my kids crack me up

Sam exploring on the rocks in Yosemite National Park
Copyright (c) 2007 Wendee Holtcamp

"How fiercely, devoutly wild is Nature in the midst of her beauty-loving tenderness!-painting lilies, watering them, caressing them with gentle hand, going from flower to flower like a gardener while building rock mountains and cloud mountains full of lightning and rain."

- John Muir, The Yosemite.

I stumbled across this list I made Sam write so he'd remember his trip to California in Summer 07 - here's a link to the Jun blog archive from then with some other pics and writing about the trip. It cracked me up - so minimalist! When I took them to Australia I made them both keep a daily journal (hey they were missing some school for the trip), so this was an EASY one to just make a list. It just brought back memories and made me laugh so here it is. Note though he sounds like he was 4 or 5 in his minimalistic answers, he was 10 when he wrote this! And a very smart 10! I think next time I'm going to make him write a bit more about each little adventure...

What i did/saw/got/ate in CA, by Sam

* I saw a bear
* I saw a clear river
* I saw a trout and carp
* I got a poster
* I got 2 fake bears (WH Commentary: I have no idea what he means...stuffed animal??)
* I saw Kira (WH: his cousin)
* I saw snow
* I made a snowman
* I had a snowball fight
* I got to drink some spring water
* I got to swim in a glacial lake
* I got to swim in a very cold river (WH: The Merced at Yosemite!)
* I got my name painted (WH: by the guys in San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf)
* I saw the bushman (WH: ROFLOL - this is the guy dressed as a bush who jumps out and scares people in Fisherman's Wharf in SF)
* I got an Alcatraz hoodie
* I saw sea lions
* I saw a guy doing a crazy trick
* I saw a baby sea lion
* I got to fly on a plane
* I ate "gooseberries"
* I ate fresh honey from a hive
* I got a gong (WH: When I first read this I thought it said bong! LOL!)
* I saw a wild plum tree
* I ate unripe wild plums
* I ate a fresh organic strawberry
* I got to tour the garden (WH: At Green Gulch Organic Farm)
* I got to tour the Zen Center (WH: Green Gulch Zen Center Monastery)

That's it! Hopefully I'll blog some more later. I revised my chapter on truth, yet AGAIN, but I'm liking it finally, and I'm working on another chapter about my frustrations with the church after my divorce. Why were all my non-Christian friends there for me, while my Christian friends were not, and often turned their back on me? It's all there... later chapters will talk about redemption and forgiveness.

Last night when I was tucking Savannah in for bed, we were cracking up! Somehow we started talking about spontaneous combustion. I think I said something like, you might just spontaneously combust. And she was like, that does NOT happen, really. And I was like, yea it does! You just disapear, fwoop! And all that's left behind is a little pile of ashes. She was like, no it does NOT. I said, yea I think if you eat a lot of beans and have a lot of gas you're at a greater risk. She was like, whatever. I said Go look it up on Wikipedia!! If it's on Wikipedia it has to be true! She said, Yea right, I made an entry about a giant rat man on Wikipedia. I was like, you did?! Are you serious?! She said yep, I wrote a whole long story, but then I hit cancel on accident! (she didn't have it saved elsewhere - big no-no!). So anyway the giant rat man will go undocumented, for the time being.

Here are a few more of the pics from that trip!

Sam at the Green Gulch Organic Garden, where my best friend Daline lived and worked for over a year. This is outside San Francisco. I think this may be the gooseberry bush but I'm not sure...
The guy painting Sam's name in Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco.
Sam and Savannah jumping in the frigid glacial Merced River in Yosemite National Park. They went swimming with my brother and Kira while me and Zofia stayed on the shore. I may be wacky, but I am not crazy!
Sam about to go into Dog Lake, a glacial lake and also very cold!

Sam making a snowball.

And about to throw it! This was the first time my kids had EVER seen snow! Well they did see snow when we spent 3 weeks in Alaska but Sam was 9 months old...

God's art alive

Your beauty
surpasses brilliance
of the nighttime sky
shining brighter
than all the stars
luminescent
as the moon
full of magic sprinkle dust

Samuel, my son
God’s art alive
living
breathing
laughing
three-dimensional complexity
mindful of babbles and bubbles
thoughts comprehensible
only to God
and yourself

Copyright (c) 2000 Wendee Holtcamp

Zen Living

Here is a link to a CBS TV spot with Daline and some of the others out at Green Gulch Zen Center.

I haven't been blogging much lately about my deepest thoughts as I used to, I realized. Lately I've had a lot of thoughts and internal struggles and I'm not quite sure why I'm not blogging them as much. Maybe because I know the people I'm thinking about are reading this :)

I'm trying to find time to work on revising my book proposal (yes it has been about 2 years now...), the one formerly known as The Fish Wars (new title is secret!) and yet it is really tough to find time amidst the article assignments and having the kids home with me this summer. I love having the kids around all the time, but it does take away the long stretches of alone time I have during the school year, which I love. I think there is some fear there about completing it also - fear of failure, fear of yet another unfinished project which compels me to put it off even more (go figure). There have also been some family struggles, as I'm coming to grips with a new assessment of certain family members that were formerly - as my marriage therapist used to say - "in the China cabinet."

I really struggle with knowing what the right decision is a lot of time. I believe we have warring parts of our personality - some selfish, some selfless, and some that just want different things, and sometimes it's hard to know what my best option is at any given time.

photos from the Bay Area

On our very first night at Yosemite National Park, me and the kids did a short walk to Lower Yosemite Falls and scrambled around on the rocks a bit. Not easy in flip flops! I hadn't planned on rock scrambling so did not wear appropriate shoes :) I did have hiking boots with me, I just didn't wear them that first day!

A waterfall in Yosemite Valley.

Sam, Savannah and their niece Kira by the Merced River near Housekeeping Camp where we stayed the first night.

Drop dead gorgeous scenery!

Hiking to Dog Lake, a glacial lake near the Tuolomnne Meadows area of Yosemite National Park. Right is Zofi and Savannah. Left is Lazer giving Kira a piggyback ride, Savi and Zofia.

Dog Lake was so damn cold i could not go in...but it didn't stop the kids!

Playing on a rock in the Merced River, Yosemite N.P. It was icy cold! Took my breath away! On the right, Sam beside the Merced River. He was so enthralled that the river was so clear you could see the trout and he wanted to go fishing so badly!

Believe it or not, this was my kids' first experience with snow! They had seen snow as babies/toddlers in Alaska but this was the first real in the snow playtime. It was a snowpack just outside of Yosemite N.P. at the Tioga Pass entrance. The photo above is my brother Lazer, my niece Kira (in pink) and my kids.

A meadow near the Tuolomne Meadows region of the park, where we stayed the second night.

Savannah at the snowman the day before, and the pathetic anorexic-looking snow-thing the next day. I love this poor little guy!

Daline and I at Muir Woods (left). Coastal redwood (Sequioa) foliage (right).

Me at Bohemian Grove in Muir Woods - must have been named after me!
Lavender at Green Gulch Zen Center Organic Farm. I love these photos. On the left, this is a different variety of lavender, and the orange flowers in the background are California poppies.

Daline in the garden (left). Someone from the Zen center working in the gorgeous flower garden.

Hills of Taumalipas - the trail through Green Gulch to Muir Beach.
Me and the kids and Daline and her sister Jackie inside the zendo, where they do their "sitting" practice. Daline playing on a type of drum (right).

Flowers over San Francisco Bay, and a California Poppy (right) - one of my favorite flowers!

Ghirardelli "chocolate factory" in Ghirardelli Square, SF and an awesome meal at the Melting Pot - we were stuffed!