Thanksgiving at Mount Tamalpais

Thanksgiving was our one year anniversary of leaving Missouri. Yes, it has been a whole year already. We packed our every possession into a rental trailer and went to our wonderful friends for thanksgiving dinner. Wonderfully bitter sweet, it was to be the last time we would see close friends for a long time. After a delicious dinner we said our goodbyes and headed for the state line into a snow storm.


This thanksgiving we had much to be thankful for. Most especially, that I am still on this mortal coil. My brush with death weighed heavily on our first year here. The financial ruin of being off work for several months will keep us especially humble for years to come. I still see the sadness in my children's eyes sometimes.

This past thanksgiving we spent at church. It is a glorious place--God lives there. After a brief service many of us went to mushroom hunting at Mount Tamalpais water shed.


The kids hiked, played and, frolicked.

Earlier that morning there was a light rain and the woods were magical.
Here we are being instructed about the proper mushrooms to collect. Father Stephan is an expert mushroom hunter.


The trails were so beautiful. Keep up Rome there are mountain lions here...

These are Honey Mushrooms
.

The hike was about five miles maybe seven. Here we are at the top. Toly ran most of the way.


This is the top of this trail where we waited for the clouds to part and reveal the peak. Kassi and Rome flitted around like bundles of energy.


Tristan collecting thatching for a school project.


Just off the trail was quite steep.

But, that was where all the mushrooms were.

Father holding a huge bunch.


Tabitha spotted, hiked down and picked the prize of the day.

A huge lions mane.

After the hike dinner was fabulous, decadent beyond our current diet and much appreciated.

It was a perfect day.

soap making in the city

Our church has a bazaar coming up very soon. Our contribution was teaching soap making and making a bunch of soap. Tabitha put together a whole curriculum.

I made a bunch of soap molds the days leading up to the event.

They needed to greased up and put together.



father Stephan kept dropping in to see what was happening.

Kassi's Godmother sporting the latest in kitchen wear.

It was quite a production.

Not really something to eat.

mix until trace....

The pouring of the liquid soap.



Here is a bunch of cut soap from the day previous--an attempt to teach the whole process.

This soap is set and ready to cut.

Here I am at home cutting the soap made the the previous day at church.



I made this miter-box in Missouri.

vernal pools

Yesterday we went for a hike to some vernal pools in the Berkeley hills. Part of our homeschooling group organized this excursion. It was up hill both ways;)

I was carrying Rome on my back "paxie".

It was roughly a five mile hike. My legs are very sore today.

Tristan and Kassi got out their nature journals and drew the different plants and general landscape.
The trails through the area were cow trails. Toly had a great adventure.

The view was spectacular.

All the home school kids climbed the cattle gate and waited in silhouette for the adults tho catch up.

It was such a steep climb that I had to take several breaks.

Here I am standing on the edge of one of the mostly dry vernal pools.

There were lots of blooming plants. The purple stuff is a type of field mint.
Rome was fascinated by the huge cracks in the ground.

Everybody loves Rome.

This is about half of our group.

We plan to come back in the early spring when this place is allegedly teeming with life.

This seems like the deepest one.

Vernal pools in California

The school year has started

Tristan, Kassi and Toly have started school. Home-school funded under a charter school. Tristan has started foil fencing classes. Fencing is also known as physical-chess, a sport for the mind as well as the body. Tristan Loves it with a true love that only little boys can have for a sport that involves battling an opponent with a sword.

Kassi has started ballet. It is a serious ballet academy. She is a serious girl and embraces her responsibility as a potential ballerina with determination and focus.

Toly hasn't started any outside classes. Along with Kassi he is doing "teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons." He is only a little way behind Kassi. They are both on the cusp of reading.

I have been playing games with the kids. We mostly play crazy eights when it is all four kids and I. Rome mostly holds the cards and plays out of turn. He has fum anyway. I play kings-corners with just Kassi and Tristan. Tristan plays it so well. Between he and I it is merely a challenge of who has the better luck.

I have also been playing Monopoly with the three eldest. It is really helping with counting and place-value regarding money. Having been physically restricted for such a long time it changed the types of play I have with the kids. A few months ago we went to an estate sale where the couple obviously played bridge because they had many decks of cards. I bought over twenty beautiful collectors set decks, a domino set and other game related stuff for five dollars. Now we have plenty of decks of cards. I can let the kids play crazy eights alone and not worry about losses or destruction.

East Bay Depot for creative re-use
It is a wonderful store (toly calls them scrappy-shops) that sells donated supplies. some of the stuff is old and technologically replaced, offal from industry or just donated by businesses. It is a wonderland place for the artist type. Tabitha gets much of our school supplies there for pennies on the dollar. An example is, I bought a brand new monopoly set from 1972 for three dollars.

The best tool for the school year has been Paddy-the-ipad. A gift to the kids for the upcoming school year. Given that we use online resources for homeschooling extensively the computer has been constantly busy. We have been at this place where we need another computer desperately for a while. Another apple computer is out of the question since the financial ruin of 2011--we'll never waste another penny on microsoft even indirectly. We reluctantly settled for an Ipad. It has exceeded our every expectation and has become integral to our household overall. One caveat, no blogging from paddy. It is just too clunky from a browser interface. Blogger needs an app for that. Two words - angry birds... ...enough said.

I am mostly healed from the heart surgery. The only remaining recovery is muscle tone. I put on a little belly too. Laying around for two months will do that. We have been going to church very regularly which is saying something given Orthodox attendance expectations. I am officially converted to Orthodox, they sped up my Chrismation because of my impending heart surgery. Tabitha and the kids are still Catechumens for several more months. We live too far from St. Nicholas for our taste. The place is truly mystical, beauty for every sense oozes from every fiber of the place. To quote Sean Gleeson "God lives there."

happy birthday tristan

tristan is such a great boy. he is responsible beyond his years but still very much a fun loving boy.

gifts were a little shy this year since me being off work for the last 45 days. he is simply happy with what little he receives. it makes me proud that he is like that.
we got him dangerous book for boys.

a new charger for his Nintendo DSi. it is like a whole new toy for him. He and I went to Harry Potter 7 1/2 last night. he was so appreciative that he thanked me over a dozen time just on the short walk home from the theater. he glowed with appreciation. I'll never forget the beaming look in his eyes.

happy birthday rome

Here he is holding the flower he is named after Romneya

He is three, amazing and magical. Happy third birthday Romneya Martin Grey O'Melay!

Surgery Success

Hi, this is Tabitha, Karl's wife, updating.

Karl had open heart surgery yesterday morning and it was a success. The surgeon was able to repair Karl's mitral valve and replace his aortic valve with a bio-valve. Karl did very well, not even requiring transfusion. I waited at the hospital during the surgery and saw Karl soon after he was moved to the ICU. He looks pretty good, considering. I also visited him later in the day yesterday. He is experiencing a lot of pain, as one might expect, but the nurses say he is really strong (already off the ventilator and drinking on his own) and should feel a lot less pain by today. I will be visiting him this morning. At this time I do not have a room number for Karl and he is not able to accept many visitors in the ICU. Karl has been though an amazing ordeal. Our children have not seen him yet, that too must wait until he is settled into a recovery wing. 

The surgeon let me know that while everything went well, it was apparent by his heart that Karl desperately needed this operation. We are so glad to be on this side of it. Your hopes, help and prayers have been and will continue to be instrumental. 

Please contact me for more updates tomelay at gmail dot com . We don't know at this point how long Karl will be in the hospital. I will keep you updated as I know.


Love, Tabitha & Kids

Before the operation

Nearly there!