Friday, August 31, 2012

Moon Magic

We're back in Maine for the weekend, and there was a beautiful moon last night.  Here is a picture I took with my camera:

And here are pictures that I took putting my camera up to Howard's new telescope!


I wish I could have gotten more; it was hard to capture it with the camera...sometimes we could even see craters.

Color me captivated.  How are you capturing the moon these days?

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

The Silver lining


If there is any consolation for me about losing access to the claw-foot tub in Maine, it's returning to my rickety, beloved screened in porch in Mass.  Oh, and the espresso in the mug from Cuenca doesn't hurt either.

Thank you, Howard, for getting the porch ready for me while I was on campus yesterday!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Transitioning

Yesterday, we drove back to Massachusetts.  Time to transition back to life here, getting ready for the academic year and for the upcoming trip to Ecuador in January. 

I'm sad to see the summer come to an end.  It was a time of tremendous productivity with my new book, and lots of ordinary magic with the kids.  There are things that I will particularly miss:

This lovely stove, with Anya's artwork above it:

My pantry (I do so love pantries):

Sam's moon painting:

Walks along the breakwater:

Sam's rediscovery of sketching:

Anya discovering a love of reading while snacking:

And, of course, there's the tub.  I might just miss the tub most of all:


But, although I am not looking forward to a rushed pace when the school year starts, there are reasons that it's good to be back:

It's so interesting seeing how lush things have gotten since I left in late May.  On my morning walk, I went past sunflowers taller than me!  (I adore sunflowers).

Oh, and we have a sitter coming over tonight!  First time in about 3 months. 

The kids were getting antsy toward the end of our time in Maine.  It is time for them to get back to their regular school year routines.

And, although I hope to keep the craziness at bay during the semester, I think it's time for me to be around more people in my daily life than I was over the summer.

We did bring some things back from Maine.  The kids are still doing lots of art, and we plan trips to the library soon.  And they've already requested pancakes for dinner:

What will you miss from summer?  What do you look forward to as fall approaches?

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

The smell of sadness

Tonight, while getting a drink of water from the kitchen tap, I caught an odd, sweet, distinctive smell.  For a moment I tried to place it, then it was obvious: insulin.  Sam's been running in the 300s with his blood glucose all day, so Howard changed his reservior tonight in case there were bubbles in the tubing that were keeping the insulin from getting into the boy.

It's a smell that, when it catches me off guard like this, makes me so sad.  Not weeping sad--nothing that dramatic.  Just a hollow kind of sadness that Sam has to deal with this crap every day of his life.  It was four years last Saturday.  Mostly I am grateful every day for insulin, because my son is healthy and funny and vibrant.  But today, taking me by surprise, it made me blue.