SouleMama

Week of Spring :: Friday

It's nearly planting time!

Week of Spring :: Thursday

Meals outside are surely one of my favorite things about Spring. And the kids, too, are in love with taking a break from the work and play of outdoors for some snacks. (The rule of 'no feet on the table' apparently need not apply.)

Week of Spring :: Wednesday

Art in the spring sun. I'm not sure that it gets much better than painting outside in the warm sun in your pajamas. Maybe we should all try that.

Week of Spring :: Tuesday

A sure sign of spring : baseball! We've just entered the world of Little League...

Week of Spring :: Monday

Well, that wasn't what I was expecting - I guess I forgot to consult the weather before I made all those grand plans for planting. There was none of that, only a lot of spring rain and spring fevers (literally). Instead though, it was a nice (minus the fevers), cozy, lazy, rainy spring weekend spent inside watching the outside turn green before our eyes.

A weekend full of scouring for the last bits of the year's wood supply, and then huddling by the wood stove; lots of reading, play dough, and knitting; a lot of Leonard Cohen (I can't help myself when it rains, thankfully my loves oblige); and day-long grazing on WHO Bread, tea, and rice pudding. Ah...a wonderful and momentary pause before the busy work of spring. On Sunday night, I was reminded of this beautiful poem by Mary Oliver. And on Monday morning, we saw what the rain had done. Oh, Spring. Imagine the long and wondrous journeys still to be ours.

Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me

Last night
the rain
spoke to me
slowly, saying,

what joy
to come falling
out of the brisk cloud,
to be happy again

in a new way
on the earth!
That's what it said
as it dropped,

smelling of iron,
and vanished
like a dream of the ocean
into the branches

and the grass below.
Then it was over.
The sky cleared.
I was standing

under a tree.
The tree was a tree
with happy leaves,
and I was myself,

and there were stars in the sky
that were also themselves
at the moment
at which moment

my right hand
was holding my left hand
which was holding the tree
which was filled with stars

and the soft rain -
imagine! imagine!
the long and wondrous journeys
still to be ours.

-Mary Oliver, from What Do We Know

week's end

{her outside "work"}

Well, my goodness, y'all do love a giveaway, don't you? There was just one winner yesterday (announced at the end of yesterday's post), but I have a few more giveaways planned in coming weeks. And of course, do check out that book - purchased, or from your library, or maybe just the podcasts (such great listening -food!). Good stuff in there, I tell you.

I get a lot of questions about CSA's, especially yesterday. Check out this site for finding farmers markets and CSA's near you. I know in many areas, the demand for local and organic produce is higher than the availability. I know it can be discouraging to find a CSA you're excited about, only to find out they're at capacity. But keep at it, get on a waiting list, visit your farmer's market instead, talk to people about sharing in their family garden's work and bounty, and perhaps - do some planting on your own.

I was recently at a talk about local food, and our friend Farmer John (I  can't help it - that's what my kids call him) said something so simple and beautiful that has stayed with me ever since. He said, "Never let a season go by without planting something." Such simple advice, isn't it? And yet, it's so easy to get bogged down by the logistics of gardening, space and growing and time and "black thumbs" and all of that. But plant something - sprout some seeds in a paper towel, grow basil in a pot in your kitchen, toss some carrot seeds in the ground and see what happens. Never let a season go by without the opportunity to get a little bit closer to your food, and have reason to dig your hands into the Earth.

On that note, we are hoping to do some planting next week. I took last summer off from vegetable gardening (that whole book-writing thing), and we're eager to get back at it this year. There is so much excitement right now - every day brings a new change in the landscape, it seems - things opening up, the promise of blooming soon. A new color added to the spring palette each day. Next week, I'll be doing a Week of Spring photographs here, with the hope of celebrating some of that magic. Feel free to play along if it speaks to you.

Until then, have a lovely weekend! And maybe, if you can, plant something!

The Splendid Table Cookbook Giveaway

I'm getting excited about food right now. I think there's a late winter point of despair (to put it in dramatic terms) when I am so sick of soups and the dregs of the 'root cellar' foods. I'm anxious for green and red and oh so much more. While it's still early, I can at least feel it coming. I think it has something to do with making the last installment in our CSA payment for the year, and the promise that fresh! local! yummy! produce will soon be ready for us each and every week. Ah...

Anyway, in anticipation of all that, I've been food-inspired lately. Opening favorite old cookbooks to find new things, and finding new cookbooks to put a spin on the old. One new arrival has been The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio's Award Winning Food Show. Amy shared a great review of it a few weeks back, and everything she said is so very true. I love the stories woven into the recipes. And the recipes are delicious, and well, 'different' than so very many other cookbooks. It feels like a 'fresh' cookbook if that makes sense.

I've actually photographed a bunch of the things we've made from this book in the past month, but this is the only one that I don't fear will have the effect of turning you away from the book. A food photographer, I am not (Delicious photos in the book - I'll leave it to the experts). Above is the Supper Tart of Red Onions, Greens and Grapes. See what I mean? "Different" - we make SOOO much pizza around here, and this was a perfect fresh spin on it for us - on puff pastry (I know, it's a tart, not a pizza, but the kids thought it was pizza). It was so good that looking at this photo is totally motivating me to make it again (for the fourth time) tonight. Yum. Another favorite has been Sweet Roasted Butternut Squash and Greens over Bow Tie Pasta. Again, just the right spin of yummy and new. Oh gosh, and the Retro Garlic Bread! Really good too.

Of course, I wanted to listen to the radio show after falling in love with the cookbook. And thank goodness for the internet (it's not carried on my local radio station), because you can listen to podcasts of the show on their website. (They've also got a really interesting year-long project going on, following 15 people eating a regional diet, each blogging about the experience - Locavore Nation).

As a little treat for YOU, the publisher, Clarkson Potter, has generously agreed to do a giveaway of The Splendid Table's new cookbook. All you need to do is leave a comment on this post before 7am (my time) tomorrow - Friday - at which point I'll choose a random number to send one copy of the book to, and announce it here at the end of this post. Good luck!

****************

Comments Closed. We have a winner! The Random Number Generator led me to Momma Roar, who wrote:

I'd love some new recipe ideas!! We live in PA in Amish country...where a lot of the meals I make are meat and potatoe AND basic. I'd love to have some new ideas!!

What fun!

Posted by: Momma Roar | May 01, 2008 at 04:45 PM

 

Congratulations! And thanks to everyone for playing!

*****************

 

 

a board for kneading

There's this new piece of old wood in my home. It's a simple piece of wood, really - a flat 1 inch thick board, with raised sides nailed in, though worn down from the years of use. This was my great grandmother's baking board. I never met her - she died the year before I was born. I've heard stories of her for my entire life, I have some of her sewing things, I share her genes. But each time I stand at this old and worn board, I'm so grateful to know her a little bit more.

She was a mother parenting alone most of the time, deep in rural Maine in the depression. So very poor - struggling to clothe her children, struggling to feed them, and moving often because they simply couldn't afford to live anywhere. A mother of six children. A strong, spirited and brave mother of six children. Her moments spent kneading bread on this board were probably like the days of her life - likely full of much anguish and worry. I'd like to think - and I believe from the stories of her - that there were also moments of tremendous joy, strong faith, great humor, and deep love for her children. I can imagine her at this board, kneading the daily bread, rolling it, shaping it and providing sustenance for her family - through tears, frustration, solitude, conversations, and laughter all alike. Motherhood. Life.

This board is quite sacred to me, as is the act of making bread upon it.  Kneading the dough that will become my family's evening bread, I think about her. I think about her life and mine, and how different they are. How grateful I am for what I have and why it is that I have it. But I also think about how very much we share in common. The anguish, the tears, the joy and the laughter of motherhood and of life - I know these things, too. Making bread by hand - especially as a symbol for what I do as a mother - can sometimes feel like a chore that will never end, sometimes a respite full of healing, and sometimes, a gift I can't stop myself from giving to those I love. I imagine she felt the same way.

the sheep "on our farm"

(Looking for "Charlotte" at our CSA farm)

There are a lot of conversations around here that begin with "on our farm..." It's followed by any number of things, depending on who's talking. Because of course, our "someday farm" means five different things to all five of us. But we have so much fun dreaming about the possibilities, driving around perusing the possibilities (not yet! but it's coming soon...I can feel it), and talking about what we all do share in common for our farm plans. A near nightly conversation at the dinner table - always started by one of the boys - begins with "tell me the first three animals you want on our farm." Calvin's keeping track of it all on a pretty fabulous 7-year old version of a visual spreadsheet that I adore.

The chickens are a must (we all agree). A cow is a must (Calvin and I insist - Ezra's the swing vote, and we've still got some convincing to do with Papa). The donkey is uh, questionable (though Ezra is persistent on this one). As is the colt that Calvin wants to 'break' by his 8th birthday (just like Almanzo - his super hero). Adelaide will get her kitties. But sheep. Oh, the sheep are fast making their way to the top of my dream farm wish list.

Not helping has been the arrival of these two books in the past month. Shear Spirit: Ten Fiber Farms, Twenty Patterns and Miles of Yarn by Joan Tapper is a portrait of fiber farms in the US, with tales of their lives and animals, wonderful knitting patterns, and gorgeous photography sprinkled throughout. There's some knitting in here that I'm pretty excited to give a closer look at, but until then, this book sits on our coffee table for all to pour through the pages of farm life, and the amazing creative fiber works that come out of that (Calvin keeps stealing it away to his bed to look at the sheep -  I think I've got an ally on the sheep argument).

A Fine Fleece: Knitting with Handspun Yarns by Lisa Lloyd is another I've been daydreaming in the pages of lately. It has some great information about handspinning, wool, sheep breeds and other technical detals like that. And then 26 amazing knitting patterns - each featuring a handspun beauty as well as a more readily available commercial yarn. The designs are gorgeous - a little beyond my knitting skill, perhaps. But that hasn't stopped me from admiring them and scouting our yarn for a pattern or two that I'd like to give a go at.

For now and until the time is right, we're all quite happy to get our farm fix at our local CSA farm (where this new little one was born last week - just hours before we visited), where they're kind enough to let us hang out and pretend. Which is just what we do.

Polaroid Love

Did you see that last week was 'Roid Week 2008 on Flickr (I'm always at least a week behind on these things). Check it out.  Above are some of my favorites from the week (click on the photo for credits). There's also the upcoming For the Love of Light: A Tribute to the art of Polaroid, which I'm excited to see.

In a chapter on kids and cameras in my book, there's a bit about Polaroids - which was written, of course, before the sad news that Poloroid would stop producting it's film (check out Save Polaroid). Since hearing the news, I've been a little stingy with the film we have left. Though, admittedly, at $1 a pop, I was pretty stingy before. But up until now, I haven't been ready to deal with kids digital cameras, and I'm not a fan of all the disposableness with the disposable cameras. I keep intending to pick up a couple of point and shoot film cameras for the kids, and I suppose now with the Polaroid news that will be happening sooner rather than later.

But we do love our "one a day" Polaroid action so much. The kids really think about the shot they want to take, and the 'instant' result of watching the photograph develop in front of their eyes is quite magical. They rotate their photos in and out of display (above), and eventually they land in each of their own photo albums.

One thing I really love that they do with the Polaroids is create new art with them. Ezra often will take a picture of something, and then come inside to 'recreate' it on paper.

Can you read that? It says, "This is hard to make". I guess that was an important declaration for him to make about this one. It makes me smile.

Are your childhood albums full of Polaroids too? The camera the kids use was my grandfather's. And I remember my grandmother with hers in hand often - and her photo albums full of the little squares with - more often than not - her handwritten notes on the white strip below. Ah, Polaroid.

So, I'm curious. What are your children doing with cameras? Have you found "kids" digital cameras that you're pleased with? Is there a designated kids camera in your family? Or is film the answer for you/them? I'm all ears, as we think about expanding our options here!

beaches & books

A photo from an after-dinner walk along the shore with friends last week. Good friends, good food & the ocean - I'm not sure it gets much better than that. Except when you add the sound of squealing children, and a toddler laughing and running with all her might for as long as she could (which is a very long time) just because she can, and because it feels so good.

Before I give you all the wrong impression of Maine weather, I should tell you that the water is COLD. You wouldn't find me in it yet - not for months. But the kids? Well, they love it. And yes, it really has been warm enough to go the beach in 'spring' clothes, but you know, it could very well snow this weekend (but please don't) and I wouldn't be surprised, either. April in Maine - you really never can tell what will happen (this time last year). We'll take the sunny warm beach days and be grateful for them while they're here.

A little note about the book: You can now find signed copies of The Creative Family in my Shop! My apologies to those who would have liked this option earlier - It took me a bit to figure this part out.

And one last thing for the locals: don't miss the Food + Farm: Examining Our Access to Sustainable Food event at SPACE gallery this weekend (and co-sponsored by MOFGA). There are some great things going on throughout the weekend, including a kids event on Saturday we're pretty psyched about (see the schedule for details). It's farm season!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

a beach bubble dress

It seems as though suddenly the weather has shifted and it's really and truly spring! I've been finding myself in the basement often - sorting through the stockpile of thrifted and saved-for-later kids clothes scrambling to find shorts, sandals, and short sleeve shirts. Then figuring out where the gaps are, and planning some sewing. I've been looking for a comfy, easy-to-wear, simple dress pattern for Adelaide - something we can throw on over her swimsuit, that will cover her shoulders a bit, and be comfortable to play in, too. The new patterns at Oliver + S caught my eye, so I gave the Bubble Dress a go this week (I purchased the pattern at Sew Mama Sew).

The pattern is categorized "Advanced Beginner" which I think is pretty right on. There were a few things I hadn't done before (understitching, for example), or that gave me pause when reading through the first time. But the directions are clear and easy to follow, and I think these 'extras' make for a better quality garment. The pattern calls for a lining (I used a mid-weight muslin) which gives it a great weight, and the bubble - oh, I love that loose elastic bubble.

I used it with one of my all-time favorite prints, red-kerchief girl (which I also used on a shirt for her last year). A few colorways are still available at Superbuzzy here.

Miraculously this week, our last bits of snow have melted, and it was warm enough for our first real spring beach visit. Ah...it felt so good to be back. Adelaide happily sported her new dress, which she told everyone she made (she did help sew the buttons on, so yes, I'm happy to have her claim it as her own creation). It wore well, protected her sweet skin from the sun, and seemed just perfect for romping about, picking up and piling rocks, and rolling in the sand - all the important work of the beach.

So, let's see. About three more of these ought to make Adelaide's summer "uniform" official. Then, on to some shorts for the boys.  A sunhat or two. Oh, and sandals for everyone. How is it that they all need sandals this year? If only I knew how to make sandals.

Earth Day 2008

I'm a firm believer that one must truly know and love something in order to be believe strongly enough to protect, save and heal it. This philosophy guides the way we parent in so many different areas, and certainly our feelings and beliefs about the Earth are at the top of that. I truly want for my children to love and know the world around them, and as a byproduct, I know (and have already seen) that a sense of caring for it will evolve. I don't want to flood them with doom and gloom of the state of the world, but rather, mindfully give them information as they are ready - as they age, and as emotions mature. I think they know a lot about the state of things, but more than that, they really quite simply are in love with - and still getting to know - the Earth around them. I do think most children are...

So yesterday we celebrated Earth Day in a way that is similar to many days around here, I think - part action, part education, and a whole lot of living, loving and growing in the woods.

Their day ended with their first camp out under the stars. They prepared excitedly for it all afternoon - gathering everything they needed and playing out there. And when it was time for bed, they marveled at the mysteries in the dark around them, read a book by headlamp, and fell asleep.

We carried them in after that, because Mama has this silly little rule about sleeping outside without a tent when it's  only 35 degrees and there's still snow on the ground. But I do agree that Earth Day is, indeed, a wonderful night for dreaming under the stars. I'm glad there was some dreaming...

an extended weekend

{Before I get carried away telling the tale of our weekend, I want to let you know that Kathreen has posted an interview she and I did on WhipUp, and you can enter there to win a copy of The Creative Family! That ends later today.}

Well that was a longer trip than expected (and full of far more of the above than we expected). The last 24 hours of our trip started with a sudden car breakdown, waiting for repair shops to open (of course it happened on a Sunday), finding a hotel for one more night, and coming up with ways to spend 24 hours with three kids in a hotel room in the middle of a strip mall with no working car. Oh yes - an adventure in ingenuity and patience. Our bodies are all now full of chlorine, I'm quite sure, but thank goodness for hotel pools. And mechanics that work quickly (once they open). And cardiovascular workout equipment that fascinate small children.

(in the Mount Holyoke library)
But before all that drama began...we had a really wonderful time in Western Mass! Odyssey Bookshop hosted a great book event and Crafternoon - my favorite part (always) being the one-on-one chats and visits with you. It is truly such a treat to have an email name I've "known" and seen for so long come to life as a flesh-and-blood moving and talking person (more likely than not with a smaller, adorable one on the hip, too)! It was such a pleasure to meet so many of you on Saturday - thank you for making the journey on such a gorgeous day - and thanks to Odyssey Bookshop for a great afternoon. (And again, I come to you with no pictures of the book event. I seem to forget my camera - and everything else - when suddenly in front of a group of people.)

Some other (photographed) highlights of our time in the Valley (am I saying that right? Can I call it 'The Valley"?) - delicious dinner at Fresh Side in Amherst (and some great uh, "college" entertainment that followed), the reading room at Mt. Holyoke's library, and a really special visit and breakfast picnic to a farm with friends. (And oh, what a difference a few hours south makes in the seasonal growth. There was so much color!)

Sadly, our car trouble quite literally steered us out of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art before we could go in, but we all left so enamoured with the whole area that we're sure we'll be back there soon. That is, after we've recovered from this little adventure.

remembering

{A quick note: We'll be at The Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, MA tomorrow at 3pm, for a reading and to be a part of their Crafternoon. I'm looking forward to seeing some of you there!}

Yesterday, I took a solo drive up the coast to visit a very special lady. I wanted to visit with her, and to hand-deliver a copy of my book to her - she, being my very first reader. The one who wrote me letters each week of my childhood (I always wrote back), the one who always told me I was a writer. I never really believed her, but I also never stopped writing to her. I'm so grateful for that - and so very much more, of course. She's given me so much. So yesterday, I went to see her, and being the way that Alzheimer's goes, she didn't know who I was. Insisted, in fact, that she did not know me. That's okay, I said. I know who you are, I said with as much strength and joy as I could, barely holding back my tears. After a half an hour of this struggle, I spied an old photo album out of the corner of my eye. Ah, yes. The rest of our afternoon together was spent there in those pages of photographs from the 1930's. She may not have known my name or anyone else from her shorter term memory, but she could tell me the name of everyone in that album - old boyfriends, schoolmates of hers, homes and cars and vacations (how amazing our minds are). And when she stumbled on the names, or when the stories got all jumbled up, as they all inevitably did, I finished them for her. Because I remember. This is what we did - on hot summer days at her farmhouse on the hill when it was just the two of us - open the trunk of albums and turn page by page as she told the story of each photograph and I begged for more. Yesterday, I told her some of those stories, as best as I could remember them. The story of being in beauty school in Boston and all the fun she had dancing with the Navy boys when they came into Port. The story of her handsome husband and how they met. The story of her sisters, her mother, her daughters and their loves and their losses. She was always the family memory keeper and storyteller - the one documenting it all in words and photographs. I've always loved them, but I don't know that I've ever felt so grateful for those photographs of hers as I did yesterday. At first, they were just a familiar comfort for she and I both as we struggled to have a conversation. But then, they took us both back - she, perhaps to the time of the photograph itself, and I, to her telling of the stories that meant so very much to me. There in those pages yesterday, I am sure we understood each other.

in the Spring Book Basket

While it's been officially spring for a bit now, it's only been these past two weeks that we've seen any evidence of it at all around here. But now, the spring book basket is active and full and pulled from each day for some springtime reading. (And my apologies to those of you in the other hemisphere! My "autumn" book list isn't done yet!)

Our Springtime Favorites

Spring - Gerda Muller
Always a favorite, especially in the younger years. Gerda Muller's four season board books are such a treasure - with no words, but simple illustrations full of all the wonder of the season for children.

Fruhling - Eva-Maria Ott-Heidmann
Quite similar to the Gerda Muller series in concept, this seasonal board book is full of watercolors slightly more dreamy. Paired together, I think they're a wonderful spring visual for the young ones. (Adelaide at 2.5 adores these books).

Spring Is Here - Lois Lenski
Another one perfect for the littlest ones. Sweet and simple tale of springtime treats - gardening, animals, flying kites - all in simple rhymes. And paired with Lenski's adorable illustrations. This is one I remember loving from my own childhood.

Under the Sun - Ellen Kandoian
This book is so wonderful for the way it explains the the path of the earth through the day - traveling with the 'sun' around the world in a day. I love it when science and nature can be explained in a fun story for children without getting too complicated or over their heads - and this does that. (I think this is out of print now - perhaps it's at your library?)

The Sun Egg - Elsa Beskow
I can't put a list together without including one Elsa Beskow. But this one is a favorite, and it's a perfect tale of spring. A young elf living in the northern forest discovers a mysterious 'sun egg' that has fallen from the sky, and the story is the tale of her travels to where it came from. This book has forever changed the way my family eats oranges.

A New Beginning: Celebrating the Spring Equinox - Wendy Pfeffer
I really enjoy this series of seasonal books for the wide perspective of celebrations and traditions they provide. In addition to the science, historical and cultural tales of Spring, there are also recipes and activities in the back section of the book for doing your own celebrating of the season.

When Spring Comes - Natalie Kinsey-Warnock
I love this 'country' tale full of springtime adventures - sugaring, running barefoot, picking berries - all told from the dream of end-of-winter. A wonderful seasonal transition book - for when we're dreaming about the spring/summer which isn't quite here yet.

Spring's Sprung - Lynn Plourde
The spring colors incorporated into the illustrations here are stunning, and for that alone, this book is a gem. But I also love how these tales (she has one for each season) bring the season to life though a character, and this one brings to light a bit of sibling conflict - always a topic I'm happy to explore through story.

Inch by Inch: The Garden Song - David Mallet
Illustrations to go along with the sweet folk song, Inch by Inch - a favorite in our house.

Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots: Gardening Together With Children - Sharon Lovejoy
Such a favorite here. This book is full of gardening activities and wisdom for families - those with lots of gardening experience and those with less (that would be me). Her approach that encourages children to play and explore really appeals to me.

Paddle-to-the-Sea - Holling Clancy Holling
Not a spring book, per se, but there seems to be a springtime tradition forming of us reading this book. And it does fit in with the season, with it's telling of boats, and water melting and new streams forming.  We like to follow along on the map as Paddle-to-the-Sea takes his journey from the Canadian wilderness to the Atlantic Ocean.

Nature Field Guides -
This is also a time of year when our bags, baskets and pockets are full of nature field guides for identifying plants, trees, animal tracks and flowers. I pick up a lot of the small, vintage "Golden Nature Guides" while out thrifting. They're super handy, and beautifully illustrated. We also like a lot of the DK field guides, as well as the Fandex Family Field Guides.

As I was thumbing through the basket, I realized just how many were bird related! So, I'm saving those for a seperate 'Bird Book List' - look for that sometime in the coming week or so.

As always, we'd love to hear your favorite family Springtime reads in the comments!

Happy Spring Reading!

stencils for tv

It's been a while since I've done any freezer paper stenciling. There was a little stretch there - way back in the day - when I could hardly stop. Originally led to it by the ever-inspiring Chicken, and then all the gobs of photos in the Flickr pool Hannah started. Was that really all two years ago? Oh my.

I included instructions for freezer paper stenciling in The Creative Family, with a couple of stencils by Betsy Thompson. (It's fun to see some of that already popping up in The Creative Family Flickr group!)

A few weeks ago, as part of a local TV spot for the book, I needed some samples to do a quick tutorial with. Searching through our drawers and closets, I found LOTS of freezer paper stenciled things, and am happy to say that after two years of wearing and washing, the paint had held up pretty well (I use the Jacquard Textile Color, found here). But the rest of the shirts/skirts/totes? Uh, yeah...I guess we're pretty hard on our clothing around here. So these new things were worked up. I had almost forgotten how easy it really is. And fun. And yes, quite addictive.

(an aside: Bandage on elbow and mud on shirt - a direct result of yesterday's top photo. "Ah, it's part of the job, Mom" he said as I bandaged it up.)

So yeah, there was that little TV thing. I'm not really sure exactly why I'm admitting to this link, except that it's already out there (it aired last week), and it's over (thank goodness) and why not extend the humiliation a little bit longer?  It was a piece for our local WCSH 6 207 show, and I'm pretty sure I don't actually talk like that (confirmed by my friends, thank goodness, who all answer correctly when I've asked in the past week, "do I really sound like that?"). I do know one thing for certain now, though I do think I could have told you this before as well: In front of the camera? Sooo not for me. Behind the camera and crafting? Yes. In fact, I think there's some freezer paper calling my name right now...

bringing it back outside

The days are still mostly cool, and there are even still little bits of snow in this part of the world. The ground isn't ready for planting, and there's little cleaning up that can be done quite yet. But we're getting out there anyway in the brisk spring air not long after sun-up and staying out all day. After such a long winter spent inside, none of us wants to waste a minute of the sunshine and the chance to be outside for so much longer each day. Each time I open the door, I feel this outward spill of energy virtually busting the door open as everyone rushes outside to get as far away from the house - and sometimes, each other - as possible. Scattering to their respective outside work and play spots - taking up as much space as possible. Just because we can. Because it feels so good to stretch like this. Yes, it feels like we're coming out of hibernation.

And with us - also outside goes the 'making' of our days. From the wintry inside things of: sewing machines; drawing paper and pencils ; and blocks, to the tools and materials and projects of the outdoors: new bike rails out of logs; a hole dug in the mud; and searching for bits for the fairy houses.

It feels so good. And it's just beginning.

settling into home

We had a really wonderful weekend in Boston. Rock-n-Romp was lots of fun, and the city was full of all the things Ezra was expecting and looking forward to - namely "train, tunnels and bridges" - all the important "city" things when you're five.  Our weekend was also full of all the things that make a special "Mama - Ezra" date 'just right' - lots and lots of uninterrupted conversations and snuggles. As Ezra and I laid in bed together and rolled into our second hour of 'chit-chat', I was hit with the thought that this parenting gig - it just keeps getting better. Which is saying a lot, considering I think it started out pretty swell.

After a few months 'full' of work, I'm looking forward to a return to our normal family rhythm around here. This week, Steve returns to work after his winter break (he's been keeping things calm, fun and running smoothly around here!). Today I find myself looking forward to some pretty ordinary things: sitting on the couch this morning and reading books for hours with my babes; washing my floors (oh, yes...I'm looking forward to clean floors...it's been a while); 'making' for the sake of making; incorporating a comfortable amount of book work into my days; doing all the work and fun that comes with spring; and of course sharing bits of it here along the way. Ah...It feels good to be 'back'.

on a date

I've got a special date with my five year old birthday boy in the city for the weekend.  His essentials are packed and ready to go - namely, a hat for the drive down, and a hat to wear to the concert. It'll be just the two of us - a rare treat - and we're both very excited about the whole thing. (The negotiations for music in the car have already begun. Right now it's The Clash vs. Gillian Welch. Hmn...someone's going to have to budge.)

We'll be at Rock-n-Romp tomorrow (Saturday) - signing books and, well, rocking and romping, of course!
More details on the event here.
3pm
Great Scott - Allston, MA
(Harvard Book Store will have copies of the book for sale at the show)

I'm looking forward to meeting some of you in Boston!

five

Hello! Just popping in with a quick hello and a book event reminder (below). Yesterday, we celebrated Ezra's fifth birthday. Five? Oh my. Five feels like one of those big numbers to me - all day I looked at him and thought, "really? five? how can this be happening so fast?" and then in the next breath, of course, cannot remember my life before him, as if it's been years and years. One of those incredibly hard to explain, and yet so very real parenting feelings.

Anyway, it was a lovely day. A perfectly mellow kind of day, well-suited to my little guy. Bike rides (his birthday gift to himself? riding without training wheels!), lots and lots of music, a menu carefully planned out from breakfast to dessert, and a celebratory dinner with friends and family. Good times.

Part of his carefully planned out menu (food is very important to my little one - remember the mustard party?) included this request for a cake: "part strawberry cake and part blueberry cake, but not the parts mixed together. blueberry frosting, with strawberries on top." A little specific, yes. But I was feeling up for the challenge and it all worked out just right (starting with this recipe, but with some changes to make it lighter). A layer of strawberry, a layer of blueberry, with blueberry cream cheese frosting. Yum.

And a tiny moment from the day: Moments after Ezra opened his eyes in the morning Calvin ran to give him a little package he'd made and squirreled away nearly a month ago now - A set of handmade microphones. Ezra loved them .... and I nearly cried. Because these three little microphones just about sum up sibling relationships for me. They are inevitably the first to pound on each other (and they do - quite often); and yet, also the first to lovingly and quietly create and give a gift so absolutely perfect for the other that no other gift could possibly compare. Truly. Heart-swelling.

And last, a little reminder. I'll be popping out tonight for a book reading, Q&A, and signing at Books, Etc in Falmouth, Maine at 6:30 pm. (The postcard here). I'd love to see you there!

{Back to regular blogging soon...I have a few more days of 'vacationing at home' to do. And some cake to eat. And some microphone-singing to do. Oh, yes.}