Lukas is the one out of my three children
that I have worried about most, probably because he is the one that
we could have lost at one point, when he contracted Kawasaki disease.
But like everything in his life so far, his spirited warrior soul
battled and conquered the disease, and I want to believe that he is
all the stronger for it. It sure made me appreciate him more, and
gave me perspective and patience to put up with his challenging fiery
personality (more about it here).
Today, we celebrated his birthday with
a hike, which, according to the hiking book, was supposed to be
amazing with knock-your-socks-off kind of views. The only views we
got, however, were deep layers of fog and clouds, with the occasional
snow flake thrown in for good measure. Lukas and Kai had fun despite
the cold, since we packed lots of treats, and since they got to throw
snowballs at each other.
After the hike, we took ourselves to 5b's Bakery, the new
gluten-free bakery in Concrete for even more treats (hey, you can't
have enough sugar on your birthday, right?). It's an awesome bakery,
and every local person who reads my blog should go there and support them.
On the subject of Lukas: He and his
older brother Kai performed their first ever public music gig a couple of
weeks ago. Lukas on the key board, Kai on the fiddle. I can't tell
you how proud I was when they got up on stage at the Marblemount
Market, surrounded by quite a crowd of people. They did great, with
not too many mistakes, but a lot of gusto. I couldn't get over their
stage presence – they both were relaxed, interacting and joking with the
audience, and jovially tipping their hats at the end of the
performance. The crowd went wild, and they boys collected over $20
in Kai's violin case.
A week later, they repeated their show
at the “Grub and Groove”, a local get-together where people share
a meal, music and stories. What a rich social life we have!
This week was a busy one: I harvested
all of our pumpkins and squashes, put the garden to bed, and sowed
cover crops that were immediately eaten by the blue jays. I also
want you to know that we grew pounds and pounds of watermelons, and I
want you to be impressed by that, will you? This is Marblemount,
after all, where we get 100 inches of precipitation a year. We
pulled it off, thanks to growing transplants on black plastic. I
also spun a lot of yarn and made goat milk soap to stock up my
inventory for Christmas sales. One of the soap making days coincided
with a power outage, which wasn't good since I need the electric
stick blender. So Steve started up the generator in the wood shed,
and I hauled my supplies out there, lavender essential oil scent in
my wake, and made soap in the wood shed – with ear protectors on to
drown out the noise of the generator.
We also harvested a little munchkin we found in the pumpkin patch. |
Soap making outside, with Pluto looking on. This is frozen goat milk, melting in the lye. |
My friend, the generator. |
Here's proof that you can, indeed, grow watermelons in the Upper Skagit. |
I will leave you with pictures of Lukas
when he was very little. I got a little teary looking through
photos of this time. He is so tall now, and although still cute,
not in the little boy kind of way.
Have a great week, and if you have children still at home, remember to hug them and appreciate them, even if they are a pain in the butt sometimes. Pretty soon, they will be asking you for the car keys, or go off to college, or move to another country, like I did, and like my children hopefully never, ever will.
Happy Birthday!!!! I just love your blog. Thank you so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteDaniel,
DeleteGreat to see you here! I'm so happy you like my blog. It's fun to share it with others. I like seeing your posts on Facebook - looks like you, too, are living life to its fullest! Many blessings!
So touching Corina. You are a great mom, a wonderful pioneer woman with a huge heart. Thanks for sharing your life with such clarity, sweetness, and authenticity. Much love to you. Your children are thriving! Blessings!
ReplyDeleteYou are very sweet, Tuyet. Thank you for your encouragement!
Delete