Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Noodlie-Doodlie


The Palm Six, Living in Bemidji






I just made a really yum scrum peach and blueberry cobbler.  I’ve been dreaming of peaches for two plus years.  Crates of peaches are being sold in a beat up van that sits in the parking lot right next to my parent’s shop.  The same guy, the same beat up van, not the same peaches (but similar tasting peaches), the same parking lot, for as long as I can remember.  I love the steady-on practices that unfold in the midst of our transition.

It seems appropriate for some reason to blog today.  First day of school, I guess.  Ani, James and Sydney all made their way into Schoolcraft Learning Community.  It’s a charter school out by my parent’s house.  Nothing, other than lakes and woods, are out by my folks - except Concordia Language Villages. Which, on the property of their French Camp, houses the charter school during the school year.  We feel grateful for the five minute drive to the small school in the woods.  I thought for the last month or so that we would be out at the school that I went to as a kid, which would be a bit trippy.  But this opportunity came along, and noodlie-doodlie, to Schoolcraft we go.






I’ve only been away from Bemidji for 15 years, but coming back as a resident-in-limbo does catch me off guard sometimes.  Okay, most days.  Today, I was grocery shopping at the same grocery store that my family has shopped at for ages, and I ran into the mom of a friend that I grew up with.  Barb was the first stay at home mom that I ever knew.  And back in the day, stay at home mom’s were a bit rare.  I kind of had a moment in the grocery store today - not having any clue when I was snatching cookies out of her freezer 25 years ago that I would be a stay at home mom as well.  Or, in both Ani and James’ classes, they have buddies that are the sons and daughters of good friends of mine that I grew up with.  Or, Jayson and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary by going canoeing of Lake Bemidji, a lake that I played on since I was a kid.  The contrast of coming back from India, a place that was so foreign to us, to place that was my home for all of my growing up years, is all a bit foreboding.  

I’ve been making photo albums of our time in India for each of the kids.  I do not hesitate to tell you that I have weeped with every child as I look back on who they were when we first boarded the plane to who they are now.  I have been kind of avoiding the task of the needed photo albums, in part because I am rubbish at making photo albums, in part because I emotionally could not muster the energy to pick out 20 pages of pics that best describe each child’s life.  But here I am, both cursing my horrific inabilities and sniffling through the process.  Three and half down, and the other half of Jovie’s will be done in the coming nights. 



First Days in India for The Palm Six




Jayson heads down to Minneapolis tomorrow for the rest of the week.  His goal is to be down three days a week, every week for the month of September.  70% of jobs are found through networking, so noodlie-doolie, to networking we go.  He’s really been hard at it for the last two months.  Every month is ramped up another notch.  We still stand with hope and courage that a job is just around the corner.  Most days we stand that way, it would be untrue of me to not tell you I do have my moments of slum-bummin’ it, that’s for sure.  The peach and blueberry cobbler tastes that much sweeter in those moments, which I am grateful for.

On a separate, side note, thanks to all of you for your cheers for me to keep on writing.  Along with the comments on the blog, I also got a nice round of fun emails from you all.  Thank you, thank you.  That was not my intent in posing that question to you all, but thanks nonetheless.  I am going to keep on blogging.  But a few changes will happen.  We are not going to keep on emailing you when I have a new post.  There are about 400 people that read the blog and only 40 plus that are signed up through the blog to automatically receive it.  So, Jayson is going to type out below about how to subscribe to the blog, so you can receive an email through the blogging service when I do blog.  I think I will shorten my blogs as well, try to keep them weekly again, and I have no idea what I am going to write about, but I do want to write, so noodlie-doodlie, to writing I go.


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7 comments:

Julie Frizzell said...

noodlie-doolie? is this something i just don't know about tarrah, or did you make it up? cute. =) & somehow i missed your last blog...i would have commented," if you stop blogging, i'm going to...i don't know, but it would have been good, I it would indicate that you'd better keep on blogging. =) o.k...it's late, i'm tired, & time to get some shut-eye before denver boy gets up!
love hearing from you here...night...jules

Natalie said...

I have your blog on my dashboard so when I log in every day, you're there. I have to tell you, I gave a very loud (inward) YIPPEE!!! when I saw this post and subsequent info that you were going to keep writing. I'm so glad. Noodlie-doodlie. Is that the proper context?

Anonymous said...

Tarrah,

I really enjoy your blogs and I am so excited you are going to continue. I feel as though I walked through India with you and the family. Now I can walk through this "season" of your lives too. I will wait for your next blog.........love to you all. Aunt Linda Kay

Courtney Aitken Gifford said...

Tarrah- Welcome back to Bemidji! My husband and I choose to come back here after living away for 11 years. You should embrace it. I loved growing up here and counting you as one of my good friends. I have so many wonderful memories at your house, the lake and of course the beauty shop! Now, let's get together and laugh and smile as we watch our kids play togther and make their own memories of Bemidji.
Courtney

PS Keep blogging...

mel said...

love, love, love that you're going to keep writing. it just feels right. so, i'll admit it. i am all teary looking at the photos of ani and syd when you first arrived to india and the pics of them headed to school this past tues. that being said, i kind of can't imagine how you must be feeling. i mean, granted i'm a bit more teary than you (i think its officially fair to make this statment) but still, the photos really tug on the tears and pull them right out of me. i love that you're making photo albums for the kids. that seems important, for you and for them.
oh anyways, i love you and i'm so happy to read your updates.

Family Ketchum said...

Oh, friend - how I miss you! Looking through your pictures made me cry. And then I wiped away my tears and said to myself, "Wow, those kids have really clean shoes!" I'm so happy to see that polka dot skirts still get worn over striped pants - we had some great fashions in India, didn't we?!

Keep on bloggin'. Love, Angie

Family Ketchum said...

ps. Noodlie-doodlie... Kate Winslet ... Jack Black... The Holiday... am I right?