Tally

1 earthquake
11 aftershocks
(11 at last count)
1 tornado warning
1 hurricane
30 or so hours without power
1 week of weather

a kind neighbor brought me
two cups of coffee yesterday morning
thanks to his french press.
one French press for christmas, please.

a driveway bbq with neighbors is a great
way to pass a powerless afternoon.

listening to your neighbors generators
when you don’t have one is unpleasant.
(i have it on good authority that won’t ever happen again)

neighbors with generators who kindly
charge cell phones and keep a few items
in their working refrigerators is sweet.
(helpful hint: if you go to sleep and a cell tower
goes down then your cell phone spends the
entire night searching for a signal which drains the
battery you brillantly charged before the storm.)

home alarms that beep at you ever so often
to let you know the power is out is
nothing short of annoying. i may have wanted
to rip it from the wall with my bare hands
last night and i may know a person who
just cut the wires it was so annoying.

little boys don’t seem to care if there
is power or not.
except in the middle of the night.

men working on down power lines at 2:30 in
the morning are super heroes.

and so we carry on.
welcoming a new week.
cleaning up down trees
and whatnot.

oh, and i have a few questions
for the amish people. i’d like
to know how they manage a
handful of things.

Cobra

There was a rare moment of quite in the car
earlier this evening and then this went down…
Luke: Mom, what can a cobra to do you?
Me: Bite you.
Luke: Oh…Like Nolan. We should call Nolan, “Cobra Noley”

So if you hear a kid shout “Cobra!” don’t be alarmed.
He is just calling his brother
because now that is what he calls him.

Perhaps I should correct him
but I hate to mess with the logic...
which is spot on.

Playing In Puddles

Gardening & Grandmothering

On Fruit & Dessert

I made this for dessert last Tuesday.
I made it for my onetruelove who
adores fruit in his dessert.
I don’t love fruit in dessert.
Actually, I don’t believe fruit
belongs in dessert unless
it is dipped in chocolate.

History, Sculpture, and a Sidewalk Café

Natural History Museum
Sculpture Garden
and a delightful little lunch*.
A very picture heavy post.
Enjoy or endure?!?
Keep reading for a little ditty
about a lunch moment.

*during our delightful little
lunch the mayor of our nation’s capital
came to our restaurant for something or other.

A little ditty…
Our lunch in the city was fabulous. Not too hot.
Super yummy food. My onetruelove across the table
and our darling boys between us. The hum of traffic…
of people on the go. It was sweet for me.

During our appetizer a woman with her twin boys,
just weeks older than Luke, sat down at the table next
to us. She decided we were best friends and just started
talking to us. Then she paused, left her kids at the table walked
down the street a bit to fetch books from her car for her boys to
read. She asked all kinds of questions. Including, where do you live.
Inthemiddleofnowhere.
Thankyouvermuch.
Now pipe down lady and don’t ruin my urban buzz.
But she did. She didn’t know where we lived,
even though we both live in the same state,
and the look on her face while she tried to
imagine where we lived was rude.
She talked to us the entire time.
A lot about where we lived.
It annoyed me.
But as she stood to chase down her
kid who was halfway down the street
I noticed something.
She had on workout clothing.
No make-up and hair in a ponytail.
And I know she hadn’t been to the gym
because in all her talking she told me all about her day.
And so I may live out in the middleofnowhere
but at least I’ve still do my hair every morning
and put on make-up.
I guess it is a slippery slope to sweatpants
and a minivan no matter where you live.

Keep Your [fill in the blank] on a Leash!

We had a wonderful day today.
Faris had the day off and we
went downtown and it was a
wonderful urban delight.

At 9:15pm I cannot seem to
rid my thoughts of
a moment between a mother
and son I witnessed.
Was it ironic?
Sad?
Both probably.
Well maybe that depends on your perspective…

A mother with two boys.
The elder boy was free to roam.
The younger boy had the
faux monkey leash thingy.
You know, the monkey looking backpack
but really it is a leash for a child.
The child on the leash bent over and started
to walk on all fours and then sort of plopped
down. His mom gave him a small tug on the leash,
leaned down and told her son to get up because
he wasn’t a dog.

Do you get it?
I don’t think she did.
She told him not to act like a dog
but she had him on a leash like a dog.

Speaking of that monkey leash thing…
I am shocked, somewhat outraged, at how
many children I saw leashed up.

To be honest, I think that monkey leash
is not a reflection of a kid who may be poorly
behaved or unpredictable but rather a reflection of the parent.
And not a good reflection.

I Just Need To Tell You Something

It was a long night.
There was vomit.
Awake children.
Awake parents.

And then this morning
my oldest son blessed me.

Sitting on the couch he looked over at me
and said, "Mama, I just need to tell you something.
I love you."

Then I tackled him with kisses,
vomit breath and all.

Updated P.S. Luke has had on fleece pants on all day, except he calls them blanket pants.

Monday Night Ice Cream