Soren's new tree house

Poor Soren... He has pink eye, but he also has a new tree house! Should we pity or envy him?

Well, if you have to stay home from preschool for a week and a half, you might as well have something fun to climb on in your own backyard!

Jeff has been busy (at least, until he caught pink eye from Soren yesterday--sigh) building this structure from salvaged lumber.

It features poles from the deer fence that was shortened when we built our garage, treated wood joists and untreated cedar planks disassembled from a deck one of Jeff's solar clients was getting rid of, and a temporary aluminum ladder for access.

The tree is a volunteer plum that was there when we cleared the lot for building, and has been doing poorly in the last year -- many dead branches. So Jeff carved it up and left a structure of branches that would support a tree house.

It will get a railing eventually.

Here's Jeff at work. This corner of our rather big backyard is the least "organized," to put it kindly. But we're working on it. There's a playhouse planned to be built out of the rest of the deck pieces at the far left of this photo.

The new planter bed (will be between the two play structures) has raspberries and strawberries, because when Jeff asked Soren what he wanted his playhouse and tree house to be like, his pithy response was, "I want them to be near berries."

I think we need not pity Soren, because he's almost all better. The pink eye diagnosis was actually the first time he's been to the doctor outside of preventative visits. His strong constitution headed off the worst, and his energy has remained high. (To my weary chagrin...)

P.S. I am the lone healthy person standing in our family of three. Pray for me!

Winter at the beach

Can't say I'm a born Northwesterner (being birthed in Tennessee), but I'm certainly a bred Northwesterner. I love our mild winters and am secretly hoping we won't get any snow this year.

Soren, of course, is a born-and-bred Port Townsendite, so he doesn't know any differently. For him, Christmas means not snowballs and icicles, but 50-degree days at the beach. Wearing a scarf, yes, but not his mittens or hat.

I had to keep pulling out my camera while we played with a buddy on Dec. 16 at Fort Worden State Park. (That's the Point Wilson Lighthouse.) We stayed out till the sun went down.

Soren's good friend Django.

I'll close with a Soren-ism. In reply to my off-hand comment that we haven't had any snow yet, Soren says, "No, but we've had lots of frosting!"

Wherever you are in the world and however chilly or mild your Christmas will be, we wish you happy holiday greetings!

P.S. Check out Soren Talks for his version of "Merry Christmas."

Thirty-six Thanksgiving pix

I'm sharing 36 pix from our Thanksgiving celebration at my grandpa's house on Vashon Island.

Guaranteed to make you nostalgic for the time when your fingers were small enough for the black olives to fit on!

Click here to view the Picasa album.

Happy extended holiday season!!

Photo series: Soren in the chair

I call this series "Soren in the Chair."

Soren and his friend Tayla -- and stuffed animal friends, too.

Soren reading to Papaw -- wearing Papaw's glasses!

Nice new striped shirt (size 4!) is from Grandma Gloria...

...As is this cozy new bathrobe, which Soren donned this evening after his bath. Jeff pressed him into service licking the whipped cream beaters. Then he and I snuggled up in "The Chair" and read too many stories to count.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and relations! May you have whipped cream, stories and snuggles, too.

Two knights and a queen this Halloween

Introducing Sir Dance-alot and his family!

There was swashbuckling, capture, enslavement, and escape in the Randall clan this Halloween! We took the drama to our downtown parade, and acted out the fight that freed the queen and enslaved the bad Viking-knight. Soren, of course, was the hero!

The sword and helmet were a birthday gift from Grandpa Jim and Grandma Gloria. There was a scabbard on a sash, but it restricted his movement and wasn't worn long. Someone commented that Soren looked like a chess piece -- hee hee!

Soren chose his own costume this year and he wanted to be a knight, but one inspired by his current favorite movie, How to Train Your Dragon. If you've seen it, you'll notice that Jeff resembles Hiccup's dad...which translated to "Viking knight." He took along his boffer sword.

It was an unseasonably warm October 31st, with warm sunshine and no breeze blowing off the bay.

Soren peeks in his friend Tayla-cat's candy bag to see what's inside. He called the few pieces of candy we allowed into his possession "trick-or-treats." He graciously shared what he had with us. Such a chivalrous action!

We wrapped up the evening with a lighted jack-o-lantern walk in a friend's woodlot. Very magical for a boy who is developing his first traditions around this rather bizarre holiday. Well, see ya stormin' the castle!

Announcing Sustainable Together blog

What's new in the world? I'll tell you about what's happening in my corner: I have signed on to the sustainability movement in my hometown and started blogging (publicly) about "ways we share the journey toward a more sustainable life" at SustainableTogether.com.

I launched my new blog in mid-September, and its inspiration is a long story, but you can read the synopsis in this early post -- and follow the link to the newspaper article, too.

http://sustainabletogether.com/2011/09/14/blog-born-of-purpose/

Soren starting preschool in September made me think about re-energizing my communications career track and my professional image in the community. I'm now a member of our local Chamber of Commerce, and I'll be presenting an overview of Jefferson County's sustainability initiatives at the Chamber's lunch meeting on Monday, Nov. 14, noon-1 p.m. Let me know if you can come; the talk is free and open to the public.

I'll continue to update this private family blog ocassionally, but you may wish to subscribe to email updates from Sustainable Together, where I am writing at least once a week. Just enter your email address in the box in the upper right-hand sidebar, click "subscribe," and look for the welcome email -- you have to click on the link to confirm your subscription. Or click here to go to the Subscribe page.

Looking for a quick Soren fix? Click on the words "my son" in the alphabetical tag cloud (also in the right-hand sidebar) and you'll get a list of all the posts about him. Here, I've done it for you:

http://sustainabletogether.com/tag/my-son/

I look forward to sharing this new journey with you!

Happy fall(ing leaves)!

Can you spot our Sir Soren in the leaves? We had a grand time last week frolicking in the courthouse park, and one of his favorite games was to be buried and pop up.

Watch out, he might throw a handful at you. Duck!

So Happy Halloween! It's today, and Soren's costume is a knight. Sir Dance-alot, we call him. Mom will be a queen, Dad will be another knight -- although the helmet he whipped up this morning with tin foil and duct tape has Viking horns on it(??!). I'll post pictures from our downtown costume parade soon.

Thanks to our friend Ron for taking these pictures in the park.

We apologize for not blogging in two months... I (Shelly) launched a professional blog in mid-September called Sustainable Together, and it and my new career focus have been taking up most of my free time.

While this private family blog will continue to be updated ocassionally, all you Randall Roost readers might want to subscribe to Sustainable Together as well. I am trying to post at least once a week, on how my neighbors and I are building community through trying to live more sustainably. Read how to subscribe in this related post.

Then click on the words "my son" in the tag cloud (in the righthand sidebar) and you'll be directed to all the posts about Soren. Yeah, this little cutie. Gotta love him.