Thanksgiving

Our bookend boys: Avery and Sid. We have been enjoying the crisp fall weather and walking on the bike paths around our house.

The beautiful Masquetuck (one of our favorite places):

On Veteran's Day we visited Plimouth Plantation in Plymouth, MA. We got to see a Wampanoag descendant making a canoe. The Wampanoag would burn a fire in a tree log for 3 days, slowly scraping away the charred parts. When the boat is finished, it looks like the one Avery and Zeal are sitting in.

The Wampanoag would hang dried fish in the middle of their agricultural fields on these tall perches to attract birds of prey, which would scare away animal pests. Brilliant! The original scarecrow.

This is the view from the fort overlooking the English settlement. The original village was originally about 3 miles from this spot.

We also went to visit Pops (Craig Campbell, Christine's great uncle) and his daughter Dausha. Dausha runs an impressive horse riding program, and we got to feed the horses with her. 

Dausha is on the far left.

Pops will be 100 years old in February. He still lives at home, in a house he built (and then repurchased many years later). Every visit is such a gift for all of us. He is still very sharp and connected to the world.

Nantucket Thanksgiving photos:

And we have excitedly begun the winter crafts. 

Dreamcatcher by Christine, spiral weaving by Avery.

Dragons on Halloween

Happy Halloween! 

This year, Avery wanted to be a dragon and Zeal a mountain lion. Quickly, though, Zeal changed his tune in order to join big brother. This made costume making much easier on Mama Dragon. 

These little dragons are trying their first dragonfruit for Halloween. 

Yes, it's 5:30 a.m., our usual rise and shine time.

Nantucket town is quiet, but certainly knows how to provide Halloween flavor.

Avery and I attended an evening of spooky stories outside the old gaol (jail). It was very scary, complete with zombies and even an old true tale about a ghost on the island who would rock in a chair in a baby's bedroom at night. (Guess who now falls asleep in his parents' bed???)

The boys were very helpful with the costume design and execution, though it was very much a parent-led project. The boys pressed the sewing machine pedal, did the paper mache and the mask painting. 

Then there is Papa's costume. Chris did all the planning and construction of this creepy optical illusion:

Can you find Chris? Monkey or mover?

The view from the house after the parade was deliciously beautiful but somehow, on this night, a tad bit spooky.

Additional shots of dragons in action:

Cranberry Bogs

We live on an island of bogs... cranberry bogs. It's one of four native edible berries of Nantucket (the others being blueberry, blackberry, and fox grape). We spent half a day surrounded by a beautiful crimson harvest. 

The boys are "sorting"out the crummy berries on this old fashioned conveyor belt.

The bogs are flooded and then a machine jostles the plants to release the berries to float on the surface. (Please excuse my technical language.)

Then the berries are vacuumed up by a long flexible hose and sprayed into this truck.

These folks have the seemingly meditative job of raking the berries into the hose vacuum.

They are a tad sour but delicious when baked in pumpkin bread. 

Boston Bound

We are so lucky to be only a ferry ride and short car trip to Boston. We have very close friends there we usually get to see only twice a year. But now we can see Rachel, Jeff, Jules, and Calvin every month. We left after school on Friday and took the ferry to Hyannis.

Sid is getting very comfortable in front of the camera.

Rachel and Jeff fixed up this magical house a few years ago. They have a sweet lifestyle that we documented (read on) so that when we return to Oakland, we can try some.

Ferns in jars.

A beautiful office flanked by plants and books.

Repurposed wood as art (oh, a lots of fresh bread!)

Two L-shaped couches put together to make a U. Brilliant.

Huge indoor greenery.

Little placards with the name and significance of the plants.

And you can grow lettuce heads from the base of yesterday's lettuce. Who knew?

These are yardlong beans and they really are.

A playhouse that is decorated by the kids in chalk.

Then we went to a Harvest Festival at Rachel's school. Zeal was delighted to finally get to ride a horse. Avery was a little more trepidatious (his fear of heights played a big role here).

I had the privilege of cutting Jules's hair.

We went to the audubon cemetery, which was beautiful. We climbed a tower, played in quickmud, and collected acorn tops for our gnomes. 

This is called "Two Babies Up" by Joanie Sears. It's also called "Christine needs physical therapy."

And then home again. The boys ate sardines on the return ferry to the dismay of our seatmates.

See you soon, Jules and Calvin. Thanks for playing!