Make the World a Better Place - please.

Last night, falling asleep, I drifted off to the yipping and yapping of coyotes across the river, sounding like a big pack barking away. How lucky I am to live on the edge of the woods on the edge of a river, trees all around. Some nights the white-tailed deer wander the streets chomping on the hosta like maniacal midnight gardeners leaving walkways and flower beds with so many bad haircuts...

Nature all around us, and me as Troop Camper for Brownie Girl Scouts gets me searching for easier ways to stay comfy outside. My list includes mattresses, packing gear, etc.; my latest search is for some nesting camping pots, for Girl Scouts and for sailing. Funny, “maybe the girls would like this” runs through my head as I read about a museum exhibit about fashion, and “how could we change this for a first grade Brownie to be able to do it?” making pancakes for Sunday breakfast. This cookgear search is no different - ostensibly the pots are for lightweight gear for sailing on our boat, but my mind is really working on packing for the first grader trip in October.

As a recruitment tool for Girl Scouting, I started collecting articles about children while I was reading the Sunday news, thinking of somehow working the articles into presentations somehow – and then I remembered one of those horrible things that I know as a grown-up and must face, like it or not. I put off doing many unpleasant actvities but I have to take care of this as soon as possible.

Our Girl Scouts, the teen group and the Brownies that I mentor, both have collected cookies and written cards to a couple of men overseas to share with their troops far from home. One has come home for good, unfortunately not the way we had hoped. Since the one returned was the nephew of a co-worker, we had seasonal updates on his status, and therefore a direct notice of our communal loss – I believe his family’s grief must be devastating, given how I feel having just a passing acquaintance. How do I tell the mom who has our last few boxes to mail that our soldier is deceased? The world is not small enough.

The Sunday news included a story about a cemetery where an alley of trees is labeled with the names of those lost in Iraq. Quiet comtemplation of those brave souls is the focus there – although I think the author of the article just didn't express the sentiments carefully, adding these phrases that set me shaking my head: “the every growing alley…is just a part of life” and “trying on somebody else’s grief” – I have my own grief from the war even though I am not related to anyone who has died: we disrespect ourselves, we minimize our collective needs, by thinking the people who suffer are the parents and sisters and brothers and close friends – if you read about a death, an injury, a close call, and you are horrified: that is your grief. That is your reaction to our choice to start this war in Iraq. That grief is your own and that horror will lurk in you. End the war, please, I have had enough now, thank you very much.

I don't have the stress of weekly Girl Scout meetings these days, due to the season. During the summer, I do not connect to Girl Scouts except through leader meetings and the girls (my girls) leaving for camp. This weekend the birds were the main family entertainment, between the hourly poking of Luce to get her closer to “packed” on the ready-for-camp scale.

I baked a pie yesterday so Little Green had a great treat tonight – birds love seeds and berries and anything with fat, so the pie was her FAVORITE. Blackberry/apple pie with No-Fail Pie Crust. The blackberries, you see, have not only juicy, sweet outsides, but also little seeds inside!

Do you want the pie recipe? You have to have blackberries and mulberries.

The little bird expressed delight in her constant discoveries in her teaspoon of pie – nibble, nibble, snip – seed! Yum! Pets make for simple enjoyment, both for them in enjoying the simplest pleasures, and for us watching them. Imagine a little bird, marching left and right on the back of her chair at the table. She’s young, her legs don’t quite work elegantly yet. Her bowl sits neatly into the top of a coffee can – just the right height for a baby bird. Bird dinner is a scoop into their bowls of whatever isn’t too fatty from our dinner. She tosses what she doesn't like - he pushes it to the side (his bowl is bigger!).

Finally, after weeks of packing, we drove our baby to camp. Yeah! Since Luce is off at camp, we can eat anything! Indian food is on the list for this week, and tonight we had pizza. Luce doesn’t like mushrooms, generic pizzas, anything with spices, jalapenos, most beans, brown rice – well, you get the point. The only thing Big One won’t eat is soy products – she’s fine with tofu, but any faux-foods are a no-go. Can’t stomach the soy taco “meat” though she does try to eat it if I serve it.

Tonight I pan-fried chicken breast, served with yolk-less egg noodles and mesclun mix. Very healthy. Though the world is not perfect, we work hard to be able to stay here as long as possible!