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:

Coming Home in the Jeep

The girls are very excited when Daddy drives to work. This is because, when he comes home, they get to climb in the Jeep while he opens the garage door, and then he backs all the way up the driveway, and then comes back down and "BUMP" into the garage.



I asked Lee what she calls this ritual (because she has a name for everything), and she responded "FUN!"

Up or Down

As I may have mentioned, Clara's still learning to talk. Sometimes, she has an idea in her head and you're not sure what it is (in the example below, whether she wants to walk or hitch a ride somewhere). I will often resort to changing something (i.e. putting her down) and then asking her "Happy?" But even then the conversation can have ambiguous results, usually progressing in one of two ways.

The Agreeable Clara

Me: Clara, do you want Up?
Clara: Up
Me (to clarify): Down?
Clara: Down
Me: Up or Down?
Clara: Up or Down
Me: Happy?
Clara: Happy

The Disagreeable Clara

Me: Clara, do you want Up?
Clara: No
Me: Down?
Clara: No
Me: Up or Down?
Clara: No
Me: Happy?
Clara: No

On the Floor

I'm trying to remember to get down on the floor at least once every day. It's amazing how it works. I lie down in the room where the girls are playing, and they come running to climb all over me. We do airplane rides, and lots of tickling, and just general horseplay. It's a great way to get some physical contact with them because sometimes they just aren't into cuddling (especially Clara at the moment,who is just too busy).

Old New Friends

A few weeks ago we drove up to Proctor, VT to visit old new friends. Or perhaps they are new old friends. They're new in the sense that we'd only met them twice before, but old in the sense that the first time was over six years ago and the second two years ago. And yet we've managed to keep in touch.

They've bought a second house in Proctor, which is just north of Rutland (i.e. near Killington, Pico, and some other ski areas), and had invited us up to visit. Since we love going to Vermont, we jumped at the chance (although it took us two years to find a good weekend).

Proctor is a cute little town, and houses the Vermont Marble Museum, which we will have to visit next time. Most of the municipal buildings are made of marble, as is a bridge going into town. There are even sidewalks made of marble! Proctor also has a beautiful, recently renovated covered bridge, which I unfortunately did not get a picture of although here is one taken before the renovation. This small town has its own high school (The Phantoms), and has won a surprising number of state championships in baseball and basketball, considering its graduating class is far less than 100 students.

We had a great time swimming at the Proctor Pool, which is technically a pond, but does have a slide, raft, and multiple diving boards. Lee jumped off a diving board for the first time (wearing a life vest).

Saturday night we walked over to Proctor's single restaurant/bar for dinner, and saw that the walls were dedicated to the achievements of The Phantoms. The bar had a great local atmosphere, tasty food, and especially tasty local beers.

On Sunday our plans to do a little hike were rained out, but there were some great puddles to play in on the deck.


But the highlight of the trip was definitely the dogs, Moosie and Nokki. There was a bit of trepidation on Lee's part at first (Lee does have a history of fearing dogs), but she did pretty well. Clara was just thrilled. The dogs were great with the kids. Both dogs just love people, Moosie full of bounces and kisses, and Nokkie more on the mellow side. On the way home, when I asked Lee why she hadn't played with dress-up clothes at all, she said "Mommy, I just wanted to play with the dogs."


On the way home we talked about how we might be able to work out living in Vermont (we've had this conversation many times before).

What Does Clara Say?

Clara's been doing great with the animal noises. This is usually a great way of distracting her when she's gotten herself worked up about something. Usually we end up with smiles and giggles. The other day, though, when her mind was set on doing something that she just wasn't going to get to do, it went something like this:

Me: Clara, what does a sheep say?
Clara: NO!
Me: Clara, what does a frog say?
Clara: NO!
Me: Clara what does a cow say?
Clara: NO!
Me: Clara, what does Clara say?
Clara: NO!

Clara Accessorizes

Clara is into shoes and accessories.

For a while she would crawl with shoes on her hands.


This summer she would put any pair of Crocs left lying around on her feet.

We finally broke down and bought her her own Crocs (the smallest ones they have!).


She's always been very fond of hats, and here is a funny clip from a while back:



This summer, even in the heat, she likes to wear a wool hat, or her favorite wool sweater, or her raincoat, which she'll keep zipped up with the hood up until she's drenched in sweat.

And now, it's the bike helmet. She wanders around the house with it over her eyes. Although she's only truly happy if the rest of us are wearing our helmets too. She brings each of us our helmets and says "on!"

It's All a Tangle

Thanks, Clara.

More Funny Things They Say

Well actually, we're not sure exactly what Clara's saying, but we often find it funny anyway. I have to say, she's talking so much more than a month ago, but we're understanding so much less. How does that work? I guess when she had a limited vocabulary of single words we had a pretty good chance of getting the meaning, but now she tells entire stories and we have no idea what she's saying.

It will come....

Lee is often saying "I'm true" or "You're not true" instead of using the word "truthful." It's very cute.

Last weekend I had the girls at the lake and Bridges stayed home to get some work done. When we came back, I asked Lee (in front of him) "you missed Daddy, didn't you?" and she said "no." Then I said "well, you thought about him a lot, right?" and she paused a bit and then responded "no, I didn't think about him at all!" I was about to press her more on it but Bridges asked me to stop.

A while ago Lee said to me "Preciously, I'm a bit too warm right now." Preciously?!? It's amazing how they have the confidence to throw words around even if they don't know what they mean.

When we were blueberry picking about a month ago, Lee was talking a nonstop stream. She was very excited, and she was just talking, talking, talking. At one point she said "Mommy, I'm exactly the right height today. These berries are right in front of me. I won't always be this height. Soon I will be taller. But today I'm just perfect!" The funny thing about this is that there are blueberries from down low all the way to six or seven feet up, so really any height is just about perfect. But the joy with which she said this was so pure.

Lee still has a tough time with the concept of tomorrow. She insists on saying "the next day," and if we use the word tomorrow, she'll say "do you mean the next day?" Similarly, she will often say "this night" instead of "last night," and we have had very long conversations about tomorrow and yesterday and why today is never tomorrow or yesterday.

Her sense of time is generally still a great cause of amusement for us. She will so confidently throw around numbers, as in "Mommy, I think Clara's been awake up there for about twenty hours or so."

Last night our friends were coming by with their son James, and so in the morning Lee turned to Bridges, her face lit up, and she said "today is the day that James is coming over, right?" I told her yes. Then she started smiling even more and asked "and he is going to stay for dinner, right?" Again, yes. She clapped excitedly and then said "I'm going to pretend that he's here already!"

More rain

I've been very remiss with posting because my wrist has been sore so I've been resting it. My quick update is about the same as the last one - rain and more rain. Actually we had a few nice days this week, but more rain is coming in tonight and tomorrow. What a crazy summer! The plants are happy, though.

And we've had some fun walks in the rain.

Whirlwind Travels

I'm very behind on posting, and just have a minute this morning, but I can at least post an update on the weather here in Lexington.

Here it is: rainy, rainy, rainy. Bridges and I woke up to pouring rain at about 4 am and I said "Oh, good. More rain." At least it's not terribly hot! And to be fair, we've gotten a fair amount of swimming and outdoor activities in this summer. We've just had an awful lot of thunderstorms and rainy days at home. But, we haven't had to water at all, which has been great since we planted all that new stuff in May.

So let's see, last week we (just the girls and I) spent a few days at a friend's house in Orleans on the Cape. It was great fun, the kids had a blast, and the weather was actually pretty good.

This past weekend we drove an awful lot. We went and stayed with friends in Proctor, VT and visited other friends on the way home in Greenfield, MA. I'll post separately on our Proctor visit.

Tomorrow we're off to the lake again for a few days. Bridges may stay home over the weekend so he can actually get some work done.

But then we're here in Lexington for the next two weeks, and then Bridges is on on vacation for two weeks (one week at the lake, and then a partial week on the Cape). And then summer's over. It's going so fast!