Oregon Caves

I have sadly neglected the family blog in favor of my card-making blog lately. I recently discovered that there are people (like two actually. Hi Jess and Mike!) who actually read this blog, so, rather than continue to disappoint them, I've renewed my resolution to try to be better about the occasional updates.

We've just gotten back from a week in Southern Oregon. The first few nights were at Cave Junction, with the main attraction being the Oregon Caves nearby.

The boys were probably most impressed by the enormous beetle they rescued from the pond in front of the nearby diner. But I do think that they learned something about geology from our tour. The rock formations were incredible.

Kids do need to be taller than 42" to go on a full cave tour because of the cave's open and steep staircases. But even if they can't go on the whole cave tour, you can take them in on a sneak peek, where they can see the first room of the cave. And there are junior ranger booklets with lots of activities for kids and parents to partake in, and those trails at the monument are fun to discover. http://www.nps.gov/orca/forkids/index.htm

(and also, if you have older friends, be aware that it can be a bit strenuous, ask my friend Wendy who brought her aging grandparents)

We did the No Name trail -- breathtaking!

It was great fun. I highly recommend the experience if you have young kids (if I were to do it again, I would have allowed more time to explore the trails near the caves as they were just gorgeous).

More on our trip in later blog posts... for now, we're safely back at home. The boys are happily "playing with" ants in the front yard.

Camp!

The boys are back from a full week of overnight camp at glorious Camp Collins.

This year, several of their Glencoe third grade friends also went at the same session, which had to be a lot of fun.

And me? I took the week off from work with the intention of completely organizing the basement, redoing our closet, sorting through our files, finishing up the crafty space makeover and a million other things. I only actually completed a fraction of my ambitious list, but it was still amazingly satisfying.

Tad managed to lure us away to Rockaway Beach for two nights, just to relax (I was reluctant to leave all the projects, but we really had a lot of fun! It was our first beach trip as a couple since the boys were born).

So.... good times!

Homeless Helpers

When I was younger, living and working in the downtown Portland area, I was approached for handouts. A lot. Men, women and street kids all asking for change. Sometimes I'd give to them, sometimes not.

I began to realize that some people were obvious scam artists. One man was desperate for gas money to get to Beaverton because his wife was having a baby. He made the mistake of approaching me in successive weeks with the same story. One thin woman was dubbed "Heroin Lady." She was famous for being seen on her non-panhandling days. On these days, she carried a handbag and dressed normally (it was on her begging days that she dressed the part of a destitute woman on the streets). The paper ran a story where they had a reporter beg for money at an intersection -- they earned as much as $400 a day.

Over time, I developed a hard rule to never, ever give money to people on the streets. I reasoned that it would be better to donate to groups that helped homeless people. Otherwise I had no idea where the money was going to: alcohol, drugs, etc.

I stuck with this rule for many, many years. But then, something changed. As I was getting into my car, a homeless man approached me. As he began to ask for money, I was ready for my pat "Sorry, no" response when something stopped me. He told me that he was hungry. Somehow he struck me as being completely sincere. For the first time in years, I looked a homeless person in the eyes and something touched me.

I broke my rule and rummaged through my purse and gave him several dollars worth of change. He was very thankful and shook my hand and as he walked away, I wished that I had given him more.

Over the next few days, I told that story to several different people. Each time, I surprised myself by becoming emotional and tearing up. 

I realize now why this story affected me so much: I believed this man when he told me that he was hungry. 

A man was hungry and asked me for help and I told him "no."

Over the many years of my hard and fast rule, many people have asked me for help and I turned them down. 

I felt like the villain in a Victorian novel.

With every "no" a thin layer of varnish coated my soul, helping me to live with that decision.

But somehow, one man managed to pierce through that hardened shell. and I understood that all that denial had not been good for my soul.

Over lunch with my friend, Shawn, I pondered this problem with her: I wanted to help people that were in genuine need, but how could I? How could I tell the scam artists apart from the real people who were truly down on their luck and needed something to eat?

Shawn suggested a solution that a friend of hers came up with: she filled bags with healthy, non-perishable food in them. When someone asked her for money, she would offer them the bag. Sometimes it was easy to tell from the reaction that the person was just trying to scam her. And sometimes her offering was accepted with real gratitude.

Excited with the concept, I made up my first bag that very weekend. 

Monday morning, it went into my car.

By Tuesday afternoon, as I got in to drive myself home, I was already getting discouraged. When would I ever encounter someone in my car to whom it would be convenient to hand a bag? That stupid bag would sit right there, cluttering up my car for months...

Ten seconds later, I saw him: a man in his twenties with a dog and a sign that said "Anything helps."

Half expecting him to reject my crumpled up paper bag, I slowed down, rolled down the window and asked if you would like something to eat. The relief in his face as he accepted my offering was palpable.

As I pulled away, happy happy happy, I could see him eagerly looking into the bag.

Being me, I naturally instantly regretted not having more in there (it contained an apple, some dried mango, a baggie of almonds and some granola bars) -- it was really just a good snack.

And there was nothing in it for the dog.

That night, I raided the store for more food for bigger and better homeless helpers. I'm thinking that I can get some gift cards for fast food. 

Next time, I'll even have a can of dog food ready as well.

Why You Shouldn't Allow Your Eight-Year Old Twins to Use Your Digital Camera Unsupervised

Mighty Hunter

For weeks, Joey could barely be peeled away from the kitchen, where he crouched vigilantly, staring at the stove. I recognized the stance and chided him for his thinking that there was prey underneath there -- I thought that some movement was keeping him fooled.

Imagine my surprise at coming across a dead mouse deposited on our living room floor, then!

Joey was completely vindicated.

After posing with his catch, I hunted about the house for a suitable box to stand in as a mouse coffin, finally pulling something out of my gift stash, a cute box that once held something pretty. I wrapped it in some tissue paper and, lacking an immediate funeral plan, put it out on the front porch for later.

The next day, Tad came across the box and, thinking that a kind neighbor had left us a present, eagerly unwrapped it.

Now Joey seems obsessed with the underside of the dishwasher... eek!

Spring Break

Just got back from a wet, rainy, chilly spring break week on the Oregon Coast.

Did I mention that it rained?

We splurged on six whole days. After just two days of wet weather, Tad and I were both going through painful internet/email withdrawals. How do people live without internet access? I have a neighbor that refuses to go online -- we even offered to share our own access with her (she's convinced she'll be beset by viruses as soon as she logs in). Honestly! How does she check the weather, look up spellings, find directions to places?

But I digress.

Despite the weather, we all had fun. There were enough little breaks here and there to get us to the beach for a time almost every day. I had neglected some key pieces of papercrafting supplies (unfortunately, not the big, heavy ones -- Tad is incredibly patient when it comes to my insistence that I DO need the printer/fax/copier/scanner with us on our beach trip), meaning I couldn't go into card-making production mode, forcing me to relax and read my book and take it easy. It was kind of tough for me, but probably really good for me at the same time. Like brussels sprouts. Or yoga.

The boys discovered some great classic board games in the loft, like Stratego, which they enjoyed for hours. We had a nice hot fire, watched some movies that were left there (I would never have rented Crocodile Hunter, but the boys loved it and, I have to admit, Steve Irwin's wide-eye, seemingly genuine enthusiasm amused me).

So, a good time! (but maybe we'll skip the beach for spring break next year)

Facebook

I've never been a fan of anything that I've viewed as being an online time-waster. Online games, random surfing, joke-of-the-day, all those activities just do not appeal.

A few months ago, I half-accidentally signed up for FaceBook and my view of this social networking site changed dramatically.

Within a few days, I'd reconnected with friends I had lost contact with decades earlier.

Over the next few months, like a friendly virus, more and more of my friends joined.

We posted daily mini-updates about what we were doing at the moment. We scrounged up old photos of each other and posted images of past events (it seemed like a new "80's album" was being posted every week). 

It's even gotten me closer to new acquaintances (this refrain keeps going through my mind: "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.")

It has been quite amazing and, for me, demonstrates one of the great powers of the internet.

Anyway, the reason for this long testimonial on my card site is that I have just set up a Facebook page for my online card store. By becoming a "fan" of this page, you can participate in discussion forums, share photos and send me notes by writing on my "wall."

Click here to view my Molly Lee Cards page and become a fan on FaceBook!  (the link to become a fan is in the upper right-hand corner)