Also easy to locate in a haystack

Isaac’s sweet new multi-function pocketknife that he received at his birthday party includes this enigmatic tool which the instructions identify as a “sewing needle.”  It hinges out from, but does not detach from, the base knife.

I’ve been trying to picture how it would work, and so far I’ve decided it would be good to have [...]

The picture of innocence

Shortly before this photo was taken, I had asked Mabel to sweep up some crumbs in the kitchen.  She said, “Instead of ‘If you want something done, do it yourself,’ your motto is ‘If you want something done, have a kid do it.’”  That girl makes me roll my eyes so often that my eyeballs  [...]

The tune is familiar

The other day Rose was walking around singing, over and over, “Way down upon the Spawnee river, when I was little, way down upon the Spawnee river, when I was little . . .”

Comment cull in lieu of new posts

My brain capacity for writing posts seems to be disappearing as my summer speeds up, so to make it look like my blog hasn’t died in my brain’s absence, here are a few of my comments elsewhere from a few weeks ago:
Corrie at Positively Organic talked about some difficult medical decisions for her son Ty. [...]

Peril at play

Mabel’s giving Rose a “boat ride”–she’s lying on her back on a pillow on the kitchen floor, with Rose sitting on her stomach, and she’s using her feet to propel them, while singing an improvised boat tune.  I cross their path, and Mabel says, “Excuse me, giant whale!”  As I start to laugh, she gasps, [...]

All-you-can-eat buffet restaurant brings family closer (in which you’ll learn more about ceramics than you were anticipating)

Mabel:  “Mom, I realized we always all sit in the same places, so we changed it around.  Now you have to sit there!”
Me: “But I never sit next to Daddy.  I’m too shy.”
Rose: “But you got married so you can be together.”
Me:  “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
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Rose:  “Mom, how do they make plates?”
Me:  “They use [...]

From the imaginary archives

I’ve just spent a harrowing couple of hours having Isaac help me sort and weed three years’ worth of his old school papers.  (What made it harrowing was that to alleviate his boredom, Isaac kept doing annoying repetitive things, like saying “Sningalate” over and over again, and Mabel was supposed to be cleaning in the [...]

The Purple Kitten

Ever since Mabel won a prize for this story, I’ve been promising to post it.  So here it finally is:

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The author

Great art needs no explanation or justification

If you’re curious about my choices for my (remarkable) new header:  the bunny thing is an old joke here, because a while ago I accidentally paid $7 for a stock photo of bunnies and I’ve been trying to get my money’s worth out of it ever since, and I got the idea for my new [...]

Hazel meets the Gerber Baby (redux)

Remember this?  Here we go again:

I still think a lot of babies probably look like the Gerber Baby with the right pose–in fact, I think Hazel will look even more so in two or three more months, with an even better pose, so stay tuned (in case I happen to remember to try this again.)
P.S. [...]