Moving

Hey all, I’m taking my business elsewhere.  Check it out!

Ahhh. Another vacation. Theaters with beer and mornings with coffee. So far this is going well. We’re doing our taxes today. Come on, big money! Hoping to pay off our debts. I’ll then cap the night off with an ale tasting at Belmont Station. Life is very nice.

Special Ed

It’s interesting being a teacher of kids with “special needs”. I’ve had lots of stressful moments but there have been plenty of hilarious moments, too. I remember once, my first year, the year that all the pressure is on to do well and succeed and not mess up, I had this little kid named (I’ll call him) Paco (to protect his innocence and also his future dignity). We were all sitting around the snack table (9 kids, my assistant, and myself), a time to kind of chill out from all the craziness of circle time and centers. We gave the kids the snack de jour: animal crackers and water. A.J. was chomping on his crackers, Mariana was staring off in the distance, and then I looked over at Paco, seeing the chocolate smeared across his face. “Hmm,” I thought. “I don’t recall serving chocolate.” “Oh crap!” I exclaimed without thinking. Sure enough. It was crap! I didn’t immediately recognize it as such as it was outside of the usual contexts in which I’ve seen crap. But, it was indeed. With it all over his teeth and mouth, Paco was grinning from ear to ear. I quickly donned latex gloves and whisked him to the bathroom. 20 wipes later I came out of the bathroom a little less wet behind the ears as a Special Ed Teacher.

Little did I know that that incident would be the first of many “interesting” incidents. Most recently, I’ve inherited a hilarious kid, significantly impacted by autism. Many kids with autism latch onto scripts from movies, TV shows, etc. This particular guy, I’ll call him Dave, is all about the scripts. He has barely any functional language. The first time I met him, he came up to me, looking me directly in the eye (very uncommon for a kid with autism) and greeted me by saying, “GEICO, 50 million dollars car insurance!” followed by laughter. He then looked away and looked back, holding both hands together in a cupped fashion, and said, “You’re in good hands with AllState” and walked away laughing. Anyways, he was next in line to be taken to the bathroom. My incredible assistant, Doug, was helping him get his pants down and ready to sit on the potty, but he kept resisting. Doug finally said, “OK Dave, you really need to go potty.” To which he turned his head back with a spiteful look in his eye and said, “All right, all right God D— it”. We all cracked up!

Never a dull day I tell ya.

I’m Alive

So I’m still alive, but I find that it’s hard to find the space and time to devote to writing out thoughts.  Work has been a constant pit in the stomach and a paperwork nightmare even though it is still the greatest job I’ve ever had.  Just as I started this, little A was monkeying around in her crib while she was supposed to be napping so here I am a day later trying to write again.  

Anyways, just recently went contra dancing with A and my parents in their small town of Silverton.  We showed up for a lesson at the beginning and stayed for a couple hours.  It was a cold night, but we were all sweating.  My Dad’s friend was playing in the band and we enjoyed some great music as well as some fun times.  That was my first time and I loved it.  There were people from every walk of life and it was a nice way to bring us all together.  

This reminds me that I have recently had a hankering again for playing old Irish fiddle.  I’m more interested in learning about the different styles.  I’m wanting to make some connections with some people here to get into playing again.  As a violinist, it’s music you can really sink your teeth into.  You can throw technique by the wayside and just get down.  That side of it is very appealing to me.  I’ll always love the classical stuff, but for purposes of just playing, this type of music is more accessible in that you don’t really need to hone the technical aspects and thus the music ends up sounding more soulful as a result.  We’ll see what happens.  

Speaking of music, I just heard the newest Thievery Corporation and it’s quite good.  All their usual sounds, just in a new way.  I got turned on to them while traveling through China.  Also, Vetiver has some good stuff.  Just heard a clip of their latest on NPR and it is nice easy-going fireside music.  Doesn’t seem like I get as much of a chance to hear the new stuff.  It’s hard to keep up, but I do my best.  Local record store, Jackpot Records, really helps me out in that department as their selection is so great that guaranteed, whenever I walk in there, they always have something on display that will grab me.  

Well, that is all for now.  Will try more at getting regular.  It’s hard to find your voice on this new (to me) world of blogging.

Weekend’s Shapin’ Up

After a long hard week, I was able to sit down with a nice Belgian beer and watch an old Conan episode online.  This morning we got up late (Thanks Amelia) and had breakfast at around noon, including eggs over sauteed onions, applewood smoked bacon, sourdough, and coffee.  We just got the news that A’s massage studio is a go and we will be getting that ready to paint tomorrow.  Once Amelia wakes up from her nap, we will venture out to the pumpkin patch to pick up a giant pumpkin and enjoy a hay bale ride and hot apple cider.  It’s the perfect blustery day for such an outing.  

It’s funny how having children allows you the freedom to indulge in “childish” activities such as pumpkin patches, visits to toy stores, etc.  I still pass toy stores with a certain tickle of curiosity in my belly that earns a laugh and an eye roll from A.  Perhaps it’s because I work in early childhood, but it’s much more likely that I still just like toys.  All men really never grow up and still play with “toys”, even though they may be more sophisticated “toys” such as cars, electronics, or other gear/gadget-type stuff.  It just so happens that my love for toys is less sophisticated.  So I still like Koosh balls and whoopee cushions.  At least I have a profession that gives me an outlet for it (well, maybe not the whoopee cushions).  It’s not uncommon to see me swinging on swings or sliding down slides with my kids at work.  It reminds me of a really great radio segment on the importance of play in the lives of both children and adults.  Play is a child’s work, where they are able to test hypotheses about the world and even work through difficult circumstances or emotions.  I would venture to say that we as adults could find the same benefits from play and need to allow ourselves that same space to play.

Sticks

So I had this difficult day at work:  a difficult coworker, a long educational planning meeting for one of my kids, and a difficult home visit with a kid that seems to throw a fit every time I walk in the door.  I came home not thinking I could be nice to everyone, so I knew that if I could get away for a bit, I could pull through the evening.  So I went to the Fresh Pot, the coffee shop inside Powell’s Books, to grab a coffee and a few good magazines.  I was flipping through Make and found this artist, Patrick Dougherty, who makes some amazing sculptures from sticks that he finds.  Beautiful stuff that seems reminiscent of Andy Goldsworthy.  I love the way he elevates something already so beautiful by itself to yet another level and, like Goldsworthy, brings attention to God as the ultimate artist using the medium of his creation.

The Great Outdoors

Just recently my Dad and I, carrying on a life-long tradition of spending quality time together in the woods, got together again for this amazing hike through volcanic peaks, glacial melt lakes, and sweeping views of the valley that lie below.  Armed with our packs and a GPS, we made our way cross-country (without a trail) to a series of unnamed lakes that lie just beneath the three volcanic peaks known as Three Sisters with a fourth peak, Broken Top, on our backs.  We managed to be the only ones there for the first night, but then the second night, a couple and their dogs showed up on the other side of the lakes.  

Outside of the hiking itself, our days were leisurely.  We spent that time reminiscing on former backpacks, like the 90 mile trip we took to Mt. Whitney where I spent my 11th birthday on the top, or the trip where we had to walk 15 miles out after we watched a bear climb out on a tiny limb, pull up our stuff sacks of food, and eat or lick everything in it.  We compared notes on our jobs and had long talks on politics and the election interspersed with some good laughs.  Meals were basic:  oatmeal with pecans, raisins, and cinnamon for breakfast and some heat in the pouch Indian meals from Trader Joe’s which I poured over bulghur for dinner.  Unfortunately, we were never able to stay up late enough to see the stars as the wind through that channel was so intense.  We both shook uncontrollably until we decided to crawl into our tents at 6:30 pm.  I read the Beattitudes in my old neon orange Gideon Bible and rolled over to catch up on some much needed rest.  

We awoke to the most amazing and awe-inspiring stillness with the rising sun casting a variety of different colors on the four peaks.  There is nothing like being in God’s sanctuary to make you brim over with praise.  Everything out there speaks of God’s nature.  There is no better medicine for life’s stresses than to lose one’s self in the splendor of the outdoors without all of life’s common distractions.  

 

The Story of Marchy

Well, I finally hopped on the bandwagon and got myself this blog.  Nothin’ like a lot of down time while fighting a fever to give me the idea.  So if you’re wondering what or who Marchy is you can ask my two nephews Espen and Abel.  Espen gave me the name when Ariana and I were first dating as he kept calling me Steve instead of Jeff and then thought, “Ah, shoot, I’m just gonna call you Marchy.”  And that’s how it all began.  Then upon marrying Ariana I became Uncle Marchy and A became the lovely Misses Uncle Marchy.  

So stick around if you wanna hear more of what’s happenin with me.