Just in case you missed it in the slide show below.

Cousins at the Creek
Lithia Park, Ashland, Oregon

What to do with all this zucchini?!?


This one's for Natalie Wermus (welcome to the blog, Nat!). She's got cucumbers coming out of her ears and I'm hooking her up with a soup recipe to die for.

Curried Zucchini & Cilantro Soup

1 medium-size onion
2 T olive oil
About 2 lbs zucchini, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 t to 1-1/2 T curry powder
1 qt buttermilk
2 c fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/4 c minced cilantro
Plain nonfat yogurt (optional)
Lime wedges or slices
Cilantro sprigs
Salt
Pepper

Cut onion into quarters; then thinly slice quarters crosswise. Set aside.

Preheat a 4- or 5-qt pan over medium-high heat until rim of pan is hot-to-the-touch. Add oil and wait for about 1 more minute. Add onion, zucchini, and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft (about 20 minutes).

Stir curry powder into vegetable mixture (the more curry you use, the hotter the soup's flavor will be). Cook, stirring until curry powder begins to stick to pan bottom (about 5 minutes). Add buttermilk, broth, and minced cilantro; stir to scrape any browned bits free from pan bottom.

Bring soup almost to a boil; remove from heat. Ladle soup into bowls; top with yogurt (if desired), lime, and cilantro sprigs. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Makes 6 servings
Prep: About 25 minutes
Cook: About 30 minutes

Quote(s) of the Day and the Essence(s) of Cool


We're at the dinner table listening to Lenny Kravitz sing "Rock N Roll Is Dead" and Aubrey says, "This sounds like it could be on Dirty Jobs."

You might have to know the Dirty Jobs theme song and be part of Mike Rowe's fan club to get that one, but she is so right. Same twangy bass sound and rhythm. (If you're curious, check out what a babe/dude Mike is here. Our whole family loves this guy. Karen, you have to read that article -- his reflections on guys in opera are hilarious.)

Anyway, a beat later in Lenny's rockathon, Dane says, "You know what I want to be when I grow up?" He's got a glimmer in his eye and he's nodding his head: "An actress and a rock star."

Really? Actresses are female, buddy.

High-five.

Of course, I'll be encouraging him to be an act[whatever], a rock star, and his first ever career idea, a paleantologist -- if I can swing it....

If he sees this clip below, though, he might never look at another dinosaur.

Here's the smooth, cool Lenny Kravitz, folks. On Letterman.



So you see Mike Rowe, you see Lenny Kravitz, and you have to ask of each of them: just how much cool can one man have?

bUddiEs


Both kids are adjusting well here in Ashland. They're making new friends (Logan, Avery, Paije, Ella, etc.), having a blast with their cousins, and thriving in school and on their sports teams.

They still miss their old friends, though. Aubrey often mentions her little pal, Gia, and has spoken with her on the phone and sent emails. She's also emailed Ms. Perez and invited her to come for a visit. (And she might! shhhh.....)

But Dane really, really misses his best buddy, Josh. He's written notes and drawn pictures -- for "Josh Skywalker from [his] buddy, Dane Skywalker" -- and he's spoken to him on the phone as well.

Since school started, Dane has told me nearly every day that he feels like he could cry when he thinks of Josh. In class, he tells me he just has to keep it together.

One day in the van, though, he really did lose it. Really bad. He just broke down sobbing during a quiet moment when we were on our way to pick up Mick from work. When he'd gathered himself a little bit, we talked about it, and he came up with this: "Mom, the only time I don't feel like crying about Josh is when I'm with Daddy."

Awww...

Quote of the Day

Aubrey tells me she has to go to the bathroom while Dane's at soccer practice, so she runs across the park toward the facilities. Halfway there, she turns around and starts running back toward me, yelling, "I DIDN'T REALLY NEED TO GO TO THE BATHROOM - I JUST HAD TO FART!"

That's my girl.

Overheard...

Dane: Sometimes a book can make me cry.
Logan: Me, too.
Dane: Do you want to know what book makes me cry?
Logan: Yeah.
Dane: The Giving Tree.
Logan: Oh, me, too.


Well, thank you, Shel Silverstein. Me, too.



Check out the review I wrote of it a couple years ago at this link. For the record, I'd UP it to 5 now. After hearing my boy talk about being moved like that, it deserves no less.

I FOUND MY family IN
SOME old YEARBOOKS!

Dane Reynolds, 1956

Aubrey Reynolds, 1964

Mick Reynolds, 1976

Anjie Seewer, 1952


I found OTHER FAMILY AND friends, TOO!

Shelby Combs, 1954

Mike Reynolds, 1950

Russell Kai Reynolds, 1976

Karen Urlie, 1960

Janice Coltom, 1968

Quote of the Day

Aubrey with a bloody nose - "I kind of like what this feels like."

HOUSTON COUSINS FINE THROUGH HURRICANE

Last time a hurricane (Katrina) threatened her home, Mick's cousin Michelle got smart, grabbed her boyfriend, split town, hit Vegas, and got hitched.

Now the happy couple lives in Houston and with a new threat to their home (Ike) I wondered what snazzy plan they had up their sleeves this time.

Cameron (husb.) wrote back to fill me in. His subject heading: Yikes It's Ike! I take his opening line to mean that if I can share his letter with all the Reynolds, I can share it with all my thousands of readers (likely one and the same).

Here it is:

Anjie,

You can go ahead and forward this to all the other Reynolds since I don't have the addresses...

We are doing absolutely fine. Our house survived the storm Friday night, and other than a few downed limbs in the yard we escaped unscathed. It was a dicey night. A tornado actually touched down across the street and took out a couple pines and a very large oak tree and landed on some of the neighbors houses. I feel truly blessed to have done so well considering.

Starting at 2 am we got hit by the east side of the eye wall and it traveled due North with wind at 60 mph gusting to 90 mph from 2am until 8 am... Needless to say I didn't sleep much. The next day I went outside and our street was flooded until about 10 in the morning. Michelle was on a girls trip to Napa valley this weekend and left on friday morning, and I have been on my own for the duration. The evening after the storm was a nasty night. 100% humidity and about 85 degrees with no power. I slept with all 4 bedroom windows open and no screens... I think if it is possible to overdose on mosquito bites I would have found out. If it wern't for the whisky I would not have slept a wink! I woke up to a thunderstorm that dumped more rain on us than the hurricane, and the street was flooded again. I met Tom in Lake Charles yesterday morning and he gave me his generator, a small AC unit and a case of water which has been a life saver. I slept with AC last night and it was beautiful! I used the generator to run the dishwasher and the washing machine today, as well as power the fridge. It felt so luxurious...

Michelle's flight was rescheduled for Wednesday, and she is trapped in a posh hotel in San Fransico, getting mani-peti's and wined and dined...

But I am well and the house is fine. Thank goodness fot the weather change. The temperature has dropped by 20 degrees. We went from a high of 95 on Saturday to 75 today which is amazing after a hurricane...

Thanks for the concern...

Cameron...

DANE IN A BOX

I am a ro-bot. waddle waddle waddle away.

Guess who walked to school alone today?

It's Back To School with

Miss Nancy's Class in the Ashland Tidings!

See if you can find Aubs...
To read the article click here.

We Are the WALKER WOLVES!
first day of school update

Can't find the device to upload photos yet, so I'll have to just give you some text.

First of all, let me assure you that the first day outfits were grand. Nothing fancy, but grand in that they were our first elementary clothes that weren't uniforms! (The verdict's still out on whether that's good or bad.)

Dane wore running shoes, khaki skate shorts and a red striped polo. He also sported a sweet new haircut Pops gave him yesterday morning.

Aubrey wore her old fav, the old Hello-Kitty-face-in-sequins t-shirt, a turquoise fleece sweatshirt, a denim skirt, and her Converse hightops. That felt really cold, though (even though it got hot later), so she wore pink valour sweats under the jeans skirt. Braided ponytail in back with rubber band above and rubberband below the braid. Yes, she was that specific when I told her she had to let me do her hair.

Aubrey's in First Grade w/ Miss Nancy. Aubrey came home saying she'd noticed a girl named Paije/ "She's cute, Mom." Of course. Well, that's one new friend!

Dane's in Second Grade w/ Inge. He said he played with a cool kid named Zane today. The Dane/Zane rhyme wasn't lost on him, either. So, there's another new friend.

We walked to school and met the crossing guards, who make it a point to learn all the walkers' names. Crossing Guard Pam told me that parents often let their kids walk to school solo b/c she gets them across Siskiyou Blvd and watches them down to Crossing Guard Linda (or whatever her name is), who then sees them across Ashland St and on to school. Dane thought that sounded really cool, but I said No Way Today, Buster. At least not for a while -- for Mom's sake.

After school, cousin Barritt (grade 3) and Jude (age 4) came over and played with Dane; Aubrey went to Gymnastics class at the Y with Indi. After Gymnastics, those two stayed and played here, too. Lots of hot tubbin', Polly Pockets, and role playing.

Aubrey loved gymnastics.

I think everybody's going to bed happy tonight.

Ahhhh....

Mick's been in Eugene all week for the second week in a row, training for his new job. Here's what he had to say on the phone the other night:

This job is sweet, Anj. I've got assistants cleaning up all my messes! I do the work on one mouth, an assistant comes and takes me by the elbow, saying, 'Dr. Reynolds, we need you in the next room now,' and I leave all my instruments just where they are and move on to the next task. No clean-up required.

Yeah, it doesn't get any better than that, does it? I warned him not to try that at home, though.

WE NOW LIVE IN ASHLAND!

Yeah, this means I'll need to change the blog title, but I'm going to have to think about it. Don't want to come up with something like Sausalito Sketches. Don't get me wrong, it did the trick, but I'm ready to graduate from a place-oriented alliteration to something else. Ashland Adventures or It's Ashland Ah'ight! aren't going to cut it. See what I mean? (Your suggestions are welcome and will possibly be respected.)

Anyway, this'll be brief for today, since I'm still unpacking this place. Just an FYI, though: that photo above is part of the Elizabethan Theater for the Ashland Shakespeare Festival -- and I have a mini version of that in my back yard. Literally! Our rental house has a little Shakespeare cottage out back that was the Shakespeare booth at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. From there, it came to the Ashland Shakespeare Festival, and from there it somehow ended up in my back yard. Guess who has a new writing cottage??? I'll post photos and other descriptions of the whole house soon, but that' s a little tantalizing tidbit for now.



In other news...

Dane spent last week in YMCA Basketball camp while Aubrey stuck by my side. (She didn't have any interest in basketball.) I wasn't sure how Dane would like it, since he's never really played except at MiniHawks or in P.E. -- but here's what he had to say about it on his way to the second day of camp:

D: Mom, how long is camp?
A: It's from 9 to noon every day, so that's three hours a day.
D: Boy, yesterday it felt like it lasted ONE MINUTE.

He's already asking be on a basketball team after soccer season.* I think he might even get a hoop for his birthday. We live on a quiet street where we can set one up. And it's likely no one will steal it! (As they might in Marin City. Yes, we do a lot of comparing to Marin City here, with a surprising mix of pros and cons).

Another interaction:

Living by the cousins is thrilling for Dane and Aubrey (and us). Cousin Jude, age 4, was over the other day playing with Dane while the girls were all still at Kai and Dana's.

Dane and Jude came to me and Dane says, "Mom, you know what I just told Jude?" (Jude's standing next to him nodding and repeating occasional words Dane says.) "Jude just said we're cousins, and I told him we're more like brothers. We're brothers, Mom. We're like brothers, aren't we, Jude?" Jude nods vigorously and says, "Yeah, me and Dane brothers." And then they talk a little bit between them, because they have to establish that, yeah, they're actually cousins, too, so Dane adds, "Well, it's really like we're 50% cousins, 50% brothers and 50% friends."

That's right, boys...


*Today I signed Dane and Aubrey up for Fall Soccer teams through the Y.

MASTER SACHMO

Listening to Louis Armstrong's What A Wonderful World the other day, Aubrey said, "I love this song. It's beautiful -- is Yoda singing it?"

Apparently she's not the first to make that connection...

I MIGHT NOT BE MUCH OF A COOK...
but I like to eat. So, here's something the kids and I cooked up the other day in our attempt to add vegetarian selections to our lives.

THE RECIPE
Sweet Potato and Fruit Medley
8 servings, egg-free

5 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed
2 1/2 Tbs. butter
2 bananas, sliced
1 apple or pear, cored, peeled and chopped
1 Tbs. grated fresh ginger
1 cup chopped dried apricots (6 1/2 oz.)
6 Tbs. thawed frozen apple juice
concentrate
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 475 [degrees] F. Pierce each sweet potato in several places. Place on sheet of foil and bake until tender, 45 to 50 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in large skillet, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add bananas, apple and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes. Transfer to large bowl; set aside.

3. Remove sweet potatoes from oven. When cool enough to handle, peel and slice. Add to banana mixture along with apricots, apple juice concentrate and lemon juice and toss gently to mix.

4. Spoon mixture into 11 x 7-inch glass casserole, cover with foil and bake until hot, about 35 minutes. Serve right away for best results.

PER SERVING: 177 CAL.; 2G PROT.; 4G TOTAL FAT (2G SAT. FAT) 35G CARB.; 10MG CHOL.; 49MG SOD.; 4G FIBER
COPYRIGHT 2000 Vegetarian Times, Inc. All rights reserved.

THE REVIEW
I LOVED it -- it was like eating pie it was so sweet. It had great texture to it, too, between the sweet potato rounds and the dried apricot bits. Aubrey DIDN'T like it. For probably the same reasons I loved it. This kid doesn't even like jam. Mick LIKED it. And Dane gave it a thumbs SORT-OF up.

THE FINE PRINT
Don't eat too much at a time. It'll make you gassy -- at least that's what I, um, heard. And don't snack on the dried apricots while you make it. That only offers predictable repercussions as well.

SHE GOT TO GO TO GIA'S PARTY, AFTER ALL

Aubrey has handled the delay to move to Ashland this summer better than all of us. A move-out date of August 15 means she got her big wish: she got to go to her best pal Gia's birthday party.

It's importance? Well, one morning in May, I learned it. As we were getting ready for school, Aubrey asked me, "Is August before June, Mom?"

I'd quickly answered, "Nope. You know that! You know... June, July, August?" and winked at her and kept brushing my teeth, or something trivial (oops, sorry Mick) like that.

At that point, Aubrey just crumpled onto the floor, sobbing. With huge tears streaming down her face she'd cried, "Then I'm going to miss Gia's birthday!" (That's when we thought we might have to move in June.)

I knelt down beside her shuddering little bod and held her for a while like that, realizing that at that moment she was really grasping our imminent move and what it would mean to say goodbye to close friends. It even made me feel sad to think of what it would mean to leave.

So, anyway, it turns out she didn't have to miss the party, and she/we have been able to say heartfelt goodbyes to all our friends with this extra time. In fact, we've said goodbye to several people several times, but that's just fine by us.

A Bone Thrown

Just so folks don't think I've stopped blogging completely, here's a mini-update:

We're saying leisurely goodbyes to friends down in Marin in these last weeks before our move to Ashland.

Last night I got to say goodbye to the Writing Mamas over snacks and wine after salon, earlier in the week we said goodbye over meals to Scott/Toni/Jade, Kelly/Richard/Maya/Emily/?, and Celine/Leandro/Vincent/Amelie.

The kids have had chances to play with (say goodbye to) their pals, Nick, Mia, Josh, Abby, Makayla, Gia, and Jade.

And today, Jacob, Dane, Josh and Mick are at the batting cages, while Aubrey and I are headed to the library, Starbucks, and Ross to buy a birthday gift for Gia.

In the meantime, the apartment is about half-packed, if I had to guess -- and lots of excess has been taken to the Good Will or to the dumpster. That makes me very happy.

That's all for now...