procrastination

Anything to avoid studying. I will even blog again. Three tests this week. How can that be? I only have two classes. One is in a lab. Wouldn't it be easier if I could just take Microbiology in French? Well, maybe not. Caleb's gone biking for two nights and three days or so with his brother and his dad. I hope they are having a great time. I am. Sofie had a birthday party for Wolfie or was it Horsey and we all ate muffins. The girls finally finished cleaning their room. Sofie learned to jump rope. She has to learn something new pretty much every day. Last week she learned to write, and before that to read. She also rides horses, and a bike now. Tomorrow she's going swimming. Hope she remembers how. I have read about bacteria and viruses, diseases of the skin and urogenital tract many times over. Have to read it once a day until test day I figure. Though I should be avoiding studying by preparing for my next presentation which is on Bordeaux. My partner is covering the wine aspect. I'm doing the general overview. My allergies are much better now that my strep throat is being treated. hmmm.... Tired now. Goodnight beautiful world.

California Livin'

Life has picked up speed and we are yet to settle down in a house of our own. Still staying with a friend in Rincon Valley. Started a conversational french class which is great fun. I do have a slight advantage, but am surprised at the number of people who know some french before taking french class. I'm not sure anyone takes french without a little prior knowledge. The language is a bit intimidating in that one cannot just pick up a book and read it aloud correctly without quite a lot of training.
Had to attend Jury duty a couple of weeks ago, but was dismissed due to my lack of respect for authority which was OK by me, but I wonder if I shouldn't be permanently dismissed from jury duty. It seems I am called more often than other people. I think they have me on two lists, Department of Motor Vehicles and voter registration lists. They say if you are called more than once in a year to make sure you are not on two lists. I am not called that often, but much more often than anyone I know, and never can get past the point of trying to imagine myself extending credibility to people in uniform. I have a really strong prejudice there and am well aware of it. However, I did feel bad because someone stopped me in the hallway on the way out who happened to be a friend of the defendant who was very disappointed I had been dismissed probably because they could sense this bias in me, or perhaps because I stated that I was an herbalist. I wasn't in attendance long enough to hear the details of the case, but got a strong feeling that it involved the infamous herb that is still illegal in many ways. The man in the hall said he thought I'd be understanding, well, probably not really, as I do know the case involved someone driving a motor vehicle, and I have very little tolerance for bad driving. The whole issue of bias came up because another jury member said he would have trouble doubting anything stated by a police officer, and he remained on the jury for the simple reason that he said he would put his bias aside whereas I said I probably could not. At one point one of the people, maybe the defendant herself gave me a big smile which I thought to be extremely inappropriate. This is in fact one of the reasons I felt uncomfortable sitting on the jury besides the basic fact that I really don't belong on any jury. Well, I do hope everything came out as it should have in the end in any case, or in all cases for that matter.
It is difficult living in transition as we are. I am quite anxious to get into our garage before too many rodents move in for the winter. The children are really happy with their school situation. They both love Orchard View public homeschooling program. It is ideal for our family. They have and are making more friends by the minute. Keeping up with their social calenders seems challenging but not out of hand like it can be. Everything is just right. They are both doing well, learning fast, and getting compliments from their teachers which I just love because I am so proud of them and happy for them. Yesterday Karen and Laura's families had us over to Neva St. for dinner and little Lily gave Sofie about fifteen beautiful hand me down dresses, one of them used to be Anja's, so we are all feeling loved. The six girls were very cute playing together. My mom is coming to visit the 21st of October. I do hope I have a place for her to stay.

Hot!

We are back in Sonoma County now, well, most of us. Caleb took off to go back-packing almost immediately upon our arrival here. The girls have started their school. They are taking Gymnastics, Music, Spanish, Science, and Gardening, as well as some Language Arts outside of the home. In the home we are working on Math, Chemistry, Language Arts, Californian studies (complete with book) and Sofie's making a large replica of herself in the cardboard medium. So the year is off to a rip roaring start. We tried to go Roller blading this afternoon, but almost melted, so we will try again later this evening when the heat rolls out. Visiting with family and friends is really fun and exciting. Looking for housing so far is not. Kristin very kindly has allowed us to fill her empty nest as her boys took off for boarding school, she has three rooms available to us until December. With persistence we will have found a place to live by then. We are all eager, in some way, to see what we packed that garage full of before we left over a year ago now. It's Hot!

Some Views from the Back Seat

This is our car by the Canso Causeway in Canada

So if you see a dark green Volvo coming down the street loaded with not one, but two car top carriers, one hard, one soft you know we're back. Our Volvo may be spotted in Wyoming today and further west each day thereafter. We hope it doesn't rain too hard on the Playmobil, who are in the soft carrier. Looks stormy.

On The Road Again

Thus far we have been in five states and we are bordering on a sixth. We are three days out and almost half way to our destination in California. Started in Michigan, progressed through Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, and are settling down for the night at the Days Inn in Sidney, Nebraska which is almost to Wyoming. We are staying the route on I-80 instead of diverging through the mountains of Colorado as we did last time. We believe it will be faster, meaning less time in the car, which is always an issue when travelling 2200 miles. We managed to pick up a nifty coupon for the hotel at the Chinese buffet which convinced us to call it a night despite gaining another hour today. By far the best road food ever was at a CSA / Organic restaurant just west of Des Moines called L.T.'s Organic Restaurant. The L.T. stands for "leisure time." It is run by a family. Both the parents were health care professionals who came to realize through their work that the reason people get ill is because of their diets. They believe strongly in the importance of pesticide free food as well as vine ripened food. A plate of food at their farm restaurant was $17.50 but easily fed two people and was well worth it. On top of a great meal full of vine ripened veggies and very fresh farm chicken, we were able to wander about the farm and appreciate all the work that went into our meal. The hens were completely free range and the girls loved following them around the farm. We noticed the rooster had its legs tied together. Sofie was able to ask our server why the rooster's legs were tied together, so we learned that the naughty rooster wouldn't stay otherwise. We have yet to learn why that rooster wouldn't want to stay with twenty or thirty hens and a farm full of veg. They also had a really nice outdoor seating area in the shade which was made with Gourd plants. The only drawback was the giant gourds hanging down everywhere this time of year. Boz's Kiwis seem more practical and delicious, but it was a great way to make shade in any case.

ACTION PACKED

I just had the most fabulous time at my mom and Mac daddy's lake this past weekend. We went sailing and swimming and tubing. We roasted marshmallows for S'mores and the moon fairy came with pennies for our shoes. My step-brother and his wife and four boys were there for almost two days, and we had a little birthday, complete with balloons for Landon, who is four. Caleb and I managed to see Batman and Pineapple Express and go to the Danish festival / used book sale in Greenville. We soaked up some of the culture, carrying a DVD on Islam my mom forgot to watch, that was overdue at the library, we wended our way between the Catholics and the Baptists and their galoopa (flattened marbles) crafts on Main St. We saw a garden stone for sale at one booth that had the words, " If I ain't home, try WalMart" etched in it. I really appreciated the way the guy at the booth explained his Danish pastry, the Apelkiver ( I think), as "just like a pancake, dude." I don't know if I really learned much about Denmark there, but Greenville was out in full force. So we took in a little piece of America, as we prepare to take in a bigger piece on our way across it. We are leaving Thursday or Friday for California. This should take us a little while if we are kind to ourselves and the children. The intention is to be at Boz and Kathrin's house by August 30th.