Happy Birthday to Phil

Yesterday, Phil completed his 62nd revolution around the sun, and all of us here in Homer celebrated him. What a remarkable man I get to share my life with!

He appreciates the tiny and beautiful things, but doesn't sweat the small stuff (and is helping me learn to be better about that too)...

...He's famous for his wilderness adventuring, and creative taste in furniture....

...he's the most wonderful wilderness guide, although I learned long ago not to try to keep up with him!

Of course, he's also famous for his wonderful and wry sense of humor...


(story about this one to come later)...

...he'll do things that many people wouldn't dare to (ask him about the 'grasshopper on the nose' story)...

...but even if he has a devilish sense of humor...

...he is wonderful at making children laugh...

...he may even have made my dad laugh!

He's renowned for braving the waves of inhospitable oceans on tiny inflatable craft with sketchy motors...

...but can trust in his herculean strength to bring him safely home...

...mighty man, also an expert in suitcase repair...

...who loves to thrash around...

...and can find exercise anywhere, even at my parents', taking the concave out of the cutting board!

Endlessly, inspiringly curious about the world around him,

...he also knows better than almost anyone how to let it go...

...and simply rest.

Best of all: he really does believe that love makes the world go round, and is living proof of that. Many happy returns!

A New Tasty Snack - Dried Tomatillos! Wrapping Things Up in Oregon - Some Impressions

Hey everyone! Our time in Oregon is drawing toward its end (tomorrow is our last full day and we leave very early Friday) - and as always when staying at the farm, we're starting to feel overwhelmed by all the things that still need doing.

Of course, I've been drying some of those wonderful tomatoes (even though it seems like I can't eat them at the moment)

But I discovered a wonderful new snack too. There are so many tomatillos from the garden, a whole bucket of them was sitting on the porch waiting to be processed. So I put some of them in the dehydrator too -

and it turns out they are just delicious - sweet-and-sour, crunchy, a little crumbly - so good! Phil says he likes them better dried than fresh!

I seem to have been hearing a lot of people say they'd never had tomatillos before. Have you ever had one? Let alone a dried one?

We went for a walk all around the farm a few days ago when it was pouring with rain, wearing oversized rain-gear. There were so many little frogs everywhere - the ground was hopping!

We also found a 'horn worm' - a big green caterpillar with a horn -

And here's what Phil has to do when he finds something like that:

too funny...

We also found a discarded robin's nest -

- perhaps you can see how the inside of it is lined with clay. Incredible what those birds can do with no fingers, just claws and beak.

They know exactly what to do. I've been pondering that question for myself, spurred partly by some very deep and searching questions that some of my good blog friends have been asking - 'who were you meant to be?' asks Lori; and Tina asks, 'in what ways are you inspiring?'

I don't have the answer to either of these, but I know I need to keep asking those questions - the more I focus on the question, the more I'm reminded to be my best all the time and to seek to fulfill my true purpose.

What do you use to keep on track with these things?

love to all