Thanksgivukkah 2014

Much of my day was filled with cooking and baking. The kids wanted cookies for dessert, so I made sure that at least some of them remind me of this holiday season and made sugar and spice cookies.  Years ago (almost 10 years ago now), my mother gave me a booklet of her favorite (baking) recipes.  Sugar and spice cookies were/are always around my home of origin at the holidays, and they were Dad's favorite cookie in the world.  Even Anya tried them this year and declared them to be good.

Otherwise: we hung out.  We read and watched movies and listened to one of the Harry Potter books on CD by firelight. The kids played with legos--Sam in the morning (he got R2D2 put together in record time, I think) and Anya in the evening.  I knit a little here and there.

There was a time that I felt that we "should" have people over, or go somewhere, for Thanksgiving.  But over time I've come to love and appreciate how we have made this day our own, and how it brings slow quiet into a hectic time of year.  The rest of the weekend we will enjoy the company of dear friends.  For Thanksgiving we had each other, and it was enough.  I am thankful.

Hoping you all had a lovely day too!  What's your favorite Thanksgiving tradition?

Following Fall

Life continues at a hectic pace, but (perhaps despite myself) I find myself falling into the delights of fall.  Looking up to see the beauty of trees and sky as the weather slowly and unevenly shifts from crisp to cold. Drinking numerous cups of tea and coffee (in favorite mugs, of course).  Cooking hearty foods like pancakes and root vegetables.  Wondering at how the light in my house changes with the seasons (it catches me every year, somehow).  I am particularly surprised by how these shorter days can, for brief periods, bring more light into my house because the leaves are mostly off the trees now.  

How are you following the season?

New Old Space

Until this year, we've had a "basement playroom" in the house.  It's gone through a couple of phases in these 10 years, but in the past few years it was not getting much regular use.  In short: the kids were mostly outgrowing "play" space, and they preferred having the "best" toys accessible in their rooms.  

So, this year it was time to refresh and re-think.  The central basement area (our offices are also down there) is now a craft/homework/computer/relaxation area.  There's a fresh coat of paint (love that blue), and a good (expandable!) table for arts, crafts, and homework.  There's a spot for the computer, and a desk for either homework or--should I ever get time to learn--sewing. There's plenty of space for art supplies and games, and still a few toys.  And I have to say: I love having such nice space for yarn and knitting supplies.

The kids weren't sure about this vision of mine at first, but they seem to be taking to it now.  Our final addition of the chairs--comfy, but light enough to move around easily--seems to have cinched it.  

This space has gone from one of my least favorite in the house to one that makes me happy even if I'm just passing through it.

How are you re-envisioning space these days?

The Grocery List Strikes Again

Anya has taken, on occasion, to eating raw leaves of red cabbage. We're out, so she's added it to the grocery list with a picture.  

Maybe I'm getting through to her just a little, despite her ongoing love affair with pizza???

What a journey it is with our children...

Transitions

Today on my morning walk (and waiting for trains on platforms) was the first time this year that the air tasted like winter.

Current Reading

My life is always filled with books, both for work and for pleasure.  This sometimes, but not always, has the result of making work pleasurable.

Currently on the docket:

In the middle of discussing The Myth of Jose Marti with my colloquium, exploring Cuban nationalism through its foundation myths.  We're also in the midst of Que Vivan los Tamales, a fun and useful book that looks at Mexican national identity through food.  Up soon: Unequal Cures, which is a fabulous book on public health, race, and gender in early twentieth-century Bolivia.  Okay, all pretty heady stuff, but hey: it's a capstone course on nation-state formation in Latin America.  This is what you get.

In my modern Latin American survey, we're set to discuss Guevara's Motorcycle Diaries.  I presume much of the class will enjoy it.  I find Che annoyingly sexist and bourgeois in it.  Later in his life, I find him annoyingly sexist and an ongoing intellectual elitist despite his commitment to revolutionary principles.  

At home, the fare is lighter:
I am almost done with The Orchardist, which I've found an absorbing read.  Not the best novel of my life (or even year), but definitely engaging.  Next for me: The Christmas Kid and Other Brooklyn Stories.  Hopefully that will be good.  

I'm also liking the simplicity of Terry Walters, Clean Food, which I bought last summer.  

The kids and I just started the the last School of Fear book, and I am looking forward to the next Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place book.  I'd like to find a good book on CD to listen to with them as the nights grow longer and colder.  

Anya just finished her first Molly Moon book, and she's looking forward to more, while Samuel finally finished Under Wildwood and is now reading Winter Dance--a nice little book about running the Iditarod.  

As far as I know, Howard is still reading drek.  

What are you reading these days?  Any suggestions on books I might want to give a try?

Letting Go

I should start this post by admitting: I don't let go easily.  I'm learning, but it does not come naturally to me.  I cling.  I try to retain.  I whine.  I bemoan.  I struggle to recapture.  

Thus, I have to remind myself (constantly) to breathe in, breathe out...and let it be.  Let go.

This summer, in the midst of a year of much upheaval and travel, I found myself feeling constantly disjointed and distracted.  I realized that, ever since we bought the house in Maine, I'd been dreaming and agonizing over the possibility of moving there.  I felt too torn.  At the same time, I began to realize that as much as I love Rockland, it was a bit too far from people we love, and not the right kind of school system, for my family to move there permanently.  

So we decided to put the house on the market and let fate decide.  It was under agreement within a month, and it sold yesterday.  Fate spoke loudly.

I'm still kind of in shock that it's gone, but...deep down, I know it's the right thing for us to do.  We might still move to Maine someday, but probably closer to Portland.  Meantime, we are in one place, which we all--I most of all--need right now, I think.  

So, goodbye my beloved little house, and see you later Rockland. 

And now greetings to:

• living fully in this house, in this place.
• working on living my values and dreams where I am 
• seeking the next step/s with patience and heart.