rain: You Knew It Would Come

It is that time of year again. The weather forecasts now show much more rain than sunshine or even just plain old clouds and today was no exception. We woke up to rain, played out our day through showers and rain, and now it's raining hard. 

I'm not sure what our plan for the rain will be this year. Our first winter here, we lived in a very small rental, so finding entertainment inside was very difficult. Last winter, our house was a constant construction zone. This year, the house is a little closer to complete, although Michael has some designs on our bathroom that will involve us not being able to use it for a long stretch of time. But other than that, we have space to be inside and less pressure to be painting, installing trim, etc. Darcy is fond of board games now and played hangman successfully for the first time in the car today, so there are more options of indoor activities this winter.

The real joy is that Darcy can read books by herself now. I'm waiting for her to be able to spend hours reading novels so *I* can spend hours reading novels. She's not quite there yet, but it will come as no surprise to regular readers of this blog that one of the first books she sat down and read by herself, cover to cover, was one of her Wright Brothers books.

GO!

Well, it's that time of year again! The time when I drive myself crazy by coming up with a blog post Every Single Day In November. The time when you flock to my blog by the tens to check for the newest post. The time when I catch up with all kinds of stuff I should have posted months ago. Yes, it's NaBloPoMo: National Blog Posting Month! I will provide a link in the next few days, but it's quite a confusing time for NaBloPoMo as they've just officially switched from an independent site to BlogHer.

But enough of that. I signed up for the torture all by myself, so I'll live through it. I did last year, anyway. Here's a cute picture of Darcy-as-fairy for Halloween. She is fueling up on quesadilla and cucumbers before hitting the candy and the trick or treating:

Stay tuned for more scenes for our life in and around the National Parks all month long!

"Special Day For Me!"

And so it is. The first day of kindergarten. A very special day for Darcy and she woke up chanting softly, "Special day for me! Special day for me!" I think she might have been a little excited about starting school today. Above, getting ready to climb into the truck to go to school. Below, outside her classroom itching to get inside and start being in elementary school. She knows at least one other person in her class AND in the after-school program, which she's also completely excited about. She is in a K/1 composite class and looks very, very small compared to the rest of the kids. We'll have a report about the first day later. Now I need to get started with a very busy week of work.

August Vacation Part I

It is September. Darcy is no longer a preschooler. Yesterday was her last day of preschool and she starts kindergarten on Tuesday. Our August vacation was wonderful and revived us all to enjoy the last bits of summer in Del Norte. I'll be posting some pictures over the next few days. Here is a taste of the joy that being cousins together can bring.

Darcy and Liana celebrate matching outfits sent by grandma (Kathy) ten minutes after arriving at the house from the airport.
They insist on wearing the matching outfits again the next day (and, I believe, the next day, too) while being a great cheering section for my swim in the triathlon.

While I wait for my team mates to finish the ride and run segments of the triathlon, the girls sport their skirts on the surfboard outside Ocean World, our local aquarium. They had a great time and then came to see me get medals -- and promptly claim one each to wear.
The skirts came off for sprinkler time in the yard. Michael was giving our lawn and fruit trees a good drink before we abandoned them for ten days in Bend. It's the dry time and now we have a carpet of redwood leaves from our unwatered redwood fairy ring.

Proudly showing off their wetness once the sprinklers went off.

This is the 200th post for this blog. Not bad, but I've definitely been less prolific about writing in the past few months. I'll try to do better because I know Darcy has a lot of fans out there who are missing out on seeing all the different stages she's passing through. I don't have anything profound to say today. Michael is off golfing, Darcy and I are about to go to the farmers market and we have vague plans to go enjoy the beauty of the Smith River this afternoon. Del Norte is entering what should be two months of glorious weather and I hope we're able to take advantage of a lot of it before the rains start again.

I've been reading one of my favorite blogs a lot recently (Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op) and thinking a lot about getting rid of a lot of the stuff that we've accumulated over the years. I have made some small starts, but I know there are many boxes lurking in the garage that we've barely opened. Life is too short to be taken over by stuff. I learned recently that books can be recycled in our mixed-stream bin, so I'll be tossing a lot of old editions of textbooks that absolutely nobody wants any more. It's going to feel good.

Enjoy the last days or weeks of summer wherever you live. We're busy treasuring every sunny morning.

A Good Beginning and End

Well, it hasn't been the best of days. I've been mad enough to spit nails at all the idiots in Congress who can't behave like adults and actually do their jobs. And my big plan to get some particular work done didn't happen quite as I'd hoped. BUT...there were some highlights. First, after many months of planning and hoping and waiting, the Little School of the Redwoods -- Del Norte's new preschool -- opened for business. Despite the fact that she'll start kindergarten in about a month, Darcy wanted to go, so go she did:

She's carrying the backpack she and Michael made from two bubble-wrap mailing envelopes and blue duct tape, and proud of it. It's loaded with some of the many books she has made recently. Many of you might receive a book or two in the mail soon because there are about a dozen sitting on the coffee table right now.

She did not want to pose under the sign outside the door, even though that was my plan for the picture of the day. I promise that it says "Small Avenue/Little School of the Redwoods".

Inside, there's no doubt where you are!

Dropping Darcy off at Little School was a morning highlight. The evening highlight was supervising Darcy in the bath with the bubble machine spitting bubbles at her non-stop. It was FUN. She had tricked me into taking her to the beach earlier and when I wouldn't let her swim (in her clothes), she suggested a "just play, no washing hair" bath and I was happy to oblige.

I just took her a glass of water in bed and she asked what I was doing. When I told her that I needed to finish the dishes, she told me that it's late and I should be going to sleep. I couldn't agree more. Good night!

Happy Fathers Day!

Well, it's Fathers Day! Michael slept in and is off playing golf right now after eating not-quite-what-I-meant-them-to-be breakfast burritos. I think I'm doing pretty well so far. In honor of Fathers Day, here are two pictures of my father, Dave, and many pictures of Michael and our girl. They are more or less chronological.

Michael and the brand new Darcy Jo.

Darcy and her daddy, sacked out in the recliner in King Salmon.

Still in King Salmon...learning how to stick out your tongue.

Darcy's first camping trip -- and first visit to Yosemite!

Rock-climbing on Teutonia Peak trail, Mojave National Preserve.

Darcy's first baseball game.

Sunset among the Granite Mountains, Mojave.

Town ball at Fort Humboldt State Park.

Camping!

Well, the rain is finally starting to taper off (although it rained yesterday morning for the opening day of our farmers' market, which I missed due to work), so it's camping season again! We went camping the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend after the weather turned out to be so much better than predicted. We had originally planned to camp the whole weekend, but then the weather folk predicted a full three days of rain, so we didn't. And so, of course, it was beautiful until Monday afternoon. Darcy was, as always, a big help in setting up camp in her somewhat interesting choice of outfit.

Due to our late start, we headed to the closest Oregon State Park, about thirty miles away. It's right on the beach, so we spent some very windy time playing in the water and sand. The campground has a great playground, so we spent some time there as well.

The morning was a bit chilly and Darcy was having none of it:

That's about as bundled as a small fairy-girl can get. She eventually thawed out enough to eat her pancakes before heading out on a wildflower expedition. The evening program the night before was a wildflower walk, which Darcy ended up loving. The guides let her keep a copy of the photocopied cheat sheet they used on the walk and Darcy walked around with it looking for some of the flowers she learned (or already knew):

She's styling in her PJs, vest, pink gloves, and pink-and-green knit hat (thanks again to Missy for our favorite hat!). On the way home, her flower chart got "scrunchled" so she had to draw her own. She drew a series of many boxes, just like on the chart. Hers are a variety of greens with a blob of color in the middle of some of them, but she did it so seriously and it came out as a pretty stunning piece of art even if it wouldn't help you identify a single flower.

Art is a major focus of Darcy's life these days. She made a leap a few months ago into representational art and will now draw very complex pictures that really do tell the story she wanted them to tell. Based on our earlier "Darcy Goes Camping" book that was the tale of her first camping trip illustrated with black and white photos, we made a "Darcy Goes Camping in Oregon" version for this trip. This time, though, we wrote the words -- mostly hers -- on the pages and then she illustrated it herself. The picture of the wildflower walk is amazing, with very recognizable foxglove, which is in peak bloom right now. My favorite might be the "hicycle". Darcy coined the phrase to describe a bicycle that rode around the campground. The seat and handlebars had been raised a few feet into the air so it was a high bicycle = hicycle. Without any guidance, she figured out how to draw that, along with the ice cream truck featured on the same "Darcy saw some cool things" page. We did not visit the ice cream truck due to the s'mores and popcorn that had already been consumed.

Maybe next time. Ice cream while camping does sound like a pretty good treat.

Happy Mother's Day Weekend!

In honor of Mother's Day, here's the earliest picture I have of me and my mom, Kathy. And in honor of the great weekend I had with the small beast who brings me mother-status, I'll add some pictures of Darcy at play in Fort Humboldt.

Fort Humboldt is in Eureka and was the site of, you guessed it, a fort! Not-yet President Grant served as quartermaster, which gives it an extra claim to fame. For the second year in a row, Michael spent three days at the fort playing "town ball", an old-timey version of baseball. It requires you to hit a player with the ball to get them out. Michael got Darcy out a couple times.


The surgeon gave a demonstration of field medical techniques.

Surprise! They wanted a very small patient to carry around in the stretcher and Darcy was perfectly happy to play the part. For long after they put her down.

Ah, town ball! Two batters, one pitcher, and a very short pitching distance. Maybe not always, but that's how our girl plays it -- and she got a hit! You can just barely see the ball coming off the bat.

Darcy played in the grass and rolled down hills after her last round of town ball while we were waiting for Michael to change back into modern clothes. She was a very happy and smile-filled girl.

Darcy Loves Sunshine

As Michael said, "Our little blur." She was taking full advantage of the hour or two of sun we had. She was looking extra-cute, so here are a few pictures.

She didn't want to pose, just dance!

A little puddle splashing.

Then she found a good downed branch, so it was sweeping time!

And then back to running and constant motion.

Random Darcy Looking Cute

Tonight, I'll be posting the first of my de-cluttering pictures, but first you have to deal with cute pictures of Darcy. Darcy and I went to Redding last weekend and among the many other fun, mostly free things we did on Saturday was a free kids craft time at a Michael's art supply store. Darcy made this great giant cupcake from a small terra cotta pot with its saucer on top. I was very proud because she did all but one step completely on her own. She even wrote her name with a paint brush. But I was not nearly as proud as she was. She talked about it constantly and for the first two days we had it at home, she didn't like to be parted from it. As you can see. She cradled it while Michael was getting her shoes and socks on for school. She slept with it on the window sill next to her bed. She was proud.

Darcy loves boots! She slips into my rainboots and Michael's rainboots frequently, but here she went a step further with Michael's Sorrels. Michael was in the midst of switching out the receptacles for the washer and dryer. Darcy was helping.

Michael brought home a discarded white board from work. It had accidentally come in contact with a permanent marker, some of which he was able to get off with some serious elbow grease. Darcy had already shown a love of dry erase markers. This particular morning, she was coloring a tablecloth for her picnic. I love it!

And there you have. Random cute pictures of Darcy and the stories to go with them. That's it!

The Wright Brothers Return!

My wonderful sister Ev made a family calendar recently and we received our copy a couple days ago. I haven't actually told Ev that because life has been crazier than normal what with ending my VISTA service on Friday. Included in the calendar are pictures of Darcy sitting next to Orville Wright on a replica of the 1903 Flyer. Those of you who are long-time readers of this blog will remember stories of the Wright Brothers past, like here, here, and here.

Well....they're ba-aaack!

Yes, thanks to the memories revived by the calendar, we have had a 24 hour shift in priorities from fairies to the Wright Brothers. This morning, Darcy knocked on the bathroom door as I was drying off from my shower and I opened the door to find her wearing a pair of wings. Not an uncommon practice. However, when I said, "Hello, fairy!", she told me, "I'm not a fairy. I'm trying to find a way to fly, but I need to change my wings so they'll work right."

Tonight, she kept saying, "I'm cold. Are you cold?" She put on her slippers and then announced that she needed to find her favorite hat. She came back from the laundry room/entry wearing Michael's gray knit hat (sticking four or five inches up above the top of her head). She crawled into bed with the slippers and hat still on because Orville and Wilbur, according to one of the many Wright Brothers books we've read, sometimes had to sleep in their "coats, hats, and shoes" to stay warm while living in their tent at Kitty Hawk.

I read our two Wright Brothers books for bed last night and tonight, and she's watched the park film from the National Monument at Dayton, OH, both days as well. The Wright Brothers are alive and well in Crescent City. Stay tuned for more exploits!

Snow! But No Snow.

Poor Darcy! Colds linger forever here on the North Coast and just as she had two days of virtually no coughs after a MONTH of endless coughing...she's sick again. Feverish and just all around sad. The worst part is that her preschool is having a carpooled trip to a snow park tomorrow and she was so excited about going to play in snow with her small friends. It's not going to happen.

But lucky Darcy did get to play with snow on our drive home from Christmas visiting. We stopped at an overlook and she and Michael threw snowballs at me. They had fun, I stayed warm, and we all get the memories caught on film.

Darcy was very, very proud of the snowball sliding off my window.

And I managed to catch Michael right at the impact!

Slacker Parents

Last month, as you may recall, Darcy turned four. This means that she SHOULD have had her four-year-old checkup and accompanying shots. We were slackers, however, and kinda forgot about that part. I called yesterday morning to make an appointment before we head south for Christmas. Lo and behold, they had a cancellation 25 minutes from my call, and I rushed over to pick up Darcy from preschool and got there five minutes early.

She did so well. She cooperated with everything without tears or struggles. This has not been the case for doctors visits for a while. And she has had a major growth spurt! She is 42.5 inches tall now, which shifted her height upwards by many percentiles.

Unfortunately, the visit did not end without tears. I don't really blame her. The nurse came in with FIVE needles. My poor little pincushion. She recovered reasonably quickly after they were all over and the bandaids were on, but she still got to go to the store after preschool to pick out ice cream (vanilla), sprinkles (rainbow), and sauce (chocolate syrup) for dessert last night.

A Day Of Moss

Today was one of those rare winter weekend days without rain. It's raining now, of course, but the precipitation held off until about six o'clock and we got to spend quite a lot of time outside. It was warm(ish), too, so very enjoyable!

We walked around the Mill Creek campground after having a slightly disappointing salmon-viewing in Mill Creek. We saw a few huge salmon, but only a few. The water was high and fast, so the water clarity was against us. Mill Creek campground is one mossy, fungus-y place and I took lots of pictures of cute mosses and fungi. I will share them very soon. But for this evening, your entertainment is in the form of Darcy.

After we walked around for quite a while, we went back to the bridge to see if there were any more salmon. We started throwing leaves in one side of the bridge so we could watch them as they appeared on the other side. The big-leaf maple leaves were perfect for this game, but Darcy just threw handfuls of whatever was lying around, too. Here she is, getting a running start after dropping leaves in:

...and waiting for them to come out downstream:

Roast Fairy. Fairy Stew. Fairy Soup.

Before I get to the main attraction of this post -- fairy recipes -- I'd like to share an exchange Michael and Darcy had as they prepared to do battle on the CandyLand board after dinner tonight:

Michael: I'll be blue because I love you!
Darcy: I'll be red because you have a beautiful head.

She's a rhymer!

On to fairy recipes:

As I may have mentioned, we get to play fairy a lot. "Get to" has less implied mandatory-ness than really exists. "We are forced to play fairy a lot" would be more accurate. And so we do. Darcy likes to re-enact the most harrowing scenes from the three Tinkerbell movies most often. They involve a hawk chasing Tinkerbell, sprinting thistles (weeds!) chasing Tinkerbell and other fairies, a multitude of "dirty" rats chasing Tinkerbell and Terrence, and a rainy cat trying to attack Tinkerbell at the beginning of the third movie and then chasing many other fairies near the end.

In other words, we get to play the villains in the form of a hawk, weeds, rats, and a rainy cat while Darcy runs, hides, and squeals while generally trying to avoid getting caught.

But on Sunday, we discovered (or created) a new variation on this theme. We were all (ok, Michael and I were) trying to be lazy in bed. Instead of being willing to chase and catch, I suggested that I, as the hawk, wanted a change of pace and was going to roast the fairy. Darcy played along. I cut up imaginary onions, potatoes, parsnips, carrots, rutabaga, and salsify and spread them over her. Then I wrapped all of this in a blanket and rolled her back and forth chanting, "Roast the fairy. Roast the fairy. Roast the fairy." Then Michael and I enjoyed roasted fairy. Yum!

So after doing a few variations on this theme (spring veggies, winter roast), I stewed the fairy. After every iteration, Darcy would grin and say, "Let's make another fairy recipe now!"

Today, after dinner, she initiated the fairy recipes again, first being roasted and stewed herself and then making me into stew. When the fairy stew was done, she "carried a bowl" of it to Michael, saying (long before she was in his hearing), "Daddy, I have some food that I think you will find really delicious!"

In the second round of fairy stew-making, however, she decided that she did NOT need to cut up the fairy (which she did thoroughly the first time) because it was just in there for flavor. You know, like a bay leaf.

So if any of you happen to be cooking fairy any time soon, give us a call and Darcy will provide you with any number of recipes for your fairy-eating pleasure.

Swimmy And Waggly and Fin And...

Pets in the house! Pets in the house!

For Darcy's birthday, Michael bought all the components of a small aquarium. We're not going back to the craziness of the marine tank (I only wish! I miss my live rock dancing worms!), just to some tropical freshwater cuties. Of course, the tank had to sit around "cycling" all week long before fish were allowed to enter, but today, we headed to Oregon to a couple of small fish shops to buy the livestock. Really. That's what the creatures that live in fish tanks are called in the biz.

Michael didn't want to overload the tank all at once, so we brought home five cardinal tetras. And a piece of driftwood. And three fake plants. And some fish flakes. The fish seem to have made it home in one piece, although they're not looking too lively right now. We're letting them have a relatively stress-free night and we'll hope that they're all very happy and schooling around in the morning.

Darcy has started to name them. I voted for the same name for all five, being that they're basically identical, but Darcy has other ideas. That one is Swimmy. That other one is Waggly. There's Fin. And I think the other two are waiting for inspiration.

Consider us petted.

I'm Thankful For...

...the sweetest rainbow girl in the world...

...my dear husband who did yardwork all morning...

...and the view from my kitchen window. Redwoods, ferns, and sunshine!

The Cutest Guitar (From The Archives)

Ok, so you might not be able to sit around a campfire playing songs on her (although she loves to sing around a campfire), but she is definitely one of the cutest things ever found in a guitar case.

Birthday Party!

Waiting for guests. Not entirely patiently.

Dolls! Big dolls! There is excitement!