Will it ever change?

 

"Hymn for the Hurting," by poet Amanda Gorman

Everything hurts,
Our hearts overshadowed and strange,
Minds clouded and made dumb.
We carry tragedy, terrifying and true.
And yet none of it is new;
We knew it as home,
as horror,
As heritage.
Even our children
Can’t be kids
Can’t be.

Everything hurts.
It’s a hard time to be alive
And even harder to stay that way.
We are burdened to live these days,
And at the same time blessed to survive them.

This alarm is how we know
We need to be changed –
That we must differ or die,
That we must prevail or try.
So though hate cannot be ended,
It can be transformed
In a love that makes us live.

May we not only mourn, but give:
May we not only hurt, but act;
May our signed right to bear arms
Never blind our sight to shared evil;
May we choose our children over chaos.
May never another innocent be lost.

Maybe everything hurts
Our hearts overshadowed and strange.
But only when everything hurts
May everything change.

R.I.P, kids and teachers of Uvalde (and so many other victims of America's aggressive extremist culture and gun problem).

Redwood EdVenture Quest

 

On Sunday afternoon, we tried out a Redwood "Edventure" Quest, which had been advertised by a brochure I picked up somewhere during the pandemic (but which we hadn't tried yet).  Quests are "treasure hunts" with rhyming clues along a local trail to a final clue. 

We chose one nearby in the Arcata Community Forest, and wandered through the trail spotting various landmarks, like the above-pictured "Octopus Tree" to to find the end clue (The Coastal Giant Salamander), which was posted on the underside of a bridge rail (unfortunately, we didn't spot any actual salamanders).

"Bigfoot" visible from the trail.

The Quest was a fun way to explore a local trail with new (seeking) eyes and the kids enjoyed the tasks (it even got Niall walking on his own!).  We finished it in just about 30 minutes and they had time to play at the nearby park for some more time.  We may check out another one sometime soon; I'd recommend these Quests for my local nature-loving friends with kids!

The Face of Open Door

 

On Saturday, we attended Open Door Fest, a celebration for employees of 50+ years serving the community on the North Coast (we've only been here for ~11).  Despite (yet another) COVID surge, the outdoor picnic-style event, complete with a DJ, dancing, barbeque, and a kickball tournament went on, and the Blue Lake weather was just about perfect.  Although my muscles of socialization have atrophied somewhat due to the pandemic and my extreme introversion make me a bit exhausted by events requiring a lot of small talk, it was important to show our faces, and we passed a pretty mellow afternoon in the sunshine.

Iver and K played on the TVSC kickball team, where participation even included matching shirts. Iver, new to kickball, but open to all competitive games, even got on base several times! Their team came in third (the champions were ECHC "Urine Trouble," with fitting yellow tees) but they had a lot of fun (although Kelvin has been complaining of a pulled butt muscle, a sports injury, ever since then).

Part of the "Swag bags" included some OD ball caps, which Niall wanted to wear to school today. 

He's into crossed eyes these days ...

... (Iver has already warned him about them getting "stuck" that way in his face)...

Luna Girl (& her Mom)

 

(portrait, by Iver)

Our friend Gloria is considering buying a house back in Humboldt and was back in town for the week, attending a few Open Houses (not including Iver's school one!) and working remotely. She and her almost-two-year-old Australian Shepherd, Luna, stayed with us for the second half of the week.

Luna is a high-energy dog who is great at tricks and wants to chase balls for all her waking hours. The kids were pretty entertained! Pepper was indifferent.

Gloria got a lot of fun in with the kids-- reading...

...a tea party with shortbread...

... playground play!

... being woken up in the six o'clock hour.... 

...watching Iver swim...

(her face at realizing what it's like entertaining two energetic kids after working all day!)

Open House

"Schooling" in the time of COVID has felt very strange. Besides drop-offs and a couple of parent-teacher conferences, there have been very few school events and we (well, I; Kelvin has served on the school board) feel quite disconnected with the elementary school experience in many ways.

Iver is a few weeks away from finishing first grade in his Spanish immersion school. Check out his school photo (we realized that we actually took 5-year-old photos wearing the very same shirt! Oops!).

On Thursday, the school had an Open House where parents were invited into the classrooms to talk to the teacher and other parents and see some of their artwork and projects.

Iver was very proud of his writing and "Tigre" project!

The class also published a book in Spanish, El Caso de las Manchas Perdidas (The Case of the Missing Spots) about a leopard, whose cover Iver designed! 

Iver's handwriting is quite meticulous!

Lovely school chalk mural

Almost a second-grader! 

 

We're not sure what next year holds, but we really like Iver's school and am thankful they're trying to have things be more "normal" for kids and families.

A couple of good-byes

 "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." - Winnie the Pooh

This week, we said good-bye (for now) to two wonderful people. Our friend and colleague, Val, after having served here for about five and a half years, is leaving the area to return (for now) to Santa Rosa, where she did her residency.  She stopped catching babies in the fall, but we have been blessed to have had her as a colleague and friend, and will always remember her gifted hands at having held Niall first.

This week also marked the end of Teacher Matt's time in the LL preschool room. It's rare to have such a kind, loving (male) preschool teacher, and we feared that Niall (upon hearing that he'd be leaving) would not handle things very well, having gotten extremely attached for the past two years. Thankfully, Matt and his wife Angela (one of Iver's favorite teachers ever) are still in the area, and with hope they can still see the kids on occasion.

"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."- Henry Adams 

Good-byes (or "so longs for now") are so bittersweet (and truly sad at times). But, as Pooh said, how truly lucky we are to have crossed paths, even for a short time, with such wonderful souls. Our lives, and those of our kids, have been changed for the better!

Birthday parties: a thing again (maybe?)

COVID is far from "over" (and, locally, we've seen a huge uptick in cases in the last couple of weeks).  However, we're trying to learn to "live with it," and doing things we would have, a year ago, declined. 

The kids attended their first indoor birthday party since 2020 when our friend's son Ivan turned four, and he had a little get-together at a local pizza place. The kids were thrilled to eat pizza, sing and eat cupcakes (Jenna even made Iver a non-peanut-containing one due to his still-presumed allergy).

This past weekend, my friend Kellie celebrated her 39th at the house of a friend, Kate. We women (some moms, some not) had a great time eating "college dinner" food outside and sharing our favorite books and thoughts on creating a sustainable future. 

Andrea & Heather

We may not ever know until, after the fact, we were exposed to COVID at any of these parties. But it feels nice to get back to doing them and I think we, as a family, have gotten much more comfortable with the potential implications, and for us, these risks are, two-plus years later, more than acceptable.