« January 2008 | Main | March 2008 »
Carrie has had pneumonia (again!) all week, and she refuses to take her antibiotics. She is improving, according to Dr. Alex, but it's been a long week. We've watched too much television in Grrrlville.
Nevertheless I've been exciting to hear and read these great news stories about the power of creative play.
I'm behind in my blogging -- I admit it. I do have some dishes "cooking" for The Other Mother, but perhaps in the meantime you would enjoy distracting yourself with one of my other blogs?
Try out Big Window or A Poem a Day. You might like them.
(photo by finntasia via flickr)
This, according to Pearl...
(dictation by Marcia)
(photo by ramberto via flickr)
Our little Picasso (a.k.a. Carrie) seems to have enter a new phase of her artistic "career." The only color paint she'll use right now is black.
This has been going on for a week or so. Today I set her her up with her watercolors. Of the sixteen pigments, black was the furthest color from her pad of paper. She used it exclusively.
She calls it "dark" instead of black. She sometimes refers to the white spaces as light. Yes, friends, another day in Grrrlville.
Caution: Storytellers at Work!
While everyone is talking about Clinton and Obama, Obama and Clinton, there's another election taking place. TLL has announced the five finalists in their Lesbian Blog of the Year award.
This Girl Called Automatic Win
Hahn at Home
Lesbian Dad
Sugarbutch Chronicles
Dorothy Surrenders
Make you choice and cast your vote here. The voting ends on March 3, 2008, and the winner will be announced on March 8.
Those of us with full time jobs most likely have a business card, but until Valentine's Day, I've never had a card to identify me as a blogger. Check out this gift from my sweetie. The circle is a little larger than a quarter. It has my name, the URL for this blog, and on the back it says: The Other Mother. Cool?
Design by Nicole Richard via Etsy
In Texas we are accustomed to being ignored when the caucus season comes along, but that's not the case this year. The Clinton-Obama race is very exciting, and we get to be a part of it.
Thanks to everyone, readers and writers alike, for participating in my first blog carnival, Some/thing. The
response was much greater than I'd expected, and I enjoyed reading everybody's posts stemming from the simple prompt: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. First I'll recommend 2 moving posts on Freedom to Marry Week that came out of this project--one by Beren DeMotier, the other by Polly a.k.a. LesbianDad.
In the description of the project I requested surprises and got them! Here are a few of the posts from last week, organized by topic.
Some/thing Old
Some/thing New
Some/thing Borrowed
Some/thing Blue
As a bonus, carnival goers receive two recipes, one for basil shrimp and another for cherry biscotti.
For a complete list of the participants, click here.
I've collected a few photos from Valentine's Day and the week. As I mentioned, Valentine's Day is also Marcia's birthday. This one, her 40th, is a milestone occasion so we had some wonderful visitors join us to celebrate. Our friend Amy swooped in from Denver for a day. Marcia's parents also made a quick visit. On a sadder note, it's Alex's last weekend here; his family flies to England on Tuesday. We will miss all of them.
I'm feeling nostalgic today. I can't believe that our babies are no longer babies any more. Here's a picture of Pearl at 4 weeks. It was lucky I snapped a photo because, as it turns out, it was a historic moment. It was the only time she ever used a pacifier. Any symbolism there?
Thanks to all the Some/thing bloggers for making the carnival a carnival. Next week I'll do a recap, so feel free to post over the weekend, if you've gotten behind and leave a comment telling me.
When you love someone, it never seems quite real. You wonder if she'll be there, even though she's proven that she will. You feel the truth of the phrase "living on borrowed time," as though she can't possibly be there permanently or on her own volition.
And yet she is there. 10 day, 10 months, 10 years. If it is a dream, you conclude, it's getting to be a long one.
Yes, friends, it's Valentine's day. And today is Marcia's birthday. Happy 40th, Sweetheart!
Just in the past two weeks, Pearl has started "dictated" stories that we write down into a special book that she made herself.
Here's one of them.
As children, we are often placed in the position of trying something brand new. As adults we are often fortunate enough to exert control over the agenda. Put another way, it's possible to spend a lot of your time doing things that you already know how to do.
That's why I'm still surprised that I've started doing Nia. The Nia Technique was created by Carlos and Debbie Rosas in the 70s. Nia combines dance, martial arts, and yoga. It stresses self-acceptance. You can read more about it here.
Although it is antithetical to the spirit of Nia, I must tell you this: I am terrible at it! But I do want to continue going to the classes. I want to build a practice of it and incorporate it into my life. We have a studio right in our neighborhood. It's a soulful place where everyone exudes the generosity of spirit that one hopes to find in this world but discovers eventually that it is exquisite and very rare.
Caption: The local Nia group did a demo at Lights in the Heights in December. The public was invited to join in. Pearl took them up on their offer.
Note: Some/thing is the theme of a blog party celebrating Freedom to Marry week. Click here for a list of the participants. Feel free to join in yourself.
Feel free to jump into Some/thing, a blog carnival, even if you missed a day or two. Here are the details. Leave a link to your blog, and I'll add you to the official list.
The squirrel bed was Nana's when she was a child. Then it was Aunt Sharon's. Now it belongs to Carrie.
In between the 35 years in storage and Carrie, the squirrel bed did a stint at Barney's Antique Hospital. I never met Barney, but the fact that he wrote a 3 page email about this toddler bed gave me a mental picture. If you see him on the Antique Roadshow, let me know.
Here are a few details about the squirrel bed from Marcia's family. Nana says that it was purchased by her parents at Harold's Furniture Store in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Barney discovered that the bed is factory-made (ca. pre World War II), is comprised of mahogany veneer on a maple base.
Barney's philosophy of restoration is to maintain the furniture's historical integrity. Another way of saying that is: he doesn't really care how it looks as long as the story of the item's origin is apparent. A case in point: the back of the headboard remains an eerie color that was apparently original. This way antique junkies can get a little green thrill from the past.
Because Pearl's bed is white and we wanted them to share the room, we asked that the bed be painted white. Barney did paint it white, but not until he shellacked the bed so that his restoration was safely sealed underneath. The result is a white paint that looks chalky and temporary, like you could write your name on it with a quarter. Can you tell I have mixed feelings about antiques?
Nana and Papa delivered the bed over the summer. The next quandary was the mattress. The size of bed is not a standard size, so we had to find someone to make a mattress for the squirrel bed. I'm not sure how Marcia found this guy, but made-to-order mattresses are his specialty. He told us that the mattress he made for Carrie was cut down from one he made for Brad Pitt in the movie he did that's set in New Orleans. I'm not sure which film that is.
The squirrel bed has a fragile enough structure that neither Marcia nor I will even sit on it. Sometimes I find myself thinking, how long should we keep it before buying a nice white IKEA bed that matches Pearl's. But other times I remember that it's cool when you own things that have such a story to them. Like the coffee table I wrote about last month, this bed has meaning beyond it's physical appearance. Someday Carrie will enjoy hearing all about it.
Here are some of the bloggers involved in Some/thing:
If you are playing along, please add your blog address as a comment, and I will add you to the list directly.
These February days can really lull me. Have you felt it too?
Here's my idea to beat the blogging blahs this week. I mentioned last week that I wanted to throw a blog party, carnival, or harmonic convergence. Here's the idea. It's easy and quick. If everyone does it, it might be a lot of fun.
I'm not big on weddings. Never had one, except for this little bit of blogging. For the rest of the week, if you're game, follow this theme:
Tuesday 2/12 Something old
Wednesday 2/13 Something new
Thursday 2/14 Something borrowed
Friday 2!4 Something blue
You can post a photo, memory, poem, music, or a combination. Try to surprise us. And once you're done, if you leave a link in the comment section here, everyone will be able to check out what you've done. Feel free to link to here, using the "Something" badge. If you're not a blogger, you can still participate by leaving a comment.
Is it tomorrow yet?
Bop, bop, doobie doo waaaaaah.
Pearl and Carrie celebrated Lucia's third birthday at a party yesterday that blissed them out. Despite the extravagance -- a pinata, a petting zoo, etc. -- it was totally unpretentious fun and frolic. We all had a wonderful time.
Happy Birthday, Lucia!
My big blog wake up project is already half-baked. Will plan to have a polished idea for you on Monday. In the meantime, here are two photos of the sisters, taken January 2008 and January 2007. Happy Friday!
I'm not at all sure what I meant in the previous post when I promised that I'd soon be "blogging in earnest." It sounds like something a blogger could do, but what?
The New York conference and trip went well. I came home with slinkies (TM) for the girls. They are over their flu and back at preschool today. Marcia is excited about turning 40 next week. Life is good.
However...
I've been experiencing the winter blogging blahs lately and want to DO SOMETHING. I've noticed so many great new blogs linking to mine, and maybe it's because I've been out of town, but I'm even behind in reading my old favorites. (In blog years, 3 is considered old.) I thought it might be fun to throw a blog party or carnival that would bring us all together, perhaps under the colorful umbrella of a topic or question. I'll keep thinking. Let me know if you think you might like to play.
Recent Comments