BLOGAHOMA

What I Have Learned from My Kids

I am speaking of my adult children not little ones (of course you can learn from the little ones too). Colin is our tech kid. Although we exposed him to computers and more specifically computer graphics back in 1985, he took off with it and is making a career with his knowledge. He does not let us sit back on what we already know he presents us with attainable challenges. He believed (and he was right) that his dad could expand his commercial design business by creating websites. He was there for those emergency phone calls when Michael ran into what seemed to be brick walls. If Colin didn’t know off the top of his tech head he researched it until he found an answer. Michael taught Colin how to ride a bike, Colin taught his Dad how to ride the web and stay on without falling off. And he challenged me to create a blog. It seemed daunting at first but I got the hang of it and now I have four blogs under my belt.

Kim is on the forefront of what is new in the world of trends in decorating, food etc being a Consumer Science Teacher (former known as Home Ec). She sent us home with Rachael Ray magazine this time around. Although on my own I would never become stodgy my kids give me a short cut to staying fresh. They send me to YouTube for their faves. And honestly I want to know about their world like when they were young I asked them me to tell me the good news and the bad. Sometimes it comes in the form of phone call (Kim is more about the phone) but often for Colin it comes as a Twitter.

Oh sure we could sit in our rockers and listen to the nostalgic strains of Bob Dylan, the Band and Janis Joplin but why get stuck. Both Kim and Colin share with us what they are listening to on their ipods. Thanks to Colin we all have ipods. Kim, Colin & Nifer (daughter in law) have introduced us to musicians like Bonobo, M Ward, Regina Spektor and Nora Jones. They are now on our playlist along with some Irish music we started to listen to after visiting Ireland. (Not the American Irish songs.) Not that I completely lean on them for all the new stuff. I strike out on my own after I hear something at the Tavern or on a podcast. But I wouldn’t even think about podcast if it weren’t for Colin.

Kim, Colin and Nifer are all Urbanites. We enjoy the goings on in their cities, Colin & Nifer in San Francisco and Kim in Tulsa. Kim took us on a tour of the gorgeous old neighborhoods of Tulsa this weekend, loved it. The Swan Lake area was perfect for a Saturday walk and eating at the Blue Dome Diner capped off a pleasant day out. And although it has been several years since we visit San Francisco we were treated to a marvelous week of exploration planned out by Nifer.

What I continue to learn from the kids is what we shared with them when they were little ones paid off much more than we would ever have expected. I really believe in my kids and am ready to learn from others of their generation. I say if you’re a member of the baby boom generation (or older) and you haven’t tried to learn from 20 and 30 somethings you deserve to rust!

We just got back from Taos where we stayed in an EARTHSHIP, one of those self-sustainable earth packed places. We walked away impressed wondering why more places and more builders aren’t incorporating the techniques since it has been functionally around since the 70’s. Being off the grid turned out to be very people friendly but it didn’t much cotton to hair dryers. To confess we tried it once for a half of head of hair. We watched the meter drop like crazy! Since then I have used mine sparingly at home, letting my hair air dry until I finish getting dressed and then blowing it dry. Surprisingly it works just as well for me. I say if you want to think GREEN stay in a earthship for a week, it makes you aware of your water, electricity and waste. It was comfortable and fun.

Fun consisted in building a fire in the wood-burner for a couple hours a night (that’s all it took to keep you toasty all night long) and playing board and card games. Kim served as our game  concierge. Since there is plenty of land around each earthship we bought a kite sending it soaring with picturesque mountains as a backdrop. Nothing like letting child out to play on a windy March day!

Not that we stayed the entire time in the earthship, all five of us full size adults ( I’m smarter than a fifth grader but maybe not as tall) compacted ourselves into Kim’s fuel saving Honda Accord an toured New Mexico. Nothing like family bonding. We all agreed our favorite day was our trip to Bandelier National Monument near Los Alamos where we walked among the some of the earliest earth homes built by the Pueblo people. Some of us climbed the ladders up into the cliff dwellings. As I have developed pesky vertigo I had to say no to the ladders but watched as the “kids” clambered up the 142 steps to the top kiva.

We had no problem picking where to eat. We all agreed that there would be NO fast food. We had several meals in our cozy little earthship. I liked our breakfast at Michael’s Kitchen in Taos, loved those German lemon pancakes. For elegance we all loved The Artichoke in Albuquerque. I believe Nifer tried out at least three different onion soups (I think she liked the soup from the French Café in Taos. Nifer and Colin fixed some amazing stuff including a salad that taste as good as it looked. Colin made some Rosemary potatoes delish! And Michael’s turkey burger with mushrooms and brie cannot be turned down.

We balanced our trip pretty well with parks, museums, sightseeing with everyone being quite flexible to other’s suggestion and choices. We stopped at the Museum at Los Alamos to learn about the beginning of the Atomic bomb and visited both the Georgia O’Keeffe Art Museum as well as the Fechin House and Taos Museum to get an idea about the artist enclave beginnings in New Mexico.

Now if you love the idea of staying in an Earthship let Tony know you heard it from us!

Click here to see a selection of pictures we took there.