Day Two of Not Driving to Town

Wild Chickens of Mansfield Avenue

The veggie boxes were delayed today and so Marina and I have been able to share a delightful day at home. Alone. In the quiet. Valda dropped in for coffee and a look at the Wise family blog with Groovy Video upload. It is fun to visit with Valda. I need to go over there to see the pictures of her trip to Puru. Look at the fun friends I have. Irene and Matt in Vietnam, Valda in Puru, Vince in St. Maartin, Kimmy off to do her Missionary work. Mom and Ann are in Arkansas. I'm so lucky to have so many well traveled people in my life!

I've still got a chicken in my basement. Her eggs should be hatching on Sunday. She had diarrhea all over them today and so I had to clean them all. You can tell that she's a teenage mother; she is ferocious towards me and yet can't really care for her eggs properly yet. Happily I can report that they were all perfectly warm and that some of them felt heavy, like something was happening beneath that shell. We will find out Sunday.

I must admit that I am very distracted during this post. I have an IEP (Individualized Educational Plan) meeting for DeeJay today. We need to be at the meeting at 8, which means that I must have Falcom at Nona's at 7:25, Marina at Priscilla's at 7:45, and DeeJay and I to the high school by 7:55. Then we will meet with all of his teachers and DeeJay from 8-8:30 and when DeeJay leaves for class at 8:25 we get down to the real business of talking about him. He is begging to get out of this meeting and to just ride the bus to school. Vince is wondering how we can accomplish anything with him there. I am trying to convince them both that as a 17 year old it is time for him to start learning what is going on with him and to take charge of his life. The life of a mom with an IEP kid (Interesting Exceptional Person) has it's challenges. He just woke up and told me the reason he can not go to the meeting is because he has a bunch of classwork due today. What was he doing last night? Going on a long walk with Vince and I and watching American Idol... Hum....

A Movie from Our Porch

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Regular Tuesday Without Irene

DeeJay went to school this morning in the rasta dread lock hat that Vince brought back from St. Maartin for Falcom. Looking good dude!

Yesterday a fun friend (M.P.) told me a story about her two children, a boy, age 10, and a girl, age 8. These two know our family and have played with us, but we are not hang out friends with them. M.P. told me they were buying crocks at the store and they were picking out the flourishes that are so popular to add to the shoes when the girl said to the boy, "Do you think those might be too girly?" and the boy said to her, "I don't know, they might be." The two of them stood puzzled looking at each other when the girl said, "What would Falcom do?" The boy said, "Falcom would wear them." They bought the clip-ons and went home happy. Falcom... an orange among apples. Let freedom ring!

Today was the last birthday celebration Falcom will enjoy at Otter Beach School. It is such a sweet ceremony. The parents walk around the circle of children one time for each trip the kids have taken on the earth around the sun and they tell stories from each trip. We always tell about the first time I saw Falcom, sitting in the collapsible stroller, under the breadfruit tree. He had such radiant brown skin and those wide eyes looked at me with a puzzled expression and then he broke out in laughter! Four white teeth sparkled from inside his mouth and laughter rolled out of his heart, as if to say, "What a strange looking (white) lady!" O Happy Day. The beginning of our love!


I finally got up the gumption to jog this morning. Made it to Valda's driveway when it started hailing! Hail... in May... May 6. Nice. I love you Alaska, but you are very aggravating!








Had a lovely coffee with Priscilla today. She is a good stand in for Irene. Not as edgy as Irene, of course... She got goosebumps only a couple of times and I only became sentimental for Sarah Palin once. That's good for us.


Topics Discussed with Priscilla:

• The Boys
  
• My new handbag (she likes it)


• Possible ways of overcoming the high cost of prescription drugs


• The high cost of fuel oil/propane


• Heidi having to go to the vet and how exactly Priscilla knew there was a problem to begin with and how if it had been my dog Scratch, he'd be out of luck!


• Maya and what a tiny little thing she is


• How amazing technology is that we can see right into Vietnam while we talk


• When I should start mowing the lawn (the lawn being her lawn)


• How Elton John is going to do another show in Anchorage since he did sell out in less than an hour
• How she will be unpacking Maya's clothes for Irene this weekend, and how when I pressed her for a time that she might be doing that she said, "I'll be working alone. It is my job!" and I said, "I don't want to work. I want to take pictures of it for my blog!" You'd think she would know me after all these years. hee hee hee

Tonight, I got home and installed my camera! I am so high tech now I can't believe it. I also can barely use it because it was giving Irene so much feed back she either gets to see me, or hear me, not both together at the same time. We talked right as they got home from breakfast, omelets. Nice. We talked about whether Maya is just a person who can not eat when she is stressed. Possible. And then we got cut off. Damn. So here is my open letter to Irene.

Dear Irene;

Mindy called me tonight and did an excellent job standing in for you. Although we could not meet for coffee on Regular Tuesday she did tell me that she choked on her coffee as she was driving to work this morning and shot the entire mouthful out over her entire car and it was loaded with sugar and cream and so it made quite a mess. She wishes I could have been there to witness it.

Karen gave her a gift certificate for a double massage at Lands End for her birthday, you know the side by side one, thinking that she and her husband would enjoy it, but he said, 'Never!' and so Karen wants me to share it with Mindy. That should be fun.

Oh, oh, here goes my ADD again... Did I ever tell you the story of when Vince and I had side by side massages in Bali with the flower bath after? Maybe you will remember that. Um no, it was not an exhilarating experience for us...and then the farm animals outside the window started screaming... And then his father could hear us through the walls. If I haven't told you about that be sure to remind me when you get home.

Anyway, then Mindy and I will go get the pedicures you gave us after the massage. She thinks I should try again for that Elton John concert because she feels it's a phenomenon that I should be a part of. She even says that she'd seriously consider driving to Anchorage with me, not to spend a minimum of $60 on the show, but to see her brother who is doing an ER stint up there for the summer. She says she needs to see him in the window of time before TSB sets in (a term not suitable for a family blog) but before his girlfriend arrives in Anchorage and turns his mind to mush. She was a good choice for you to send me as a temporary guardian of the best friendship! She really cracks me up. I think I will skip Elton though because by that time you will have just gotten home and I want to be here to see you and talk with Maya.

Thank you for telling me that the new camera makes me look super thin and that Matt thinks I bought the fancy one that makes you look 10 pounds lighter. Fake it till you make it baby! I am loving your baby. See you in Hanoi.

Alana

A Day Around Town

Fighting gravity is hard. It's hard when you have lunch in the Chart Room at Lands End looking out at Kachemak Bay with your delightful soul-mate and your kick a** new handbag! The waitress told us the special of the day, a chicken breast sandwich with avocado and brie cheese, and Vince knew I would love it. He was right. Sadly, I was feeling too self conscious to get a better picture of this oral delight.
Many of my readers who live in other parts of the world will be surprised to learn that cruise ships do not regularly stop in Homer. Seems most cruise ship travelers don't want to get off of a luxury vessel and then get onto a dusty school bus. Shocking, I know. But today Holland America went all out and brought their buses down from Anchorage. The town was just packed! It was fun reminiscing about the kids and my cruise last winter. Something I would do again? Probably not soon. But, while driving past that vessel, and in light of our IEP (Individualized Educational Plan) meeting for Falcom at McNeil School, and realizing that it was coming up in less than an hour, the thought of the relaxing time I had with the kids in the sun, playing mini golf, eating ice cream and drinking ice tea made me think I would be back on board sooner than I had thought.

Happily, I can report that the meeting was pretty cut and dry. The positive is that Eric (Fal's teacher), Vince and I all feel that getting Falcom in over there last year was a wonderful thing. My year of preparatory angst was worth it. We have all had a year to get to know each other and there are no surprises about what is going to happen in the fall. I did not have a panic attack when I left the meeting (a pleasant change) and I did not have to fight the urge to drive to the harbor and sneak onto that ship to become a stow-away. I realized I missed early enrollment for my darling Marina to get registered into Kindergarten, (I'm there every week, how did I miss that?) but she'll never know. And so the day was a success.

IMAGE OF THE DAY

Live streaming video during our conversation with Irene, Maya, and Matt in Vietnam. It is beautiful and miraculous. I feel like a part of me is in Vietnam, because sometimes they move the camera and I can see out the window of their hotel. I can see Matt walking around. I can watch Irene measure how much food Maya ate. Finally Matt yelled out that I should get a video camera for $30 bucks at Tech Connect. Duh! Why not? Well, not today because they were closed...but tomorrow I will be streaming along with the rest of the high tech world. Will a new cell phone with texting capacity be next?

After leaving Irene and Matt and their new baby, Suzanne and I got to spend some time together tonight proving that the battle against gravity can be won. Well, maybe for one of us. We took off unnecessary items and emptied our pockets and enjoyed the new layout of the meetings. The WW has moved to the Christian Church on Bartlett. Nice, plenty of room and toilets. I personally liked having all the girlfriends lining up together. (Especially when they told me how great Falcom was in the Jubilee. I'm not sure I'll tire of that!) Suzanne and I got to get on the scales together today at the very same time! And guess what? Even though I have eaten cupcakes a-plenty this week, and some chocolate brownie, I managed to loose another 2 and a half pounds! Oh what a triumph! Suzanne is not feeling as enthusiastic because she is still holding steady and she only has less than a pound to loose before she gets another 5 pound star. I tried to tell her again that it is because she already weighs less than my two 10% goals put together, but to no avail. Then she started laughing. Well, maybe if she would not eat pie. Or maybe if she would hold off on her cheese. Or maybe if she would measure that cereal. We had a hearty laugh about that.

This picture is of Suzanne and I on the scales at the same time. Doesn't it look like our beautiful weight counselor is thinking 'what the f*** are these crazy women doing?' but what she actually said was, "You could have given me a heads up and would have smiled! Geeze!"

And now, at home, enjoying the fact that another adult is here to manage the children, and scold them, I bid you goodnight.

Dad is Home!

Vince is back. It was a soothing sight seeing him get off the plane. When I saw him I could feel my blood pressure instantly go down. He looks tan and rested. The boys were jumping up and down to see him, but Marina must have been emotionally overwhelmed because she started crying before we went into the terminal and then hid in a corner because she didn't want her dad to see her crying like that. She could not go to the door to hug him, she stayed in a chair by the window. When he went to her she hugged him so tight and then the two of them were inseparable for the rest of the day.

We are all so happy having him home.

In the evening, we had another party for Falcom. A grown up friend party with pizza and a brownie cake. He loved all his presents and had a great time with the Radeke kids. He was gracious and loved all of his gifts.

All this birthday partying has exhausted me and I am glad to be taking this morning off from everything, including unnecessary web surfing. I am, however, attempting to buy tickets to see Sir Elton in Anchorage at the end of the month, but I started trying a half hour after they started selling the tickets and I fear that they are already sold out. Bummer.

Vince brought us all wonderful presents home from St. Maartin, including this:

True Love. Vince's and my relationship is based in true love. He instinctively knew exactly what I have been needing. A new designer knock-off hand bag! I'm in love. He didn't even know that I had put Irene on the trail of a new knock-off designer handbag in Vietnam. Soul mate...that's what he is. My Soul-mate!

Check the Wises blog to see the pictures and commentary about the new wonderful baby Maya!

Birthday Party!

We woke up to a birthday miracle! All of the chickens were home and no one got eaten. Amazing.

It's hard to believe that my baby Falcom is 9 years old tomorrow. He wanted a horse birthday. I'm not sure I know what he wanted for a horse birthday. What he got was this cupcake cake. I think his last year mermaid cake was more artistic, but this horse cake drew compliments and fulfilled every ones cupcake needs.

We rented the pool again this year and were blessed with many fun friends over for a good time. We swam, we ate, we sang 'Happy Birthday', we opened presents and it was over. Well worth the rent money for a maxed out mom. DeeJay was a big help and played with all the kids in the pool. Kate Finn was there as well helping me organize and prepare everything.

Sadly, Riley got sick today and could not come to the party. Chris was showing his usual oppositional defiant personality and just did not want to participate and so the two boys went home with Pat. Hopefully next week we can have an overnight with them. It was weird to have a birthday with no Wise brothers. We've been celebrating with them for so many years now.

According to Falcom, "Of Course I had a good birthday party." He is happy, I'm relieved. Now a pizza party tomorrow night with grown up friends and then the season of many birthdays is over. Whew!

press play to see Falcom blowing out his candles

I just got a great birthday treat... Irene and Matt calling me on Skype from Vietnam! I even got to see them because they have a video camera. Awesome! The world has become so small. Check their blog for their Vietnam updates. http://phowises.blogspot.com/ or go to my favorite blog list and you will see Wise Family. You can click there too.

She is great! Matt is great! She reminded me that birthday season is not over as we have Chris's birthday in a couple weeks. She has promised tomorrow to take pictures of the organs at the market for me. Also, she could pick up the video camera and show me the bananas and mangosteins that she bought! It was making me very hungry. She also showed me the kick ass LV purse she bought me. It's a 'good karma' purse because they are American and have to warm up to bargaining and the over spending she just did will pay for a whole month of rent or gas for the seller. I can not wait until the day I can get back to Asia where I can leave my trail of good karma all around.

Tomorrow, Maya comes home! Hallelujah!

Tragedy Strikes!

Marina Investigating the Sight of the Chicken Tragedy

It started out an innocent day. DeeJay off to school. Falcom off to school. Marina and I playing around the house. Marina went to Valda's and I talked on the phone to Suzanne. Somehow, my room got clean while talking. Things were going great.

I looked out the window of the bathroom and I noticed the chickens going crazy outside! Tragedy! A hawk had struck. The chickens are so excited about the snow melting, they were spending a lot of time under the trees across the road.

I found the pile of feathers and Marina decided that they were the feathers of our beloved 'Speedy' (who started life named 'Hunter'. Hunter, hunted, bad irony.) Marina took this picture of some of the recovered feathers as evidence that an attack had taken place, and the pattern of color definitely resembled Speedy.

When Falcom found out about the attack he was inconsolable. Until we went to Tarri's at Moose Run Metalworks and sold her a dozen turkey eggs. She gave the kids $6. I couldn't believe it. She's a spoiler. Then she took us to show us her fantastic heirloom chickens; Icelandic and Sumatran. She said that the Sumatrans are so black that even their bones are black. The roosters are all so mean that Merlin has developed a special net to grab the eggs from the cages, like a lacrosse net. Marina loved that and is now in the mood to redesign our chicken operation to include a new egg retrieval system. Then Tarri gave the kids each a scallop shell and a blue egg and we were off to Priscilla's.

Falcom fell back apart in the car and was only able to pull it back together again at Priscilla's. We finished the day at the movie, Nim's Island. When the daughter is reunited with the dad they hug and hug and Marina said, "That's just like what will happen for me and Dad." She is darling!

Then Falcom decided that he was going to puke the whole way home. Nice. He may have puked a little out in the driveway, but that did not stop him from licking the spoon from his cupcake batter. "Cake can't make me sick mom! Only the popcorn." He is passed out dead now. I am hoping that he is just over stimulated and is not getting sick for his birthday. That would totally suck!

I just got in from the coop where it looks like every chicken is home to roost. In fact, it looks like Speedy may well be cuddling up with the rooster. Hum... Well, if Speedy is in fact out there it will be a Falcom Birthday miracle. If not, here is a memorial photo of Speedy, whispering into the ear of her beloved sister in nest, Princess Lay'a

Our Birthday Present from Yap

This came today from Saipan, carved by our Yapese family. It is just fantastic and says, "Vincent and Alana" and "Yap Stone Money" The carving is of a traditional stone monument called a latte stone. No one knows for sure the purpose of them but they are huge and are a symbol of the Northern Mariana Islands. The Ring on the top of the Latte stone represents Yap, the Land of Stone Money. It is a wonderful gift! I love it! Thank you!