A step back

May 20, 2013

We crave simplicity. We seek, without knowing we seek, the growing things, the green things, the endless stretches of things. Our eyes fall on the soft lines of the natural world, and we feel a balance settle inside us. We love horizons and vistas, skylines and star scapes.

Often, my family and I travel for adventure, or change, or the chance to learn something new. Other times, we simply want to get away. We travel–near or far–most weeks of the year, so it’s rare that I write about it here as well as on Pit Stops for Kids. It takes a gem. It takes an experience that transcends the usual. Today, I want to introduce you to Leaping Lamb Farm.

I’m never surprised that my children almost always prefer our more basic, free-range vacation destinations to the five-star treatment (with the exception of Nate, our oldest…he’s become quite the discerning traveler). Leaping Lamb Farm is more than a destination: it’s a lifestyle that you get to live for the duration of your stay.

Located outside of tiny Alsea Oregon, along a dirt road leading to logging roads, beyond a winding country highway, Leaping Lamb sits in the coastal range of the Northwest about 45 minutes from the ocean. You arrive to see a big barn, green rolling pastures, a country house, and dense flower gardens against a backdrop of temperate rain forest. And right away, you know you’ll be settling in to stay awhile.

In fact, we never budged from the farm during our stay (unusual for roamers like us). The experience is hands-on: kids are included in all farm chores, and not just in a ‘here’s an easy job so you’re not in the way’ sort of way. No, this is in a ‘you’re an old hand and we sure could use you’ sort of way. In under 48 hours, we knew the names of all the animals, knew how to care for the livestock, had figured out all the gates and paddocks and locks and coops on this 60 acre spread. We splashed in creeks and wandered pastures and hiked trails and read good books to the sound of song birds. On several occasions, we even sat a spell. Until Leaping Lamb, I never really knew what that was, to sit a spell. It’s lovely.

We took a step back at Leaping Lamb. We worried about only the finite: where to feed is, who has been watered, what to make for breakfast, when the spring rain clouds would roll in. We nestled under blankets, watched movies, put together puzzles, and listened to the wind through the wide-open window of a hay loft.

If you get a chance to escape like this, go. Please go.

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What we’re reading: Spring 2013 edition

May 13, 2013

It’s been too long since a reading update! As always, I’d love to know what you’re all reading as well.

What I’m reading: Lately, I’ve had a terrible habit of starting new books before finishing the last, so I read the following simultaneously:

Heads in Beds is written by a long-time employee in the hotel and tourism service industry, and is funny, entertaining, and educational. Give it a read if you’re in the travel business, but also if you just stay in a lot of hotels, or just want to learn how to eat everything in the minibar and not pay for a thing (yes, really).

One Tough Mother is the memoir of Gert Boyle, long-time president and now chairman of Columbia Sportswear. Her story, which starts with fleeing Germany in the 1930s, is fascinating and inspiring, plus she’s just damn funny. It’s a great read from a business point-of-view, but just as valuable if you want a few tips on how to achieve a well-lived life.

What the kids are reading:

Nate (13) is reading Ann Brashares’s My Name is Memory. She’s best-known for her Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, but this is one of her grown-up offerings, and I loved it so much I pushed it on Nate. Thankfully, he’s liking it, too. It’s a poignant story of what the world would look like to someone who lives multiple lives over centuries of world history. It offers a unique world perspective, and is by turns remarkable, sad, desperate, and beautiful. The ending is, in my opinion, odd, so if anyone else has read, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Calvin (age 11) is reading The Maze Runner, which is a recommendation we’ve offered before, when Nate read it in middle school. Is Calvin, in 6th grade, ready for this book? It’s debatable, but he’s burned through all of the 6th grade recommended offerings, leaving him nowhere to go but up (and to more mature topics).

After watching Titanic for Retro Family Movie Night, Toby’s been obsessed with the event. (Not sure this is healthy, but what can you do?) He’s reading through Gordon Korman’s Titanic series for kids, and peppering us with Titanic facts as he goes.

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Happy Mother’s Day

to the mother of my mother. Without you (and the father of my mother, too), I wouldn’t be the lucky daughter I am, nor the fun, smart, loving, and wise parent I strive to be. We miss you this Mother’s Day and every day.

Brick by brick

For those of you who follow the novel querying process, either because you’re in the midst of it yourself or just want to know how things are going because you’re nice like that, I still have one ‘full’ out for the Novel that Won’t Die. I used to have two. The second one was rejected [...]

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