all that's past is prologue...

This post likely needs a little preface. Sometimes, there are things that I want, above all else in the world, to share with my mom. At first, I kept those in a journal, but my life is more and more in this format. This isn't a witty post, or a review of anything, or a soapbox rant. It's simply something that's making me burst at the seams with joy, the kind of thing I would have — should be able to — tell my mom about. So it's here instead. ---- Beatrix has attended Camp DayCroix for almost 3 weeks now, but tonight was the first Family Night we could attend. She was thrilled when we got there, skipping ahead of us in the field, taking us to the garden to see things, feeding the goats and the bunnies, showing us all around. She was adorable performing "I Caught a Little Baby Bumble Bee" in her group skit. And it was wonderful to see how at home she was in this homey, open space, with gardens and a sand/water place and horses and an art barn and an open pav...

(could not resist the title) If you know me well, you will know how much I miss the dearly-departed Zander restaurant. This walk-to-able, chef-driven restaurant was my can't of wrong happy place of food right until it closed. We even ate there the night we got married. So you know I mean it when I tell you that I feel that Sanctuary is really that kind of place — where the food is amazing, but not the sort of place you only save for a special occasion. In fact, Mon-Th are the best nights to go, because they have an amazing tasting menu! We went last week, and it was for a special occasion — our 8th anniversary. And I knew it would be awesome because we were seated next to a show poster from the first professional theatre I worked for — the Cricket! We each had the tasting menu, starting with… a lovely salmon with goat cheese and berry (and some champagne, after all, it was our anniversary!) They also provided some spiced nuts and a delicious hummus, I think of sweet p...

We got the first lice notice in the fall, an email from one of the moms in Beatrix's Girl Scout troop. "I'm really sorry, but we just discovered ________ has lice, you might want to get checked." They must have discussed it at school, because all of a sudden the kids were putting their coats and backpacks in lice bags in the coatroom, and Beatrix was asking me to periodically check her. But we skated all the way through the school year with no problems. I've never actually encountered a louse (well, maybe on some dates I've been on), so I was not sure exactly what I was looking for anyway. Then, on Sunday afternoon, we were taking a Father's Day rode on the Green Line, and I looked over at Beatrix asleep on Patrick's lap. And suddenly, I know exactly what they looked like. Because there were a lot of them in her hair. We went home, we used lice medication, we combed out her hair again and again, and checked each other. Patrick had nothing. I h...

I have loved the Little Free Libraries since my friend KD became an early adopter of the trend several years ago. Often when Beatrix and I have some free time, we will go on a LFL hunt and refill them, and I was very jealous when my friend Tracy blogged about hers last month. I love the community-building aspect of them (and of course I love free books…) Last night, we celebrated our 8th anniversary. I went to grab Beatrix at the camp bus stop, and then headed home, to find THIS on my front porch: I was stunned. Patrick, along with our friend Jason, had spent the last several days building the most incredible LFL ever. See how it matches our house? The cedar shakes? You can't see the sides, but it has siding from our house. This library is built like a tank! It's all the more amazing because Patrick is not naturally a handyman. He does not normally build or fix things just for fun, and he has taught me the wisdom of hiring things out. But he wanted to do this for me, ...

Every year, for the past several decades, this happens, and I always forget. You see, my birth control pill comes in packs of 28. 21 days on, and 7 sugar pills I usually skip anyway. My doctor's appointments are annually, in August, and sure prescribes a new year at that time. But every single year, about this time, I run out. Why? Because, if you've been following long with a calendar at home, you realize — it's because a month generally has 30-31 days, not 28 (except, well, of course February). So every year, for the "month" of the prescription I fall 2-3 days short, which catches up in the summer. Right now, for some unknown reason, I have 21 days remaining in my prescription window actually, but they can't fill that because the pills come in 28 day cycles when you count the sugar pills. But, according to my insurance (well, almost all insurances, really), I can't see my doctor more frequently than once a year. The pharmacy will call my doctor...

So my very first New Year's Resolution was: To do at least one project in each home that restores the home's sense of spirit. Finally, yesterday, we were able to get a start on that by having the well-worn floors at Ashland done. Refinishing the floors had been one of the first things we had done, so almost 20 years ago. And we are hard on floors, but moving everything out to have them done is hard as well. So I got a Groupon for a low-impact refinishing, and we were pretty happy with it. First, the guy gave them a light sand (with a vacuum pack, so no dust everywhere). Then, he put on a light finish that smells like linseed oil (not in a bad way). We could walk on them with socks in 4 hours, and we can put furniture back today, though we may wait a little longer for most of it. I have to say it looks pretty good. Not as great as having them refinished, but they are thin wood anyway, and you can't have them fully re-done too often. But definitely better. Yay for ...

My book club has been meeting for over 20 years. Beatrix's has been meeting for only a few months, but they are gaining an edge! Their meetings are half talking about the book, then a treat, then playtime — also not so different than my book club (though mine doesn't always discuss as much as we should). This month, the girls read one of the Rainbow Fairy books, so Beatrix and I decided the activity should be rainbow-based. We made a rainbow cake for the treat. It was pretty easy — mix up a regular white cake, then divide the batter into 6 bowls (we skipped Indigo) and color with food coloring. Getting the colors right was tricky, but Beatrix really worked at it: Then bake in a bundt pan: And voila! For the activity, we discussed rainbows and how they are made. Then we did a science experiment where we put a black line on a coffee filer and observed how the water rose through it: Finally, we discussed what happened in the book. It was a lot of fun, even t...