Oh, look

It's something beautiful.

Learning to cook

We don't have many convenience foods at our house anymore, I've noticed.

We buy a few for sure, like the pink lemonade mix we drink down so often in the summer. We have a bunch of canned soups hidden away in a cupboard in the "sick stash," which was handy last week when we got colds and could just pop open a can of chicken soup for Joe's dinner. I had ramen with an egg in it.

But I eat a lot less ramen than I used to. I figured out that it's almost as quick to boil a bit of whole wheat spaghetti with some frozen peas, and then to pour off the water and sprinkle the noodles with olive oil and salt and pepper and herbs and maybe some parmesan cheese (mmm). I might have taken a picture had I not eaten it all just now.

Usually this approach to cooking is cheaper, too, though I am not sure any meal can beat the price of a ramen packet. I'm sure the spaghetti isn't too expensive, though, especially since our cupboards are stocked with sale-price pasta.

I still prefer ramen when I'm sick, though. Mmm.

Far from home

Maybe this interests me because it reminds me of the state-run ethnic mixing the Soviet Union did in Latvia and elsewhere, but I think it's interesting in any case: an article about China's not-entirely-voluntary (it seems) program to integrate Uighurs into the Han population.

A part that caught my attention:

Bi Wenqing, deputy head of the Shufu county office that oversees the Xinjiang labor export program, ... said that although the Uighur workers at the factories have the freedom to worship, the practice is not encouraged.

"We have been trying hard to educate them into disbelieving religion. The more they are addicted to religion, the more backwards they will be. And those separatists try to leverage religion to guide these innocent young Uighurs into evil ways," Bi said.

Feathering my nest

I think I may be nesting.

So far, I haven't had the near-superhuman bursts of energy that some other mothers say keep them up all night so they can rearrange closets and scrub all their floors with a toothbrush. But this building nervous wanting to do things -- cleaning things, preparing-for-the-baby things -- it is a bit out of the ordinary even for a binge-cleaner like me. I wouldn't mind being able to think a bit less about diapers and things!

Joe and I have been sharing a cold back and forth this week, but things are good overall. Here are a few nice ones:

• The African violet on the dining table and the peace lily in the kitchen are blooming beautifully.
• So is the clematis we just planted in the back yard.
• Digging holes to plant things has become much easier now that I am 30-some pounds heavier. I just stand on the shovel and in it goes!
• I've had a few nice chats with neighbors in the last few days while working outdoors.
• A sweet friend is getting married tomorrow.
• A family in church just had new baby.
• The baby in me moves so much sometimes, Joe has asked whether it's having a party in there!

Hey, we did stuff

When Joe was out of town again, I did some work around the house and on errands, but I also saw my family and took a trip up to Harrisburg to see the American MusicFest with Rose.

People contra dancing (I joined in!)

A train passing directly over the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra concert

The Pennsylvania Capitol

Saturday I went to the La Plata 4th of July celebration and watermelon bash. There was free watermelon, mm, and more music.

I also did a lot of cooking. Unfortunately, I did not do a lot of dishes.

Today Joe is back home, and we went to the park I visited last week. It was still deserted.

Piney woods

Berry picking

Playing in the moss

Moss

The lakeside

A fishing bob stuck in a tree

And I will do a lot of dishes tomorrow.

Changing directions

I just put away the last of the felts I'd had hanging around since Latvian school ended some weeks ago.

I wonder when I will use them again.

One of the reasons I didn't get a job right after moving to La Plata was so I could keep doing these other things I feel called to do: visiting my grandmother a lot and helping a bit with her care, teaching the beautiful children at Latvian church about God and all His wonders, spending time with my great aunt from time to time. I am seeing her tomorrow, and we are both looking forward to it.

For a while it was hard not to think of all the things I probably won't be able to do once the baby's born, or not for a few months, at least. When Bible study ended a few weeks ago, I knew I wouldn't be signing up again if a new course started in September. I don't know when I'll go back to teaching Latvian school, but it won't be this fall. I will miss the chance to share stories with the kids and listen to their interesting thoughts and prayers.

And while everything winds down for the summer, I've found myself with a freer schedule and a bit more mental space than usual. There's been a richness to this chance to think and do things on my own, and I am aware that this chance is fleeting. The baby is due in just two months now, and older parents tell me that is when everything will change.

But everyone -- even the other Latvian school teachers, my great aunt, my grandmother -- they are all so happy about this baby that will take me away from them for at least awhile. And I am happy, too.

And though I worried for a time about all the good work I won't be able to do anymore, it's funny -- it seems I'm being needed elsewhere less and less. There are a number of people interested in teaching religion to the Latvian school children, and I think I will be happy to see someone take my place. God has granted me a different kind of work, and it will keep me busy enough.

Snake sighting #2

This time, the snake in the yard was a bright green thread of a thing hiding under the ledge by the front door. It's the exact kind of snake I would like for a pet, actually, and after I got over my initial yelp of surprise I was tempted to pick it up (but didn't).

I wish I'd brought my camera

Joe's in San Diego again, and it's funny how quickly I can fall back into the patterns I had before we were married: going to church alone, wandering a park afterwards, sleeping and waking at strange times. For a little while it's almost like being unmarried again -- and then he calls me or I start planning the next few days, and so many of our thoughts and plans circle around each other. And then there's this baby in my belly... it's kicking like crazy this afternoon.

I'll have to bring Joe back to the park sometime soon. I'm actually not sure I was supposed to go there... a locked gate meant I had to park my car on the road, so I looked for signs saying the park was closed, but there weren't any. I got around the gate by a footpath.

I don't know if anyone goes there... the dirt road toward the lake was lined with wild blackberry bushes, with plenty of ripe ones for me. The road had beautiful butterflies, the grass had humble little wildflowers, and the lake was surrounded by pine trees and birds. I saw a bluebird!

Hello, Vecmamma

At the age of ninety-seven, my grandmother is starting to get confused about who I am sometimes. She still knows her granddaughter Daina, though sometimes she forgets that Daina has already left college and even married that boy my grandmother likes so much... it's just that she doesn't always realize that I'm that granddaughter. A few times now, she's mistaken me for my mother, especially if I visit when she's groggy from a nap.

I try to greet her, "Hello, Vecmamma! It's Daina!" but sometimes she forgets or doesn't hear. And we'll talk awhile and it becomes clear that she's saying "your husband" when she should be saying "your father," and I try to gently correct her... but I usually can't bear to say outright, "No, Vecmamma, you're confused. I'm Daina, your granddaughter." And eventually she'll get it right on her own.

I have been expecting something like this for years now, and it is not so hard to take. The part I find strange is how nice a visit we can have still. I used to think that what made us so close were all those hours when I was little, playing dominoes and walking to the pond and watching Wheel of Fortune while I tried to subtly convince her to scratch my back. And those things still tie us together in a way. But even when she thinks I am someone other than the girl she spent so much time with, it still feels so natural to sit close to each other in her bed or on the couch, flipping through old photo albums or telling stories and just enjoying our time together.

Father's day

This time of year, the orange daylilies bloom in clumps along the side of the road. You can find them in Maryland -- some right here in La Plata, even -- but it was in Michigan, I think, when the long swaths of bloom caught my dad's attention some years ago.

My dad is an enthusiastic gardener, and maybe he appreciated how the lilies can grow even under the shady fringes of woods along the back roads. It was there, anyway, that he pulled over the pickup and got out with his shovel, dug up a clump of lilies and tossed them into the back.

I don't really remember why my dad and I were there -- maybe he was bringing me to summer camp? But in any case, I think I was probably by myself as I cringed in embarrassment, thinking something like, "Most people would just go visit a garden nursery!"

My dad is not like most people, and I am grateful for that. He has taught me many lessons in life, showing me that beauty is something worth cultivating and the way everyone does it is not necessarily the best way and many other things that have made me wiser along the way. And I'm excited because Joe is starting that same kind of lifework this year, though I know he won't do it quite like my dad did.

I think the lilies are still blooming every summer along the edge of my parents' backyard, bright orange under the shade of the fringe of woods.