Things a Sweet Girl Says

I've hit a block while typing a blog about our trip.  I'm trying to keep it concise while wanting to include the highlights (which were abundant).  In the meantime, here are a few recent sayings from Olive:

-While on our longish drive from Dingle, on the west coast of Ireland, back to Dublin, she was making requests for me to draw things for her - Papa, me, a cup of yogurt - and when I handed her the pad with the sketch of a strawberry yogurt she praised my efforts: "Ah, good job, Mom!"  "Mom" has become a sort of saying with her, much like man or dude, and doesn't apply necessarily to me.  I'm still "Mama" to her, for now.

-When leaving Marie's house in Prague (Marie hosted us through couchsurfing.org), she began wishing her a happy birthday (we'd just come off of Rob's and my birthdays and she was finally prepared to wish someone a happy one, even if it was two months early).

-Yesterday I told her I liked her blue eyes.  "I like your brown eyes!," she replied.

-"Oh, beautiful Gray!," she's been saying lately to our cat, Wendell.  It wasn't an adjective we'd ever used in reference to him, that's for sure.  Not that he's not a handsome cat, but his dopey ways override his good looks.

-Overheard while playing with her Quantum Leap globe (If anyone knows a kid that is passionate about geography, I suggest getting this toy.  It's great).  "Mongolia!  Good job, Mom!"  She's also been asking for help locating "Opiopia" (Ethiopia), bringing me back to the time in my childhood when I couldn't get enough of our globe and finding the countries in Africa.  She's delighted that she can pick out Prague and Vienna amongst the crowded mass that is Europe.  Despite bringing her at such a young age, I believe she'll retain quite a bit of it, as long as we continue to revisit through stories and photographs.

-She's proving to be an effective tool for quitting my near-lifelong nail biting habit.  Today in the car while I was gnawing on a fingernail she chirped from the back seat, "Don't put your fingers in your mouth!"  Busted.

-While waiting at the post office this morning she was saying, to no one in particular, "Hi.  My name is Wanda."  We're not sure where this Wanda business came from, but it wasn't the first time she'd made an appearance.

Itinerary

Being the sort who is most productive when time is slipping away from me (we leave on Monday), I've just about nailed down all of the details of our trip.  For those who are curious, here's our schedule:

October 1: Fly overnight from Pittsburgh and arrive in Dublin in the morning (what will feel like 3:45 am to us.  I'm dreading this part.
October 2: Rent a car and drive west to Galway and stay with my boss, Lisa's, aunt.  Here we'll explore the coast and take in the scenery that, for reasons still not clear, never called to me.  I think it's the food that's been the biggest deterrent - so boiled, so white.
October 4: Return to Dublin and stay the night.
October 5: Take ferry to London.  Spend the night.  That's it.
October 6: Take train to Paris.  I'm excited about this one.  I've been told many times that I should go.  I love the language and feel like I know enough of it to get by without needed to be coddled in English.  I know how the French are, and I like it.  The Louvre and Musée d'Orsay are biggies, as are the catacombs, a tour of the sewers, and, at Bruce's urging, St. Chapelle.
October 8: Take train to Salzburg.  Austria alone was the driving force behind this trip - for me, at least.  After hearing Gi-Gi speak so fondly of it I developed my own vicarious interest, bolstered by my love of The Sound of Music.  It goes without saying that we're signed up for the four-hour official tour on the 9th.  I decided that we should stay an extra day to take in the magnificent landscape of Alps and lakes.
October 10: Take train to Vienna.  This is a city that, thanks in large part to John Irving, my favorite writer, many of whose novels are set there, also lodged itself in my imagination and became a destination I longed to visit.  It stands to reason that I should want to spend my birthday in both Austrian cities because, you know, you only turn thirty-one once.  Vienna is home to the work of some of my favorite artists - Gustave Klimt and Egon Schiele, specifically - from the Secessionist movement. Cool, weird, beautiful stuff.  There's also the Prater, the hundred year-old amusement park, and the zoo, and the Opera House (from 'The Hotel New Hampshire!')
October 13: Take train to Prague.  I set my sights on this city because of - why else? - the Mucha Museum.  Alphonse Mucha, a prominent figure in Art Nouveau, was Czech and many of his works can be seen around the city.  Prague itself, from what I've heard and seen in pictures, is stunning, but I needed no other reason to go.  We're also staying with Marie, a woman who offered to share her bedroom with us in the flat she shares with her brother and cats.  This will be extra fun.
October 16: Fly to Dublin and stay the night.
October 17: Fly to Pittsburgh.

That's it in a nutshell.  I'm growing more and more eager as October gets closer.  We have our cat-sitter and rides to and from the airport arranged.  Rent has been paid.  My pal Alex has the stand covered, and Olive, that funny kid, decided to quit taking naps at the most opportune time.  Not that she won't be completely thrown out of whack by the jet lag, so it probably won't make a difference either way.

See?  Just like Rob and me.  Maybe if he's feeling extra sweet he'll reenact that scene from the movie that's always made me feel ill.  Of course he will.

Rob Cramer, Eater of Cats

We're entering into the phase of funny things toddlers say.  I knew it was coming, having a handful of nieces and a nephew whose innocently witty utterances occur on a regular basis.  I wasn't home to witness it this morning, but here is Rob's account:

This morning while I was looking at the crossword puzzle, Olive walked up to me and deposited something imaginary into my hand. Usually when she does this, it is an imaginary culinary delight that she whipped up in her kitchen (she has been experimenting with cabbage dishes lately) so naturally I popped the invisible gift into my mouth. She stopped and stared at me a little strangely and said, "Poppa just ate a little kitty." Oops!

That she didn't just play along with the charade was what got me laughing.  That thing she'd placed in his hand had been a kitty all along to her - why couldn't he see that?  Even she knows that in our house we don't eat little kitties.  Her father's behavior was perplexing, indeed.

Pittsburgh Alternative Health

Yesterday I had an amazing experience at Pittsburgh Alternative Health.  I had the EAV test done and it was pretty enlightening.  I looked all over for what EAV means and finally came across this, and it stands for Electro Acupuncture by Voll.  A simpler way to explain the procedure is this: you hold a copper rod in your left hand and the naturopath takes a conical metal device and presses it into pressure points on the fingers of your right hand.  The machine is hooked up to the computer so I was able to watch it read my responses to every sort of food, additive, and environmental influence imaginable.  I worried that I might learn about a dozen things to which my body responds negatively and have to severely amend my lifestyle, so I was relieved to find out that only a few things upset the harmony of my body: MSG (a total non-issue), dioxin (a byproduct of burning plastic, which hardly comes as a surprise and, being that I live in a city with some of the worst air in the country, is hard to avoid), mold (also expected since we live in an old house where mold spores are plentiful), wheat (though fortunately not gluten), shellfish (also something I avoid anyway), grapes, and raisins.  These final two were more surprising; I've never heard of grape intolerance, but there it is.  I've enjoyed grapes most of the summer, and raisins are staples for my oatmeal, but I'll get by.  At least oatmeal's not off the table.  I'm looking into getting an air purifier and will do my best to avoid the things on the list (at least while not in Europe; all bets are off there) to allow my body to better combat whatever it is that's been attacking my lower extremities.  I have high hopes that modifying my diet will alleviate the problem.  And for anyone interested in improving their total well-being, I highly recommend visiting your local naturopath and having this procedure performed.  It's fascinating.

Playing Hooky

I've been surprised to learn lately how early children are heading off to "school".  From as early as a year I've known little ones whose parents sent them away during the week to environments of learning and, while I do see the merit in theory of this, I still can't help but to shake my head in disbelief.  I remember going to pre-school at three before starting kindergarten at four, then proceeding to first grade and so on, but earlier than three just makes me wonder. While something about this just wasn't sitting right with me I felt like my reservations about it may be rooted more in my unfamiliarity with that schedule and my feeling that some children simply aren't quite ready to be tossed into those sorts of social settings before a certain age.  I've been asked countless times by friends and acquaintances whether I've found a preschool for Olive, even though this was never a consideration from the start for us.  Then I came across this article.  While I by no means take this study as the only right way, it sure did make a lot of sense to me.  Olive thrives in a home learning environment and gets on well with all sorts of folks, though she could still use a little work in the peer department since her interactions occur largely with adults.  The bit about peers wanting to mimic one another and feel the need to be like others in order to fit in really resonated with me, though.  When I was a teacher I witnessed proof of that on a daily basis - far more than seemed healthy or appropriate, and I'd much prefer for my child to not be burdened with the premature pressure to be like someone else.  Regardless of your stance on childhood education, I feel like it's worth the read.

My Lazy Summer

Finding myself with all the laundry folded and dishes done and two hours to kill before I'm off work, I figured I'd take some time for a little writing.  It's not that I've had nothing eventful going on my my life to inspire me - I've simply been lazy.  Too lazy to upload the pictures from my camera, that's for sure.  In my down time I've been happier to hang around with Rob watching episodes of Big Love while Olive's asleep.  That show is fascinating.  Mindboggling.  It makes me even happier that I'm only married to one man and not two other women, to boot.  It makes me appreciate the simplicity of our lives and marriage.

Anyway, our past few weeks have been busy and fun-filled.  Several weeks ago we took a two-day trip down to West Virginia to my parents' lovely and tranquil lake house where we gathered with my folks, my sister and three (soon to become four!) children, and my brother, Taylor.  We enjoyed the scenery, taking walks through the woods, Rob and Olive did some kayaking, the kids played in the lake, and the adults enjoyed games every night as we always do. 

Last week we hosted a 30th birthday party for my good pal, Keith.  We grilled homemade sausages and fresh salmon that Keith's girlfriend, Alex, had just brought back with her from Alaska (she and her father made the sausage; her brother-in-law had just caught the salmon).  To top it off, Alex decided to not take a job in New York City in favor of staying in this wonderful little city of ours!  This was probably the best news I'd received all summer because, MAN, was I getting tired of friends up and leaving. 

To celebrate a day off for both Rob and me, something that rarely happens, we decided to go up to Presque Isle State Park on Lake Erie.  We live just over two hours away and I'd never visited that particular Great Lake and it seemed the perfect day to go.  The weather was glorious and we enjoyed what was probably the last day we'd get into a natural body of water this year.  It really was beautiful up there, through Erie, Pennyslvania is (and no dissage to lovers or natives of the town) a major eyesore.  The beach was pleasant except for the pebbly strip at the water's edge; my feet were tender that night and the next day.  Olive went back and forth between the shore and lake, periodically dipping in to wash off her hands. We nibbled all day on apples and almonds, our only provisions since I'd left the bag of seven peanut butter or almond butter and jelly sandwiches behind on the kitchen counter. On the way home we listened to the Sound of Music sountrack and I fought back tears during every song.  After getting the soundtrack earlier this summer I realized I couldn't listen to it without choking up.  You see, my beloved Gi-Gi, who died almost exactly three years ago, really enjoyed those songs, too, and my association with them is so deeply rooted in my memories of hearing those songs when I was with her, so many years ago.  She loved the film and loved visiting Austria, so I did, too - or believed I did - and that's why I'm finally going to see the place she adored.  That said, it's hard to believe that our trip is not even a month away.  We have so much planning to do! 

I've started searching for retail spaces again for the business.  We'd back-burnered the idea for a while since I was satisfied with my 3-day workweek doing olive oil, but sometimes it's not good to wait too long because opportunities can pass.  I was able to look at several really promising spaces just down the street from where we live in the adjacent neighborhood.  Aside from requiring a lot of cosmetic work (new floors, ceilings, lighting), they were just the sort of spaces I'd always had in mind.  I have no idea how I'm going to fund this endeavor, but people take on projects like this all the time so it's just a matter of doing the work to get the loans to get it off the ground.  It's just unfortunate that this isn't the sort of work that really interests me.  But I do know what I want, so there's that.

And the most exciting bit of news of all?  Today I made an appointment with a naturopath who came highly recommended by my sister.  I have not been able to make heads or tails of this blasted itchy leg disease (that's what it has to be - a disease) that's about to drive me round the bend.  I lose so much sleep over this and wake up with blood-smeared scratches all up and down my legs.  It's terrible.  Having thankfully ruled out the possibility of a thyroid disorder, I can only assume now that it's something in my diet or in my environment.  I got some Gold Bond extra-strength anti-itch lotion that feels positively heavenly about a minute after it's applied, but somehow seems to exacerbate the problem after I've gone to sleep.  No good.  Nina, smart girl that she is, suggested Calamine lotion, so I slathered hanfuls of the pink stuff from my ankles up to my thighs and am experiencing some relief - the best temporary solution to date.  So during my appointment with the naturopath on the 17th I will have a test done that will determine any of my body's sensitivities or intolerances.  I feel confident that this will give me the answer I've been needing.  Oh, do I ever hope it does!

Dexter

My friend, Colin, commissioned me to do this cat portrait for him as a gift for a friend.  Cats are easy and work up quickly, as it turns out.  Here he is, all done and ready to go.  This is the most artwork I've done in 2012, hands down.  Now I have another project to begin: a double portrait of two children that someone had won in a silent auction for the Midwife Center.  It's going to be fun.   Christmas is the deadline I set for myself (between working painstakingly slowly in watercolor, juggling my two jobs, and our European vacation, I think that's a reasonable timeframe).