Dad, this blog's for you

Dad and I had a great jaunt a few months ago for Father's day and we came across this beautiful Timber Rattlesnake. I took a video of it but Dad's never seen it. Compadre, here it is. (the_rattlesnake) The weeks are rocketing by. Very busy. Very focussed. Lot to tell and not a single inspired, free moment. But will update later. Meanwhile of course I couldn't resist sneaking in a pic. Here, Aman has become the fifth knot. Isaiah didn't want to go with me on some errands (we were separating them) so while I was in the shower he took a bathrobe tie and tied himself to Aman with 4 knots. Aman's left leg and both arms served as the fifth knot so that I wouldn't separate them. Needless to say, Isaiah was bored at the animal shelter with Aman and missed his chance to go look at fish at the pet store (his latest fascination).

House Closing Week...

Well, another eventful weekend with another epic bike ride down to Ft. River school with Alfie. You know mud, sand, rocks, trees, sweat, scratches... we were covered by the time we got to Isaiah's soccer game and stood watching ignoring the stares. The Brandons drove up from Springfield, we picnicked at the school and went for a new hike at a place called Bull Hill, the three families (thanks Heather, River, Council, Paolo, and Vigil for making the trip up!) (the pic, although dark is mainly of Alfie, River and I showing off our wonderful patterned sunnyside realestate on top of our heads, three solar reflectors trying to light our way in the dark woods). Now we are staring at the middle of the week. We finalize on the house tomorrow at 2pm and are very excited. As soon as that is done we will have the carpets ripped up, the floors redone, a wall knocked out and the fuse box upgraded. We estimate moving in first or second week of Oct. Fun Fun!!! Aman went to his first Taekwondo class today and left an hour later mentally exhausted from the newness of it and all the directions from the teacher... but did well and was very cute as usual (you should have seen how still he was for the two meditations they did, eyes closed, breathing deeply, hands folded in his lap... amazing... I was like, "who is this boy? Where'd Aman go?"). The leaves are starting to change and the first one in the yard near the driveway entrance is gorgeous. The image here was taken early saturday morning. What else? Gianni cut David's hair ...off! and looks awesome! (see the link on this page for a good closeup, excellent job G!). Anika is getting so big and reponsive at the almost-five-months mark. I can't say she's getting cuter because that just isn't possible, she is the essence of cuteness and makes us all so happy and chipper when we are near her... Well I should sign out. I am waiting for Isaiah to fall asleep so I can go next door to watch the next episode of Lost... somebody gave us the first season... and we are hooked.

First Week Over

The weeks fly by... This past week was no exception. The first full week back at school went fairly well. The boys seem to be doing well... they are acting out a bit at home but seem to be weathering the new school thing well enough. We have been getting such great snippets from their teachers about "what a nice addition" they are to classes and the like... This week reminds me of a baseball moment, we swung, hit a great shot over the right fielder's head, put our head down and adrenalized, sprinted around the bases and slid into home not knowing whether we were safe or not having been lost in the excitement of the run. One of those moments of being lost in the moment. (whoah! that analogy was weird and came out of nowhere [left field?] but I will leave it). Saturday we dusted our rearend's off... Alfie, Colin and Alfie's friend Clay went for an eventful mt. bike ride (River_Crossing) and ended up at Fort River school to watch Isaiah play soccer. It was I think the last 85 degree day of the year. We were sweating wonderfully all day. Alf and I biked back up the hill to Shutesbury to take over our duties as daddees while Britt, Ericka and Irene ran off for some well earned down time. A massive thunderstorm rolled over us as I made a huge amount chicken pasta along with a massive salad that we fed ourselves and the kids. To bed tired and happy, except for Alfie who was up all night making friends with the porcelain bowl suffering from a case of food poisoning (not MINE!!!). Sunday Ericka, Mason, Anika, Britt, Isaiah, Aman and I went on a fantastic hike up rattlesnake gutter. Fantastic bunch of fallen rock up a long ravine. Fall foliage sort of starting and the kids really into it (that last detail being the most important). We ended the day with an early Baha'i Feast at the home of Braulia and Juan Caban in Amherst. The kids are in the other room listening to the third Harry Potter book. I need to clean the kitchen, do the kids lunches and say my long obligatory prayer (I missed the cut off for the short one). Then it is beddeebye time. But! before I leave, I need a new book. I am putting the call out for suggestions. I want to go to the library with a specific goal, not to browse for hours indecisively... any help would be greatly appreciated.

Other Big News

Well this Multiply site is working well so far ( here is another short from our kodak camera rollerblading)... but I am going to stick with blogger for a bit more for happenings... just until I make sure there are no fat bugs that can't be squished... On another note, if everything goes right our new address will soon be 315 Lincoln Ave in Amherst. We made an offer, it was accepted and the bank approved a loan for us. It is a perfect, big house close to town which we are splitting right down the middle with Alfie & Ericka. It is not a duplex but it was perfect in that it has two living rooms, two kitchens and basically completely separate living spaces in one house! We are shooting for the beginning of Oct and the kids have already started their new school in Amherst. The Wildwood school is now home to two Ruhe boys! Can you believe it, both in the same school? They will be taking bus number 12 for the 1.5 mi ride to school each day. It is all very exciting to say the least (and terrifying... this being the Ruhe's first house...)!!!!! : )

Otros Pedacitos Aleatorios

The night before Al died, an incredibly intense thunderstorm came out of nowhere and pounded the mountainside briefly. It knocked down a little tree in the front which fell across the driveway and Alfie had to go out and cut it down and get it out of the way. Behind the house a huge Beech tree fell and crashed down over the swamp. It was sad because of the all the trees in the forest behind the house this white Beech was by far Alfie's favorite and it was just another notch out of, another poke into an already sensitive situation. But days after Al passed the boys discovered the tree and literally spent days in it with their friends, thru meals, til dark... playing amazing imaginary games, watching and trying to catch the frogs, challenging themselves to go further and further in to the seemingly endless nooks and crannys of this huge tree... I also include a random (aleatorio) image of how the lawn gets done in the evenings around here... long live oreo power!!!!

Labor Day Paddle

Alfie, Mason and their friend Jim Hanson and his 1.5 year old son invited us to an early morning canoe/kayak trip. Jim lent the boys and I his canoe and we drove to the bottom of the Quabbin resevoir to a river called Swift river. It is not swift at all where we were, in fact was so calm and beautiful we could see turtles and fish at the bottom which was about 6-7 feet down in places. We went down quite a ways had a few funny adventures with oatmeal and blue herons (another long story), came back and played where we put in. Isaiah got to go out by himself and was difficult to extract later from the kayak. (see_sample_vid) (Thank you James and Aria for the tip on Multiply... I am going to try it and see what happens) We all agreed that we would have to return in all seasons; more canoeing with the fall foliage, skating in the winter and definite swimming in the summer... a new "secret" spot... Meanwhile Britt biked to Northampton to sit at a booth at the fair to promote the new program that she has started thru work (ServiceNet). We were going to join her after our jaunt but called ahead and found out that it was a zoo with so many people, so we opted for a video, rice with some of the yummiest black beans I have made in a while (mmmmm with garlic and culantro)and a much more mellow afternoon. The kids have their first full week back to school tomorrow and so mellow was probably the best call we could have made.