Lesson learned

I'm going to start right out with the lesson learned in case no one wants to read to the end of this tale.

When biking, if a bug flies into your mouth, just accept it.  Swallow gracefully and continue on with your ride. 

No one had taught me this, so when it happened last week while I was visiting my parents in Florida, I fought it.  I grabbed a water bottle, I drank, I coughed, I pounded on my chest.  All while biking.  On my dad's bike.  That has finely tuned brakes.  Unlike my own.  So when my mom slowed down to take a left, I reached with my left hand and tapped the brakes.  Stopped dead.  Or the bike did.  I continued on at much the same speed as I had been previously travelling and flew for a second.  Then I landed.  Hard.  On my face.  I remember my head bouncing a few times and feeling how nicely my skull was protected by my dad's helmet.  But that helmet didn't cover my face, or my arms, or hands, or any other part that came in contact with the asphalt. 

In the end I lost a large strip of skin on one arm (which my boys have taken to calling 'the bacon strip' and I do agree it looks a lot like that savory breakfast treat), knuckles, elbows, and knees were scraped, my chin and cheek on the right side of my face were nicely bruised, and I lost a tooth.  All over trying to expel on damn little bug.  Which I ended up eating anyway.  Or at least I think I did.  It may have flown back out upon impact, right alongside my tooth, but I'll never now.

Here's what I do know:

• I will now definitely never pursue that career in Mixed Martial Arts I was thinking about.  My face still hurts, one week later- and I was only 'punched' once.  Can't imagine doing something like that for a living.
• It's nice to have a mom who always travels with a mini-pharmacy.  She set me up real nicely with some pain killers to help me through the next few days.
• It's a good idea to put out the money for the serious bandages.  Now that I have that on my arm, I hardly think about the bacon strip. 
• I think less about the bacon strip now that I'm back in MN and wearing long sleeves. 
• Knocking out teeth is a serious business.
• If you are pulled over by a cop in Alabama for speeding, turn your face to show your bruises and missing tooth.  He may show you sympathy and only give you a warning, despite your excessive speed.
• If the face doesn't melt his heart, tell him your child just threw up.  Have a sickly child next to you in this case. 

Playing house

Late in the summer I needed to find a moment to meet with a co-worker/friend.  Only she had 9 month old twins as well as a 4 year old in the house all summer, so finding a quiet moment was nearly impossible.  We decided to meet at a park.  We figured if I brought Theo along (Eli was off at camp) he and her four year old daughter could play and we could each wrangle a twin.  The plan worked excellently.  Theo, although much older than my friend's daughter, was a charming pal to her on the playground.  While chatting with Nora and holding a twin I watched them climb up and over everything there.  Then they retired to quieter play in some of the play structures for younger kids. 

At some point, their play took them into our sphere for a moment.  Theo caught my eye as he darted by.  Gave me a bit of a frantic look.  Not long thereafter, the twins started demanding that naps needed to be prepared for so we packed up to leave.  Nora's daughter was bereft to be leaving Theo.  He got a long hug and made promises to play again soon. As they drove off and we walked to our car, Theo let out a long sigh.  Then this:  "Whew.  That whole time we were playing house.  I don't think Emilia noticed, but sheesh, I had NO idea what I was doing.  I am exhausted."  Love him.

Car trip redux

Soon we are going to load up our car and head out to Florida to visit my parents.  My mom just called and was trying to tell me which towns to stop in to get the best gas prices. Between Minnesota and Florida. She's got it all mapped out.  I fear I did not listen.

I just got enough books on tape from the local library to get us to the southern tip of Mexico, so if we get nervous about spending a week with my parents, we can just veer a little west and keep on driving.  

Our impending departure reminds me of a line from Eli on our drive home from Boston this summer.  We made the error of buying him a new watch for his birthday in Boston, on our way out of town.  It had many functions, including 3 alarms and a stop watch with a 100 lap memory.  Eli busied himself for the first several hours setting his alarms for various points in the very near future and then delighting in silencing them.  After awhile he turned his attention to his new 'multi-tool'.  I was a little nervous about what would happen if we had to make a sudden stop as he was flashing quite a few blades in the back seat.

Anyway, at one point, Jon and I had been talking and I wanted to share something with the boys. They were in the back seat, trying to get the best angle on their ipod screens by hooking up improvised sun shades.  When I looked back, I noticed that Eli had his head and arms inside a pillow case to get the best view of his screen.  I said, "Guys, did you hear what Dad just said," at which point Eli interrupted from inside his pillow case and said, "DID I HEAR WHAT DAD JUST SAID????? Of course I did.  I'm right here.  Right behind you! I've been sitting behind you in this car for (quick consult of the new watch) 10 hours, 13 minutes and 53 seconds! I've heard everything everyone in this car has said for the past 10 hours, 13 minutes, and 53 seconds! Of course I heard what Dad just said!!!".  Oh.  Ok then.

Can't wait for this new road trip to get under way!

Winter Squash Wild Rice Bake

That is what I made for dinner the other night.  It was quite nice, despite Eli's warning that "anytime the word 'bake' is used as a noun, do not have high hopes for dinner". 

From NYC to the BWCA with hardly a breath between them

As we gear up to head to Florida to visit my parents, it has me thinking of our other vacations this past year.  Last spring we did a crazy thing.  We packed up our boys and flew them to NYC for 5 days over spring break.  And then even crazier, upon return, we quickly unpacked and within a few days were heading up to DuNord, on the edge of the BWCA.  Talk about transitions.

Our trip to NYC was lovely.  Nice weather, nice apartment, great boys.  They were eager to see the sites so we typically left our apartment by 8am and spent the next 10-12 hours wandering the city.  We became expert subway users and logged many hours on foot as well.  We did try to do to much, but we had fun doing it.  And there's oh so much more to do when we return.  Not if, but when.  Highlights for me were the times we all laughed heartily together- peering through dense fog at the top of the Empire State building, getting slap happy in the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Theo, and of course the bus fiasco when I panicked and caused us to really stick out as tourists, although surely we had been busted early and often already.  Really a fabulous trip. 

And then we came home, re-inserted ourselves into hectic life in St. Paul, only to dart out of town again within days so I could attent a board retreat up at DuNord.  It felt crazy to be packing up again, but once we took a deep breath of the north woods air and settled into our rustic cabin by the lake, it all made sense. This is what we needed in order to recalibrate from our hectic urban adventure.  We hiked along misty trails, found evidence of wolf activity, follwed moose prints by the front door of our cabin, and watched the ice begin to break up on the lake.  By the first evening, there was a 2-3 foot perimeter of ice-free water just on the edge of the lake, enough for us to plunge into following a hot hot sauna.  As the steam rose of our bodies in the cold night air, we marveled at our good fortune to be able to experience so many of the great places this old world has to offer us.

First Snowfall

Theo has been waiting for it.  Eagerly anticipating.  So it was easy to rouse him up out of bed this morning with the promise of an exciting sight out his window.  After a hot shower (oh no! wrinkles be in Theo's future!) he joined me for breakfast.  The flakes coming down outside were huge and lovely.  Theo was so moved he had to go outside and yell for joy.  And then he came in and said, "You know Mom, those flakes are so big, they kind of remind me of big flakes of skin."  Nice Theo. Ever the poet.

Wrinkle remedy

This past weekend we were walking in a local park when we ran into Larissa, a Russian woman who Jon tutored in English 20 years ago while we were preparing to leave for the Peace Corps.  We have run into Larissa now and again over the years, always outside and always while she is doing something active.  About 7 years ago, it was up at Camp DuNord over New Year's.  Jon was helping a ski group push a car out of a snow pile when he looked at the pusher to his right and realized it was Larissa!  Then 2-3 years ago I caught up to her on a bike path down by the river.  So it was not a huge suprise to find her out hiking through the woods on a beautifully sunny and warm November afternoon.

What did suprise me is that Jon asked her how old she was.  Which I admit, I was wondering.  But to ask outright shocked her a little, I think.  I tried to smooth it over by saying, "Forty, not a day over forty."  She gave me a little pat and said, "You're close.  I just turned 80."  80!  This caused me to take a closer look- trim, fit, active, and virtually wrinkle free!  I mean her forhead is smooth as a baby's.  Maybe some laugh and worry lines around the mouth and eyes.  But seriously.  She was born in 1932.  Things have happened since then that would cause a person some wrinkles. 

We chatted, introduced our kids, and then it was clear she had miles yet to hike and so she was off.  As we walked on Jon and I both proclaimed to our kids how much we liked that little woman (she is shorter than Theo).  I remarked on the lack of wrinkles.  Jon then recalled that her secret to health, 20 years ago, had been to take a cold shower every morning.  I do remember her trying to talk us into this habbit, and we did end up doing it for a while, but that was only because we were living in the Carribean and we had no hot water, and really no need for it as daily highs were 85.  I remember being committed to cold showering upon our return to the states, but by the time we hit October here in Minnesota, I had the hot water on and seriously so.

But now that I see her at 80 and so incredibly wrinkle free, I get to wondering.  In my 43 years, I spent about 2 cold showering.  But not really 2 because often during those Peace Corps years we had no water so I didn't shower at all. But I would take 'sea baths', the Antiguan remedy for everything.  Those had to count for something, right?  So, if I spent the next 40 years taking TWO cold showers a day, could I reverse current trends and end up in my 80s looking like Larissa?  Please?  But me thinks the trend that has started will carry on its intended course.

I told my mom of this theory of cold showering, and she said, "I'd take wrinkles any day over the prosepect of a cold shower."  I think I agree.