Vincent is 5 now, and it is becoming even more clear that he is a Mini-Me of Luis. Give him a real job to do, and he is happy. One day, he tried to pay me for letting him hang up laundry. I hadn't realized he was doing that; I had been hanging it until I went inside to get a fussy, woken-up-from-his-nap Simon. Ten minutes later, Vincent swaggered in, handed me two quarters, informed me that the laundry was all up and thanked me for letting him hang it.

So, life is interesting with him around.

Today I was carrying water softener salt from the van into the house and the basement. I carried the first bag down, dumped it into the big storage thingamabobee and went back outside. There was Vincent walking down the driveway with the other bag of a salt on a dolly. The bags weigh fifty pounds. Fifty. Vincent weighs forty pounds, for reference. In the amount of time it took me to walk to the basement and dump the first bag of salt, he had gotten out the handcart, taken it to the back of the van, maneuvered the bag onto the cart and rolled it up the driveway.

I let him take it the rest of the way to the back door, including up the little hill. He did it.

Help me when this boy hits puberty. I just know the there will be an Unfortunate Incident involving a Sawzall at some point in his teenage years.

Solar Tour of Homes day is coming up next Saturday, October 6. Check to see if there is something going on near you at the ASES website. You might meet some interesting people in your area, so support the families and businesses that open their doors during this day by stopping in during their open times. This is a big commitment for some of the participants, so make it worth their while. You might learn something new, may meet a new kindred spirit or may simply enjoy an afternoon spent doing something completely different. If you are in Wisconsin, stop out at our friends' farm and bed and breakfast!

Also coming up is the Smithsonian Museum Day. Download and print out the card for free admission to any Smithsonian Affiliate Museum on Saturday, September 29.

Support events like both of these so that they will continue to be offered.

We are reentering the modern era in our household. A dishwasher arrives in the morning. Yes folks, we are getting a dishwasher for the first time in almost seven years. My children are in awe of the idea that they will have one of those fascinating machines like grandma and Aunt Amy have, one of those things that cleans the dishes all by itself. They have not yet realized that this fabulous machine means that doing the dishes will no longer be my job. No, I will be the mama who tells them to put their own lunch plates and breakfast glasses into the dishwasher all by themselves. I wonder how long it will take before that goes from excellent fun to an "awww, Mama" chore?

Luis has been wanting a dishwasher forever, but I have resisted. I didn't want to give up the cupboard space, and besides, hand-washing dishes only used about 5-7 gallons of water. Yes, I have measured. Then someone at yaaps informed me that newer dishwashers no longer use the 10+ gallons of the old dishwashers. A little research later and I could no longer claim my handwashing was using less water on a consistent basis. There went half of my argument against getting the machine.

My sister came up with the brilliant idea of where to place the silverware drawer, I found places to stash the appliances that were stored in the cupboard, and I planned a pantry organizer in the kitchen closet to supplement my storage space. I may actually come out of this with more storage space in my kitchen if Luis is ever home long enough to do the closet for me. I keep threatening to order a kit, and then my sister and I will tackle it with a drill driver, level and pitcher of sangria. Oh wait, she can't have the sangria because she is pregnant (somehow I have never blogged about this, shame on me), so I will drink it. Works for me.

I found the best price at the locally owned independent store. They were actually $60 less then the big box city store when I factored in delivery charges. So our shiny new Energy Star dishwasher will arrive in the morning, and I can have a clean conscience knowing I am using less water and supported a local business.

I still draw the line at getting a microwave again though.

She got a part! Actually, two!

Abigail will be starring in our community theater production of A Christmas Carol as a Street Urchin and as Ignorance. Both are non-speaking roles, but she is still thrilled to bits.

Happiness is:

~ blue-turning-brown eyes smiling up at me while a little trickle of milk slips out of a baby's mouth.
~ coming home to a husband who is still calm after half an hour home alone with all four children.
~ a seven year old, who just two weeks ago acted like school work was a fate worse than death, getting all of hers done by 11 am today.
~ good shoes.
~ good chocolate.
~ trays filled with dried basil and oregano from my garden and pots, ready to put away for winter.
~ watching my five year old use chopsticks correctly while we share a bowl of fried rice (my lunch and his snack)
~ getting ready to go to Ohio in less than 3 weeks (more on why Ohio is so wonderful in another post).
~ dozing away a Sunday afternoon with my husband, asleep just barely enough to call it dozing, while listening to the older kids play outside.
~ autumn.
~ reading the latest Mother Earth News and discovering that the last page poetry quote was the same on I used back in August to describe the season.
~ comments on my blog.
~ the aforementioned seven year old finally starting to do some creative spelling and composing notes on her own
~ the aforementioned five year old starting to write his name and copy letters and numbers.
~ two hours alone at the salon getting a body treatment, massage, shampoo and style

I have the potential to become a theater mom. Abigail had an audition this week for the role of Tiny Tim in our community theater production of A Christmas Carol. Over the summer, she expressed an interest in theater after finishing a summer school theater class where the kids rehearsed and performed a musical. Since she is under her quota of activities at the moment, I encouraged her to try for this. She obtained a copy of the script on her own, practiced hard and even asked friends of our who own a medical supply company if they would lend her a crutch to practice with. I helped her only after she spent time memorizing her lines, giving her some tips on projecting and falling down/getting back up theatrically. I wish I had taken a picture of her on the way to the audition. We put her hair up, and she wore my grandfather's old tweed driving cap in order to look more the part of Tiny Tim. She said afterwards that she was scared while waiting to audition, but that the actual process was interesting and fun.

I would love to encourage and enable my children to pursue all their interests, join activities they would like and try a little bit of everything. I know my limits, though, and we allow each child only two activities other than homeschool art. Both girls do scouting, so that leaves only one blank spot. They dabble in different things to fill this blank, and theater is Abigail's current dabble. I hope she gets a part of some sort. She'd be happy with anything as she just wants to participate. The practice and performance schedule is a big commitment, but the community theater group just purchased a new building only a block away from our home. Knowing she could walk on her own or we could get her there in a 2 minute walk made all the difference in our consent to this commitment.

Keep your fingers crossed! We should know in the next week or so.

My weekend was all about food. After a mind-bogglingly busy week that included too much driving, too much work and too many struggles over school work, Friday afternoon arrived, and I was fried. Enough already, no more meals on the run and lunches eaten in quick gulps standing by the counter holding the baby. The boys and I set off on a walk to the market (Brennan's cannot be referred to as a grocery; it is a market plain and simple). After forty minutes spent talking with Vincent, laughing as he jumped trying to reach leaves on maple trees, singing to Simon and discussing the merits of various samples at the market with Vincent, we were back home with our blue cheese, garlic and red potatoes. Dinner was a simple and delicious combination of parmesan-crusted potatoes, garlic sauteed fish and brown-sugar baked acorn squash.

I could not tell you what I ate for lunch on Friday, but I could describe in detail the tastes and smells of that dinner and the meals we ate over the weekend. It is good to be mindful of your food. The people in the Slow Food movement know what they are talking about.

Friday night saw me mixing up Cornmeal Mush for Saturday's breakfast. The Cinnamon Fried Cornmeal Mush was a hit with the kids, and I hoarded the last two slices for my own breakfast this morning.

After breakfast, we headed to the Farmer's Market for potatoes and cabbage for an Irish-themed potluck Saturday night. Amazingly, there were none to be found. We settled instead for onions, green peppers, two pots of jam, a bag of honey candy, two painted cheeks and a conversation with an older gentleman about Cornmeal Mush.

Since I had neither potatoes nor cabbage, Colcannon and Boxty were no longer possible for potluck, I made a couple loaves of my hearty Honey Oat bread, made nutty with flax seeds, and some deep dish chocolate brownies. Oats are Irish, and chocolate is always welcome!

The food at the potluck was simply incredible. There were many Irish stews, and there was this pumpkin cheese cake roll crusted with hazelnuts that was WOW. After dinner was the concert by The Stone Ring. Normally, the concerts happens in this space outdoors. It is the foundation of their old barn which our hosts turned into a multi-functional space, complete with seating areas, a dance area and a musician area lit by old fashioned candle stage lights. Due to the cold, this concert was in one of their greenhouses instead. The ambiance was not the same, but it was still a night of fabulous people and great music shared in an intimate way.

Sunday saw me cooking the entire day with my sister. We cooked up calzones, ziti, lasagna, stew, taco meat, sloppy joes, cookies and muffins, enjoying good company and conversation while filling our freezers with easy meals.

Today, I am making a huge batch of meatballs using my long-lost internet friend Lorraine's recipe. Some are for the freezer and some for sweet and sour meatballs for dinner.

Good food, big kid cuddles, shoulder rubs from a hubby and baby kisses make for good days.

I read good cookbooks like good novels, slowly going page by page from cover to cover. Actually read them, each recipe. Cookbooks are about possibilities. I find new recipes to try every time I crack them open, even the ones I have been reading yearly for over a decade. Yes, I read all of my cookbooks yearly and enjoy reading new ones too.

After I asked my friend for her ever-adaptable sangria recipe, she lent me the cookbook she found the base recipe in. I received it with the joy of finding a new novel at the library. A cookbook is just as escapist as a juicy chick lit novel. I can pretend that I am someone who regularly cooks with things like chick peas, saffron and cardamom. I can convince myself that the family might enjoy Great American Pumpkin Beer Soup and drool over the idea of Grilled Tuna with Lime.

Then I come back to reality and start pulling out things we might actually eat. In addition to the blackberry sangria, I am thinking the Gingerbread Blackberry Waffles and Cinnamon Fried Cornmeal Mush might be things to try. The Spinach Cannelloni and Crab and Broccoli Quiche will also be making appearances on our table, along with Honey Orange Pancakes. There was even a Honey Orange Butter to go with the pancakes in the multi-page Flavored Butters section. I'm inspired to make a starter for sourdough, having started making bread again after a summer's hiatus.

I can dream of being a excellent and adventurous cook with a family of children who are excited to try anything. We'll see if I make half of the recipes I have marked, but the point is I could make them. As long as I have the recipe, the dream is alive.

And I will stop at the seafood market in the city someday and pick up the tuna steaks to try that Grilled Tuna with Lime recipe.

For The Middle Of Nowhere, Wisconsin, we certainly have some interesting evenings.

Tonight, we joined our dear friends for an evening at their farm. Dinner was an outdoor potluck in the cantina, and we all seemed to have the same ideas because it was noodles and rice all over the board. Delicious, though, as was the pineapple fizz sangria. Over dinner, we shared conversation with our good neighbors, some B&B guests and another fascinating couple that we could talk with all night. Conversation ranged from homeschooling to alternatives to conventional cars, from the complexities of buying local to real life impact in our own backyard of the monopoly-creating buying practices of a certain big box retailer whose name starts with W. Dinner was followed by a piñata for the children, then two cakes made by Lisa, the dessert queen, including my favorite frozen mocha cake.

As darkness fell, it was time for the main event. The B&B guests were a lovely couple from Chicago that do Maorian poi and staff fire dancing as a hobby. They performed for a group of us last year when they stayed at Inn Serendipity, and they graciously offered to do it again this year. It was such a treat last year that we have been anxiously awaiting their return. The grace and concentration shown by the dancers is stunning. It is a passionate, grounded form of dance and self-expression.

So, there an eclectic group of us sat, on chairs in a grassy old farm yard in Wisconsin, as Liz and Devan, the newlywed dancers, captivated us with the rhythm and the music (the noise of the fire whirling is a music unto itself) of fire dancing against a backdrop of an inky black sky and a strawbale greenhouse with slices of red and purple light shining through the windows.

A varied life is good.

I almost received a speeding ticket today. Considering I was driving 35 mph in a 25 zone, it would have been well deserved. Thankfully, the police officer let me off with a warning. His comment irritated me though. He said "School is back in session, so slow down." It was 9:30 in the morning, and all the schools here start by 8:30. I was also over a mile away from the nearest school. There was no possible way that my speed was endangering any school child, even though it was against the law.

Last weekend, I noticed large "Slow Down, school is back in session" signs on the highway, and it's been in the news too. I find this to be a rather silly driving safety campaign. School being in session means that school-aged children are safely ensconced in classrooms for the bulk of the day. Granted people need to be careful in school zones and during the before/after walk home, but for the most part the children are safer than they were all summer long while they were riding bikes, playing outside and walking to the public library.

It seems to me that a more logical public safety campaign would take place in June and be "School is out of session. Drive carefully."