So Far This Summer

One more-so and one less-so enthused astronauts.

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A trip to the Great Lakes Science Center. To be remembered for M's running out of the play area back out into the museum and getting briefly "lost". I'm starting to keep my eye out for those back-pack kid leashes. Is our family really this big?
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Although she prefers reading, to weeding, L can be arm-twisted into garden chores from time to time.

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Planting a garden. More work than we imagined, but just as much fun.

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N is ready to take the helm of the ancient tiller.

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M found a place to play.

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Wagon rides are great fun, if you get N to stay in the wagon.

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N gets in touch with the Wild Man, helped out by chewing on a marker-laden balloon.

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N at 1 year is not afraid of sugar-laden foods.

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Ice Cream Cones on the porch. what can be better?

. We had to take these two mere-cats home with us after visiting the Cleveland Zoo. A day to be remembered for its heat, its sleepless children, and its parental arguments - just another normal day at the zoo.

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Cats, cats and . . . well, Cats!

as I sit down (lie down rather, on L's bed while shepherding M into her nap) to attempt BLOGGING, I at first thought, "oh, good, at least I'm posting in a one month interval - until I realized that this is JULY 22 and not the less surprising JUNE 22, which I apparently lost track of. so goes this period of life - lots of good ideas, lots of starts, lots of intentions, but mostly just good old-fashioned housework and family life. for instance I have a great idea to take thoughtful pictures of the different aspects of our gardening projects and write about them slowly, contemplatively and descriptively, absorbing them like an unchomped Life Saver or a Smartie that you leave in your mouth long enough for a hole to dissolve in the middle. when's the last time something like THAT happened?

a few words about cats. EXPENSIVE, PROLIFIC, SHARP TEETH. (apologies to the cat-absorbed) we started out our cat adventures last summer by trying to move and begin housing a cat at the same time. due to our noble intentions not to begin a cat farm or disease haven, we dutifully spayed and immunized as her breath was cut short by a fast midnight car, we ended up with a permanent, although costly, memorial spot in our perennial garden. sensing the time was right, a stray, pregnant, feline mother (albeit missing the toes of her right rear paw) took up shop behind our woodpile. who could say no to a hobbling, pregnant gal?

two litters of kittens later, my father and father-in-law's practical sense looms up within me. I haven't bought a gun, but I can more clearly understand the urge to "take them out to the back 40" so to speak. our family vet informs me that cats can indeed get pregnant during breastfeeding and because of virtually unlimited breeding seasons, are really kitten-producing machines. LESSON LEARNED. some of our kittens we gave away to "good homes", but the last litter of kittens for whatever reason, even though they were born and raised in our barn, were essentially wild. how are we going to give away kittens that we can't catch? while trying to round them up to take into the local animal shelter, I got more than one healthy chomp to my index finger (leaving teeth-shaped holes).

catching wild kittens is extremly time consuming, and difficult to do with small children around. taking their mother to the vet for a prerequisite exam and follow-up spay surgery is no less so. on the morning of our mother cat's surgery, I got all three children out of the house in order to begin the capturing and caging process. JD, the lucky patient, was no where to be found. we tromped through waist high wet grass in high humidity and ambled around our property and woods, shaking the food can and calling. I carried N the entire 45 minutes while M tried to keep up ("wait for me! wait for me!) and lost her flip flops somewhere in the middle of the pasture. Five minutes before the end of the drop-off window at the vet, I called to inform them of their reticent patient. I walked back out of the house and JD ambles nonchalantly across the drive. by this time I am exhausted, jaded and longing for the day when cat birth control becomes inexpensive.

in her two trips to the vet, JD was a stellar patient. she only went to the bathroom once while in the car and she did not bite me. she still limps and will need her stitches out in 7 days, but for all of my intents and purposes, will be kitten-free for the rest of her born days. unfortunately, we discovered last night that the one kitten we kept (for M) appears to be a female. according to the vet that means we have about 4 months to figure out how to take care of that looming problem. pay up or ship out?

*no cats were harmed in the making of this blog

Pell-Mell Into the Spring Playtime

It's going to take a bit of adjusting to get used to these warm, sunny days. After a cold winter and a cool spring, 75 degrees feels like I can't breathe. A cool 11 o'clock breeze through the living room window that rustles the maple trees along the driveway feels like all the peaceful interlude for which I could ask on a Sunday night.

Congratulations on continuing to check this blog after such long absences over the past year - you are to be commended on your commitment to my literary efforts, bumbling as they are. I have bumped into enough of you out there to feel re-inspired to continue to write. The fact that this effort means something to you, means something to me. Please leave me a comment once in a while!

Well, the grace period is over (see last post to define "grace period".) We are pell-mell, tumble bumble into the spring work/play out in the yard. We have weeded, mulched, trimmed, planted (perennials, vegetables, herbs, annuals, trees!), transplanted, sprouted seeds, and mowed grass in the third gear of my Toro walk-behind mower, which is about the equivalent aerobic exercize of a 2 or 3 mile run. (I've even stirred up the year-old compost pile) All this in the wettest spring I can remember and with the most children I've ever had to take care of. I fall into bed exhausted, but it's a "happy" exhausted. I haven't had this much fun in a great while.

Our outdoor projects help us to learn about each other. Most of these projects start out in O's brain - she browses the catalogs, envisions the possibilities and orders the seeds and plants. Through conversation and looking over her shoulder, I soon get on board with the enthusiasm. After the seeds, plants, trees and mulch come, I work outside fiendishly in spare moments to bring all these visions to pass. While most of her ideas are brilliant and beautiful, I temper them with the practical aspects of cold reality and in the process of pouring myself into the said projects, begin to come up with ideas and alterations of my own. (wouldn't these trees look better over there?) These discussions and differences of opinion keep the conversation lively and the love warm - but perhaps this kind of ebb and flow of tension is what keeps our parents from being excited about planting their own gardens 30 years into the team effort. Be that as it may, I've seldom worked so hard, loved the earth so intimately, or tended so many plants as this spring.

Spring

wow. it is spring, at long last. the daphodils have bloomed and the tree buds have given the woods a red blush of promise. we're in the grace period; after the long uphill climb of winter we've leveled off and can enjoy the view and excitement, right before we plunge headlong down the other side in the craziness of all the work that will undoubtedly come as we attempt to tend our little acreage. I haven't been an adult long enough to know how to walk around our place without constantly thinking of things that need to be done. good grief! let me alone! the cells continue to divide, children grow long legs and our age comes quietly.

Observing the Little Guy

Observing the Little Guy

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tearing apart my kitchen

limb from limb

like Dionysus

(nothing can be sole or whole

that has not been rent)

boxes, bags, dishes, containers

things on the ground

pushing them around

"learning the use of my hands!"

mouth, hand, hand, hand

mouth, hand, hand, etc.

two hands together, clapping

pulling, pulling out

sounds! making the sound again

turning over, pulling again

wanting to tear apart

and remake the world!

touching, tasting

everything!

wanting to know

to understand!