I took a painting class yesterday — one of those where you all paint the same thing — with my two sisters at The Loaded Brush in Sellwood. I like the Loaded Brush because it’s a little grungy, in a way that feels down-home and also helps me get over myself about doing things “just right.” The whole process of painting like this is an exercise in letting go of perfectionism and precision, which is not always easy (code for really really hard) for me, even with some wine. 🙂
Progress photos! I meant to take more, but got caught up in the moment.
This morning Tom is making banana-chocolate-chip pancakes and bacon, and Amelia and I went out to sit on the back porch and write in our journals. I’d like to encourage Amelia to keep up her writing practice through the summer, and journaling seems like a good way for us to do something special together, get me writing more, and have her keep writing through the summer. As we write, Baxter is jittering around in our orbit, making us laugh. He does silly things and then tells Amelia to write about it. Then she reads him what she wrote, and he does more silly stuff. Repeat as necessary.
Today is shaping up to be a really good one. We’ll have a delicious breakfast, then hit the grocery store for some provisions (we’re out of maple syrup, for example), then I’m taking Amelia for a mommy-daughter lunch (probably sushi) and then to Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden for an hour or so. Then we’ll do some trailer prep in the afternoon, getting ready for our big camping trip next weekend. This evening, I’m having dinner with my sisters — probably at Jade Teahouse — and then we’re taking a painting class at The Loaded Brush. I love how these (semi-corny, yes) group painting classes help me quiet the critical judge in my head and help me get used to following my gut. Tomorrow Tom goes on a three-day business trip, so I’m trying to get all the fill-my-emotional-cup, single- or no-kid fun in that I can!
I was really moved — and chilled — by this article called Our Water-Guzzling Food Factory that talks about the amount of water required to produce beef (and chicken and eggs and ZOMG walnuts for pete’s sake WTF we are all doomed why did I ever have children send help).
The crisis in California is a harbinger of water scarcity in much of the world. And while we associate extravagant water use with swimming pools and verdant lawns, the biggest consumer, by far, is agriculture. In California, 80 percent of water used by humans goes to farming and ranching.
That’s where that hamburger patty comes in.
I grew up on a sheep and cherry farm near Yamhill, Ore. I worked for a year for the Future Farmers of America, and I still spend time every year on our family farm. But while I prize America’s rural heritage, let’s be blunt: It’s time for a fundamental rethinking of America’s food factory.
A mandarin orange consumes 14 gallons of water. A head of lettuce, 12 gallons. A bunch of grapes, 24 gallons. One single walnut, 2 gallons.
Animal products use even more water, mostly because of the need to raise grain or hay to feed the animals. Plant material converts quite inefficiently into animal protein.
So a single egg takes 53 gallons of water to produce. A pound of chicken, 468 gallons. A gallon of milk, 880 gallons. And a pound of beef, 1,800 gallons of water. (Of course, these figures are all approximate, and estimates differ. These are based on data from the Pacific Institute and National Geographic.)
It’s not like we eat beef very often anymore, but we do hit the chicken and fish pretty hard around here. Guess it’s time to start building more meatless nights into the weekly meal plan.
I’m excited about the 12 oz quilted jelly jars I found at the store this morning. Tom says we’re turning into our parents. I say my parents never found 12 oz quilted jelly jars at Fred Meyers, so I’m obviously blazing an entirely new trail.
Trigger warning: explicit language and sexual harassment
TIL there’s a meme in which men heckle TV reporters when they were filming live, by jumping into the shot and saying “fuck her right in the pussy” into the microphone. It’s pretty widespread, as you can see in the montage in this report, and last week, CityNews reporter Shauna Hunt got fed up and confronted some men after having just been harassed by one of them. Here’s the raw video.
I encourage you to read the whole thing, but here’s one passage I think is especially fantastic:
There will be, of course, wails about free speech from people who do not understand that the concept of free speech includes the right to say, “You’re an idiot.”
Also, I don’t care that this lame, tired stunt is occasionally done with male reporters as well. That hardly redeems it: Shouting sexually explicit things is sexual harassment.
“Surely there was some way this could have been handled without Mr. Simoes losing his job?” some have said. Likely, yes, but that wasn’t Hydro One’s call. And Hydro One is not Mr. Simoes’s parent or his therapist. It’s not nanny-Hydro One, and they’re not obliged to coach or reform him or employ him, and there’s no question the man made himself, through considerable effort, not a momentary one-line lapse, a liability.
Hydro One has other employees to consider, people who might not feel comfortable working under or beside a man who has made it clear that sexually harassing women while they work is something fun that he’s entitled to do, and if they object they are failing in their duty to feel grateful they don’t have a vibrator in their ear.
I’m not sure whether or not to be pleased that I’m raising my kids in a world in which harassing women *might* get you in serious trouble (none of the men in that montage were confronted or prosecuted, to the best of my knowledge), though I guess it’s better than the world I was raised in. Here’s hoping we keep doing better at holding people accountable for their actions.
And gigantic kudos to Shauna Hunt, whose brave example will (hopefully) encourage more people to confront harassers.
This weekend was a quiet one, with lots of spring cleaning and a heaping helping of household (and teardrop trailer) maintenance. What with the bereavement last month and then all the carpe diem-ing we’ve been doing since, our home and garden have been getting more and more grubby. When we gross out even ourselves, steps must be taken. So! Cue the spring cleaning music (lately, we clean tothe soundtrack of Guardians of the Galaxy).
It’s shocking how quickly weeds come up in this pea-gravel walkway.
Profusion!
One of our three small oases of grass.
And it’s spring, so all green things are growing like crazy, including all the weeds and the grass. We don’t have too much lawn, but we have enough weeds to make up for it. But wow, the payoff! We didn’t buy this house for the stunning and lovingly nurtured landscape, but I’m getting more pleasure out of our plants than I ever thought I would. This spring has been a wonderful journey of discovery, learning what blooms what color, and when. (Hint: everything, usually white, and all the time.)
Our handcrafted, artisan teardrop trailer.
We go on our first camping of the season in about a month, and the trailer needed some pretty significant maintenance before we could take it out. If you’re not familiar with our teardrop trailer, Tom built it with his own hands, from the axle up (with the help of some good friends on the interior woodwork). It gives us a watertight (now — good work, Tom!) spot to sleep when we camp, though it’s kind of claustrophobic in there with all 4 of us — this summer I think we’ll put the kids in the trailer and Tom and I will sleep in a tent nearby. The back hatch serves as a galley, and it’s nice to be able to lock all the food down, good and tight, now that we’re camping in Bear Country. (Is the coast still Bear Country? The raccoons are fierce enough, if not.)
We also did some springtime storm window shifting; the storm door in the front got a screen instead of glass, and I opened the storm windows in the bedrooms to expose the screens and allow us to get more of this gorgeous spring air in the house.
This doesn’t look any different with the screen on, actually. 😉
I wish I had taken a “before” picture. But seriously, these railings are so clean!
Then I washed a few windows and scrubbed down the railing on the back porch. It’s overhung by a very bloomy-polleny tree, and the mold/mildew/dirt on the weird coated wood was getting really bad. As you might spot, some moisture has penetrated the weird coating, and we’re going to have to replace at least the railings after this season, I think. But now I’ll have an even more idyllic place to work on sunny days, and there’s nothing wrong with THAT!
And of course on top of all that we had all the laundry and all the dishes and all the floors. I’m heading down to the basement in a few minutes to fold my way through a pile of laundry that registers on the Everest scale, as soon as I have confidence that the kids are closer to sleep. While Tom and I were busy with all of these chores, they either helped clean (their rooms and the toys in the basement) or played together, largely entertaining themselves. We’re ridiculously lucky to have two kids who enjoy each other so much. With chores done, sun setting, bread baking, and kids sleeping, I’m hyper-aware right now that some people are muchly much-much more unlucky than us. #seussblessed
Also at the school fundraiser, I got a henna tattoo. I think it’s kind of fun that on my wrist it’s a little hard to tell what are henna dots and what are freckles. The henna took to the skin on my finger much more enthusiastically than it did to the skin on my hand/wrist.
I like to buy a lot of heavy stuff, because then when I ride home I don’t regret biking to the grocery store AT ALL. And I totally want to do it again next week.
I took a painting class yesterday — one of those where you all paint the same thing — with my two sisters at The Loaded Brush in Sellwood. I like the Loaded Brush because it’s a little grungy, in a way that feels down-home and also helps me get over myself about doing things “just right.” The whole process of painting like this is an exercise in letting go of perfectionism and precision, which is not always easy (code for really really hard) for me, even with some wine. 🙂
The Thing With The Stuff 