Sacrifice

Today as I finished yoga, lying on the floor in relaxation pose, I almost fell asleep. I always come close to falling asleep. This time, though, I had this crazy flash back to child birth. My birthing instructor had us end every class with relaxation techniques that were to enable us to get through the pain of the contractions. She had told us that moms from her previous classes were even able to fall asleep between contractions right up the birth. I found this absurd. However when it came down to it, as I was 9 cm dilated with Fiona, sitting in a bath tub of warm water I was able to push myself in to fairly deep levels of relaxation. I never came close to sleeping, at least that I remember. I actually asked if it was too late for an epidural which wasn't really a rhetorical question. But the next morning, the nurse that was with me came in and told me that she had never seen anyone look so relaxed and peaceful while giving birth. I took it as a compliment and in turn said "well, I am glad I got to experience it but next time I am getting an epidural." I didn't really mean it. I was more than happy to feel birth. The 40 weeks of pregnancy were way more difficult for me. All good things come with a price tag. Whether it means sacrificing your body, pain, pride, whatever. The end result is all that matters.

My Rack and My New Rack

So it is self-proclaimed "love your bike day" at my house. My day has consisted of giving only the best to my sweet little KHS. Don't tell it I would rather have a Clever Cycles Bakfiet.....it would crush her precious little soul. I digress. Anyhow, my day started off, picking up my newly tuned baby from Veloce bike shop on Hawthorne at 10:00 am. From there, I rode towards Mall 205, for maybe half a mile, until I realized "shit, no lock." at which point I turned around and headed back to my house to grab the bike lock from the Burley. I proceeded to backtrack again, toward my original destination of Mall 205. I always say that I can ride anywhere I need to go with exception to Target and Home Depot, so today I decided to put this theory to the test. I was in desperate need of some peg board accessories from HD and big girl panties from Target, not for me, duh! I hate panties. Digressing again.....So I figured small enough items to carry, no lumber involved...I am taking the bike. I hit Target first, loading up on big girl panties, a sippie cup, a conductors hat and train whistle for Fi and a hat for myself (total sucker for hats!) Then I almost managed to get to HD without stopping when Performance Bike shop sucked me in. I ended up leaving with some new tires, but they were half off and she needed them so she could go faster , faster, faster. Luckily I managed to get in and out of Home Depot without any excessive purchases, partly in fact that I had no more room to cram things and was already wearing a pair of tires over my shoulder. I got back home, put on my new tires and became obsessed with buying a new basket, so I hopped back on my bike and headed toward downtown. I stopped in to City Bikes where they trued my rear tire. I am sure it was not due to an operational error...and they gave me the bad news. No front basket, at least not the any of ones I was looking at, would work with my shocks, so I settled on a new rack which will soon enough have a pannier attached to it, unless I get too lazy and bungy a milk crate to it so that I can ride like Leon. Needless to say, my bike got some super extra special lovin' today and I never heard it complain once. And how gay am I hitting three bike shops in a day all while wearing this shirt?

Sushi, anyone?

Fiona is the only toddler I know who eats sushi which says a lot considering I know some toddlers with pretty adventurous palates. Actually, this is the first time she has eaten the sushi with the nori wrap. I usually make her a roll with rice paper, instead. She ate two pieces, some sticky rice, grapes and a bowl full of edamame (as usual.) She was even able to use her beginner chopsticks to some degree, shown in the middle pic...pretty impressive, well at least this mama thinks so.

My beautiful butterfly

Lately, when Fiona goes down for nap, I tell her to dream about puppies, pears, cookies, being happy and anything else I can think to tell her in sign language. Then I tell her I love her. She really enjoys signing, even though we haven't done much of it in a long time. We took a baby sign class when she was 6 months old but all she really ever wanted to sign was "puppy" and "more" so eventually we just stopped doing it all together. I am trying to find our sign sheets so that I can add some new things to the dream list. Of course, my office is a constant pit so that could take weeks. I love seeing her do the sign for "happy." And today, when I put her down and told her I loved her, she signed back and then put her arms up like she wanted a hug. When I leaned down to her, she grabbed my neck and whispered in my ear "berry much!" There is nothing like that! She is pretty darn amazing.

Waterfront Park

Oregon Zoo

Oaks Park

12 Million Dollars Worth of Ice, Seriously?

Pictures from the Mississippi Street Fair, the latest area of Portland to be encompassed by the gentrification process. Obviously a lot of outrage over the whole thing.....it makes it hard for the lower class to live in Portland. Hell, it makes it hard for people like me to afford a house when they start at half a mill.

So, in light of Woody Guthrie's recent birthday and the news of the 12 million dollars worth of ice we have been storing in running refrigeration trucks for the past two years, now unfit for human consumption. I decided to post a verse from "Christ for President". What is wrong with our culture? Our government? How many people would 12 million dollars feed or educate? Where are our GD priorities? I am heartbroken to hear of such a waste of money, energy....sick.

Every year we waste enough
To feed the ones who starve
We build our civilization up
And we shoot it down with wars

In another lifetime

Do you believe in another lifetime? I just turned 32 and I haven't thought about my next lifetime for a few years....until someone brought it up to me the other day. I used to believe that there are old souls and new, that you had the opportunity to repair the past in the future, but why not repair the past in the current? I speak from first hand experience when I say that I have done many things in the past that I would change but how far do you go? I have spent the last year of my life trying to make amends with those I felt I have done wrong. I get very caught up in emotions and am extremely idealistic. I kind of feel like "Earl" apologizing to people that have no idea what I am even referring to. It makes me realize how self-consumed we are as human beings. We all have our own concept of reality and the same story can resonate completely differently from party to party. So far as my next life...this one has been pretty good to me. I often think there are things I would change if I could wiggle my nose and do so, but if there wasn't heartache, how enjoyable would the good times be? Enjoy the moment..........

My neighborhood is cooler than yours

Fiona and I went to Sunnyside Environmental to play this morning and when we got home the much anticipated Sunnyside Neighborhood Newsletter was at my door. It comes once a month and is inevitably chocked full of all sorts of information that makes a person, like myself, smile. I live in a truly amazing place. First of all, it tells of the last meeting and how they showed clips from the film Portland:Celebrating America's Most Livable City as one of my fellow neighbors (an employee of PDX Office of Transportation) discusses on-street bike parking which will be going in soon on Belmont. Very cool. Other topics include an upcoming art stroll in September, the creation of the Sunnyside Sustainability Committee, details of the next Plastic Roundup, talk of the neighborhood swap shop co-op and other good stuff. My favorite article, however, is regarding the topic for our next neighborhood meeting on the 12th. ...."innovative community power generation and distribution opportunities." They want to create an energy "co-op" modeled after those used in Europe. Our neighborhood would be the first in the US to try such a thing. F-ing amazing. The article speaks of a pilot project in which they would convert the Sunnyside Environmental School's "current oil-fired boiler system to a carbon-neutral fuel coupled with integrated photovoltaic grid-tied electric. Excess energy would be used to heat and cool neighborhood residences, further integrating the relationship of the school as the center of the community." I am there. Rock on Sunnyside, you are rad!