36, but whose counting?

You know what they say, 'older and wiser'... this year I really feel wiser, and thankful for everything I have in life. So my trusted sidekick made me some cupcakes (with some assistance of course). And I tried out my new pastry bag for the first time and I am certainly still a domestic apprentice when it comes to the frosting, but I have till July to perfect.

Talk with your kids

I wanted to share this site http://www.talkingwithkids.org/ because it sends a very simple and powerful message: talk with your kids before everyone else does!
I had one of those conversations this morning as I was helping Anjali into the car. She said " I wish I was the same color as all my friends." I totally knew what she meant but pretended not to and asked her what color she meant and she pointed me to the Cheerios and said "that color". I got the message clear! I asked her what was wrong with her color and she said 'nothing'. And I talked to her about how beautiful she was just as she is. Quite honestly, I was not prepared for her to ask 'that' question. But Portland is such a fair skinned city that I can understand why she feels left out, especially when the whole class slaps on sunscreen. Even the smattering of non white kids we know are mixed-race. I might have to launch a more aggressive everyone can be/look different yet beautiful campaign.

Have I told you about the Wiz?

You know how it is when you have a kid one thing leads into another and before you know it your life gets consumed by it? Well... that's what happened to us with the Wiz. It all started with the post-Nutcracker doldrums. While flipping channels during football season Anjali caught about 5 minutes of the Wizard of Oz, and was riveted, asking lots of questions. A few weeks later a local high school was doing a production of the Wiz (a musical based on the Baum story), and I got us tickets. We sat in the front row and the rest is history as they say! I have to admit the story and the music swept me away as well. I got her the Wiz sound track and she now knows all the songs and listens to the ENTIRE CD EVERYDAY. Not having been an Oz fan I had to quickly get hip to the Oz phenomenon. The Wiz was a 70's braodway hit with an all-black cast with Diana Ross as Dorothy and Micheal Jackson as the scarecrow. Everyone my age who grew up here know all the songs. And so now that circle of the awe-inspiring land of Oz prevails in our house. Everything is about Dorothy, as it must have been in many American households since 1900 when the books were first published. I've got my mind on Oz themed birthday cupcakes...mmm.

End of an Era

For those of us my age who grew up in Sri Lanka, the conflict with the LTTE defined our lives. By all accounts as of May 17, 2009 the quarter century old struggle has the signs of having ended. I personally feel conflicted as I always have with this struggle. Being a Sinhalese I never bought into the Sinhala Buddhist majority having their overruling authority over the country. But now we are at a point where there really can be an opportunity for peace, prosperity, economic growth, and better quality of life for all segments of Sri Lankan society, or...not.

The WSJ had this opinion that reflects upon how we got here and where we need to go as a nation. Reading this made me reflect on my own experience of the conflict and dug out this poem I wrote 13 years ago that got published in a student newspaper in Cambridge, MA on April 23, 1997. Reading it makes me smile because my style seems naive and juvenile (and I rarely write poetry anymore). But then again all those words still hold true; except the number of sons, daughters, mothers and fathers killed are about 70,000. I hope we as a community of Sri Lankans have learned our lesson.

Happy Mothers Day!

...to all you fabulous moms out there! We enjoyed the day with our favorite weekend activity...a hike. We hiked up Catherine Creek in the Columbia river gorge and the views were breathtaking. And Anjali was really impressive scrambling over rocks and avoiding poison oak (despite being tired from a preschool party the day before). She even made a song to get by the poison oak "over the hills we go, over the hills we go, don't touch the poison oak, over the hills we go".
Being her Ammi is the best thing that ever happened to me :-)

Trip to Yachats

The Oregon coast is truly, truly beautiful... 'Lord of the rings' beautiful. Last weekend we went to Yachats in the central/southern coast. Its a really small yet cool town with 700 inhabitants; but good espresso, wine, a bookshop and even two boutiques (important for any town). We stayed in a cottage behind the Little Log Church. Which was the smallest church I'd ever seen... 4 pews. We hiked Cape Perpetua a rugged stretch of the coastline and found an amazing sunbeam.
While walking through these wetlands, we were adopted by a retriever. We named her Lucy Weerasinghe, and she refused to leave our side. I would have really taken her home in a second, except her nice owner emerged from the woods! I realized how much we'd love a dog.

On Sunday we went to one of our favorite spots with great tidepools and greeted the urchins, mussels and starfish. We loved walking barefoot jumping over puddled and the incoming tide. It was a perfect weekend.

Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day

I wish I were doing more for Mother Earth. Fortunately, its easy being green in this emerald city. So here is what we are doing that is good and the can do better department.

Good

1. We have one car, seven years and counting; it’s our biggest achievement. We combine trips and pick each other up which makes us spend more time as a couple/family. And we all use the abundant public transportation in Portland.
2. I am proud to say that 90% of Anjali’s clothes, shoes and toys are reused/hand me downs. And some of mine too!
3. Almost never use disposable plastic water bottles, except the gallon ones when camping (need to find a replacement for that).
4. All my grocery bags are now the reusable kind. I have been really good at this
5. I reuse one sided paper from work at home for Anjali’s art projects. It’s kind of funny to see colored paper with Strawberry shortcake stickers with an article on Melanoma survival in the back!
6. I don’t shower! Actually I try to just shower in the gym! I do like long hot showers though!
7. We compost all our fruit, vege and garden scraps and recycle about 95% of our waste with the city.

Can do better

1. I do like to water my flowers and vegetables! A rain barrel might help this
   
2. I hate when I have just come home from the store and forgot ONE key ingredient for a recipe!
3. We tend to accumulate stuff whether we like it or not (gifts from my mother might top this category)
4. I hate to run the dryer but clothes need to be dried. I cant imagine trying to hang them outside
5. Love the dishwasher too… but try to run it full
6. Unfortunately, we are not commuter bikers. I just dont get the 'Share the Road' thing.
   

There are probably dozen more areas where I can improve, but the most important part is to be conscious of our use of resources and keep trying to do better.