lazy sunday

chili-dusted sweet potato fries @ The Pepper Mill.

five things, september 16th edition

1. I think last night was my very favorite kind of evening. Callum had a late play practice, and as we drove home a cold front moved in bringing lightning, heavy rain, and gusty winds. The temperature dropped 20 degrees from the time I left to pick him up to when we pulled back into the driveway. Callum had finished most of his homework during flex bell (study hall), and what he had left was the kind of thing that could be done at the kitchen island, so as Neel and I finished up supper and the storm raged outside, we were all tucked in, safe and together. I love fall.
2. I think I really appreciate the sweet note I got from my friend Marianne this morning.
3. I think every year I seem to forget how hard it is to settle in to new school year routines.
4. I think I'm sitting in a place of both disquiet and gratitude.
5. I think I'll try to focus on the gratitude.

a breath

Taking a breath for a few days, I think. I have some stuff on my mind. I'll be back on Friday with Five Things, and then I'll either be here or I won't next week. Decisions!

Take care...

goodbye old paint

We become so attached to our cars. In this family at least, we have them for ten years and give them names. Everything is anthropomorphized around here.

We had to say goodbye to the Red Zephyr this week.

Our last connection to our lives in California, this was the car that made me feel like a mom. Does that make sense? I mean Callum was two when we got it, so I felt like a mom in lots of ways, little and big, before we got this car, but a station wagon? Nothing says mom like a station wagon, right?

The Red Zephyr brought us here from California. Our dog Phoebe watched the moving vans take all our things away (again...she'd moved out to California with us too) and was so nervous she'd be left behind that she would jump into the back seat and refuse to come out. She was old by the time we made the trip and slept in the backseat next to Callum most of the way, but when we hit the mountains of western Virginia she must have smelled the East Coast because she sat up eagerly. She wanted to ride on the center console between us the rest of the way to our new home.

Oh, it's hard to say goodbye. She was ready to retire though. I won't detail the many indignities of old age that she suffered, but I think it's time she got some rest. Goodbye old paint. Safe travels.

Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 08:15 AM