Potatoes in the Mist

When Eric was very young, I wrote a list of books I thought he might want to read. They were favorites from my own childhood, including Harriet the Spy, The Little House in the Big Woods, Ramona Quimby, Superfudge, etc. Eric has enjoyed some of the books I picked out for him, but his favorite is the Boxcar Children series, which I never even knew about. Written by Gertrude Chandler Warner, the stories focus on four plucky children with no parents (just one laissez-faire grandfather) who use their New England resourcefulness to get out of scrapes and solve mysteries. They're written in 1950s style, very wholesome.

I'm sure you've heard of Elizabeth Gilbert - she wrote Eat, Pray, Love, which I liked well enough, and more recently The Signature of All Things, which I actually preferred. It had a very memorable central character named Alma Whitaker, and I learned tons about botany and the 18th and 19th centuries in general. You don't need to be a botanist to enjoy it. Anyway, I started following her on Twitter, and oddly enough she seems to be what Anne of Green Gables would have called "a kindred spirit." I like how they crop up in the weirdest places. Which brings me to one of my favorite words: serendipity (n.) finding something good without looking for it.

This is the scarf/shawl I finished today. It can also be used as a toddler blanket :)

I've been working on Clapotis , a huge scarf that takes forever...so it was fun to make these mitts over the weekend. Also, E went to a "dance party" this weekend (for a classmate's birthday). He enjoyed wearing one of the pink hats they handed out.

So yesterday was kind of a crappy day. We are having some trouble with E's school. They think he's really smart but they want him to talk to the other kids more (he tends to talk to the teachers instead). Also, he was overtired so he was throwing tantrums about everything (out of character). To top it off, I have a 2-year-old who sometimes throws tantrums too (though now she is peacefully sleeping). So today I got an almond danish pastry at Trader Joe's and had a giggly conversation on FB with a college friend about her high school crush. That is one of the sad parts of being an "adult" - no more crazy crushes. The pastry and the conversation were both fun, though. Note: I put "adult" in quotes even though I am (gulp, gasp, yuck) 38...

I'm reading The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (of Eat Pray Love fame). This book is totally different - fiction, big sprawling saga (500 pages), set mainly in the 19th century, focused on botany, Philadelphia, Tahiti, etc. (okay, I guess her love of travel is on display in both books). Among other things, I learned that the apple of Eden was most likely an apricot or a quince - there were no apples in Palestine.

Today was a good day. The weather was perfect. I got to take a bike ride. I never have any sense of how many miles I've ridden, but I did one of my longer rides down the path along the river. Later I saw a friend at the park and got to hold her baby. Her baby is very charming and tried to nurse my Poland Springs bottle. I also got to see another baby, who is also cute and always wears a jeweled headband around her forehead. I can't decide whether this is cute or ridiculous. Maybe a little of both :)

Just finished Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. It's the first new Bridget novel in years. Bridget is so funny and silly and human. Very open about her flaws - namely, procrastination and overeating. In an age when everyone is trying to be perfect, she is refreshing. Hopefully, Helen Fielding will write another book about her soon.

Some friends of ours just had a baby, a little boy. I haven't met him yet. I'm excited for them, but the news also gave me a nostalgic feeling. So I went on Facebook, clicked on 2011, and looked at Zoe's baby pictures. She was swaddled in lots of pink fuzzy clothes. Her face and body were tiny. And yet...having her at age 2 is just as fun. She and E started kicking in the bath tonight so that water was splashing everywhere, even landing on my sweatpants. E would complain about her kicking and then kick some more to encourage her. I'm glad they're having a good time together. Reading Ladies Night by Mary Kay Andrews. Oddly enough, it makes me want to fix up a house. (Not really. But I like learning how.)

I finally figured out what Eric and Zoe are going to wear for Halloween. Eric will be a pirate, and Zoe will be a mermaid. Right now I'm sitting in a nice tree-filled park while Zoe naps in her stroller. I have a good book, too: Who Asked You by Terry McMillan.

My friend T and I had lunch at a slightly trendy diner and Julianne Moore walked in! It was very exciting. She seems very nice - smiled at me as they walked past, and then Zoe stopped right in front of her when we were coming back from the bathroom, and she smiled at her. It's always fun to see a celebrity.

I'm reading 1Q84  by Haruki Murakami. It clocks in at 925 pages, which I would ordinarily find a little long, but it's very interesting. If you haven't read him before, I also recommend Norwegian Wood and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (a nonfiction book that helps explain him a little). I also love this cartoon:

One of our neighbors has a daughter a little older than Eric - she's five and a half - and she just found her first loose tooth. This is happening too fast. I wonder if Eric will start the process then too. How much does the tooth fairy leave these days? D and I saw Pippin. It was the first Broadway play I've seen since 2011. (The last one was the terrible Book of Mormon .) This one was good, if a little silly, and had some amazing acrobatics. We were in the second row so we got to see it all up close and personal. Eric seems to be enjoying kindergarten. His school is uptown, a bit of a shlep, but the people seem nice. One mother in the class owns a restaurant and donated food from her restaurant for a cheese and wine pairing, so the parents could get to know each other. They had some very good Riesling.

I'm excited to read The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane (an Australian author). It's an Amazon Editors' Pick, about an older woman with a caretaker who has suspicious motives for helping her (not money, since she is being paid a pittance). The book is not out yet, but I read an excerpt and it seems really good. A tiger also comes into the plot somehow, maybe in a Life of Pi sort of way. 

A sand star that Eric and I made today. A kind of goodbye to summer. 

On a walk around the neighborhood this morning, we bumped into a high school classmate (fellow clarinet player). She invited us over to see her chickens. One of them laid her first egg yesterday. Eric had a blast feeding them grape tomatoes from the garden. They also had an enthusiastic golden retriever puppy named Maggie.

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.