Category — Wonderful

My immediate family (a lot of tall people, some short, and most insane) has been having a little reunion this week, and yesterday a bunch of us went for a hike.  It was a hike in name only, though, since most of it consisted of standing around taking photographs or waiting for other people to take photographs.  You know.  Too many photographers.

But really, it was incredible.  We couldn’t help being shutter-happy, there were so many wonderful things.  We had walked into fairyland.  This area of British Columbia is a temperate rainforest, which means a lot of mildew, but even more beauty.

Here we are waiting for Elrond to show us the way to Rivendell.

And there’s a baby elf in the path!

And here we see that even dead remains of trees are lovely in the rainforest.

One of my favorite books growing up was about some kids who were orphans and didn’t have a place to live, so they made a home in a stump.  Then I moved to Northern California and had a few homeless friends who lived in Redwood stumps, all tricked out.

Maybe my next house will be in a stump, a really big one with bunkbeds and a little pot-bellied stove in the corner.

(Probably not.)

“Oh, it’s too bad,” sobbed Lucy; “they might have left the body alone.”

“Who’s done it?” cried Susan. “What does it mean? Is it more magic?”

“Yes!” said a great voice behind their backs. “It is more magic.”  They looked around.  There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane (for it had apparently grown again), stood Aslan himself.

“Oh, Aslan!” cried both the children, staring up at him, almost as much frightened as they were glad.

“Aren’t you dead then, dear Aslan?” said Lucy.

“Not now,” said Aslan.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe- C.S. Lewis

I didn’t sleep too well last night, worrying about a friend. This morning I found out he was safe, which was a huge relief. I’m sure you’ve felt something like this before. I can’t tell my brain to stop it at night, when it’s moving so swiftly, and even when I managed to drop off into sleep land, my brain was going. In Technicolor. So it could have been a rough day.
But then my friend Jessie called and asked me if she could drop by with lunch. Since I’m still somewhat deaf (or just a bad listener) from my “someone sitting on my head” illness, I didn’t hear the “with lunch” part, so I was pleasantly surprised when she brought treats. We had a sort of picnic inside. And the kids didn’t fight! It was awesome.

During the afternoon, I worked on visa applications, and somewhere along the way, our UPS guy showed up. Can I just say that I love our UPS guy? He is seriously one of the nicest people- he acts as happy about packages as we are. “Looks exciting, it’s Bed Bath and Beyond!” he’ll say. Or, today, he said, “Must be something good, I need a signature!” And he’s bubbling over while he says these things. Maybe it’s the cool uniform, or the rockin’ truck with no doors that makes him so happy.
But the package was a good one. There were two, really.

The first one contained a book. Chinua and I have been buying a few books for our personal library in India. Some things I know will be available, like Penguin Classics and bestsellers that travelers have traded in. But some books… no. So as soon as I heard that one of my favorite people in the world, (I have so many favorite people, it appears!) Timothy Keller, had written a book called The Reason For God, I knew I had to have it. I’ve said before that I feel like some of his sermons saved my life. Now, this book. Well, I can’t wait to read it. And it seems that lots of other people are reading it too, since it made it to #7 on the NYT Bestsellers List.

The second box contained my combined Christmas and Birthday present , a very necessary journalistic tool, that second camera we’ve been needing so badly, a camera.

I feel as though I need to justify every single thing I ever buy. It’s one of my many issues.

But really, we needed a second camera. And I wanted one that was smaller than our giant. Something I could lug around with or without kids. Right now I feel like I have to choose one or the other, and as much as I’d like to choose the camera, the kids kind of come with the whole “mom” package. And they’re photogenic. This camera also has video abilities. (I’m not sure how to say that properly. Video skillz?) The ability to capture some of our life in India will be priceless, I think.

We got the Canon Powershot G9.

It’s supposed to have the best video out of any of the point and shoot range, with great features and good quality photos. I’ve never owned a non-SLR camera- even before digital, I always had a little manual SLR, so this was a leap, some would say in the wrong direction. But it’s small. I love that it has a hot shoe, so we can put our external flash on it, which is twice the size of the camera itself.

We used it to take a belly shot. Here I am today, at 19 weeks. Let’s all say 19 weeks! 19 weeks? Why is time zooming so?

We note that the camera is a little fuzzy at low lighting conditions. Then we use the camera to take a photo of my Superstar Cutie Husband.

Pretty good. Although it doesn’t do him justice. But then, what does?

And then, I confess, I made a video. A video that will take away three minutes of your life. And fill those minutes with cuteness. A video that is unashamedly mommish. A video of my kids, singing.

Kids singing from Rachel Ford on Vimeo.

Hey, in other news, my dear friends started a blog recently about their ranch where they raise happy cows and the occasional rabid wild pig.  The ranch is one of my very favorite places on earth, and I miss it and my friends like crazy since I moved, so I’m excited to read from afar.

Check it out.

It’s your day.

Happy, happy birthday Leafy boy.

It’s kind of a bummer that there is no fourteen, I agree.  One day our fourteen will be found stuck under one of my shoes, or in the dusty console in my car, and I’ll post it, and we’ll all be content and that itchy feeling will go away.

I’ve decided that since now I don’t qualify for a prize, I will have to give myself a prize. Hmmmm, what do I want? I KNOW! A trip to West Africa!

No, really, I’m going to Burkina Faso to do some writing, filming, and photography for LJUrban, the company that Chinua is working with here in Sacramento. The upcoming project that I’ll be writing about is just bone shakingly cool. I’m so, so excited to be a part of it, with my good friend Jessie, and my new friend Cyndy.

Seriously, I haven’t traveled out of the continent since before Chinua and I were married, back in the sleeping in hammocks on the beach on an Indian island days. I remember how for years I would grow covetous when I was driving friends to the International airport, how I longed just to get on a plane. I NEED AN INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT. And in recent times I have become much more content. I have learned the beauty of being restrained. As my friend put it once, “Lean into the restraint.”

And of course, now that this new contentment is here, opportunities for travel are popping out of the cracks in the couch. (There is a lesson here, somewhere.)

I will be guest blogging for LJUrban at the time, and will be sure to direct you there when I know how it will work.

And, the house. The house! I love the house. It makes me afraid, a little, how much I love the house, considering how temporary this arrangement is, but I realize that everything is temporary, right? So you just love things while they are there, without that compulsion to grasp.

I love the beadboard wainscotting in the kitchen, the quirky little doorways. I love the pantry that has the sink in it, so that I have to walk back and forth between the kitchen and the pantry to do dishes and put water in the pots. I like the water pressure. I like the world’s biggest oak tree in the back yard. I like the funky falling down neighborhood, and the train that runs nearby, and the molding around the doorways.

Now if I can only refrain from injuring myself further, trying to get things in order.

I don’t have internet access at my house until the 27th.  Yikes.

Happy day, I received a Perfect Post Award from Esme at Blowtorch in the Middle for my post, A Somewhat ill-advised Journey Down Highway 1.  

I can’t wait to sit down and read the posts that got awarded, it always is promising for some good reading.  Unfortunately my children are CRAZY and can’t watch themselves.  I won’t be reading these any time soon.  (sigh)