Happy Birthday Sweet 27!!   ¶ 9/24/2005 12:03:00 AM 10 comments

 

  ¶ 9/21/2005 09:01:00 AM 6 comments

  Old Newspaper Clipping

The above newspaper clipping brought back many memories, mostly the smell of linseed oil that permeated the air while trying to paint in Agnes Trestrails Oil Painting class. It's so funny how looking at a picture can bring back so many things. I remember the shirt I was wearing, the texture and the pointy collar, the blue skirt and the belt that came with it. Even now I cringe when I think of those shoes I was wearing. Eegads! Gross! Crinkly white patent leather shoes!!

I was very proud of that painting though, I think I did a really good job on that horses head. Somewhere amongst all the moves we did at that time in our lives, the painting got lost, along with a lot of other things.  ¶ 9/21/2005 08:39:00 AM 2 comments

  Emily asked me this question..... "Why are you acting like everything is normal around here?"
This was my reply:


"I'm not pretending like everything's normal
I'm just grabbing onto the moments that are."


Is this called escapism? Or trying to keep the peace?
or the sign of someone losing their mind? Or all three?


Also now that the grandfather knows, I can share this wonderful news!!!!!

  ¶ 9/20/2005 08:12:00 AM 3 comments

  Pies, Muffins, Zucchini and Stolen Flowers It's been a very busy couple of days. Emily has been in her element more or less, if we could minus the stress it would be perfect, but anyway there's been a whole lot of bakin' goin' on. Emily and Sherri were the main bakers, but I think all the kids helped out in this endeavor, except Chris. Here is a couple of pictures of Chris and what he does most of the time. I must mention that Keith did a majority of the dishes, I was so proud!

First we have had waves of Zucchini bread, Zucchini muffins and fried Zucchini with onions. Delicious!! Then yesterday we had numerous pies, muffins and sculpture created in the kitchen out of lots and lots of fresh picked blackberries. The kitchen was a very scary place to be for a while as the flour was flying, the berries were gliding along the floor, some ended up on the beige berber carpeting and of course the inevitable blackberry throwing in your face contest!

I'm adding links here so you can go and explore the many creative talents of the kids in this home. First I will add the link to the Pies and stolen flowers now I will add the link to a study of Flash Gordon, now here is the Study of Keith. Here is the set that combines lots of pictures taken by the children of the Hansville Tribe and finally for now anyway, is the adventures of the Hansville Tribe.  ¶ 9/17/2005 12:14:00 PM 4 comments

  Results of Poll on Evacuees Poll: Victims of Katrina
Last weekend, a team of interviewers directed by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health conducted the first poll of New Orleans evacuees living in Houston emergency shelters. The survey's goal: to capture the attitudes, experiences and plans of those hit hard by the storm.

To see the web page please click on the above title.  ¶ 9/16/2005 10:47:00 AM 0 comments

  I have so much to say Boy do I! But somethings I can't write about as they are much too personal, somethings are too close to home. But I also have lots of questions, and I don't think questions are going to harm anyone, so I will put some forward and would ask for your opinions. Of course I have my own opinions and I'll probably share those as well because after all this is my blog, right?
Okay, here goes.

Is the little mermaid an abomination?

Do you think paintings from famous painters from history, say between the 12-18 century should be censored and all nudity covered?

Do you think it is proper or healthy to show children, say between the ages of 5-18, the graphic photos of abortions?

Should you ever call your children evil, terrible?

Can any of you imagine my take on these issues?

That is all for now.

Your assignment should you decide to take it is:
If you do comment, please leave more then a yes or no and explain your answers.

Thank you, this message with self destruct in 5 seconds.  ¶ 9/16/2005 08:49:00 AM 6 comments

  I'm skirting here.... Yes I'm skirting around here, dancing in circles, doing a little tango, skirt flying through the air as I dance my way around the issues.


Today pulling myself out of bed my second thought is of steaming hot creamy sweet coffee and a morning cigarette, I make my way down the stairs quietly not to wake a soul. Ingrid is in the kitchen before me, finishing up some cleaning that didn't get done the night before. First thing she says to me is that I need to hear what "so and so" I can't remember, said about how the week before the hurricane blew into New Orleans the people there were planning on something called Decadence week, (I could be wrong in the name there) Damn I wish she wouldn't do this to me. I asked her if she knew that the ones who suffered the most were the poor, the black, and thousands of children? You see now she is worried that God will come and judge Seattle. This all has to do with how America has allowed 40 million abortions, homosexuality, drunkness, etc.

I reminded her of scriptures that I read in Sojourners Magazine about how rain falls on the just and the unjust. Grace is something we don't deserve, that God doesn't give us what we deserve or we'd probably all be dead anyhow. Just look at all the wonderful things we've done since we set foot on American soil. Naturally this doesn't get me far. She says because we have not stood with Isreal and have allowed the Jews to be removed from Gaza that we have just allowed all of God's wrath to be rained down upon us.


There was a scripture verse in the article that I thought explained alot and I want to put it here. (this situation is bringing out all of my years of past bible study lessons, so bear with me okay?, I can fling scripture with the best of them)


"And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice." (I Kings 19:11-12)


After reading this I would surmise that natural disasters will occur, shit happens, but God isn't the one who creates the havoc, he supplies the grace to get through it. And because I am who I am I have to wonder about the ones who didn't get through it,.... but that is for another time.

  ¶ 9/16/2005 08:14:00 AM 2 comments

  Somethings I've been thinking about
"The only place I've ever seen
justice is in the dictionary."
Who wrote that?


Sometimes you just have to take that leap
and build your wings on the way down.
-Kobi Yamada


  ¶ 9/15/2005 12:20:00 PM 3 comments

  What am I supposed to do? There was a few minutes ago a raging seething beastly sound right outside my room. It was incessant, howling, badgering, annoying and needless to say driving me crazy.

It was Christy. She's 9 years old and this is how she reacts to anything anybody might do to her that she doesn't like. Her sister Sherri in a playful/teasing attitude dropped Christy's barbies over the stairs. True, this wasn't very nice, but I don't think it merited the treament the rest of the family got by any means.

It wasn't a second before Ingrid came running up the stairs to yell at Sherri, calling her a terrible and cruel person. Hard words I think for sibling teasing. Anyway after Ingrid is gone back down the stairs Christy continues this noise. She does this while playing with the dolls, just howling away. I ask her to stop nicely, I tell her she sounds like a grizzly bear and would she please stop because it's hurting my ears. This gets me nowhere. She is standing two feet from my door. I head to the bathroom to get some water because I think a good cold splash in the face might bring her to her senses. While I'm gone Emily has covered Christy's mouth and told her to stop it. I come out and douse her with water. This really isn't an assault, were just trying to get her to stop. The rest of the kids are standing around watching, Ingrid comes back up and Christy is able to stop howling long enough to tell her what I did and what Emily did. She is back at the howling, it's a deep guttural growling howling, like an off key siren.

Christy is still howling while Ingrid tells me not to throw water on her, and Emily not to cover her mouth. She tries to get her to calm down but she won't. She keeps howling. Ingrid is bombasting the rest of us as if we are all at fault for Christy's behavior. Sherri shouldn't be cruel, on and on and on.

I'm very frustrated as one might imagine because this is not my child I can't spank her or any other such thing. I thought a cold glass of water to the face might just shut her up for a minute so I could talk to her. It didn't and I couldn't. Christy is now howling in her room.

My advise to the other children was to stay away from her. Don't cause her any aggravation, if she can't deal with the family and all it entails let her feel the isolation of that. Of course I said much more, but probably mostly to hear my self talk as I know kids will be kids and will continue to tease her to get that reaction.

Please someone tell me what you might do in a situation like this?  ¶ 9/12/2005 12:58:00 PM 5 comments

  Off Of CNN

Some of the Littlest Survivors of Katrina

I for one am very thankful for everyone who is there now, finally, helping the children. Look at these kids, and look at the arms that are holding them. Thank you, I wish I could do the same.
  ¶ 9/08/2005 09:07:00 PM 0 comments

  Let me introduce you

Ingrid



Angela & Emily



o me o my o



Beautiful Sherri Anne



Angela, Christopher, and Christy



Christopher with a rare smile




Woman on the Edge



me, Emily and Angela



Angela showing me a book on sea life




Michael & Keith Fishing over the deck outside our room-
nothing down there but bushes- good practice casting I guess



Sherri & Em, cousins/friends



Keith Weird Eye Guy




Christy Computering and playing with Bratz online  ¶ 9/08/2005 10:22:00 AM 2 comments

  Our New Home It's Monday morning and the sun is trying to shine through the heavy cloud cover. This is Emily's and my new home. If you click on any of the pictures you can get a larger image.



The Upper Room



West Side of Deck Looking North



South Wall



North West



Facing North



Christy 9, Michael 7



Because I have not had much contact with Ingrid in the Last 15 years I was always under the impression that she had 7 children. But for some reason I could never remember the 7th child's name. When we arrived we all had the biggest laugh because there was no 7th child. So Michael left the room and came back with knees in his shoes and became the child with the name no one could remember.



This is Angela 12



This is Keith 14

I don't have pictures of Chris yet, or Sherri, and none of the pictures I have of Ingrid will she let me put on flickr. So I will have to wait on the rest. But in the meantime here are a couple of shots of Poulsbo.



Jelly Fish in Poulsbo Harbor



More Jelly Fish





Michael has a habit of doing what his mother tells him not to do. Example above.
He stayed there for at least 15 minutes and wouldn't come down.



The Poulsbo Viking Man looking out over the Poulsbo Harbor



Ingrid pointing out Jelly fish and crabs.



A simple houseboat for rent. There are many houseboats some like floating mansions.



Dock and a Walkway that follows the shore.



Looking North from our Window in the Upper room.  ¶ 9/05/2005 09:48:00 AM 3 comments

  Sitting up in our Home I am writing this from the comfort of a large tote that I sit upon. But I am sitting at my new computer desk. Yes I have a brand new computer desk that my daughter Emily and my niece Sherri Anne bought for me at a garage sale. 15 bucks, it looks brand new. It has overhead cabinets, two drawers and is perfect. Also I have DSL! Chris the oldest, the one who's always on the internet all night, well during the daylight hours that he's up he has an online Xbox set up in his room where he needs DSL. We have struck up a deal. When he's sleeping I get his cord, when I'm sleeping he gets it back. Hopefully though we will be able to arrange his clock differently soon, of course it's not for me to do, I realize that . There is much to explain, but I don't really feel right about putting it on my blog.

I will share pictures so you can see what I see. I'll even let you see pictures of our room, it's a little crammed with stuff, but it's still cozy and it's our home. We have our own very large deck that surrounds three sides of our room. Ingrid calls this the upper room. I guess it is.

This is a long weekend so hopefully on Tuesday I will get a call back on at least one of those jobs I applied for.

That is all for now.   ¶ 9/04/2005 01:56:00 PM 5 comments

  Arrrgh!
  ¶ 9/03/2005 09:31:00 PM 1 comments

  Today is Friday. I know that much.

For having so many people in this house it is rather quiet. It's very nice. The street we live on is also very quiet. There is virtually no traffic. No sirens, no bright street lights and no noisy neighbors. I guess we would probably be the most noisy neighbors when we get loud.

Did I mention that the room Emily and I share is upstairs and it's as big as my whole house practically that I left behind in Depoe Bay? Yes it is. Should you happen to look at a map sometime of Washington state you will see a Peninsula that is below Whidby Island we are on that. At the top of the Peninsula is a flip like curve that branches out westwards, we are on the west side of that.

Please forgive me if I repeat things, I have gotten to where I don't know if I've written something, or just thought something. Until I get my computer hooked up to the internet my time spent on this one is short.

Christopher is 19 and seems to have a different time clock then the rest of the family. This morning when I got up at 6 am he was sitting here. This is where he was sitting when I went to bed last night at midnight. At present he seems to avoid any social interaction with his family by sleeping while they are awake.

I am off today to look for work closer to Hansville then Poulsbo is. There is a Casino that is called Point No Point that is run by the S'kallum Tribe which is down the road a few miles. There is also small towns called Kingston and Port Gamble that are much closer to Poulsbo.

Ingrid and Michael and Christy and I/me went to Poulsbo day before yesterday and it has gotten so large. The restaurant that I worked at in 1977 is still there but larger, and has a different name. The buildings are still pretty, some with painting on them like a small Scandinavian town might have. There is a statue of a Viking in the park that I took pictures of. I took many pictures but must wait before I am able to post them. We spent a
long time down by the water looking at boats and very beautiful jelly fish that were swimming close to the docks. I constantly have one hand on my glasses and my other squeezing my camera. It is so like me to drop them both while bending down to get a picture.

Yesterday a man came over named Peter. Ingrid has apparently met this man while out garage saling and other places. He has invited us to a Medicine Wheel Healing Service. I'm not familiar with that but I am very much interested in Native Ameriacan Culture. I think I will be going. The S'kallum tribe has all but lost it's culture, but they are building and restoring all they can. They are building a Long House, and many other things to benefit the people of their tribe. There are not many of the Elders left that know of their culture or their language so they are scrambling trying to pass this information along to their young. I guess it is a recent development since the Casino. But then again I really know next to nothing on this topic but I will try to find out what I can.  ¶ 9/02/2005 07:48:00 AM 2 comments

  The House in Hansville Well Emily and I have been here since, ya know I don't even know when we got here. There is no sense of time here as everyone seems to stay up to all hours of the day and night. They have a computer which I am using as I write this from their school room. Yes they have a large school room in this house that sits off of the laundry. It has a library, lots of books, a huge table, couch and various other things that would make up a school room. Oh lets not forget a couple of old time desks that I assume are for the younger children.

I will have to confess that I made a mistake in thinking there were seven children. There are only six. This explains why when ever I have tried to name all the children there was always one whose name I could not remember. We have all had a great laugh over this, so Michael who is the youngest at 7, came around the kitchen with his knees in his shoes pretending to be that nameless child! I will post some pictures as soon as I get my computer up and running as the set up they have here is far too complex with too many pieces of equipment, and more wires then carters has pills. Please remember that I have only met the two oldest which are Christopher who is 19 and Sherri Anne who just turned 18. These first two are very tall. Christopher towers over me by about a foot and a half, Sherri Anne by about a foot. Then we have Keith who is 14, Angela who is 13, Christy who is 9 and Michael who is 7.

I have much to write about but I wanted to say that I have found these kids to be marvelously bright and intelligent. Many times my jaw has dropped in wonder as Michael or Christy are able to use more intelligent words then I can think of as I write this sentence!  ¶ 9/01/2005 09:19:00 AM 1 comments