My Beating Heart

Our friend Meredith read my "Dear Santa" post and researched some options for gifts.  I had actually assumed that Lee would forget about the requests, but wouldn't you know, here she was at the Christmas party on Santa's lap, asking for a beating heart.  

So Bridges and I looked more closely at one of the products Meredith had found, called My Beating Heart.   We decided to get one for her, because we knew that she would really like it.   I just asked her today what her favorite Christmas present was, and she said "the beating heart." And wouldn't you know, most of the adults liked it a lot too.  It's suppposed to be very therapeutic!

How to Attack a Piece of Pie

Where do they get their likes and dislikes?  

Tonight we ordered pizza, and I watched as Lee ate a piece of pepperoni, starting at the crust and working her way to the tip.  Often she will eat only the crust and the pepperoni, leaving everything else.  Clara, who won't eat pepperoni, had a piece of cheese.   She held it upside down (as she seems to eat any handheld food that has a top and a bottom), eating from the tip toward the crust, but left the crust on her plate and asked for another piece.    

Nearly opposite.  How did that develop? 

Bananagrams

We received Banangrams as a gift this year. It's a bit like Scrabble.  The tiles are stored in a cute little banana-shaped pouch.  

I found this creation yesterday.  

The only words Lee really knows how to spell are "Lee, Daddy, Mommy, A (which she uses for "and"), I, and love."   She writes these words in various combinations on all of her drawings, but for some reason finding them in tiles was different, as if I had stumbled upon some secret message she'd left for us.  

This is the Year

This is going to be the year Lee gets on skis.  She is actually enjoying the snow this year!   We got quite a bit of snow right before Christmas, probably 18" over a period of a few days.  It was so beautiful - the second storm dumped this heavy snow that stuck to everything, and then it got cold and so for a few days it looked like a winter wonderland here.  But then the rain came on Christmas Eve, although we had so much snow the ground is still mostly covered.  

Actually, in the pictures below it's raining, but it was actually quite nice for sledding; not too cold, and the snow was nice and soft and so not too fast for the kids.

Here are the two girls going down with Daddy:

and getting a ride back up:

Here's Lee going head-first by herself (yes I can see her skiing now!):

And here they are going low-tech (who needs sleds anyway?):

Who's Going to Clean those Windows?

I had to question Santa's wisdom when Clara discovered window paints in her stocking.  I suggested that Santa might have to come back to help clean the windows.

But, I must admit, the painted windows add a bit of color to the house, and the kids did a great job with them.

Fairy House

Here are some pictures of the fairy house we built in September while we were up at Loon for the weekend.  A bit hard to see in the back is a lake made of white birch, complete with a boat house, a dock, and a boat, all of which were Lee's ideas.  

The front door and pathway (I especially like the hydrangea tree):

A detail of the table with bowls and cups:

The window box:

Ear Infection

Clara developed her first ear infection since having tubes put in.  She had been pretty unhappy for a few days, but she had a cold and of course there are always the teeth to consider (mercifully we only have two more to go).  

But then she woke up from her nap and I noticed a trail of dried yellow pus coming out of her ear.  Lovely.  So here we go again, I thought.  Only it turns out that with tubes, you can treat these with topical ear drops.  Great!  Only that's effective just 50% of the time.  This wasn't one of those times.  That night Clara developed aa 103+ fever and was sitting up in bed holding her ears and telling us how much they hurt.  So we filled the prescription for the augmentin, and within a day or so she was back to being happy.  

During this time I just kept thinking "I can't believe we all went through this for months and months last year."  Especially her.  

Dear Santa

A few weeks ago, Lee told me that she only wanted one thing for Christmas. But it was a secret between her and Santa, so she couldn't tell me what it was. At least, I thought, I'll be able to find out who is playing Santa at the church Christmas party.

Then last night, she suddenly said with great concern, "Mommy, I only remember three of the things I was going to ask Santa for."

Three? Uh, oh. She's definitely gotten more wise since last year, when she asked Santa for only a candy cane (so cute!). So I asked her what they were and she quite readily told me (so much for keeping secrets).

"First, candy canes."

Whew, maybe not that wise. Doesn't she realize we give her candy canes anyway?

"Second, a heart that looks real. When you push the button on it, it starts to beat. And third, a big rat. When you push a button on it, it crawls across the floor."

I asked her if she'd seen these things somewhere or if she'd just made them up. I imagined them, she said.

Hmmm......

Clara Turns Two

Clara turned two today.   She had a fantastic birthday, and she seemed much more aware of birthday things than I remember Lee being at this age (probably a function of being the younger sibling).  She knew it was her special day all day long, and she was in a jolly mood.   Bridges took the day off (as he does for all of our birthdays).  

We put up balloons and a banner, and made her favorite (waffles) for breakfast.  

She opened her presents in the morning (a magnetic doodle pad and a book).  I had made some fresh playdoh, and we put that out after breakfast and they played with playdoh for quite a while.   Then we went to Kids Playground, which was a lot of fun.  It was amazing how much better Clara was at getting around only four months past our last visit.   

After that we went out to lunch, and then came home.  My parents came before dinner and got to spend some time with the girls.  

Linda and Roger came by for cake aftewards.  Here's the carrot cake I made.  

Everyone remarked at how much more she's talking, as you can see in this video.  

A Moment of Realization

While we were in Sanibel, I had a moment of realization. The kitchen has mugs that show maritime signal flags. Bridges asked me if I wanted "my mug" in the morning (I tend to become attached to particular mugs). I looked up at "Yankee- Dragging Anchor." All of a sudden I remembered just how tired I was at our last visit in February (in the midst of Clara's seven months of ear infections), and really how tired I've been during previous visits to Sanibel.

We were married in Sanibel six years ago on November 30th. The following year I was pregnant, and every visit afterward we've been in the midst of raising small kid(s). We've had some pretty rough spells of sleeping, particulary last winter and spring with Clara's ear infections, followed directly by Lee's months of night terrors. It's really only been the last four months or so that I've really started catching up on sleep from the past several years.

Not only that, I have started sleeping the sleep of the dead the last six months or so. There are many nights that I don't even wake up if one of the girls wakes up. I sleep so deeply that when I wake up in the night I often don't know where I am or what day it is. I honestly don't remember sleeping like this during my adult life. It's absolutely wonderful.

So I looked at the available mugs, and picked "Bravo - Dangerous Cargo" since the little ones are still quite a bit of work. I think next year I might move to "Juliet - On Fire."

Sanibel

We went to Sanibel for the week of Thanksgiving. It was a fabulous week. Not a cloud in the sky most of the time, and though the weather was a bit cool it was much warmer than the 18 degrees we left behind at home.

Our first morning (notice the moon).

Bridges has been going to Sanibel his entire life. We now rent the unit below my in-laws and it works out quite well. His sister always comes at the same time and stays with them on the second floor, and we have two bedrooms downstairs.

We had quite an active week. Rollerblading, kayaking, biking, and swimming figured prominently in our adventures. Bridges played tennis with his dad a few times.

Kayaking through the mangrove forest

All four of us on bikes

Lee had a fabulous time looking for shells and swimming (outfitted with a new swim mask, she started touching bottom in eight feet of water and swimming underwater).

An advertisement for Sanibel

Clara enjoyed both of those activities in limited amounts, but stuck with her current dedication to books. She became very attached to a small version of Maurice Sendak's Nutshell Library, and carted it around most places, asking people to read the same four books over and over again. We started letting her bring the books on the beach, because otherwise she would want to go inside. So she would sit there happily for a long time, just looking at pictures.

What 2-year-old wants to play in the sand?

A bug we made out of pen shells

Having fun with limited toys....

All of us but Bridges

My Aunt Marge visited for Thanksgiving and stayed the night. At 87 she is going strong.

Winking

Lee’s been working on winking for most of a year now. She’s better with her left eye


than her right.



Clara is just starting.

The Kleenex

Thanks, Clara.

Face Painting

Lee wanted to face paint herself and Clara the other day. I think she did a pretty good job.

Can You Say Changeable?

Yesterday Lee pulled a dress out of the closet, exclaiming "Mommy, I want to wear this dress! It's so beautiful, and I haven't worn it in such a long time!"

I didn't remind her that this was the same dress about which she said "That dress is so ugly. I don't like that dress. I'm never going to wear it again!" a few weeks ago.

This happens again and again with various things, and it's not so much the change in as the definitiveness of the opinion that strikes me each time. I guess this is why the experts say to keep offering them different types of food, and to make no assumptions about what they like or don't like.

The Fall

Yesterday I took quite a fall. My friend's hose was leaking a fine mist on her slate steps, and when I came into her house I let her know and she turned off the water. I completely forgot that it would be frozen into a sheet of ice when I left an hour later. Down I went, Clara on my hip. My back hit one stair on the way down, and my right elbow on another. Clara was hysterical but we finally determined that she must not have hit her head - she just landed on her back on the slate at the bottom. I was so shocked I couldn't get up for several minutes, and when I did I was convinced I'd broken my elbow. The girls were of course extremely upset.

But we got home to Bridges and he took care of things. He calmed down the girls and bandaged and iced me. My elbow was immediately black and blue, and I'd torn off the skin even through a heavy coat and two layers of clothes. But the shooting pains up and down my arm finally subsided, and I can move it. The scrape on my back is about six inches long, and I'm really sore on that side, even to move my left arm around much.

But the sweetest thing was how the girls cuddled with me afterward. One on each side, just lying down and giving me kisses and making me feel so loved. I guess for them to see their mommy vulnerable is pretty darn scary.

It also made me realize just how bouncy little kids are. They fall like that all the time, cry a few minutes, and it's all over. I'm going to be sore for a while.

The Heating Vent (2008)

Now that the heat is coming on, Lee is back on the heating vent every morning. Only now she has to share it with Clara. Sometimes this works out well, as in the picture below (check out the hair!):



But sometimes there’s jostling for position, and Lee has more than once told Clara to go find her own heating vent. Of course this is the only one worth being on as it’s in the dining room in the center of all the action.

Fingernails and all

I'm trying something new. I've scanned one of Lee's recent pictures. Here it is:


Notice the seasonal border of pumpkins. She made a lot of things with pumpkins during October. The way she draws the human figure has evolved over time. I love how in this picture the attention to detail (each fingernail is indicated, as well as the shoulder joints, ribs, lungs, and heart) contrasts with blatant omissions (no feet).

Lee's Views on Dogs

Lee is afraid of dogs. This started when she was about 18 months old and was knocked over by the tail of a golden retriever the size of a large pony. Her fear has gone up and down since then, but she's never gotten to the point of really enjoying dogs.

Today she asked me "Mommy, do they have a dog next door?" When I said asked her why she was asking, she said "I need to know for safety reasons. When you and Daddy die and Clara and I are here alone, I'll need to know if there's a dog next door." Ok, this was disturbing on more than one level, but let's just leave it at the dog for now.

This afternoon we ran into Muffin, a little lap dog that lives next door. Lee got very nervous about her. Later I said "Lee, how can you be scared of a dog that is so much smaller than you?" She responded "Mommy, I don't like her because she's jumpy. I like that she's teeny, and I like that she's very very soft, but I don't like that she's so jumpy!"

A bit further on our walk she was talking about going to school, and she said that next year when she was five she was going to be much braver. "And Mommy, when I'm grown up, I could even get a dog." Wow, that's brave.

Ouch!

Clara bit me the other day. She wasn't throwing a fit. She wasn't upset. She just leaned forward and lay into my arm. Hard enough that the blood welled to the surface and today, three days later, I still have a dark bruise on my arm.

Lee asked me if I was angry with her, and I said "why no."

Her asking that made me think of this show I heard on NPR the other day about revenge and forgiveness. The speaker was a biologist and he said that the prevailing view is that people are programmed for revenge, but that forgiveness is something difficult and unnatural, especially if we think of it in the geopolitical realm. However, he claimed that our brains are actually wired for both. We actually forgive lots of little transgressions every single day, and he gave the example of forgiving his son when he wrote on the wall. Forgiveness is what enables us to get along. You're more inclined to forgive your relations, or anyone who offers some value to you.

Prunes! Cookie!

Most kids have a limited number of food choices at this age, but Clara, while she'll eat other things if the fancy strikes her, only requests two types of food.

Morning, noon, dinnertime, and in between, when I offer Clara food she will say "Prunes!" She's allowed only two prunes a day, which she eats at breakfast. So the rest of the day I say "No more prunes. You had your prunes already." At that point, she invariably gives me a big grin, and says "Cookie!"

Great-Gramps

Lee and Bridges went to San Antonio, TX to visit Lee's great-grandfather on his 99th birthday. Bridges' sister Laura was there as well.



Next year the plan is for the entire extended Smith family to go on a cruise out of Galveston for his 100th birthday.

Clara and I had four days to ourselves. She really seemed to miss Lee, and I at times found myself at a loss keeping her entertained, but it was nice to have the time together just the two of us.

Too Many Rules

Sometimes Lee says things and I just don't know where they're coming from. Today on the way home from school, she said "Mommy, there are too many rules at school." So I asked her if she had gotten upset, or if there was one rule in particular that she didn't like, and she said no, no, there are just too many rules at school.

The reason this seems so odd is that Lee loves rules. She's a firstborn. I've never been told of her misbehaving at school, and she's generally very well-behaved at home as well. She loves to tell Clara the rules.

So I'm just not sure what this is all about. Stay tuned...

Insatiable Appetites

My kids are both exhibiting insatiable appetites, and no, not for food. Clara cannot get enough of books lately. She surrounds herself with books and flips through them, and she's always asking someone to read her a book. You can read her ten books in a row and she'll still want more. Or, she'll ask for the same book many times in a row (One Was Johnny and Curious George are current favorites).

Lee, on the other hand, has no interest in reading at the moment. What she wants to do is play games. Games, games, and more games. We play Dominoes, Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, Cuckoo Zoo, and Wig Out. Again and again and again. She also plays Sets on the NY Times web site every day. She does really well - easily solving the Basic level games, and usually finding five out of six of the sets on the Advanced level games.

The Vote

Today, on this historic election day, Lee had the opportunity to vote for a choice of snack at her preschool. She voted for cereal bars, but graham crackers won. I asked her if she was disappointed by having to eat graham crackers, and she said "Well, Mommy, I don't like graham crackers, so they gave me something else."

So, perhaps not the lesson in voting I thought it would be.

The Remote

Sometimes things happen that make me realize just how different Lee's and Clara's personalities are.

Both kids love to watch videos. They ask to watch videos. Clara will often bring me the remote and say "v-o!"

Well, today she learned to turn on the TV using the remote. Lee was thrilled, and at the same time somewhat aghast and indignant. It's not that Lee isn't capable of figuring out the remote (she operates the remote for a CD player all the time), it's that if we told her we aren't going to watch a video, that's it. It just wouldn't occur to her to pick up the remote and work at it again and again until she figured out how to turn on the TV all by herself.

Walden Pond in (almost) November

Today we went to Walden Pond. It's been cold the last few days, in the 40's but with a breeze that makes it feel much colder. Today was supposed to be warmer, and it was a bit, but we certainly bundled up, and the water looked none too inviting.

We met a man, there, though, who was getting ready to go for a swim. He's 91. He tries to swim in Walden Pond every day of the year, and has done so for 24 years. He sets up his chair and sits for a while, chatting with the regulars who walk around the pond at lunchtime every day. Then he puts on his swimsuit (he recommends that newbies start with a wetsuit but said he's too stubborn to give in) and goes for a dip. If the pond has iced over during the night, he brings a bat to break up the ice. In the winter he might only swim for five minutes, but he figures he has to go every day or he won't be able to stand it after taking a break. Kind of a funny way to spend your 90's, but he said a big reason he does it is simply that it gets him out of the house every day. I've seen lots of elderly folks planted in front of the boob tube, so I suppose he has a point.

Wow! Neat!

It's funny to hear your children talk and realize they are saying something you say all the time, perhaps without even realizing it.

Lee when she was younger would often say "Lookit!" which Bridges correctly attributed to me.

Clara has suddenly started saying "Wow!" "Neat!" whenever she's interested in anything. Also, I fear, attributable to me. It sounds so funny coming from her, though, you just have to laugh.

When a Lesson Takes

Clara's been drawing a lot. On a lot of different things. Like the windowsill, and my bills, and the newspaper, and the table. Thankfully no library books.

Yesterday I caught her drawing on the windowsill (again), and I told her "no, no, no!", put her on the stairs for a minute or so, cleaned it up, and put away the markers.

Today I left her alone for a few minutes, and when I went in she had drawn with markers all over our new art table that Bridges had built. (I know, it's an art table. Perhaps she should be able to draw all over it). It's actually not a big deal, because we haven't painted it yet and so the paint will cover the marker and then the paint will be washable.

But when I found her, she looked up at me, gave me this huge smile, and said "no, no, no!" She was so proud of herself. I just couldn't help laughing.

The Potion

Lee was very busy working on a picture this evening, when she paused, came over to me, and said "Mommy, can I borrow some of your magical, powerful stuff?"

I was baffled. I liked the sound of being in possession of a magical potion, only I had no idea what she was talking about. So we went back and forth a few times, and eventually I realized she was referring to White-Out. The previous day I had used some to minimize the trauma of a badly-drawn "D" (yes, she has perfectionist tendencies). I had no idea I was so powerful! But really, think of it from her point of view. She draws in crayon or marker most of the time, and she has no concept of erasing. I guess it is a kind of magic, to undo something you've done and leave minimal trace.

The Best Kind of Outing

Fridays are our day to go someplace fun. Last Friday for a variety of reasons plans fell through, and we ended up just staying home. It was a gorgeous autumn day, and we'd just had a huge pile of mulch delivered, so Lee and Clara spent all morning playing in the mulch pile while I spread mulch around. We ended up spending all day at home, eating lunch outside on the patio, and then playing outside some more. I have to remind myself that sometimes the best place to be is home.

Days of the Week

Lee is very interested in the days of the week. I often don't understand why certain things are learned easily and others take more time. Why is it that she's been able to count to 100 since last winter, but she doesn't yet remember the seven days of the week in order? But she's starting to know which days she goes to school, and which days Daddy stays home. Of course, we're in the middle of three weeks with holidays on her school days (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Columbus Day) so that's made things a bit more confusing.

So here's how our weekly schedule is playing out. On MTTh Lee goes to school in the mornings and I do errands, clean the house, cook and bake, and go to the Y with Clara. Clara and I usually get a bit of time where we play together or read. Then we pick Lee up from school, come home and eat lunch, and Clara takes a nap (usually a good two hours). During this time, Lee usually plays by herself downstairs (I consider this her downtime) while I do email, pay bills, or tackle a bigger project like gardening or painting. Towards the end of this time, Lee and I usually spend some time reading together until Clara wakes up. Right now Lee runs upstairs, lies down with Clara, and reads her "Surprises. " Then after nap we either get together with a friend, or we go to the farm, or we go on a walk, or sometimes we just hang out here. Around dinnertime I often put in a video for them while I get dinner ready.

On Wednesdays, Bridges works from home. I hang out here with the girls for a while, and then we got to the Y and swim together. We come home and have lunch, and then I take Lee to gymnastics while Clara is napping. I don't actually like this timing and wouldn't do it again, because Lee is so tired afterwards that the afternoon is kind of shot, and I think she misses her time to just play quietly by herself. But it's ok for now.

Fridays are our "Funday." We usually try to do an outing, eat lunch there, and then Clara falls asleep on the way home and we just hang out here for the rest of the day. Sometimes we'll get together with a friend later in the afternoon.

DeCordova Museum

Once in a while our outings disappoint, but sometimes I wonder "why have we never been here before? We have to come back tomorrow!!!"

That was my reaction to the DeCordova Museum. An art museum + the outdoors. What a great concept.

September Summary

Why the long hiatus? Well, I guess it's like so many things: the longer you get out of the habit the harder it is to start again. Also, when we returned from vacation I got this incredible surge of energy to work on house projects and I've been extremely busy with that. And I guess I was having a little bit of that feeling I used to have about taking pictures while traveling. I didn't like that I was spending time looking through a camera and worrying about taking pictures instead of actually experiencing (of course, now I look back on all the traveling I did where I have not a single picture and could kick myself). But there have certainly been moments where I was writing about experiences with the girls instead of spending time with them.

But then I got the urge, so I'll just jump on in and write one of my "just get it down on paper" bullet lists to recap September:

- after our week at the lake, we went down to Orleans and stayed in Cindy's house from Tuesday through Saturday. The weather was cold the first few days, wonderful the second few, and pouring rain the last. But we had a fabulous time which included outings to Skaket Beach, the Wellfleet Audubon Sanctuary, and Moby Dick's for fried food. A great vacation, and I think Bridges really relaxed after having two weeks off in a row.



- The Sunday afterward, I helped organize a potluck dinner at the church for families from Pilgrim Nursery School. It was a huge success with almost 100 people there (inc. kids), and it went really well.

- I have decided not to return to the Newton Symphony and am instead singing in the Lexington Pops and the choir at church. It is fun!!!

- We went to Children's Hospital for our yearly urology visit. Lee just had an u/s on her solitary kidney and has been completely cleared for the future. Clara had the urodynamics test done (it was awful) and while her reflux has improved, the urologist would like to keep her on antibiotics until she is potty trained. An long and incredibly exhausting day, especially for Clara.

- Bridges and I went to see the Lexington Symphony perform Mozart's Requiem and just loved it. They also performed Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. Beautiful.

- I started physical therapy for the sciatica that started bothering me during the summer. I stopped going to Bikram yoga after six years. By the end of September I was much improved.

- Bridges has started training in earnest for his back-country telemark trip in January.

- I started taking the girls swimming at the Y again, and they're both doing great. Lee is pretty much independent now, and will swim a pool length, jump off the edge by herself, swim on her back, and sink down by letting out her air. Someone asked me if I taught the girls myself, and when I said that yes, she said "I can tell, because they enjoy swimming so much." Actually I should clarify, because when I said yes I just meant that they didn't take swimming lessons. But really I haven't taught Lee at all - she has completely taught herself.

- My dad had a knee replacement, and I took the girls to the hospital a few times to visit.

- The girls spent a weekend with Bridges' parents while we did a ton of things around the house. We were amazingly productive. One of the things we did was paint the kitchen, and it looks fantastic.

- I took the girls to the MFA. Lee just loves that museum, and will go to her favorite painting (Watson and the Shark by Copley) and gaze at it for minutes.

- We went to Loon for Bridges' mom's 65th birthday. The colors were beautiful, and we built a fairy house, complete with a lake, boat house, dock, and boat.


- We went to Drumlin Farm with other parents from school on Rosh Hashanah. A huge hit with Clara, who is really into animals at the moment.

Good Night, Sweet Pea

I was wondering the other day what you could tell about a person by examining the phrase they say the most frequently. I'm sure that during my professional days, this phrase would have been something as uninteresting as "Hello, this is Ruth" as I answered the phone, or embarrassingly enough, perhaps "a tall, decaf, nonfat latte, please." High on my mom's list at one time was, I'm sure, "don't let the cat out." I wish I could say that currently, "I love you" is at the top of the list, but it's probably something more mundane like "good morning, sweet pea" (or realistically "good night, sweet pea," since good night can be said more than once a day depending on how bedtime goes). I'll take it, though.

Ragged Island Pie

Not just huckleberries. Blueberries too! In August.

What a strange summer. The coolish weather combined with all that rain has produced a long-lasting wild blueberry crop. Wild blueberries definitely belong to late July in my experience, and yet here we were on Ragged Island at the end of August picking blueberries.

These must be highbush blueberry plants, because they were 6-10' tall. Yet the blueberries were not the big fat ones that you find at pick-your-own farms or the grocery store; they were just like the tiny sweet berries that you find on lowbush blueberry plants.

This is what they looked like:


We (ok, Bridges)


picked enough to make a pie.


How cool is that?

A Moment of Bliss

I knew a guy once who categorized those times in your life when you feel truly happy. I forget his exact wording, but he labeled them "moments of contentedness," "moments of fullness," and "moments of bliss." I guess you could say he was a bit analytical.

Anyway, as he explained, everyone could expect a fair number of moments of contentedness in their life. Moments of fullness were less common, and moments of bliss were rare and to be cherished. A moment of bliss was a time when you felt that all was right with the world, and if everything stopped right now you would feel completely fulfilled. Oddly enough, these moments never seem to happen when you might expect, like at your own wedding or the birth of a child. Those times can be full of joy, but there are usually lots of worries and anxieties that creep in around the edges.

I was in my early thirties when he described this system to me, and as I looked back I remembered exactly three moments of bliss in my own life, the last being the summer after my graduation from college. Since that time I can think of two others.

I was actually thinking about this the other day, wondering if moments of bliss become rarer as you age. The Olympics were what made me consider this; the youth of the athletes and their ability to withstand such pressure at such a young age (Of course it may be exactly their youth that allows that). As I've gotten older, I'm more aware of what can go wrong, and more aware of my own fallibility. And, of course, I realize that even when I'm happy, all certainly isn't right with the world. But oddly enough, moments of contentedness and moments of fullness seem to occur more frequently as I age, perhaps because I'm so much happier with what I have than I used to be.

But last night, we were four days into our vacation and realizing that no, we did not need to pack up the car tomorrow and head home. The remainder of the week was longer than what had already passed. We had cut down a tree full of caterpillars, and so to get rid of them we had decided to get a fire permit and light the pile of brush that had accumulated over the summer. As the fire burned down, there were remnants of the sunset in the sky to the west, and we sat near the fire, listening to the sound of the lake and watching the bats start to fly around. The girls were thrilled, yelling "BAT!" each time one flew overhead (or "BACK!" in Clara's case). And I felt, this is it; this is all I will ever need out of life.

A Huckleberry Day

Lee seems to have inherited my love of berry picking. It's such an enjoyable activity - you're outdoors, it's repetitive and yet satisfying, you can converse with your companions, and in the end you have something sweet.

I think Lee has picked every type of berry I have except cloud berries, which I picked long ago above the Arctic Circle in Norway (but as they say, that's another story). But she's picked strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and now huckleberries.

It's a bit of an odd thing, the huckleberries. Last year, my nephew Cas (who's lives in California, I might add) started eating these little black berries that were growing along the waterfront right in front of our house. I had noticed them, but didn't know what they were, and definitely did not assume they were edible. Oh yes, his mom said, those are huckleberries. What did she know? After all, I've been coming here my entire life. But, you see, our island used to have what's politely known as a "deer problem," the result of which was little plant life below six feet off the ground. Since this has been dealt with (picture guys in wheelchairs shooting bow and arrow, if you want to know), we suddenly have undergrowth returning on the island. Thus the return of the huckleberries.

This year, there are loads and loads of them. We picked quarts between our lot here and the lot at the community beach. They're pretty good - a bit seedy and more tart than a blueberry, but tasty none the less.

Lee has spent hours and hours picking huckleberries. It's a bit of a hunt for them, nothing like the high-bush blueberries you find at pick-your-own farms, where you can fill a quart in ten minutes. But she has really enjoyed it.

"Mommy," she said at dinnertime today, "I had a huckleberry day."

Yes, I thought, I like the ring of that. A huckleberry day.

Halloween in August

We went to Aunti Erl's (our great local used clothing store) and we happened to pick up a Halloween costume for Lee. Clara will be able to wear the zebra costume.

They've had hours of fun, chasing each other's tails around the house just like puppy dogs. Of course, they were a bit red and sweaty afterwards.

I LOVE LEE + CLARA

The other day my sister Linda helped me out by coming over to my house for a few hours on a Friday afternoon while I went to a doctor appointment. It was really great of her, and also lots of fun for the girls.

When I woke up the next morning, I noticed on the patio: