"please standby"

In lieu of the photo I'm sure you're dying to see, I share with you the cutest photo I could muster.  Go ahead and click on the photo so you can see his totally adorable little face up close. 

Our story is a long-drawn-out one, that started early early in the morning on Saturday, and has continued through today, building (and waning) and building (and waning) and building.  We feel the sun and stars (and this unusually blustery Autumn wind that's sweeping the streets today) are shining on us.  Using nature's medicine cabinet, we are upping the ante and moving full steam ahead.  Baby, ho!!  We have had the greatest blessing of Woo's presence since Sunday, and I seriously don't know what we (I) would have done without her.  I love you, Woo!  So if you read this today, send us a special wish upon a star, and let's bank on welcoming this eagerly awaited new addition (tonight!!) perfectly soon.   

ha ha

another funny video, but funny in a totally different way. 
i think they did a really good job on this one.
http://www.mccainfreewhitehouse.org/

hee hee!

a pleasant distraction for a ripe mama:
http://www.sonnyradio.com/treadmillcats.html

escape

We have been in baby-preparation mode here for so long now. And Papi Sealion and I already have a habit of being more productivity-oriented than play-oriented ~ we just enjoy making and doing, being handy. I guess that *is* our "play". But, with my limited mobility and impending babymoon, I have been feeling a little bit of cabin-fever. Last week on Sealion's day off, we escaped to the beach!

Stinson Beach is only about an hour away, and on this mid-week afternoon in early October, the beach was expansive and the crowd sparse. The sun, sand, and waves were good medicine.

A couple of camp-chairs, a bottle of wine (and maybe a cookie..), and some light reading:   

sounds perfect!

With my belly-oven, I only needed to cover myself up when we went for a walk in the wind. 

This guy was fun!  He caught the ball in the air every time! 

We.  And our shadow.. 

We brought the beachball.. 

 

freecycle rocks!

I replaced my cellphone before it had stopped being functional.  For a year now, it has slept in a box with other small electronic gadgets, computer cords, etc. (Mr. Sealion is so organized!)  Because I was too guilty to let it go.  E-trash guilt.  As if living in progressively-activist Berkeley isn't enough, (when I'm not obsessing through baby-care books) I read online or books about environmental/health concerns (like the one I'm reading now, to take a "break" from baby-reading: Exposed, by Mark Schapiro).  These seem even more relevant and concerning now that I'm inviting a new and fragile human into the world.  

SO this morning I logged on to the Berkeley page of Freecycle.org to advertise for Mr. Sealion some scrap lumber he is parting with, and saw a post: WANTED: working cellphone.  After coordinating with the author of the post, my old cellphone will be in the hands of its new and appreciative owner this afternoon!  All I have to do is set it out on my front porch for him to pick it up. 

My former cellphone awaits its new owner, in a box with a happy note on my front porch.

You wouldn't believe the kind of stuff people are interested in taking off your hands ~ for school assignments, art projects, refurbishing an old house, or for some eccentric collection.  The rules on Freecycle are ~ it must be free, and family-oriented.  If you want an item, ask for it, if you have an item, offer it.  Then the author of the post coordinates with the responder of his/her choosing for the item to be picked up.  Around here, people usually arrange to leave the item outside and not exchange face-to-face for safety reasons.  It's so easy!  

Not too long ago, "garbage" was barely a word in the dictionary.  People really did use things until they wore out and could no longer be repaired.  Then they incorporated their still-usable materials into other useful things.    

The Earth is a closed system; what we throw away doesn't simple disappear.    

"One man's junk is another man's treasure."  

[Enter your cliche' about waste and conservation here.]

  

If you haven't seen it, here's a great little primer and/or reminder about "stuff":  The Story of Stuff.

To read up on sooo many subjects of environmental/health concern (such as electronic waste), the Environmental Working Group is a trustworthy, and encyclopedic resource.  Of especial relevance to me in my life lately have been the subjects of body care products, and plastics.  

I haven't done a "public service announcement" in a while, so thanks for bearing with me.  ;-)  

Now back to your regularly-scheduled "waiting for baby" programming.  

The ripe babyberry on October 4.  

accidental time

  

For many years, Gemini Cricket and I have held a concept we call "accidental time".  I don't think we're the first to come up with it, and perhaps actually we adopted it from the book, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, or at least were inspired by it.  It has to do, in its broadest sense, with synchronicity.  And we believe in it.  (Correct me on this one if I'm off, Señor Gemini. .) A simple example might be: we were on a walk around town one afternoon, and over the course of our wanderings, we would have ended up on a certain stretch of sidewalk at a certain specific time, but ended up.. stopping to look at art, or grabbing a beer instead, and subsequently strolling upon that certain stretch of sidewalk at a later time instead.  Well, during the time we probably would have been there, but weren't, a car randomly ended up careening onto that specific stretch of sidewalk.  When we learned that, we realized we were living in "accidental time" ~ a hiccup of the universe, like a magical window we could peer through for an instant, that showed very explicitly that there *could* have been a different outcome, but Happenstance managed that moment differently.  

It doesn't have to involve calamity or danger at all, just a tweaking of destiny as simple as a sleight of hand.  If we were headed out the door in one direction, and ended up needing to go back in the house to grab a jacket, it meant we would head out the door in a different direction after that because this was now a different adventure.  

Mystical, fantastical, psychedelic, altogether imagination-feeding.  And, in a few instances, very important.    

Today is my "due date".  I've never been able to say "due date" without putting the quotation marks around it; Baby doesn't have a calendar or BlackBerry in there.  And I certainly don't want to impose these artificial constructs onto him/her.  ~ At all ~ let alone inside the womb. 

But I can't help but feel like today ~ and any day following on which Baby decides to stay snuggled on the inside ~ is "accidental time".  The air is tinged with magic electricity and the wind feels a bit more . . important.  Similar to a week ago, when I said that that all-important veil was feeling a bit thin, today has a tinge of the psychedelic dancing around its edges.  I feel as if I should celebrate and do something special, but I don't exactly know what.  It's not a time to check the to-do list one more time, or clean out the fridge.  I feel like Baby and I need a little champagne and mischief.  

For now, lively breeze through the windows, Bjork's Vespertine, and burning sage are what I'm coming up with.  Let me know if you get any ideas.  ;-)      

p.s.  If you feel the Spirit directing you in suggesting a name for Baby Pope, give a yell.  We are open and unattached at this point.  And there's still a completely 50/50 chance of the sex.  Show me your imagination.