New podcast link

I added the "Prairie Home Companion" podcast to my list. I don't actually listen to it very often, partly because much of the music featured on the show makes my husband ill. I love the small-town humor, and I love listening to Garrison Keillor talk. I wish I had such intriguing stories to tell.
It hasn't been a quiet decade in White Salmon, my home town. The landscape hasn't changed much since I graduated high school, but the type of population has. I don't see so many of the apathetic, under-employed, aimless types that I was familiar with. This was a community ruined by the 'Spotted Owl Controversy' when I was a child. Employment was scarce for a long time, until we were saved by the windsurfing industry. At last we had something new to complain about--tourists. Slowly, the lure of tourism lucre spread the Gorge like rhizomes. Sail boards mutated into kite boards, orchards were shadowed by vineyards, real estate prices soared, and empty store fronts were painted brightly and stuffed with exhibits. This was the new type of people that inhabited my home: artists, adrenaline junkies, and wine tasters. If it weren't for the UAV company InSitu, I would say White Salmon has completely lost touch with reality. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, but for me, I don't fit in here anymore. Not that it matters. I never liked it here very much anyway. That's why, when my husband got a job in the Gorge, we stayed on the Oregon side.
That's the news from White Salmon, my hometown. Where the women wear brown, the men are tanned, and the children are few in number.

It's my evening relax time. Kids are in bed, Isaac and I are veging on our respective laptops. Tonight, however, the usual NPR podcast has been replaced with a Google tech talk. Before that it was a lecture given by His Majesty Richard Feynman. See what I have to put up with? Just kidding. I enjoy the enlightenment. Isaac says I'm a 'geek waiting to happen'.
The beautiful part of being a parent--if you slog through all the dirty and difficult parts of caring for a tiny human, you get the best smiles said tiny human has to offer. She may scream at me all night, but when she wakes up in the morning she will be all smiles and cuddles for no one but me. Gotta take the good with the bad.

When can I paint the floor?

Here is a list of the stuff that is on my mind.

Watering the Christmas tree.
Grocery shopping in the snow tomorrow.
This cookie is delicious.
What should I get so&so for Christmas?
Will my kids be obese within three years?
Will I stop being obese within three years?
Are my kidneys killing me?
There's a mess over there.
I forgot to read scriptures.
The bathroom is ugly.
How much longer till A starts school?
When will S start walking and stop bugging me?
Is the skin on D's thumb going to fall off?

As you can tell, there's a lot on my mind. My mind is not well designed for dealing with so much without getting skitterish. You know what's not on my mind? Maidenhair ferns. That's unfortunate, because I like maidenhair ferns. They are lovely plants that grow in lovely wet forests where no tree would ever fill his mind with silly froth like the aforementioned. Those trees are peacefully focused on sunshine, rain, and acid.
"Maidenhair fern" is a common name for the genus Adiantum. There are more than 200 fern species in this genus; they can be found in China, both Americas, and New Zealand. I had no idea it was so diverse. The species I am familiar with, which grows in our local temperate rainforest, is the five-fingered fern (A. pedatum). Here's a link to a picture:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Adiantum_pedatum_09905.JPG/800px-Adiantum_pedatum_09905.JPG
I've always wanted to transplant one into my own garden, but i think you need at least a Masters in Botany to keep it alive, it looks so delicate.

Lenten Rose

If you were to ask me what I am most interested in, outside of my family, I would say, plants. I like plants. They're my friends. Today I'm going to talk about Hellebores, aka Lenten Rose.
It's not really a rose. It has five 'petals' like a wild rose, but they're not even true petals. This plant has lied to me. I was also disappointed to find out that it's not native to the US. It's European. Despite all that, it's a cool plant. It blooms in the middle of winter, which is way cool because the middle of winter is bleak. The color of the blooms can appear rather bleak, unfortunately; most Hellebores have green petals. Some are a cool mottled pink. I like those.
It has historically been used in witchcraft for summoning demons. Ooooo, scary.

Podcasts

I posted links to my favorite podcasts on the side. They're all from NPR (National Public Radio). There's nothing like NPR to broaden your horizons, and all you have to do is listen. My favorite way to relax is with a mindless popcap game and a NPR show.
'Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me' is the only way I can take my dose of current events without gagging.
'Car Talk' hasn't actually taught me much about cars, but it's hilarity.
'Science Friday' helps me look cool in front of my husband's galactic intellect.

What I intend to blog about

The world doesn't need another hero, and the world doesn't need another blog about the messy life of a young mother. So I'm going to present things that help take my mind off of what I obsess over all day and night (feeding and cleaning up after my three darling tornadoes). I'm going to 'Look Up'.

When I was about 14, I went to a county fair with my sister. She is terribly afraid of heights, among other things, but she had her heart set on riding the Ferris wheel. I had never been on a Ferris wheel before. We got into a seat, or gondola, or swinging bench, whatever you call those things on the wheel, and up we went. I soon realized that I wasn't too fond of heights, either. As I gripped the bar and closed my eyes, I heard my sister telling me, "Look up! Look at the mountains over there! We can see the whole valley from here!" It seemed poignant to me that she was the one appreciating the view, she who was usually constrained by anxiety. She had overcome so much fear and baggage to see that view, so it became more beautiful to her. I looked up, and it was a lovely.

Nevermind that the following year she dragged me onto the Ferris wheel and had a panic attack that totally freaked me out. That story would ruin my point, so we'll ignore it.

My point is, look up, everybody! Release your mind from whatever you bog yourself down with. Stop pressing your head against that brick wall, you're not getting anywhere, anyway. Think about something completely different for a while, and maybe your brain will work better when it's rested.

This is my blog

Okay, I've started this blog. Finally. Here is the proof that I am blogging: I have written this post.