Potatoes in the Mist

The Trader Joe pumpkin pancake mix is always in big demand. It hits the shelves in the fall. When I was at Trader Joe's recently, I spotted a guy in their trademark shirt and asked him, "Is the pumpkin pancake mix out yet?" He glanced around and lowered his voice nervously. "If it's not out, I can't give it to you yet. But it should be out later tonight." "Okay," I said, feeling like we had been discussing some popular but very illicit drug. At a different Trader Joe's, I found the pumpkin pancake mix - but in a different form! Alas, it was now gluten free. I bought it anyway and tried it. The kids and I liked it (D doesn't eat pumpkin). But it flies off the shelves equally fast.

Recently they finished final construction on the Highline (to the tune of $34 million). We decided to explore the new section today. It was a beautiful day. We are having a three-day Indian summer.

Here is my new cardigan! It was fun to knit. I might make it again in a smaller size and different color. It's very soft. 

Finished the bag! Nice quick project. Am reading The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters...

This will turn into a shoulder bag. I love the color. Is anyone else a little disappointed that Scotland did not become independent? Though I guess it would have been a disaster. On a related political note: I really want Elizabeth Warren to run for president in 2016.

I am a little nervous about Zoe's first day of school on Tuesday. I know it will probably be fine. She has met her teachers, and likes them. Also, she really enjoyed her drop-off class at the children's museum this summer. I finished a scarf today: I'm also knitting two sweaters: one purple, one gray.

“Yesterday and tomorrow cross and mix on the skyline. The two are lost in a purple haze. One forgets, one waits.” ― Carl Sandburg 

Eric started school today. I miss him...but I'm glad he's right across the street!

We went to Danvers for Labor Day weekend. We had an unexpected guest, my sister's dog Cocoa. They were moving my nephew into college in New Hampshire and their dog sitter fell through. So Cocoa stayed with us yesterday. She is only 9 months old. It was hard to get a good picture of her because she moved around so much. She had a good disposition. We also went to the beach, which was beautiful but surprisingly cold. Eric and I took a walk through the woods... And Zoe got tuckered out from all the action.

At gymnastics, in the waiting room, I saw a little girl in a tutu doing an elaborate dance to Katy Perry's "Roar." I ended up buying the song :)

At some point recently (last weekend?), I went to an amazing bookstore for children, called Books of Wonder. They have pretty much any children's book you could want, as well as some young adult ones. There is also a little bakery in one corner of the store. I noticed one young adult author with three titles: Stephanie Perkins, whose books are Anna and the French Kiss, Lola and the Boy Next Door, and Isla and the Happily Ever After.  I started with Isla and now I'm reading Anna. These books are so fun. The characters are lively and well drawn, and you get to go to France! I recommend them.

Eric is very intrigued with the yarn swift and ball winder I have in my room, to spin yarn with. (It comes in a floppy hank that is hard to knit from, so you spin it into a ball). Today we spun a couple of skeins together. He wants to do more later. Then he started to talk about "knitting a Mommy with skin-colored yarn." (This sounds a little creepy here but was cute in person, I promise.) Then I offered to make a knitted wild animal together and showed him this book. He wants me to make the tiger on the cover.

Sometimes I think that three years is too far apart, that they have different interests, but right now they are playing happily in E's room, bouncing a ball, laughing. Heaven. Another thing that strikes me - some people are basically WYSIWYG ("what you see is what you get," a programming term) and others are troves of hidden expression, which you see when you read their writing (an old friend's blog). All kinds of things on their mind that you would never guess from their conversation.

At the park today, Zoe was playing with her friend Gabby.  Then they moved to a park bench and Gabby fell asleep. Zoe is still sitting with her quietly. 

Some new yarn I got yesterday. I am making a scarf with it.

So I've been watching some of the old James Bond movies, especially the ones with Sean Connery. Tonight I watched On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which starred George Lazenby (a one-time Bond; Connery was asking for more money) and Diana Rigg. I think Judy had mentioned her before; she starred in The Avengers or something? Anyway, she was very good. The film had breathtaking snow chase sequences, in snowmobiles and on skis. Eric was riveted as well. Then there was a sad ending :( But otherwise, a very good movie.

Dislike required energy and a good memory for slights; geniality was so much less demanding, and at the end of the day felt better too. --Alexander McCall Smith

Sometimes you make things from Pinterest, and they don't come out as planned. I tried making a quinoa/cottage cheese burger that was like that. It was disgusting. But today, I saw a pin on Pinterest. It described how to make "silky, stretchy play dough" using 1 cup conditioner (the cheaper, the better) and 2 cups cornstarch. The photo looked like something E and Z would enjoy playing with. So I'm going to try to make it, if I remember. First, I need to buy conditioner.

Having kids really made my 30s fly by. One day, I was 32. Then I had Eric. Now I'm 39. What the hell happened? I wonder what the 40s will bring.

I just finished a really good book. I realized that I especially like chick lit/romance and thriller crossovers. This was one of of those. It was called Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. (She's written some other fun novels, including What Alice Forgot and The Husband's Secret. ) The story is set in Australia and focuses on a parent trivia night at a primary school. One of the parents ends up dead. (Nothing to do with a gun.) Then the narrative goes back to the beginning, when the parents met at orientation, and follows the growing tension between them until things explode at the trivia night. (Not literally.) The book had a fun, gossipy vibe and there is a twist when the trivia night finally comes. I recommend it.