A Sneak Peek with a Look of Love

posted by Melissa
Looking Forward:
Amy and I set out for the city this morning.  Unbelievably unlike our usual photo shoots, we were early and prepared.  We are getting pretty excited and have some big ideas for next month's Urban Homesteading.  I just wonder if I can pull it all off.

Here is a sneak peek for next month's photo:

Me and Amy, with one of our photographers. photo by Tallulah

Be Here Now:
We are still in Hiking and Backpacking month, and as such, we are planning another camping trip.  This time we will be car camping at Mt. Rainier, and of course, we will add in a hike.  I'll have the kids with me, so hopefully they won't complain too much about the hike.

Speaking of kids complaining.  Speaking of kids in general, my kids are back.  They were away, on the East Coast, for three and a half weeks.  Yes, I had over three weeks where I could slow walk to my hearts content.  I could pick whatever god damn movie I wanted and nobody insulted me or hit me because of my choice.  It was a great time.  I blogged at leisure, and nobody stood over me griping about how unfair my computer time is.

Chalk rendition of my love for my children.

But then again, there weren't those cute little faces smiling up at me, like only your child does.  That look that says so much; I trust you, I love you, you're beautiful, you're my Mom.  There weren't those cute, chubby arms wrapped around my neck.  There wasn't another set of eyes watching Project Runway with me.  Laughing.

It's tough.  You love them so much.  But they also drive you crazy like no one else.

Yesterday was the first morning we were all together again, just us.  Tallulah whined at me for the first full hour of the day.  Something about the fact that I didn't want to walk her to the bathroom.  She is 6.  She can walk herself to the bathroom, sorry, I was sleeping.  S-l-e-e-ping.  Was sleeping.

I got up.  The whining continued.  The fighting of siblings commenced.  At one point, Lily said to me, "Mama, Tallulah is whining like this....." and she demonstrated to a T the sound of her little sister's most annoying sounds.

"Lily, I heard her!  I do NOT need a reenactment!" I shouted from my chair in front of the computer.

Seriously.  I was just trying to blog.  I wanted to get my "Backpacking Chronicles: 3" post up before I forgot what happened.  Let me tell you, creativity is hard to come by in those circumstances.  

But that is what we parents do, we're not saints, just parents.  We do it as best as we can.  And we hopefully remember to cherish those moments when we share a look with our child.  You know the one.  No words can describe it, but it goes on and on, and fills your heart so you can make it through all the crap.

-Melissa

afternoon mushroom walk

posted by Melissa

Amy called me this afternoon and offered a quick, spontaneous walk through a park to look for mushrooms.  So, I put off my homework, hopped into her Zipcar and headed down the street to Interlaken Park.  We found a few different types of fungi, and I am looking through the Simon & Schuster's Guide to Mushrooms to try my best guess at identifying them.  As I flip through the pages, I feel thankful that we are attending the mushroom identification class this month.

This one above appears to be Trametes versicolor from the latin for "varying in color."  Other names for it include Polyporus versicolor and Coriolus versicolor.  Its habitat is on dead or living trunks and wood, both coniferous and broadleaf.  It is inedible, but only so due to its texture.   And remember, this is my first attempt at identifying a mushroom...please correct me if I am wrong.

My best guess for this next one above is Peziza vesiculosa, from the Latin for "with vesicles" because of the crenulate edge and the outer surface.  (For those of you, that like me, do not know what crenulate means; the definition is: having an irregularly wavy or serrate outline.  I should have remembered that from Botany.)  It is fairly edible.  My book says its habitat is solitary on the ground where perhaps a large herbivores dropping had been.  But I found this right up next to a tree...makes my wonder if my guess is correct.

This one reminds me of the versicolor fungus from above, but it is much thicker and alone instead of layered.  And I think the green is moss, not a varying color of the fungus.  I just don't know what this one is.  The more I look, in the book and online, the more confused I get.  I am starting to wonder if it even is a mushroom.

Urtica dioica

We also saw lots of beautiful moss and patches of nettles (Urtica dioica.)  Nettles or stinging nettles can be foraged as well.  It can be used to make soup, or tea, or into a tincture.  It is often used to help with allergies, but also as a spring tonic offering lots of  nourishing vitamins and minerals.  People used to use the fresh plant to "urticate" themselves to alleviate arthritis pain, the stinging would counteract the pain offering a brief reprise from the aches.

moss

It felt good to be "out in the woods" today, even if it was only a dense park within the city.  Everything is more magical, colors brighter, conversations easier.  There is less to compete with the flow of creativity and imagination that is constant in our minds, yet perhaps is often muffled by or overwhelmed by the activity of the city and suburbs.  Every time I step into the outdoors, even just far enough to where I can't see a house or a car, I wonder about the choice for convenience over the choice for space and tranquility.

Right now, I am happy where I am...but the questions arise nonetheless.

peace,
Melissa

PS...we did see a man with a patchwork bag swung over his shoulder walking two dogs, and both Amy and I thought...for just a minute...that he was going to offer us some mushrooms of the hallucinogenic variety after Amy told him what we were doing hunting around off the beaten path.  Turns out, he didn't.