the OTHER mother

Apple, I (Eye)

Greetings from the Big Apple.  I'm at a conference for writers.  Paying for internet by the minute.   More soon.  Baba

Focus 2

Focus 1

Carrie's Gallery

This is Carrie's picture of snow.  It's hard to see the transparent glitter in the scan.  She did this one at school.

Carrie continues to be very action-oriented in her artistic style.

Eventually those paintbrushes become cumbersome, and she resorts to her hands.  It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it.

Pearl's Gallery

Pearl is really into coloring books lately.  She completes entire coloring books before moving on to the next project.  Her favorite pictures are one of mother and baby animals. As you can see, the example that I scanned is clearly deficient.

She doesn't enjoy painting as much as her sister does, but every now and then, she joins in.

This is a picture of a house.  She drew houses for about a month, starting in December when she (and we) learned that her best friend is moving away.

This one depicts Marcia, Jay Jay the dog, and Riah the cat.  The wee bairn in the top left corner is Carrie, looking down from the top of the stairs.

Made by Honeymooners

This is our coffee table.  My parents gave it to us.  They made it together the first year they were married.  This story makes a table that I love even more wonderful. 

Marcia and I are fortunate that we both have parents who have weathered their storms and stayed married.  So many of our friends don't have that advantage.  It must make a big difference to have that relationship building skill modeled throughout childhood.

Cousins

Our cousins (or cussings, as Carrie pronounces it) spent the MLK weekend here with us.  Despite cold, rainy weather, we had a lot of fun together. 

Quotable Pearl

Consider this fact from ancient history revealed by Pearl to me today.

"Some dinosaurs had guns in their teeth."

I thought you might want to know.

Question of the Day: The Big D

What do you do when you are depressed?

(photo by Claudecf via flickr)

Blog of the Year

It's that time again.  You can nominate/vote for the best lesbian blog of 2007 at TLL today.  (It's an unusual process in that there is no distinction between nominating and voting.)  The voting will continue up until February 15th.

The Future is Clear

These days if you ask Pearl what she wants to be when she grows up, she has a fast, firm answer: MAMU!

Milestone for Mom

As you may recall, my mother is a three-time cancer survivor. She just got a great report from her most recent checkup at M.D. Anderson.  It's been five years!  Go, Mom!

Question of the Day: Road

Road, originally uploaded by JuliusTheCat via flickr

What are some places you'd love to visit some day? (Assume that money is not an obstacle.)

Hammock Time

The Meme of 3s

My British Babble buddies are all doing this meme on facebook.  I mention that they're British only to explain the ALT spelling. If you like this meme, feel free to steal it.

Three jobs I have had in my life:
1. museum coordinator of a log cabin
2. secretary for an ivy league librarian
3. bus (actually a van) driver in rural Maine

Three movies I've watched more than once:
1. Vertigo
2. Prime Suspect
3. Roman Holiday

Three places I have lived:
1. New Orleans
2. Iowa
3. The Chelsea Hotel

Shows that I watch
1.
2.
3.
I don't watch television.  Perhaps, Marcia, you could verify this for everyone?

Places I have travelled to:
1. Sydney
2. Barcelona
3. The Yucatan

Three of my favourite foods:
1. Sushi
2. Shepherd's Pie
3. Chocolate

Three of my favourite books:
1. One Hundred Years of Solitude
2. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles
3. Written on the Body

Three places I would rather be right now:
1. Rome
2. Cozumel
3. Santa Monica

Three friends I think will respond:
1. Tracey
2. Lori
3. Kathleen

Three things I am looking forward to next year (2008):
1. Getting stronger
2. Electing a democrat for president of the US
3. No more diapers!

Write Your Own Caption

A Backwards Glance: Blogging 2007

Here's a meme that I did last year.  Recently I remembered that it was fun to assemble. This is a review of the past year; I've collected one post from each month of 2007.

January - Carrie is weaned.  Happiness, sadness, confusion, hormones, etc.

February - After spring break I muse over the nature of vacations, THEN and NOW.

March - Pearl and Carrie meet Barbie (TM).

April - We pull off our first family Seder. It targets the 3-and-under crowd.

May - Pearl and Carrie, their whims and fancies are revealed.

June - Here's why we love summer....

July - In Grrrlville, the dinosaurs take over.  Arrrrrrrg!

August - Carrie's first (and only) haircut.

September - Baba turns 45 without too much of a whimper.

October - Marcia and Robin take their first vacation away from the kids.  They only went 50 miles away, but we're asking you to reserve judgment.

November - A cowboy saves the day (at Whole Foods Market).

December - Pearl grooves with the women of NIA Moves.

Oh what a year it was.

The Cat Attack

We were worried about our cat Moriah before we left town for our vacation.  She's 19 and diabetic and has a touch of arthritis.  She had a kidney infection a month ago. Usually a pet sitter comes by and spends a half-hour with her each day we're away.  Usually we're gone five days or less. This trip was longer and we wanted to do what was best for our cat so we decided to board her. 

We have two vets.  I will call them the country vet and the city vet.  Truth be told, they're both right in the heart of the city.  These names describe the milleau of each.  The country vet is very close to our house.  They know us by name and well enough to ridicule us about our propensity to spoil pets.  The same people have worked there for years.  The place is never especially clean, and their methods are kind of old-fashioned. Often they ask you to hold the pet while they draw blood.  Their prices are quite reasonable.  The city vet is further away, clean as a people hospital, professional (meaning unfriendly), and expensive beyond belief.

We almost always go to the country vet, except when we are really worried, but as I said, we were really worried.  So we bit the bullet and sent Moriah to the city vet for the week we were in San Diego. Carrie and I picked her up Wednesday morning while Pearl was in school.  The bill was more than double what I expected. Moey was crying loudly.  They had put her on antibiotics because a molar fell out of her mouth. We brought her home.  She continued crying.  After we picked up Pearl, the three of us circled around Riah on the bed and groomed and talked with her for half an hour. She seemed comforted then.

The neighbor with kids Pearl and Carrie's age invited us for a playdate at 4 pm after naptime.  My parents were due to drive into town at 5.  I took the kids to play with our friends, and Marcia arrived at their house 15 minutes later.  I wanted to clean up the house for my parents so I asked her to take over. 

Back at home, I began organizing toys. I listened for Moriah's cry and didn't hear anything.  It was too quiet.  I ran upstairs and found her frozen in a back bend contortion, lying in her own vomit and feces.  Her eyes were popping out.  I wrapped her in a bath towel.  She was stiff and couldn't uncurl her body.  I drove to the country vet, singing twinkle twinkle to her amidst my tears.  I ran in with her, announcing the emergency.  When they checked her glucose level it was so low that it didn't even register on the meter, but within 10 minutes they had her stabilized and under a heater.  They let me visit with her and said I could pick her up first thing in the morning.

Each day she is stronger and less shaky.  She does not show any signs of obvious damage.  But why a diabetic coma after only 5 hours away from the city vet.  Curious minds want to know.

California Photos

I've posted more photos from our vacation here. Vote for your favorite in the comment section below.

Pearl

Mission Beach

Blurry Beach Video

Happy 2008!

This is my first experiment with FLIP video.  Thanks to S & J for the lesson.  (time 3:15)