Bird and Little Bird

Unusual Treasures.

Things are moving along. Literally. We are loading up about half of our wordly possessions into a truck this afternoon. And then, of course, we will need to get them to another state. And unload them. So there is that. But we have friends to look after the cat, and need to take Mariam to visit a school in Massachusetts on Thursday anyway, so it just made good sense to load up people and puppy and move a few things now. The rest of the move, which I suspect will be the larger undertaking, will be in a couple of weeks. But before that happens, we have to do important things like watching this guy I live with graduate from medical school and what not.

One of the fun things about moving (there are some fun things, right?) is all of the forgotten treasures that you dig up while sorting through stuff and throwing things into boxes. My hands-down favorite in this department at the moment are a set of invoices and cancelled checks that my dad saved from my adoption.  Apparently, it cost about 1,200 dollars to secure the necessary paperwork for the permanent parenting of yours truly.  On some level, I find this so hilarious that I struggle to even put it into words. Like, "such a bargain!" Oh, man. I wonder if my mom still thinks that? Ha!

I also think it is fantastic that my dad saved the actual, physical cancelled checks that he wrote to the adoption agency. Such a strange and relatively awesome family artifact to find myself in posession of. And, with him being an accountant and all, it is also a perfectly appropriate example of his brand of sentimentality.

Which really, is also my kind of sentimentality, I suppose. I don't go much for the really mushy stuff. But, show me a quirky, weird, or otherwise unexpected little nostalgic tidbit you've stashed somewhere, and I am all yours.

Wednesday will be the last day for the big Alphabet Glue May moving sale!  Any and all issues of Alphabet Glue are on sale through Wednesday night. Enter "may25" at checkout for 25% off. There are lots and lots of great book recommendations, printable pages and fun science and craft projects in there; perfect for getting busy with the small folk this summer!

Hello, Big World.

We woke to the grand discovery this morning that our little nest has a trio of chicks inside. We will be mostly leaving them alone now, so as not to upset the bird in charge over there, but I thought that I could sneak one little photo to share.

So here you are: a Northern Cardinal at less than one day old. I am sure that what he or she lacks in traditional beauty is more than made up for in spunk.

Don't forget about the big Alphabet Glue May moving sale!  Any and all issues of Alphabet Glue are on sale until May 15th! Enter "may25" at checkout for 25% off. There are lots and lots of great book recommendations, printable pages and fun science and craft projects in there; perfect for getting busy with the small folk this summer!

 

Yarn Along (Humming the Jaws Theme Song).

I was feeling a bit optimistic earlier this week as I finally worked away at the hem of my Tea Leaves cardigan. Garter stitch is actually my idea of a good time, and I figured that by today, I would have it bound off and would be telling you all about how I was at l0ng last picking up sleeve stitches. But then late last evening, when clearly I should have been sleeping and not knitting, I made an unfortunate discovery: dropped stitches many rows back. And then I made an even more unfortunate discovery: I am good at many things, but picking up stitches in garter is not one of them. Despite my very best attempts to follow internet instructions dutifully, it was not to be. After spending more time trying to pick up those stupid stitches than I probably had spent knitting the rows that came after them, I took a deep sigh and just frogged away. All the way back to the beginning of the garter stitch rows. So there.

 

But honestly, we have had a week of it thus far, so my knitting woes are minor in the scheme of things. It has been the sort of week where by Monday evening I found myself humming the Jaws theme song while brushing my teeth and saying to myself "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..." I only do that when things are a special kind of crazy and I find myself caught off guard by it all.

 

Which is exactly how I felt when we landed in the emergency room Monday morning with the baby in anaphylactic shock after eating a bit of peanut butter. Yep. We are adding foods to our list of forbiddens right and left. Apparently, I am raising children with immune systems that just don't know when to quit. So that is something. But I guess that life is a collection of surprises of all sorts, yes? Peanut allergies are one example, I suppose. But then there are nicer things to come along with them. Like these tulips that showed up on my doorstep yesterday morning, sent from Dawn because she is thoughtful and sweet and rightfully concerned that I am losing my mind.

And that is the kind of surprise that keeps things in balance. This much I know.

Yarning along with Ginny today.

Backyard Discoveries.

After early spring days that seemed like they were never going to bring sunshine, things have finally warmed up here in Vermont. We have been taking advantage of this fact as much as we possibly can, and are spending hours outside each day. Yard to park, park to yard. Repeat. It seems that the rest of the world is doing much of the same, and we have been seeing plenty of signs that our animal neighbors are getting out and about as well. We've been finding feathers and footprints, and then, this last weekend, we found a very different and very special kind of something.

A nest of baby bunnies. The dog was the first to find it actually, and because of this fact, we have had to keep a very close eye on the nest. The dog is now getting his first lessons in what life as an urban animal will be like; he is no longer allowed out in the yard without out human supervision. And, because we don't know if he might have scent marked the area around the nest, the Interwebs advise that we gently check the bunnies each day to make sure that their mother is visiting, and that they are staying warm and "plump."

Mariam is, of course, happy to do a daily bunny check. We have also been marking the nest with an "x" made of twigs, hoping that their movement will make for an obvious sign that mother bunny has been visiting on schedule.

Unfortunately, the wind and other animals around the area (near our bird feeder) have made the marking system an inexact science at best. So, we continue to do a bit of bunny reconnassiance each morning, to ensure that all seems well and that they are continuing to grow and stay warm enough. So far, it does seem that mama must be sneaking in for visits under the cover of semi-darkness, and as long as this is the case, we can leave the bunnies in the nest.

This sort of backyard wildlife experience is exactly what I thought that we would be sadly leaving behind in heading for more urban pastures. And, I was trying my best to be okay with this. But when we were standing in the shady little backyard of the new house last weekend, do you know what I saw out of the corner of my eye? A tiny little cottontail rabbit, hopping along the fence line and out of sight.

And I would call that a happy coincidence if ever there was one.

Scenes From a Friday Morning.

As of yesterday afternoon, Dan is done with medical school. Not officially, of course. There is still graduation and all that good business, which is a couple of weeks away. But in terms of classes and tests and endless hospital shifts, he is done. I think that it will take a few days to wrap my brain around this idea. We can philosophize further at that time.

For now, there are eggs for breakfast. Sunny side up with a couple of slices of buttery gluten-free toast. And, I am drinking coffee out of a quart-sized Mason jar. So there is also that. Good for morale. Half of it is milk. I promise.

Oh, and the laundry pile. Right. I think that might be what inspired the quart jar of coffee in the first place. 

It's just that I keep getting distracted by things like everyone needing new bathing suits, and trying to decide what kind of sandals we should get for the baby now that the weather is warm and he never wants to come inside again. And checking the weather to see if it is going to rain or if we can go fly kites.

And then it occurs to me that this is probably just the motherhood version of spring fever.

Home Here, Home There.

Well. After spending the last many days totally immersed in the soul crushing process known as "urban house hunting" I am happy to report that we are emerging victorious. It was nobody's idea of a good time, but it looks like we have signed a lease on an apartment in the Boston area. You'll note the word "apartment" in that sentence, I suppose, so let's discuss a bit.

We drove down to Massachusetts early Saturday morning, and spent Saturday and Sunday looking at place after place. We looked at an old farmhouse on acreage, we looked at city apartments with funky wood paneling and no yard space to speak of.  We tried very hard to be open minded, which I think we did a reasonable job of, considering. After seeing a particular place in the heart of the downtown area of a little city outside of Cambridge, we decided to go for it. It is indeed an apartment- on the second and third floors of an older house- but it is sparkly and clean and is walking distance from things like the library, the park, and the town pool. It will be a different life than the one that we live on our acre here in Vermont, but we knew that was coming and have at least some sense of adventure. I think.

So, we put our eggs in the proverbial basket, laid down a deposit, and put in an application. And then, of course, we found ourselves totally entrenched in three days worth of ridiculous back and forth negotiations with the property management company, during which we spent a lot of time playing in the local park near the apartment and envisioning what life would be like if we got the place that was so very much better than anything else we saw. In other words, we tortured ourselves a bit. Just for fun.

 

But last night we finally got the word that the place is ours. I'm still holding my breath a bit until our signed copy of the lease comes back this way with the landlord's signature on it as well. I'm an optimist at heart, but goodness, a girl can only take so much. To celebrate the sudden reduction in massive family-wide anxiety, Mariam gathered huge bundles of flowers from the backyard and brought them inside for me to put in empty Mason jars.

Any and all available surfaces in this house will soon be laden with boxes, packing tape, and piles of stuff to sort through. But I think for the next few days, we will go with the jars of flowers instead.

A bit of relative peace and quiet is very well deserved for adults and small people alike around these parts, let me tell you.

What to Say.

I think that this photo is pretty self-explanatory. Although I am certainly willing to field presssing questions should you find that you have them.

But all joking aside, it seems that these last couple of days, I don't have a whole lot that I want to say here. I find myself stunned, and very nearly speechless, after the events in Boston on Monday. There is undoubtedly an extra weight to it all when I think about the fact that we are moving to the area in such a short time. But more than that, there is a deep, deep disappointment and pain at just the whole idea of what has happened. Aren't we, as human beings, a little bit better than this?

And so, I have to remind myself again and again that the answer to this question is so very often a resounding yes. I have been trying to focus on the fact that within hours of the bombing the Red Cross was announcing that they had more blood donation offers than they could possibly need. I have read through the Google documents created by Boston area families who offered up their couches, cars, and dining room tables to stranded strangers in need of a meal, a shower, or even a place to spend the night when they found their hotels were on lockdown. I think of the fundraising efforts that immediately began and spread across the internet; to purchase airfare for families of the injured to get to hospital bedsides, to help pay medical expenses for people in need.

I may not know what to say, or how to even wrap my overly sensitive, wildly compassionate, bruised little heart around this horrible mess. I may not be able to read the news reports because I simply don't have the stomach for it. But here is what I do know: the people offering their living rooms and kitchens to stranded runners, the spectators who ran towards the blast to help injured strangers, the people who appeared on the Boston sidewalks with drinks and blankets for anyone who needed them? Those are the people who prove that our human family, though flawed and imperfect, is also one that is filled with kindness and unexpected love.

And that is what I choose to remember right now.

Because You Are Getting a Lecture.

It somehow feels like we have been doing both everything and nothing around here lately. With all of us having been sick on some kind of terrible rotating schedule of inconvenience and discomfort, things have been a little bit hazy. At this point Z. is the only one still under the weather, and he is on the upswing. So hope renewed and all that good business.

This last weekend, Mariam mentioned Clara Barton in passing during a conversation about something or other. Dan commented that he knew the name, but couldn't quite remember what she had done. The girl was horrified. And indignant. "Everyone on the couch," she said. "Because you all are getting a lecture!"

Moments later the printer was pushing out a full page black and white photo of Clara Barton, and the visual aids for said lecture were in the works. So, even if we have been busy with the running around to various doctor appointments and the time-consuming vociferous complaining about how we are feeling, we haven't been getting any dumber. Thank goodness, for that.

I know that we have discussed Mariam's fondness for declarative signage many, many times in the past. But I kind of can't help myself. The way that she just sits down and scribbles out these things with such a serious sense of purpose, with no regard for conventions, penmanship or spelling? Perhaps another parent would be horrified. But as a former teacher of kids her age, I know only too well how quickly and easily such authentic inspiration can get replaced with concerns about perfection.

In other news, the red paper canoe project from last summer's book along is available as a tutorial on The Crafy Crow. Go check it out!

Sap Season.

After being home sick all week long, Mariam finally made it back to school this morning. On our drive, we talked a little bit about the fact that there isn't all that much time left in Vermont; our move to Massachusetts is moving closer with somewhat astonishing speed. So, we decided, we should be getting out to do all the Vermonty-type things that we like here as much as we possibly can. And I think that we have been doing a pretty good job of this lately. It is maple sugaring season, and before our visitation from the scourge known as strep, we were visiting the sugar house more afternoons than not.

The local sugar house is open to the public pretty much anytime, and they have a set up that makes it really easy for kids to wander up the hill into the trees, empty buckets from tapped trees into little plastic pails as they go.

By all accounts, this has been a banner year for sugaring so far, and even on days when there are mini-mobs of small people emptying buckets at the sugar house, there is still more sap running than they can keep up with. The trick, this year, seems to be making sure that the kids don't get so much sap in their little pails that they become too heavy to haul back down the muddy hill (thus requiring grown-up rescue- not so easy with a baby on my back).

The folks inside the sugar house are remarkably tolerant of the little people that arrive in droves each afternoon, and often hand out samples of finished syrup as a reward for all of the hill climbing and bucket hauling. On the windier afternoons, the steamy interior of the sugar house has also proved a nice place to stop in and let the baby warm up a bit. Since he isn't climbing hills along with his big sister. Yet.

 

Oh, and there is also a different type of activity going on at the farm these days. Now I remember why I like spring so very much.

Yarn Along (On the Swift).

Knitting progress has been, admittedly, pretty slow these last couple of weeks. The body of my Tea Leaves cardigan remains unfinished for any number of reasons. The finishing of the newest issue of Alphabet Glue, for example. Or, the strep throat thing. There's that. But honestly, I've mostly been slowed down by the need to wind a new ball of yarn to finish the body with. For those of you who are perhaps unaware as to why this would be an issue, you can catch up with this post.



But this morning, as the baby played in a basket of blocks, I decided to get out the swift and just get on with it already. Of course, the block thing was short lived, and before long, I found myself needing an additional distraction to keep Z. busy while I wound the ball of yarn. I plopped him on the kitchen floor with the following items:

1 saucepan and and accompanying lid

1/2 cup water (I know, terrible idea)

1 dishtowel

1 wooden spoon

3 dinosaur magnets

1 coffee scoop

1 large paintbrush

None of these items were used as I had intended, but they did buy me about four minutes of yarn winding peace.

 

Of course, in the end, it was necessary to settle on the above activity. Right.

Also, I suspect that over time, as Z. gets more active, this blog might just become a collection of blurry action shots of my children, who apparently never stop moving.

 

Yarning along with Ginny today. Oh, and don't forget to take a peek at yesterday's post to enter the book bundle giveaway and to find out about the newest installment of Glue.

Good luck out there.