Skipping Town

Another insane day.  6:00 am - Greta crew 8:15 am - Lucia work 8:30 am - Andrew work 10:00 am - Margo PT 11:00 am - Margo work 11:00 am - Greta pickup 4:30 pm - Lucia pickup  5:00 - 7:00 pm - late work meeting for Margo After all that, the four of us managed to get to the pool for dinner and swimming. Only two more days of the kids' summer crew/work activities; then at least we can eliminate all the driving around.

These days are just crazily busy. Here's what the day entailed: I drove Greta to crew at 5:30. We saw a baby raccoon in the middle of the road by our house.   I came home, showered, and then drove Lucia to a dermatology appointment at 7:15. Crunched for time, I rushed from the dermatologist to drop her off at work at 8:20. In the meantime, Andrew let the cleaners in and left for work. We didn't have time to relocate Nutmeg to the attic so we just told the cleaners to skip Greta's room (which, because of Nutmeg, is the room that really needs cleaning the most, but ah well). I parked the car at home, grabbed my work bag, and caught the bus to work, which is crazy busy since orientation is in less than two weeks. Andrew picked Greta up at 11. I picked Lucia up at 4:30. We went to Target to pick up prescriptions. Andrew somehow made dinner. Andrew took Lucia to XC at 7. I, finally off duty, went to the pool with Greta. And this isn't even the craziest day of this week!  Gre...

Saturday we drove home from Cape May. I was incredibly sad to leave. It was such a fun week and a beautiful house and perfect weather. Immediately upon returning home, Andrew and I unpacked the car, got showered and dressed, and then went to my thirtieth high school reunion. I really did not want to go, but I'm glad we ultimately did.  Sunday was a blur of laundry and catching up on real-life things, and then Monday it was back to work, Greta's crew, and Lucia's job. Greta and I set out for crew at 5:30 a.m., and on our way we saw a family of raccoons, a mama deer with two fawns, three baby bunnies, and a mouse--all within a block of our house. It was a Squirrel Hill safari. This week, Lucia is with a camp of two-year-olds in the morning and four-year-olds in the afternoon.  It always feels like summer is over once Cape May is over, but this really isn't true. We still have a month of summer left.

How did this week go so fast? We just got here. And yet tomorrow we have to leave. We packed the day with as much as we could. In the morning, Molly, Mom, and I sat on the porch and worked on God's eyes. Around 8:30, Greta and I went on a bike ride and walked on Cove Beach for a little while. Lucia went for a run.  Andrew and I set up on the beach around 10, and when everyone else joined us we took a family photo. A woman from another family took the picture--we've seen this same family all week and have even been next to them on the beach for most of the time. They reminded us of us--grandparents, adult children, and a bunch of teenagers boogie boarding and playing Spike Ball. I swam a few times and it was lovely. Right at the end of the afternoon there was a jellyfish--I'm glad this happened on our last day.  Later in the afternoon, Andrew, Lucia, Greta, and I drove to Sunset Beach. The girls and I sifted for pebbles and Cape May diamonds. It was blazing hot at that hour,...

Andrew initiated a new activity for this morning: getting up early and going out to breakfast at Uncle Bill's Pancake House. This is our seventh year here, and every year we say we want to go there, and finally we did. Molly and I biked there and back, and the rest drove. Jeremy chose to have his own vegan breakfast at home. Mid-morning, the kids said their cornhole movie was finally ready for viewing; Lucia had been madly editing since yesterday. We all gathered around so Lucia could play it for us on her phone. It exceeded expectations in every way--just a hilarious short movie about a group of people competing in a cornhole competition and also getting hit by cars and coming back as ghosts to train the remaining competitors. There was a laugh track, music, voiceover, slow-motion sequences. We were cry-laughing. The kids are just so funny. Andrew and I set up at the beach around 10:30, and everyone joined us soon after. It was an absolutely beautiful beach day, and before we knew...

The week is going too fast. I took yet another four-mile bike ride first thing this morning and even parked my bike at Cove Beach for a quick walk before heading back. We all spent the late morning and afternoon at the beach: swimming, boogie boarding, Spike Ball, reading. I once again got clobbered by a wave I tried unsuccessfully to outrun.  Post-beach and post-showering, we played a couple rounds of Code Names. Molly and I worked on our God's eyes with a new technique we'd picked up from studying some of the patterns in the books she brought. We went out for dinner tonight at The Rusty Nail and sat at a big picnic table outside. Afterward, we went to Cove Beach to watch the sunset. Luca tried some fishing (but didn't catch anything). It was a beautiful evening on the beach. Our final stop of the night was Kohr's. On the way there, I stopped into Madam's Port to buy an on-sale tote bag I'd seen earlier in the week.  Back at the house, we'd intended to play...

Another beautiful beach day. Greta and I rode four miles on our bikes this morning; Andrew went for a run; Lucia went for a run with Molly and Jeremy. Then Andrew and I set up on the beach and everyone joined us shortly. Greta and I spent a while looking for shells, feeling around with our feet to find them. The kids are all a little sunburned and tired but still swam and played Spike Ball. I swam for a while as well (and made sure to face the ocean this time). Greta spent a very very very long time just bobbing in the ocean with her boogie board, perfectly content. She said she was so relaxed she almost fell asleep. We relaxed for a while at the house post-beach, reading and crafting and working on the puzzle. While Jeremy and Andrew went out to pick up tacos for dinner from El Pueblo, the rest of us played corn hole with an ancient, dusty set Jeremy found in the basement. The beanbags were so old that they released clouds of dust when they landed on the boards. The kids became increa...

A great beach day.  Morning: I went for a 4-mile bike ride. Greta and Andrew went for a run. Andrew and I went to the beach to set up the canopies etc around 10.  Morning/Afternoon: It was a lovely time on the beach. The kids continued intense ocean engagement, mainly boogie boarding. There has been a lot of Spike Ball, which Molly brought this year as a new addition, and some paddle ball. I got into the ocean and made the mistake of turning my back as a large wave approached--it knocked me under. My sunglasses are now claimed by the ocean. Andrew was right next to me and pulled me up.  We saw an incredible number of dolphins today--more than ever before, and many very close to shore. Some were even leaping out of the water in the wake of a dolphin-cruise boat. There were so many dolphins that it became almost too many dolphins.  Afternoon: In an effort to maximize our time, after we all showered post-beach, we went into town for pre-dinner shopping and ice cream. Lu...

First beach day in the books. First thing this morning I did my favorite thing: rode my rented beach bike the length of the boardwalk. There and back from this new location is about 4 miles. Greta rode with me while Andrew and Lucia went for a run. Glorious. After all the battering and bruising I went through in the first quarter of this year it felt extra amazing to be flying along the boardwalk on my bike, listening to the ocean.  Mom, Dad, and Molly spent part of the morning at urgent care, because Dad is having painful back spasms. All is well and he came away with some lidocaine patches and a muscle relaxant prescription. Meanwhile, Andrew, the kids, and I got set up on the beach for the day. Everyone joined us when they returned, and the kids spent hours in the water as always.  We left the beach around 3:30 so we could get showered and ready for the rest of the day. We ordered jumbo lobster rolls from Quincy's for dinner, worked on a puzzle while we waited out a brief r...

 We arrived in Cape May today. The drive was fine, though Dad was having back pain and I was carsick. I hate long drives. But we made it, and now Orlando Beach Week can begin. This is our 10th year of Beach Week and our 7th year in Cape May. This year we're staying at The Blue House, on the opposide end of the boardwalk from where we've been staying the past two years. It's a beautiful house--and you can see the ocean from the porch and the attic windows, just one block away. We were nervous about this house because the bathrooms haven't been updated maybe ever, but the rest of the house makes up for the awkward distribution of showers (one inside, one in the basement, one outside). We'll see how we like this part of the beach; we're all very attached to Cove Beach, where we've spent the past six summers. Once everyone arrived and unpacked, we checked out the beach and then had dinner. Molly had made pulled pork and coleslaw to bring. Then we played Code Nam...

The craziest of crazy weeks continued and finally ended. Mom and Dad came to assist on Thursday, when Andrew was still in CA and my schedule looked like this: 6:00 am - Greta crew 7:45 am - Margo physical therapy 8:15 am - Lucia work 11:00 am - Greta pickup from crew 4:00 pm - Greta math tutoring 4:15 pm - Lucia pickup from work 7:00 pm - Lucia XC practice I was also working in the office that day so all of the dropoffs and pickups were only possible with a clone. Lucia walked to work and then Mom and Dad assisted with the pickups and brought dinner. I'm glad the week is over. Farrah threw an extra wrench in the works this week by refusing to walk down the stairs. And on Thursday night she was frantically chewing her paws. So I squeezed in a vet appointment Friday afternoon. She's fine; her behavior is a mystery. I'd ordered some carpet stair treads when the stair thing started earlier in the week, and Greta and I put them on the stairs Friday evening. Of course this all ha...

It's been a pretty crazy few days. Andrew got home from Peru Saturday afternoon, and we left immediately to go to Connellsville for the St. Rita's fair. Although it was an inferno, we ate all our favorite foods, played games, and played bingo.  Sunday Lucia had a birthday party to go to, and Andrew, Greta, and I went to the pool for a swim and dinner with the Clarks.  Monday began a true Week of Chaos. Greta has to be at summer crew every morning at 6:00 a.m., Lucia has her summer camp counseling job this week beginning at 8:15 a.m., Greta has to be picked up at 11, Lucia has to be picked up at 4:30, there's XC in the evening on Tues and Thurs, I have physical therapy Thurs morning, tutoring is on Thursday evening as well, and somewhere in there I have to put in a full work day on campus and Andrew has to work too. At least with one extra parent, food can be procured and cooked. Until that extra parent leaves for California tomorrow! Backup in the form of my parents has bee...

A few weeks ago, after my essay about how Lost sustained me during chemo came out in the Post-Gazette, a man contacted me through Facebook to share his own cancer story, as well as his love of Lost, and to tell me how much my essay had affected him. We had brief and friendly exchange of good wishes. A few weeks after that, he checked in to see how I was doing, and shared a photo of a framed piece of Lost paraphernalia he'd won in the prop auction that took place in LA after the show ended in 2010. Then he suggested we meet in person, because he had something he wanted to give me.  Today, we met at Starbucks, and after a nice chat about our cancer journeys and Lost, he told me about the many things he'd acquired from the auction. He'd brought one in to show me, and then said the rest were out in his car, just outside. (Writing this, it sounds creepy, but it wasn't at all.) He showed me a few more of his Lost treasures, and then took out two walking sticks that the charac...

How can we be so busy when it's summer? Suddenly it feels like November. Wednesday I worked on campus all day, and the girls occupied themselves by walking to Ebisu for snacks, reading, and who knows what else. Lucia began cleaning out her closet, a summer goal, and her room is now unnavigable. She actually spent most of the day IN her closet, because as she emptied it she'd found all of her tiny Rilakkuma and Sumikko Gurashi sets, and spent hours creating an elaborate setup on one of her closet shelves. By bedtime, nothing had returned to her closet, and I fear this is one of those projects that--like alphabetizing-by-author a large collection of books--seems doable and then instantly becomes impossible.  Today I started the day with physical therapy at 7am. Then I worked from home but managed to have a very very busy day. Greta read and played solitaire. Lucia continued her epic closet clean out by going through stacks of old papers and schoolwork. She put all her clothes bac...

I went into the office all day then came home and went to Trader Joe's with the kids. Coming home from NH and then immediately going back to work as well as being a solo parent has left me exhausted. At least now we actually have groceries, if not the time to cook anything. We had a quick "dinner" of frozen Trader Joe's dumplings as soon as we got home from the store, and then went to Frick Park for Lucia's cross-country run. Her team summer runs have begun, and she is beyond excited. She says XC is her favorite time of the year.  Greta didn't want to run tonight so she walked two miles with me. I am very tired and stiff, so she had to make an active effort to keep pace with me, which she kindly did. It's a lesson for me: in NH, I moved around all the time, walking down the road, walking down the hill to the pond, and I felt great. It's the best I've felt all summer. Now, after a ten-hour car ride and back to sitting for most of the day, I can feel...

The drive home yesterday was long, but we made it, and now the next part of our summer will begin. We were all very sad to leave. We needed a few more days there to lie in our hammocks and play Rummikub; we had some busy days the second week we were there, and we needed a few more days of our regular NH routines, with the kids screaming nonsense on the floating dock, Andrew puttering around the barn, me moving from place to place with my book. But two and a half weeks--not bad at all. Not bad at all. Today Andrew left for Peru, and I worked from home, and the kids slept very (very) late and are once again ensconced in their rooms. The rhythms are so different here.  A bright spot was when Lucia and I were talking about her required summer reading for her tenth-grade English class (three books by American authors; it's an American lit class), and she seemed flummoxed about what books to select. (The guidelines gave categories--book by a Black American author, book with sci-fi elemen...

Our final day in NH. We started off the day with a second river rafting trip, taking two rafts this time with Andrew's sister's family plus aunt and uncle. The water was very shallow and slow, but it was a beautiful day, and Andrew and the girls and I stopped twice to hunt for river glass. It wasn't a very nice swimming day, since the slow water meant there were lots of tiny flies that adhered to skin and swimsuits; the volume of them was actually very alarming. Lucia did swim for a while while we were rafting, in an area where there weren't many flies. We saw a bald eagle and a cute family of brown-headed ducks. Then it was time to unwind our NH stay: deflating all the inflatables, taking down the pond rope, taking down the swing and hammocks, packing up, cleaning out the fridge. It was all very very sad. Andrew, the kids, and I squeezed in a hike through the woods. Andrew's aunt and uncle brought over Pizza Chef pizzas for dinner, and then we loaded up the car and...

There's nothing like the Fourth of July in NH. This is our 16th NH Fourth--we've been coming here every year for the Fourth of July since 2008, with the exception of 2012, which was when we moved from Brooklyn to Maplewood. Sixteen years of Fourth of July parades, rummage sales, bbqs, fireworks, fire pits.  Today was exactly the same as every other year. We went early to the parade so we could visit the rummage sale, which, this year, was very sparse; but across the street was a giant sale, and the girls and I found lots to bring home, including a mug that says "Vermont All-State Cow Tipping Team." Then we watched the parade. The girls have officially aged out the candy portion--everyone throwing candy passed them right by. But we did get our chocolate milks from the dairy. After the parade, we had hot dogs and hamburgers at the firemen's bbq, browsed the cakes in the cake auction area, and then headed home.  While Andrew and his sister etc went to hike up Mount A...

Wednesday was the memorial service and lunch reception for Andrew's parents. They were laid to rest in the family cemetery with a group of cousins and other relatives in attendance. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I think everyone was happy to have this chance to formally gather and reflect. Today was extremely rainy, so our planned rafting trip was postponed until Saturday. The girls and I spent much of the day reading. Andrew, the kids, and I played two games of Rummikub. After lunch, the girls and I took our final trip to Books-A-Million and Newbury Comics, and Katherine and Thomas came with us. Greta turned in two punchcards and got four books; Lucia turned in one and got two books. I bought myself a book too. We just browsed at Newbury Comics. I felt very sad when we left, saying goodbye for another year. Once we get home, we don't even think about these stores until we're getting ready for our next summer visit. We went out to dinner at Harpoon Brewery, the seven of...

I had a very busy workday but took a quick break at lunchtime to play Rummikub with the girls. After I was done for the day, I floated on the pond while the girls did their usual horseplay on the dock. There was no sign of the snapping turtle. Andrew and his sister shopped for nearly the entire eight hours I was working, getting things ready for the funeral and reception tomorrow, which they are cooking for themselves rather than catering. This is a complex undertaking when home base is a house without any platters, serving bowls, counter space, fridge space, or other amenities. It's almost like trying to host a party from an extended-stay hotel, where, if you're lucky, you have access to one fork, one teaspoon, and a couple of thin plates. The highlight of the day: It's Farrah's 6th birthday! Six years ago today, our little baby was born at Creampuff Farm. To celebrate tonight, we gave her a doggie ice cream cup topped with a strip of bacon, plus two new toys, and sang...