This Place

Sunday, July 24, 2011

This place was created for me by my beloved. He thought it would help me find some peace. It did, for a bit.


Now when I look back at the posts, I realize I have not been very honest with you...or me. I fill the pages with lovely photos from a life I cobble together 10 or 15 minutes a day. The rest of the time, I am in bed. Or watching the world move slowly from my window because I lack the ability to leave the house. It looks lovely because I am good at that. I can make the ugliest things so beautiful. I look best when I have no sleep. I think it is a survival technique I picked up over the years of living on this planet. It does not mean I am overly broken or overly flawed. It just means that I am simply human.

If you are reading this, know that much of it is geared to a team of attorneys in Los Angeles who have had a field day with my life for the last two and half years. They have read every word in this blog, photocopied it, offered it as evidence that I am happy. They dig up my children's father, the crack addict and brought him into the picture after 11 years. They have had vans parked out in front of my house and filmed me for weeks. In the weeks they were filming, they got three days of footage. Why only three? I am sorry to say, most days...I was been in bed. It is hard to admit, especially when I look at my former life of 16 hour days and working seven days a week. Tears are welling as I type, because I love life. Ask anyone who knows me. I can find beauty in the smallest detail...I have been wasting my life, mourning for old friends and relationships that have dissolved. My work with 25 wonderful children has been erased, my relationship with their parents, gone. My career has been ruined. Waldorf is a small community. I am blacklisted.

I am trying to move forward, but I keep looking back...

It was the Summer Solstice, 1999, I left an abusive relationship to an addict with two small children in the dark of night. I roused the babes from their beds and started a new life. Within a week, I had a job as waitress in clothes I bought from the thrift store with borrowed money. I borrowed $50 from the friends I was staying to use as my bank(cash one uses to make their own change,etc.) for work until I made enough tips to have my own bank. Before the end of the summer, I was living in a brand new apartment. I was making enough money to support the children and I had enrolled in a Waldorf teacher training program. Within a few months, it all came together.

My children's father disappeared. We did not know if he was alive or dead. The children began counseling, not because we were overly broken, but because that is what normal people do when life's challenges overwhelm them. After some time, their counselor told me that their worries were the worries of every child their age and we could go forth in happiness. And we did. I was happy to be in school and thriving. I was promoted to manager at the restaurant and put in charge of hiring. I earned enough money to pay for school, and even take the children on mini-breaks to the coast. He didn't break me. In fact, I grew stronger. So you are wrong, Los Angeles Attorneys. Very wrong.

One night, I was working the busiest station in the restaurant. A party of 10 had just been sat in my station. As I exited the kitchen, I was dumbstruck. My children's father was standing three feet from me. I had not seen or heard from him in months. I had no idea where he had been or what he had been doing. It was like seeing an apparition. I turned right around and walked back into the kitchen, leaned my back against the cold steel of the walk-in and slid to the ground.

It Is The Small Things

Friday, July 22, 2011


I have to appreciate the small things in life or, well, I would be really sad.

Bits Of Summer

Monday, July 18, 2011








We have only been getting little bits of summer weather here the Pacific Northwest. Don't get me wrong, when the sun is shining, or even kind of shining it is glorious. Absolutely glorious. However, this weekend rained...a lot. Too much for July. I felt like baking a pumpkin pie. I thought it was autumn.


We have had fun when we could. Lots of cookouts on the deck. Some family and friends. Beer Festivals, Chocolate Cake for the new cake stand and long hair. I know it sounds random, but five years ago I shaved my head(for a very good reason, I might add) and have been longing for it back. I know. I am selfish, but I missed my long hair. And now it is back.

That strange vehicle at the top, you ask? A Bike Bar. Yep, it has a bar and you peddle around the beer fest...I love Portland.

Just hoping for a few more bits of summer...Xoxo.

Things I am Enjoying In The Sunlight

Saturday, June 25, 2011



There is this recipe I just stumbled upon. Homemade Nutter Butters. These happen to be my sweethearts favorite cookie, so I dove right in! This recipe is written in a smooth and easy fashion, making these many step cookies a breeze to make. While you are working on one section, the other is cooling, baking, etc. The only hitch I am having is with the dough. One should be able to roll it out, but I find it difficult, so I am going to have make a few more batches...Just to perfect it.

You can have Homemade Nutter Butters in about two hours. Danger, Will Robinson.




Then there is this sweet China Girl sucking her thumb. I simply could not leave her at the vintage store. She has been in the house for about four months now. The other day, the 18 year old man-boy was lounging on the couch-gangly legs and arms and elbows everywhere. He looks over at me and says, "Is that angel picking her nose??" Yes, sweetheart, that angel is picking her nose. Do angels pick their noses? Do angels even have noses? Questions for another day.



Our new favorite gin. Made right here in Oregon. It is pink, which I like. It is tasty, which we both like. This tonic water is mostly cute, and in glass, not plastic. I firmly believe that a good Gin and Tonic is the perfect summer cocktail. It is the alchemy of the gin that makes me giddy.




I had a little leftover paint from another painting project. Oh, and it was raining. Again. In summer. So I was inside painting. Instead of washing the paint down the drain, I livened up my very cheap hanging lamp...

Lots of time spent on the deck, soaking in the awaited sun...Have lovely summer day.


Peony Love

Thursday, June 9, 2011





I have been awaiting her arrival with bated breath, and here she is! The Lovely Peony Blooms. We have had so little rain and so much sun, I am afraid to relax and believe that indeed summer may be arriving. But alas, when I opened my eyes just before the sun rise, I saw that sweet color of pink that calls forth a sunny day.


I am reveling in these details, for my focus is lost and I find I am coasting on a river of unknown. My heart still grieves for lost friendships and connection.

For today, I will inhale the sweetness of The Peony...

Any Portlanders out there interested in art classes for their wee ones, en plein air? I have a lovely deck, tons of supplies and lots to share.

Not Much But Rain

Thursday, June 2, 2011


Yes, Memorial Day Weekend was filled with rain. Note the mud on the wellies, it came from trying to run out during nice bits and do some planting. And mowing. This perfect Pacific Northwest combination of rain and bits of sun make for super growing grass. I don't care much if the lawn is a bit overgrown, but all of our neighbors have tidy mow and blow lawns, so I figure I should play nice. The cold temperatures were softened with a little Beagle cuddling. But, Hark! She smells a squirrel...

The Lovely Sun

Friday, May 27, 2011


My new fave morning spot!

Hops
Oregano


I am really proud of theses puppies!

Chocolate Mint and Spearmint in the old laundry tub...

The sun has been making a few appearances in The City of Roses. Not many, but that magical mixture of rain and sun makes for this...Spring is springing and the weather is moderate enough to have tea on the deck one or two mornings a week.

Lots blooming in the garden. Are any of you proud of your perennials when they spring back after winter's bitter cold? Or is it just me? I don't mind, I will own it. I am really happy for the perennials that weather the winter. Very courageous, if you ask me...I have been planting in buckets that have been floating around, trying to accommodate all of the new seedlings. Now we just need a good shot of rainy nights and sunny days and I will close my eyes and pretend I am still living on that island in the sea.