alpenglow

Alpenglow
written by Gary Marks © 1976 Arewea Co. ASCAP

Running away like the sun setting cold

with only a remembrance of alpenglow

and its hundreds of miles between.

*

There are times I’m the clouds

and times I’m the sun

but it always just depends upon the afterglow

and that's when I look to you

*

Colors of a windy evening

fade into the mist of distant blues.

*

All of the colors I've felt from you

seem a mere reflection of the ones that don't shine through.

And they've finally darkened you.

*

Colors of a windy evening

fade into the mist of distant blues.

*

Running away like the stars growing old,

with only a remembrance of alpenglow.

And its hundreds of miles between.
*

This is one of my favorites of Gary's older songs. He wrote it when he was in his 20's.

Click here to hear: http://www.garymarksmusic.com/gary-marks-music.html#

go to "Listen to Gary's other CDs", then cick on "Gary Marks Anthology I (1972 - 1976)"

second song (Alpenglow)

school harvest festival

Annabel, years ago at age 5, once remarked "What if the whole world were a carnival? Wouldn't that be great?"

She is pictured above at the school's "Harvest Festival," after a pie eating contest in which she joined to get the pie, not to win. She ate slowly, on purpose, happily finishing last.

We all went to the festibal. (as Shawn called it) It was great fun and my favorite part was the creative projects that the parents came up with. And someone gave me 2 scrip and I bought an enormous papaya from one of the teacher's family farm. It was as long as a football.

simplicity

I have decided to take advantage of the daily sunshine and warmth combined with the very little rain where I live - it's the ideal climate for line drying clothes. With the drastic increase in electric bills recently and more awareness of global warming and CO2 pollution, it feels good to do this. I am surprised at how much I love the entire process, the smell of freshly washed damp clothes, hanging them in the morning, taking them down later in the day, the fresh smell the clothes now have from drying in the sun. It brings me outside more and makes me feel connected to the rhythms of life, like watering my garden by hand versus relying on our sprinklers. I feel like I am part of another century when I am doing this activity.

And our new towels are really fluffy, with no need for dryer time!

I am also still hand spraying the tulsi plants I started by seed. They are coming along. We counted 122 today. Not bad for my first nursery.

Thanks Jilly and Heidi for the inspiration to go back to the clothesline. I will never go back to line drying unless I have no choice.

green screen photo shoot

Sky did some modeling when she was younger, but for Annabel this was her first time. Both girls were photographed for Gamekids, a production company they have joined. They got to learn about the green screen, which is used so that different backgrounds can be inserted later. A professional, their director, took photos and then afterwards he let me take a few with my camera.

an hour at the beach with my little guy

we happened upon this

photo by Shawn

beach combing

autumn memory

it's fall

it's fall

it's beautiful fall

the trees are letting go

getting ready to sleep away

the long winter's nights

we play

we play

in the leaves we play

while there still is time

and the ground is soft

and not yet cold

we jump into the leaves that fell

a nest

a bed

for our dear head

we love the way

these leaves will fall

they'll dry

and crumple

get trampled

or blown

to make the earth

for new life to begin

in spring

girls, hula hoops, a boy and a kite

the garden begins

New plants. New art supplies. A new book. New photos to look at. There's nothing better.

I have planted several new plants. Strawberries in both a pot and the ground. Watermelon. Nasturtiums. Two types of peppers. Swiss chard. Several herbs. More's a comin!

Oh,and by the way, they are growing in the new compost.

a simple gift

...from my son, freshly picked from our hibiscus bushes in the yard. What a sweet boy. Here he is in his favorite shirt we got him this summer. He wore it every day for a straight month. Guess what his favorite color is?

thrifting

OK, I'll admit it. I love thrift shops. It's in my blood. Just yesterday I got some inspiration to do some crafting with my kids. I was thinking, "I need to get a bunch of buttons, especially vintage ones, and fabric scraps..." But where? I thought I'd look on Craigslist, maybe post an ad for a mom looking for crafting items.

Today I went into our local Salvation Army, intending to be there just for a few minutes. Well, that turned into an hour. I found a great wooden box to store items for Shawn's new art table, two white linen shirts, various handmade ceramic pieces, including one with a crackle glaze, beautiful colored glass pieces, a hand thrown butter bowl, a box of worry dolls, and these adorable fabric buttons.

I'm still going to place that ad on Craigslist. It has been fun, decorating for fall, and hunting for Christmas decorations. This is the first year we have what I am calling a seasonal "nature table." We don't really have seasons here, but I am bringing the seasons to us, because I miss them.

garfield and bruce

I promised Sky that on the last day of vacation she could choose what to do. She had been recording much of the time and missed our trip to the forest. She wanted to return to our old neighborhood upcountry to hunt for wild guavas and and feed the herd of goats and few horses. So we packed some snacks and apples for the horses, and headed to the country. When we arrived, there were only two goats. But that was fine with the kids. Sky named them -- Garfield was the white one, because he was a tad greedy.

Afterwards we had a nice lunch, got rained on, and then ate in the car, singing Elton John songs and listening to Sky's rough mixes all the way down the mountain. We finished with some quick clothing shopping at our favorite local thrift store, in our big city, where we found Halloween costumes and some clothes for our upcoming trip to chilly fall California!

tulsi harvest

I helped a friend who lives nearby and has an established tulsi (holy basil) garden. We harvested the plants, washed them and then plucked the leaves for teas and tinctures we are helping to create. The kids helped us. We all munched on some leaves and seeds. I love the tender young seeds best. They are a bit bitter but they feel so good for you when you eat them fresh.

walkin' in the forest

Some friends, some baskets for gathering pinecones and mosses, a few walking sticks, and the magic of the forest...Yes, there are a couple of forests on our island. And for this we are grateful.

into the studio she goes

Sky and Gary have found a new engineer to record her newest album with. He is in our town. His name is Zen. So far, it is working really well. Zen is good with Skylar. Gary oversees everything. Today was day two and she recorded three songs - vocals and piano. She works quite quickly. It's a good thing. She has ten songs to record!

ten things i'm loving right now...

1. All of my children's creative ideas and where they go with them. Here Annabel is painting a seed pod that the kids like to make into boats. She's still in jammies at 11 am, on school break. Shawn is really into building with legos, and Sky is gone all days this week full on recording CD #3.

2. The inspiration to make yummy things to eat...and the fact that my 12 year-old is behind it, and does it almost all herself. Reminds me of how I was at that age.

3. My husband's last album, A Whisper Can Change the World...specifically his songwriting and the arrangements. http://www.garymarksmusic.com/

4. That just yesterday I purchased our airplane tickets to northern California for our November trip!! I am loving that we are going on a rejuvenating retreat. And that we are bringing Annie! (our sitter from a neighbor island)

5. The flexibility and love between these girls. They switched rooms. Sky now has the larger one. Here they are trying to move a mattress.

6. A blog I have discovered called Soule Mama. In fact I am stealing the "ten things" idea from her. http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/. I so appreciate her photography, her heart and the charm.

7. My budding actress, age 9, who wants to win an Oscar, and sings to me at night before bed, asking for feedback.

8. That our son is learning to read and write. Here is his very first letter to me, which I glued into a book I have made of written reflections about his life. Now he is writing real words with the characteristic sprawling script -- so cute. Also I love the hilarious things he says... (totally seriously)"Mommy, this is vantastic. You won't believe it!" and "It tastes good with maple syrup. That's what oatmeal is all about."

9. Facebook. I admit it. I love finding old friends and seeing all of the unique categories my friends fit into, posted videos of old high school friends in rock bands, photos of people's kids, etc. Annabel loves doing the applications (playing games) where we actually raise money for preservation of the oceans, the rainforest and also to help the poor in developing countries.

10. All of the 3 books I am working on at once. I love that I need lists to keep all of the editing straight. I love that the ideas keep flowing with little effort. Now if I just had more time. But I know that will come.

strawberry lemon lime sorbet

This is what happened after a friend gave us a bunch of homegrown lemons & limes, and I left the kids with a simple idea to make lemonade. They sweetened it with agave nectar. Yum!

october break