Day #8--A Rose By Any Other Name

I like roses. Tea hoses, hybrids, floribunda. Spray roses.

Delicate peach roses handed over in an airport.

And then carried in a wedding bouquet.

And now going nuts on a large bush outside of our bedroom window.

I also like roses with more complex color patterns; I've been a fan ever since my mom bought home the "forty-niner" variety when I was young.

I loved my engagement-anniversary roses. Boy, did I ever.

And I love my birthday roses, too:

The colors are getting even better as they open, which is really fun. It's also very fun that store-bought roses are actually opening.

That wasn't my only bouquet this week, though:


Courtesy of Wombles. Yes, these rare varieties only bloom in the part of the kingdom that he's not allowed to enter without escort...but it's difficult to be hard on him when his quest included the flowers. Held out in two little, almost-still-chubby fists. Just as sweet.

Day #7--Something You're Glad You Did This Week

My birthday was last week. Taking the boys on a field trip for school, frittering a lot of time on Thrones, Dominations, and eating a lot of extremely yummy food were not the only unusual things that I did.

After music classes, it was so hot that I got out the kiddie pool. And I let Wombles hold the hose while it was being filled. Glee.


Then, instead of breathing a sigh of relief that the boys had somewhere safe to burn off some energy and running inside to hide in relative coolness, I pulled a chair over to the shade afforded by the playset and sat down to watch.


It was therapeutic and an unlooked-for gift. I cannot believe how restorative it was to be sitting and enjoying my children--and not doing anything else. I remember thinking, I should go in and... but then their infectious laughter (combined with their delight that I was watching them race and do cannonballs into the pool) made me think, No, this is a good thing. I am not wasting my time. Then I thought, I should call someone and catch up if I'm just sitting here.

Nope. I should sit here and enjoy the zany delight of a kiddie pool, two brothers, and their mom on a 100-degree day.

I got a lot of great gifts on my birthday. But I think the best one was the combo gift of an awareness of the incredible richness of my life, and a deep sense of gratefulness for it. And delight in it!

Wombles' face captures it pretty well:

Day #6--What Are You Reading?

I often have several books going at the same time. One fun book, one need-to-read book, etc. Lately, however, I've been running pretty dry. Which is just as well. JUST AS WELL, I SAY, IF NOT BETTER.

And that's because I've gotten VERY LITTLE DONE in the past few days, since I came splashing out of my dry spell.

This is primarily responsible:


(You can't actually click to see inside from here, by the way). It is not Sayers, but it is riveting. It is my fun book. I think it's good to not have fun books very often at this stage of life. I lack the self-control to put them down for long enough, and it'll be something of a relief to finish this one off.

Here's another one I'm in right now:


It's going more slowly, and is primarily a Sunday-afternoon-in-the-sun book. We thought we might use it for a small-group book study, but are going in a different direction instead. I think it's potentially really helpful and exciting.

This one I got for my birthday, and is A-ma-zing:

Have you ever read George Herbert? I had never even heard of him before last Thanksgiving. I printed up "Gratefulness, " one of the poems, and had it printed out. I've since memorized it. Once I got this book in my hands and saw the richness, I was so excited...and will be delving in more after I finish that book at the top. You know, the one "they add special chemicals to it that make you crave it [fortnightly]." This one was a birthday treat. Thank you, Boppy and Grandma!

Which brings me to another birthday treat book. When I was a little girl, I loved reading my mom's copy of Emily Post. What a great way to learn how to set the table, what to do when your neighbor's dog chews up your furniture, and that you should never wear white to a wedding! This year, I got my own new copy twice (it must be horribly bad manners to say so, though).



For the past few years, ever since we saw Cold Comfort Farm, my in-laws have occasionally called me "Emily Post's Child." So this was a perfect gift from them. Pixie gave it to me, too. Yay!

Now, if you haven't seen Cold Comfort Farm, then you probably should. Or, maybe not. It really depends on your sense of humor. But at least you would then get the joke about Emily Post's Child.

Also, you should check this book out of the library and then keep renewing it (or buy it!):


It IS Sayers, and it is delicious.

Happy Sunday!

Day #5--How do you carve your Jack O' Lantern(s)?

I think this is a great question. Everyone has their own traditions! One of ours is that J is in charge of the pumpkins.

This year, it was actually nice and unseasonably cool, so J was inspired to make hot apple cider. With cinnamon sticks.



I think Wombles will insist on this in future years.


First, J lays out the plan:
1. Sketch your pumpkin design.
2. Carve the pumpkin.

With Wombles, J drew different shapes and let him choose which ones he wanted, since Wombles isn't very "into" representational art just yet.

Here's Bud's sketch:



I'd show you Pixie's but she wrote her name on it: "[Pixie's] Pumkin." But I will show you her pumpkin, which had this cool winking eye (a result of her carving it herself). We were a little sad when she decided to change it the next day.
This year we got the special carving tools so that the kids could go it alone a little. This is how Pixie could safely make that winking eye. Bud worked really hard and did a lot of his himself.



We were thrilled when Wombles chose crescent-shaped eyes! Although he's not crescenting in this shot, he does it a LOT. Wombles' pumpkin actually resembled him quite a bit.



Congratulations, Bud! You finished!

Another of our traditions is that we roast the pumpkin seeds. They have now been sitting in our refrigerator for four days. We'll see.

Have any traditions you'd like to share?

Day #4--What is a Water Fairy Princess?

A water fairy princess is a special species of Pixie...obviously.

This is what she looks like before going out to work her magic:



This is what she looks like when she's dressed for serious Pixie-ing business:



And these are what we in our family call "crescent-eyes," and only come out on special occasions:

I think we first identified crescent-eyes about seven years ago. More on those later.

Day #3--Tell about a resentment you've gotten over.

I would have to say the bad rap that the month of November gets. My birthday is in November (today, actually) and all my life it's been the dreary month, charmingly demonstrated by the fact that calendar-makers worldwide put the "ugly" picture on November. It's true. Don't believe me? Go check. It may just be that you never had any reason to pay attention to November!

Ahem.

Exhibit A: The April and May months from next year's calendar.



Exhibit B: November.



Not to slam on Muskoxen, but come on.

I remember reading Little Women for the first time and coming to the chapter that opens with (paraphrase) "November is the very worst month!" I closed my eyes in frustration and rested the book. When I opened my eyes again, I read the next sentence: "That's why I was born in it." Thanks, Jo.

However, living where we do now, November is one of the best months. Perhaps the clearest skies of the year with crisp mornings but lovely and warm (92 today). I finally get to have summer for my birthday, and I'm lovin' it.


So, take THAT, National Wildlife Federation!

**UPDATE: So, apparently I haven't actually gotten over my resentment. Or there would have been no "take that!" to a calendar publisher. At least I'm a bit removed from the temptation?

Day #2--What is a new challenge you've faced recently?

Raise your hand if you know what this is:



This is a stalk of brussel sprouts. J came home from Trader Joe's with them last week; it was $2.99! (Our CSA season has ended). That's a lot of veggie for $3. I don't know whether my challenge was (1) to not think he was crazy for coming home with such a thing, (2) to sound excited about the prospect of that many brussel sprouts, or (3) to remember whether I've ever even had brussel sprouts before.

No matter. They were delicious! And no, I did not (4) have to learn how to cook them. Yet.