Two year olds

Reed has discovered whining. When he wants something now, his first mode of communication is via whine. It's really annoying, but I think it's a pretty normal stage for 2 year olds to go through. A book I read said that it's important to demonstrate to kids what whining sounds like, because they might not hear it themselves, so when he whines at me, I try whining back at him. He actually thinks it's really funny, and it seems to help, but I feel kind of cruel--like I'm making fun of him.

He really loves Caleb's guitar, and the other day, he wanted to get at the guitar on the bed. It's a big wooden bed that he can't climb up on, so he threw his arms up in despair and whined "guitaaaar." I said, "Reed, I don't hear your whiny voice, can you talk to me in your regular voice?" At this, he quieted down and said "guitar, ME?"

Well, at least it's an improvement. I'm not ready yet to start talking about issues of possession and how not everything in the world is "MINE." We'll get through the whiny phase first. He's awfully cute though.



He's going to be a musician like his dad and both grandpas.

This picture is blurry, but it shows how he likes to play slide guitar. Also, I swear that he owns more than one shirt. It's just coincidence that he's always wearing that shirt when I take photos.

Hillbilly Americana

Yesterday, Caleb, Reed, and I took a drive to Cathedral State Park in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. Cathedral State Park is located in Preston County, which is admittedly the redneck portion of northern West Virginia. As we were driving there, I was getting more and more nostalgic, because for the first time, West Virginia looked like Idaho to me. For one thing, the sun was shining.

It rains A LOT here. Morgantown's annual precipition is 43.2 inches. In contrast, Portland's annual precipitation is 37 and Seattle's annual precipitation is 39 inches. I would be lying if I didn't say that I've been a little peeved at Caleb for failing to mention this critical piece of information about the rain before we moved here--especially since, in the past, I had told him that I "could never live in Oregon because of the rain." However, he claims that he didn't remember it rains that much here, and I must say that West Virginia is lovely. I'm sure that has a lot to do with all of the rain, so I'm trying to look at the bright side.

So the sun was shining, and we were winding along the Cheat River, which is wide and clear just like a western river. In fact, it reminded me of parts of the Salmon river, and I felt very at home.

At one point, we passed by a tourist shop with a big sign that announced in red letters: MOLASSES, BUCKWHEAT FLOUR, MAPLE SYRUP, SOUVENIRS FROM EVERY STATE, LEATHER INDIAN MOCASSINS.... Well then, I got really nostalgic. When I was a kid, my family made the national park circuit, and we would often stop at places like that for ice cream. They usually looked like a Cracker Barrel, with lots of tacky souvenirs and an ice cream counter. I would always beg my mom to buy me an overpriced plastic Indian girl doll, and she would inevitably say no, but she would usually give me a dollar to spend, so I would pan for gold or buy a shiny rock or something like that.

The last time I was at one of those places was Loretta Lynn's Ranch in Tennessee where I bought an autographed keychain of a picture of Loretta Lynn. Love Always, Loretta Lynn.... it read. I had pretty high expectations for the kitsh, so I told Caleb we had to stop on the way back for an ice cream. I thought it would be fun to start a tradition with my own family.

When we pulled in, I wasn't disappointed. In the parking lot were tons of plastic animals. My favorite were little planters in the shape of baby lambs. I thought that this was going to be just like the places from my childhood. However, when we entered the store, after my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I realized it was nothing like I had anticipated. It wasn't a tourist trap at all. It was a locals hangout! There were tons of people packed in the place ordering fast food, and they were all staring at us. The souvenirs were crammed into a dirty corner with other, more functional things like baskets and milk. The floors were cement, and behind the touristy facad, the building appeared to be a converted warehouse.

Now, in theory, the fact that this was a locals hangout should have made it more interesting, but it didn't. The people there were REALLY staring at us. I felt very uncomfortable. I have a pretty high tolerance for hillbillies. I did grow up in Salmon, Idaho, after all, but these hillbillies looked just plain mean. We got in line to wait for our ice cream, but the line wasn't moving very fast, as the place was packed. The longer we waited there, the more uncomfortable I got. I finally said to Caleb, "let's just go." We got in the car, and Caleb told me that he was uncomfortable too. Then he promptly ate a half a bag of potato chips in the car. Apparently, thin people can emotionally eat too.

All that being said, Preston County is by far the prettiest part of West Virginia that I've seen, and Cathedral State Park is beautiful. It is a stand of ancient hemlocks, so thick and overgrown, that it's slightly dark inside of them even in full daylight. We had a wonderful day, and I'll post some pictures soon.

Married Life

Caleb and I have now been married for 3 years, which feels like forever and nothing, all at the same time. We celebrated our anniversary early in Greece at a place like this:

Now that we're back in the real world, we celebrated our anniversary by buying a screen door. It's not very romantic, I know, but useful. Hopefully, we won't have flies buzzing around now. I was starting to think I'd need to start making shoefly pie.

Here is a picture of our view from the front door. As you can see, West Virginia is very green in the summer.

Reed's favorite place to play is on the front porch (which needs a new coat of paint, I realize.) That will have to be another summer project.

I also made a Rhubarb pie for our anniversary with fresh Rhubarb from the Farmer's Market. It was quite lovely and tasty as well.
I guess we're real country folks now.