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The pinewood derby

Seems the past couple of years spent being around a young boy has just been full of first-times for us. T-ball, soccer, weird 'boy stuff' in general. See, between the two of us John and I had four girls, so boys  just seem like they're from a whole 'nother planet sometimes (in a good way, of course) At a recent cub scout meeting Melissa was handed a block of wood with wheels and instructed to turn it into a racecar. So of course she promptly brought it here for Papa to figure out. John appeared to have fun with it. He bragged that he hardly used a saw at all...mostly sanded the ends down and used a drill to carve out a seat for the Legoman driver. He they (wink wink) put a lot more time into the paint and decals than anything else, and we had no doubt that it would be one of the finest cars at the race. 

Yesterday was race day, and of course John & I were there with camera in hand, ready to beam at the finish line as only grandparents can do. Here's what we were faced with at the door.

Ahem. That's some creative carving going on there! Look at the paint job on the darth vader car...it has a mirror finish! (That dad happens to be our kind-of-ex-son-in-law who owns a hot rod detail shop. No fair!)

And catch the squirrel in the log car. Haha! Only in Humboldt County! Well, at this point we still thought our little flaming banana was an admirable competitor.

Caleb's chest almost seems puffed up in pride here

Anxiously waiting (poor little guy doesn't have a clue at this point)

And they're off~!

Oh My! Tied for last place! That's not good. Here, let's try again.

Well Shoot! That's DEAD last! Okay. One more time. Third time's a charm, right? RIGHT?!!

Ahhhh....No. No luck whatsoever. We were laughing so hard I'm surprised we got these pictures taken. After three rounds of utter humiliation a couple of nice boys tried to help Caleb figure out how in the world it could've been THAT bad!

Is it the car? Might it be something to do with Legoman? While we adults were wondering the same things ourselves John up and confessed that he had 'lubricated' the axels with Vaseline. VASELINE!? "Yeah, what's wrong with Vaseline? It's a good lubricant!" Oh my my.  "John," I said. "Just because someone mentioned that way back in high school it don't make it true. And besides, I don't think they were talking about racecars! If you put a blob of Vaseline on a window and a squirt of say, mineral oil (if we're going to be using bathroom products), which one do you think will run down the glass the fastest?" Then Melissa says that when they arrived at the race that afternoon she cluelessly sprinkled Graphite on the axels as instructed, so I imagine the Graphite powder mixed with the Vaseline to make flat out SLUDGE. Too funny! And yes, John is already plotting for next year's better faster car. :-)

I have a sewing post I want to write for you and will try to come back in the next day or two for that. Here's a little preview of part of it,  as modeled by our sweet already two months old Madison.

December 22

I've been trying to decide for over a week now if I should ask for permission or just start snapping.

I decided at the last minute today to just start snapping.

Nobody busted me out for it.   Too busy making those last minute sales.  This is our local pharmacy believe it or not.   I once mentioned to an online friend the $138 candlesticks I had seen in my pharmacy that day and she said, "We don't have pharmacies like that here in Oklahoma!" Nope. I've never seen one quite like it either, but I sure like going in there at Christmas!

Hope you're having a great weekend. The company has already started to arrive here. Be back tomorrow!

Quickly checking in here...had a fun day yesterday. Here's a shot of a very crowded Old Town Eureka

Caleb trying to fly with the birds (almost seems to be succeeding!)

A shot of John and I taken by Caleb (he's gettin pretty good!)

And one of Melissa and Caleb

She asked me, "Mom, does it look stupid that the belly band of these pants shows under my shirt?" and I said, "Honey, I'm so used to seeing it I can't really be objective at this point. Might oughta ask someone else." It must really suck having such a smart a$$ for a mom sometimes. ;-)

Beach Church

After 7 straight weeks of rain by the buckets, we woke up to a day that stayed gloriously clear and bordering warm all day. Thought we'd better grab the opportunity and go out to the beach. Spent a couple hours running up and then sliding down the dunes, and ended as usual with Caleb first getting a shoe wet, and then going for broke til he's wet up to his armpits. That's when we know it's time to go home. :-D Our beach is not like most people would imagine for a California coast. It's not populated, it's not perfect white sand, and it's rarely warm enough to go without a coat, but it truly is beautiful in all it's untouched nature. I was talking with my hairdresser last week about thinking I need to start going to church. Not only do I want to give Caleb a basis for making spiritual decisions in his future, but because it feels right that we formally thank God on a routine basis for all the blessings that He has given us. Susan (my hairdresser) said, "I have that need, too. That's why I go to Beach Church." And I realized that I've been doing that myself for the 15 years since I first moved to Monterey. I feel close to God there, I believe He knows I'm thankful, and I don't have to put on pantyhose on Sunday mornings to prove it. By the way, Caleb IS going to Christian school starting in the Fall.  I don't know which I'm happier about; him getting a good basic understanding of God and the bible or the fact that he gets to avoid our lame public school system, but we really expect he has a bright future, and for that I'm extremely thankful.

Arts Alive

Eureka has been named #1 in the top 100 artistic small cities, and is usually in the top ten at least. LOTS of artistic folk up here. The first Saturday night of every month is Arts Alive, where all the galleries and shops in old town show new work. It's great fun to go. Last night I particularly wanted to see the 11th Annual Junque Art show... everything made from found objects. I felt kinda strange taking pics, but nobody ever told me to stop, so I'm sorry I didn't take more! All of these can be seen larger if you click on them. (You should especially check out that handbeaded bike!)

We thought this piece was so interesting, the way it's applied directly to the wall!

  Here's a couple shots of our 'old town'. I just love the big turnout for this monthly event. Has a nice community feel.

We also wanted to see Jen Mackey's showing. She's a long-time client of John's and I just really like her an awful lot. I tell her she's the oldest Jennifer I've ever met aside from myself ;-) (she's only got me beat by a couple years). We'd arranged to meet  her and her son, Ian for dinner afterward at hurricane kate's, a cool and groovy restaurant in old town.  Her son's parttime caregivers joined us as well. These people were good for the soul. Jen has been a single mother all these years. Ian has muscular dystrophy. He's 22 years old, has already received his bachelor's degree from Berkeley, a master's in Scotland, and is awaiting acceptance into law school. Jen and Ian's accomplishments totally blow my mind. I'm sure it's 'just what we do' to them, but they're truly inspirational people whom I hope to get to know much better.

Yes, for the first time since Caleb came to stay we GOT TO GO OUT.There's hope looming in the near future for all of us re he and his mother spending more time together. More on that soon....

Local Color

Every year I'm just blown away by the different intense colors all over town that appear in the hydrangeas. I finally thought to grab my camera and snap a few today...seems I waited about a week too long...they're starting to die back, but you'll still get an idea here. Pretty fabulous, huh?

The highlight of our holiday weekend

Every year since 1969, our local area has hosted a Kinetic Sculpture Race. You can read all about it here. People-powered transportation that has to be able to move through/over land, the bay, sand, mud. The race lasts 3 days, is about 12 miles long I believe, and is quite the site. I can't even imagine how hard it is to pedal those contraptions for 3 days. Yesterday we missed them as they were passing through the Eureka bay, but today we went out to Ferndale where the race ended. Here's some pics. Enjoy (all pics can be enlarged if you click on them)

I love the contrasts in this pic. The stuffed monkeys on the plastic palm trees, with the 100+yo victorian inn in the background, and beyond that the coastal redwoods.

It's the weekend AGAIN?!

Saturday comes around about every 2.5 days here. I can't remember the last time 'Saturday' meant anything to me other than 'keeping Caleb'. Keeping Caleb busy is what I've come to realize is the smart thing to do. I'm a veritable "What's going on this weekend' resource as it behooves me to be armed with things to do. We have two parades a year here in Eureka. The 'rhody' parade in late April (yes, we celebrate rhododendron bushes), and the Trucker's Parade in early December (cement mixers, dump trucks, fire trucks, your uncle Bob's 56 pickup. As long as it's a truck; just put twinkling lights on it and you're in). The route is up H street, one street over from us. Before Caleb was born I was rather the humbug...just turning up the tv louder as I heard the sirens and horns passing by. Now....I haven't missed a one in four years. I feel like SUCH a dork, but I cry every time I go to these things. I mean, I manage to keep tears from streaming down my face, but it takes all my inner strength to do so. I think it's because this world we live in is so apathetic and downright crazy, that I still feel there's 'hope' represented in such down-homey traditions. I think also it's because after having lived in dozens of places before settling here 10 years ago, I've finally found a sense of community, and that's become terribly important to me. Honestly, I cry at Hallmark commercials, but doesn't the fact that these old men still dress up silly and hunker down in miniature cars make you wax nostalgic, too?

I took several more pics, but so did Caleb and apparently when he dropped my camera the disc got dislodged so really neither of us were taking pictures anymore.

After the parade we rode the bike up to Henderson Center where they had a little street fair going on. Caleb wanted to go in the bounce house. It was billed as $3 for 5 minutes. Well, I guess all they really cared about was the $3 because after 45 MINUTES I could not coax him out of there and had to kick off my shoes and shimmy my self through this little opening to go in and get him. All the other kids kept jumping around while Caleb plastered himself to the farthest wall cracking up at me on my hands and knees trying to bounce my way over to get him. grrr. I got a round of applause when I made it safely back out with the boy in tow.