The Musings of Mireya Browning

So I haven’t been posting faithfully.  Summer is here and we have been trying to take full advantage of the warm weather.  We have been filling our days with walks, swimming pools, parks, farmers markets, berry picking, summer movies, barbecues and sun tanning.  Well, tanning for me, not my kidlit.   I love the sun.  My husband and I have polar opposite relationships with the sun.  I love the sun, Dan curses the sun.  I love the heat of the sun on my skin, Dan avoids it as much as possible.  It warms, relaxes and revives me.  Dan gets a sun burn walking to the mail box and back.  I love it when my spanish pigment gets darker into an earthy dirt color.  My husband loves that.  Every summer I lay out in hope of turning my year around olive skin into a color that is more like a coal miner black.  Getting black from the sun is good.  Anywho, this reminds me of a Dan Browning joke.

I ask you, “Are tan from the sun?”

You reply, “Yes, I am.”

Then I say, “Oh, well I’m Browning from the Earth.”

This has been a joke with Dan, where no joke is too corny and no groan too loud in response.

My husband is a man of many hobbies; WWII buff, photographer, videographer, coffee connoisseur and amateur astronomer.   We love Dan and love to be apart of all of his interests, no matter how geeky or complex.  Today we tagged along to the SouthWest Washington Stargazers(SWS) club in Battleground, WA.  It was started by an astrophysicist and owner of Sean’s Astronomy Shop.  Sean is getting ready to travel to Mongolia for both business and pleasure.  Business means hunting for meteorites and pleasure as is for all astronomers, stargazing and viewing the solar eclipse.  He’ll have a excellent view of the southern skies.  He currently has pieces from mars, the moon and meteorites.  He hopes to acquire more for his collection.  They are available for sale if you care to spend $40-60k but I think they serve more as teaching tools than anything else.

The club meetings are interesting.  Talks are given about a variety of space related topics.  From information of what you can currently view,to space exploration and my favorite the space elevator.  Photographs of God’s handiwork are spectacular.  I would encourage you to look for a club near you or visit an observatory.  Seeing any object from a telescope is exciting and humbling.  You’ll never forget it.

I’ve always enjoyed the sciences but when I entered a room full of older gentlemen, I didn’t think we would have any shared interests.  By the end of the meeting I discovered an interest in astronomy and I look forward to the next meeting.

This is my favorite space object.  Through a telescope the stars twinkle like diamonds.

We had a low key holiday this year.  We invited the in-laws to our neighborhood 4th of July Parade.  Our little girl and I walked in the parade in our tricked out  Zooper Zydeco. And Dan shot video and pictures of us.  My little girl had the cutest patriotic Good Lad outfit.  She waived her little flag and kept saying America, which is what she calls our American flag. Our local fire station guys were there and gave us badge stickers.  They lead the parade in their fire truck with the siren blaring.  It was great.  Firemen are like celebrity’s at our house.  Our little girl loves fire men and firetrucks.  We met at the Fishers Landing elementary school at 11:00 and ended at our neighborhood park.  Once we got to the park they had food for everyone.  But we brought a picnic lunch instead.  I made sandwiches, fruit and cream puffs.  After the event, Dan watched the baby and I went to a movie with my father and mother-in-law.  We saw Kit Kittredge.  Focus on the Family said it was a great family movie.  It was cute.

Once it got dark we walked half a mile to the view point near our home to watch the fireworks.   It’s nice to have all this great entertainment within walking distance.   We had a great 260 degree view of fireworks.   The Gresham display was closer and easier to watch than the Fort fireworks, and people we’re lighting their fancy fireworks everywhere too.  It was hard to see them all.  If we looked in one direction we would miss the ones on the other side.  It was like watching Attack of the Clones on IMAX.  We had a really nice time.  It didn’t bother our little girl that we were out and it was past her bedtime, she just put herself to sleep even with all the noise.  She was so cute. I’ll have to post pictures later.

Dan is gone for the evening to teach astronomy to the junior campers at the annual church camp in Millersvania Park.  He loves both astronomy and teaching so I’m sure he’s in his element.

I got a lot done while he was away. Ironing, cleaning and my little girl and I spent some time out side blowing bubbles.  It was overcast and the air was warm and muggy.  So we were pretty much mosquito fodder.  We blew bubbles and sang “Hello bubbles” in Mandarin.

Usually when Dan is home we talk before bed.  Connecting before going to sleep.  When Dan is away, the baby’s asleep and the house is quiet.  I don’t feel like mentally going over the tasks of the day or the ones that await me tomorrow.   The night is still.  It’s quiet and I can hear the planes from the Portland airport, the crickets and the frogs. These rare moments are nice.  Sadly, it’s the times I can hear God best.  My mind is clear and I don’t feel an urgency to fall asleep.  I can just lay and rest. I feel peace and pray.

I’ve been MIA for a few days.  We’ve been taking care of the house and grounds as is inevitable for all homeowners.  We’re staining our fence, powerwashing the outside and patio, organizing our garage, painting and a few minor miscellaneous stuff.  Our little girl is so helpful.  She noticed me staining the fence and helped herself to a new paint brush and brushed along side me.  She also likes to help water the lawn and tomatoe plants.  I can’t describe or say enough about how cute she is.  Children really are a lot of fun.  She also likes to help me clean my floors.  I like to disenfect my floors every week, and I don’t use a mop.  It cleans up better with a little elbow grease.  Anyway, she gets down on the floor with me, on her hands and knees and scrubs.  Oh, and when I vacuum she follows me holding the cord, being careful not to tangle it.  I love my helpy helperton.

In honor of the day we are going to have our dear friends, the Bickhams over for a Browning BBQ dinner.  Our BBQ staples are potato salad, baked beans, chicken kabobs, carne asada or steak and apple pie for dessert.

We had a nice time with them and their children.  They are expecting another baby and we are elated for them.

After enjoying our meal and fun conversation, we watched Fool’s Gold with Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey.  It was a fun movie sans the nudity.

What better way to begin the summer season, than with friends, good food and fellowship.  Happy Summer.

In our home, Dan is the dental hygiene nazi. Everyone under the Browning roof must get their teeth cleaned at least twice a year, must floss twice a day and brush after every meal.  Dan prides himself on his good report from the dentist. Everyone must submit, even our little bundle of joy.  Our little girl has had to live by this law since she was 18 months.

We have been teaching her about dental hygiene.  She mostly learns from observing, so there wasn’t much to teach.  But before we began flossing her teeth I wanted to expose her to it first. I let her play with a 10 inch piece of floss.  She immediately knew what to do with it and she would thread it between her side teeth.  I must share that our little girl is the cutest,  not only does she like to floss but she also likes to pull her socks off and floss her toes.  It is so adorable.

I love where we live in the suberbs but I could see myself as a farmers wife.  Dan would like to move to the country someday and I would love to have cows, chickens and goats.  I don’t think we’re going anywhere soon.  Until we can afford acreage, I’m gonna have whatever country I can in my 20 by 15 foot back yard.  Thanks to my retired forester father-in-law, I have three tomatoes plants in the back yard.  Our tomatoes last year did really well.  We hope this will be another plentiful season.

I think farm life would be fun.  Raising farm animals, making meals from scratch with fresh ingredients from our garden.  No traffic, no smog and no rat race.  I could make our kids work to earn their keep.  There are a lot of benefits to raising a family on a farm. Although, I would have to sacrifice shopping, fast internet, local cuisine and things to do that only cities can offer.   Ugh, I don’t think I could live without fast internet. Maybe I wouldn’t be a very good farmer’s wife.

So we tried out Vancouver’s first Sonic restaurant.  We wanted to know what the hubbub was all about.   So we waited 45 minutes behind 15 cars to try the new fair.  People were everywhere.  It was madness, one would think the world was coming to an end and Sonic was the last food establishment.

Before arriving at the restaurant we had two choices to enjoy our meal.  One line of cars was for drive through ordering and the other, the most coveted, the drive-in. This being our first time we wanted to enjoy the experience to the fullest.  When we finally arrived, we parked in our spot, taking it all in we pushed the button to place our order of sonic cheeseburgers, tater tots, an oreo sonic blast and a hot fudge sundae.

To be kind and truthful the food held the same quality as McDonalds.  To say the least it was warm but an American meal it was not.  There were all kinds of pieces put together that someone might a hamburger.  I’m ashamed that so many people settle for such poor quality. Anyway, we’re not going back.

A few days later we visited another chain of restaurants newly opened on 164th.  Pollo Loco and South of the Border.  The only difference in the two is price.  Both provide the same terrible excuse for Mexican food, only one charges more for atmosphere and the other charges less.  I would put the two in the same category for taste as Taco Bell.  I don’t under stand people.  So misled. Food is better than this.  Every time we drive by Sonic with droves of people in line, I feel sad they don’t know better.  Making a delicious meal is so easy and economical.  It only takes a little effort and maybe some creativity.  People really should be eating out less.  There is great value in make a meal with your own hands.

I’m a meat and potatoes kinda girl.  I love a good steak or hamburger.  My favorite steaks are made by this really hot guy that I live with.  They are amazing.  He may be a technorati but the man can grill.  He’s a genius god with a grill.  Newport Bay makes an amazing guacamole burger.  I’ve also heard Portland City Grill makes a mean burger.  I may have to try it out.

Maybe I should open a fast food restraunt that actually sells food.  And the food will not only provide nutrition but will also be a pleasure to eat.

My husbands oldest brother, the last bachelor from the Browning clan has finally tied the knot.

It was held in my in-law’s back yard.  The weather was perfect. Congratulations to David and Mellisa Browning.

Weddings are a beautiful thing.  Especially when God is invited.  Today’s society has really misconstrued what God created.  Spiritually, marriage is more than feelings of love.  It’s a real commitment.  A covenant with God.  It doesn’t matter what people think or want.  It’s just you and God.  Marriage is a serious business.

On the superficial side, there is the planning.   And the planning all in all equals money.  Now, this is my own personal opinion.  But can you think of anything more wasteful than a $30k wedding?  Or even a $3k wedding?  You could get a down payment on a house, an education or really sweet computer lab for LAN gaming and fast internet shopping.  But seriously, you only need two things to have a wedding; a licensed pastor and two witnesses. The planning of flowers, decorations, location, and all the minute details that one would think makes or breaks the happiest day of their life, is lavish, unnecessary and useless.  A couple will be no less married or live in wedded bliss without these things.  Weddings are so overrated.  Girls who dream up this stuff from when they are nine are… silly.  Maybe it just doesn’t make sense to me.  As far as the planning is concerned make sure the pastor and groom are present.  Trust me, nothing else matters.  Not the dress, not the food or even the lingerie.  Am I right guys?  But what I do think matters most is the kind of man you are marrying and who you are making this covenant to.  The Creator of life and marriage.

It’s common for most couples to invest more time and especially money in preparation of the wedding day than the days after.  I feel bad for the couples who conjure up fluffy feelings and money for the wedding day only to live a few years as husband and wife.  IMHO, it would be worth more to invest whatever resources in each other in learning how to love and bless one another with marriage conferences, books and weekends away.

And another thing, a location doesn’t make a honeymoon.  It’s who your with.  You could be in the most beautiful tropical beach and still not have a good time with your spouse.  And then you could be on a rainy Oregon beach and have the best time ever.  It’s the company that matters.  Which reminds me, I have the best friend, husband and father for my children in the whole world.