One month now as Mrs. Moss

I like being married very much, so far. I'm getting used to saying that I am Mrs. Moss, or Jimmy's my husband, or saying "my husband likes..." and signing my new name, finally. It is very strange still, though. I'm also getting used to the rhythm of harvest season "down here in the valley" ...a term I heard at a community church in Carlton recently. For the last two weeks there has been a lot of harvesting going on. I know now what grapes look like when they are being hauled from a vineyard to a winery--they are in 3' by 4' plywood boxes which sit, open, on the back of a flat bed truck. Corn is also transported in the open air, as are squashes, though they are sometimes in dump-trucks! I drove behind this truck as it passed through Rickreall one day and I still have no idea what the cargo was--it looks like it's straight out of china--I would guess rice, but rice doesn't grow this far north, I don't think. One sack says "fine," so maybe it's scottish oats? grits?

I'm enjoying the more affordable (and fresher!) produce that I find at road side farm stands out in the country. I've found that the farm stands are wildly varied, and not always fresh, but I'm learning to discern between them. My family is fond of yellow summer squash, mushrooms, cabbage, carrots and broccoli, and some of us like sweet peppers too (me, Taj and Bailey). The farm stand next door to Taj's school is my favorite. They have about ten different kinds of sweet peppers. Here's a photo of their stand, taken in the rain....


I got a Harris Ranch chuck roast from my favorite healthy-ish grocery store in McMinnville today--Harris Ranch is apparently better than Carlton Farms--they are certified organic and grass fed, and Carlton Farms just goes on the honor system, according the deli manager at the store. I still want to go out and see Carlton Farms. They sell direct to the public and I think we could buy in bulk and save a little more. I'm not used to buying (or cooking) meat, but it accounts for 3/4 of the cost of every dinner we make, so I want to find a good value while looking for the best quality. Jimmy is just now wrapping up his final hunting trip today, and we didn't get as much meat this year as he did last year from hunting, so we'll need to buy quite a bit.... I'll let you know how my roast turns out. I made some pretty good Carlton Farms pork chops the other day!

I keep meaning to go to the local library. I've been to the Post Office--a friendly one compared to those I've frequented in Portland and San Francisco. I want to get the book "The Help" which my friend Emily is reading, so that I can read it and see the movie with her before it disappears from theaters. I am not a reader of fiction--not for ten years at least, but the slower pace out here makes me think I might could read a book of fiction, so I will try.

I still feel way more familiar with my work-town than I do my home-town. I think that making friends here in the home-town will help me to get to know it a little better. Last night I tried very hard to find some friends. I went to the college for a fundraiser that we had been invited to--I went all by myself! It was scary... And I made no new local friends at all. The people sitting with me at my table were from Clackamas and Sherwood. Oh well. At least I signed up to volunteer at my favorite kids camp this summer, in lieu of making a donation. The MC of the event was the pastor at the church that Jimmy and I will visit next. He is our age. It's weird to think of having a pastor that is my age or younger. I don't know how I feel about that.

After the unfruitful event last night I was home alone and feeling pretty lonely. Jimmy and the boys are in Sweet Home and Taj was with my mom in Seattle. I wanted to go over to my mother in law's house, but I didn't feel courageous enough after two hours of social anxiety at the college. I decided to listen to a Tim Keller sermon on my phone. That always cheers me up. The sermon I chose was so fitting. It was on Psalm 42: "As the dear pants for the water so my soul longs after thee... I long to worship thee (so why can't I???)" It was about feeling that God is far off. Dr. Keller drew out of the psalm that the writer was away from his community and was also leaning too hard on certain people in his life, and concluded that this is the kind of time that God feels far off... but isn't.

I'm really needing community here, and I'm leaning way hard on Jimmy for everything in terms of friendship and all kinds of other things.... it's good to know that I can't do a lot to change that right away, but that it's normal to feel far from God at such times, and to be reminded that my brain can tell my heart whats true--that God is not so far off. Bless you, Dr. Keller. You cheer me up every time!

Mrs Moss I am

Today is my first day of rest since the wedding. I have been longing for a sabbath!

A week ago Jimmy and I returned from our very blissful wedding trip. We took two nights to enjoy being married, staying out on the gorge, and then I had to get right to work as classes started at Western the day after our wedding. The wedding and the restful days following were so sweet, though we got very little sleep--our little log studio was a few yards from a very busy train line on the Washington side of the Columbia, and the trains would give four shrill blasts on their whistles just as they were passing, about every hour or so, all night the first night. I don't know if I've ever been more tired than I was after the wedding, so the trains were pretty frustrating, but we didn't let them get us down. We were so happy to be married. We were like little children, celebrating with grins, giggles, and cookies for breakfast--we forgot to bring any food with us--only cake and cookies, wine and sparkling cider from the wedding.

This week is the first week that the boys have been with us since we became a family. On their first night, Monday, I wanted to make a special meal to celebrate our family and harvest-time, so for the first time in many years, I made a roast. I had to get copies of the marriage licence at the County Clerk's office in McMinnville, so I stopped in at the sweet "fresh and local" grocery store downtown there, and got an apple and mushroom stuffed pork roast from Carlton Farms. I used Jimmy's meat thermometer which proved to be the best tool ever (I usually slow cook beef roasts, but didn't have time this time). It only took two hours to get to 170 degrees. The boys returned home, drenched from soccer games in the rain, to a warm and hearty meal. I cut up some acorn squash and put in it with the roast instead of potatoes, and it was very tasty. I splurged for some Reeds Ginger Apple Brew, which the boys love, and thawed some como bread from Grand Central Bakery in Portland, which they devoured. Success. I'm not a wicked step mom at all! Whew.

Taj had a couple rainy soccer games this week too. I told Jimmy "I'm sure her game will be cancelled" on Monday. He said "Katie, they don't cancel soccer games for rain." I didn't believe him, but he was right. I got to the private catholic school in Salem where Taj was to play and there were thirty parents, sitting in their camp chairs, each with his and her own umbrella overhead. Disturbing. I sat in the car. A whole new meaning to "soccer mom" has revealed itself and I am resisting still.

My drive through the country has not gotten old yet. I take new routes all the time as I get more familiar with the terrain. I finally started to count the wineries. There are 22 just from home to Taj's bus stop. Probably close to 60 by the time I reach Western. The first two I pass are Duck Pond and Argyle, but most are lesser known ones. I'm not a big fan of Duck Pond any more, since that's where the traffic gets bad on bad traffic days, which seem random other than Friday when everyone is headed to the beach that way from Portland and all its SW burbs.

Yesterday I thought I saw police lights flashing in the corner of my eye as I went through Amity--it turned out to be the red and silver two-sided reflective plastic tape that the arborists use to scare birds away at this time of year when the grapes are getting plump. The sun hit one piece of the stuff and it shone bright as it spun in the wind, and so it looked like a spinning red and white light for a second. My mind still has its urban leanings. ...Yesterday I saw a roadside yard-sign shaped sign that helped me to understand why I've seen so many hot air balloons in the last month. They are a club called the "Yamhill High Flyers". What fun!

My neck and back are a little sore these days--a combination of driving long drives and going out on the Willamette for a long kayak paddle with Jimmy this last Saturday. We bought a second kayak with some of our wedding gift money!

Highlights since my last post were: being with my beloved girlfriends for three solid days before the wedding--having fun in Portland and up the gorge, all the way from Edgefield to Maryhill. Images of the Columbia River, with all kinds of rainy, drizzley and sunny mountain backdrops. Talking with Heather in the pool at Edgefield about Taj and Jimmy and a hopeful future on the night of the rehearsal. Sitting in the candlelight with Em and our glasses of wine at the Chameleon with post traumatic-wedding-planning-and-waxing relief. Walking through a dark and dusty field with my 16 year old niece to her first big concert during a warm and windy lightning storm on the gorge the night before the wedding. Having my other niece rescue me from an awful hairdo right before the wedding. Sitting in a canoe with my brother, with tiny drops of water falling on the lake all around me and my childhood friend's violin playing Pachabel in the distance, and looking up at Jimmy waiting for me in in the wedding tent looking as peaceful as I felt. Being sung to by everyone who I love to be sung to by. Singing to everyone in return, with Dana and Vicki. Waking up with Jimmy. The smell of Dana's macaroons and brownies filling our cabin by the river. Waking up with Jimmy. Waking up with Jimmy. Waking up with Jimmy.....