Category Five Hurricane Callum.
100% Scarier than any costume we've ever had.
1,000% more effective.
1. I think I couldn't have spent a better anniversary.
A. I got to watch Neel in "action" as he lectured a medical student class.
B. Callum got to go to a birthday party at MotorWorld (!).
C. We went to Callum's first parent-teacher conference, which was great.
D. And then Neel shared his hoagie with me at lunch at a place called Philadelphia Cold Cuts.
2. I think I'm a pretty lucky wife. Clearly. (Fortunately we're going out to dinner tonight.)
3. I think I'm really looking forward to brunch with some friends on Sunday.
4. I've started a project I'm excited about, and I think I'll be ready to unveil it soon.
5. I think if I told Mark that it was a blog about woodpiles, he'd spit his coffee out at the computer screen.
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
e e cummings
Neel drew our attention to the sunset last night, and I had to run right out with my camera. This shot is looking back, at the the light reflected in the living room windows of our house. It was an interesting evening, as far as the weather's concerned, in what's been an odd fall. Muggy and stormy last night. Bands of rain would move through, followed by clear starry skies. Sometime around two a.m. we had storms, heavy with lightening and thunder. And here it's nearly Halloween! As I write this morning, it's mostly clear, but wispy gray clouds are scutting across the sky, seeking an escape to somewhere. Should be warm today and downright hot tomorrow.
I'm ready for the real fall. I may have mentioned this before.
That little bug I mentioned last week has turned into a full-on sinus infection, so I'm glad to be working from home today.
Blogging may be light this week as I try to kick this thing, but I'll be back with more pictures of that gorgeous sky.
1. I think I can't eat soup without something crunchy (like chips).
2. I think it's sweet how Neel can't watch a nerve-wracking baseball game without eating something crunchy (like chips).
3. I think I actually might like brussels sprouts (although cooking them with bacon and cream doesn't hurt a bit.)
4. I think I'm very glad Neel's grant is done, and we get to spend the weekend together.
5. I think I've been thinking about New York City a lot.
Our tradition is to go to dinner whenever he's here. I love how the tablescape represents that and each of us.
For more of Habit, check out www.habitblog.com
So my dad came this weekend, and he brought Neel a present for finishing his grant that was due this month. How about them apples?
Lately Neel has been making much fun of my home state of Tennessee. He's been encouraging Callum to join in on the fun as they joke about what a hillbilly, backward place the Volunteer State can be.
But I disagree. Selling moonshine in liquor stores? I happen to think that Tennesse is quite enlightened.
1. I think I'm really glad I painted our bedroom.
2. I think I think 80% of what we worry about doesn't come true.
3. I think I'm tired of waiting for the rest of my Tracy Porter dishes to full-out break (most of them are chipped), and that I should just add these to my Christmas List.
4. I think I'm seeing lots of squirrels in my backyard so far this fall. Does that mean snow this winter? The dogs are going crazy.
5. Alfie's here. I think that means we're going to have a great weekend.
Tell her that her eyes remind you, just a little, of Julie Roberts.
She may act blase, but she likes it. A lot.
and since Target has their Christmas lights out next to the Halloween candy, I bring you my Christmas list.
First the books:
I have this yen for beautifully-photographed books about places we've been. I already have a gorgeous coffee table book about Greece, and while there are tons of books about New York, who can pass up Stieglitz? And while I haven't been to Paris (yet), this guy Eugene Atget is really intriguing to me, and I'd love to dig into his stuff a bit more before we go. (I feel certain that Neel is going to whisk us away for our anniversary, right honey?!)
Kitchen stuff is essential, but sometimes hard to purchase for ones self.
My crepe pan bit the dust, and this one from is only $25 from Crate and Barrel. Also from Crate and Barrel is the 12 qt. stainless steel stock pot. I have a soup pot, but I find it's just not quite big enough. Same goes for the Dutch Oven, this one from Williams Sonoma. Mine is not quite big enough, and besides, I love the lemongrass.
My photography bug needs satisfying sometimes, and there are a couple items out there that could do it, I think.
The Shutter Sisters do amazing work, and I think their book could be really inspring. And although I'm torn about it, part of me is dying to try a holga. You'll never know unless you try.
And because every Christmas list needs at least one totally frivilous item on it, I'll leave you with this.
from Sundance.
I wear a 39.
I'm not always good about mise en place when cooking, but I totally get how helpful it is when I actually do manage to pull it off. I bought these bowls at the MOMA design store when we were in New York City this summer, and they definitely make my mise en place easier.
Neighbors of ours were solo parenting it for the week, so we had mom and son for dinner last Wednesday, and I made Emeril's Spaghetti Bologonese. Oh, yum... How can you go wrong with a sauce that has ground beef and sausage, cream and butter? Seriously, people?
Add to that the homemade Caesar Salad from Rick and Lainie's Excellent Kitchen Adventures, which has become a staple in our house (And allow me to pause and reveal something about myself: in the past, I did not like Caesar Salad. Neel loves it. I do not. Until this salad. This salad, I love.).
I think it was a hit.
1. I think I'm not very good at trying to be beautiful. Not that I claim to be beautiful or even pretty, but I think I could try harder.
2. I think I use too many exclamation points. Especially! In! Emails! And! Texts!
3. (This one's for Mark) I think I started to creep even myself out a little this week. On Monday when I was coming home from the morning school run, I switched over to Mike & Mike in the Morning (that's on ESPN Radio, Marky, check it out sometime) to hear the tail end of a trivia question about Peyton Manning. I didn't hear the whole thing, but it was something about "...a teammate Manning passed a milestone with this weekend. Not Clarke, not Wayne. Someone else. We'll tell you who it is after the break." Well right away I went with Jeff Saturday, the center for the Colts. Those two have been together a long time. I bet it's how many times Saturday has snapped the ball to Manning. Or how many games they've played together or something. The only hiccup was I couldn't remember if Saturday had been hurt recently. So after the break, guess what! Jeff Saturday and Peyton Manning started their 158th game together last Sunday! I was right! Annnnnd, at the same time that Mark's (and a whole host of other folks, I'll bet) turning away in disgust, my dad is wiping away a tear of pride.
4. I think trying to be more beautiful should probably involve some more products.
5. I think, as I enter the month of my fifteenth wedding anniversary, that being married is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
She says it way better than I could, everything that is in my head at the moment, minus the lunch, so go check it out. Meanwhile, I will elaborate, all in the fullness of time.
I'm having lunch with a girlfriend of mine today who freely admits that when it comes to talking about what's going on with our kids, well, it's all about us. Since Callum started Kindergarten, I have worked at his school, so this year has been a considerable switch for both of us. I still work at his old school, in more of a freelance-consulting type of role, and so far that seems to have worked out quite well. I'm glad. Glad to still be there and part of things. I care for it quite deeply, and I care very much for so many of the people there. So while I'm still working for them, it's primarily from home now, and I go to campus about once a week or so for some meetings and to touch base. Other than that, I'm moving into more freelance writing projects, and my hope is to keep this moving along into a heavy part-time workload. It's a dream come true, really. Now for that $60,000 a year. Bwa-ha-ha!!
I like working at home. A lot. But it took some adjusting. In the first days I was reminded a bit of my early weeks at home by myself after Callum started preschool. I'd take a pile of books and move them from one table to another because I simply didn't know what to do with myself.
And as you can see, the Blue Rain Room looks quite different. When school started, I was juggling three big projects so I shoved things around and threw my laptop up there and started working away. I'm still juggling projects, and the disorder is starting to wear on me. I'd like to take some time to have a cup full of newly sharpened pencils and a stack of unopened postit notes. While it's hard for me to maintain, I crave order, and the weight of unpacked boxes from my old office is pressing down on me like a cement block. Unfortunately when I do have the time, I do something else with it instead. But that is a story for another day.
So, the Blue Rain Room is no longer a craft room, and I'm mostly okay with that. I think I'm an indifferent crafter at best. Maybe indifferent is the wrong word. I'm just not very good at it. If you look closely at the photo above, you can see the bottoms of some cones of yarn...I am still knitting. But I am not like these other wonderful ladies. Amanda, Blair, Alicia. I'm just not, and that's okay. I want to work on my house; I want to take care of my family; I want to take photos and I want to write. Right now I'm learning how to juggle all of that. (If I could just get things cleaned up in there!)
And I'm learning how to juggle all that and juggle working for new people and in new places with little dogs resting their heads at my feet (and barking their dang fool heads off at every leaf drop outside). I'm learning how to juggle when to shower and when to exercise and when to leave to pick up Callum on normal and early dismissal days. I'm learning how to juggle the homework train and the dinner train and the after school activity train. The rain was good for me, and it's cooler now. Fall is good for me too.
Where did I read it, that 80% of what we worry about never comes true? The thing I grieved the most last year as we said good-bye to Callum's old school was saying good-bye to our proximity to each other. Like I said before, since he first really started his schooling we were in the same place. We did a good job, I think, balancing it. I tried very hard to walk the tightrope of physically being there, but not being there too much. A kid needs his own space. But it was such a joy for me to look out my window and see him playing, full stop at recess or in the gym in PE. When I'd pass him in the hall and he'd barely say, "Hi Momma," I knew we were getting it right." There were some tears from both of us when we thought about those moments going away. But you know what? It's all good. We made this decision partly knowing it was time to move on. Time for Callum to really have his own space. And now, for me the joy comes in hearing him tell the story of his day, not just in witnessing it.
It's all good.
You can tell things have been rough, camera-wise, when I'm recycling old photos from trips to the Farmer's Market!
Well, it's been a month now, since the great New School Experiment started, and I think I can safely say that it's all good.
He's so happy. It's different, certainly. More work. More tests. More grades. He tucks in his shirt and buckles his belt every morning. He dresses out for PE. He eats a hot lunch (At his old school, his dad packed his lunch everyday and they ate outside - weather permitting - for an hour.) where he's in charge of serving drinks to the second graders and making sure he gets himself fed in about 24 minutes. He changes classes. He has a lot of homework. That's been our biggest adjustment, I think. The amount of work coming home. And it's not as much the amount of work, as the fact that it just takes Callum a long time to do it. And it takes him a long time to do it because he has to stop and tell us things every few seconds. Or get up and walk around. Or have a snack. Or look out the window.
But we worked on it. September is always hard at our house, and we just worked and worked and tried new things and figured it out. October is like turning on a switch, and suddenly homework, our biggest adjustment, is going better too.
He has after-school activities three times a week, and his old karate teacher is at his new school now. Something familiar in a sea of novel moments. His grades are good, great in fact, and we couldn't be more proud. It's fascinating, really. This kid of mine. What would send me into a tailspin of mortification, what could freeze me with fear: grades...well, they excite and challenge him and propel him forward. Pretty much what they are supposed to do. Who knew?
It's still tough sometimes, because simply everything is new. We're still working out just when to leave in the mornings to miss the worst of the traffic and not be too early or too late. But oh, how I love the brevity of our new commute. We skip the carpool line because for now; Callum likes me to park and walk him in. He likes me to be in the lobby waiting at the end of the day too. He may be the only kid in fifth grade to do this, but as long as he wants it, I'm happy to.
But we're lucky too. His best bud, who is also our neighbor on the street, is in his class, and he rides in with themat least once a week. He knows teachers there and other kids. In so many ways his path was smoothed as much as possible, but in many, many others he was made to feel at home and welcomed and part of a family. He's made friends where just a few weeks there were mostly unfamiliar faces. In a month it's become infinitely more comfortable, and by next month it'll be even more so.
It's challenging and exciting, and he comes home saying how many cool things he's learning. When we first embarked on this journey of considering a new school, it was remarkable that we were even considering it. I'd thought Callum would have stayed at his old school forever. It was small and nurturing and familiar. There were many reasons for why we had to leave, all valid, but not unimportant was understanding that just because Neel and I wanted small and nurturing and familiar didn't necessarily mean that Callum needed small and nurturing and familiar. He's proved to us that he doesn't. He's more confident, more responsible and more self-assured. He's like a kid pulling off a too-small sweater. Stretching his arms with delight. It's not that his old school wasn't right. It's just that it wasn't right for him anymore.
One evening a few weeks ago, Callum and I were having our bedtime snuggle. It's where we tuck into his bed for a bit and chat about the day. We do highs and lows and talk over any clashes we may have had as a family. It was still in the middle of the homework struggle, of the learning curve on handling the increased work load, and we'd had a tough evening. We'd managed to work it out though, and Callum said to me that night, with a measure of satisfaction, "Momma, it's hard, but I think that school has me written all over it."
Little man, I couldn't agree more.
1. I think that this week has been a particularly good meal-making week. Especially for using cuts of meat several times and ways.
Football Sunday: Fondue
Monday: Chicken chili
Tuesday: Roast a pork shoulder for a pork ragu pasta
Wednesday: Chicken & squash soup and grilled cheese with homemade bread
Thursday: Leftover pork for nachos
Friday...well, it's Friday! That remains to be seen.
2. Speaking of cooking, I think I use sherry a lot more in the fall than I do in the summer.
3. I think I am really itching to paint some rooms in the house.
4. I think I would not like to have the job of deciding to close schools in a storm. However, I do think I would take into consideration the heavy rain and number of tornado warnings in the area before deciding to keep schools open. As soon as we turned the car on yesterday the EAS went off (have I mentioned to you that I love weather?) announcing a Tornado Warning for our neighborhood, the neighborhood Neel was headed into, a neighborhood near Callum's school and a neighborhood we drive through to get to Callum's school. At the end of the EAS it said, "Take Cover Immediately!" But it was picture day so we soldiered on. Callum wore a tie and a blazer.
5. In the past month I have seen two rats successfully cross a busy freeway and arrive at the other side unscathed. A coincidence? I think not.