Peace, Fall, and Corporate America

I cannot believe it almost October.  How did that even happen?  I'm sure it has something to do with the ancient Greeks, Romans, or something but you know what I mean!

October 12, 2011

 Fall has come to the Pacific Northwest.   I don't know that I'm ready for it.   Usually, by now, I'm begging for orange and yellow leaves, 55 degree days, and two blankets on my bed.  Here's hoping that next week boosts my love of fall back to normal.  We've got B's birthday, Alternomomma's birthday, Pops' birthday, and decorating for fall.  Tonight I've got the kids so B can get her new tattoo.  I am making up a nice curried split pea soup and (vegan) cheesy garlic bread.  Mmmmm....yummy!

Yup.  I did it.  After 2 1/2 years as a vegetarian, I went vegan about 3 weeks ago.  I'd been hemmin' and hawin' about it because hey, I like my cheese you know.  The catalyst for most of my changes (we call her Becca) and I sat down with the kids and watched Vegucated.  I'm a visual person and if you want me to take the time to seriously change my life, you have to impact me visually.  This documentary did that for me.  It's one thing to read about what is done to dairy cows and hens but seeing it is heart wrenching.  I'm not going to preach (much) and tell you why you should watch this movie but I will say this:  Seriously think about what eating meat, cheese, milk products, and eggs does to you, the environment, and the animals that they come from.  Vegucate yourself and live your life with compassion towards those who cannot speak.

Peace March 2012

The peace march was fantastic!  The kids, Becca, and Seth walked from Maritime Heritage park, through a bit of downtown, and up Cornwall to the First Congregational.  All the kids were asked to carry flags.  They were all awesome, but I have to love the "corporate america" flag that Kim was carrying.  Instead of the stars representing states, there are corporate logos.  It's a fascinating statement about how corporations are the ones who run this country.  We all had a fab dinner of Italian hoagies at the park, then I drove up to meet them at the church.  Of course, I went to the church where it stopped last year.  The marchers got there, and I was taking pictures, and then they kept walking right on past me and up the street.  Whoops.  I hopped in my car and gathered up my crew up at the other church and home we went.

Okay, bread's almost done and the kids look like the might start eating each other. 

Have a great weekend kittens!

That is all.

Thunder....

Susy, myself, and Stacey with "Thunder From Down Under" 2005

This weekend was all about the men from Australia and New Zealand.  Aren't they just uber fine?

Well, it was all about the half naked men until my kiddo got sick.  Sadly, the trip to Snoqualmie Casino was cancelled.  Kim felt badly about it, but what are you going to do?

Is it a consolation to anyone that my school work was not only done, but I made up a missing paper?

Probably to my GPA but that's about it.

So anyway, to those who got to see the hot dudes, hope you had fun!

To Susy, I'm sorry babe.  I love ya and miss you!  Wish we could have gone!

Peace March 2011

This week brings us the Peace March with Dana Lyons as the MC.  

If you don't know Dana, he is a local activist and musician who travels around the world.

He's about to start "The Great Coal Train Tour" and get people riled up about the (more than) mile long coal trains that will be running from "Montana and Wyoming through Sandpoint, Idaho to Spokane, down through the Columbia River Gorge, then up along the Puget Sound coast, passing through Longview, Tacoma, Seattle, Edmonds, Everett, Mt. Vernon, Bellingham, Ferndale and all points in between".   The quoted bit there is from Coal Train Facts. 

It's a big deal here because we live in one of the most beautiful places on earth and this will be parking in our backyard while it offloads tons of coal onto boats bound for China.  I'm not going to give you all the reasons why the coal trains are horrible, you can check it out for yourself.  If you're in any one of the regions affected by this, you should get involved and get involved now!

Back to the Peace March.  This will be the second year that we're going and the kids are already excited!  Here's the information if you can take the time to come on down:

(I totally copied and pasted this from Dana's calendar.  I'm a plagiarist.  It's true.)

9/21/12 5:00pm

Bellingham, WA Peace Day Event

First Congregational Church in Bellingham

2401 Cornwall Avenue

Bellingham, WA 98225

360-734-0217

http://www.whatcompjc.org

Price: free/donations accepted

September 21st Friday

5pm march

5:30 peace day celebration

Dana will MC the event and sing "Circle The World"

The March

We meet at Maritime Heritage Park starting a 5:00 pm on Friday September 21st.

Joe Marx has confirmed that his drumming group will accompany the marchers from Maritime Heritage Park.

Cascade Montessori 7th and 8th graders will be marching with us and handing out their peace cranes to bystanders....

Kulshan Chorus will be performing their peace music from around the world.

Keynote Speaker Michael McPhearson

Okay kittens.  This long week is over and looking forward to the next!

That is all.

I'm Back

From 2009 (bottom right) to 2012 (top left)

Kim has become a part of Becca's tradition of Labor Day photos at Hovander.  

It's amazing to watch the children change from year to year.  

The boy even got his head chopped off a bit on top because he's too tall now! 

I've been away from the blog for just over two months.  I couldn't articulate what I had to say and what I was feeling.  So, I made myself sit down today and blog.  

There's a lot going on in my world and the world in general.  

Tomorrow is Becca and Seth's 13th anniversary.  

Happy Happy to some of the best friends a girl has ever had! 

Larrabee State Park 2008

Tomorrow is also three months since Nana passed.  

It's hard to believe.  

I miss you Nana.  Whole bunches.  Wish you were here.

Foxglove, Nana's favorite flower.

School is ticking along.  I switched majors because the whole computer programming thing just wasn't working for me.  I'm working on my Bachelor's in Criminal Justice now.  It's my passion and I should have gone with my first instinct.  I'm doing fairly well this quarter.  I kind of blew off a few weeks because of camping and vacation, but I'm back on track now and doing fine.

We did our big camping trip at the beginning of August.  It's the first year Kevin didn't go with us, which was weird.  Kim had sprained her knee on July 4th so she wasn't able to do a lot of the hiking and spent a lot of time with me at camp. Papa went with us for the first year!  Super fun!!!  It's the highlight of my year and I'm already excited for next year.

Kim and Sarah Larrabee 2012

Beth, Kim, and I rented a car and drove down to California to see Susy and Kaitlyn near the end of August.  Did I mention that was a looooooong drive to do on your own?  We took two days on the way down and three on the way back.  Kim took a lot of pictures of the journey but somehow we misplaced the camera during our time with Susy.  The last night we were there Marky took the girls, Bethie went off on her own, and Susy and I went to a club.  We got in a bit of trouble but hey, isn't that the fun part?  Really, it wasn't our fault......  No pictures of that because I'm at B's for the weekend and they are all on my computer.

Last weekend was Water Balloon Wars 2012.  It's our 5th annual balloon war and we had just about 500 balloons this year which is our most yet.  It takes hours to fill up all the balloons and just about 10 minutes to beat the living snot out of each other with water.  B and I filled up almost all the balloons this year and boy, did our hands hurt!

Becca's aerial view of the beginning of the war

 

It's an election year but we'll be talking about that later this week.  

Be safe and enjoy this last weekend of summer if you're here in the Pacific Northwest.  I think this is all we're getting.  Kind of a weather-cruddy summer, but the beauty here comes at a price, and that price is rain.

Becca's gardens

Well kittens, it's time for me to go.

That is all.

Michael Clarke Duncan

Forgive me for being gone for so long.

I just didn't have it in me to blog.

I will be back to our regularly scheduled program soon.

Goodbye Michael Clarke Duncan.

You were a big man, with big talent, with a bigger heart.

Your gorgeous smile, kind eyes, and your wit will be missed.

Thank you for gracing the screens, both big and small, with your talent.

From outer space, to the green mile, to the Ends of the Earth;

you will be missed.

May the earth embrace you and keep you close to her heart.

May your spirit soar free.

Rest In Peace.