Brownville, a bit late.

On Saturday, July 11, my dad's band Full Measure played a riverboat gig on the Spirit of Brownville to 81 ticketholders. Tickets sold for $10. They are a classic rock cover band, and that band is one of the reasons that we have the kids here at our house so much. But anyway. Once we got to Brownville, we didn't know where to go next. We wound our way up a crazy hill, past a super-redneck-looking shanty of a house...and found ourselves at an intersection facing not one, but two red Festivas.

We asked this guy for directions. You can't see the little yippy dog that was occupying the passenger seat. It was at that point that we knew that everything would be all right.

There's Ben and Orion looking peaceful on the boat, watching the Missouri River waves.

My dad's band. He is goofy. And barefoot.

Little sister Claire and brother Anthony, reverting to their natural state... :)

Orion tried his first ice-popsicle.

Our banana masterpieces. Stolen from the floating hotel's kitchen, and returned, in better fashion.

We stopped for a bit of R&R the next day at the Antiquarium before heading back to L-Town. Ben and I purchased, among other things, a National Geographic magazine from the year 1913.

This picture was taken on the way home...at an intersection, I looked to my right and saw this hanging in a shop window. What do you read at first glance? Support our troops...a bit of irony there.

Postcard from Ohio

Two pictures forwarded from Ohio this past week. One is Torrin at West Branch Lake near Ravenna, OH, half an hour from Akron and the other is from just last night. The large white expanse behind him is a movie screen--they went to a drive-in theatre in Cleveland to see Harry Potter! I am jealous, as I have yet to fill my HP quota this year. And also because they seem to have several drive-ins in Ohio. There are none in Nebraska.

My babies are gone!

It's been so long since I posted that I couldn't remember which screenname I use to sign in here! In between, I've had the most relaxing weekend of my entire life since having kids and other trinkets of here-and-there. My son T-boy is staying with his dad until the 26th of July, perhaps another week after that. My-little-girl is in Colorado for a week with her daddy and grandma.

Here is Mira in Ottawa, IL...she was sitting on the edge of a fountain, dangling and swinging her feet. Then...she fell in. She was devastated. Mom took pictures (28 June).
Here are Mira and Orion at Jazz in June (free jazz concert series). Orion grabbed sister's hair:

Iowa City has an awesome city park with a carousel, mini-train, huge green spaces, playgrounds, etc. We stopped there on our way to drop Torrin off with his dad. Orion had his first carousel ride:

Here is Mira playing around in a shawl we got from her great-grandma, at the rained-out Pawnee exhibition powwow in Kearney on June 20:

Orion loved talking to one of Mira's babies one night:

They just looked cute. I think this was Thursday morning (02 July).

It's only driving if it's a manual transmission.

This?
Is not driving. It's maneuvering a vehicle. But it sure was nice to be able to transport all of the kids safely and legally at one time. (That and, you wouldn't catch me driving an American vehicle if I had anything to do with the choosing).

We're Not in Kansas Anymore...

Last Saturday, after we finally left my workplace, we got ready and headed south to Kansas. First to Lawrence, where we Haskell Avenue'd it up meeting another Mommy from Mira's birth club. Such encounters are always fun--it's like meeting a celebrity, because it may be your first time actually meeting the person, but you've seen them in pictures and already know so much about them. We stayed several hours, the kids played, and all was dandy. Then we headed over to Old Chicago to visit an old friend of PGG's who's attending Haskell Indian Nations University.

We capped the night by jaunting over to Topeka, where I have a long-lost auntie. She's my mom's eldest sister, but we just met her for the first time last summer (my mom is adopted--actually my dad is too but we don't know who his biological family is). We stayed the night with her and her rumpled Schnauzer. I was sufficiently creeped out by a picture on her dresser whose subject looked like a male version of my mother, complete with semi-glaring half-scowl. His name is Larry, and he's a brother of theirs, now deceased. I am envious of her knowledge of the Omaha language but not her cigarette habit...I'm slightly concerned that she will inadvertently burn her house down one of these nights as she chain-smokes half asleep.

Mira on the subway

Long time no post.

In the mean time, I've reached the quarter-century mark...driven to Chicago and back...and caused a major fiasco at work with the too-sensitive and community-sore-spot issue of football parking. Since I couldn't be there, it was left to warring families and bull-headed staff members. Next week, I'll be back. Ugh. My birthday in Chicago was less than fabulous...beginning with my inagural (and hopefully last) birthday tow. Hey, at least it was a cheap tow for Chicago, only $170, and our friend there covered it--for which I am grateful.

For lunch on Saturday before taking Flamenco to the airport with her loyal doggie friend, we went to Ginos East for some authentic Chicago deep dish pizza. I'm still a sushi-craving fiend, and yes I know you're not "supposed" to eat sushi while you're pregnant, but that's what we had for dinner. Note that there are several sushi options which include cooked items. Had it not rained the entire time we were there, it would have been much more fun.

Better luck next year!

Where Am I?

Snow cones & Dirt

A good summation of what makes the modern powwow fun for small children: Playing in the dirt and fair-type food. The congregation of children is possibly my favorite part of going to the powwow.













Naked Mira on someone's bike (we had gone to the car to change her dirty dress)

Junior girl jingle dress dancer





The Omaha (Umoⁿhoⁿ, which means "against the current") powwow is a celebration to honor the creator for the harvest (hedewachi).













I loved this little boy's expression
















Me, goofy Torrin, and passed out Mira.

Tids and Bits

Yeah, so, long time, no update. In the interim I've been to Arizona and back, but so quickly, I'm not quite sure that it really happened. It was "hot," as in, it was 80 in Nebraska when I left and 95 there when I arrived but the difference in humidity made it so that it felt about the same. Anyway, I like it warm, so I was just peachy with that. I attended the Women Are Sacred conference, which is about domestic violence and Native American women.

Oddly enough, I actually tend to sleep at night these days, so that's translated into no blog updates. I'm alive and well, though, as are the kiddos.

I had not realized how many different kinds of cactus there are. I mean, everyone pictures those big saguaros. Those are the ones you always see in desert pics, next to Roadrunner and a dustcloud. But these things were all over the place, all different shapes and sizes.
Maybe that really just means I need to get out more often, lol.

Purdy flowers. The flower obsession continues. There's also a million kinds of palm tree.
Prettiness.
Mountains! We don't have any of those in Nebraska.

Again, maybe this just means I need to get out more often...

The Secret's Out

Well, since Voldemort found out, it's time to let the cat entirely out of the bag. I just got back from Spain.

I had disastrous luck with flights on the way there. It started at the Akron/Canton airport in Ohio, where PGG and I were set to fly to Detroit at 11:40am. He would fly from Detroit to Lincoln and I to Amsterdam, to Madrid. I would arrive in Madrid at about 12:25 the next afternoon, Thursday, following an 8-hour wait in Detroit and 8-hour trans-Atlantic flight. PGG and I would sit together in the exit row for the short shared part of the journey. We checked in, got to our gate, waited a bit, and then...flight cancelled. Mechanical issues. Okay...

We were sent by shuttle to Cleveland (50 miles in a van with other disappointed people). Still happy, the 8-hour layover meant little changed for me except that I wouldn't get to fly with PGG anymore. He flew from Cleveland to Minneapolis, Minneapolis to Lincoln, without any additional problems. I waited eagerly for my 5:05pm flight. Boarded, and sat on the plane. And sat. And sat some more. The gray skies had grown burlier over the course of the afternoon, finally erupting into some snow or freezing rain. Something requiring the plane to be de-iced. A comical procedure where the plane sits and a crane thing sprays a giant stream, like that from a hose fighting a fire. First an orange-tinted stream, followed by green. Or possibly the other way around. After that was completed, we sat some more. By this time an hour had gone by. At last, the pilot spoke. "Errrr...we're going to have to de-plane, folks." Some bit about it being illegal to fly with the sort of problem the plane had in these conditions, something that would be okay if the weather were perfect. Great. Another flight canceled due to mechanical problems.

This time I was more anxious. I had less time to work with to get to Madrid at the same time. I got on the phone with an agent (as opposed to waiting in the hideously-long line of my former flight-mates). First, the woman directed me to a 7:35 flight to connect at Dulles...then realized that I'd have to get a ticket printed at a ticketing counter prior to boarding and oh, it was already 7pm. Okay, no problem, she found me an 8:45 on a different carrier. I'd connect in Washington, DC, and fly through Paris to Madrid on AirFrance. I was immediately placated, plus, I'd actually get to Spain 5 minutes earlier than planned.

That, is, except for the fact that this plane, too, was not without issue. We left nearly two hours late. I asked the attendant at the gate what I should do, and he was unsure but insisted that I'd be better off stuck in DC than in Cleveland. Fair enough.

By the time we got into the Dulles airport, all of the agents were gone. For all of the airlines. No hotel voucher for me. Worse, there were no more flights to anywhere connecting to Madrid until 5pm the next evening. I texted a friend who lives in the DC metropolitan area...no reply, at least, not until 2pm or so the next day. We had lunch. I had a nice interlude there, on the whole, although it certainly wasn't Spain.

I flew through Amsterdam as originally planned and arrived a full day and a half later because my oblivious self went to the wrong gate at the (humongous) Amsterdam airport.

THEN, when I talked to Ginny Weasely upon finally arriving in Madrid, she informed that she'd been pickpocketed on the Metro on her way to meet me at the airport earlier. 250 Euros...gone. She's been living in Spain for awhile now, this is her second year there, plus she's traveled around Europe a fair amount...and never gotten pickpocketed up until then. So we were being all extra cautious once she got to the airport and we were on the Metro together.

And then? I got pickpocketed too. 440 Euros and a considerable amount of Euros in change, about 50 American dollars, a Mastercard, Discovercard, and Visa debit card, and my driver's license.

Ouch.

Luckily the rest of the trip went well--and I am very lucky that Ginny is such a great friend to have covered the expenses.

Tidbits

The only good thing about Iowa: They have free wireless Internet at the rest stops. Both of the airports I've been in today do not. We shall see about the third later. And a fourth tomorrow.

On Friday, I gave TCO the rest of his stuff back. An Astronomy textbook, some socks and other assorted clothing, The Princess Bride DVD, tupperware, and other odds 'n ends including the pillow I wouldn't let him take in January. I smiled at him widely, a nervous reaction, and he just said, "all right." So anti-climatic. Such a beauty, that one.

On the upside, things with PGG are progressing swimmingly. This one, the sweetest one, this one who can tolerate Mira's screams...

¿Donde esta el baño?

How did it get to be mid-March already???

I'm guessing the 90 or so tax returns I've filed this season have something to do with it (in addition to my normal job duties, mind you). But man oh man...where has the time gone? So much to do...so little time...and I doubt I can learn Spanish in six days! Only six days left! Just four until we leave Nebraska! I think Torrin's nearly as excited as I am...

South Dakota Synopsis

Mira calls the casino "silly games." "I wan' go play silly games, 'genn, mama!" We stayed at the Prairie Winds casino's new hotel Friday night (23 February).

Saturday we drove north and west a bit, on the twisty highways that travel by Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore. The contrast between the cut-out, curving hills and rolling rocky formations compared to the flat nowhere land of Nebraska that we call home was stark. Torrin was struck by the comparative beauty of the landscape--at one time Sunday afternoon as we traveled through the area again, this time on our way home from Rapid City, he marveled that "I think I want to marry it!"

We spent some time in Pine Ridge, aside from the casino stay, as well as a jaunt seven miles north-ish to the site of Wounded Knee. Torrin was amazed by the dogs running wild. Trash proliferates, littering the streets and subconsciousness. It's like visiting a third-world country that just happens to be plucked in the middle of the United States. Graffiti disfigures traffic signs so that one cannot read the speed limit. Burnt down bungalows are left to rot, and frames of once-were mobile homes sit abandoned, their contents subject to the elements. Lawns are composed primarily of muck, trampolines are scattered like rodents, children cry in the streets, and there's high speed internet access in the basement. The cleanest building on the main drag was the Alltel store.

Go figure.

Oh, yes, and I forgot to mention... (Sat 27 Oct 2007)

I got pulled over. Less than an hour into our 13-hour jaunt home on Tuesday (though that did include a two-hour stop to see the previously mentioned Mom friend). Late morning, sun glaring into my eyes from the east as I attempted to shield my eyes and greet the state trooper.

"Where're ya headed this morning?" he asked.

"Nebraska," I responded, pointedly, hoping that the Nebraska license plates would help the situation.

"You were going well over 50 mph in a 35 zone," he informed me, explaining further that it dropped down to 25 at some particular street name I'd never heard of before.

"Oh, it was 35 there?" I played stupid. I knew full well that I'd been speeding. He asked to see my driver's license and ID from my passenger. Hmmm. I stayed as calm as possible, silently dreading the possibility of a ticket. I got a speeding ticket in, what, 2004 or so? Did a STOP class for that. Followed by a 'wreckless driving' ticket in 2005, which caused a spike in my insurance rate. Yeah, not something I wanted to go through again.

I got a warning.

"Make sure to be aware of your surroundings in an unfamilar place," the trooper advised.

Yeah, sure I will. Or something like that.

Saturday October 27, 2007 - 01:10pm (PST)

Comments
Breaking the law, breaking the law! Now I KNOW that nun get-up was a fake!--Amber
Tuesday November 6, 2007 - 03:41pm (PST)

C'était jolie, la.

Wherever we were...it was pretty. Not as cold as we had anticipated it may have been, either.

Most mortifying moment: When The Boy Who Lived's mom looked squarely at me, as I sat on the couch next to her son, and asked, "So, how serious is this relationship we have going on here?" (My eyes grew wide and I didn't respond). (!)

Randomness: Skittlejerky. Strangely satisfying...beef jerky + skittles, in the same mouthful.

Cool how: With little or no notice a troop of boys/young men about 18 strong organized a game of football. Entertaining to watch too.

Kids had fun: playing in the leaves. We have neither expansive lawnscape nor a rake to create this sort of Fall excitement at home.

Also noteworthy: We met another one of my Internet Mommy friends. Great fun. She was a sweetie and Mira had a blast with her son. Torrin had a blast with her older son's Game Boy. Unfortunately her older children were not home for him to play with but he had fun anyway.

It's beeen a crappy week. (And as promised, pics...) (Fri 28 Sep 07)

I'm not going to go into the details of why the week has been crappy. But believe me, it has been, and it's been quite busy as well. So it was nice when the following was received as a surprise from The Boy Who Lived:

Then to make things better, we made good on our plans to make a pizza (his idea!). As in, actually make one, not just bake it. Neither of us had even done that before. And truthfully, he put forth 90% of the effort. All I did was chop up red pepper, some onion, and cook the sausages. We did cheat by not making the crust or tomato sauce; I'm willing to tackle the crust and he's more than willing to make a sauce next time. Here is the final product of Pizza No. 1 (Pizza No. 2 is waiting in the refrigerator to be baked tomorrow):

And now for a couple of pictures from last weekend...these are both motorcycle-related pics; the motorcycle belongs to The Chosen One's mother. We went for a nice ride. It's the beginning of fall, but still warm, so there was a beautiful selection of colors painted in the so-alive-it's-breathing scenery. First, me with Mira; then me with The Boy Who Lived on the bike:

Friday September 28, 2007 - 08:48pm (PST)

Comments
Helloooo, Leather Girl! ;)--julie
Saturday September 29, 2007 - 04:28pm (PST)

You are the epitome of bike chic! My week was awful, too. French feast and Omaha trip were great, it just wasn;t quite enough to steal the thunder from the craptastic events (and exes) of my life. I bought us some flowers for cheer, and my cat ate half of them. Your fleurs, on the otherhand, look lovely.--Amber,non-blogger extraordinaire