12.30.08
Sunshine and citrus
We’re soaking up the sun here in AZ for the next week. There’s Taliesin West, the Biltmore, Montezuma’s Castle, and more on the agenda–but loveliest of all: simply the cool breeze and warm sun in December and January.
12.23.08
So much snow!
For the second day in a row, I walked with my brood to town and back through the snow. I haven’t driven the car in a week (!) and I’m writing this right after the power came back on after a short outage tonight.
Winslow was bustling both days with a delightful number of pedestrians. It’s a magical pause in the ordinary.
12.19.08
After-dinner conversation
S: Mama, Papa said it was okay to eat food with tumors.
A: What?!
S: See my orange? (Sure enough, there’s a little weirdly-shaped growth on her section.)
A: Uh, well, it looks okay to me. Did you know that there was a baby with a tiny foot in a tumor in his brain?
S, laughing so hard she can hardly get the words out: You know how some coats come with extra buttons? Yep.
Winter wonderland
A few shots from my morning constitutional in the bright sun and snow:
Guess I didn’t quite get the picnic table put away, did I?
I love the meandering little bird tracks.
And here’s my tracks–I’ve found some good walking shoes for rain/slush/shallow snow: these Tevas should last awhile.
12.18.08
Snow Day
No school for B.I. and it’s still coming down–the neighborhood kids have their winter gear on and they’re sledding down the hill, whooping and calling to each other. It’s beautiful.
12.16.08
Winterstate travel
Our quick trip to SLC to visit my mom in the hospital is done–we were there for her coming home, saw my beautiful 4-week old niece, got to visit with extended family, and topped it off with a snowstorm on the way back again.
I-84 curves through these hills about 20 miles outside of Baker City, OR.
The ice and snow just proved too much for the road traffic, and after getting caught behind a wreck, everyone who could chain up, did.
While we waited, we realized we were out of water, so I filled up the cups with snow to melt.
Glad to see family, glad to be home.
12.11.08
Reading material for the road
We’ve got a road trip coming soon, and since 80% of us are readers (leaving one little boy who likes picture books and letters so far) that means nearly 24 hours of reading time in the next 4 or 5 days.
The girls are hilariously obsessed with Feng Shui and the Chinese Zodiac, so we’ll surely find a spot for my big encyclopedia of all things Feng Shui–(and BTW, I’m totally the dragon description. S. is a dragon too, so that explains a lot of why she’s a chip off the old block, right?)
Last week I stopped in at Magus Books, a well-stocked, stacked-to-the-ceiling, might-find-anything sort of used bookstore in the U district and bought enough books to fill my backpack to bursting. I think some of those books are coming with us as early Christmas presents. I bought our current read-aloud there: The Railway Children, by E. Nesbit (scored a beautiful folio edition).
Also on the packing list:
A few weeks’ worth of New Yorkers to catch up on
The west-E study guide (I’m gonna read that one aloud until the groans drown me out)
Wish us luck and nary a moment of car-sickness!
12.09.08
A little dinner and music
Around 9:30 tonight, I was standing at Ivar’s open-air counter waiting for my grilled salmon caesar salad and up walked a street musician carrying a guitar.
Guy manning the counter: Hey! You’re out of the hospital! Great to see you again–you’ve got a new guitar there.
Man: Yeah, I bought this one a couple of weeks ago.
Counter guy: You ever find the one that got stolen?
Man: No, never did. (Strums a little. He can play.)
Counter guy: That thing’s out of tune, man. Let me tune it for you.
Man: Huffing and hawing dramatically, he rolls his eyes at me and hands the guitar over.
Counter guy finishes tuning and plays a little, hands it back.
Man: Sounds worse, dude. (Grins at him.) This one’s for Tuba Man. (Starts singing suddenly and follows up with a chord.)
Counter guy harmonizes with him and they sing “Knock, knock, knockin on heaven’s door, knock, knock, knockin on heaven’s door, knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door…”
I stand and wait for my salad, a gorgeous gritty Dylan in my ears, and chills running down my spine.
12.06.08
Holiday gifts
This afternoon we took the kids to the annual Muppet Christmas Carol showing at the Pavilion, hosted by the Cook Family Funeral Home and Toys for Tots. It looked like they collected a lot of great toys as people entered. I happened to have on hand a couple of things I bought on clearance from MindWare, which is a great resource for creative gifts for kids. I check in every so often to see what they’ve put on sale.
And then this afternoon, we got the pineapples gussied up to give to the neighbors:
I’m doing an advent calendar this year, the first time I’ve tried it, and it’s fun finding little delightful things to put behind the doors. I have to stow the presents in there one day at a time because there are some peekers among us. Besides me. The favorite advent gift so far has been Little Hotties, the one-use handwarmers. I already feel nostalgic for these days when simple things make my kids so happy.
