vw bugs and paul simon. sept. 2008Share. Tuesday, April 28, 2009 at 5:08pm | Edit Note | Delete
isn't it funny how you can be going about your routine, day in and day out, never really thinking beyond what it is that you're doing, and what you still have to get done that day, when suddenly some tiny, insignificant detail around you transports you back to a different time in your life, where you can actually see and feel and smell the things from your memory as if they were all around you again?
today, as i was driving, paul simon's "50 ways to leave your lover" came on the radio and in an instant i was 4 years old again, sitting in the backseat of our beige volkswagen bug. i could feel the heat of the summer as the hot air rushed in the open window and onto my face, i could smell the vinyl seats being baked by the rays of the sun, and i could feel them sticking to the backs of my legs as i sat in the middle of the backseat, hands on the headrests of the seats in front of me, singing along with my mom and paul simon at the top of my lungs.
it's one of my favorite memories.
14 June 2010
Previously posted elsewhere... DREAM
dream. july 2008Share. Tuesday, April 28, 2009 at 5:07pm | Edit Note | Delete
here is a dream that i had yesterday when i dozed off on the couch with luca for a few minutes. make of it what you will, i'm still trying to figure it out.
My grandmother was having a dinner party at the house in Willow Grove. There were maybe ten people in attendance, some close friends, some acquaintances and some "new" old friends that i've recently come into contact with again. And i was late. Not fashionably late, really late. I found myself up in the tiny room that i had once occupied, already changed into my dress and fumbling with the straps of my heels. Then i quickly came down the stairs and into the dining room where i immediatley began to clear away everyone's dishes from the first course rather than sitting down and joining them(once a waitress, always a waitress i guess..). When the main course was finished everyone got up and moved out into the semi-darkness of the backyard. Out past the old patio swing that we used to play on as kids, situated next to the mint plants that i could smell in the air, past the stone wall that we used to "fish" off of with sticks and string fashioned into "rods", to the farthest point of the back yard just before the hill drops into a wooded area between houses. Here, towards the left corner of the yard was a well. As we all stood around it, my grandmother took my hand. I could actually feel the frailness of her tiny hand(they were so dainty!)and the softness of her thin skin(they were always so soft). She looked at me and said, "Have a look dearie. It's a good place to do some thinking, to clear your head and make some necessary decisions. We'll wait. We will all be up here when you're done." Suddenly, all around me, flew a cloud of cardinals. Bright red. Swirling and dipping. The beating of their wings fanning air across my face. One hovered in the air in front of my face and stared directly at me for a few moments before moving back into the swirl of birds. None of them touched me, just enveloped me in their cloud. Then, just as suddenly, they were gone. And i was alone in my grandmother's backyard.
it's a bit stream of consciousness, i know.
here is a dream that i had yesterday when i dozed off on the couch with luca for a few minutes. make of it what you will, i'm still trying to figure it out.
My grandmother was having a dinner party at the house in Willow Grove. There were maybe ten people in attendance, some close friends, some acquaintances and some "new" old friends that i've recently come into contact with again. And i was late. Not fashionably late, really late. I found myself up in the tiny room that i had once occupied, already changed into my dress and fumbling with the straps of my heels. Then i quickly came down the stairs and into the dining room where i immediatley began to clear away everyone's dishes from the first course rather than sitting down and joining them(once a waitress, always a waitress i guess..). When the main course was finished everyone got up and moved out into the semi-darkness of the backyard. Out past the old patio swing that we used to play on as kids, situated next to the mint plants that i could smell in the air, past the stone wall that we used to "fish" off of with sticks and string fashioned into "rods", to the farthest point of the back yard just before the hill drops into a wooded area between houses. Here, towards the left corner of the yard was a well. As we all stood around it, my grandmother took my hand. I could actually feel the frailness of her tiny hand(they were so dainty!)and the softness of her thin skin(they were always so soft). She looked at me and said, "Have a look dearie. It's a good place to do some thinking, to clear your head and make some necessary decisions. We'll wait. We will all be up here when you're done." Suddenly, all around me, flew a cloud of cardinals. Bright red. Swirling and dipping. The beating of their wings fanning air across my face. One hovered in the air in front of my face and stared directly at me for a few moments before moving back into the swirl of birds. None of them touched me, just enveloped me in their cloud. Then, just as suddenly, they were gone. And i was alone in my grandmother's backyard.
it's a bit stream of consciousness, i know.
Previously posted elsewhere...COLD SLEEPY HOUSE
cold, sleepy house. dec 2008Share. Tuesday, April 28, 2009 at 5:10pm | Edit Note | Delete
While at a friend's house, G and I were playing around with those magnetic words that you put on the refrigerator. You know, the ones that you mix up and put into funny sentences like "his name was RubySue" or that, in my son's case, usually have something to do with bathroom humor. We were busy trying to outdo each other's silly sentences when a phrase popped into my mind that I haven't been able to shake since.
Cold, sleepy house.
For some reason it evokes memories and feelings of waking up in the half-light, when the house is quiet and still chilly from the night before. When everyone else is still nestled warmly in their beds, peacefully sleeping. When you're not yet in a hurry to jump into the shower and get ready for the day's activities, but still slowly, sleepily walking around your house and not yet realising that this moment is a little gift.
While at a friend's house, G and I were playing around with those magnetic words that you put on the refrigerator. You know, the ones that you mix up and put into funny sentences like "his name was RubySue" or that, in my son's case, usually have something to do with bathroom humor. We were busy trying to outdo each other's silly sentences when a phrase popped into my mind that I haven't been able to shake since.
Cold, sleepy house.
For some reason it evokes memories and feelings of waking up in the half-light, when the house is quiet and still chilly from the night before. When everyone else is still nestled warmly in their beds, peacefully sleeping. When you're not yet in a hurry to jump into the shower and get ready for the day's activities, but still slowly, sleepily walking around your house and not yet realising that this moment is a little gift.
Previously posted elsewhere... 15 BOOKS
15 Books in 15 MinutesShare. Saturday, June 20, 2009 at 6:45pm | Edit Note | Delete
This can be a quick one. Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Tag friends, including me because I'm interested in seeing what books my friends choose...
Just a note: to ask me to pick only 15 books that will always stick with me is like asking an alcoholic to pick one last drink, or a gambler to make one last bet... there are just too many books that have meant something to me or spoken directly to me in one way or another throughout my life. and while it would seem that i randomly picked them up and read them at certain points in my life, i sometimes think that "they" chose "me" at very specific times, when the words on the pages would mean something more to me than just a good storyline, when there was some element in them that i would never have seen otherwise had i not been at that stage in my life. books are amazing and strange gifts, we can read them when we are 22 and find beautiful truths in them and then pick them up again at 32 and find something altogether different and meaningful. that said, here i go:
these first 3 have to be linked together just because they all happened to be read in one summer, the summer that i began my love affair with books:
1. To Kill A Mockingbird-Harper Lee. ok fairly obvious and extremely common is what you are thinking, but my all time favorite none-the-less. i was 11 when my dad assigned this and the next book on the list to me to read over our summer vacation in florida and from the moment i began Mockingbird i was changed forever. it opened my eyes to what books could be, and do, and mean to different people and it just so happenes to be an amazing book. i was lucky. it's still my favorite book of all time, and possibly, the one i've read the most. someday, i'll be able to afford a signed first edition...
2. The Good Earth-Pearl Buck. not a favorite of anyone else that i'm aware of, but an amazing story of loyalty, courage and struggle that really spoke to me, even at 11.
3. Agatha Christie, if i have to choose one-Ten Little Indians. my grandmother owned the entire Agatha Christie collection. Miss Marple as well as Hercule Poirot. she lent them to me one by one over several summers and i ate them up, i couldn't get enough. i truly believe that it shaped my thought processes(?), for better or worse. to this day, whenever i pick one up to thumb through, they take me back to summers at my grandmother's house, sitting on her patio swing, reading and smelling her mint plants on the breeze.
the next two i must give full credit to my brother for recommending:
4. Ethan Frome-Edith Wharton. if you have never read this book, you must go out tomorrow and buy, borrow or steal it. it's only 90 pages long and can be read in a day, which is exactly what i did when craig handed it to me one afternoon. how to explain it concisely? monotony, frustration, gloom, surprise, brightness, feeling, then, well, i can't tell you the "then" part...that would ruin it.
5. Brideshead Revisited-Evelyn Waugh. i must admit that this should really be at the end of this list, if we're going in chronological order. this is the only book i have never finished, or rather, that it took me 13 years to finish. which i did thanks to craig harrassing/embarrassing me into picking it up again. i don't know what my problem was when i was was 23, but i read it cover-to-cover last winter and had 2 gargantuan epiphanies which will stay with me forever.
ok, in no particular order:
6. A Handmaid's Tale-Margaret Atwood. amazing picture of what life could be like in the future due to the current struggles of the day. well, actually of the 1980's, which was when it was written. most definitely my second most often read book. i've been told of a movie version which is supposedly a good translation of the book, but i'll never watch it. why mess with perfection?
7. Roots-Alex Haley. i'm sure this book needs no description. i loved it, every page.
8. The Diary of Anne Frank. i remember reading this in 7th or 8th grade and having the truth and the horror of the holocaust hit home. i cried off and on for about two weeks. i recently read it again with G and she had the same reaction i did, "i will never forget this diary and her story as long as i live, mom." which is as it should be.
9. Things Fall Apart-Chinua Achebe. fantastic book that describes the life and culture of an african man and his family. wonderful.
10. Kon Tiki-Thor Heyerdahl. i was assigned this for an anthropology class and read through it in a night(i was a little sleepy in class the next day, yes). it's the journal of five men who decided to sail from the west coast of south america to the polenysian islands using only balsa log rafts and ocean currents. it showed me that you can do almost anything that you set your mind to, provided you research it well.
11. The Aeneid-Virgil. again, i was assigned this in college and loved every page of it. are there people out there who don't love mythology?
12. A Room With A View-E.M. Forster. SUCH a wonderful book. poor, confused lucy finally finding herself, melancholic george, tactless mr. emerson and snobbish cecil. hmmm...maybe i'll read it again.
and some short stories which in turn piqued my interest so much that i then devoured almost everything else written by the author:
13. The Lottery-Shirley Jackson. who hasn't read this? and, well, if you haven't, get on it. a perfect example of how to write a story that keeps one intruiged with virtually no information and then smacks you in the gut with utter shock at the end.
14. Young Goodman Brown-Nathaniel Hawthorne. puritans, withcraft and your wife. and the possibility that it was all a dream... insidiously terrifying.
15. A Good Man Is Hard To Find-Flannery O'Connor. or Everything That Rises Must Converge, or Revelation...well, they're all amazing which is probably why i own three books dedicated to her short stories. the tension she builds as well as the changing of the characters in this story are truly amazing. she's the best.
and that's it. i'm sure as soon as i log off of fb i will want to rush right back to the computer to type out some honorable mentions(which, believe me, i've already thought about and decided against twice). these books are wonderful and amazing to me, but maybe they are because i read them at the right times in my life. i whole heartedly recommend each one of these to you to lose yourself in, maybe they will hit you as hard as they did me. and if they do, maybe it's not because you decided to read them because of this list, but because they chose you at this point in your life.
and yes, G has a reading list the likes of which you've never seen awaiting her....
This can be a quick one. Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Tag friends, including me because I'm interested in seeing what books my friends choose...
Just a note: to ask me to pick only 15 books that will always stick with me is like asking an alcoholic to pick one last drink, or a gambler to make one last bet... there are just too many books that have meant something to me or spoken directly to me in one way or another throughout my life. and while it would seem that i randomly picked them up and read them at certain points in my life, i sometimes think that "they" chose "me" at very specific times, when the words on the pages would mean something more to me than just a good storyline, when there was some element in them that i would never have seen otherwise had i not been at that stage in my life. books are amazing and strange gifts, we can read them when we are 22 and find beautiful truths in them and then pick them up again at 32 and find something altogether different and meaningful. that said, here i go:
these first 3 have to be linked together just because they all happened to be read in one summer, the summer that i began my love affair with books:
1. To Kill A Mockingbird-Harper Lee. ok fairly obvious and extremely common is what you are thinking, but my all time favorite none-the-less. i was 11 when my dad assigned this and the next book on the list to me to read over our summer vacation in florida and from the moment i began Mockingbird i was changed forever. it opened my eyes to what books could be, and do, and mean to different people and it just so happenes to be an amazing book. i was lucky. it's still my favorite book of all time, and possibly, the one i've read the most. someday, i'll be able to afford a signed first edition...
2. The Good Earth-Pearl Buck. not a favorite of anyone else that i'm aware of, but an amazing story of loyalty, courage and struggle that really spoke to me, even at 11.
3. Agatha Christie, if i have to choose one-Ten Little Indians. my grandmother owned the entire Agatha Christie collection. Miss Marple as well as Hercule Poirot. she lent them to me one by one over several summers and i ate them up, i couldn't get enough. i truly believe that it shaped my thought processes(?), for better or worse. to this day, whenever i pick one up to thumb through, they take me back to summers at my grandmother's house, sitting on her patio swing, reading and smelling her mint plants on the breeze.
the next two i must give full credit to my brother for recommending:
4. Ethan Frome-Edith Wharton. if you have never read this book, you must go out tomorrow and buy, borrow or steal it. it's only 90 pages long and can be read in a day, which is exactly what i did when craig handed it to me one afternoon. how to explain it concisely? monotony, frustration, gloom, surprise, brightness, feeling, then, well, i can't tell you the "then" part...that would ruin it.
5. Brideshead Revisited-Evelyn Waugh. i must admit that this should really be at the end of this list, if we're going in chronological order. this is the only book i have never finished, or rather, that it took me 13 years to finish. which i did thanks to craig harrassing/embarrassing me into picking it up again. i don't know what my problem was when i was was 23, but i read it cover-to-cover last winter and had 2 gargantuan epiphanies which will stay with me forever.
ok, in no particular order:
6. A Handmaid's Tale-Margaret Atwood. amazing picture of what life could be like in the future due to the current struggles of the day. well, actually of the 1980's, which was when it was written. most definitely my second most often read book. i've been told of a movie version which is supposedly a good translation of the book, but i'll never watch it. why mess with perfection?
7. Roots-Alex Haley. i'm sure this book needs no description. i loved it, every page.
8. The Diary of Anne Frank. i remember reading this in 7th or 8th grade and having the truth and the horror of the holocaust hit home. i cried off and on for about two weeks. i recently read it again with G and she had the same reaction i did, "i will never forget this diary and her story as long as i live, mom." which is as it should be.
9. Things Fall Apart-Chinua Achebe. fantastic book that describes the life and culture of an african man and his family. wonderful.
10. Kon Tiki-Thor Heyerdahl. i was assigned this for an anthropology class and read through it in a night(i was a little sleepy in class the next day, yes). it's the journal of five men who decided to sail from the west coast of south america to the polenysian islands using only balsa log rafts and ocean currents. it showed me that you can do almost anything that you set your mind to, provided you research it well.
11. The Aeneid-Virgil. again, i was assigned this in college and loved every page of it. are there people out there who don't love mythology?
12. A Room With A View-E.M. Forster. SUCH a wonderful book. poor, confused lucy finally finding herself, melancholic george, tactless mr. emerson and snobbish cecil. hmmm...maybe i'll read it again.
and some short stories which in turn piqued my interest so much that i then devoured almost everything else written by the author:
13. The Lottery-Shirley Jackson. who hasn't read this? and, well, if you haven't, get on it. a perfect example of how to write a story that keeps one intruiged with virtually no information and then smacks you in the gut with utter shock at the end.
14. Young Goodman Brown-Nathaniel Hawthorne. puritans, withcraft and your wife. and the possibility that it was all a dream... insidiously terrifying.
15. A Good Man Is Hard To Find-Flannery O'Connor. or Everything That Rises Must Converge, or Revelation...well, they're all amazing which is probably why i own three books dedicated to her short stories. the tension she builds as well as the changing of the characters in this story are truly amazing. she's the best.
and that's it. i'm sure as soon as i log off of fb i will want to rush right back to the computer to type out some honorable mentions(which, believe me, i've already thought about and decided against twice). these books are wonderful and amazing to me, but maybe they are because i read them at the right times in my life. i whole heartedly recommend each one of these to you to lose yourself in, maybe they will hit you as hard as they did me. and if they do, maybe it's not because you decided to read them because of this list, but because they chose you at this point in your life.
and yes, G has a reading list the likes of which you've never seen awaiting her....
Previously posted elsewhere... 25 RADOM THINGS ABOUT ME
25 random things about meShare. Friday, February 6, 2009 at 10:25am
1. i dislike rodents. but only certain kinds : mice and rats seem to be ok, it's the gerbils, hamsters and guinea pigs that i hate.
2. when i was 5 my one hamster ate the other during the night. i awoke to the carnage the next morning. shall we go back to number one?
3. i believe in ghosts, aliens, creationism and evolution and i see no conflict in this. bring it on.
4. i jumped off of a cliff into the sea while in hawaii just to say i did it.
5. i'm afraid of heights.
6. i once had to be rescued by a lifeguard in the middle of july on ocean city's beach. humiliating.
7. i'm so grateful that i've been able to stay home with my kids while they were little. but while i love being at home, if i don't get out of the house at least once during the day i get cabin fever. can't do it.
8. after spending the last _ yrs home with young kids, i have now become completely addicted to taking naps.
9. my brother likes to say that when we were young, i pushed him on the ice, making him fall and hit his forehead on the ground, resulting in 5 stitches. he slipped.
10. i want to learn how to play the piano, speak russian, do the tango, fly a helicopter, restore art, bind books and analyze handwriting. i'd better get moving.
11. i have several stories which i've started writing that are just sitting and waiting for me to finish them.
12. i love books. i get attached to the books that i read and want to keep each and every one. i will never give them away.
13. i have so many books that i am running out of shelving space.
14. i have recently realized that some of my most favorite things are those that remind me of my grandmother. bright red cardinals, sweet, hot tea, old board games, toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and her use of the word deary.
15. i am obsessed with possible apocalyptic events. i even had an emergency backpack in my car for a time that held extra clothes and shoes for my kids and a first aid kit as well as food and water. i know...
16. i once had a dream in which my sister was being attacked by a shark and i was so paralyzed by fear that all i could muster up the courage to do was throw my slipper at it. she's still upset with me about that.
17. i love smells. the smell of freshly cut grass, the smell of winter in the air, the thick, heavy smell of summer on humid nights, the smell of rain from a sudden, summer thunderstorm, campfire smells and the individual smell that each person has.
18. i see numbers in patterns and associate colors with names and different words. not sure what this means exactly, a friend of mine told me the name of this phenomenon but i've forgotten it now.
19. my memory sucks.
20. i've had the good fortune of having two jobs that i absolutely loved. one was years and years ago as a clerk in a bookstore and the other is my current job giving educational tours in germantown. it has something to do with the perfect mix of people as well as your interest in the task at hand i suppose. whatever it was/is, it was a wonderful time in my life.
21. i am a terrible contradiction of responsibility and procrastination. if i could explain it, i would. maybe some other time....
22. my brother also likes to say that one day, while playing outside, i pulled his bigwheel out from under him and made him hit his front teeth on the sidewalk. he fell.
23. i love shoveling snow. it's true.
24. i'm embarrassed to say at my age that i've never been out of the country. however, that is being remedied as we speak.
25. ok, so maybe the bigwheel incident could be true, my memory sucks remember? but, i also single-handedly scared off two boys who were picking on my brother at the beach one summer (nobody messes with my little brother). i'd say that makes us even.
1. i dislike rodents. but only certain kinds : mice and rats seem to be ok, it's the gerbils, hamsters and guinea pigs that i hate.
2. when i was 5 my one hamster ate the other during the night. i awoke to the carnage the next morning. shall we go back to number one?
3. i believe in ghosts, aliens, creationism and evolution and i see no conflict in this. bring it on.
4. i jumped off of a cliff into the sea while in hawaii just to say i did it.
5. i'm afraid of heights.
6. i once had to be rescued by a lifeguard in the middle of july on ocean city's beach. humiliating.
7. i'm so grateful that i've been able to stay home with my kids while they were little. but while i love being at home, if i don't get out of the house at least once during the day i get cabin fever. can't do it.
8. after spending the last _ yrs home with young kids, i have now become completely addicted to taking naps.
9. my brother likes to say that when we were young, i pushed him on the ice, making him fall and hit his forehead on the ground, resulting in 5 stitches. he slipped.
10. i want to learn how to play the piano, speak russian, do the tango, fly a helicopter, restore art, bind books and analyze handwriting. i'd better get moving.
11. i have several stories which i've started writing that are just sitting and waiting for me to finish them.
12. i love books. i get attached to the books that i read and want to keep each and every one. i will never give them away.
13. i have so many books that i am running out of shelving space.
14. i have recently realized that some of my most favorite things are those that remind me of my grandmother. bright red cardinals, sweet, hot tea, old board games, toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and her use of the word deary.
15. i am obsessed with possible apocalyptic events. i even had an emergency backpack in my car for a time that held extra clothes and shoes for my kids and a first aid kit as well as food and water. i know...
16. i once had a dream in which my sister was being attacked by a shark and i was so paralyzed by fear that all i could muster up the courage to do was throw my slipper at it. she's still upset with me about that.
17. i love smells. the smell of freshly cut grass, the smell of winter in the air, the thick, heavy smell of summer on humid nights, the smell of rain from a sudden, summer thunderstorm, campfire smells and the individual smell that each person has.
18. i see numbers in patterns and associate colors with names and different words. not sure what this means exactly, a friend of mine told me the name of this phenomenon but i've forgotten it now.
19. my memory sucks.
20. i've had the good fortune of having two jobs that i absolutely loved. one was years and years ago as a clerk in a bookstore and the other is my current job giving educational tours in germantown. it has something to do with the perfect mix of people as well as your interest in the task at hand i suppose. whatever it was/is, it was a wonderful time in my life.
21. i am a terrible contradiction of responsibility and procrastination. if i could explain it, i would. maybe some other time....
22. my brother also likes to say that one day, while playing outside, i pulled his bigwheel out from under him and made him hit his front teeth on the sidewalk. he fell.
23. i love shoveling snow. it's true.
24. i'm embarrassed to say at my age that i've never been out of the country. however, that is being remedied as we speak.
25. ok, so maybe the bigwheel incident could be true, my memory sucks remember? but, i also single-handedly scared off two boys who were picking on my brother at the beach one summer (nobody messes with my little brother). i'd say that makes us even.
Previously posted elsewhere... INSTINCT
instinct? june 2008Share.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
so i had a moment of panic today while at the pool with the kids. being the excellent mother that i am, i put my chair next to the side of the pool so as to be able, in one fluid movement, jump up from my chair and into a graceful dive, slicing the water without a splash and saving one or the other of them from the imminent danger of drowning. like the not so excellent mother that i am, i promptly lost myself in my book. the amount of time is irrelevant (no, seriously, it wasn't really THAT long).
when i was finally brought back to reality by some adorable child who doused my book with water, i raised my eyes to check on the safety of my children. i saw L right in front of me, swimming happily in his shark goggles and swimmies (yes, it's true),but G i couldn't seem to find. after about 5 minutes of searching through a pool full of screaming, jumping, rather annoying kids i was beginning to get nervous when i spied, at the far end of the pool, the back of a head emerge from the water. it was G.
ok, so the whole reason for this rambling blog is to point out that as soon as i saw the back of her wet head surface i didn't need to take a second look(of course, i did. what kind of mother would i be if i didn't? the kind who reads by the pool never watching her kids?? please), i could definitively recognize my child with only the barest evidence of identification. cool.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
so i had a moment of panic today while at the pool with the kids. being the excellent mother that i am, i put my chair next to the side of the pool so as to be able, in one fluid movement, jump up from my chair and into a graceful dive, slicing the water without a splash and saving one or the other of them from the imminent danger of drowning. like the not so excellent mother that i am, i promptly lost myself in my book. the amount of time is irrelevant (no, seriously, it wasn't really THAT long).
when i was finally brought back to reality by some adorable child who doused my book with water, i raised my eyes to check on the safety of my children. i saw L right in front of me, swimming happily in his shark goggles and swimmies (yes, it's true),but G i couldn't seem to find. after about 5 minutes of searching through a pool full of screaming, jumping, rather annoying kids i was beginning to get nervous when i spied, at the far end of the pool, the back of a head emerge from the water. it was G.
ok, so the whole reason for this rambling blog is to point out that as soon as i saw the back of her wet head surface i didn't need to take a second look(of course, i did. what kind of mother would i be if i didn't? the kind who reads by the pool never watching her kids?? please), i could definitively recognize my child with only the barest evidence of identification. cool.
02 June 2010
I am counting the days….
Four full and three half-days to be precise.
And I am looking over my lists and making others on top of the first drafts.
I love lists. Those of you who know me well know that I love to make lists and can attest to the fact that I have many lists in various locations around my house. Lists on yellow post its next to my computer of music to listen to, books to read, ideas for stories that are banging around my head waiting (impatiently) to get out, reading lists on my new (finally!!) refrigerator for both myself and G, lists in my room of projects that I want accomplished this summer and ideas I have for my apartment.
But here is the list that momentarily trumps all of the others (I’m sorry, I still love you my little yellow post-its, be patient with me!). Here is the summer list of “must do’s”, painstakingly crafted and considered so as to incorporate as many things as possible, yet not to make one feel too overwhelmed, because after all, it’s summer and summer is supposed to be a relaxing time…
1. Camping. I want my kids to enjoy camping and spending as much time outdoors as possible. Not t.v., not video games, but being outside in the fresh air. Trip number one is already scheduled thankyouverymuch, so I’m ahead of the game, wouldn't you say?
2. Picnics.
3. Beach.
4. Do one project a week out of The Daring Book For Girls.
5. Read to my kids. (Reading lists to follow in the next installment)
6. Weekly trips to the creek and the “Valley of Rocks”. And Teddyuscung.
7. Ice cream cones. Lots of ice cream cones.
8. Evening walks.
8. Bike rides.
9. Day trips.
I can hardly wait.
Four full and three half-days to be precise.
And I am looking over my lists and making others on top of the first drafts.
I love lists. Those of you who know me well know that I love to make lists and can attest to the fact that I have many lists in various locations around my house. Lists on yellow post its next to my computer of music to listen to, books to read, ideas for stories that are banging around my head waiting (impatiently) to get out, reading lists on my new (finally!!) refrigerator for both myself and G, lists in my room of projects that I want accomplished this summer and ideas I have for my apartment.
But here is the list that momentarily trumps all of the others (I’m sorry, I still love you my little yellow post-its, be patient with me!). Here is the summer list of “must do’s”, painstakingly crafted and considered so as to incorporate as many things as possible, yet not to make one feel too overwhelmed, because after all, it’s summer and summer is supposed to be a relaxing time…
1. Camping. I want my kids to enjoy camping and spending as much time outdoors as possible. Not t.v., not video games, but being outside in the fresh air. Trip number one is already scheduled thankyouverymuch, so I’m ahead of the game, wouldn't you say?
2. Picnics.
3. Beach.
4. Do one project a week out of The Daring Book For Girls.
5. Read to my kids. (Reading lists to follow in the next installment)
6. Weekly trips to the creek and the “Valley of Rocks”. And Teddyuscung.
7. Ice cream cones. Lots of ice cream cones.
8. Evening walks.
8. Bike rides.
9. Day trips.
I can hardly wait.
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