Potatoes in the Mist

Heading north to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It's bringing back my childhood - in the summer, we used to stay in cottages near various lakes in New Hampshire and Maine. I always forget that peaceful feeling you get when you cross the border. North of Massachusetts, everything feels more open and spacious. The highways are almost empty, flanked by tall pine trees. Our destination is a small, cute amusement park called Storyland that I loved as a toddler. Maybe I'll put up some pictures later.

I just finished knitting this hat.

So I haven't left Zoe with a sitter much since she was born, because I thought it wouldn't work out, and part of me is as attached as she is. But I found a wonderful sitter whom we both like, and she has watched Zoe for a couple of hours so I can take a bike ride and relax a bit. One of the neighborhood dads saw her with Zoe at the park and was so impressed that he asked for her contact info, so she can watch his son sometimes. So it looks like leaving her for a few hours to see Pippin in September won't be a problem (fingers crossed). She has a good comfort level with this sitter. Also we are thinking of going to Hawaii in March. The school where Eric will be going to kindergarten has very long vacations. I haven't put much thought into planning yet, but I'm thinking of staying on Maui. I'm excited!

So I was always wary of cutting my kids' nails - baby nails are so small, and there's always this fear of cutting the skin. Amazingly, I never have - but it was never a pleasant experience. My latest method was to have D hold her hands still while I clipped her nails, and she thrashed and screamed. Today, I simply clipped them while she was nursing. She giggled a little, but that was it. I also saw a really good old movie - It Happened One Night, starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. Gable was a charming rogue with a touch of vulnerability and Colbert, whom I'd never seen before, played a fun character as well. If you haven't seen it, I would recommend it.

I am reading two good books: The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells  (by Andrew Sean Greer) and The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vasquez. I also really liked the last book I read, The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty. I won't reveal the secret here, but it was unexpected. Yesterday I saw that Amazon had chosen it as one of their best books of the month.

Zoe seems like a little grownup to me sometimes. She dropped her Mounds bar at the playground, and she picked it up and put it in the trash can.

Today I went to the Met. D was taking Eric to a class there. It's inconvenient, but I'm always so glad when I do go there. There is magic for me in the nineteenth-century painting and sculpture (Degas and Monet in particular) and the ancient Greek and Roman art. I was especially taken with this third-century sarcophagus depicting Selene (a moon goddess).