WINNERS!

The winners of the pottery giveaway are as follows:

Vase: Laura

Buttons: Mom

Since one of you lives here in Nome and the other one is my mom--I will get to work on delivering your winnings ASAP.  Thanks everyone for sharing what you have been celebrating in your lives.  Stay tuned for another giveaway sometime in September.  It will probably be a cozy kid's hat, since I am working on inventing a pattern right now:)

Happy week to you all.

-Tara

the littlest berrypicker

 I think today might have been one of Sadie's happiest days ever.

 Finally, she can pick as many plants as she wants...AND there are blueberries (and blackberries) as far as the eye can see.

Its always a little sad when it's time to go home.

celebratory pottery give away

Just got a nice batch of new pots out of the kiln this week and 

1. The glazes looked great

and

2. None of them stuck to the shelf. 

I thought I would celebrate by having a little blog give away. 

I am feeling so celebratory, in fact, that I am giving away two things:)

Up First: This sweet little vase.  It stands about 5" high and you can use it for flowers, or get yourself a stopper and keep your olive (or seal) oil in it:)  Food safe, made with love.

And for those of you who may be hankering for some quirky buttons: A collection of 10 one-of-a-kind hand-carved, black and white porcelain buttons.  They may not be the exact ones shown in this picture, but they will be similar in size and design. Guaranteed to clink together satisfyingly in either hand or pocket.

Giveaway will be open until August 20th.  To enter, just leave a comment below with your name or your blog, and tell me what you are celebrating this week. 

(Also, tell me what you would like to win--vase or buttons.)

Make sure to check back on August 21st to see if you won!

Buddha does my dishes.

 I have to admit, this has been kind of a bad week for escalating stress over tasks that seem to be piling up around the household.  A couple of people around here, and I wont mention any names, have actually been getting into some pretty awful (and dumb) arguments regarding said tasks.  Anyone who has ever had a baby can attest to the fact that, delightful as they may be, they don't make getting the chores done any easier.  I have been feeling in over my head, and getting kind of angry about it.  This evening I was reading in a little book of Buddhist meditations and it got me thinking.... I don't really think of washing my dishes, folding piles of laundry (and then re-folding them as Sadie dumps them on the floor), or cleaning up around Sadie's high chair for the umpteenth time that day as a time to practice self-centering, but really, what better time to be mindful?  

So even though it was 9pm, and I had already done lots of chores today, and I was tired, and I was the one who cooked everyone dinner, I decided to tackle my uber-messy kitchen in a zen fashion tonight.  

I didn't wish the job on anyone else.

As I loaded the dishwasher I thought of how lucky we are to live in a place that even has such a luxury.

While washing the coffee pot I thought of how nice it will be to have a steaming cup of black wake-me-up in the morning, without having to wash it.

Scrubbing the cooking pots to a nice shiny silver just made me feel happy--

I like it when things are shiny.

I enjoyed the simple way the wooden utensils clacked together as they stacked in the drainer.

Instead of feeling grumpy, and resentful, I felt energized as I mopped the floor to a nice gleaming white, even knowing full well that it will be covered with muddy foot and paw prints by noon tomorrow.

Its funny how in life the best path to follow can sometimes be the one right in front of you;  you might just need to kick some weeds aside.

Call it an attitude adjustment, a perspective tweak, or whatever you will, all I can say is that from now on Buddha is going to be doing the dishes around here, because by letting go of my negativity I feel refreshed and satisfied.
I know that tomorrow I will have way more energy to devote to the things that are 
really  important.

peace,

Tara

Sadie's one-year-old stats, one month late.

Since everything else seems to be running a month late around here... the salmonberries, the salmon, summer... here is what we learned at Sadie's one-year-old well child visit today:

 

The Numbers:

1. Sadie weighs 25lbs.  That means that she did a good job of growing, gaining 15 lbs since she was born last July.
2. She is 32.5 inches tall, which puts her off the growth curve in height for girls her age--but I guess she has  a little of the tallness in her genes. 
3. She is in the 50th percentile of weight-for-length--which means her growing up and out are coinciding with each other in a happy way.
4. She has 8 front teeth, and her molars just starting to come in now.
5. She says about 15 words now, many of which are only discernible to her dad and me.
6. She uses sign language for milk, more, bath, and thank you
7. She is a heroic consumer of blueberries (and all other berries)

 

More importantly to me, Sadie's joie de vivre is off the charts, as is her silliness and fun factor. She is a loving, sweet, chattery little girl, and we just do love her exponentially.

out in the country.

Its been a fun week.  My little brother Gabe is visiting Nome.

Okay, so he's not really that little, but he is visiting Nome for real, and since he's never been here we have been adventuring out in the country... Mostly with my friend Sarah here who has had about enough of Gabe trying to stow away in her backpack.  Today we hiked out to Dorothy Falls, which is one of my favorite treks around these parts.

 

pretty, huh?

We have been stuck inside the last few days with some abysmally dreary weather, so when the sun peeped out today we knew we had to get out of town.

And it was mostly nice.  Even though it rained on us a little, Sadie stayed snug in the ergo, the dogs ran free across the tundra and no bears were encountered (and we were happy about that). 

 The worst thing that happened today was Gabe's acute case of soggy socks, which, while uncomfortable, rarely ends up in tragedy during the summer months:)

 To cheer himself up, Gabe took an iphone photo boquet for his lady love back in Southeast 

(so sweet I almost want to throw up a little-lol!)

Look at this poor little guy.  August already and he is just barely getting his bloom on. 

I guess better late than never.

Who do you think lives here?  Maybe an Ishigok. Gabe took this one... I really like it.

Today I just feel so thankful to live in a place and season that is incredibly beautiful, and to have good friends and family to share it with.  Really, what more can a girl ask for?

back home to the nome.

Whew!  It was a busy July for us traveling ladies. We had fun, but it's nice to be back home in our own nest.  Just thought I would post some pictures of our trip to southeast.  Can I just say that Prince of Wales Island might be Alaska's best kept secret. (and for those of you who just said, princeofwaleswuh? case in point.) 

Did you know that Alaska has a gigantor swath of temperate rainforest?  It does, and it is a magical place.  I love it there.  And Prince of Wales Island is remote, beautiful, and full of lots of roads that can take you to said magical places.  People? Not so many...

But family, yes! Sadie got to hang with her grandma, grandpa(s) and several uncles, plus cousin Killian for two weeks.  It was a BLAST!

Sadie discovered wild strawberries from Grandma's strawberry patch...

they were a big hit.

she also got to help with the gardening.

anything that involves adding water... sign this girl up!

oh yeah, and my big little girl turned one!!!

yeah!