Birth Soup

When I went into labour with my first child, my mother-in-law busied herself in the kitchen chopping potatoes and beets to make a pot of soup. Soon the sweet smell of borsch permeated the house and accompanied me through contractions. The brilliant red broth nourished all of us, spoonfed to the tired mama in the birthpool, steaming bowls served to Lonny and the midwife through many hours of birthing.

Three years later, as soon as I knew that my second baby would be joining us, Grandma brought out the large soup pot and began to make our birth soup, this time with the assistance of Maia who happily peeled carrots by her side. The sweet smell filled the house, and a little brother was born a few hours later. After a bowl of borsch eaten while snuggled up in our big bed, Lonny and I fell asleep, a new life amongst us.

Today there is a pot of birth soup simmering on the stovetop. Kieran is peeling potatoes by my side. No contractions today, it's my turn to cook and I'm making a double batch for a mother in my parenting group who gave birth to triplets. Triplets. Oh my. I can't imagine how overwhelming welcoming three babes must be, with two older ones to look after as well. I would have tripled the batch but my soup pot isn't large enough! Today we're making a vegetarian version, following the recipe from one of my favourite cook books, Taste This by Birgitta Hellman, a gift from Grandpa Steve. I am omitting the cabbage and only using half the onions for the nursing mama.

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend. Here's to babies, good food, and traditions!

xo

Sarah

Little Green Steps

No more disposable cotton balls or pads for us anymore! Got these yesterday, and they are so soft. Kinder on my eyelids than cotton makeup remover pads, in fact. And love that they come with a little bag for washing. And really happy that everything was sent to me without any plastic packaging.

Summer

Stroll along the beach in La Tranche

Summer has arived in Seattle! And we feel very spoiled because although our friends and family here in the Pacific North West had to wait until the end of July for this to happen, we escaped to France at the end of June, where it already felt like August. So it's pretty much been 5 weeks of gorgeous sunshine for us so far, with a few sprinkles of rain here and there, and it's been divine. And for the first time in years, I have a tan! Despite sunblock and sunhats and always seeking out shade, we haven't escaped getting sun-kissed and freckled. And here I was convinced that Titanium white with a slight tinge of blue was my only possible colouring.

And France was, well, French. Warm summer days filled with friends and family, fabulous food and gorgeous light, old stones and siestas. It was still definitely home too, the family house and small village a huge anchor in a world full of change. I loved seeing familiar faces, visiting with old friends, introducing our little ones to my old preschool teacher...I miss it already.

And after a week in Montaigut, we drove our little VW rental car West to the beach, where the smell of pine trees and my grandparents' little white house welcomed us. This was our first time bringing the children there, and it was very moving to step into the house with the third generation of little ones. It really doesn't seem all that long ago that I sat at the dining table, eating breakfast with my meme and pepe.

The children are so happy to be home though, and our little 50's house certainly felt like home as we stepped through the door, with our four-legged family members awaiting us, the garden gone wild, and the phone blinking with messages from our dear friends and family here anxious to see us again. And I shouldn't say our little house! After 3 weeks in France, this house is HUGE. The washing machine is huge. Our car is huge. The bed is huge. And the fridge, well, it's bigger than huge. Don't get me started on the television!

Well the sun is out, which means one thing: I have to get off this machine and outside. Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!

xo

Sarah

Visit with my mother's Godmother, Jacqueline.

Une promenade en famille.

The local market.

Seeking shade in the heat of the day.

Our bedroom window.

Hanging out with Uncle Tristan.

Babette's salade Nicoise.

Blue sky above La Colombelle.

:: A story written and illustrated by Miss Maia while at school ::

I am finally coming out of hibernation. After weeks of hobbling around with a cane like an arthritic centenarian, I can now finally walk somewhat normally. If you've never had a back injury, let me tell you this: never take your back for granted!! Trust me, it's kind of essential. Not being able to walk or put your own socks on sucks. Big time. What happened to me? Well, after two pregnancies, lots of baby holding, and doing silly things like ripping up bathroom floors and attempting new yoga moves all in the same day, my back gave out. Big time. MRI shows three slipped discs and one severely pinched nerve. I could have told the radiologist about the latter. Made childbirth seem like a walk in the park.

This injury was certainly a good, albeit painful reminder not to take anything for granted. It has made me appreciate my slow but steady return to health, and just how lovely it is to be able to care for my family again. The floors are covered in dust bunnies and toys, but that hardly seems important when I can now manage to cook dinner, join the family for walks around the neighbourhood, and put my own socks on again.

And the sunshine is out. It's flirting with us, in true Seattle style, but hey, I'll take that over battleship grey. The kids are outside getting covered in dirt, driving their trucks over two sunbathing greyhounds. All sorts of things are growing and the garden is full of freshness and bright greens and colour again. Life is good. I hope everyone is having a good day and is able to take a moment to appreciate all that you have and all that your beautiful body allows you to do!

xo

Sarah

My plastic-free shop

I posted a while back about going plastic-free, and my goal for this year is to have as little plastic in our kitchen as possible. Went shopping today at Top Foods armed with my roll of waxed paper, cotton mesh produce bags, and regular cotton drawstring bags. I was curious to see how many items on my shopping list would be available without plastic packaging. Some stuff was easy, other stuff not so much. Amazing how much is packaged in plastic. Even those cardboard boxes that look like they're eco-friendly are hiding a plastic sleeve/pouch inside to hold the contents.

Anyway, I did get some rolled oats from the bulk section in the natural food section, used my Simple Ecology bag and avoided the little twist tie thingie by writing the code on my hand.

I was happy to discover that Top has a bread section with unpackaged loaves, I was able to stick one of these in my cotton bag and put that in the freezer once we got home. Pillowcases would do the trick too!

The woman at the meat department was friendly and when I specified no plastic she wrapped the chicken breasts in what looked like brown paper...unfortunately it is lined with plastic so I'll have to ask her to use my wax paper roll next time.

The deli woman seemed amused and slightly annoyed by my request, but she did wrap the sandwich meat in paper (not plastic-lined, yay!). When I asked about unpackaged cheese and could I please get a chunk in paper, she didn't seem to understand. Looks like they have pre-sliced cheese available...but plastic wrapped. I think I'll have better luck at Whole Foods where they have a proper cheese counter and I can hopefully get something that isn't already packaged.

Produce was easy, although certain items use plastic bands and plastic tags. And beets are messy! I will simply have to designate one of my synthetic Envirosax bags for those.

And last but not least, the cashier was actually excited about my cotton bags! She liked the fact that the Simple Ecology ones have a tag with their weight to deduct.

All in all the shop went well. I look forward to the Farmer's Markets this Spring, and possibly doing a CSA this year. In the meantime, I'll be known as the crazy plastic-free lady at the local grocery stores. Just wait until I go entirely paper-free and come in with my glass jars! Here comes the crazy jar lady!

yes please

The family room. This is the room we spend most of our time in. The floors are cold, to put it mildly, and, well, ugly. Unless you like stained lime green vinyl. And chilblains. DesignSponge is hosting a giveaway, the winner will receive a beautiful, ethically made, 100 % wool Bev Hisey dhuri rug. And I wouldn't mind winning it, which is why I'm unabashedly posting this here pic of our lovely floor in the hope that it will soon be covered in something my little ones can play trains on without catching their death, and that I can actually look at without my artsy eyes having a conniption fit. Wish me luck!

recipe box

Our neighbours two doors down sold their home, downsizing to a more manageable place. They are original owners, their house was built, like ours, in the late fifties, and it will be sad to see the moving truck arrive this Wednesday. After going to their open house a few months ago, I finally mustered up the courage to ask if they would ever consider selling me their mid-century, Danish-looking armchairs...to which they replied: "What, those old things?". I am now refinishing them. Stripping is just not as much fun as I thought it would be! But they will look terrific in our living room once they are all sanded down, oiled, and sporting freshly covered cream cushions.

This afternoon there was a knock on our door. I found the retired engineer holding a box for me, things they no longer need from their kitchen. Many spices, some of which are vintage (I'm not joking), a set of cheery Christmas mugs, and last but not least, a small wooden box. A treasure. With fifty years' worth of recipes. To be honest, had he dropped off a box of his wife's knickers, I would have felt less uncomfortable. There is something incredibly odd and personal about looking through a woman's recipe collection that spans more than half a century. I know some families whose recipes are top secret, often taken to the grave. I feel like I'm snooping. These are mostly desserts, some are recent, many are cutouts from magazines and newspapers. It is obvious which were her favourites, tattered, corrected, splattered. And then there are recipe cards from friends. And I wonder, are these women still alive? Were they close friends? There are a few from Grampa. There is Mom's Favorite Tuna Casserole. And then there's the small stack of yellowed cards held together by a defunct elastic band, written with a fountain pen in a rather elegant hand. Some of the words are smudged, as though they have been rained on. Cried on? Were these given to her when she married? From her mother? Grandmother? How long have these recipes been in the family? And why me?? I see children and grandchildren visiting the house, helping with the upcoming move. I assume this box was seen and unclaimed, set aside with the other unwanted items. Perhaps none of them cook. Perhaps it is too much a reminder of their mother's decline into Alzheimers, her inability to decipher the once familiar words.

One day, hopefully, I'll get over the feeling that I am snooping, and I will have to give these a try. I've always wanted to make my own Buche de Noel, and Grampa's Stolle looks good, judging from the rather beat up recipe card.

acupuncture and art

Some of my paintings and prints are now up in my acupuncturist's office! So now you can enjoy my art while getting treatment from Tristin, founder of Bird & Bee Acupuncture. She has helped me tremendously, particularly with my painting shoulder. I tend to get slightly engrossed in my work, and have the tendency to forget that I've been holding my arm up for oh, say, 5 hours straight, or that I am ravenous and it's freezing in my studio/garage and my nose is about to fall off. And that's the shoulder that also holds a fussy toddler while cooking dinner, walks the dogs, does the weeding, and props the sleepy head of a nursing child. Needless to say, it's well used and gives me much grief. Or rather, used to. Tristin's gentle treatments allow me to leave her office pain free and ready to tackle paintings and screaming toddlers all over again. For which I am very grateful.

Other news, Maia starts school next week. Part of me is looking forward to getting back into a routine, but part of me is also a little sad that summer is coming to an end. Those lovely, unstructured days of little ones running around the garden, through the sprinkler and straight to the dirt pile before coming into the house and rendering all of my white furniture a nondescript shade of grey. Hmm, maybe I am ready for the school year to begin after all.

xo

Sarah

BAM artsfair 2010!

It's Monday, July 26th, and that means I have officially survived the weekend! Hooray! I spent the last three days at the Bellevue Arts Museum Artsfair, selling my paintings and prints. And yup, I was nervous as hell last Thursday night, this being my first big, juried show. But an hour in, I had sold my first painting and was already blushing (beet red actually) at all the really lovely, positive comments. The long hours ended up going by very quickly as it was busy, and people wanted to stop and chat, which was lovely. And I had lots of friends stop by too, which always helps!

I lucked out and had great booth neighbours, Martha Monson Lowe with her incredibly graceful baskets, and Paul Counts who was as cheerful and entertaining as his colourful blown glass teapots and vases. All in all it was exhausting but fun! Lots of great folks and good art. A good combo. My two favourites of the show were there again: Brian Blackham with his monochromatic jars, and Diane Culhane who speaks to my fauve-loving soul. I wouldn't exactly mind sacrificing some (or all!) of our wall space for their work, and if Greg Klassen could please furnish the place then I'd officially be living in heaven...ah well, a few more artsfairs before I can treat myself to some of those goodies!!

I'll leave you with some of the comments I heard about my work. Apparently I don't do dark and tormented all that well, which is just fine by me. I'll take smiles and laughter any day:

Peaceful

Fun

Whimsical

Happy

Calm

Joyful

You've made my day and I've only been here 5 minutes.

Quirky

You look like one of the characters in your paintings.

Witty

and the best...

"Your lipstick matches your work!" Er, that was intentional of course.

xo,

Sarah

spring update

Seems I fell off the blogging bandwagon these last few weeks! I do have a decent excuse though: I've been working hard getting ready for the Bellevue Arts Fair. I am almost finished my last large piece for the show, then it's on to matting and framing. I think there's light at the end of the tunnel!

And last week my baby, who will always be my baby poor kid, turned two!! How did that happen?? He got a ridiculously large Tonka truck, which he approved of, and a quiet celebration at home with us and Grandma, and, of course, a chocolate zucchini cake. And for the long weekend we went up to Canada to celebrate all over again with our family and friends in my parents' new home. They had moved in two days prior, already had paintings up, and my mom navigated her new kitchen as though she'd been cooking there for 10 years and served us a delicious lunch. And to make a good weekend absolutely perfect, my dad and I escaped to a book sale and, both being bookaholics, each returned with a large box of books which we've wasted no time devouring.

What else has been going on...inspired by this blog, and utterly disgusted by the gargantuan islands of plastic trash in our oceans, I've been on a mission to have a plastic-free kitchen, and have replaced (donated) all our old, scarry plastic tuperware with glass storage bowls for leftovers and canning jars for grains and dried foods. I've also become keenly aware of the ridiculous amounts of plastic packaging that is used for food, and have begun opting out of these irresponsible items. Thank goodness for Farmer's Markets, bulk sections, and re-usable bags. I had my first ever all plastic-free shop today and I'm happy to report that it wasn't all that difficult. Even with a toddler in tow.

And last but not least, we've ripped up a big chunk of grass in our front yard and replaced it with raised flower and vegetable beds. Looks great, involves less mowing, and hey, what's better than eating your own front yard?

snail-mail and caterpillars

With e-mail and facebook and all these modern ways of keeping in touch, who needs snail-mail??? Well, I do! Especially when it looks like this. And when it comes all the way from my dear friend in London, it's even better! Now I need to convince her that what she really wants to do is move to Seattle and fall in love with a geek, but she's not convinced about the whole geek thing. Yet.


And today Miss Maia came home from school and announced that she NEEDED to paint again (hmm, looks like there are some artsy genes at work here). This is a caterpillar shedding it's old skin in the spring rain while walking through a maze. Oh to have such imagination.

spring!

Well, when it rains it pours and we have been juggling work and parenting and illness and I can't wait for life to slow down, but at least the sun is out and the kids have been making the most of it! C'est le printemps!

blog gossip

Hello!

Just found out that my work is to be featured on yet another blog tomorrow, oh the fame is hard to handle but I'll manage. That's a joke by the way. May I never be famous, or pretentious. Or both. Anyway, no idea yet which piece it will be. Find out with me tomorrow at Indie Icing, a blog that is, in these bloggin' gals' words "your delicious dose of indie handmade".

And now it's time to put those cranky kiddos to bed so I can watch Bright Star with my husband.

xo

Sarah

good news!

Six years after getting hitched, we finally made it to Maui for our honeymoon! Two kids, Grandma, and my youngest brother in tow meant a little more luggage and noise than we had first envisioned for our honeymoon, but we managed to find a ridiculously large taxi van to stuff everything and everyone into, actually made it to the airport on time, and even managed to have a lovely, relaxing week away.

And now it's back to reality. Which for me means finally setting up a proper studio space in the garage, followed by nail biting and a series of panic attacks, followed by prolific painting and much swearing and record-breaking consumption of goat cheese. And maybe a glass of wine or two. Why? Because I got into the Bellevue Arts Museum arstfair!!! Which is kind of a big deal. Promise me you'll stop by to say hello if you're in the Seattle area this July, it's quite the show.

Alright, I'd better get started on that studio space...

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

xo

Sarah

pickled pink

Has it really been a year since I started this blog? Apparently so, as here I am posting valentine's crafts once again. Maia made all 25 cards in one go this afternoon, phew! And she's planning on making more for family and friends outside of school. Needless to say I was thoroughly impressed with my 4 year old's ability to sit and concentrate and see the project to completion.

The mason jar stamp was perfect for a little girl who loves all things pickled! And in the process we all got covered in glitter and I think we'll be sparkly for the next 50 years at least!

Good to eat, apparently!

green kitchen

Two sick kiddos and a mama with a sore back do not go well together! But that was all last week, and I'm happy to report that the kids are no longer sticky, and after a trip to the chiropractor followed by a visit to my acupuncturist, I am back to normal. And apparently that means throwing myself into yet another spontaneous home decorating project. I am currently sanding down kitchen cabinets, re-painting, re-finishing, and generally making a lot of mess and noise. Lonny was so impressed he was convinced I had another bun in the oven. This is no nesting instinct, just the hazards of being married to an artist.




When we bought the house 3 years ago, and up until a few days ago, the kitchen was a hodgepodge of original teak cabinets, cracked tile, wood, and confetti countertops, almond appliances that made a racket, deep raspberry walls and lime green floors. We called it our hippie kitchen, all it needed was a pot plant on the windowsill. Of course we'd LOVE to rip it all out and install one of those immaculate and streamlined Ikea kitchens, but we don't have a spare arm (or a leg for that matter) so we're making do with what we have. Not only is this budget-friendly, but it's sounding rather eco-friendly too. Which makes us terribly trendy (not that there was ever any doubt there of course). I'll keep you updated with photos as we make progress! In the meantime, here's a hint of what is to come:

Gas range from Craigslist, previous owner was upgrading (?!) again. Perhaps she wanted her new stove diamond encrusted? You can see the new paint colour on the walls and lower cabinets, and the birch countertop to replace the scary grout. Lighting is awful in the photo but there was no natural light left!

noel 2009

Blessings for the new year and hoping you all had a lovely Christmas! We certainly did. Our little house was full full full, as were we after turkey dinner. And the children got spoiled completely rotten as usual.

We started the new year by adding another Greyhound to the family. Apparently it wasn't crazy enough around here. Bella is sweet and gentle and settling in nicely. On the sofa, more specifically, with kids tucked around her. We are madly in love with her and can't possibly imagine life without her.

:: Christmas Baubles ::

:: Same baubles about to be turned into miniature terraniums ::

:: The sun made an appearance for breakfast ::

:: I was quite happy with the results apparently ::

:: Digging in ::

:: Outdoor fun on Christmas Day ::

:: The celebrations continue at the Deggan house a few days later ::

compassion kits

A few weeks ago my mama's group got together to make compassion kits as our Thanksgiving activity/playdate. Our kids helped fill large ziploc bags with granola bars, hats, mitts, toothbrushes, toothpaste and various other such items. We each got three to stow in our trunks and give away to someone in need. And today, on our way to meet Lonny for lunch at work, I decided not to speed up for the orange light and I found myself waiting at the intersection, grumbling about being stuck a few extra minutes in the car with two extremely cranky kids. That's when I noticed a man standing at the corner. His sign red "Homeless vet, please help". I remembered the kits in my trunk, and turned into the gas station in order to park and give him one. I was a bit aprehensive, wondering if he would object to the fact that I wasn't giving him cash, but his face broke into a huge grin and he said " Bless you, that is so very kind of you. Have a good Christmas."

I thought it would feel good to give, and it did to some extent, but mostly it made me feel really inadequate and embarassed that I waited until my 30th year of life to finally do something like this. And what a small thing it was. And so I'm going to make sure that I always have these kits in my car, not just during the holidays. I'm also looking forward to volunteering at a soup kitchen to celebrate Thanksgiving when the kids are a little older and won't sit under the table screaming (which is what happened at lunch today at Microsoft. I think everyone left the cafeteria ready to schedule their vasectomies).

Anyway, I learned a bit about compassion today: it's easy to do and I hope my kids grow up with a big dose of it so that it comes naturally to them!

Fall Update

My chicken is in the oven and the green beans are now missing their tails, and I have a moment to sit and write a few words before I need to check on dinner. I have neglected my blog recently but I'm not going to apologize because I don't think mothers should have to. Mothers are very good at the whole mother-guilt thing, myself included, and I'm attempting to be, well, more forgiving of myself.

What have we been up to?? Raking leaves and eating heaps of chard from the garden, making soup (yes, with chard in it!) and reading lots of books in the warmth of our little house. We also had Halloween, during which Maia turned into a fairy princess for a change, and Kieran was a very convincing little Bam-Bam with his head of blonde hair and his habit of bashing everything in sight. We still have two large bags of candy sitting atop the fridge. Maia has decided that these are yucky and too sweet and that the dill pickles she made with her friend are much tastier. Definitely her mother's daughter.

And last weekend we escaped to San Francisco for four days to visit my dear friend Amie who is a bit of a brain and is doing her fellowship at Stanford in radiology. She had warned me that it would be cold, and so we arrived with touques and wool sweaters. These were left, untouched, at the bottom of our suitcases and we all came home sunkissed and feeling like we had REALLY been on holiday. Amie fed us lovely meals and took us around Palo Alto, Stanford, and the wharfs of San Fran. I fell in love with the Mediterranean light there.

I just checked on the chicken and it is starting to smell divine. Michael and Lorenne are here for a visit and there is nothing better than a house full of family and the anticipation of something good for dinner. I can't wait for Christmas when the house will be bursting with people and smelling of turkey and stuffing and mulled wine. I must be hungry.

Fish & Chips with Amie on the piers in San Fran.

Ice cream in November.

My little pot of glue.

Stinky, noisy sealions. Kids loved them. Thank you Amie for photo :)




Kieran and some Rodin bottoms.



Sun. Lovely, WARM sun. Sigh.