Nostalgia Walk

I took Nat and her friend to the movies on Sunday evening, but rather than sit in the theater, I brought the dog and went for a walk in the town where my first husband and I moved to when Cam was a year old.

I go to this town often, but haven't actually walked my old neighborhood in the downtown area in many years. It brought back a flood of memories.

We lived in this old yellow house that was actually a couple of small houses somehow spliced together. It's floors were sloping when we lived there and to my knowledge it hasn't been upgraded since.

 

To get to the back bedroom you walked (downhill) through the brown shag-carpeted bathroom (I do hope at least that carpet has been replaced!). It's sad to see that the big sycamores are gone and the yard isn't kept up. But this is the house that Cam and I spent our days hanging out together. Where he learned to ride his Batman trike on the porch (and infamously painted himself and rode the trike Lady Godiva style) and where Sis was born in that back bedroom with the local fire department in attendance!

 

We moved just 5 months after Sis was born, but the memories of taking walks through that historic old neighborhood with Cam came flooding back as I walked the roads with a different dog at the end of my leash:

 

Back then we had Dusty who was just as good and loyal as our Sue.

 

I remember oftentimes being lonely in that house. I didn't have any friends, and felt isolated from my family in Sacramento. Cam and I attended La Leche League meetings in Lodi (and hour and a half drive) and storytime at the Sonora Library to get a little bit of socialization.

 

I had my moments when it was really hard, of course being a first-time mom is a learning experience to be sure, but there were tons of good memories from those times too.

 

We loved walking downtown to the donut shop or to the park. We grew strawberries in our yard and Cam and the dog and I spent many hours in that yard playing, exploring, and even hanging laundry and cloth diapers on the old clothes line. I found an old bottle there and would often wonder who the other moms were who used this little drying yard for their babies' diapers.

 

Having my mom visit was always a treat, and back then there were quite a few cool shops downtown to look through. We also had some great family gatherings there for Cam's 2nd and 3rd birthdays.

 

We lived just behind the theater and what was then called Scott's Tavern. Walking past that corner bar on Sunday it still smelled of stale beer and cigarettes. There were quite a few evenings where we be woken up by a drunken brawl or loud partiers from the bar.

 

It was quite a nostalgic walk, and I will treasure all my memories from those times, both good and bad. Those were my first years as a mom, and the first years really being a real grown up.

Bathing and Birthdays

Natalie returned from Girl's Camp with the church on Saturday. Somehow as soon as she walked in, her luggage exploded (or she rifled through it like a raccoon looking for cat food).

 

She then opened her birthday presents after spending her 12th birthday day at camp:

 

I then encouraged her to take a shower after she proudly informed me that she had had only one shower in the last 5 days and only changed her socks twice.

 

From the bathroom I hear her call for me, "Mommmmmm."

 

"You need a towel?" I answer.

 

"Yes, and something else too!" she replies.

 

So when I arrive at the door to the bathroom she exclaims, "Mom! I haven't bathed since I was 11 years old!"

 

Good one, Nat!

Bookmark

While camping Nat was reading a book she borrowed from the library. She always brings drawing supplies with her where ever she goes so she took out some paper and colored pencils and made a bookmark for her book.

 and on the back it reads, "This bookmark has been specially designed and hand made for  this book only. If you take it please make one to replace it that is just as good if not better than this bookmark (yes I will check)."

 

I hope when we return it to the library they will leave it in the book for someone to discover.

"To Camp or Not to Camp" is not even a question this year

Life is too short to put off camping. Every summer I tell myself I'd LIKE to take the kids camping, but I never do, due to work schedules, or lack of money, etc. This year I'm determined though, and with my tax refund I splurged on a few essential camp items. Walmart had a tent and two queen air mattress bundle online for Memorial Day, so I snapped one up along with a camp stove.

Now the tent I bought is not just an ordinary tent, it is a 60 second tent. Yes, according to the video, that's how long it takes to set up. According to me, it takes about 3 times that long. Seriously, it's pretty cool. The poles are already in it, one just basically pops it up. The 60 seconds does not include unfolding it or staking it down, this is going from unfolded to popped up, the rest of the set-up takes some time, but I'm very pleased with it so far.

Of course getting it back in the bag it came in? Not really happening. Who packs these things? I swear it's like trying to put toothpaste back in a tube! I think I've settled on rolling it up and bungee cording it, and using the bag for all the accoutrements.

Our maiden voyage for the tent took place at Lake Alpine. Natalie was the only one of my children willing and/or able to go (remember, I have a teenager!) We went from 100 degree heat to stepping out of the car and immediately looking for our sweaters!

Also the wind was trying to blow the hair off our heads! We had the kayaks, but one look at the white caps on the lake made us decide that bike riding and bug hunting looked much more appealing!

Our campsite was so beautiful. There was a carpet of these tiny purple flowers:

 

Natalie got out her dollar store bug house and got busy catching small butterflies and hellgrammites from the creek right next to our camp:

 

Next we went for a bike ride since Lake Alpine has a really nice bike trail. Boy, am I out of bike riding shape! I had to walk a couple hills, but it was fun, and Natalie found the last of the snow:

 

Straight across from our camp was this huge boot print from Paul Bunyan:

Is there anything more fascinating than watching a camp fire? ( well, probably, but when you have no electronics, this is pretty cool):

I was really excited to be camping when it was a full moon, and especially the prospect of kayaking with the full moon which was on Friday the 13th (dun-dun-dunnn). On the 12th, at 8:30pm this is what we saw:

 

So we figured that the following night would be perfect for our full moon paddle. In the mean time, after Natalie read aloud to us from the Spiderwick Chronicles, we spent a chilly night in our sleeping bags. Brrrrr.....

 

The next morning we had little boxes of cereal for breakfast. This is one of my camping splurges. I love to eat out of the cereal box when I camp, and eat sugary cereal I usually wouldn't buy or eat.

 

Again, the day was windy, but maybe a bit less, so we put off kayaking until evening when the wind died down.

 

In the mean time we saw this conglomeration of cones making a star:

 

and this hawk:

 

also, I was kind of proud of my Pinterest inspired paper towel holder/kitchen crate. I put one of our hot dog sticks through the paper towels and holes in the crate--it was very handy, and my dish towel hung in the handle opening. Then I packed everything up in the crate when it was ready to go. Not exactly awe-inspiring, but super handy and something I wouldn't have thought of on my own.

 

Natalie had neglected to pack a decent sweater, so we ran into "town" and found this cute sweatshirt that she LOVES:

 

After PBandJ's for lunch, it was off on another bike adventure where we found this nice granite "beach":

 

and my favorite wildflowers, Pussy Paws--they feel like the bottom of a kitty's foot:

 

Modeling her sweatshirt:

 

After biking it was off to the showers (this is from inside the tent as we gather our stuff to go):

 

$2 of quarters and lots of banging on the machine, buys you 5 minutes of shower time. No more, no less, and if you spend a minute and a half trying to adjust the water to somewhere in between SCALD and SUB ZERO, well that's your tough luck! But if felt pretty good nonetheless.

Later that evening this was the scene:

But the rest of THAT story will be found at my other blog THE UNLIKELY KAYAKER

My College Retrospective

 

 Stick A Fork in Me...

 

 

 I'm Done!!!

~a college retrospective~

 

 It's unbelievable that this college journey has come to an end and I've reached my goal

  

 

It all started on this beach in the summer of 2011...

 

 

when I took time to reflect on my life and made decisions to make it better.

 

I was in my mid-forties and troubled by this thought:

 

 

 

And I was tired of working two jobs and still getting nowhere, so I thought, what the heck:

 

 

Going back to college was also inspired by the following two thoughts:

 

 

 

I had a lot of trepidation about going back to school when I was pushing 50, and was afraid of being the oldster in class

 

 

and seriously wondered if my brain could keep up

 

 

or if I even still had one

 

 

 

and then I had all that driving to think about...and it was a lot!

 

 

112 round trips to American River College in Sacramento

128 round trips to Columbia College in Sonora

 

for a GRAND TOTAL of (drum roll please)...

 

 26,530 miles!!!

 

I could've driven to New York City and back almost 5 times!

 

  

 

(or, according to my son, I could've driven the circumference of the Earth and then some!)

 

And boy, was my car getting tired of driving!

 

 

(I think I actually heard it murmur, "Kill me now...")

 

 

I have to give credit to the following for keeping me alert during all that driving:

 

Crunchy Snacks

 

Armstrong and Getty Podcasts:

 

CAFFEINE PILLS! WOOO!!!

 

 

 

and looking for interesting number sequences on my odometer 

 

Looking for interesting sights also kept me entertained.

 Like the Liberty Road Chicken Tree:

 

 

the giant flag in Jackson: 

 

this truck-drivin' Santa:

 

 

this sweetHEART of a cow:

 

 

and the Giant Eyeball at the Natomas Center:

 

But my biggest challenge was keeping my tank full:

 

 

The classwork and homework were often challenging, and I spent hours on the computer or with my nose in a book,

 

 

and I felt bad for neglecting everyone to focus on school 

 

 

Sometimes I felt like I was being plotted against: 

 

 

...or the instructions I was getting made no sense at all!

 

 

And finals were intense!

 

 

Yes, these last three years have taken a toll:

 

 

 

There are many times I felt overwhelmed,

 

 

Overtired,

 

and thoroughly tested!

 

 

But somehow I muddled through with no permanent damage:

 

 

and I just kept chanting my mantra:

 

Could I really, finally be free?

 

And, just for the record, this is what it feels like when all that hard work adds up to a 4.0 GPA:

 

but I never could have done it at all without the support and encouragement of my family (and co-workers and friends)!

 

"Thank You" seems so inadequate, but that's all I've got,

 

I'm so happy to be done!