Unfinished business

So, my 45th year is over. I had a sense of being at a turning point when I started this blog, and while I can say I’ve rounded the corner on this particular turn, I’m not quite back onto the straight road.

The growing independence of DD and DS has been one major cause for this turning point. I’m still learning what it means to parent at this stage of the game. I consider it a major victory that we all still make it a point to spend time together…not just me, them too. It's a funny thing with parenting…just when you think you’ve got it down, they go and change again!

The blog has been a great place to not only document my 45th year challenge, but also to process various things happening in my life. Some things I’ve discovered about myself:

1—I really like to write. When I don’t have time to blog, I feel out of sorts and kinda mentally constipated…like there’s just too much stuff in my brain and some of it needs to get out!

2—I also like to take pictures of the things around me. The act of documenting helps me see things with new eyes.

3—I like being part of an online community. This blog and RocBike have introduced me to people and experiences I wouldn’t have known otherwise.

4—Now that I know I can do this blog thing, I’m ready to move into something new that I think may have an appeal to a broader audience. More on that in the next post…

But first, for the unfinished business…

Here are my last 3 finished objects (finished before my birthday, I swear!), modeled by DD in between homework and watching "So You Think You Can Dance."

A yoga mat bag for T (from the same pattern as this one

Scrap striped scarf. (I am all about using up the stash right now. Don't worry, it will pass.)

Colorful scarf from various yarn scraps, with no particular pattern. I just switched yarn and pattern as the mood struck.

There's also a random hat somewhere which I made to use up some yarn, but I can' find it. That's okay, it would be number 46, anyway!

Up next…the ride report from my 45-miler! Then, on to the next stage of the blog.

I did it!

I completed my 45-mile bike ride today (and none too soon, as tomorrow is my birthday!). I covered terrain from Rochester to Lake Ontario, back to Rochester, to Perinton, and BACK home to Rochester. It felt great...complete ride report to follow.

FOY (First-of-Year)

For those who watch birds avidly, FOY stands for First-of-Year. My first Great Blue Heron of the year, seen on a bike ride on the Erie Canal, near Lock 33.

Every Spring, we go out to a special spot in the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge. If you go at the right time, you'll hear a chorus of frogs singing their mating song. It's kind of eerie (made a bit more so this year by a rather intoxicated man circling the trail and talking loudly and angrily, but he was harmless). Hearing the frogs was worth it. Here's a picture taken just before the song began (which intensifies right as darkness falls).

Yesterday, T. and I went to Highland Park to look for FOY warblers. We saw the following: black and white, black-throated green, yellow-rumped, and lots more. Plus a blue-headed vireo, the first I have seen (that's called a "lifebird" if you're an aspiring bird nerd like me).

I couldn't resist the magnolia blossoms which had fallen to the ground.

Up next, my FOY flower bouquet from my garden--forsythia, the last daffodil and some other things whose names I don't know.

And it was the FOY South Wedge Farmers Market. You really should go to the website and watch the short video of the festivities, including DD, dear friends Hillary and Vicki, and favorite kids Max, Quinn, and Katie, among others, dancing around the maypole.

I picked up some Asian greens at the Market from Freshwise, and I already had some feta and chevre from Lively Run, so I modified a recipe from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone to make a double-crusted fresh spring greens tart. It will be tomorrow's dinner.

And by the way, my 45th birthday nears. I have completed the hand-made objects, although they may not get uploaded right away as my time is limited due to end-of-the-semester grad. school and work stuff. (I realize it probably doesn't seem like that, since I sound like nature girl in this post. This stuff has happened over the last 2-3 weeks, interspersed with bursts of research, writing, and conversations where I use words like "pedagogy" "theoretical" and "retention" as though I were talking about my children.)

The bike ride is coming soon...stay tuned!

Creeps

I was walking to class a couple of weeks ago and was blown away by this view in front of the library.

This despite the fact that spring is a bad allergy season for me, although Chinese herbs and dietary changes have made it more of a minor annoyance than the season of headache it once was.

Speaking of which--those innocuous looking yellow flowers are buttercups, which according to weather.com, are a common allergy trigger in my area right now.

Huh...DD and I just pulled a bazillion of them, the "creeping buttercup" variety from the yard. (They're just as insidious as they sound.) And I thought that good feeling was just from the satisfaction of getting rid of them.

Recently seen on my bike

(Cross-posted at RocBike).

After a powerful Earth Day sermon that echoed many of the themes in Michael Pollan's recent call to each individual to do something about climate change, and included a mention of the Rochester Chicken Club (of which I am a proud member--more on that topic to come), I came out to find this on my parked bike.

And this week, on my ride to yoga class, where I met my daughter, my new Ortlieb panniers managed the task of carrying our two yoga mats admirably.

I splurged on the panniers after I decided that an XtraCycle is not right for me, at this point. An XtraCycle is great if you want to be able to give someone else a ride, but my 17 and 19-year olds aren't likely to want to be seen on the back of their mom's bike. And everyone else I might be traveling with would likely ride their own! So, I got the panniers instead; they hold plenty of groceries and are very easy to use. I recommend them if you're in the market.

Bikes, chickens, and yoga...what more could you want?

Delayed gratification

I must like this...that feeling of preparing the soil, nourishing it with garbage that turns into luscious, nutrient-filled food for life...planting my little seeds, lots of them, which other creatures try to dig up and root out...watching the many seedlings come to life regardless...carefully plucking out the uninvited plants to keep the desired ones healthy...giving them lots of food and water to keep them growing, while working hard to keep the pests away that would injure them...giving them support as they grow so they don't fall over and collapse from the weight of all that new growth...until they finally reach their fullest potential.

The first new spring pea, fresh summer tomato, fragrant oregano--that's what I call delayed gratification. But not as delayed as the gratification I got last week...

It's hardly original of me to compare gardening to parenting, but in Spring, just too impossible to resist. Cliches are cliches for a reason...because they speak some truth which we really need to hear and remember.

I'm sure DS' fullest potential has much more room to grow, along with some continued need for nurturing and support, but still, it felt like a milestone.

He's been playing cello since the second grade, and over the years we've watched his frustrations, his nervousness, his stumbles, along with his successes and joy in playing.

Most of the people at this particular concert were probably family of students performing in the orchestra or choir, and between us, we must have logged millions of miles, hours, and money in supporting these musically-talented and hard-working young people. At the end, they got a lengthy standing ovation. It was as though the collective feeling was, "WHEW! My kid made it to perform at Lincoln Center. I am going to enjoy this moment and I am going to stand and applaud for as long as I damn well feel like it."

I don't take credit for the tomato...it had its own inherent "tomato-ness" to reach that has nothing to do with me. Similarly, I don't take credit for the performance. He's the one who practices for hours a day, who's passionate about his art, and who has a work ethic and attitude admired by his teachers and fellow students alike. But supporting a kid in their passion is no doubt a family commitment. So I'll take a little of the credit for preparing the soil, planting the seed, warding off intruders, providing support. And never mind that it took just short of 2 decades...the wait was worth it.

And when I say, "I must like this," it's because the ways in which I choose to spend my time all have this similar feeling. Lots of quiet waiting, interspersed with bursts of fierceness and a constant love. Gardening and parenting yes, but also counseling and teaching college students, community service and activism, knitting, cooking, research, and even yoga and meditation.

There's a lot to be said for patience.

Back in the Saddle

Read all about it at RocBike.