Ks Are Wild

If the exclamation point didn’t cue you in, I am VERY excited about this. Just Mommy and daughter, wearing our fancy shoes, maybe a party dress, perhaps some gelato beforehand….

OSU Theatre is doing Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance, a musical both Kosette and I adore. The only other person I know of who likes it as much as I have, is my dear friend, Jenny. It was something we bonded over as college mates. I’ve found that there are many who claim to like musicals, but balk at those whose songs tend to be more operatic.  Jenny, you are a treasure to me.  I wish I had known you earlier in life.  Horses and Musicals – we were destined to become fast friends!!!  I wish you were coming with us.

I think with me, it was very much a case of being exposed to it so young. We had it (1980′s the version with Angela Lansbury, Linda Ronstadt, Rex Smith, and Kevin Kline) on our old Laser Disc system and my sister and I watched it almost as incessantly as Grease.

As I wrote in an earlier post, Kosette sings “Poor Wandering One” as “One Hundred One”. I’ve also noticed that she seems to be imitating my vibrato. It would be amusing if it wasn’t something that annoyed me about my own voice. I got teased for it growing up, especially by this girl in my Jr. High – Lisa Steckler. She wasn’t mean, or a bully or anything, she just was popular and very good at “bagging on” (playfully insulting or making of) people, so her zingers could really make you wince….

Wow, this is an old memory, but it’s very telling of what I was like growing up.  Lisa and I were walking over to 7-11 from my parents house and sang as we went along.  When we went under the freeway overpass and noticed the fantastic echo amidst the pigeons cooing and the cars whizzing past we couldn’t refrain from singing at the top of our lungs.  We barely knew any songs in common, so we took turns singing.  She sang a lot of New Kids on the Block, Boys II Men, and Milli Vanilli.  I sang, “Puerto Rico, you Ugly Island, Island of Tropic Diseases, Always the hurricanes blowing, always the population growing, and the babies crying, and the bullets flying.  I like the island Manhattan.  Smoke on your pipe, and put that in!  I like to be in America…” (That’s from West Side Story for those who don’t know.)   (It was not a popular move on my part to not be a New Kids fan.  My Jr. High years were the HEIGHT of that craze where birthday gift requests consisted of anything New Kids related.  In fact, I think Lisa was best known for her New Kids obsession.  I think she even had the sheet set.  But I just couldn’t fake it; not for her or for anybody.  I would have rather listened to something other than pop at that time; anything else or nothing at all.  And most of what I listened to during those years were Broadway tunes and Oldies.  Yeah, see the popularity hinderance?  I still couldn’t name any song by New Kids.)  Anyhow, she made fun of my “operatic” voice, even though I had actually tried to suppress the vibrato, and light-heartedly referred to me as Opera lady thereafter.  I swear I’ve been self-conscious of that vocal trait ever since.  That’s why I think I was so drawn to Pirates of Penzance…because my voice felt at home singing its songs.

And I loved the costumes.  I never could decide which color dress or shoes I would want to wear the most, or as little girls frequently mistake garb for identity; which girl I wanted to be.  I totally had a crush on Frederic and melted when he reached his high notes in “Is there not one maiden’s breast?”  And it’s the Pirates movie that made me love Kevin Kline.  As much as I appreciate his comedy in A Fish Called Wanda,

I think he’s a comedic genius as the Pirate King in Penzance.  I would’ve loved to put his film version of “I Am A Pirate King” but nobody has uploaded that yet.  Instead, here’s a snippet of “Paradox”:

I know I’ve posted this clip before, but, I can’t help it.  This and the scenes just prior are some of my favorites because you really get some good closeups of the girls’ dresses and shoes.  Plus, it’s the most fun for me to sing.

I want these nightgowns and robes.  Always have.  Wish I were a talented enough sewer.

I swear my singing voice is getting higher than when I was younger (especially when I’m nervous, then my vibrato is totally out of control) because I find I can sing all these parts I stretched at earlier, and it’s been a LONG time since I sang with any good, true, breathing discipline practice.

The only troubles I’m anticipating is Kosette not being able to see over the grown-ups’ heads, and keeping her from singing along in her seat.  This is such a momentous moment for me to be able to share this love of mine, with my daughter.  It really feels like one of those full circle big parent moments.  I know it was the kind I eagerly looked forward to as I awaited her birth.  I wish her Grandpa George and Auntie Kelli were able to come too.  They know what I’m feeling.  And I know Jenny gets it.

I sorta wish I could tell some of my old Jr. High (Laurel Hall) friends, because they REALLY would understand how big this is for me.  They were in choir, drama, and cheerleading with me.  They sang and danced with me at recess and camp.  We watched Aspects of Love at McKenzie’s birthday party, Into the Woods at J.J.’s, and Michael Pourcia and I sang and did a drama skit to “Part of Your World” our frosh year at NDHS.  Christie Nelson and I (sorry, it’s Christine now) sang every single word and part to Phantom of the Opera, The Sound of Music, and Les Miserables.  J.J. and I often sang The Little Mermaid and had Disney song-offs during our long car rides to Disneyland and Cheer Camp.  Wow, memories.  (Ladies, if you somehow stumble upon my blog, you are forever a part of my life and some of my most pleasant Jr. High memories.  Thank you.)  Come to think of it, I bet they’d be quite amused and unsurprised to hear that I named my daughter, “Kosette” (spelled with a “K” instead of a” C” of course).  Yep, Broadway madness was the my  Boy Band obsession equivalent.  In fact, I had a 5 disc cd changer and Les Mis and Phantom (both 2 discs) didn’t come out of their slots for at least a year.

Maybe I’ll get around to telling you how it went.

The First Alternative Co-op in Corvallis, is currently featuring an apple cultivar called “Oren” that is grown here in Oregon and they would like feedback. I bought four and they are delicious! A very different apple flavor. I really can’t describe very well…sweeter with a tropical fruit honeyed taste. Their skins are a light golden green. Normally, I like the more sour apples like Granny Smith, MacIntosh, and Braeburn, but this is just sooooo different.

I’ve been eating them sliced into thin whole slices atop buttered, then peanut buttered, toasted pieces of the local Alpine Sourdough Bakery Cranberry Hazelnut bread loaf. Yum!!

Danged, I’m gonna have to go back to get me some more because we finished them all in two days.

(I’m 32 years old and still love singing songs from Annie).  Yet another reason why I love this time of year — the GOOD movies start trotting out!  Not just the 1 or 2 big summer blockbusters (although I wouldn’t call the two I wanted to see of Julie and Julia and The Time Traveller’s Wife “blockbusters”)…but the stuff of quality.  The Academy Awards are my Superbowl.  I try to give Kham that day free of tasks and kid care for all the beer imbibing pregame, game, and postgame wrapups of the Superbowl and he, in turn, gives me the day to imbibe champagne and consume good cheese and watch all the red carpet, show, and post show interviews of the Oscars.

Nominees will be announced February 2, 2010 and the actual Oscar Night is scheduled for March 7, 2010 so as not to interfere with the Olympics viewing.  This year ought to be interesting since they’re doubling the amount of Best Picture nominees from 5 to 10.  Also, there will be two hosts this year:

“Steve Martin returns for the third time as host of the 82nd Oscars® along with first time host Alec Baldwin.  The news was announced today by show producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman.  The producers remarked that “Steve will bring the experience of having hosted the show in the past, and Alec will be a completely fresh personality for this event.”  Martin previously hosted the awards show in 2001 and 2003 while Baldwin has been a presenter in the past, most recently in 2004.

Some years have seen multiple hosts, such as in 1987 when Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn, and Paul Hogan shared the duties.  In 1957 Jerry Lewis and Celeste Holm were co-hosts in a ceremony that took place on both the east and west coasts.  This will be the first time that two hosts have shared the same locale on Oscar® Night in 80 years, when Douglas Fairbanks and William C. Demille shared the spotlight at the very first awards ceremony in 1929.”

We have an awesome independent theatre in town that shows all these indie and foreign movies and documentaries called The Darkside Cinema.  They’re relatively little theatres and they actually project onto a gigantic piece of canvas strung across the room.  When Paul Newman died, they showed a couple of his films.  Right now they have the winner of last year’s Academys, Departures, playing and the other one I really wanted to see but missed is Adam, a love story about a young man with Aspergers.

I Recently saw Coco Before Chanel.  Audrey Tatou was marvelous.  I’m a sucker for period pieces and anything that’s costume heavy.  The shots were visually rich and your eyes just absorbed and stroked over all of the textures and patterns.  Oh my God and the color and lighting…  It’s long but I didn’t mind.  However, I wish it were longer.  That’s my main criticism.  Just when it was getting really interesting, it ended.  The back story was great, a huge buildup for the very cursory climax and I was left feeling as unsatisfied as if I had peaked too early.  When she really goes at the business side of things, it’s like the last 5-10 mins. of the entire movie!

Here’s some others I’m eager to see:

Of course, New Moon.  I might just fight the teenagers to see that one early on in its release.  Who would like to join Herma and Me?   Anyone?  That would be a blast to go together and then for drinks after to discuss it.

Bright Star – By Jane Campion, who did The Piano and who chose this to be her next project and has been working on it forever for it to be just as high in caliber.

Nine

The Young Victoria

An Education

Trucker

Amelia

Precious

The Lovely Bones

The Hurt Locker

…I completely drop off the map.  I clean like a fiend the week of and I try to be in the moment, and not on the computer, when we visit.  The least I can do is provide them with a relatively clean house, some homecooked meals, and my conscious presence.  That’s what I was doing in October.  I had Kelli’s wedding and then a week or so  to recover and clean before Kham’s mom, Janet, came to visit for about a week over Halloween.  We jointly celebrated both Kham’s birthday and hers.  As usual, we had a wonderful time and we had plenty of options of things to do despite the weather.

Janet got to see our schoolday/workweek routine.  She even got to volunteer in Kosette’s class and do an El Dia de Los Muertos art project using pastels on black construction paper side-by-side with Kosette.

We drove down the road to the Heavenly Harvest Farm and bought some produce and fresh pressed apple juice from their stand while the kids played in the corn bins,

floated ducks down gutters,

posed behind farm animal cutouts, and shot corn cobs from a pressure gun “Corn Cannon.”

We went to Target and got the kids long underwear and Kellen his belated fall/winter wardrobe as he just outgrew all of his pants, long sleeved shirts, and sweaters and sweatshirts.

We ate a leisurely breakfast at a new spot that we’ve always wanted to try Zia Southwestern Cuisine.  It was delicious, locally and organically grown, filled us up until dinnertime!, and the wait staff were very courteous, there was stuff for the kids to draw and color with at the tables, and there was a delightful accoustic guitarists playing softly in the corner.  We will most definitely return there!!!

Afterwards we strolled through some areas of the William L. Finley Wildlife Refuge and saw geese, pacific tree frogs, great blue herons, and track evidence of raccoons and Roosevelt elk.

Kosette, of course, was a wreck by the time we left.  That girl is so focused on her nature viewing that she has a complete disregard to her clothing status and lack of awareness of her spatial relationship/proximity to things or others.  Despite warning, she got completely stuck in the mud and I went out to save her and the both of us nearly got sucked in to a huge mess.  I tell you we were this close to forming a human chain.  She was so stuck she popped right out of her boots, flew back into me and I almost toppled backwards into it.  Then I got stuck helping her out.  Even though my Wolverines were tightly laced my feet nearly pulled right out due to the suction.  Kham wisecracked that this was how the dinosaurs got killed.  We found a dead tree frog with it’s guts hanging out and missing a hindleg and hypothesized about its demise.  Heron spiked it was our guess based on the tracks.  I dubbed the frog “Leg-o-less”/ Legolas – Get it?  Tee hee.  Groan.  Thank goodness Kosette had longjohns on because we had to strip her down before we could put her in the car.  It reminded me that I needed to get our spare clothes/gear back in the car for just these occasions.  I like to carry a bunch of plastic grocery bags to stick the wet, muddy, shoes and clothes in – which, with Kosette, is pretty much a guarantee.

We wrestled and had tickle fights,

assembled a lot of puzzles, played a lot of war and slapjack (or “smackjack” as they call it), and other cooperative games when it rained hard.  Kellen showed off his throwing arm and line drives for Noni in the cul-de-sac while I raked leaves and spread compost on the landscape.  We ate well, and frequently.  For their joint birthday cake, I made a floating island cake with creme anglaise and caramel sauce.  More on that in another post later.

One day we drove along hazelnut, blueberry, and winery field lined roads to McMinnville to get a quick glimpse of their historic downtown to check it out for future visits.

And of course, you can’t go there without going to Boersma’s Quilting fabric store on 3rd Street.

That place is the best!

I want that quilt pattern!!!! Have since it came out in 2006.

And, they also have a Knitting/Crochet version of their store right across the street!  So if you’re talented enough to do both hobbies, you can shop in one spot which is nice.  It’s called the Knitting Basket.

I picked up some yards of flannel to make pj bottoms for the kids.  Why buy boring, nasty chemically fire repellent fabric, cheaply premade but not cheap stuff from the store when you can make cute ones like these from all sorts of cute fabric (these, from Sew Mama Sew are from vintage sheets)?:

Those are one of the items that it kills me to buy in a store.  This summer I’m going to make a bunch of nightgowns for Kosette FOR SURE!  Janet spoiled me by buying a cathedral window quilt pattern and the stencil cutting tools that make it easier and faster for a kids’ duvet cover quilt project I had in mind.

"Charmed Circles" pattern by A Graceful Stitch featuring Amy Butler Fabrics

We browsed and shopped downtown Corvallis stores.  She was impressed by the many stores that provided baskets of toys for kids to play with while you shop.  At Inside Out Garden Visions she treated me to this adorable little yellow snails salt and pepper shaker set that I had been lusting after for months.  I can tell it’s going to be one of those items that I will always keep and when I look at them, will remind me of our very pleasant and leisurely day together, just her, me, and Kellen.  We also went to the Grass Roots Bookstore, the Book Bin, The quilting/fabric store, Many Hands Trading…lots.

We patronized Soft Star Shoes and ordered customized slippers (a staple in my house) that were done the very next day.  The owner/manager was kind enough to give us a behind-the-scene tour of their supplies and handmaking process.  The people and that place are awesome.  They have a whole playroom for kids to play while the parents shop.  It makes the whole thing just so much easier.

Janet selected a light pink heel, dark pink toe, white flower with rhinestone, out of smooth leather for her slippers. Cute Tootsies!

We stopped for pizza and a pint at our favorite Pizzeria, American Dream Pizza. 

I love to order the Oregon Trail Wit with a large Asiago Cheese, Basil, and Kalamata Olive on white pizza with ranch dressing on the side for dipping.  Janet got a kick out of their big display of Obama’s visit when he came to see his brother-in-law, a coach at Oregon State University.  I showed her the kids coloring area with the window where they can watch the pizza’s being dressed and cooked.  And the tables covered in butcher paper so children can color while they wait.  The wall of clothespins where you can add your artistic paper plate renderings to leave your “I was Here” mark, the funkily random painted chairs and wacky aesthetic. 

So you see, all in all, it was a full and lovely visit.  The invitation is open to all you friends and family who are willing to make their way to us.  You just get here and we’ll take care of the rest.    Thank you Janet, for coming.  We’re so glad to have had that time together with Noni.  See you in February?  Julie, can’t wait until you grace us with your presence for the giving of thanks and breaking of bread.  Kelli and Roman, hope Christmas works out but understand if it doesn’t.  So much to do before all of that.  Let the holiday visiting season begin!

We were in the thick of fall colors round these here parts until the recent rains came and knocked most of the leaves off the trees.

From a distance a tree could look almost entirely awash with color, but if you walked up to said tree, bush, or grass and looked closely, you could witness a brief moment in time during the big chlorophyll shift. It’s pretty durned cool. The tree in front of our house, was all yellow, then turned mostly orange, and then mostly red, then a deep purple all in a few weeks time.

Here’s a shot of a few leaves of the tree flanking the other side of our house. It was just in the beginning of its shift. On the opposite side is a tree of the exact same cultivar, with nearly identical lighting, but an entire 2 weeks behind the other one in its shift. Fascinating….and so fleeting.

Cypress? Tree in our backyard shifting to “red”:

We could really use a positive id on this tree of ours. Looks redwoody too.

This is a picture of a new type of Coreopsis (tickseed) called “Red Shift”. I took a few shots of just a few blooms that were on the same plant at the same moment of time. Pretty cool huh?

Hosta shifting to brown from fall frosts:

Alice Oakleaf Hydrangea:

It always blows me away how something so inconspicuous and boring in another season, when I think, why would anybody grow that?….can look absolutely fantastic in the fall (or early spring, as in the case of forsythia).  I wish I knew my trees because there are a lot of them that I love the look of in the fall.  Here are some pics I took about town that just happened to be on the main route that I take Kosette to school.  Please forgive their quality as they were taken through my windshield as I drove.  Please shout out the name if you know them so I can start learning my trees.

A large stand of miscanthus:

Did you know that blueberry bushes turn red in the fall?  They’re actually a great plant for edible landscaping.

Did you know that the heads of sunflowers droop over when fully “ripe” with the weight of their seeds?  I didn’t until I grew them.  I thought something was wrong initially.  Doy!  It wasn’t until we visited a pumpkin patch and saw gigantic ones (like 1 foot across blossoms) doing it and seeing the birds pick out the seeds that I figured it out.  This city gal’s learning lots of commonplace knowledge for those blessed to live near their food sources.  We pass by a large stand of sunflowers as I drive Kosette to school and we’ve watched their entire life cycle progress.  Pretty cool.

As much as I love fall, I have learned a couple things that I don’t like about that season here.  First, the duration of glorious fall color is shortened due to rain knocking the leaves off the trees prior to when they would normally release from the boughs.  It is very difficult to rake sopping wet piles of leaves, especially when they are matted down atop your mixed perennial landscape.  You have to remove them from said landscaping or else they will kill your lawn or thyme, etc. from lack of light.  Also, they can harbor a lot of insect eggs, especially slugs.  Lastly, leaves on the lawn make finding the dog poop darned near impossible to scoop up.  It takes me three times as long and my eyes are tired with scanning and I miss a lot because some piles are under the leaves.  Not something you really think about prior to owning a dog.

…of Canadian Geese.  It is a sound that halts my activity and tugs at those sentimental heart strings as I flash back to that magically intense first half year of mommyhood.

It was fall time in Elko, Nevada and Kosette was all of 3 or 4 months old max.  I’ll never forget waking up to the sound of ginormous multitudes of flocks of Canadian Geese migrating through the Ruby Mountain Range.  Evidently, we were a major resting point on their route.  It took me a few moments to figure out what had awoken me.  I thought, “Wow!  Canadian Goose alarm clock.  What an incredibly wonderful way to wake up in the morning.”   That’s a lot coming from this grumpy puss of an anti-morning person.  It sure beat the honks of the 134 freeway in LA that I was used to in my childhood home.

Kham was already at work and the grey light of morning slowly infiltrated our bedroom.  With my head still on my pillow I was able to watch the geese pattern the sky with their chevrons over the Ruby Mountain peaks which were ablur with the impressionistic blotches of fall colored trees like Quaking Aspen.  It was glacially formed and this was a place that got to negative 22-24 degrees and stayed that way for weeks!!

But the chilly looking hazed scene outside my window was the antithesis to the warm, snuggly scene inside my bedroom.  Our cats, Duncan and Little Girl, were earning their keep as my foot warmers.  Little baby Kosette was nestled right next to me, facing me, curled into me, and I around her like a human yin-yang symbol.  Such a hot sleeper she was and still is…a toasty ball of fire.  She must’ve heard the commotion in the sky as well because her eyes were opened wide, and she looked as if she was straining to hear and make sense of the sound.  Her little face turned to me as I peered down at her with a good morning smile.  Her oooohed lips quickly changed to the lip smacking kissing noises of a ravenous baby bird and her little body wiggled away trying get closer to breakfast.  Her hands and toes made contact with my skin which really sent her limbs aflailing in its physical expression of its desire to nurse.  And nurse she did; her rhythmic sucking and the quarternote honking of the geese sent us both off to dreamland once again.

I nursed her  many, many, MANY more times (she was an hourly nurser who didn’t like the bottle or formula!) to the accompaniment of Canadian Geese.  They were quiet, moments that I savored even then, knowing that they were the making of future cherished memories.  And they are…so cherished, so beloved.  So when I hear those honks, I’m right back in that bedroom,

Or in the quilt covered Papazon,

Or couch, or everywhere nursing….

looking at views like these from our windows:

experiencing the wonder of mommyhood and it’s many small delights….a time when it felt like it was just her and me, nestled in and hunkered down in our little place by the mountains,

waiting for Daddy to come home from his extremely long work days and regular overnights,

talking to her for company, saying “just us chickens,” getting used to our new roles in life, and figuring out our tricks and routines, doing nothing but being in the moment and being there for her every need and want, and being glad to do it…..HONK.

Sigh.

When she was a little older, I’d drive to the nearby park with a fishing pond and she’d get to toddle after them.