Children's Ayyam-i-Ha Party

We attended the children's Ayyam-i-Ha party on Sunday. It was very lively, with music, art projects, and a cake walk.

Ayyam-i-Ha is a period of festivity for Baha'is, our gift-giving time. It lasts four days, and it preceeds the 19 day fast. It is a time to extend hospitality and renew old acquaintences, to visit the sick, to extend assistance to others.

Over the years our family has celebrated with home visits, devotionals, study classes, and prayer breakfasts. Music and art have always been a strong freature of our family's Ayyam-i-Ha - the poster above was put together here in our home by Baha'i youth last year.

Not A Happy Camper Here

We spent our weekend consumed in projects. I had to clean and cook for Ruhiyyih's party, and George had to tackle the insulation problem under our house. He was not a happy camper.

When I first checked out this crawlspace, it was to determine why the house was so cold. We've had some of the worst cold weather all winter the past week. And, our house just wasn't getting warmer than 65 degrees - that is uncomfortable. I'm not especially fond of wearing snowpants and a coat in the house just to keep warm.

I discovered that animals, probably opossums and raccoons, had been getting under the crawlspace and tearing the insulation, to use as bedding material. Perhaps the furnace vents were exposed, cooling down the air from the furnace. We checked it out, and figured making the repairs was necessary - but George was not at all happy about going into that dark, cramped place filled with spiders.

He went to Home Depot and got goggles, a face-mask, some plastic sheeting and a staple gun, and got busy pushing the insulation back into place, then packaging it with the plastic sheeting, so it won't fall down again. He also had to cover the area where animals had gotten under the house. He's got about 1/3 of it done, the worst part. And, it really hasn't made any noticable impact in the temperature of the house. None of the furncace tubing was exposed, which leads us to conclude that whats under the house is not the issue - the cold weather is.

At our party on the weekend, I talked about fireplace inserts with Tim, Annie's dad. He knows all about the regulations for these things, and said that a wood-burning fireplace insert is made according to codes and regulations now, and that it would not be an issue to burn wood in a new model type. The soot, smoke and emissions are minimal, if you are following instructions. So, I'm going to call around and see if I can get something on sale and get it installed. Tim said if I'm using wood on just those terribly cold days, one chord of wood may last me three or four years, and it would not be terribly expensive.

There is no doubt that for the money, wood-burning heat is cheaper than the electric I've been using - this furnace has been running constantly, with little improvement in the temperature.

Just Stylin' With The Girls

Ruhiyyih and Jackie are styling Daisy's hair, curling it into an upswing. Then, a little eyeshadow and the stylin' is done.

These are the activities of an auntie who knows that visiting Daisy will soon be over, so she is maximizing the playtime. I'm sitting on the sideline, videotaping. I know that these moments are precious, something George and I will look back upon when the house is quiet.

Taraz and Megan have packed up some of his stuff, and he will be sleeping in his own place tonight, his own apartment. I'm happy to see him so organized and his room upstairs should be cleaned out in a couple of days. Then, when the weekend comes, while George is working under the house, I'll be cleaning the study and putting my guest room in order.

Ruhiyyih will leave for Washington D.C. on Thursday - I think that will be my first real 'quiet day'....she is busy packing some of her stuff in boxes, to be shipped by mail, snail route. She plans to have just 2 big suitcases and a carry-on on the plane. And, that has to last her until the rest of her stuff arrives at her new address in Virginia.

Celebrating Family and Departure

We got the family together on Sunday for a celebration - a farewell party for Ruhiyyih.

She is moving to Washington D.C. to continue her job search, and has already secured an apartment with a group of girls in a house in Arlington, Virginia. She has friends in the area that she saw at Christmas, so I know she won't be jumping down into the unknown. She feels quite at home there, and I'm happy for her. She is going to have a good time. And, the jobs there are abundant in the non-profit sector especially in international services - her passion.

Ruhiyyih spent a year teaching in China, has done grant writing, volunteer management, social services, and now desires to upgrade her language skills in Arabic, French, and Chinese. Classes in these languages are offered free at the Department of Agriculture. She has a friend who is studying languages there.

These photos show my son Ruh, his wife Annie and their daughter Daisy; Taraz and Rahmat, our sons; Laurel and Ruhiyyih, our daughters; Mehran, our son in law; Annie's parents Tim and Kathy, their son Ben; Megan, a close Baha'i friend of Taraz's; and Renee and Bryn, two of Ruhiyyihs friends. Dottie, Veronica and her baby Justin joined us a little later, after these shots were taken.

Ruhiyyih, Baby Justin, and Veronica

Veronica (Vern) is one of Ruhiyyih's closest friends. They became friends in junior high school. Vern spent many nights at sleep-overs at our house, and Ruhiyyih rented a room in her house a few years ago when Vern's husband was in military duty in Korea for months at a time. Vern is a dental assistant, but is a full-time mom right now. Justin is a sweet little guy, just so squeezable and full of giggles and smiles. He was the hit of the party - sorry, Ruhiyyih.

They're All Outta The Nest - Today!

Today our son Taraz will be moving to his new apartment, which is about a mile away, down 6th Avenue.

Taraz is the golden-haired youth pictured above with Rahmat, Ruhiyyih, Ruhullah and Laurel. All our kids are finally out of the nest.

I checked out his new apartment, and when I met the landlady, I was shocked to see that she is the same landlady that Rahmat has. She manages several apartment buildings for one owner. I was so happy, because I know her, and I'm impressed with her management style.

She is very 'hands-on', and skilled in so many ways. When Rahmat needed a good bike, she found one for him, left by an old tenant, and he paid only $80.00 for it. Rahmat would have taken a corner apartment overlooking a construction site, with all the power drilling and jack-hammers. I told the landlady to show us something else, because Rahmat works at night and sleeps in late. I knew the sounds would bother him. She had just the perfect studio apartment for him, overlooking a nice view of the city and Mt. Rainier.

Taraz's new apartment is a studio also in the old historic part of Tacoma. He will be moving in today, and I'm so happy to see him 'fly the coop' - for his sake and mine. I am so 'ready' to tackle those upstairs bedrooms, clean them out, restore them to what they had been - my guest room-studio and George's study. When Rahmat and Taraz came home from their Year of Services in Maine, Michigan and South Carolina they took over these rooms and George and I lost our creative spaces, where we did all our projects.

I really enjoyed having them home last June, and we've sure had some wonderful family moments. But, every little chick must fly the coop, and this hen is ready.

Confounded and Irritated

Everything we tried yesterday to figure out why I couldn't post or comment didn't work. My computer still wasn't working this morning. So, I took out the chords, pulled them out of the modem and blew on them and rammed them back into place....and that worked. I couldn't believe it! Everything was up and running as good as new.

We're Just Chillin' Here Mom

I've been helping my son Taraz look for an apartment. He would prefer to live in a house with room-mates, and share a kitchen, livingroom and bath. He's done that before, with several different living arrangements, always enjoying the group experience.

We've looked at one place already, a basement apartment in a good location about four blocks away. It was an apartment that had a kitchen, bathroom, and two separate bedrooms - no livingroom. So the small bedroom would be Taraz's living space.

It had no screen on the bedroom window,and that poses a safety hazard - anyone could crawl through there in the summertime, at night, and take his stuff. I mentioned to the landlord that it needed a screen - and he said, "yeah, you could get one."

The landlord had not repaired a hot water faucet in the bathroom sink, so everytime the sink was used it had to be turned on, under the sink. I felt that a landlord getting a place ready for occupancy would have something like that taken care of before renting to someone. It would be a nuisance to operate it like that.

The landlord had also left the front door and a window wide open, to air the place out. That seemed unusual, as if he was attempting to get rid of a bad odor. No heat was available in the bedrooms, and when I pointed this out to my son, the landlord said, "you could get a space heater".

I asked how long the apartment had been 'for rent', and the landlord said, "for three months". So, I asked how long the other tennant had lived there, and the landlord said, "for three months." So, what was it about this apartment that had delayed renting the other room? I inquired again about the other tennant, and the landlord said "he is about 50, retired, and is gone ALL DAY. He is rarely home."

I felt reservations about this apartment. Naturally, I worried about it as I was trying to sleep. When Taraz came downstairs to have breakfast the next morning, I told him I didn't think the place was a good choice. We need to keep looking. I thought the 50 year old tennant was probably the deciding factor as to why the other room can't get rented.

I could be totally wrong here, but I kept imagining someone getting SSI, a mental disability check. I see a number of mentally ill men walking up and down 6th Avenue, talking to themselves, unkempt, wearing a winter coat in August. They spend the entire day walking. It doesn't occur to them to bathe, shave or put on clean clothes. A broken faucet in a sink would not be a problem... The lack of heat in a bedroom wouldn't be noticed....

I didn't feel comfortable about that basement apartment. We will continue looking. Taraz has some more addresses lined up. I'm imagining something on a second floor level, a place of his own. Maybe something near his brother Rahmat, downtown. I want him to have a nice little place of his own - something that won't keep me awake at night, worrying over him. A safe, warm, friendly place that feels like home. We'll be apartment hunting again today, with the hope we find something.

Paddling the Bone River on Willapa Bay

After grabbing a quick Egg-Bacon-Cheese on a Biscuit at McDonalds, we headed over to South Bend, a quaint community famous for its oyster-processing. Our canoeing destination was due west, the Bone River. It is a beautiful, pristine, gentle body of freshwater that flows into Willapa Bay.

The incoming tide of Willapa Bay combines with the nutrient-laden fresh water of the Bone river to create an extremely productive estuary. Diverse salt marshes, muddy tideflats, rain-drenched old growth forests, and coastal dunes preserves a number of unique ecosystems.

We've seen Roosevelt elk here, camped overnight with our family on Long Island, and done some exquisite filming on Leadbetter Point, where the most memorable filmed images of water are in our collection. So, I guess you could say this area is one of our favorites. Although it is only 2 hours away, we've spent weekend 'getaways' here, staying in a little motel in South Bend. The ambience of the fishing ships, the many great restaurants, and the great canoeing opportunities always draw us back, every year.

An average of 110 inches of rain falls each year here, carrying nutrients into Wallapa Bay. Chum, chinook, and coho salmon spawn in the streams. Eelgrass is the staple food of brant, a sea goose that migrates along the Pacific Coast. We saw flocks of Canadian Geese, ducks and shorebirds. Along the Bone River there were river otter and muskrat slides down into the water.

Sitka Spruce line the water's edge, and the eelgrass has sprouted about 4 inches, looking like a groomed golf-course in some places. The terrain got more and more remote and varied as we paddled up the river. There was brilliant sunshine, and no wind, so we had excellent canoeing conditions and it was a great, peaceful glide.

I was concerned about our put-in point, as the tide was going out when we started - this can pose a problem when returning, as the mudflats drain and become 'mucky'. It is a challenge to find a solid place to step out. We've had many disasters doing this, mainly getting stuck and muddy in the process of getting out. But, that is all part of the process, and a risk that is taken.

I felt the concern, so I disembarked on a little stony beach; George wanted to go further down about 30 feet, and by the time I'd climbed up the cliff onto a hill, I could see that he was in trouble. I told him to go back, to get out where I did, as it was dry....but, he went his own way, and promptly got bogged down in a foot of sucking mud.

Now there is the problem of 'men'. You don't want to be telling them how to do things when they realize they didn't take their wife's suggestion, especially if they are mired up to the top of their boots. And, their feet are so twisted they can't move. And, they've had to sit down in the bottom of the canoe, cold water soaking into their britches. And they are trying to catch their breath from twisting, turning, pulling and cussing.

I had to climb back down from my safe place and use my paddle to dig him out. Then I demanded that he give me the rope I keep handy for such occasions, which enables me to save my canoe, if not my husband. I pulled the canoe up the bank while George flipped it over, and together we got 'er done. But, we both smelled like sewage when we were finished, with mud all over our pants and jackets.

When George had recovered from his anger and embarrasment, I told him that a person on a cliff has a better vantage point to see the full scope of a predicament. A person who is angry and in a dire situation needs to listen to the person who is calm, reasoned, and safe. He wouldn't admit this, right away, but after he'd recovered, he saw the sense of what I was talking about. (And you can bet I did some talking!)

After this 'rescue attempt' of mine, I'm determined to carry a long 2" by 12" board in the canoe - so that if George doesn't follow my suggestion, he can just slide up the darn thing on his belly. I've learned something from watching those belly-sliding river otters.

Getting Ready For Valentine's Day

My 9 year old grand-daughter, Daisy, came over Friday night for a few hours. After we had some grilled cheese sandwiches and pineapple upside down cake, I helped her with her homework. (Yes, grandma gets the homework done first, then Daisy doesn't have to think about it until she turns it in on Monday.)

After that we worked on her valentine box for school. We wanted a shoe box, but had to settle for a Puff Plus tissue box. I found some old wallpaper and we fitted that around the box. We painted the paper hearts red, cut them out, and decorated them with glitter glue. She glued these on the box, and although it was not your traditional lace and hearts, it didn't matter to Daisy. We had fun, and she made those typical 4th grader remarks, "Oh, your hearts are so much better than mine!"

When we finished, Daisy wanted to play with my hair, which is something she has done for years. My old salt-and-pepper hair is so thick that she can pull and tangle it. She got out clips, scarves, and bobby pins, and experimented with styles. I layed on the sofa, and she had the best time. Just as I'd fall asleep, she'd want me to sit up, so she could see the style. The worse I looked, the more fun she had.

This reminds me of a time she put braids all over in my hair. I fell asleep, and when I woke up I drove over to the library. I got my books, nothing unusual. But when I got home, I looked in the mirror, and all those braids were hanging all over my head. I'd entirely forgotten about them.

Just This Once, Pleeeease!

He's not supposed to be sleeping on our bed. But, I haven't the heart to scold him.... night-night, Mordrid.

A Sunny Afternoon At Watson's Nursery

My daughter, Ruhiyyih, and I spent an hour at Watson's, a local nursery. While she sat at the espresso bar with a chocolate chip cookie, I browsed all the perennials, the hanging baskets, the new annuals, and the houseplants. This is the best nursery in our valley. If you have a sick plant, they will take it, put it in one of their greenhouses, and try to restore it for you. They have excellent customer service, and abundant varieties of outdoor shrubs and trees.

Just walking through all the primroses and daffodils was such a joy, after all the dismal grey days that we've had. The fragrance and color was refreshing, and I really enjoyed being with my daughter. She is home for a few weeks, then she moves to Washington DC. We are packing in some good times. This was such a delightful excursion...I'm eager to go back.

Monday Morning Clean-Up Blues

We sure pay a price for a little fun on the weekend. And, it's there to greet me on Monday morning. If you think this is bad, check the dishwasher, check the laundry baskets, check the canoeing equipment boxes waiting to be stored away.

So, I'm doing the Monday morning thing - getting laundry done, putting away life-jackets and canoeing gear, cleaning up after our Ruhi class. I forgot to put all the garbage cans out for pick-up, so they will be spilling out by Friday. Well, at least we've got some more sunshine today - I'll be done with all this work by noon, and I plan to head out to Watson's Nursery...I've got spring fever.

Oyster Bay On Puget Sound

We got out early Sunday morning for a canoe paddle at Oyster Bay. It was a gorgeous sunny day - sweater weather, no wind. Perfect canoeing weather! I took my video camera and filmed bobbing jellyfish. I caught a few snapshots, too.

We had a perfect paddle over to a little island. While George sunned himself, I walked around the island and got a few photos of Madronna trees and beach shells.

The birdlife was rich - a few pheasants, an eagle soaring overhead, Barrows Golden Eyes bobbing on the water, and a diving Kingfisher. The water was alive with the sound of gulls, crows, and Killdeer. This is my favorite time of the year to explore water - before all the powerboats are out. In fact, because it was Super Bowl Sunday, it was very quiet. Just a perfect glide.

Madronna Trees - Shedding Bark

Getting Ready For Spring Planting

These are our first purchases for the spring garden - grass seed for a bare section in our backyard, where I took out a goat corral; and some Ferry Morse Snow Peas and Sugar Snap Peas.

We had a nice stretch of sunshine yesterday, and the temp was up - perfect for broadcasting the grass seed. George is going to work the peas this year - a first crop, before the pole beans.

Little Collections on the Bookshelves

Just about everything on my bookshelves has been given to me by friends - a real mix of gifts.