New Wheels

Wow, is it hard to choose a vehicle to drive these days. First there's safety to consider. If you have an accident like we just had (rolled, spun, and skidded the car), safety is a main priority. I felt like I wanted the exact same car (in my case - a VW Jetta wagon) because it kept me and my kids so safe.

Then there's gas mileage. The higher the better for this environmentalist.

I wanted to purchase a used car because when well cared for and well built, cars have a much longer life span than many people take advantage of. It is also much greener to reuse something and extend its usable lifetime.

There is cost to consider as well. Sometimes life would be so much easier without money!

And then the kicker for me -- availability. You see I want to still drive a stick shift (manual transmission) car. There just aren't a lot of them around. And I want a station wagon for carrying bikes, bins, and other stuff.

So a used station wagon with a stick shift, the highest safety ratings, and the highest gas mileage. There are not a lot of choices.

Have I mentioned that I also do not want black interior (living in Maryland black interiors are rather like ovens in the summer) or silver/grey/white exterior?

Yes, that leaves me with precisely zero choices. Not even worrying about the price yet ... So I have to give something up. Stick shift? Hell no. If I have to drive around, I might as well enjoy it and not fall asleep :-) Wagon? nope. I gave up on color. After all, just last week I had a blue car -- and I distinctly remember not wanting blue. I wanted green. But in 2002 when we went to the dealership the green one sold while we were driving there. So blue we got.

Just yesterday I drove home my new car. It is silver. But, it is a 2002 VW Passat station wagon with a stick shift, grey leather interior, great safety ratings, and with the lowest power engine has the best gas mileage I could find in this type of car. She is happy in our garage. I even baked a birthday cake for her yesterday. After all, she was build in Dec 2001 in Germany. It is really her birth month!

Dark Days Challenge Meal #3 or 4

I missed a week of blogging for the Dark Days Challenge. I was so obsessed with the whole car accident finding the ideal replacement car, that while we did eat locally the whole week, I did not even think of blogging about it.

But this week I am back! We enjoyed sausage from a local farmer (10 miles), roasted potatoes (15 miles) tossed with olive oil and salt, and a mix of (15 miles) veges including leeks, carrots, napa cabbage, vitamin green, and chickpeas (not local but delivered with my other natural coop food from Phili. We seasoned the veges with homemade gomasio (sesame seeds and salt) and a bit of dulse.



Persimmon cake was our dessert. I made it yesterday as a birthday cake for my new (actually used) replacement car. The persimmons were deliciously sweet and from my favorite farm 15 miles away. I ground the wheat and spelt which came from Pittsburgh, PA (well beyond my 25 miles goal). Local honey sweetened the cake. Do those pesky baking ingredients count? You know - the baking powder and baking soda? Anyway, it was yummy...



Here's the persimmon cake recipe although as usual I modified it ...

A Day of Firsts and Lasts

Yesterday was an exciting and eventful day. A day of firsts and lasts.

Son got his first pair of shoes repaired. He now knows how easy it can be to fix something you love.

Son used his debit card from Young Americans Bank for the first time. He paid to have his hiking boots repaired so he can have them for his next boy scout excursion.

Daughter did a forward roll on the balance beam in gymnastics class and did not fall off.

Both Son and Daughter were in their first car crash. I totaled my car. First time. Hopefully last as well. Here's my wonderful car:





You can see that we were hit by a car coming perpendicular to us - right in the driver side. We rolled over 3/4 of the way (yes we were upside down and on the roof for a short time) and spun around. We landed facing the wrong direction, up against a curb, and sideways on the driver's side of the car. Some nice gentlemen stopped and yanked open the car doors and helped Son and Daughter out. They had already unbuckled and were trying to get out. Daughter was on the passenger side in the back and was completely unharmed. Son was on the drivers side in the back and banged the corner of his eye on something. He has a small cut and a black eye. I have a few cuts on my hands but nothing that a standard size band-aid won't cover. The young woman that hit us and her toddler daughter were fine as well.

I love my VW Jetta. It kept us safe. I am sorry to see her go. She was fun to drive (I still drive a stick shift). But I have driven her for the last time.

What to do now? Hmm... We'll have to see how living within my green values plays out for figuring out future transportation. Until then, we are happy to be so lucky. Our time here on Earth was clearly not finished. I can't wait to see what the future holds for me!

Want more pictures? Check out the annotated crash pictures - done by my loving physicist husband. Get out your little matchbox cars for some physics/mechanics modeling...