Family Roots in Louisiana

Selah (2) and Mamaw (83) Hands

She's young at heart.

Mamaw (Betty Sistrunk) and Selah's Great Aunt Cindy and Great Uncle Bobby Mathis

Selah meets her Aunt Christy and Uncle Robert Doles for the first time. Gets showered with all sorts of toys and dolls and Mexican food. Louisianna style.

More big boy cousins for Selah girl. Joey and Jacob Doles are two of the kindest men we know. Joey is planning to study forensic science, and Jacob is deciding between something along the lines of graphic design and culinary arts. Can a person see those strong Mathis genes in the chin, nose, forehead and ears?

Across the Southwest

Selah has gotten very accustomed to sleeping the miles away in all these cross-country travels we're doing this summer.

The tomb of Billy the Kid, at Fort Sumner NM.

Clovis, New Mexico, where our great friends Tom and Rachel hang out occasionally. Great conversation, great food. We wish we saw them a ton more often, like every day in a place called Phoenix.

Ride Like A Girl

In June of 2010, the Mathis family rides southward, from San Francisco to Santa Barbara, along the Pacific Coast Highway of California. The ocean waves, the spinning wheels, and the setting sun are the only ways time is able to encroach, and this is pleasant. Each day would begin with a psychological challenge and end in blessedness. The reunions with old friends in Petaluma (Rachel) and San Francisco (Callie and kids) are highlights, before the journey even begins. Then you hit the road. There you are, Selah. You are one when you start. There is an ocean to wade in, there are rivers to soak in, and mountains to climb. There is a never ending supply of fresh produce to eat. Tourists and local people are kind to baby bicyclists who hang Elmo on their panniers (people offer their homes, rides, food, shoulder space and encouragement). June weather is mild and dry. Coastal winds blow most often south, pushing you up the steepest climbs. Before you know it, your daddy's own feet and a simple machine have carried you and your shelter over 400 miles along some of the most beautiful coastline in existence. The waves crash in your mind as you travel home across the Mohave Desert. You talk of nothing else for weeks, and can still tell stories about your trip over six months later. What a fun second birthday party, Selah! You're two now!

Casson's up in the attic today, removing thousands of old unread newspapers. Insulation? But how would that explain the empty vodka bottles, and old empty cans of Malt Liquor? The dust is settled thickly over everything. How much asbestos is too much? Just kidding, I mean, sort of. Who knows if it is or isn't. So yeah, how much is too much?

The weather people promised rain. Not even a cloud came. Just wind and dust and pollen. But today is cool enough that our heater is kicking on as I speak. Selah just went for a snooze with her plastic egg that Miriam gave her. Miriam is one of the little girls across the street. They're home today just like me, because it's Good Friday. And we all have Monday off too, though I'm not sure why. I guess it's the day after Easter.

Grandma Judy and Papa Mike came to town for the second half of Spring Break. Grandma brought Selah a boombox so that she can now dance whenever she feels moved. We did a lot of hanging out on the front porch, the backyard, and in the new dining room, wearing everything in. A trip to the arboretum and Globe to get out of the city. The wildflowers were in full bloom. Then a train ride to Tempe, and a bike ride up the Greenbelt, to everyone's liking. Plenty of sunshine and wine. It was a great visit.

We ate out at the Parlor, which seems to be the new Phoenix "place to see and be seen." Selah ate Duck Pizza.

Visiting the Arboretum for a picnic and a nice walkabout through the desert and the Australian outback. Selah and Papa read thousands of books. Selah's new favorites include Bears On Wheels, The Spooky Old Tree, and Happy Birthday Moon.

Taking Grandma Judy and Papa around the block. She ran around pointing out all of the interesting frog statues and palm trees. "Quickly, quickly" she said, until she tripped and skinned her knee. What do we put on an owie? "Ice it."

Hanging out on the newly opened up front porch.

Spring Break

We're on Spring Break this week. It does feel like the first week of Spring in Phoenix. This is the week that the wildflowers start blooming if there's been rain, which there has. It's also the week that the "desert rats" (aka "people who actually freeze throughout Phoenix's winter") start venturing outdoors for the upcoming summer season. I would called them wusses, except that they can take the 110 heat like it was nothing, in fact they love it. Spring is the time to get out on a bike, don't you think? Scottsdale's Greenbelt is the greenest and most spectacular bike path in the valley. More than ten straight miles of uninterrupted pathways follow golf courses and ponds and canals and parks. We'll have to bring Grandma Judy and Papa on this ride when they get here tomorrow. Biking is in the same category as snowmobiling, as long as you're doing it for the distance, the scenery, the companionship, and the destinations (aka. beer, food and ice cream).

Granny and Grandpa Come To Town

We worked 'round the clock to get things painted before Granny and Grandpa got here. Selah did the bulk of the down low air-painting. When they arrived it was a Relaxation Station, well, with the occassional sink plumbing job to keep it interesting. We went out to eat at least a hundred times, played outside when it was sunny, watched a bit of rain roll through, drank fine wines, and had a great time, mostly talking and watching that baby. Selah wasn't feeling the best in the respiratory system, but she pulled through without complaining. She performed some new dance moves, such as the Crazy Chicken and the Arm Pump Twist. She learned to really throw a ball with Grandpa. She wanted to copy Granny's ponytail, and kepts saying "cute, cute" about it. The highlight was eating at the Farm, which is a true Phoenix treat this time of year. Then she had some alone time with Granny and Grandpa while Casson and I had our rare date night. And another great family weekend sadly comes to a close.

Got all my monsters in a row.

Meet "the Guys" - Elmo, Crazy Chicken, Mickey, Jenny, Bo-Bo and Monkey. I walked in after her nap and found them all seated like this.

Aunt Jackie and Uncle Tim came to town. We all went out to the Breakfast Club, had a great meal and got to catch up for a couple of hours. We even got a glimpse of a big beautiful SYSCO truck passing by, right down Drinkwater Boulevard. Then we all went to get a great view of the valley on a cloudy day, from the great Papago Park overlook. Thankfully the clouds cleared up that afternoon, despite contradicting forecasts, so the Peterzen's got to enjoy a true Phoenix spring day, hopefully. It was great to see them. Selah had who's who of "Tim" and "Jackie" figured out right away. We'll see you guys in just a couple of months!

Happy Birthday Michael

Hey Michael, it's your birthday.

A stroll through the arboretum in Superior.

Our new friend Marisa took this picture of Selah at the LUX a few weeks back.

There is an arboretum in Superior, AZ. Superior has a lot of potential, but it goes by Inferior to our friends. It's supposedly the first town in Arizona to have gone wireless. It's an old mining town that no longer has a good mine. Yet it is situated in probably the most beautiful spot I've ever seen, other than Havasupai. Surrounded by cliffs and foothills, and wilderness on all sides. We went with Josh and Nadine, had a picnic and a nice walk through all the gardens. More videos coming soon.

It's raining in Phoenix

Selah's updated vocabulary: dada, mom, key, lock, ham, cheese, hush, tea, sheet, up, done, no, yes, got it, pop, light, sock, shoe, walk, kick, cookie, hot, cold, kitty, woof, stuck, uh-oh, doggy, hi, bye-bye, ball

Selah practices her Samurai moves. I made her that shirt, it's a bit shabby, but she likes the bows.

The backyard

Selah's favorite outdoor activity is pushing her old rusty push-cart around, picking up sticks.

We ate our first homegrown vegetable.

This little girl plays cars like a boy. She runs them up and down our heads, soars them through the air like airplanes, and likes to see them fly by on our street outside.

This video was taken a few days before she finally started saying "mom." It's been a running joke between us that she would try to say "mom" but "dada" would come out. She'd point at me and say "dada" and then immediately point at Casson if he were in the room, as if that was what she'd been trying to say.

Casson's been working at the house everyday. He's taped up cracks, mudded, sanded, cleaned and primed the front bedroom. I helped clean the windows. It's taken 15 days so far.

Selah and I met our friends for coffee on Saturday morning. Selah only chipped one plate this time, and spilled only a few drops of coffee on the couch. Doris and Dave were there, tired out from their new jobs, but so caring and sweet. Mike and Robin were there, Robin just back from India where she worked with lepers and gave eye exams to the poor. Dave and Rachel relaxing from long hours at their new jobs/positions. Saturday afternoon we played in the park and met a guy who used to know Josh and Nadine from their time in Israel. Big coincidence. They have two little kids, so Selah made a friend of Abe, who's almost 2. She gave him a hug. Sunday we went to church in our keeping-it-real-every-two-months style. I love creating concepts with hyphens. Church was great. I cried a little, so, you know. Selah loves her friends in the nursery. She helped clean up all the dolls and balls and books. Then we ate .50 hotdogs and hashbrowns, gleaned some ripened grapefruit from our tree of provision on 3rd Ave, and headed home. Monday Josh helped Casson prime, while Selah did circles around the yard, drank tea and warm milk, and hung out with Sara and Josh for dinner. It's Tuesday night now and it's raining like crazy. I'm worn out, need to let my shoulders relax. Enjoy the photos and videos...

Minnesota and Back

The last day of video at our old apartment. Actually we were there for another month, but I lost my camera after recording this video. We've moved into our house, but are going to be unpacking over the next few months, as we finish patching and painting one room at a time. Selah likes the room where we have her sleeping. When we were in Minnesota she started singing to herself in her crib for the first time ever, something that little babies are supposed to do much earlier on as part of speech development. She keeps doing it here in her echoey room, even to the extent that Casson put her down for a nap yesterday and she just sang for an hour and then got up. I think maybe sleeping in that pitch-black closet for a year and a half had a negative, though evidently not permanent effect.

She started saying "no" the day she was 18 months (Dec 20). In Minnesota she experimented with saying "papa, clock" and not surprisingly "cooooold." When we got back to Phoenix, I kid you not, she started saying "hot." It was about 90 degrees warmer. She says hot to refer to food, glade plug-ins, too many clothing layers during a bike ride, and jacket removals.

I tried to add more video and blogger is slow tonight. Sorry grandparents.