Keeping House

The pile of pavers and sand for The Path have kept the kids busy for hours.

Isaac and Syd look like ragamuffin, pioneer homesteaders: gathering buffalo chips for fuel, sweeping their dirt floors, reinforcing their abode which they Made With Their Own Bare Hands. Ignore the large plastic playthings from the future.

A Stroll Through The Garden

How does one grow those huge heads of cauliflower like in the stores?

Lemon Cucumber

The Pear Tree that was Sown In Ill Will.

It caught a bad virus secondary to the long, wet spring/summer. But it figures since it was Sown In Ill Will. The kids helped me strip all the virus-laden-ed leaves off. It recovered beautiful. But no pears. Figures.

Mmmm! Sown in yummy organic compost (wait. is "organic compost" redundant?).
Dah! Ripped off again!

The summer of the green tomato

I grew this with the intent of foraying into new culinary delights. But I haven't harvested it because what in the heck does one do with Swiss Chard?

Hummingbird friendly

Name this brassica :).

The hot debate at our house is Golden Raspberries vs. Red Raspberries
These are from the progeny of the starts Mrs. Z gave me years ago.

O, Plant A Watermelon Seed On My Grave

Clara takes after her great-grandma Kartchner in her love for watermelon.

So Some Stuff Happened This Summer

Kristi came to town to pick strawberries. That girl is one of the funniest people I know. By funny, I mean witty. Also, she is brave. She drove here from Utah without her husband. This is Talmage and Bentley on the complimentary tractor escort. Kristi and I new better than to lug six children in wagons out to the fields. In the rain. Uphill both ways.

This is how kids get good character: working in the fields - rain or shine.
Here is Clara, on QC patrol.


MOVING ON ....

What sort of a parent lets their kids have markers in their room at bedtime?

They look like warriors. And rulers (see below).

The cousins spent the night a couple weeks ago (it was D&J's Super Date turn). They somehow coaxed a caterpillar into their clutches and named her (?) Kendra. Kendra? Anyway. They loved on Kendra so much. ("Pretty bird. Pretty bird."). Lots of loving and attention to her habitat and nutritional needs. She had her own private Matchbox Car and lots of leaves and sticks. She was examined and petted and loved and loved and loved ... I found her curled up in fetal position the next morning. Unsure of her prognosis, I set her outside and wished her good luck. The next day they asked where Kendra was. Poor Kendra.


A quiet lull in their bedtime games. Notice how Sydney is touching her nose with that sheep? She'll lightly rub the tip of her nose, usually with Letter, when she's powering down.

Finally! A day over 79 degrees!

Andrea came to visit for a day. She saw Clara's mullet and insisted it be cut off. Immediately. I handed her the scissors and walah:


An experiment with freezer bags: how much air to vacuum out to achieve maximum preservation rate of lettuce. Answer: The washed, vacuumed-flat lettuce turned into soggy mush.

It's been five months with no treats ("treats" being subjective).
Smoothies are not a treat.

Hillsboro Parks and Recs and Libraries know how to entertain the troops in the summer. A gaggle of kids enjoying Shoehorn Jimbob or someone. He tapdanced AND played multiple instruments simultaneously. His sax tunes were cool. This summer we've stopped in for a few of their free lunches in the park. Last Friday they had pizza. Pretty fancy.

Jack and Talmage

One night when the partying got a little crazy:

Clara pulled this plate out of the dishwasher and this happened:

Sydney, dramatically and mournfully, "Oh no! Now we're never going to have that type of plate!"

Heidi and Emily were in Sound of Music. Two appreciative audience members below:

It was a good production. Heidi was a nun. And Emily was Gretel. Every time Emily said or did something, I was alternately beamy/teary because she was so dang cute.


Then there is this little story. Heidi lent me her beautiful earrings. Well, I sort of ripped them out of her ears. That's a true friend. We were at the park one day and she was helping consult on the family photo outfits/accessories and I'm all like, "Heeey... your earrings would coordinate perfectly." And she says, touching them delicately, "Well, they are family heirlooms, but sure. You can use them. Just be sure to give them back."

And then I kept forgetting to give them back. Like a true friend. And also I didn't end up wearing them after all. And then I was getting nervous that I'd lose the earlooms. But she lives at least Four Dollars in Gas Away. So I vowed to mail them. And this is how they arrived:

Which is funny because nuns don't wear earrings, right? And also, this craft made me think I, for a moment, was following in my mom's footsteps because I used my own brain to be creative -- and didn't consult Internetland at all.

More summer to come. But for now. The end.

Get Your Groupon

Thanks to all my consultants who helped with outfit co-ordination and procurement.

The venue and photography are a little more upper crust than we're used to - but, the Groupon was a steal of deal!

From Yuen Lui Studios, presenting A Barker Family Photo, July 2011...

July trip to Utah

En route.
Clara's face pretty much captures how she behaved the entire drive. Is "loud" a behavior?

We stayed at the Kartchner Half-way house in Meridian again - now known as the newly acclaimed Kartchner Resort and Spa. Even though Kathy and Richard weren't there, Kathy said we "had to" try the new shower. It has five shower-heads - four of which hit you from the sides. It was like surround-sound. But with water as the medium.

We spent the weekend with Briton's folks before heading down to the Provo area. We got to stay with my 6th-grade friend (well, friends since we were 12, she is not age 12), Paulette and her family. She just had a baby but rolled us into her family without batting an eye. It was really fun to chat while the kids ran amok.

Fourth of July! The kids slept in while Briton and I ran the Freedom Run 10K. We were so snooty about the idea of a 10K, coming off of the marathon. But that 10K kicked our proud bums! I shoulda gone to the flag raising ceremony at Uncle Bud's park instead!!!

Next up: Parade. The Provo Parade is the finest I've ever seen. The person next to me shared some parade-route secret codes that are new to me since the last Provo Parade I saw (when I was, like, six). I will share one of these secrets with you. To the Beauty Queens you're supposed to yell, "Show us your shoes." Parade audiences are very demanding these days. Do the BQ's comply?

All of this and more then you could ever hope for is documented at Shady Creek Lane.

In the afternoon, I stopped in to see Great-Grandma Kartchner, who's face was black and blue all over from running into a door at night (or else it's the new guy she's dating) and cousins (including L&A) while the Barker clan amused themselves elsewhere.

The following days are also pictured on SCL blog. We didn't use our camera the entire time in Utah.

On the way back to Oregon we stumbled upon the Idaho Kartchner Reunion in full swing. We thought we'd take a few courtesy pics.

Before the broken leg (Allison's).

Before the face plant.

On Your Mark!

The past several Wednesday nights find us at the All Comer's Track Meet. There is so much that could be said. But, to be somewhat brief ...

Talmage and Sydney both run all the events they can - we get home after 9pm. Sometimes the cousins are there, too. It's a real party. Also, now I'm a seasoned pro at knowing where the different events start around the track. Hurdles, here. 200m, there. 800m, this a' way.

Taking off for the 200m. I love the serious, earnest, concentrated look on Syd's face. And her non-aerodynamic arm.

Sydney met a new friend, Hazel. I wish I had a picture of them holding hands and singing songs. They ran a few races together.

The gun goes off for the 1500m.

Sydney wanted to take a picture and I wanted you to see my cool sunglasses. They're the cheap kind because I'm positive I will lose them. Soon. It's inevitable.

The ribbons. Ah, the ribbons.

Syd ran the 800m tonight. She's a tough little runner - the only 3 year-old to run that event (possibly because all the other 3 year-olds have more responsible parents who put their kids to bed at a decent hour). She came in last, pumping her arms, smiling, heart rate pounding. Good endurance for the Little Sheep (did you know Sydney refers to herself as Baby Sheep ever since the Leaping Lamb Farm? Sometimes she's a baby horse, too. But that doesn't have anything to do with the track meet). People all along the last 100m were clapping and cheering for her.

The races have been a refiner's fire for Talmage. He was crushed the first few times he didn't win ("Mom, I wanted a white ribbon"). Advice from a good friend helped me know how to encourage him along. I mean, how do you explain to a kid to just do their best, have fun, winning doesn't matter, etc --- but then it's obvious that only one kid gets a blue, red, or white ribbon? The green participatory ribbon becomes meaningless because they're not "special".

We kept going to the meets because they liked to run the races and I liked seeing them exercise those little bodies. Over the weeks, Talmage is showing he's getting the sportsmanship stuff (Full disclosure: There was that one time when he turned on the gas during the 800m and called out to me, triumphantly and not at all chivalrously, "I passed that girl".). STILL. Nothing beats the smile on his face when he came running up to me the first time he got a third place ribbon. "Mom! Mom! I got a white one!!!" Persistence pays off. Not a bad lesson to learn.

[editor's second disclaimer note: placing in the All Comer's Meets is pretty subjective. Heats are relaxed and hodge-podge so it's all luck of the line-up if you're with super fast kids or slower kids].

If Someone Asks You if You Want a Ride in a Porsche, the Correct Answer is:

Somehow, Briton ended up on an email list from the Intel-Is-A-Great-Place-To-Work-Guys. That meant today we got to go to this mid-day Porsche/Aviation Show. The kids sat in fancy, fast jets for Pich Reople and sat in the driver's seat of a YouKnowWhat.

They were too young/short to go for a ride. I like how they spontaneously held hands while they watched the drivers. The cars were super loud, so it was like they were reassuring each other that it was okay.






After the above-recorded, breakneck-speed ride in a Porsche, we mosied over to the free, catered lunch. It was then we noticed we were an outlier in the targeted demographic: older, well-heeled, sophisticated people. With no children. After eating, we deftly swiped the carnage off the table and exited stage left.


In 8th grade, my math teacher, Mr. Jacobsen had a poster of a white, Porsche 911 tacked to the wall. And I loved it. Possibly as much as the boy I had a devoted crush on. Definitely more than geometry. And I don't even care about cars, so it's weird that I even noticed the poster or considered the lillies. Some 25 years later, I learned I still think Porsche's are pretty cool. Even if that sounds cliche. It ain't no minivan.

Book Review: The Fierce Bad Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

Synopsis: A nice, gentle rabbit is eating a carrot his mother has given him when, all of the sudden, a fierce bad rabbit takes it! The nice rabbit runs away to a hole, and watches abjectly, while the bad rabbit snarfs down the carrot. Where is justice? How will it be served?

Enter:


This is Sydney's favorite book of late. A blood-and-guts story, rife with rifles, flying whiskers, and turned-up tails. The perfect bedtime story.

A memorized rendition.