There and Back Again...and Again

We watched the 3rd Lord of the Rings movie last night. I guess we (Pat, Dan and I) felt we hadn't watched it in a while, and it was time. As much as I love those movies, now when I watch them I find myself filling in the dialogue with absurd, ridiculous dialogue. I can't take them seriously anymore.

The rain is relentless. This is the time of year around here that gets difficult to bear. But it's also why this area is so green. Small price to pay.

Thought for the Day

"Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner.
Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity."
- The Tao te Ching, translated by Stephen Mitchell

Quieting the Voices

"Quieting these voices is at least half the battle I fight daily... Left to my own devices, my mind spends much of its time having conversations with people who aren't there. I walk along defending myself to people, or exchanging repartee with them, or rationalizing my behavior, or seducing them with gossip, or pretending I'm on their TV talk show or whatever. I speed or run an aging yellow light or don't come to a full stop, and one nanosecond later am explaining to imaginary cops exactly why I had to do what I did, or insisting that I did not in fact do it."   -Anne Lamott, "bird by bird"

Got our veggie garden planted today. Broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, tomatoes, buttercup squash, spinach, zucchini, peas, bush beans, and sunflowers. It was a great day!

"What Buddhism teaches is that the connection, the ability to find intimacy or connection, is inherent within us, and that if we can just surrender back into that capacity for love, that is all of our birthrights--all babies are born with that; they instinctively love their caretakers. So if we can find that again, then our relationships will take care of themselves."
-Mark Epstein

Thinking about the Garden

It's time to start planning this years garden. Now that I am working, I'll have to stategically plan this out. We are all ready set up this year, at least. Have to get the soil ready, and start getting some seeds, and plant them and set them under the lights. Can hardly wait to get the starts planted again, now that I have that little bit of knowledge that could make this year better for growing some of our food.

This and That

This is the kids about (eek!) 16 years ago when we went on a camping trip to Belfair when Pat's dad, Walt, was up for a visit. The kids and I were out in the woodsy part, walking along a trail, and I stopped to take some photos in the good light there. This is one of my favorite photos of the two of them. Dan is about 6 and  Sarah 3ish.

Dan has a new review on his Cinephile site about the movie, Whipit. Check it out: http://danhowescinephile.blogspot.com/2010/02/you-must-whip-it.html.

I am busy these days working full time and trying to keep up with lots of family stuff. My job has become rather intense, with a full plate every day and I find myself working in a climate that is so busy, and sometimes frantic, that the day disappears before I know it. Just about everyone I work with is in the same boat, scrambling to keep up and rushing around for most of the day. There have been layoffs recently, and for awhile the mood was somber, and there was a nervous bewilderment that seemed to lurk over everyone. But with the sweet valentine holiday, with many of us exchanging little valentine gifts, it helped to lift the gloom a bit, and bring a tinge of much needed irreverance to at least one day. This is a good bunch of people, and as I get to know more of them, I feel like I am really settling in at last.

This is not to say that I don't still fell sad about the layoffs. It's reality now more than ever, it seems. I know the pain of it, and as I read of friends and family members' layoffs still happening, I am reminded that I am lucky to be working. Gotta keep that in mind.

Pat and I have reached a nice groove in our longtime, 23-year marriage. We've celebrated another aniversay, and had a fun Valentine's, going out for Thai food and then to see "Avatar", which was entertaining, but so lacking in the script. It was nice to go out twice in the last month, and both times we were happy to discover some really great restaurants: Machiavelli's, a terrific, small, somewhat funky Italian place on Capital Hill; and Thai Fusion, at Thornton Place, south of Northgate Mall, but really pretty good food. Spicey and a great variety, and a nice ambience to boot. We don't go out much, so these little dates have been really enjoyable for us :)

Thinkin' about the garden, and how I should  be planning and buying seeds, and starting some starts. The weather has been kinda mild around here, so spring feels like it's just around the corner. Want to plant alot more beans this year, and we are planning to do some canning! Bought a pressure canner. So we are ready, and now we know a little bit more about what to plant and how much.

New Beginnings

It's a new year. Glad to be done with the holidays, and back to normal life.

And what about "normal" life. What's so comforting about it? Maybe it's the comfort of daily rituals and knowing what to expect. Isn't is funny how we sometimes need that, and sometimes dread it?

I have been working steadily now for over 4 months. It's nice to be able to count on a steady income, and attempt to plan for our future...a future that is shaped in eventual retirement, in having "enough money" and enough energy to do some of the things we really enjoy. Like traveling. Like spending unscheduled time. Like being more creative with our days because the whole day will not be taken up with working, providing, shopping, and scheduling our lives around a routine.

So, I currently embrace the routine. Security has always been important to me. But I also long for that spontaneous, irresponsible urge to chuck it all, and take big risks. Anyone else feel that way?