07/16/2010
07/14/2010
anniversary special
As the summer speeds by, we are celebrating many happy occasions. Birthdays, graduations and two happy anniversaries.
My mom and dad got married now 21 years ago. It was a first marriage for neither of them. My (step)mom had a long and lovely marriage to her first husband Gary and sadly outlived him. Happily for us, though, she met my dad and despite many reasons not to, they tied the knot. I still remember my dad asking me if he could marry Mary~it would be his third~and I replied "It's either going to be 3 strikes and you're out or third time is a charm". Happily for all of us, it was the latter.
Forward to 20 years later and I am set to marry my sweetheart. I had heard of, and eaten many times, the Anniversary Green Bean salad which my dad faithfully makes for mom each and every year. We had a very small wedding and wanted to have a nice dinner for the few folks who helped create this very special day for us. The Anniversary Green Bean salad had a place on the menu and though I'm a little bit late this year in making it for our own first anniversary, I am happy to do so and be in line for another 19 (hopefully more!) years of happiness in marriage.
Norm & Mary's Anniversary Green Bean salad: adapted from Savor the Flavor of Oregon
1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp crushed garlic
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts
1 cup red onion
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
Blanch green beans for 4-5 minutes; chill. Chop mint leaves and add to green beans. Set aside.
For dressing: Combine oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic. Add walnuts, red onion and feta cheese to beans. Pour dressing over bean mixture and toss to coat. Chill until ready to serve.
In traditional Schafer fashion, you can substitute the hell out of this and still end up with a great salad. Parmesan for feta, walnuts/hazelnuts/cashews for the nuts, basil/rosemary for the mint. As with any marriage, time to chill before serving it up and a gentle dose of love are the basics. Enjoy!
07/09/2010
{this moment}
{this moment} - A Friday ritual.
A
single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple,
special, extraordinary moment. A moment I
want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same,
leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.
07/07/2010
I am most happy in California~
When it feels like we are living anywhere but California.
After almost 10 years of living here, it still doesn't feel like home to me. I love some of the people some of the time, many of the places most of the time and hate the traffic all the time. The view from our back door is so pleasing and calming and so very NOT California, however. It is soothing and calm, relaxing and invigorating. It is the result of hard work done and hard work to come.
Perhaps that is the work of life: To make wherever you live your home. In spirit, body and mind. For me all those things are connected best when I see the laundry on the line, the chickens in their yard, the geese asking for food and the girls feeding birds, talking to birds or playing with each other.
I am finally at the stage with this house where I can do some sewing. Do some laundry and have a place to put it. Make pancakes. Create the home I've wanted for oh so long. I am so happy and so blessed to be here, with our sweet little family~I think it is just the idea of California being more like SoCal that bothers me a bit. Sometimes I want to fit in a bit more (or a LOT more). And sometimes I'm fine being the family that creates and prospers in being an anomaly in California more often than not.
Thank you, California, for making me stretch. Now, if you can just get something done about that giant deficit and the state of public education, I'll consider us staying for another decade. Peace out.
07/03/2010
showgirlship
Upon entering our 4 chickens at the fair on Thursday, we were asked if big sister wanted to also sign up for Poultry Showmanship. We gamely (ha, ha) signed her up and then she attended a Novice Showmanship workshop so she could learn all sorts of pencil guiding techniques to get her favorite chicken to abide by the rules.
She is so brave! There were 12 kids in the Showmanship ring and big sister was one of only 4 who weren't involved in 4-H. Which meant for her, personally, that she had never spent any time with her chicken other than loving and feeding her. And that she was in the second group to the table and had to hold her hen for 30 minutes while the first group went through the showmanship trials before she could have her turn at the table.
Big sister and her Buff Orpington chicken, Mustard.
We learned a few things. She wants to join 4-H as soon as possible to learn and perfect her showmanship skills. And that she needs a smaller hen. Those bantam hens sure are cute...and now their on our list to find.
07/01/2010
06/22/2010
Four:
Fore!: interjection Golf.
(used as a cry of warning to persons on a course who are in danger of being struck by the ball.)
As a golf wife, I know how these things play out: The tournament is coming
The date has been set
Location noted
Hole 7: Par 3: 109 yards. See that tree on the left? We were there!
It will be too expensive to travel to see it in person, whereupon the hour of the first gathering of golfers in the predestined location arrives, there will be internet/television/radio/iphone app coverage of every sort and the man of the house and two girl children will gather around a device (or many) and listen, watch and interact with the device in order to see and hear every movement of every golf club, blade of grass, drop of water and swish of pant.
Until Friday at 6pm hit us like a golf ball in the head and we got the call. Did we want 4 free tickets to the US Open, Saturday June 19?
Do fish swim? Do birds fly? Do people mark their calendars for new Apple item releases?
Hell yes, we'll take them!!
So we planned. Quickly. It all came together pretty quickly, once we got the room settled. All hotels and "overnight venues" were either booked solid or charging $300 per night for something that was usually going for $125 in high summer. We got a solid on a reservation at Asilomar but before we could call back and confirm they switched the phone to voice mail for the night. I did a little sleuthing, got a sweet gal on the phone and she booked us for two nights at $142 per night. We're on our way!
Frantically packing as well as reading the back of the ticket to discover most items illegal: bottles of water, phones, cameras, bags, backpacks, food...basically everything on our list, we nevertheless threw a gob of stuff in the car (and miraculously didn't forget anything we needed AND had enough diapers to cover us...er, baby's bum)
We traveled to Pebble Beach in the late night hours, big sister in the back on the "toooch" (this is what we now call the Ipod touch, as the baby knows the sound of the word "touch" and will jump for the glowing rectangle if she hears the word. What kind of parents are we??!). Baby sleeps well and soundly.
I would love to show you some great photos. The sand (all of it; bunkers and beach). The surf, the players, the course. And the people. Lo, the people. All kinds of people. Really and truly. We marched around that course, following a few different folks, catching them at different holes and seeing in person the beauty of golf.
Hole 6: Par 5: 523 yards. Incredible. We saw this from both ends and it was very amazing. Much more athletic than I'd ever imagined. Trying to get a little golf ball to travel a distance of over 4 football fields in less than 5 strokes? Good stuff.
As a leisure sport, I'd really given golf a pass. Not concerned so much with 3 irons and drivers and polyester looking plaid or pleated pants, I really didn't want to get involved. Though my dearest love is all about the golf, I just couldn't be bothered.
Until now. It really is a good game. We had the opportunity to see some very good players, up close and personal. We got to see how they do what they do on TV/internet/iphone and the process behind the screen. Outside, smelling that salt sea air and the sun on our faces, it was good.
I also appreciated the mounds of free food in the Media tent (thanks, Bob!) but that is a story for another day. We are happy to have gone and I dare say that we could do it again. Though perhaps with a bit more forethought.
06/17/2010
she wore these
We attended the step up day (graduation) ceremony for our daughter yesterday. It was a lovely event, as always: beautiful singing by the students, thoughtful words spoken and as always, a great people watching event.
Robert Redford was there to see his granddaughter graduate. I am usually not starstruck, but wow. It was pretty cool to have this amazing, talented man in our midst. I would sound fairly juvenile if I told you all the chatterings that my friend and I shared while standing not 20 feet from him. It felt very high school in such a mature (and therefore not at all high school) way. Terribly fun. Thank you, Victoria. He looked very wise to me and handsome of course.
His lovely wife was there, too, and only after the ceremony did I think that I wanted to take a picture of their shoes. They both wore linen: pants and a jacket. His shoes were...interesting. And she wore these:
06/09/2010
we're going to need some help
Long ago, in what now seems like another lifetime, a woman whom I called mom and a gentle girl whom I called sister, were in a fractured hard place. Together they traveled, down many lonesome roads and sleepless nights. Anguished by the choices that would inevitably fall at the hands of her beloved daughter, my (mom) created a circle of women to help guide my (sister) along the way. This of course was unbeknown to her (my sister) and yet it seemed like such a heroic and humble effort on the part of my (mom). To create a web of women who might be there to catch her (my sister) if she were to fall. To be there when she needed a firm, loving hand which couldn't possibly have come from my (mom). I was (and still am) amazed at the inner strength it took her (my mom) to keep going, despite all signs leading toward a continued long hard road ahead of her in terms of (my sister).
The best part is that they now get along. I am not sure how often they get into a row, I am not sure how often they get to hang out together and I am not sure how well either of them still understand one another, but those are stories to be shared by each of them. Not me as an outsider. Not me as a (daughter) or a (sister). There are the stories within this story as well, as how we each became (sister) (daughter) (mom) to each other and where we all are at with that today. Comfort, love, respect and divine intervention all play a part for certain, however, and for that I am eternally grateful.
The part that I am in right now revolves around my relationship with my daughter. First born. Happy child. Almost too good. Very strong willed. Prone to spells of spewing hatred towards me already.
We are going to need some help along the way, she and I and I am here to ask for yours. I am imagining another certain circle forming around her, there and present now, happy to keep up by email or letters or calls of encouragement. I look to you all to be there, waiting in the wings for her when she comes across a dip in the road, a fracture in the day or an earthquake of her own. She will know you. She will love you. And hopefully she will turn to you in times of need. From the bottom of my heart, I ask, "Will you please be there for her, now and in the future? When I am not the person she most wants to see or talk to? When I am not the person she feels that she most trusts? Will you allow her to pick you so that we can all feel safer in her growing up~beyond our walls and home but never far from our hearts?"
In return, I can offer my gratitude, love, respect and perhaps a tin of cookies or a homemade cake. But from her~she will inspire you and share boundless energy, she will warm your heart just with her smile and enthusiasm for life. Just like my (sister) always has. It is just sometimes so hard to see.
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