Questions that come up listening to the soundtrack of Annie Get Your Gun:

Does Sister Sue get her stockings free via shoplifting or sleeping with shopkeepers? Does the sheriff really not know to look behind a hill when searching for illegal stills?  Why does anyone EVER invest in show business? Seems awful risky.   Where did Frank learn to crack safes so well? And knit a sweater?

Carson Ellis at the Ledding Cultural Forum

Last night as part of my mission to Start Getting Out More and its sister effort to Do Stuff Other Than Work And Parent, I went to the Ledding Cultural Forum at the Ledding Library of Milwaukie to see Carson Ellis speak about her life as an illustrator and especially her most recently published book,Continue reading “Carson Ellis at the Ledding Cultural Forum”

That time I sent my 6-year-old to camp

My little girl is spending her second of three days (and two nights!) at Outdoor Science School today, learning about ecology and geography with her elementary class and the elementary class from another local Montessori school. She’s been super-excited for months about this, and in true Montessori style has had an active role planning theContinue reading “That time I sent my 6-year-old to camp”

Dinner was a triumph

Yay for the return of grilling weather! Pictured: grilled “steak strips” (don’t ask me what this cut really is; they didn’t have skirt steak at Fred Meyers so I improvised) with blender chimichurri, rice, grilled spring onions, and grilled asparagus. Everyone in our family had seconds, and there were zero leftovers. (I mean, the kidsContinue reading “Dinner was a triumph”

Meal Planning with Amelia

Enjoying her breakfast of scrambled eggs with ham this morning, Amelia suggested we have breakfast burritos for dinner tonight. I told her I had planned to make salmon for dinner. Her eyes lit up (she loves salmon), and she asked, “Can we roast it?” I said, “Yes, I think we can roast it in theContinue reading “Meal Planning with Amelia”

Opening day at the Milwaukie Farmers Market

We went to the Milwaukie Farmer’s Market yesterday — it was the first market of the year, and they were packed! Only 2-3 actual farm stands were there, but I got some spring onions, rainbow chard, asparagus, radishes, strawberries, and small “Russian gold” potatoes. Not sure who’s going to eat all these radishes — I’mContinue reading “Opening day at the Milwaukie Farmers Market”