Weird Halloween Week

Hola!

It's been a strange week, kind of an upside-down week.  We had the seemingly not-so-bad storm last Saturday, that left 700,000 people in the state without power.  It was a "perfect storm," of sorts.  A combination of circumstances made for optimal conditions...branches and trees came down on power lines.

(Actually, in central and western Massachusetts, there are STILL 85,000 people without power!  It's been a week now.  Wow.  We missed 2 days of school, and some of those districts are still out.  A whole week they've missed, and winter hasn't even started yet.)

One of the "strange circumstances" was that we have had a pretty wimpy fall, this year.  I usually look forward to October, for all the leaves changing and all the color.  But THIS year, either warm temps, or lots of rain, or something...has made it so that most of our leaves have NOT changed color!  Just still green, and some brown.  And, the leaves are still on the trees, mostly.

So, for the new header photo, I had to use a picture from a year or two ago.  When we had pretty leaves.  Not this year so much!

Another strange part: usually the branches are bare by now.  If they had been bare by now, that snow that fell last weekend would not have weighed down the branches and broken off so many.

So there you have it.  A weird storm.

We had Halloween anyway.  Lots of sugar-trading going on.  Here is Kara with some friends that went out all together.  She wore that great dress her Grammie D made, and it was tweaked with accessories.  She started as "Laura Ingalls Wilder" and added a hat and a tooth on a necklace: she became the "Tooth Fairy."

We also had David's 16th birthday.  He and I went down to the RMV and he took the test for his Driver's Permit.  He passed!  He was very excited, and we went straight to the empty school parking lot and he practiced for the first time.  Since 3 days ago, he has driven us home from the school, and Kara to soccer practice, and all around the neighborhoods close to the elementary school.  (And you thought that my hair was grey before.)
I'm kidding.  He's doing a good job so far.  "Practice, practice, practice," is what one person's advice was.  That means I have to grit my teeth and let go of the car keys.

Teresa is sad to have finished up volleyball.  She really learned a lot and had fun this season.  Here are a few photos of her serving.  She has a pretty good serve.

Here is a photo of David (over the summer), since it WAS his birthday last week.

Well there you have an update on life in New England--WITH electricity, I will add in gratitude.  WITH heat.  WITH hot water for showers.  All it takes is one day without those things, for you to say Whew!  I am sure glad I have electricity!

Happy Rest of the Weekend, Kari

Driver Requirements

Hola!
It's been way too long, and so I need to post.  We are ALIVE!  (Ok, there's no real reason we shouldn't be.  It just sounded dramatic so I started that way.)  I thought you could read some details from the Days of Our Lives...

David is down to his last 3 Driver's Ed classes coming up next week.  Did I mention before that Driver's Ed is REQUIRED here in Massachusetts, for all wannabe drivers under the age of 18?  Yes, REQUIRED.  And it's also REQUIRED that the parents take a 2-hour class!

As a matter of fact, it is stricter here all the way around.  These kids can get a permit at age 16.  (After the required 30 hours of Drivers Ed classes)  Then they have to drive with the teacher for 6 hours, and also 6 hours as an observer.  (They sit in the backseat while another student drives with the teacher.)

(Here is the driver's ed car the teenagers get to practice driving...)

Bwaa-haaa!  Just kidding.

The earliest they can get a license is at SIXTEEN AND A HALF.  For 6 months they can only drive family members around.  At age 17, they can take non-family members places.

These are actually not bad rules.  I'm just saying they are stricter here than in many other states.

In other news, we've had rain-rain-rain!

In other news besides that, I had my eyes examined and fitted for contact lenses.  I think I bruised my eyeball, trying to get them in and out this morning at the clinic.  But it was really cool for a little while, to see as clearly as I can see with my glasses, withOUT my glasses!

They assure me I will get the hang of it.  I'll keep trying.

Have a fabulous weekend!  Kari

September is Back

Hola!

Funny how we get into the groove of summer...and it seems busy at times, or we take a little trip here and there, or we mix up activities just to have some variety.

But it's different.  WE determine the schedule, whether or not we get up early or go on field trips or mow the lawn or clean the house.  We fill in the boxes of the calendar with things we want to do.  Summertime WE are in charge.

Turn the calendar over to September.  Suddenly, almost without warning, the CLOCK and the CALENDAR are again in charge!  Schools send emails by the inbox-full.  Sports practices and games fill in those calendar boxes daily, weekly.  Teachers send updates and assignments, even homework for parents.  "Fill in these four THOUSAND emergency forms, please, and send me a million-words-or-less about your child."  Don't forget multiple back-to-school nights and early-morning seminary for the high schoolers!

Did someone forget to write in an activity on the calendar?  Then guess what...it DOESN'T EXIST.  I am driving and shuttling to and from sports, after-school clubs and programs, church activities, and evening classes (Driver's Ed for David--6 weeks, 2 or 3 times a week) all afternoon, every afternoon!

So a couple of weeks ago, I posted on Facebook that I was feeling a little melancholy that summer was over.  Don Henley's "Boys of Summer" was on the radio and he sang, "...I feel it in the air...the summer's out of reach.  Empty lake...empty streets...the sun goes down alone..."  Decidedly, the saddest lyrics I've heard.

Now I remember why those lyrics make me sad.  With the turn of the calendar page to September, I handed over my peace, my control and my sanity...back to everybody else!

Here are the kids on the beach on our Canada trip.  These are some fond summer memories--

Happy Saturday tomorrow!  Kari

Exploring Eastern Canada

Hello!

(Reminder: you can click on the photos to enlarge.)

This post is a little late since we were interrupted by Hurricane Irene.  Stormy weather made us cancel church.  Instead we watched sheets of rain come down, with some wild winds...enough to blow down branches and entire trees.  These branches and trees fell on lots of power lines, so our neighborhood lost power from Sunday to Wednesday.  Kind of made me realize how much I enjoy and depend on electricity!

But BEFORE that.  We took an exploratory driving vacation to visit the Maritime Provinces in eastern Canada: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island!  Kind of a send-off to summer, I suppose.  Since then we have started up again with school, seminary, soccer, volleyball, ultimate, homework, and the whole rest of the hamster-wheel routine.

HIKING.  We started the trip at the northern tip of Nova Scotia, at a place called Cape Breton.  It rained on us the whole drive up there, but once we arrived the rain tapered off a little so we could hike, then the next day was even sunny.  They have some beautiful national parks, and some pretty amazing coastlines.  If you time it right you can watch the sunset right on the ocean horizon.  Hmmm...actually the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the one side.  That's where we were.

WHALE and SEAL WATCHING.  We also took a whale-watching tour--always so much fun to take a boat ride out on the waves!  We saw two whales, and then he took us to some caves along cliffs, where there were quite a few seals.  They played in the water for us, and when we started to leave, they lined up next to our boat and "raced" the boat for about a minute.

MOOSE SIGHTINGS.  There are huge moose wandering around in these national parks.  We saw a mom and her calf off to the side of the road at one point, and then at the end of our hike this one was grazing on leaves, pretty nonchalant that we were even there.  We watched her, then walked slowly by and got within about 10 feet of her, I'd say.  Here are David and Teresa walking by her.

RVers and MOTORCYCLES.  It is certainly popular to see Canada via RV and motorcycle!  Even in the rain, you see the motorcycles in groups or just 2 of them, taking in the beautiful scenery.

FERRY OR BRIDGE TO PEI.  "Prince Edward Island" is too long to keep writing and spelling everywhere, so the abbreviation is "PEI."  PEI is a very manicured, neat little island.  We took an hour-long ferry across, then upon return we took the (get ready for this) SEVEN-MILE-LONG BRIDGE.  Whew!  It was such a long bridge!

PEI LAWNS AND MUSSELS.  Everybody takes care of their lawns and grounds--funny that I remember that so well.  All the lawns were groomed and well-taken-care-of.  Otherwise it is a fishing island where they grow mussels -- betcha didn't know you could actually grow those??!  They have ropes strung out across the water with boxes hanging from them.  It takes 22 months or so for them to grow to maturity.  They space out the timing so they can harvest them for the restaurants every month or so.

BIKE RIDING.  One thing you "have" to do on PEI is rent bikes and ride.  Anywhere--everywhere!  You can actually ride across the whole island, all 115 miles or whatever it is.  That would take 5 or 7 days, and sorry but my rear end would be way too sore.  So we chose a beautiful 6-mile stretch and stopped on the bridges to watch marine life and birds.

ICE CREAM.  Another thing you "have" to do on PEI is eat ice cream, since there is an ice cream place on every corner of every little tiny town.  We stopped after our ride and ate our obligatory ice cream.  One of the kids even got a banana split.  Yum!

BAY of FUNDY.  After PEI, we drove to the next Province over, called New Brunswick.  (It's like driving through states here.)  This is where we saw the Cape Fundy rock formations and cliffs.  Cape Fundy has a low tide and high tide difference of about FORTY FEET.  It's true!  At high tide, you see these cool rock formations, and at low tide you see the same formations, only twice as big because you see that there is another 30 or so feet of them below where you could see before--the bottom was just covered in water.

People can walk on the sand around their bases, but as the tide comes in the park guides walk through and usher people out.  The water rises and fills in and upward, pretty high and pretty fast.  It's really cool.  Here are 2 photos of the same rocks.

It was educational for me to find out there are 10 provinces and 3 territories in Canada.  Embarrassingly, in my university Geography class, we had a quiz at the beginning of the term and (gasp) I could not even name 3.
Now, we can say we VISITED three: Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick.  Other provinces are Quebec, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Ontario.

Three territories are: Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.  Nunavut was established in 1999!  Yes, only 12 years ago, they formed the territory of Nunavut, governed and managed by the Inuit people--native people of Canada.

Well I have indeed spent more than my allotted time on this week's blog!  Hope you could make some sense out of your rather quick tour of the Maritime Provinces.

Have a great week!  Kari

Braces Off!

Hola!

Well it has been a little while since I posted!  I was all ready to post about our vacation, then hurricane Irene hit and we were out of power for a few days...then school started and I am back on the hamster wheel again.

I do plan on giving you the Eastern Canada update.  But here's a quick post on David's Big News: he got his braces off yesterday!

I also have fun with "before/after" photos.  So here he is without braces, and here is his before/after teeth shot.  He has had them on his teeth for about 18 or 19 months.

Going to bed now.  Happy Week!  Kari

Martha's Vineyard outing

Hola!

Hmmm.  This week.  It seems to have flown by, but that's not new or different.  Dentist appointments, inviting kids' friends over, bike-riding, swimming.

Did I tell you we took our bikes to Martha's Vinyard a week ago?  You can drive to Oaks Bluff in Cape Cod, park your car and then take the ferry across to Martha's Vinyard.  Somehow the day we chose was just beautiful.

Frank also found a way to fit 4 bicycles in the back of that minivan!  Who knew there was so much space.  David was not with us because he was at a Leadership Camp in Rhode Island.  Similar but very different from the one he went to in Phoenix last summer.

But with only 4 bikes (actually we only HAVE 4), we could remove the back seats and still fit 4 passengers.  I only didn't feel bad about David missing it, because last summer the church youth group did this same trip!  So David, Teresa and Frank had done it a year ago.

JUMPING OFF THE BRIDGE.  There is a bridge along the way, that we biked to.  A 12-foot bridge over a waterway, that feeds into the ocean.  People walk onto it, just to jump off of it!  Right by the sign that says "No Jumping Off Bridge."  Crowds of people walk up, stand on the railing and jump.  Even I did it--I couldn't be the only one who didn't, right??  (I'm in the dark blue suit w/white stripes: yes, holding my nose...)

SHORT FERRY RIDE.  Yes, only about 100 feet across to the next mini-island, Chappaquiddick, part of Edgartown.  Ok, so I only found out this weekend about the details of the scandal with Ted Kennedy driving his car into the water in 1969.  The car sank and the girl in the car died.  That all happened on this little bitty island off of Martha's Vineyard.

Besides that, it was a really beautiful place!  Mostly flat, we rode our bikes the full length of that little bitty island, which ends in a wildlife sanctuary and a beach.  The water was not even too cold!  We all got in the water and I got to walk along the beach some.  I love doing that.

We had to "hurry" back, having miscalculated the time a little.  "Last ferry leaves at 6:45!"  We went pretty fast on our bikes, and the girls kept up with Frank really well.  We made the last ferry back, with 10 minutes to spare.

It was a lovely outing.  The ferry ride was even peaceful for me--I can't get enough of the ocean, and boat rides.

(Teresa also found some "Moon Jellyfish," along the edge of the water.  No tentacles, just these blobby clear things.  Here is a photo of her holding one.)

Dinnertime.  Have a great week!  Kari

Peru Insights

Hola-- (warning: this is long :) )

Back to the Peru synopsis!  I labeled this post the way I did because for a month now, I have been processing this whole trip.  Each time I tell someone about how it went, each time I have a small memory flashback of one event or another, I piece together a puzzle in my mind.  Interpreting things like who I am, my responses to situations, what I do with my time and resources, and what I can and should be doing with my time and resources.  These are some of my thoughts. 

Of course you have the luxury of skimming, or even skipping my words, and just watching the slideshow at the end.  Hopefully Teresa and I, and others who went, will take it beyond the "Great Trip" level and make it instead a "Life-Changing" one.

PHOTOS.  I have finally gone through all the photos from Peru!  I just took the little camera.  Antonia, another mom who went, had her nice camera, with 2 different lenses with her.  I was a little jealous--she was taking really amazing shots!  BUT.  I didn't want to be worrying about our expensive camera on that trip.  Anyway, even with our little camera, I took over 600 photos!  Ha.  I whittled them down to 300, and then put 121 on the shutterfly slideshow.  Link at the end.

BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY.  We have now seen multiple and varied sides of Peru!  The big-city Lima side, with heavy traffic, crazy drivers and the cathedral at City Center.  The dry and desolate desert side, where poverty-stricken families build their shantytowns.  Sand dunes by the ocean.  Windy roads into the lush and green mountainscapes, with waterfalls and rice paddies.  Jungle-like side with thick brush, vines and green trees with flowers I have never seen before.  We traveled far to reach the village of Atuen.  Because of its remoteness at 11,500 feet, we drove and hiked through landscapes we never would have seen if we could have just teleported, or flown directly there.

SAND DUNES.  We were in the car for 2 whole days, EACH way.  It was a lot of driving.  One "break" the kids got on the way up was 20 minutes at the sand dunes.  We could see the ocean a little ways off.  It was beautiful.  Those photos are included in the slide show.

KNOWING DANIEL.  Mr. Fernandez is an amazing story all by himself.  We knew him before as a phenomenal teacher at Wayland Middle School.  Now I know that is only half of his life.  He gives back to these people--HIS people, as he is Peruvian.  But it's not just a service project where he gets some of his students to donate to some school children in a poor village.

He knows these people, and he loves them.  Every town we went through, people would come up to him and give him a hug.  "Daniel!"  they would call from across the street, and come over.  They were SO happy to see him.  They knew he loved them.

The shocker for me was, he remembered everybody's name.  He asked about their families, he knew their trials and their joys.  Throughout the whole two weeks, he acknowledged and "caught up" with dozens of people, probably more like hundreds but I did not keep count.

MUMMIES.  All of these villages consist of farmland.  That is how the people sustain themselves, for the most part.  Often archaelogical finds are hidden in the fields or mountains of the farmers.  They are discovered "by mistake."  In the 80's, one of these "mistakes" happened.  They were burning fields to rejuvenate the soil, and it burned next to some cliffs.  Burning away the foliage revealed cliffside tombs.  Inside the tombs were 200 MUMMIES!  They built a museum in a nearby town to house the mummies.  It takes a lot of money and time to carefully unwrap and study mummies.  So far, of the 200, only 7 have been unwrapped.  But they are all kept in this museum, in a refrigerated room.  We got to see them, up-close and personal!  Those photos are also in the slideshow.

LIVING ARRANGEMENTS.  Here's a news flash: People live differently in different parts of different countries.  And you don't have to pity them.  They may not have our conveniences and technology.  But they are educated, they love their families, they have life experiences they wouldn't trade, and they have hopes and dreams just like us.  I hope the kids who went on this trip, and everybody, for that matter, took away at least that much.

The people in Atuen live at 11,500 feet.  They grow their own vegetables--only underground vegetables, since it gets cold at that elevation.  Many varieties of potatoes, carrots, onions, radishes.  They have cows and goats and sheep and pigs and chickens.

There were no guinea pigs that I could see in Atuen, but we did stop on the way back at a lady's house who raised guinea pigs to eat.  She had about 20 in a pen in her backyard, next to her pen of chickens.

They have dirt floors and brick or wood walls.  Each home has an outhouse of sorts.  Some have outdoor water faucets, kind of, to do cleaning and provide water for daily life.  There are lakes and streams for animals to drink water.

RAIN.  Atuen is beautiful and green.  Mostly because it rains there!  When we got there, it started to rain.  It being the "dry" season, we were assured it would pass in a day or two.  It did not.  For the 4 days we spent in Atuen, it rained on us!  Originally we were going to help them build their school.  Because of all the rain, we helped very minimally.  I have a few pictures of kids clearing debris from the piles of wood in the courtyard.

MUD.  Lots of rain means lots of mud!  Now I know why Mr. Fernandez (Daniel) had everybody buy ugly, uncomfortable rubber boots for the trip.  (Luckily someone from a past trip recommended shoe cushion inserts to put into your boots.  Teresa &I had SOME cushion, at least!)  Hiking around in the rain for four days made a lot of mud.  I included pictures of the worst mud, in the yard where we rinsed our dishes after every meal.  You can see everybody's black rubber boots in the hiking photos.

GUIDES.  We had five fabulous guides watching over us and cooking our meals during our trip.  They were experts of the area, master campers, and great cooks!  They watched all of us for signs of trouble as we hiked, and offered help even before we knew we needed help.  A hiker struggling?  Here, let me take your backpack.  I notice you're not drinking much.  Here is a refill for your water.  The altitude is making it hard for you to breathe as you hike.  Come ride the horse for awhile.  The best part was, they were really nice people.  They had families, knew Daniel really well and they look forward to this trip every summer because they love and respect him so much.  You can see a photo of all the guides together in the slideshow.

ARCHAEOLOGY.  Daniel took us to a few sites along the way where he has helped discover ancient ruins and found skulls and bones.  One is an ongoing site where a crew works all year to uncover bones and dishes and pots.

KAYAKING.  By Rainy Day 4 in Atuen, some were getting a little stir crazy.  (We at least had the "good" school room to sleep in--16 sleeping pads and bags spread out all over, plus our stuff.  With all that rain, I was very grateful we were not in tents)  Daniel and the guides planned a kayak trip at a lake about an hour's hike away.  Yes it was raining and yes the group went anyway!  There are a few kayaking photos.

I was amazed at how much organizing and planning had to go into a trip like this.  I was more amazed at how Mr. Fernandez keeps track of it all, but MOSTLY I was inspired at the passion he has for helping these people.  This is not just a "project," like I mentioned before.  He knows and loves them.  And they know that.

I thought to myself, Do l have passion like that?  For ANYthing?  Do I have a cause so important that I would go through even one tenth of what Daniel does, to help these people?

GIVING.  There is a song that says, "Because I have been given much, I too must give."  We have a responsibility to do SOMEthing.  You certainly don't have to leave the country to help people.  There are people in your own town, your own neighborhood, maybe even your own family who need help.  The trick is identifying the need and then offering help.  DOing it.

Being with the school children who received our donations was a treat.  Seeing the results of our work, and living for just a few days by the people who would benefit from it...that was rewarding.

I hope we all took away some sense of responsibility--the knowledge that because we can help, we should help.  And it's certainly not just the receiver who benefits when we help.  It allows us to focus outside of ourselves for just a short time.  It gives us fresh perspective, and it makes us better people.

PHOTOS.  There are 121 photos, so give yourself a few minutes to see these.  (or not!)  Click the link, and once you get to the site you can click "view album" near the bottom, then "play slideshow" near the top.  "Options" in the top right allow you to speed up the photos or slow them down.  Some of them have captions.

Here is the SLIDESHOW LINK: (or copy and paste it in a new window)

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AatGrVo2ZMWLyQ

Have a great week!  Kari