3 Sisters 7 Days

My daughter Reiley is back from camp, where she learned that sometimes fisher cats live under the bunks. I have to admit, I thought she was pulling my leg…or that someone was pulling hers. Fisher cats must be like snipe, right?

Wrong! Fisher cats are closely related to the American marten, which I think looks a lot like a large ferret. They dwell in forests from Canada to the northernmost parts of the United States. Reiley just did a quick bit of research on the creatures and offers the following cinquain poem:

FisherCats

brown, mammal

Lives under bunks.

East hare and porqupine.

FisherCats

He finally got it!!

It’s only taken five and a half months but he did it. Peter finally claims to understand how much an expectant mother sacrifices during pregnancy, the toll it takes on her body, as well as the miracle of carrying a living being in her womb.  This past weekend, we were sitting there and he rubs my belly – note that this was the first time since I became pregnant. He looks at me, shakes his head, and tells me he can’t believe I’m carrying around another human being. He said I deserved a present! He suggested a painting by Vladamir Kush. I like his “Red Purse.”

Critics suggest that Kush “infuses into his image a certain irony: greed and excessive accumulation of wealth could lead to the separation of lovers”:

[The] purse is a symbol of wealth and accumulation. But only love is the master key … This symbolism corresponds to the color of the purse. Red means love and passion in the first place, although purses are used to have the colors of earth or gold. But we employ red also in cases when we want to emphasize the symbolism of luxury and wealth. In China, red is considered to be the color of happiness and good luck. It is the color of the wedding attire too.

I’m so excited! “Red Purse” would be our second Vladamir Kush. We recently purchased the artist’s “Fauna in La Mancha” which positions giant butterflies atop windmill platforms in a “mad” play on Cervantes’ Don Quixote. I can’t wait for it to arrive.

Peter and I decided to go wine tasting in Paso Robles for our five year anniversary. I’d wanted to go for years but thought we needed a good reason. A “major” anniversary was a perfect reason. Hearst Castle topped my list of sites to see while away, so we decided to stay in nearby Morro Bay, a place where my dad use to camp and go fishing with his brothers annually. Always one to jam pack my vacations, leaving little time for leisure, we’d pre-paid for our hotel and massages and purchased Hearst Castle tickets early. Once we found out we were expecting a baby, the wine tasting trip turned into a Morro Bay/Hearst Castle tourist vacation, minus the wine. I guess we’ll have to save the wine tasting trip for another time. Small price to pay for a baby.

The trip turned out to be fantastic.

Morro Bay was a cute little town full of the elderly. I swear we were the youngest people in the city! We rented bikes and road down to Morro Rock, and ate seaside every evening. I was surprised that the temperature there remains about 65 degrees almost year round. At that temperature, I was surprised to see people in the water kayaking and swimming – it was way too cold for me. We stayed at the Inn at Morro Bay directly adjacent to the Heron Rookery. If you are not a fan of birds, I wouldn’t recommend this Inn. The birds made so much noise and the amount of bird feces on the property was amazing. At check-in, they even warn you that your car will be dirtied and they give you the location of the closest car wash.

I LOVED Hearst Castle. We went on two tours, I wanted to go on more, but Peter didn’t think it was necessary.  I purchased a biography on William Randolph Hearst and I cannot put it down. I want to join “Friends of Hearst Castle” – an organization that raises money to assist with the renovations. The Castle brings in more than $12 Million in a year, all of which is given to the state. The state then re-distributes the money to all state parks leaving only $100 Thousand for the Castle. According to the docents, this isn’t nearly enough money to maintain the billions of dollars worth of artifacts stored within the Castle. There is so much money in art located within those walls, its a shame the state would allow it all to deteriorate.

On the way home, I stayed awake and noticed that we passed several California Missions! Had I known, I would have tried to add them to our vacation. Next time there will be wine tasting; I’ll finish up my tours at Hearst Castle, and visit the Missions.

Raised on promises…begins Tom Petty’s track about an American girl searching for more. In sum, Mattel’s popular and exceedingly attractive American Girl dolls and abundant accessories offers something, well, less.

Last week, I took my daughters to the American Girl Placein Los Angeles. Like its counterparts in other parts of the country, the Los Angeles store is a showplace and sales center for American Girls dolls and accessories. It also features a doll hair salon, doll hospital, restaurant and photo studio. Since its opening in 2006, the Los Angeles store has become a site for themed birthday parties and a popular tourist attraction.

The American Girl business was founded as Pleasant Company in 1986 by Pleasant T. Rowland. Rowland, an educator, writer, and entrepreneur, realized that while the doll market included baby dolls to facilitate mothering and care-giving play, and “Barbie” dolls tailored to the experiences of teenagers and young adults, there were virtually no dolls that realistically represented girls in the eight-to-twelve age range. This realization, in combination with a trip to Colonial Williamsburg, inspired her to create a line of books, 18-inch historical character dolls, and accessories. The line now also includes a series of arts and craft, inspirational, and low-key self-help books, American Girl Magazine, “Just Like Me” 18-inch dolls, and baby dolls. Like the original American Girl dolls, these products are designed to “celebrate girls and all that they can be, [and to] help girls grow up in a wholesome way, while encouraging them to enjoy girlhood through fun and enchanting play.” Mattel, Inc. acquired American Girl in 1998.

To date, 16 million American Girl dolls and 127 million “American Girl” books have been sold. This is astonishing. 16 million is simply a lot of dolls designed for pre-teen girls in an era when even 5-year-olds are abandoning dolls. My older daughter, Reiley, played with baby dolls until she was about 6 years old; perhaps because she once dreamed of being a fashion designer, she enjoyed dressing Barbie and Polly Pocket dolls for a few years longer. Reiley’s thirteen now and, although the trip to American Girl Place was her idea – we went to the store in New York City when she was a little girl and I’d long promised a trip to the LA store – wasn’t interested in the dolls. She was looking for athletic wear for her doll – a garage sale find that’s currently gone missing. (She didn’t say, but I think the plan is to dress and display her doll much as I do a small collection of soft-bodied dolls on the top shelf in my home office.)

Her five-year-old little sister, Olivia, was much more interested. She picked out a Just Like Me doll, clothes and accessories, and a matching dress for herself. At a total cost of $202 plus tax, it’s clear that buying into the American Girl dream easily exceeds what the average U.S. family of four spends on groceries each week. That said, I have to admit, the shopping experience at American Girl Place was a lot of fun. My selections easily more than doubled the total for Olivia’s: Just Like Me doll set ($110), “Julie’s” floral jumpsuit that reminds me of a pair of pants I had when I was a little girl ($24), yoga outfit and accessories, including a mat ($30), bicycle with sissy bar ($85 – keeping in mind that dependable bikes for flesh-and-bone 9-year-olds don’t cost much more), and “Lanie’s” camper with accessories ($295, though it’s currently sold out) for a pre-tax total of $544!

Of course, I had no intention of opening my wallet anywhere near that wide to get a doll, no matter how cool – come on, a doll that looks like me, wears some combination of yoga clothes and hippie chic, and lives in the best-equipped particle board camper in town – who woudn’t want that? Yet my enthusiasm easily supports marketing professors John F. Sherry Jr., Raymond W. and Kenneth G. Herrick’s argument that American Girl shoppers tend to attach a set of meanings to the product and the retail experience, even creating memories, family stories and values around them. Ah, ha! Admittedly, it is eerie seeing so many relatively big girls and their dolls dressed alike, but both the “window” shopping and reminiscing is fun.

It’s also disturbingly exclusionary. Bracketing the question of representativeness – is the inclusion of Mexican-American Josephina (circa 1824) and homeless Gwen (friend to 2009 doll of the year, Chrissa) sufficiently “American”? – many pretty typical, actual American girls are routinely left out of the American Girl experience. Most notable among them is Etta from Brooklyn, who’s American Girl look-a-like doll, Gracie ($29.99 at Target), was refused service at the American Girl doll salon in New York because she isn’t “a real [American Girl] doll.” I recently learned that because Etta was a guest at a friend’s American Girl birthday party, she could have avoided the ridicule associated with bringing Gracie along by borrowing a genuine American Girl doll on-site.

So how can an everyday American girl make her way into the American Girl club despite her parents’ income and/or ethics? A quick online search buttressed by a week of casual conversations with middle-income Southern California moms suggests that despite Gracie’s arguably substandard craftsmanship, look-alikes top the list of ways to “do American Girl” on the cheap. Another tack is to suck up the cost of an authentic American Girl doll – especially if the doll is earned for, say, reading the books – and purchase knock off togs and accessories, including those available to make or buy for Gracie and similarly sized dolls. This approach is favored by those willing to search Craigslist, Amazon, and eBay for a “real” American Doll at much less than its $95 minimum retail price.

It has been a miserable week. For the past week our refrigerator has been freezing EVERYTHING! We have no vegetables or lettuce. My Greek yogurt froze and our Brita water filter is a big block of ice. We have thrown away just about everything because of frost bite, and have been eating out or cooking only if there will be no leftovers.  We haven’t been able to buy anything at the store that isn’t freezer friendly or shelf stable.

You could say I’ve had my fill of chips, margaritas and peanut butter.  It will be nice to have a salad again….

Finally, we had someone come out today to take a look and replace the temperature gauge.  Yup, that was it.  The bad news is that it broke, but the good news is that we have a really, really old refrigerator that will last another 10-15 years (according to the repair man).  I think our fridge is as old as our house, 1983, and from what I gather they don’t make appliances like they use to (I know I sound like I’m 70 years old!). I just laugh when I look in the door and see Montgomery Ward printed on the information sticker.

Now I am off to the store to reacquaint myself with the vegetable and milk groups.

Sometimes I find myself wondering where I missed that fork in the rode that would have landed me on Elfin Forest Rd. in elite Rancho Santa Fe, California. Now, I’m beginning to think it may not be me at all. I think I just may have chosen the “road less traveled”; it just took a while for everyone else to catch up.

Take eating locally, for instance. Suddenly, it seems, everyone’s kitchen is sporting a box of vegetables and other farm products, thanks to a boom in CSA memberships. CSA or Community Supported Agriculture has become a popular and increasingly convenient way for ordinary consumers to buy and eat local, seasonal produce. Consumers purchase a share/membership/subscription and receive a box/bag/basket of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season. In addition to supporting local agriculture and eating “better,” both in terms of nutritional content and sustainability, share-holders/members/subscribers typically gain access to local farms via tours, opportunities to work, and/or ability simply to visit.

This is great. Really. I’ve been a mostly hard core advocate of “slow food” since before it was a movement. I whole-heartedly support CSA and all the nutritional and social benefits associated with it, and even belonged to the first CSA operation available in our community. I wasn’t trendy…no, just a really healthy “kook,” as far as friends and family were concerned.

Then there are the barefoot runners. Granted, I “fell” into this one because I’m one of the lucky few who naturally run “on their toes.” The growing popularity of forefoot, if not barefoot, running in the wake of Christopher McDougall’s best-selling  Born to Run simply makes me look like a pro at what others are struggling to learn how to do.

Former war correspondent turned barefoot running guru, McDougall argues that humans evolved for long-distance running - on bare or barely protected feet, which prompts a softer, forefoot form than contemporary running shoes permit. McDougall one of among many currently teaching runners how to run “naturally” – if not barefoot, then in Vibram Five Fingers or other minimalist shoes, including my own favorites: Nike Free and Newton. Their success has prompted me to consider modifying my teaching portfolio to include forefoot running clinics…

Or maybe “baby wearing” workshops would be more lucrative. Deborah Netburnrecently reported in the LA Times that moms are giving up new shoes in favor of filling their closets with baby carriers! Baby carriers support attachment parenting, a philosophy that promotes the psychological and physiological benefits of establishing and sustaining a close parent-child bond. I carried all four of my own children for the first three years of their lives for these benefits, in part, but also because it was simply easier and more convenient than the then-popular infant-seat/hand-carrier/stroller “transformer.” (While I can understand a stroller, I still do not “get” why anyone would willingly haul around a bulky plastic seat!).

Instead of kudos, I got stares…

Today, women are paying up to $120 each for carriers intended to suit their own and their child’s moment-to-moment attire and mood…and taking classes to learn how to wear their babies! Instruction typically covers how to select among the wide variety of predominantly cloth baby carriers currently on the market, how to adjust the carrier with baby on-board, and how to incorporate baby wearing into mom’s daily activities.

In contrast, I had to search for my first baby “sling,” via tiny ads in parenting magazines and the telephone – not for lack of Internet access, but rather due to the paucity of manufacturer URLs. It cost $40 and was designed by Ms. Sears – yes, the famed doctor’s wife. My choice consisted of roughly six different fabrics, and, when baby arrived, I just threw it over my shoulder, popped him in, and winged it from that point.

Again, it’s all good – but please…even baby-wearing in the modern age isn’t new.

That gives me an idea. My own mother – get this – simply carried all NINE of her children by shifting us from hip to hip throughout the day, adapting over the years to working with one hand at a time. She kept us close and became ambidexstrous. In this economy, I bet could make a fortune with “no prop” baby carrying!

Elfin Forest, here I come.

Tim Tebow is big news again, after he tackled his mom on a much-anticipated “pro-life” Focus on the Family commercial during the 2010 Super Bowl. Team Tebow made news in 2004 as well when they moved to St. Johns County Florida so that Tim, who was home-schooled, could play football at Allen D. Nease High School. Their relocation was criticized because Tebow arguably took advantage of Florida state law that allows home-schooled children to play on public school athletic teams.

Yeah, I know, even jocks who aren’t home-schooled relocate so that they can play on top-ranked high school teams…which brings me to my point. I can’t help thinking that Tebow’s real advantage was that he could spend more time training because he wasn’t in class up to six hours a day. Like other school-age athletes, child actors, and children who move out of the country or to remote areas here in the United States, he probably spent less time at his desk – or the kitchen table – than his peers.

That’s certainly the case with my children, who usually finish their schoolwork by mid-day, leaving the afternoon and evening “free” for playing or training, as well as traditional after-school activities, including piano lessons, Scouts, etc. In the case of my eldest son, Quentin, who is a 14-year-old high school sophomore, homeschooling has allowed him to work out at the gym four days a week as well as spend a day outside climbing every week during the warmer months (and that’s most of them in California).

His hard work has paid off. Maybe too well, I’m beginning to think. In addition to earning a spot at the American Bouldering Series national championships in Arlington, VA this month, Quentin has managed to give a climbing “spin” to nearly every other aspect of his life. Most recently, it’s World History; the essay he submitted this week on “the impact of wartime technology” is about the creation of nylon ropes, lightweight carabiners, and all-weather clothing, which has been so important to – you guessed it – post World War II rock climbing!

I wonder if football didn’t likewise go to Tebow’s head – literally. Maybe his mom shook her head while reading treatises on football helmet technology and role of the Internet in the sport’s increasing popularity.

Juliann and I have been eyeing this gadget for about two years now. We have tested out all that goes along with Nike+ and have been semi-satisfied, but the Garmin Forerunner 305 seems to have it all, or at least all of what we need.

I can now have more accurate readings of my mileage, get a better idea of pace, know how many vertical feet I am actually running, and I am able to start running/training based on my heart rate.  I love the graphing capabilities of it; all I do is plug the watch into the computer and BAM all the information is now in an easy to read graph.  It is GREAT! I have used it once and love it already. I can’t wait to see what else this thing can do. I have the basics down but there is so much more to it.

Until yesterday, I could honestly say that I NEVER go anywhere without a book. Then Sunday, I flew a full four hours home from Nashville without cracking a book, though I couldn’t help myself from browsing the SkyMall catalogue tucked in seat pocket in front of me. Does that count?

I’d finished my last “real” book during the trip out on Thursday, and read a friend’s book, and my roommate’s magazines during my stay in Nashville. I just couldn’t bring myself to purchase an actual book for the ride home. You see, my loving spouse gave me a Kindle for Christmas, and I’d vowed not to purchase anything but ebooks for the foreseeable future. Between my sister’s library and my own, I wouldn’t have had a problem if sometime between Christmas and the start of this trip, I’d managed to choose a cover to protect my sacred Kindle. Ugh!

As someone who spends practically every otherwise free moment with my “nose in a book,” I was at a loss for how to occupy myself for the full duration of a four-hour flight home. A prolonged internal discussion of my options resulted in my decision to sleep. I indulged in an over-size beer at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge before boarding the plane, and settled in between two tall, quiet-looking men seated near an exit to ensure ample leg room. Thankfully, I was “out” not too long after take-off. If I hadn’t woken up with an insurmountable need to pee when we hit turbulence, I may  have slept until we reached Ontario.

Once we were again free to “move about the cabin,” I headed for the bathroom. Back in my seat, I couldn’t get back to sleep. I looked at the aforementioned SkyMall, and shifted so violently in my seat that I’m surprised that neither of my companions stirred from their naps.

I’ve never used my iPod on a plane – I’m always reading, remember? (And I don’t require music in the background to do so.) That changed on Sunday. I listened to the final two chapters of Barbara Kinslover’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which was almost unbearable – not because of Barbara, but because I was so uncomfortable just listening to a book read aloud. I’m used to driving or running or…something…while I’m listening. Likewise with my music playlist.

I finally gave up. I turned my iPod off, pulled my earbuds out, and returned the tiny device to a pocket in my purse.

Thank Buddha, one of neighbors was alert by then. We exchanged itineraries, and talked about the snow-covered mountains  below. Our plane was continuing on from Ontario to Sacramento, which was the starting point for his trek into the Northern California wilderness in search of somewhere he could “live off the land” fairly easily. He told me that he could see himself sitting on his porch at the end of a long day hunting and foraging, reading while his dinner cooked on the stove inside, or over an open fire.

Yesterday, a Los Angeles Times fashion critic,  Booth Moore, wrote that Michelle Obama “has made it OK for smart women to care about what they wear.” Really? I thought the stereotypical be-speckled and flat chested brunette with encyclopedic knowledge and knack for problem solving had died a good death long ago. Apparently not. According to Sherrie Inness, popular culture continues to affirm stereotypical female geek, who is only gorgeous when transformed by the loss of her glasses. Likewise, these smart women – dare I say “heroines”? – still face all manner of sexual harassment, and remain woefully unable to find men who appreciate them.

At least, things have changed in real life.

Although physical beauty and intelligence should evolve together (intelligence is the basis for male status; high status men “get” the beautiful “girls”; both beauty and intelligence are heritable), it’s not yet clear whether or not they do…except on one measure of physical attraction: boobs. Many “real” smart women are remarkably well endowed. A 2003 study found that big-busted women have higher I.Q.s than their less well endowed sisters. More specifically, women with “large” and “extra-large” breasts scored an average of 10 points higher on standard I.Q. tests than women with “extra-small” to “medium” breasts; even women with just medium-sized breasts beat out the smaller breasted women.

I know what’s coming…what about breast implants? There don’t appear to be any studies on the relationship between implant size and intelligence; however, the blogosphere includes testimonies on the wisdom of breast augmentation for ensuring job security and, yes, “catching” that intelligent man!