not dead, just busy

A brief recounting:

- Working online, which is pretty much OK, except when there's no work when I want to work, when it's frustrating. The way it works is, I log in and "acquire a task." Sometimes there are no tasks to acquire. Sometimes after I've been logged in for a few minutes, tasks will start popping up, but it's pretty random. I'll have stretches where I can work for 3 or 4 hours (rare, for me), and then others when I work for 5 minutes and there are no more tasks forthcoming. Fortunately I am not dependent on this income for anything other than covering the kids' piano lessons, otherwise it would be stressful.

- Speaking of piano lessons, did I mention the barter arrangement I made with their teacher? We're trading cooking lessons for (part of) the piano lessons with some success. She would like to quit eating out pretty much all the time, but that's a huge transition to make. We're working on her cooking repertoire. I think she thinks that's an indulgent way to talk about it, but there it is: you have a repertoire of meals you rely on to get you through the days or weeks when you're lacking time, money, inspiration, or all three. So far she has liked what she has made, and that's good.

- Schoolwork -- finally knocked out the lesson plans and got good feedback on them, and attended my second seminar. Officially I have only 3 more assignments total and then I will be done with these two classes, and we'll see when I register for the next class or classes, because --

- I interviewed for a job on Monday. Last week I got a call, "Would you like to interview for the paraprofessional position?" I had to ask, "Which one?" because I had applied to so many different schools in different districts. It's not in the kids' school district but the calendar differences are manageable, so I said yes. The interview went really well, I think, and I think I would like the job -- Title I Paraprofessional, basically a floating instructional aide. I think. I should hear back on Friday. It's 6 hours per day so life would be much busier than it is now, but I think it would be really good for me to be working in a school again. I'm always so happy when I am teaching.

- I wrote a book last weekend, posted separately, for my RE (religious education) class, which started a couple of weeks ago. I'm teaching the same content as last year, and I'm sure we (me and the kids) will benefit from my having done it before. It's a smaller class and that helps, too.

- My own cooking, cleaning, shopping, working out; driving children everywhere; supervising kids' homework, reading, chores, piano & clarinet practice; wondering why the burners on the stove wouldn't light after I cleaned it (mismatched burner covers), cleaning up a quart of maple syrup that got all over the floor when the bottle was dropped and cracked... You know, that sort of thing. Oh, and laundry. Laundry is an afterthought now. I'm doing three loads a week instead of 5 or 6, and the drier is fast. I love those new machines. It is true that the clothes are a bit more wrinkled than with the old machines if I put the drier on "high heat" setting, but I really don't need to do that. The clothes look great. The whites really are whiter. Yes, I sound like an ad. I don't care.

- Watching, when I can, Top Chef, Project Runway, House, and Glee, and I almost forgot The Office. DH and I also are renting season one of Breaking Bad which is incredible. We're five episodes in and I'm thoroughly engrossed. The main character is such an odd dichotomy of normal good guy and amoral snake, but a terminal cancer diagnosis can have an odd effect on a person.

- Today, just to make things interesting, I went to school with DS1 for "shadow a student" day. There's nothing like being back in junior high. It was only a half day, thank God, and it went very quickly, but I can see why he chafes so about this new school. It is just not academically challenging at all. DH & I had thought this would be OK since he had so many other adjustments to make, but I'm wondering what the overall impact will be.

So you see nothing earth shattering, just a lot of things going on, the business of life. It's good.

"Even in an Eden such as this, wrongs do occur"

The quote is not applicable to anything happening in my life -- I was watching Deadwood on DirecTV's 101 Channel this evening, and the quote leaped out at me. What a great show, once your ear gets tuned to ignore the profanity.

In my life, the most recent "wrong" was the death of the 14-year-old dryer, long anticipated. DH and I spent a good deal of time this week discussing the options and figuring out what we wanted, and I ran around to all sorts of stores to see what was to be had. We bought Sears' HE3t washer & dryer, which was on sale for a ridiculously low price for the pair ($1378). We debated a Maytag 5000 Series pair for a moment or two, but decided the upcharge for the steam feature was too much for something that was basically a boondoggle (at least according to Consumer Reports.)

The new machines were installed this morning and I did what would have been 5 loads of laundry (having had no machines all week) in somewhere between 4 and 5 hours. I'm impressed. Next up, no doubt: the equally ancient refrigerator, and the move to HDTV. What's the typical lifetime of a gas range, or a microwave? I really like them and would rather not replace them any time soon -- the others, I know their time is coming.

In other news: I have a job! It's a work-at-home, search engine evaluator contractor gig. We'll see how it goes. The test was fun and easy for me. SEE's are expected to evaluate URLs at a rate of 2 minutes per, and most took much less than that for me. But that was in the test environment, and I haven't started the real work yet as I have to update the virus protection software on my laptop before I begin.

In other, other news, the kids are all doing great at school, karate started this weekend, and RE classes start tomorrow. I therefore have something scheduled for every day this week, so it will fly by.

And that may be the most significant wrong occurring in this Eden, after all: that great rush always sweeping forward, leaving scant opportunity to fathom the accumulation of events that is Life while it's happening.

that stings a bit

I had my audition for Kaplan last night, and just got my rejection via email.

Yesterday I settled on the topic, "How to Look for a Job," and practiced several times during the day, making sure I could cover the material in 5 minutes.

I arrived at Kaplan and was directed to a small classroom where there were 5 or 6 guys seated conspicuously at the back of the room. I was immediately sensitive to being the only woman there, not to mention being old enough to be mother to all but one of them. I made a teasing comment about them all sitting in the back and they laughed nervously. I put my things in the second row (the first row was too close to the board) and noticed the white board markers in the tray.

I have enough classroom experience to know that it's frustrating to grab a marker only to find that it doesn't write, so I took the opportunity to try them out and see which ones actually worked. I think the guys appreciated it.

The Kaplan guy came in and gave his spiel: the courses are very scripted, they only take the top, your timing has to be spot on. Nothing surprising there if you know anything about how these test prep places work.

Then he asked for a volunteer to go first and everyone froze, so I took a deep breath and went for it. I paced myself well although I may have been a little rushed, and my handwriting on the board was lousy -- I am out of practice and the board was higher than the ones I am used to, she said, making a couple of lame excuses. I finished within my five minutes, but I failed to include any interaction with the "class," which may be why they rejected me. Five minutes is a short time, and given my topic, I had a complete failure of imagination on how to integrate feedback and still include everything I wanted to say. Clearly I should have cut some material to give myself time for interaction, but as I said -- failure of imagination.

The guys did their presentations, at least one of them didn't finish in time. Here are their audition topics:

- How to do the Time Warp from Rocky Horror

- How to Clean Your Pool - now I know that you have to plug, vacuum, and then backwash for best results

- How to Survive a Zombie Attack

- How to Pick a Lock (we voted for that over "How to Build a Nuclear Bomb")

- How to Calculate the Odds of Winning Powerball

I won't comment on their auditions except to say that I liked the Powerball one the best.

I will say that from the moment that the Kaplan rep walked into the room I got the impression that he thought none of us were good enough. There was a definite "we are the best and you should be grateful we're giving you this chance to even be considered" vibe there -- it reminded me a lot of how some people were about MIT. There were many, many nice people at MIT when I was there, but there were also some arrogant idiots, and this guy had that demeanor. There's a way to talk about a position that requires very specific qualifications without implying that if you don't have those qualifications you're somehow a lesser individual, and this guy did not practice it.

I think it would have been great to get some class time with high school kids, and the money is not bad considering everything else out there (which is not much, at this point.) However, the hours would be all weekends and evenings, and frankly I would much prefer to spend those particular hours with my family. Maybe my ambivalence manifested as insufficient enthusiasm; even as I was driving to Tempe I was thinking, "Why am I even bothering with this?"

Even so, it's never fun getting rejected. My ego is slightly bruised, but I'll get over it.

a minor obsession

I'm spending far more time looking for a job than I am doing anything else, including all the stuff around the house that needs doing. I think I need to get a job simply to get myself off this hamster wheel.

On that positive note, I've decided what to do for my "how to" presentation: how to look for a job online! Hey, I can boil it down to 5 minutes and just hit the high points.

We appear to have stopped hemorrhaging money, so that's good, but we don't have a handle on what our new baseline monthly expenses are, either. DH is not in the least bit concerned (at least he does not appear to be) and so I suppose I should not be, either.

Tomorrow: my own school work first, then putting together and practicing my Kaplan audition for delivery in the evening. Should be fun, although the idea of taking an SAT-like qualifying test does not fill me with joy. We'll see how it goes.

crushed anyway

Turns out I wasn't passed over for that "ideal" job -- I had an interview today that went spectacularly well. There were four of them and they tag-teamed their questions, but it was completely stress-free. This was stuff I knew inside and out, and I didn't even feel nervous.

There are two problems: the distance, and the pay. It's at least a 30-minute drive away. I drive a 2000 Honda Odyssey, which gets decent gas mileage (20 mpg, usually) for a minivan, but putting 225 miles on that car every week is not a good idea.

The pay is the typical pittance, but even that wouldn't be so bad if the shifts were longer than three hours. So I'd be driving for an hour (round trip) to work for three, and using nearly an entire extra tank of gas every week, not to mention wear and tear on the old (and I do mean old) van. After taxes, it might work out to be a wash, or a very small net positive.

When I discussed all this with DH, he was perfect; he said he didn't think it was worth it, but he wasn't (he said) factoring in what a great job it would be and a terrific place to work and all that. So he didn't scoff, but he did point out that the cash flow situation wouldn't be helped much if at all by this particular job. I could tell he would worry about me doing all that highway driving in the old van every day, too.

The whole point of me getting job is, of course, to help out with the cash flow, what with three kids taking piano lessons, two new cell phones just added to our plan, and our health insurance premiums going up by another $150+ a month.

I saw yet another job a couple of days ago and discussed it with DH, and after supper I sent in my application online. We'll see if anything comes of it. I think that's the worst part of the whole job search process; you throw your resume out there, and all you can do is wait and see if you get a response. I'm not a patient person.

whoops

I saw my endocrinologist today, and was looking forward to getting my numbers -- the blood test results that would tell me if my cancer was acting up or, possibly, had finally gone away.

The lab screwed up and did not send it out to USC to Carole Spencer's lab as they were supposed to, so I don't know.

I'll go back into my endo's office if a few weeks and they'll do another draw and this time, they'll send it to USC and I'll find out.

This isn't that big of an issue, really, except I inevitably work myself into kind of a state whenever I'm going to get lab results on my tumor marker. It doesn't matter that nothing has been going on for nearly four years now, I still worry. Maybe after a few more years (and if the tumor marker ever becomes undetectable) I'll relax about it. But today's worry was wasted, and I don't even get to feel relieved now.

I rallied and did some schoolwork when I got home, but it was a tedious and unsettled day anyway. Here's to tomorrow, a day in which no medical issues need be considered.

another week, another Brontë

Heathcliff, tormented
If you're feeling flush, you can buy a copy with the original Eichenberg engravings for a measly $1,895.

Wuthering Heights, finished today. Grim and tumultuous, and affecting.
(Sorry, reading seven or eight hundred pages of Brontë has influenced my thinking, and my writing.)

In the meantime, looking for a job. I stopped at a school this week to put in an application, and it turned into an interview on the spot: I had what they needed, namely, the DPS fingerprint card and the county food service workers' card. Unfortunately, it was far too many hours (we won't even talk about the meager -- but market-standard -- pay); I can't manage full-time hours with the kids' school schedule, my volunteer commitments, and my own school.

Yes, I'm back in, too. I've registered for the first two classes of the next level of my program; they're both one credit and won't be difficult. I just have to do the work.

I've applied for a couple of other part-time jobs, too, either of which would be ideal, but one particularly. That's all I'll say about that so as not to be too crushed if I am passed over. Any job I apply for these days will likely have hundreds of other applicants; there's only so far a well-written cover letter and a reasonably applicable resume will get you. I'm simultaneously over- and under-qualified for nearly everything out there, except substitute teaching, and that I can't do since I must retrieve my own children from their schools promptly at the end of each day.

Our kids' school and my work situation the past few years was ideal, and I knew it then, just as I knew it over the course of the summer as we decided to leave the old school. I wouldn't do anything differently, but I'm still sorry we had to.

surviving

Made it through the first week of school, with piano lessons and work-outs at the Y, plus a support group meeting on Thursday.

I also finished Jane Eyre, slept from 8:30am to 1pm one day, and fretted about the curriculums at the kids' new schools.

I was notified today that I won't get an interview at the junior high, and so am coming to terms with applying to substitute in the various school systems, although there is an infinitesimal but non-zero chance I could get an interview at the elementary school.

Is it so bad that I prefer to do what would be easier?

busy day

It was the first day of school. This required getting the kids up much earlier than ever -- 6:30AM! -- making breakfasts and lunches and getting them out the door. It all went rather well, but I'm not making any assumptions about the future based on this, the first day.

I made them all get out of the car so I could take this picture. They were rather good-natured about it. They indulge me.

While they were at school I went to a late-morning show of Julie & Julia, which I enjoyed but at the same time, I understand Julia Child's attitude towards Julie Powell: she is not a serious cook, and she's not a particularly likable person, either. La Streep was superb and really made the movie, although I did envy the film's food stylist his job -- what a blast it must have been to cook all that stuff!

The rest of the day? School paperwork, cooking (stir fry, mmmmm), piano lessons, and the intriguing prospect of giving cooking lessons(!).

I'm waiting rather impatiently to hear if I will be called for an interview at either school to which I've applied, but realistically I don't hold out much hope; I've been scanning the online job ads for part-time positions, considering what I'm qualified for and what I could actually do during "mother's hours" that's not school-related, and I keep coming back to the sticking point: why would I?

I sent off an application to Kaplan, they're looking for test-prep teachers, and I have some idea what would be involved there, but that's often a weekend commitment. We'll see.

one more day

It's officially the last day of summer vacation: the weekend doesn't count.

We've spent this week lounging, mostly -- other than the baking and birthday activities I've already described, we haven't really done much of anything --

Except school visits to meet teachers, and returning to piano lessons.

After a lovely three years with all three children in the same school, we're back again to two schools, with DS1 in junior high and DD and DS2 at elementary. Both schools are physically enormous compared to their old school, but with the larger size comes more resources and opportunities. I can honestly say I did not get a bad vibe from a single one of the kids' teachers, although there was a PE coach at the jr. high that seemed very tough -- but he's not DS1's teacher this year.

As for me, substitute teaching jobs this year are expected to be in short supply, since many teachers were RIF'ed at the end of the school year in June due to state budget cuts. I made up a new resume and put in applications for paraprofessional positions at the kids' schools. I highlighted all the tests I've passed and the certifications I have, but still I think it will take some luck to get an interview. We shall see. I really just want a part-time job to cover the expense of the aforementioned piano lessons, and perhaps financing an upgrade to HDTV.

46

I had a wonderful birthday.

The house is quiet now, finally -- inspiring me to goof around with the camera for a birthday self-portrait:
Not much different from last year.
(From this angle, you can't see all my new gray hairs.)

I spent a good part of the day cooking, although I did manage to get us all out to the Y for our circuit class.

Before lunch, I made the lady fingers and brewed the espresso for the tiramisu. I couldn't find my notes from the last time I made it, so I winged it... again.
Somehow, these ingredients combine to produce...

... these lady fingers. Since they're going straight into the tiramisu, I form them with a spoon. It's quick and easy.

The espresso smelled divine, but we resisted the urge to drink it.
My Krups Il Primo, older than my children, still working perfectly.

We had lunch at Rubio's, since they emailed me a free lunch coupon for my birthday. How could I resist a free mahi-mahi burrito? DH joined us and we had a great time.

After lunch (and a few errands), I put together the filling (more separating and beating eggs: the first stage is to make a zabiglione), into which you fold the marscapone. Then you whip the egg whites separately and fold them into the marscapone mixture.

Once that was done (and fussing with the double boiler is such a pain!), assembly was a snap.
Trader Joe's Bittersweet Belgian Chocolate, grated with a small cheese grater, was the perfect accent.

For dinner, we had some quick-sauteed shrimp and then pasta puttanesca. Well, DH and I had the puttanesca; the kids had their usual Ragu.

A fine mess -- the prep for the puttanesca: olives, capers, anchovies, tomatoes; recipe from The New Basics Cookbook.


DD arranged the candles.
Yes, it says "4" in pink and "6" in green.

There wasn't much left.

Calls and messages from family and friends really made the day. If all birthdays could be like this -- I did what I wanted to do! -- no one would ever mind having one.

weekend baking q&a

DD, restless, has taken to leafing through The Fannie Farmer Baking Book looking for inspiration. Since we got home from our vacation she returned again and again to the Classic Angel Food Cake with White Mountain Icing "basic master recipe."

Last weekend, I finally yielded.

Q: Is it possible to bake an angel food cake in a bundt pan?
A: Yes. Don't grease the pan.

The cake rose above the top of the pan, but it did not cook over

Q: But how do you hang it?
A: If you can't find a bottle with a narrow enough neck, perch it on a juice glass.
We left the cake to cool overnight.

Q: How do you get it out?
A: With patience, gently working the cake free of the surface of the pan around the edges, and then along the bottom. It doesn't do to grease the pan to make it easier to come out, because the foamy cake needs to grip the sides of the pan to rise.
Yeah, one side did get a little squished.

Q: What do you frost it with?
A: White Mountain icing: sugar syrup brought to the soft-ball stage, beaten into whipped egg whites. Marshmallow fluff, but not as sticky or as sweet -- as delicious as it looks.

If you overheat the sugar, the icing will be rather sticky, as we discovered. No matter, it's still delightful.

Q: How many egg whites total did you say?
A: A dozen and a half. (DD did most of the separating, but making this cake was her idea.)

Q: Do you need any special equipment?
A: Yes. You really should use a tube pan with a removable bottom if you plan to do this often -- the bundt pan was more proof of concept than anything. And you need a candy thermometer to bring the sugar to the correct temperature for the icing. Other than that, the only gadget needed is an electric mixer.

Q: Well?
A: Totally worth the effort. The cake is light and moist, the icing light, smooth, and not too sweet. Miles better than store-bought angel food.

Q: Was it a good learning experience?
A: DD wanted to do it herself, but she has never made anything more complicated than cookies before. Cakes are not necessarily difficult but there are more steps, and the steps are more fussy, what with the sifted dry ingredients, the beaten egg whites, the folding, etc. I don't think she minded being the sous-chef this time, once she saw what was involved. (I don't think 10-year-olds should be drizzling 240-degree sugar syrup into beaten egg whites while simultaneously running an electric mixer, regardless of her wishes.)

always this way --

We come home from vacation and I feel odd for a while, usually until the kids start back at school. We're in a holding pattern, and nothing seems quite real. Sure, there's laundry and grocery shopping and cooking and cleaning, not to mention occupying the offspring somewhat productively from time to time, but none of it feels real.

Silly.

One thing, this year: much more true vacation time at home. Usually we get back and it's a big rush to the first day of school, but this year we've plenty of time. We had a two-day Monopoly game that must have spanned 6 hours at least, with DD emerging victorious in spite of the fact that DS2 owned three-quarters of the board. She just never landed on him. Remarkable.

In other news, I saw my spine doc today and reported to him that my neuro symptoms (numbness, tingling, hot ears) had gone away completely. Of course my ear has been acting up all evening, but I'm pretty sure that's because of my bad posture and failure to be as consistent with my exercises, not to mention not having taken any ibuprofen today. The doctor says my sore neck is due to muscle weakness and it should improve over time with careful exercise. Here's hoping. I don't have to go back unless things take a drastic turn for the worse; I was very happy to hear I don't have to go for another MRI to make sure things are OK.

I don't go back to my endo until the end of August but I've already sent out my bloodwork. I'm dreading getting back into the annual test regime, on top of everything else that's going on with the kids' new schools. With any luck by then we will have established a routine. I'm looking forward to those days. I find these structureless days oddly wearying, or maybe it's just the 110+ degree weather we're having.

catching up

Thank God I took pictures most days, otherwise I wouldn't remember what we did.

Sunday, we went to the New England Air Museum, which is enormous and requires multiple visits to really appreciate. The history of aviation amazes me, people willing to throw themselves up into the atmosphere in the flimsiest contraptions. The vast majority of the collection is war-related. It's frankly overwhelming, but I loved catching details like this:



Not all of the collection is planes,though. I loved this hood ornament.

1935 Ford Roadster

Monday we went to the Peabody Museum at Yale, which is such a manageable little museum. I took almost this exact photo of the kids last year. Excuse the cliche, but it's amazing to see how much bigger they are this year.



Wednesday we saw Michael Cavanaugh's "Billy Joel and More" show at the Talcott Mountain Music Festival. It was awesome. The kids really got into it.

Much dancing and lip-syncing

DH's brother and his family came in from Ohio Thursday, and we had a huge family dinner at Maine Fish Market Restaurant. Friday was family portrait day, which was much less painful than anyone expected. It was lovely spending time with the family. The girls had some fun hair-styling:

College-bound (and extremely patient) cousin J returns the favor

Saturday, we packed up and flew home. We had a long layover in the Saint Paul/Minneapolis Airport. When the kids started bickering, I made them read. I'm evil like that.

"How did you do that?" A guy across from them asked. A mom knows what levers to apply, when.

In the days we've been home, we've unpacked, done laundry, shopped for food and school supplies, and otherwise generally vegged. School doesn't start until August 10, but there will be a separate post about all that.

here in CT

Computer access is limited, and I have no way to upload photos, yet. I should work on this for next year. For now, I'm making do with random access to my in-laws PC.

It's Friday evening now, and the past days have been very busy.

Tree Climbing 101
Sunday, we hiked Beebe Woods out to the Punch Bowl. We didn't see any frogs but we did see a bird in its nest, and had a nice lunch at the 99 Restaurant.

Main Street, Woods Hole

Monday, our last real day on the Cape, was sunny but too cool to swim, I thought. We went to Woods Hole and had to deal with the parking situation (always difficult). We went to the WHOI Museum and had lunch, and pie, at Pie in the Sky, the scene of last year's infamous melt-down (mine, not one of the kids). Lunch was great, and the pies -- chocolate mousse and apple -- were fantastic. On the way back we stopped at Good Will Park because DD wanted to go on the swings.

Goodwill Park
It was quite warm by that time so I demanded that we have a quick swim before dinner, which took some doing -- once we got back to Mom's, the kids had to be pried out again. We headed for one last swim and the water wasn't even (that) cold. Monday evening my older sister came down to see us before we took off, and the two of us were up past 1AM... typical.

Tuesday was spent packing up, doing laundry, and cleaning Mom's house before we finally got out about 4:30PM, heading for CT in a huge thunderstorm. The rain was kind, though, letting up when we stopped to eat, and again when we arrived and were unpacking the car.

Wednesday morning DH arrived about 10AM, having flown in on the red eye, and I picked him up at the airport. He was surprisingly energetic for someone who had been up all night, so we ended up climbing Talcott Mountain in the cool sunshine.
At the base of the Heublein Tower

We failed to get new bug repellent for the hike, but the mosquitoes did not eat us alive. It was a great day for a hike, but clouds rolled in overnight and it poured later.

The view from the porch at the Mermaid Inn

Thursday morning DH and I headed to Mystic, for our annual overnight at the charming b&b, the Mermaid Inn of Mystic. We stopped for tastings (and gelato) at Heritage Trail Vineyard and then at Johnathon Edwards Winery. We had our usual incredible dinner at the S&P Oyster Company, discussing once again why we always go there when there are so many other restaurants around... but the S&P is reliably good and the views are unparalleled. After dinner we had coffee & dessert at the b&b, the fresh-baked cookies are divine.

This morning after our delectable 4-course breakfast we strolled through Mystic and enjoyed the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts 98th Annual Juried Exhibition at the Mystic Arts Center. Then we headed out, picking up some fudge at Mystic Seaport's bake shop, before stopping at Maugle Sierra Vineyard for another tasting.

The Grounds at Maugle Sierra

This evening we took the kids to hear ABBAMania, a Hartford Symphony Orchestra summer pops concert out in Simsbury. The performers were terrific. It was fun, although the kids are a little too old to be uninhibited about dancing and enjoying themselves. They were thoroughly exhausted by the time we got them all into bed around 11PM.

And now here I am trying to remember all these details, hoping to be able to upload photos eventually.

Photos added 7/23.

it's (mostly) all a blur

Wednesday the weather was lousy again, and I thought we'd go up to Boston, but nobody was up for it. At 11:30AM it was as dark as 8PM, and the rain poured down. It's just as well we stayed home. We did go out for Chinese food for lunch, though, to my Mom's favorite buffet, so it's not as if we didn't do anything all day.

Thursday was another one of those days that starts dreary and ends up surprisingly OK. Unfortunately, by the time the weather broke it was about 3 in the afternoon, and the kids didn't want to do anything. I chased them out of the house for a walk on their own, and they delighted in exploring the path to the marsh. I haven't let them go down there on their own before, and they were surprised by the freedom, I think. They're growing up, and I have to learn to let them go.

For me, Thursday was a cooking day -- blueberry cake and pizza. Normally pizza would be for Friday, but since Friday was the day off for the July 4 holiday, we pushed it back to Thursday. Since I was cooking in the late afternoon, it limited what I could do with the kids, which was another reason I pushed them to go out on their own.

The annual blueberry cake

Friday? One of those beautiful days where it's much too cool to swim, but you really should be outside. Still, no one wanted to go to Beebe Woods or any other kind of hike; my brother and his wife brought down their Wii Fit game and the kids enjoyed getting back into it. (Our disc at home has been missing for some time now.) I swept up a bit outside, but nothing to strenuous. I sat and chatted with my sister-in-law in the backyard while my brother power-washed the patio and the outdoor furniture.

In the evening, my oldest brother came down with his wife and youngest son, who will be a senior in high school this year and is way, way taller than I am. We had a great dinner and sang an early Happy Birthday to my brother. Here's how you do a birthday cake when you have neither cake nor frosting:

A pan of brownies, a few candles, and birthday greetings from a color printer

Today, finally, was a beach day! It was a bit cool, only in the 70s, and that proved to be too cold to counteract the wind that was whipping. I draw the line at blowing sand, and we were almost there -- if no one was walking nearby, you'd be OK, but any movement at all and you'd be attacked by hundreds of sand pellets. The waves were awesome, though, and we all enjoyed jumping in them. The two younger kids got chilled quickly, and we ended up coming home after only a couple of hours because it just wasn't warm enough to stay, at least for me and the younger kids. DS1 could have stayed for hours, he was having so much fun.

My brother and his wife treated us to a lobster feast for dinner, and then we played Apples to Apples and hung out and I finally got the kids to bed after 10. All in all, a Happy 4th of July.

A whole lotta lobsters

how I spent my morning

Sprucing up the flower beds I replanted last year -- raking out the leaves and dealing with the volunteers.

I think I tweaked my neck, though. Ow. And it was feeling so much better, too.

finally!

The forecast was for scattered thunderstorms, highs in the low 70s.

The reality was a clear blue sky and 75 degrees by 10AM.

A beach day!

On the plus side: blue sky, warm temps

On the minus side: no waves, freezing water. It hasn't been sunny enough for it to warm up much at all.

Solution? Dig a hole.

DD's project, brothers helping out

The boys quickly got bored.

For once, peace between them

DD did not, and achieved her goal of digging down to the water she knew she would hit eventually.

Success!

I filled it in before we left.

wild things

We woke late to a light, steady rain. Nobody felt like hustling to do anything; breakfast was late, and lunch was, too. But just before 2PM the clouds parted and we saw blue sky. With the temperature hovering in that sweet spot between too cold and too warm, we headed south to the Zooquarium.

We've been going there for ages, and the kids are really too old for it now, but still, DD wanted to go. The boys did not mind. I reminded her several times that we might not get to see the hedgehog, and indeed, when we arrived, we saw that the African wildlife show had been at 10 this morning.

Fortunately for us, one of the workers there has her own very friendly hedgehog, and she brought her out for us to see. We had an extended semi-private hedgehog visit, and she was very sweet and so comfortable around people that Beth, her keeper, told us that Malaika simply won't roll up into a ball or do that adorable little sneeze-bark, she's just too friendly.

Malaika, a small, prickly angel

After our hedgehog visit, we went through the aquarium and the zoo proper. In the cool weather, all the animals were up and about, even one of the raccoons, and they are always sleeping. We saw the live animal demonstration of the great horned owl, and learned interesting things like their feathers are shaped so they can swoop down silently on their prey, and they can lift three times their weight. I was surprised to hear that Maestro, fully grown and about 8 years old, only weighs about 4 pounds. He looks a lot bigger than that, but I have to remember it's mostly feathers.

Maestro, the great horned owl

Off-exhibit, we saw several wild rabbits venturing under the fence to nibble on the greens along the zoo paths. I'm sure they feel very safe there. This baby rabbit is hands down the cutest wild thing I've ever seen.

Fearless baby bunny, enjoying clover

As for these three, they enjoyed themselves, yes, and got completely silly on the train. When they were younger, they could play on it without irony, but today they were just being goofy.

Exuberance

A little bit wild sometimes, yes, but wonderful.

back to the garden

Friday was "new tv day". Mom's television died early last week and my best efforts to find the magic "screen" control were to no avail, so Friday was spent getting the new set. After a ridiculous amount of waiting around, we abandoned the local Wal-Mart (really the only option in Falmouth proper) for the Best Buy down in Hyannis, where I ended up getting a 42-inch Panasonic, based on two main criteria: it was a decent price for the feature set (1080p, 3 HDMI inputs, etc), and it fit in the car. (The price has gone up since we bought it! Weird.)

Friday evening, my brother set it up, and Saturday morning, we got the old behemoth into the car and took it down to what used to be the dump but is now called something like the Waste Management Facility. Even with a bigger screen, the living room seems bigger because the new tv is so much less massive. The picture is gorgeous, too.

The rest of Saturday was odd, the kids weren't in the mood to do anything, and we alternated clouds and sun all day. The temperature barely hit 70. By two o'clock I'd had it with the perpetual video games, and forced them all out to the beach. The two younger ones swam, DS1 could not have been less interested, and only went out because I made him. It pains me to see him turning into a disaffected teen already. At least the younger ones had fun.

Making castles with "silly sand"

Sunday morning I had fun photoshopping the new tv onto the fireplace. (I just used the old Paint application.) My father, God rest his soul, always said that someday he'd get a tv to hang on the fireplace, well before flat screens ever existed. My mother has always detested the idea, so this is the closest we'll ever come to liberating the living room from the encumbrances of the television stand:

Quick-and-Dirty Photoshop puts "Wheel of Fortune" on the TV, and the TV on the fireplace.

Sunday afternoon my sister and her younger grandson visited, and we went back to Spohr Gardens. It was a good day for the gardens, cool with occasional sun breaking through the clouds. The kids didn't mind too much being chased out of the house again:

And they're off!

Perhaps some day I will look back on these 60-degree days wistfully, as I melt in Arizona's 100-degree-plus weather. Today is not one of those days.

Inviting, isn't it?