Happy Friday

I've been in a fog lately.

I think I see the sunshine emerging.

Peace.

Happy Friday

I was lucky enough to get to see Steve Westfield and the Slow Band last night. A ten-piece band that hadn't played out in eight years, they had one practice before the gig then just jumped in together. They lifted my feet off the floor and lifted my spirit, too.

What music will you enjoy this weekend?











Peace.

Yufi!

Yufi in Our Town

We spent most of this past summer driving across country, hanging out with my folks in California, and driving home. We were lucky enough to be able to rent a minivan (Thanks, Grandpa!), so we could camp most of the nights across.

The minivan's license plate had the letters YUF, so we called it "Yufi." We became quite attached to our temporary second home, and were sad to say goodbye and give it back.

Yesterday, walking to school, the 8yo and I saw Yufi parked in town. We were unreasonably thrilled. I snapped a few pics to show the 11yo, who missed it because she was already at middle school.

Below are some Yufi pics from our trip.

Yufi in Empire, Colorado

Yufi camping in Yosemite (with cool lace curtains for bug netting that Grandma made)

Yufi camping in one of my favorite places on the trip, the Grand Tetons
(no need for curtains that night -- the temps dropped into the 30s, so we kept the windows closed!)

Oh, the spirit of adventure!

I hope whoever was driving Yufi yesterday had a good trip.

Peace.

Boundaries

Some difficult thoughts and things this week.

A lot of things I thought would be easier by now.

Peace.

Wednesday Art Blogging

This is another urban sketch of mine, from before I'd heard of Urban Sketchers.

A nickel to any local reader who can name the place in the sketch.






Peace.

Walking to Town Yesterday for Ice Cream

Look! A bunny! Two bunnies!

This tree looks like it has an agenda.

A strange sign on the way home. The car was nearby. The girls and I couldn't figure out why someone would steal the tires off this car. For a few minutes the 10 year old became concerned that someone might steal tires off our car. I assured her there must've been something special about these tires, ours are definitely safe.

Weird, though.

Peace.

A Gentle Reminder

Although our town dump does not have a leave/take shed and that makes me sad, it does have a book shed and I am addicted. Recently, I picked up this book (yet another good thing about my groovy town: lots of interesting parenting books in the book shed). I wasn't sure at first if Everyday Blessings meant it was a christian book, but I was feeling the need to be blessed anyway. Then I saw the subtitle: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting. Ah, yes.

We're back from vacation, jetlagged, hot, and crabby. This is the first year that I've realized that summer hide-from-the-heat cabin fever is way worse than anything winter can bring.

I need to take a deep breath.

Breathe, Ina, breathe.





Peace.

For Rowena and Her New House

I was downtown early one morning a few weeks ago and I saw these houses in a shop window. I instantly thought of Rowena and her house sculptures. I looked at the shop's website to see if there was any information about the artist or pictures of the houses online, but couldn't find any.

Yesterday when I was downtown early, before the shops were open, there they were again. So I took out my camera and snapped a few through-the-window shots.

I hope your new house makes you smile, Rowena.










Peace.

PTO Meeting & Other Recent Sketches

Other People's Kids and Kittens

Signs of Spring

On the rails-to-trails bridge over the Connecticut River

The first crocuses of the season, spotted at school

Sugaring on the Hadley Commons

Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day. The girls and I headed out on bikes for a day's adventure. First stop was breakfast at Jake's. Then off to the last of the Winter farmers' markets for five pounds of honey for twenty bucks (what was I thinking???). Then we went to the local bakery that makes olive bread only on Saturdays, to buy a loaf. We also got some fancy juice spritzers at the local health food store. Then we headed over the river for a picnic.

When we came back to town, we checked out the new rails-to-trails bridge over Main Street, a very fun view. We made a pit stop at home, then rode back to town to rent a movie and get ice cream cones. Yes, it feels like Spring.

Today is also gorgeous and we're about to head out for another adventure. The girls are just waiting for me, so I'll come back to put all the links in later!





Peace.

How I Know I'm A Blogging Addict

Cake and Chips have a party.

At the supermarket the other day, rushing through to pick up a few things while a friend watched the girls, I saw this scene. I walked a few steps past it, but couldn't resist. I walked back, took out my camera and snapped some pics.

Winter Treasure

This morning's plan was to wake early and go to the dump. Then go to Jake's for breakfast. Instead, we slept late and woke to a blanket of new snow. We decided to skip the dump and walk into town for breakfast. But first, I had a morning dose of internet where I learned that today's date is a palindrome: 01022010 and that our town has a winter farmer's market (but I didn't know where).

When we got into town and rounded the corner, I saw this sign.

We went to breakfast first. Then we came to check out the market. It was fun to see summer's outdoor scene transposed to this winter indoor hall. Familiar faces stood beside familiar treats and treasures. A small band played quietly in a corner. It was good to see old friends Michael and Lynn on my side of the river. In my version of local-lore, they are the farm share pioneers of our valley, having started the food bank farm. Now they are moving on to their next adventure.

We made the circuit, checking out each vendor in the hall. The 9yo fell in love with a piece of sheepskin. The 7yo wanted a bouquet of rosemary. Guess which treasure I was able to buy? I also bought other delicious treasures, and then we took the long shortcut home.








Once we came in from the snow, we enjoyed the fruits of our labors, thanks to the labor of our local farmers: apples, carrots, and big slabs of rosemary bread.








Peace.

Tuesdays and Thursdays

Tuesday
(The shortcut through the woods the day before yesterday)

Thursday
(The shortcut through the woods today)

I have been walking. On Tuesday, I made the bill-paying rounds in town, ending at the voting booth. Today, because my car was still snowed in from yesterday's storm, the girls and I walked to school. Then, I walked to the outskirts of town, to the store that will not be named, to buy new snow pants for the girls. Then I walked back to school to drop off the pants before recess. Then I walked home. All of this walking today, a total of seven miles, was before breakfast or coffee.

Anytown, USA

Next time, ride a bike!

Peace.

I'm Back!

the flu
pencil on paper, 6x5 inches

I've been gone for a week. And now, just like that, I'm back. All hail mighty electricity.

My old computer cord could not be coaxed into working any longer so I shut the machine down and contemplated my fate. The girls like me better when I have no computer access at home. My books and newspapers like me better, too.

In the mix of contemplation was a household full of flu. In all its swiney-ness, it was mostly just fever and cough. The girls are both better and were back to school today, so I decided it was time to fix the computer.

I had gone to the computer store downtown last Saturday. I had heard they were a bad store, but I decided to try anyway. They had a cord for $70, but if I took it home and it didn't work, they'd charge me a 15% restocking fee to return it. Factor in their less-than-helpful attitude and I left the store empty handed.

This morning, I looked in the phone book for other computer stores. I can't believe, in our hippy groovy town, there isn't a friendly mac store. Perhaps there's one in Amherst. Anyway, I found a listing for a store over the bridge. So there I went. It turned out to be a repair shop (Yeah, I could've called first, but I had other errands I needed to do over the bridge anyway). However unlike the computer store in my town, these folks were very friendly. They suggested I go to the Apple store in the mall (even though I never go to the mall). They assured me the folks there were also very friendly.

Sure enough, they were. At the Apple store, they let me plug in my computer using one of their cords to determine if that was indeed my problem. How delighted I was when the machine came to life, and there I was, still online at my blog (where I had been when it crashed)! I had 205 new emails! My virtual world was still alive!

I bought a new cord, then moseyed down to eyeball all the fancy new machines. I started talking to one of the salespeople and he surprised me by suggesting I keep my old machine, just get out of Panther. He said he would need to know how much memory I had, to see if I could go to Leopard. I asked if we could plug in my machine with my new plug and take a look. We did (I need more memory). He searched online for a place that still sells memory for my machine. He also searched for the (high) cost of Leopard (which we added to my wishlist). The whole time he was talking to me and searching online, he was also using his computer cleaner to clean my machine! It's never had a bath before (don't tell my dad), and gosh, it looks as good as new now.

[Full disclosure: the cord actually cost $79 at the mall, but it was an Apple cord rather than the generic one at the store downtown, if that means anything. I asked if they would charge me a restocking fee if I returned it, and they said they only charge restocking fees for things with serial numbers, like computers, not for cords. Of course, I won't need to return it because they let me try their cord before I bought one to make sure that was my problem!]

It's good to be back. Though I feel guilty that the girls are in the kitchen building a cardboard city and I'm in here reading and writing. Hmm... And contemplating.

The View from the Library Yesterday

Don't forget to vote today.

Monday Morning Light

morning shadows

Each year when Halloween rolls around, I find myself cleaning and arranging the house--well, specifically, the view from the front door. Visitors who know me do not use the front door, so it's hardly ever opened. On Halloween morning, I spend some time creating a tableau. Then I check it from the front porch. Yes, I know that most eyes at the door on Halloween are only seeing candy, but I still set the perfect scene. This year, I decided to hang paper to hide the mess in my art studio (created in the former front room).

This morning, when the extra daylight streamed in, it created some interesting shadows.

julia and the typewriter

And here are some scenes from this morning's ride. I was halfway into this intersection when I realized it looked a lot different than it did last week.

one week later

not sure what this is about (there's a fez in there)

Happy Full Moon Monday, all.

Happy Halloween

Who are these guys?

Tonight was a glorious night.

Warm, misty, blustery.

Leaves everywhere.

No costume malfunctions.

Big kids who could walk the neighborhood easily.

A treat.

A memory.

Update: Without the photo credit, there was some confusion. The dia de los muertos folks are from the White House celebration pictures, found at HuffPo. The picture didn't say who they were. I wish I had seen them, too, m.heart!