It is upon us, the dark time. Biting, kicking, screaming, hair-pulling, willful disobedience. Our beautiful little daughter can transform, with no warning, into a wild animal. Ten seconds later she’s back to normal. Believe me, this see-sawing from cuteness to…
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Winter War draft part 5
CHAPTER 10 Late May, 1939 Hannu stepped out the front door into the cool night air, spring dusk growing longer with each step towards summer. The distant sun still left some warmth in the air. Eero’s voice droned…
Bread and Education
They go together like bread and…butter. You’ll see. Picture 1213 Let’s start with a loaf of Scottish oat bread. Simple brown bread, but is it? I can teach Toddler Harbat how to mix the ingredients, the order of rising, forming,…
Daydreaming
Small_Islands_1280 x 1024 This is my desktop background. I don’t know where it is but I can hear water lapping up against those coral outcrops, can feel the fibrous vines in my hands as I struggle to climb up, can…
Animal, Vegetable, Haranguing Lecture
I finally finished Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I’ll start by saying I had high hopes for the book. For an entire year she and her family committed to local sustainable food, most of it grown and harvested themselves. Now…
Monday Stew: A Little of This, A Little of That
Weekends always seem longer than they are on the calendar. I think back to what I did this weekend: gardening, baking, farmer’s market, park visitor’s center, constructing compost pile fencing, garden festival/fair, and it doesn’t seem possible it fit into…
Winter War draft part 4
CHAPTER 7 May 15, 1939 Hannu and Eero walked through the woods, spring mud squishing under their boots. Long dusk and the weight of wet leaves dampened sounds and they moved slowly through the forest like wandering moose. Eero…
Lonesome Dove
The greatest TV miniseries…ever? We started watching it last night and it is just as good as I remember, with richly-drawn characters, a fantastic cast, and settings so real you can taste the dust and mesquite. I was shocked to…
Rain and the Joys of Being Inside
Pouring rain here. Pouring. It’s dumping like the city’s bought the five-buck carwash, a hundred-foot tall sign telling the metro area to “PULL FORWARD”. As I’ve mentioned, rain is a blessing in this dry climate, and even when it sounds…
Having a Kid is Like…
…beautiful angelic light from heaven, and the clear ringing of silver bells…ahh screw it. Toddler Harbat bit me last night and I called her a wild dog. She cried, there were hugs and apologies all around, and all was forgiven…
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