Skipping Town

This week, on a beautiful false-spring Monday, the girls told me they want to put their American Girl dolls into storage and turn the “former AG room” in the finished basement into a “teen hangout.” “We’re not really into the AGs anymore,” Lucia explained. So blase. The dolls that have been their constant companions for four years are now to be packed away, their clothes and accessories tidied and placed in bins. Lucia visibly reacted to the image of the dolls in bins, and backtracked, saying no, instead she’ll dress them nicely and put them on a shelf. Greta asked if we could store the dolls within reach, just in case they want to pull them out and play with them “for a few minutes.” The long hours and days of setting up schoolrooms and elaborate meals and carefully posed circles of all the dolls with their small plastic hands resting on one another’s shoulders--all of it is over. “For a few minutes”--like a secret. Like a glance backward. Like a quick reflection of girls they soon wo...

I recently had the occasion to tell Lucia and Greta about my longstanding love of five-subject notebooks. I’ve always been an organized person, and for many many tween and teen years I kept all of my written material in one place--a five-subject notebook. These notebooks contained everything: stories, poems, drawings, handwriting experiments, and lots and lots of lists. Things I Bought (with prices), Movies I Saw, Books I Read, Things To Buy. Dashed-off notes and spirited, passive-aggressive “letters” to Molly, blathering on about nonsense and demanding she write a letter back. (I must have shown her these letters in the notebook, rather than tear them out.) Most of these “letters” consisted of sentences like, “I am practicing my handwriting. My handwriting is smooth and even. Do you think I have beautiful handwriting? I think my handwriting is amazing.” I can easily call these sentences to mind because last week I looked through some of these notebooks with Lucia. I have them all, of ...

Every day, I contemplate getting another pet. [Author’s note: If you are Andrew, please stop reading.] This feeling of needing to expand the animal portion of our family has been going on for several years. When we got Farrah in 2019, we talked often of getting another doodle; in the years since, we’ve seen many available doodles that have captured our hearts, have even come close to driving to New Jersey to snag one. This is the curse of continuing to follow Farrah’s breeder on Instagram: a constant parade of adorable puppies. Our desire to have a second doodle was never shared by Farrah, which she demonstrated by her extreme reaction to Molly’s visiting dogs this Christmas. Farrah is our queen, and she does not deign to share her throne. She is meant to be an only doodle. That is clear. What’s less clear is whether Nutmeg would like a bun-pal. She seems pretty content, but I know she must be lonely, being alone all day in Greta’s room. She demanded to be a full-time free-roam bunny (...

Recently, with some downtime, I organized my Bookmarks in Google Chrome. A practical reason drove this project--a folder of bookmarks I actually need for my job was lost at the bottom of a long, long list of other bookmarks, requiring a lot of scrolling to access. I’m sure there’s a way to pin this folder of bookmarks, or something, but I don’t know how to do that, so eliminating all the items that come before it seemed the way to go. And yes, this is a wrapping-coins sort of organizational project: ultimately pointless, but satisfying nonetheless. I began deleting with abandon, rolling my eyes a little at the absurdity and/or uselessness of the websites I’d bookmarked, until I realized that what I was actually seeing as I went down the list of bookmarks was a record of several years of my life. Here were the craft ideas I collected at the start of every summer, anticipating long days at home with two little children. Ten outdoor crafts for kids; 25 outdoor activities; 50 amazing activ...

 At long last, a post. It's a New Year's resolution to post more, not just during the summer, and I guess I'm getting a late start since January is now almost over. Better late than never etc. So here we are. Christmas has come and gone. A magical one (as usual), despite covid-precaution complications for yet another year. At least this year we didn't hesitate to gather; we just rapid-tested first. What a world.  And now we're in the downswing of the worst month of the year. January is a slog. Cold and dark and all the letdown of the post-holiday weeks, undecorating, righting the house, facing the bare surfaces.  Our library is finally done--the Long Room--and now just needs furniture (a lot of furniture). Our whole house, actually, needs a lot of furniture. Also curtains. These are not easy things to choose and buy, but we need to focus and get at least a few things soon.  Nutmeg continues to charm us all. How have I reached this age and only now have a bunny? A bu...

(This is a very belated post about the kids' birthdays. Better late than never. I wrote this but never posted it.) October is almost over, which means both of the girls’ birthdays have come and gone. They both had excellent birthdays this year.  Lucia, as always, was beyond excited about her birthday, and the lead-up was almost unbearably thrilling. She gets excited several weeks in advance; she looks forward to October 15 so much. We have our birthday traditions: the day began with giant number balloons, flowers, and a birthday sign at the table in the morning, along with one present to unwrap before school. Mom and Dad came to Pittsburgh after school, and Lucia unwrapped her gifts first thing. Mom had made scrippelles for the birthday dinner (Lucia’s request--a sneaky way of getting scrippelles outside of the traditional Easter season), and Andrew made a chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling. It was all delicious. I put a few figurines on top of little girls who balance on...

Late in August, as the school year approached, a couple of things happened: First, I finished a revision of my new novel, three-hole-punched it for a binder, and gave it to Andrew to read--the first and only person to lay eyes on this thing. And second, without a messy trashpile of a draft to actively work on, I thought it might be an interesting idea to take on a job outside the house. Gasp! I applied to a couple of temp organizations at Pitt and CMU, and as of today I have a job with Pitt through the middle of December, and the prospect of temp work with CMU starting in January. If I want it. If I want any of it! I was filled with instant regret the second I agreed to the Pitt job. But I'm in it now, and I'll see it through. I mean, it's a good job--office admin at the Writing Center--and the hours are pretty much perfect for still being able to pick up the kids from their after-school activities. And it's about seven minutes from home. Can't complain about any of...

The kids had off today so I had them try on all their fall clothes. I always put this off and am then blindsided when the temperature suddenly drops and they have nothing to wear. The state of their fall clothes is a pretty good window into how last fall/winter went: they had almost no 'real' clothes, just some lounge pants and a bunch of long-sleeve t-shirts I'd gotten at a rummage sale two (three?) years ago. None of it fit. Did these clothes even fit last year? Did it matter? No one saw the kids but us, and they really only wanted to wear pj's when they got home from school. It's a startling reminder that we really did not leave the house last fall/winter to do anything at all.  We have to start their wardrobes from scratch this fall. They don't need a ton of clothes, since they wear uniforms to school, but they need more than what they have, which is nothing. So: online shopping we go. 

Another school year is underway, and, like last year, we're so grateful to have landed here, at such an amazing school. Greta's in fourth grade, with a fantastic teacher; Lucia's in sixth grade, her first year in the Middle School. She has a lot more independence, a lot more time to manager herself, and a lot of choices in the classes she takes. She had to choose electives this week, ranking 13 choices for each of three days; I can't wait to see which three she gets.  Lucia's doing cross-country this trimester, which lacks the organization and transparency of the rest of the school; I had to put Andrew in charge of trying to get information. Lucia was not a fan of the practices that took place during the super-hot days this week, but she did much better yesterday and today when she got to run in rain/cooler temps. Greta's going to do cross-country too. Though I myself loathe running, I would like the girls to love it. We'll see how they fare. Perhaps cross-c...

The last week of summer! We went to the pool; played lots of Chinese checkers; had a fun evening in Connellsville with Mom and Dad and other family; Lucia went to a birthday party at a trampoline park; Greta went to a sleepover; and we had our block party, where we met so many nice neighbors. It was a whirlwind. And now it's the end of the summer. It feels like it lasted forever and also a second.  Final reading tallies: Greta: 10,000 pages Lucia: 7,000 pages They both read so many good books this summer. I asked them to pick their favorites, and here they are: GRETA's FAVE SUMMER BOOKS: When You Trap a Tiger Song for a Whale Fuzzy Mud The Unicorn in the Barn The Grimm Legacy When You Reach Me The Storm Runner Nessie Quest Counting by 7s Wish Tree Nuts to You The Fire Keeper LUCIA's FAVE SUMMER BOOKS: Once Was a Time Out of My Mind The Heroes of Olympus Aru Shah and the Song of Death The Unteachables City Spies A Whale in Paris Keeper of the Lost Cities

The week continued to be busy. Thursday I had a haircut, an HVAC guy came, a plasterer came, a plumber came, Mom and Dad came to stay with the kids, and Andrew and I went to our first in-person parent event at the school. Friday I had an eye doctor appointment and Andrew brought our car in to the service shop so we can finally--hopefully--get the duct tape taken off. And today we went for a walk, then to the pool. We had leftovers for dinner and watched Wish Dragon. Andrew's still feeling tired and out of it from his wisdom tooth surgery. Next week is our last week of summer vacation. Already it feels like summer has quietly slipped away--I learned today that Lucia starts cross-country practice on Monday, and will have that each day; and both girls have orientation events for their classes. The long free days have already come to an end, I'm afraid. 

Busy, rainy day. Greta had speech therapy at 10am, and then both girls got haircuts at noon. Lucia got a light trim; Greta got several inches taken off. Ready for school now.  For the rest of the day the kids were obsessed with waiting for the Amazon Prime van, desperate to get the new stickers they'd ordered. They checked the porch about every ten minutes. They also played with AG dolls, played outside in the rain, traded with the stickers they already had, did math review, and read HP #7 with me. After dinner we watched two episodes of Bluey. The Amazon delivery didn't come until after 7pm, and they were ecstatic to start the activity they'd been waiting for all day: laying out all 200 stickers, taking turns choosing, and then beginning a complex process of trading for the most coveted stickers. I expect this to take up much of the day tomorrow. Eight dollars well spent.  During tonight's reading time, L&G got out all their "take-apart" erasers. You neve...

The weeks following our return from NH have been a whirlwind. We had only a few days here at home before leaving once again; we went to the pool one of the days, went shopping for sneakers with Mom and Dad, and finished buying school supplies. Then we were off again for our final trip of the summer, staying at a beach house in Rehoboth with our friends. Four adults, five kids. House with a pool. It was a fabulous week of beach, pool, and dinners out (at outside tables). We started eating out as a large unwieldy group way back in NorCal in 2007, and the kid contingent has grown since then from two baby twins to two high schoolers, two middle schoolers, and one fourth grader.  We got back on Friday, and this is the week where I scheduled everything--orthodontist consultation, speech therapy, haircuts for the girls and me, tutoring, Andrew's wisdom tooth surgery, eye doctor. Also lots of work being done on the Long Room. It's been a lot of running around. We also had a fun overnig...

Fri., 7/30 Our last day in NH. We finished all the packing and cleaning in the morning, somehow got all of our stuff back into the car, and said goodbye to our month in the country. Lucia's hives were still hideous, and Greta's arms and cheeks looked inflamed and were itchy too. It was, it appeared, time to return to civilization. We crossed everything off our NH to-do list. It's very sad to think we won't be back till next year. Hopefully next year, once the kids are vaxxed and we can fly again, we'll be able to add a fall weekend into the rotation as well. We took a quick detour to see a piano at our cousin's house in MA--a family heirloom Steinway 118 years old. We stopped at a hotel halfway home, once again with a pool, and once again the weather was just not swimming weather--not rainy but chilly. But the hotel had a patio with a beautiful view, and we sat out there to eat takeout Applebee's for dinner.  The night was not peaceful. The girls were unable...

Last day in NH. The day started off with Lucia coming downstairs with her face covered in hives. Who knows what triggered them--a different sunscreen? the berries she and Greta were crushing for Nature Cook? something in the pond? an old blanket? It could be anything. I ran to Rite Aid for some Benedryl pills and lotion; by bedtime, they'd gotten a little better, but not much. We'll see how she is tomorrow. I did a lot of packing and preparing while Andrew worked; it's always such a to-do to get ready to leave. The kids played with their phones, read, did math review. We took Farrah for a walk and played Chinese checkers. It rained all day. Andrew picked up clam strips for dinner from the Weathervane. We'll leave tomorrow mid-morning. I can't believe a month has gone by so quickly.  Some pics from our rafting trip yesterday:

Winding down. We leave on Friday, so we're starting to undo our month of living in this house. BUT! First, we squeezed in a rafting trip this morning. It was such a rainy month that we didn't manage to schedule it until now. But it was worth it, as always, and we had lots of fun. We stopped a couple of times to swim and collect rocks, and we didn't get too tired from paddling because the river was quite high. It was a perfect final thing to do. The kids spent some time today figuring out their phones and were obsessed with texting each other and sending each other pictures. We set up playlists on their phones and they were excited about adding lots of songs. It was pretty cute.  We also took all the floats out of the pond and deflated them. That was sad. And after one final spell of reading in the hammocks, I took them down and packed them away.  After dinner tonight, Greta got stung by a bee on her toe--her first-ever sting. She was hysterical. I got the stinger out and sh...

Today we did the most un-New-Hampshirey thing imaginable: we drove to the Verizon store in West Lebanon and got Lucia a phone. It was time. She spent all of fifth grade as the only girl without a phone, left out of group chats and etc., and though I have always loudly claimed there was NO WAY ON THIS EARTH she'd get a phone before high school, I caved. I can't have her be left out. The years ahead will be fraught enough without forcing her to the sidelines from the get-go. As I wrote in the last post, we told her last night that we'd decided to get her a phone, and she was over the moon. It was like Christmas Eve, and it took her forever to fall asleep. Greta handled the news with surprising grace, probably because we said she could have my current iPhone to use for photos and videos after I upgraded to a new phone.  When we got to the Verizon store today, I had three clear goals: upgrade to a modest new phone for myself; add a line and get Lucia a phone; factory-clear my o...

 Sat. 7/24 We fit a lot into the day. A hike in the woods in the morning, lots of pond time. The kids brought bowls onto the floating dock and caught tadpoles and salamanders with their nets to put into the water-filled bowls. They were absorbed in this activity for several hours. Andrew left at dinnertime to drive to MA for a friend's wedding, and the girls and I played Chinese checkers and read a lot of our book. I let they stay up very late and then I just went to bed at the same time. Farrah was restless at Andrew's absence. Sun. 7/25 The kids and I were on our own Sunday, with Andrew in MA. They had their "routine" morning, as they call it--wake up, read in bed, play with AG's, come down for breakfast around 10am. They did math review. After lunch, we drove into West Lebanon for some shopping. Later, they played on the dock again. It was supposed to rain most of the day but it ended up being beautiful. Mon. 7/26 The kids had their routine morning. Then math r...

A landmark day: we had a snapping turtle sighting! The girls were in the pond this afternoon, kicking toward the cattails on their rings, when Lucia began screaming that she could see the turtle's shell. It wasn't moving. Greta started panicking, kicking wildly in an attempt to get away but not going anywhere, then changed her mind and tried to get closer to see it. They were so panicked / excited that Andrew, who was about to go for a run, got into the canoe and rowed out to see what was going on. It seemed possible that the turtle was dead, since it wasn't moving and it was kind of tucked into the cattails. But when Andrew got over to the girls, he didn't see the turtle--but then there was a dramatic movement in the lily pads, clearly a creature moving through them. The turtle. Alive. Returning to the deep. We'll see if the kids want to get into the pond again, after this.  The other exciting encounter today was when the girls and I were hiking around in the woods...

A mostly nice-weather day. I did a grocery run early in the morning, and then after a long morning of breakfast, reading, and math review, we went to the creek--the swimming hole side. Farrah does not care for this side of the creek and sat close to me on the ground most of the time. She did explore the creek a little bit. Greta went deep into the swimming hole, wearing water shoes. Lucia, wearing rain boots, tried to balance on a fallen tree and, of course, wound up with her boots full of water.  Then they began bickering about taking doll pictures and we went back to the house. We spent some time at the pond, and then Andrew and I got ready for our dinner guests, cousins Sandy and Peter. We ate outside. We'd hoped their calm, tolerant dog would serve as a kind of mentor for Farrah, but Farrah proved to be inhospitable to a new dog on her turf, and alternately sniffed and barked wildly.  This was the first night it was uncloudy enough to see some stars, so once our cousins le...