Alley

About a month ago I was driving from point A to point B when Cordelia spotted an alley and asked,"What is that road?" Apparently she had never been taught about alleys. We have no alleys in our neighborhood, just easements that often channel escaped dogs up and down the length of our block. Keeps the dogs from getting into the street, but creates barking chaos as the dogs run up and down the fences getting all of the neighbor dogs riled up.

Anyway, both girls were interested in the mysterious allure of alleyways. They asked if we could drive through an alley and I happily obliged. It was kind of fun looking into backyards and seeing our town from a different perspective.

Since then we have been driving through a lot of alleys. Pretty much any time we are out now ends up in an adventure through alleys. The process slows us down and lends itself to a sense of exploration. We have had fun with this odd change of pace. 

Do you alley drive?

Three Walks Part 3

Walk 3

Sunday evening I invited Cordelia to take a walk with me after dinner. Eric and Elise made plans to ride bikes and snuggle in the hammock. I had a bit of an ulterior motive; Cordelia has been struggling a bit with her emotions lately and we have been working, with great success, to help her feel like she has tools to control her big feelings. The most effective tool has been making more time for one-on-one interaction every day. Cordelia has a lot going on in her mind and giving her the opportunity to share without interruption or distraction has been so rewarding.

So she and I set out toward the south, the light was absolutely golden and the temperature was perfect. I looked down at the light reflecting off of her hair and ran my hand through her shining locks. She looked up at me and smiled, her hand in mine. 

We walked and she talked and talked. She talked about anything and everything. I soaked it all in, marveling at this girl who has made me grow so much. She is that delightful mix of innocent wisdom, "Sometimes people are mean to others when they are really just upset with themselves," and big dreams,"Do you think I could really be the first girl to go to Mars?"

I let her lead the way. She led us up and down the familiar streets of our neighborhood. Sometimes we held hands, other times we walked side by side. We paused to throw leaves into the creek and to watch ants and to run through a couple of sprinklers. We peered into backyards and eventually we made our way to the park. She worked on the monkey bars a bit, she is turning out to be quite athletic, before we wandered into an area that has trails through dense foliage. 

She asked me if we could explore. So we did. When we found a little hollow she claimed it for our family. All the while she would say things like,"I am having so much fun. I hope Elise is having fun with Dad, because I don't want her to feel bad about all the fun we are having." 

Honestly I don't have the words to express what a treasure this walk was to me. I love hearing what is going on in Cordelia's mind. She is so smart and creative and compassionate and funny. 

Eric and Elise also had their own special evening as well.

Three Walks

Sunday I took three walks and now I am going to write about them, one a day.

Walk 1

Eric and I had finished lunch. The girls were still plugging away at their meal and there was no end in sight. Sometimes those kids take a small eternity to eat a meal. It's fine, often reminds Eric and me to slow down a bit, but sometimes it's just a long wait. 

Yesterday after I finished eating I decided that it would be a good time for the dog's walk. Bumblebee is getting older and her walks are much less vigorous than they were a decade ago. Betty is the laziest creature on the planet and walks are basically our only way to combat her slow metabolism. Eric and the girls stayed home to finish lunch and I hit the road with a couple of leashed hounds. 

I started out fast. I like to walk fast and feel like my body is being used. Bumblebee is the same, though she only has about a mile in her before her pace slows. Betty would prefer to snuggle on a human bed and never take another walk.

Winding quickly through our hilly neighborhood I could feel my blood pumping. The sound of the dog's plodding feet keeping time to their panting. It was quite lovely. We continued on, covering ground quickly. It is sometimes so rewarding to make quick progress. Often while walking with kids we meander, stopping to throw rocks into puddles or to puzzle over some mystery---which I love. Sometimes though it is great to just move.

After a bit I could sense Bumbelbee slowing down and turned back, not wanting to push her too far. We cut through a part of our neighborhood that I rarely visit. We passed by people working in their yards, cats giving the hounds the stink eye from front porches. Then there was an older man puttering about in his yard. He spotted the dogs and waved.

I am used to people stopping to chat with me about the hounds. I get it, they are cute. Also, I am so happy for the opportunity to talk about dog adoption (people often ask what breeder we used). This gentleman started off with,"Did you adopt those pups?" I answered in the affirmative as he crossed the street to pet the dogs. He asked a bit about the rescue we used and then settled in for a chat. The dogs were thankful for a rest, Betty just laid down on the sidewalk like a seal on the shore. The man offered the dogs a treat. This may sound strange for people who don't live in a smaller town, but is is pretty standard here in the West. Obviously I wouldn't go into his home or whatever, but a friendly sidewalk chat is pretty common. I have actually had people stop their cars just to hop out and pet the dogs. When you live in the least populated state in the country you take your opportunities to socialize.

I could tell this man had nowhere to be and just wanted to shoot the breeze (people still say that right?). So we stood on the street, well Betty was still laying there, and talked for a bit. He told me about his grown children, grandkids,his neighbors, their animals, animals he used to have. He asked questions about me and my life. I kept them polite and vague as I could hear Eric's wary stranger danger voice in my head. Then I bid the gentleman farewell and headed back home. The dogs were done for the day. When I returned home Elise was just finishing her lunch.

Presently...

• I have been busy with teaching. Grading papers, responding to messages. I have also been prepping for some fall classes I am teaching and doing some commission work.

•I am beginning to panic about winter. How will I live with no hammock? 

•Homeschool for Cordelia has begun.  We have just been working on kindergarten basics this summer. Her curriculum begins probably around the same time Elise starts preschool. 

•I am currently sitting at the table. Elise is slow-eating lately. Each meals takes one billion centuries.

•The girls are working on a play, to begin when Elise finishes breakfast. Elise is a clown in this play and Cordelia is "a royal queen."

•Cordelia has worn a bee costume for three days. I washed once. Definitely feeling summer relaxed about the whole business of clothes and/or cleanliness.

•I have four books that I want to read all at once and I can hardly bear to read one and let another wait. Do you do that too?

•I emptied the junk drawer the other day. Now it only holds a few essentials. I feel like a whole new woman. Seriously a junk drawer in order is simply a drawer.

• Yesterday I sanded and painted the wood patio. I am so happy when long intended projects are completed.

•I am currently garden watching for two people. I have to say that this is a fun job, particularly watching the food garden. All of the free food!

What is going on in your life?

Friends

I recently read a post about keeping a small circle of friends. I don't remember the exact quote or who was being quoted, but it kind of bummed me out a bit. I think mostly that it speaks to the under 25 crowd as a reminder to maintain only the good friendships that help one to grow. However, as a person who spent much of their young life moving to new places I often felt excluded from small circles of friendship. Those long established relationships often left no room for new friends. Like I was always on the outside looking in and wishing to be a part of ANY group of friends. Of course this naturally translated into me hanging out with what would probably be deemed as the wrong crowd as a young girl.

Thankfully I moved on into adulthood and began making lifelong friendships. I have now made many friendships that have lasted decades. While the circle of my very closest friends remains fairly small and tight I never close the door on the possibility for new friendships. I have a the more the merrier policy. Ultimately I think some people fade away and other come to feel so much like family that it hardly seems possible that we aren't related.

Many of these friendships were ignited when one friend was single and when they found their partner our circle grew. We have also made friends through friends. I am always actively pursuing new friendships too. I guess, getting back to the original quote, I don't believe in having a small circle of friends. I think that a circle of friends probably has a natural capacity, but that isn't really something that needs delegation. Obviously many friendships have a season and then they fade, but those serve a great purpose too. I learn and grow from every relationship that I have and there is no way that I am interested in limiting growth.

Without Words

Graveyard

A few weeks ago Cordelia asked if we could visit the graveyard. We were driving past on our way to ballet and she had spotted a headstone that was also a bench. For some reason that caught her interest. When she asked I wasn't surprised. Graveyards are pretty and park like and interesting. I told her we could visit someday, but assumed that she would soon forget about the graveyard.

She did not forget. Instead she got Elise excited about the idea. I am not quite sure what they were expecting, but yesterday I agreed.

I remember my mother telling me that she loved going to cemeteries as a child. She shared this casually with me when I was young and as a result I have never felt fearful while in graveyards. So I took the same approach yesterday. 

It was a beautiful morning and the cemetery was just bursting with spring beauty. We walked through the headstones, stopping to read occasionally. I will say that I stayed away from the part of the cemetery that has children...that I knew would be upsetting to my girls. Instead we read headstones of men and women who had lived long and full lives. 

They picked dandelions and left them, without my prompting they noticed that there were flowers left at headstones. They had some questions. Most interestingly Cordelia revealed that she thought people went to the graveyard to die. I wondered what she had imagined, but on such a beautiful idea that seemed like a rather lovely idea. I did explain that this was not where people went to die.

We stopped at one headstone that was shared. The girls noted the photos inlaid and the etching of a semi truck. I read the headstone at the girls' request and it said something about "glory days." Then we noted that the woman, picture already in place, was still alive. There was no date of death, yet. 

Cordelia asked if I thought his wife had forgotten about him yet. I told her that she would never forget her husband. Then I showed her the beautiful orange and black feather that was poking out of the ground, obviously placed there by someone. An older blue feather was laying in the grass. She noted that someone, maybe his wife, was leaving these for her husband.

We decided to head out and on our way back to the car Cordelia spotted a bench tombstone. The girls wanted to sit on the bench, but I was a bit uncertain as I could see at a distance that there was a rather elaborate engraving. As we approached I read the text above the engraved trees and it said something like,"Sit a spell, Bill and Barb (different names) never knew a stranger." So I let them sit for a moment. They were just being happy children and they were not afraid of death and that was good.

Coffee will be my glue

We had friends over last night. It was so nice. We sat around talking for hours and hours. We could have talked all night, except we are not childless twenty-somethings and we knew that parenthood would call us from bed before the sun rose. So we called it a night. 

I went to sleep sometime after one in the morning, drifting off into an unsettling dream. I was awakened by Elise a couple of times over the course of the evening. It was exhausting.

The whole family was piled onto the couch sometime before seven this morning. Eric and I are both bushed so we turned on cartoons for the girls and snuggled and drifted until breakfast.

We have had a super mellow morning happening now. The girls are laughing and playing. Eric and I have coffee and loungewear. We have nothing to do until late morning.

I am admittedly feeling a bit fragmented, but in the happiest of ways. Life is good.

Coffee will be my glue today, but it is going to be a good day.

Aphrodite Cried a Stone Tear While I Graded

I teach a lot. Did you know that? I teach online for a college and a university, stuffing my hours in when the girls are sleeping and playing. Usually it is a pretty seamless effort (but an effort to be sure), but when it is time to grade tests and essays I end up putting in a lot of extra time. I was recently grading a test in which students wrote about this sculpture. Do you know it? Have you seen it? 

 

The sculpture, Aphrodite of Knidos, is a recreation of a work that is attributed to fourth century (BC, yo) sculptor Praxiteles. ANYWAY......the statue depicts the Greek goddess Aphrodite (the goddess of love and beauty and pleasure and so on and so forth) as she is emerging from her purification bath. She modestly covers herself as she looks off into the distance. The work is important for a variety of reasons, including the use of contrapposto, the fact that this is thought to be one of, if not the the very first full sized female nudes created in the round (meaning you can view it from all angles). 

A while back I was grading papers I was looking for that kind of information and a lot more, but as I read along I noticed that many students were focused on Aphrodite's body. Saying things like (I am changing exact words and phrasing) "people enjoyed this work because it was flawed and imperfect." I was reading the papers without first checking the student's names (I like to read without knowing whose paper I am reading) and finally I looked up at the name of one of the authors and realized it was a woman! I was horrified that a woman was taking such a critical look at the body of another woman. It didn't stop there, no less than five other female students commented on Aphrodite's physique---using words like obese and chubby.

Why? Why? But seriously, why? 

I will say that I had exactly zero men look at this statue and comment on her weight, simply focusing on the beauty of Aphrodite in a passing remark.

My heart hurts for these women who probably fix that same hurtful gaze on their own bodies in the mirror each morning. Judging their bodies as obese or overweight. Oh how heavy that burden must be to carry. I hurt to know that other women look at each other this way too. Why must we do this?

I am certainly not a master of body image hang ups, but I am working diligently to ease that burden. I try hard to focus on the strengths that I possess. I thank my body every single day for being strong and healthy. Every single time I have negative thoughts about my physical appearance I force myself to note three positive attributes. It is a weird process, but over the course of the past several years this has really changed my inner dialogue and I rarely judge myself in a harsh light anymore.

I try to apply that same process to others. I look at my friends and see the women who have borne children, who get up at five in the morning just to care for their bodies, the women who are naturally fit, the naturally petite, the chronic dieters, the women who run stairs on breaks at work just to stay healthy, the women who struggle to love themselves and I try my hardest to feel empowered by their strengths and to feel compassion for their weaknesses. I hope they feel the same way about me. I would hate to think that we were focusing on each other's physical bodies. What kind of life is that?

So what did I tell my students? Well, as much as I wanted to rage about lifting women up, even stone women created by men, I didn't because I teach art history. Instead I reminded students that standards of beauty are always changing and that it is important to set our modern ideals and beliefs aside as we discuss a work of art. What else could I do?

Friends

When I was about 20 I took time off from friendships. I had a few older friendships that I maintained and nurtured, but overall I had very little in the way of friends. The choice was calculated. For years I had gotten into weird friendships where I felt taken advantage of or that were deeply disappointing in one way or another. We moved from New Mexico to Montana and I decided to take some time to really figure out what I expected from a friend and what I wanted to give as a friend.

For nearly two years I made no new friends. That's not to say I wasn't friendly. Eric and I were involved in our town, I chatted with colleagues, was friendly with acquaintances, but that was where I left it for some time. Eventually I organized my thoughts and expectations. I felt like I was ready to pursue friendships. 

 I knew what I wanted from a friendship:

•I wanted friends who were smart, interesting, funny.

•I wanted friends who were independent and honest. 

•I wanted friends who were thoughtful and kind.

I also knew what I didn't want from a friendship:

•I didn't want someone who had loads of problems that they wanted me to fix. Look we all have problems, and friends should be able to vent and support, not fix.

• I didn't want friends who took advantage of my kindness. 

• I didn't want friends who had no self-confidence.

Once I identified those things and trusted myself to stick to my rules (I had/have a tendency to allow my sympathy overrun my better judgment) I knew that anyone who didn't meet that criteria would not be a friend. So I began to pursue potential friendships. Over time, by following those guidelines, I began to make some really amazing connections with friends. 

Since I set those parameters for myself I haven't rid myself of people who try and take advantage of me, but I am more able to identify people as friend or someone who just needs/wants compassion. I can give that compassion more freely when I don't confuse those people for friends. It has also given me a ton of confidence to stand up for myself.

Now I have a really amazing group of friends. All of these people in my life are really special gems that I have found, by following that set of rules for myself all of those years ago. 

Saturday Morning

We got a solid snow last night and it is still snowing as I type. Eric had to venture out for a meeting and the girls and I are reveling in a slow day. Later I have a mother-daughter date with Cordelia. Eric and Elise are having their own father-daughter time. Next time we will switch. Our plans are minimal and I am feeling happy for a slow down.

We have one more intensely busy week ahead and then March will be mercifully calm. I hope...

Today I am planning to stay in pajamas and a bathrobe for another hour at least.

The girls are playing together with My Little Pony, Equestria Girls. *if you aren't in the loop this is an offshoot/marketing ploy by the My Little Pony company in which MLPs are in an alternate universe and are kinda humans.

We had a lazy breakfast and I had a bath. Two cups of coffee down and I am thinking that I might like to paint today.

I certainly don't plan to clean more than the necessary amount.

What are your plans for today?

Sharing Weakness

Last night I was writing back and forth with a friend about the subject of being vulnerable. I will spare you the details of our private conversation, but it left me thinking about the importance of sharing weakness.



We live in a strange society where we all try to do and be the best, to admit otherwise is almost like admitting failure. This is something I have long struggled with. Perhaps it stems from being a first born or maybe it is just my personality, but I have always had trouble letting myself begin. What I mean when I say that is that I never let myself be a beginner. I am getting better about this as I age, but it is still a challenge to just let myself be weak or terrible at something. Which is strange because if anything comes easily I pretty much abandon it as sort of, "Well, that's easy....moving on."



I see this in my daughters and I know that it is my job to show them that it is OK to be a beginner and not a master. There are so many missed opportunities when you won't let yourself be weak. When you see someone who is really good at something that is a great opportunity to learn, not an excuse to feel like a failure. I am constantly reminding myself of this fact and I am trying to turn my weaknesses into opportunity for growth.



Lately I have found myself in a position for sharing weakness and embracing opportunities to grow. I have been taking the advice, given to all artists, to "Say yes and then figure it out later." So I have been given a lot of crazy opportunities this year---interior design, logo design, event planning, etc. I have said yes to all of them and then I have been working it out on my own, but I would like to move beyond that on my own part and start looking to others.

Recently Eric had a meeting with an extremely talented and successful artist who gave him,and I by extension, some excellent career advice. We may never have learned this if Eric hadn't been willing to admit that he wanted to learn more.

So now I am ready, perhaps this is a delayed New Year's Resolution, and I want to share my weakness so that I may become stronger.

Life as it is now

 

Slowing Down Weekend

Life has been pretty hectic lately. Between Eric working as co-interim director at the museum, his band schedule, our art careers,  my several teaching jobs, speaking engagements, writing and photography deadlines, volunteer work, oh and parenting, maintaining friendships, life/home maintenance---we are always so busy. People will often ask what we are up to and Eric and I will make eye contact that essentially says,"how deep do we want to take this?" Mostly when people ask what I have going on I just list off a couple of things and then I stop myself. I mean most people are just being polite and don't want to hear or even care what we are doing. We are always doing something! 

I suppose part of that is just being artists. We are working on projects, sketching, working on ideas at all times. We rarely just sit around. I mean even when we watch a movie we will often work while watching. Most artists I know are like this, and while it is work it is also part of being. Creatives tend to work always, we don't stop when the clock hits five.

Regardless of this I don't really think there is much value to constantly being busy. People regularly tell me,"I don't know how you do it." And it certainly doesn't make me feel proud. Instead I wish I could tell people that I did nothing all day. I mean beyond parenting and creating.

With that in mind Eric and I mostly took the weekend off. Sure I gave some painting lessons and Eric had practice, but on Saturday the girls never left the house. They got to wear whatever they wanted; Cordelia wore a dress with no tights (an indoor treat in the frigid cold) and Elise opted to stay in pajamas with a red straw hat. We sat around. We read!!! We played. It was wonderful to just turn off a bit. 

So now I am going to make more of an effort to scale back a bit. I have a lot going on and that is great, but I also understand the value of empty hours.

Vulnerability

I have been thinking about vulnerability lately, a lot. My family had a weird week. Four members of our family were in the hospital within the last week, three ER trips, one ICU stay. We were spread out, at work at home, states apart. All of us checking in and connecting, trying to make sure everything was OK, that everyone was OK. I am so thankful for things like modern communication. We didn't have to write letters and send them by pigeon or pony express. We didn't ring up insane phone bills on our land lines. We Facetime talked with each other and texted back and forth. Extended family and friends kept in touch via Facebook, it was all so very closely linked and in real time.



Then over the course of the week I read another post by my dear friend Sarah where she expressed an entirely different vulnerability (read here it is beautiful). Of course we all have areas where it is difficult for us to feel entirely comfortable in our own skin, circumstance or situations that bring to light our deeply held insecurities and fears. Facing them head on is such a tremendous challenge, but honestly it is probably the best way to move forward.



While I was in the ER with Elise on Friday they gave her some medication as they set her arm and had someone there to monitor her breathing, little tubes in her nostrils giving her oxygen. I had to sign the "just in case" paperwork that makes me want to vomit and grab my family and live in a padded room off the grid...but then there would be other worries I suppose.

As I held Elise in my arms that day I was struck by how very delicate we are, on so many levels. Her little body is so very small in a big and dangerous world. My heart, as well as everyone else who knows her, is so fragile when it comes to her or Cordelia or anyone else that I care about (and I care an awful lot).



Later that evening I was talking with Eric about it and he sagely reminded me that vulnerability is one of the best parts about being human. Darn it. I know he is right. Our greatest joys are often our weakest points. Of course we do have to find a balance and not live in padded off the grid caves. Our internal vulnerabilities, those things about which we are personally delicate---our insecurities---are often the places we find our greatest strengths too.

Oh this life we are living you guys, it is mighty strange.



And, for those of you in need of an Elise update we went into the orthopedic doc yesterday (don't get me started on what a hassle it was to get in) and they X-rayed the bone. Thankfully the set they did at the hospital seemed to be good, meaning no more bone moving. He was afraid that removing the plaster splint would undo that set and decided not to put her in a cast yesterday. So the nurse did a solid job of wrapping the plaster and it is a firm wrap with a hard interior. Feels pretty sturdy. We will go in next week to X-ray again and see what the next step is. I would also like to mention that Elise was freakishly charming and I overheard the doctor and the X-ray tech discussing adorable things she had said and done in their presence. When we left she was coated in stickers (see photos) before we left, everyone was charmed and heartbroken by the little lady with the broken arm. In fact, when people would crouch down and say, "ooooooooooh what happened?" Her response was, "I broke my arm, but I be OK. I got my mommy."

Too Busy or Not Too Busy, that is the Question

 

I am a bit torn. Part of me wants to stop and smell the flower(s)....leaves, soil, air, whatever. I dream about laying in the grass on a handmade quilt (not made by me) with freshly made lemonade and a good book. Or better yet, a stack of books. In this dream my hair falls in perfect bohemian waves, perhaps there are some flowers woven in during a leisurely stroll through a meadow. I am wearing a long flowing dress, probably a flower pattern. My daughters play or daydream or make wishes on dandelions. They are, naturally, also dressed like little bohemians. Eric probably strums a mandolin, possibly pausing to check on his craft beer or to talk to a tamed pet crow (a rescue) that he has taught to speak.

I have time to complete my thoughts, all of them (oh can you imagine?). I get to daydream and log roll through sweet blades of grass or rest in a nest of freshly fallen leaves/snow/blossoms. I can work in the garden, but not too hard---cuz you know you gotta be gentle with the earth.

Perhaps we live in a van. Maybe I home-school. Or unschool. I don't worry about money or deadlines or anything. Ahhh, what a dream.

But then there is the other side of me...

I feel the urgent call of each and every moment. I am constantly aware that I only have so much time in a day/minute/month/decade. I need to suck the (vegan) marrow from every.single.moment. I want to paint, write, sculpt, read, play, mother, wife (you can wife right?), love, live, go, do. These dreams of filling every single second with living are intense. I dress awesomely every day. My hair and make-up are so cool, yet look effortless. I bake cookies, I actively engage the kids. I answer every email. I send out thank-you cards and thinking of you cards. I make direct eye contact. I let every person I encounter know that I value them. My pets are all walked, fed, played with at exactly the moment they need it. The girls learn French and Spanish. We travel. We make our own bread every time we need bread. Our food is always healthy and beautifully presented. The house? Immaculate. Eric and I have mastered topical info, are up to date with all of the books we want to read, we are present and engaged for every moment of every day. When we fall asleep it is power sleep, just to re-energize.

I suppose that neither of those dreams are ever going to be my reality. Did I ever tell you that my brothers call me a gothic hippie? I am not sure what that means, but I feel like I may have just defined it...who knows?

Anyway it is a constant struggle with me. Should I do more or less? I imagine the answer is different every day and probably changes within a given day. What about you? What do you think?

Summer Afternoon

Summer afternoons are drawing to an end. Soon we will no longer be able to treat our backyard as the extra room in our house. The girls play in the yard. I sketch or do yard work or play with them. The dogs lounge and play. The cats sit and the back door and watch/snooze. It is all quite lovely and I miss it during the summer months. So we are soaking it up these last few weeks of summer. Fall will be here soon enough and along with it will come pumpkins and coats and lots of leaf raking, but for now the sprinklers are still running and the pink lemonade is still flowing.


I call these Bob Ross clouds, happy little clouds that they are.


Sun through the trees


You're under the spy glass (that is a rather obscure SNL reference).


Cordelia with her doll, she calls the doll Star. Eric and I have no idea what doll it is (a thrift shop treasure) and we suspect it might be a Kathy doll, as in the comic strip Kathy...


Hding out in their "clubhouse" playing a game they call Barking Dog. I am not sure what the rules are, but the gist of it is that they get the dogs all riled up and then run to the "clubhouse" and watch the dogs.


The dogs do this for a couple of minutes and then lay in the sun until the girls get the game going again.

Little Things

Wow! School has started and I find myself in neck deep. I am teaching a lot. I am continuing on with art deadlines, household duties, lesson planning for painting class, private lessons, and training for an online course at another school. I am busy! I am trying to work hard and give everything my very best effort. I am continuing my practice of listing of the daily good things to help me keep my perspective and feel focused on the good bits so easily missed when things are moving quickly. So here are a few of my good things today:

Cordelia crawling into bed for a 6am snuggle. She brushes the hair out of my face and snuggles up close.

Betty Sprinkles' elation that we have broken out the space heater for mornings that aren't quite cool enough to justify turning on the heater.

Apples, so many apples, waiting to be picked.

Elise wearing a raincoat with no pants (wait for phone photo Friday).

An unexpected gift from a friend. A sugar skull scarf from my friend Amber.

Ophelia begrudgingly purring.

An overcast day! I do love a gloomy day.

Bumblebee snoring. I love that old dog.

Being part of a very strong community.

Art! Finishing several new pieces over the past few weeks.

Living close to my parents and our weird weekly mall lunch.

A kitten who brings such joy to our family.

Fresh tomatoes from the garden! So many and so good.

Oh and this old photo I found of Eric and I.

Hike