spark

on a snowy day

"Keep your faith in beautiful things;
in the sun when it is hidden,
in the Spring when it is gone."
- Roy R. Gibson

word of the day 31/365: kerfuffle

to go, originally uploaded by theloushe.

We had snow yesterday and today the bird feeders were busy, busy, busy. I tried - unsuccessfully - to capture one of the territorial flutters that inevitably occur when the seed is in high demand. I did get my first nuthatch sighting of the year, though, and caught him as he flew to a tree to unwrap his lunch. I thought kerfuffle...ruffle...flutter...flurry...flap.

Griff attempted - unsuccessfully - to capture an argument between his brothers, who had an unexpectedly peaceful day. Failing to capture a real spat, he tried to stage one. The staged video didn't meet his creative demands, so he created a commotion on paper, instead.

studio shelves

A friend was so inspired by our studio that she made one of her own! This, in turn, inspired me to do a little overhaul of our shelves. About a quarter of the space had been overrun with an excess of games and puzzles. Griff and I went through all of them, chose which to donate and which to keep, and then found new homes for the keepers. In the meantime, Reese and Dan played several of them. I love how shuffling things reminds us of what we have and encourages us to make use of them!

Above is the end result of today's rehab. Ahhh, so much better. A couple of people have asked about our art studio in the past; if you want to know what's on those shelves or see more views of the studio, click through to the flickr page for the labeled image, and then scroll through a couple more shots of this space.  The room is far from finished - it needs new shades to replace the dry-rotted orange ones, the shelves need paint, and one wall is bare, waiting for me to decide what kind of art display system to install.  It's still our favorite spot, though.

I completely agree with Patience that sacred spaces are essential.  This room was beloved by the previous owners of our home; they used it as an office and reading nook.  I had originally intended to do the same (minus the wall-to-wall carpet and heavy paisley), but then realized how perfect the shelves would be for holding the buckets of art supplies that had been heaped in a kitchen cabinet in our old home, and how lovely the room would be with the kids' little table and a love seat.  It was an instant hit and during our first few months here, we ate breakfast every morning at the little table and the kids made drawing after drawing while I read books on the love seat.  The seat has since moved to the living room and our kitchen set has moved in, but the room is still the busiest in our home.  It's full of light and creativity.  The sun streams in through "stained glass" coloring book pages taped up by Griff and fused glass tiles made by me.  A narcissus slowly grows up inside the window and birds visit our feeders outside of it.  Just past the birds we can see the whole wonderful back yard, and in the summer people inside the house can call to those outside through breezy open windows.  This space is the heart of our home, it represents all the things we love most about ourselves and the place where we live.

word of the day 30/365: abundance

abundance is...

★ shelves crowded with games and puzzles
★ finding extra space for creativity
★ setting aside things to donate
★ generous friends
★ a snowbound day spent entirely in pajamas
★ introducing the kids to The Wizard of Oz
★ planning to buy a yardstick, then finding two left by the last owner
★ fluffy down comforters
★ two consecutive nights of good sleep
★ an unexpected dinner from a caterer
★ birds feasting at the feeder, in the snow
★ a neighbor who tosses the ball back over the fence for you
★ a concidental tea tag quote: "gratitude is the open door to abundance"
★ bowls full of homemade popcorn
★ bins chock full of action figures

word of the day 29/365: bamboozled

desperate measures, originally uploaded by theloushe.

I have a small collection of vials that usually hide in the back of the medicine cabinet, relics of desperate times. There's the one I bought when my child was still not sleeping and I thought, as many sleep-deprived parents do, well, maybe it's teething, and maybe this little sugar pill thing really might work. There's the sugar pills I bought to put under my own tongue when I was super-pregnant and super-irritable and somebody somewhere told me that this stuff was good for bringing you "out of the bitch basement." There are drops to mix with water to balance mood, a mouth spritzy thing for stress relief.

Each of these reminds me of times when I had tried everything else I could think of, when I was so hopeless that I was willing to cast aside my sense of logic and my preference for evidence-based medicine in exchange for the promise of a cure. All of them, as far as I'm concerned, useless. I don't give any credence to homeopathy. There are many proven herbal remedies but unproven, illogical tinctures of squid ink and floral essences? I never believed they worked beyond the placebo effect...and if you don't believe in the stuff you're sniffing, you don't even get self-delusive peace for your money.

In the end, they got my cash, and I got to muse over the fact that sometimes, all that works is giving in to the craptastic moment you're in and just sitting still with it. Sometimes taking that moment to tell yourself that you're going to survive it is the real rescue remedy.

Was I completely bamboozled? (I never bought an amber necklace, does that count for anything?)

Griff seems to agree that I'm easy to dupe, just take a look at this drawing, in which he (left) prevents me (right) from finding his secret lair (below) with the oldest trick in the book. Safe from discovery is the hideout below a false platform. If you click through to the flickr page you can view it larger or see notes labeling the items in his den.

Note the date on the calendar.  Nice touch!

And speaking of science, this is an amazing lecture transcript that expresses so much of how I feel about science.  Awesome food for thought.

Tonight, snow! AKA #snomg2 on Twitter. Ha!

word of the day 28/365: insidious

"I rejoice that there are owls," wrote Thoreau in Walden, and I could say the same, but I fear that they will be my undoing. I must have been infected by my exposure in the '70s - one of my mom's favorite coffee mugs (which is now in my cabinet) bore owls and I have a vague recollection of other owl paraphernalia or items bearing owl motifs. At any rate, the 70s seemed full of folkloric designs, quaint birds, gnomes, mushrooms, and pretty much anything that resembles a Waldorf school or vintage shop today.

First I adopted the mug, which my mom didn't seem to want or need any more. (A mushroom mug my dad used to use came with it.) My grandmother parted ways with an old owl necklace (incidentally, her kitchen was done in mushrooms for as long as I can remember). A friend found a little owl mug for me on Etsy as a surprise. I have been wishing for (but not purchased yet) a tiny owl figurine for the mantel. I wished for (and did purchase) a set of owl sheets for my bed. Then I was in an antique store the other day - the same day I impulse-purchased an eighty-year-old typewriter - and came upon the beaut you see at the top of the post. He's absolutely adorable and I knew he'd be coming home with me. He's so hungry and needs a bellyful of cookies.

Can you see where this is going? I never meant for this to happen. I'm in the danger zone at this point. I'm going to become the crazy owl lady. And even if I restrain myself, any second now people are going to start thinking of me as somebody who *collects* owls, and they will start gifting me with owls of their choosing. Which, I fear, I will then need to put up for adoption. Don't do it. Think of the owls.

On the other hand, the owls, those devils, they did this to me. See the glint in their beady little eyes as they watch me eyeball a vintage hook (shaped like an owl, natch) on which to hang my keys? Screw 'em. Every bird for herself.

Even if I manage to fight off the owls, I'm going to have to watch out for Griffin, who has apparently taken to designing traps. He really grokked with the "danger" aspect of the word insidious. He's been asking far too many questions about our alarm system lately, too. Hmmm.

PS: new wide-angle lens arrived today! w00t! Or maybe I should say h00t!

PPS: I seem to be working in two-day batches lately, with the photos taken on the actual assigned day but all the editing/posting work done every other day.  Hoping to get back to daily posts.

word of the day 27/365: first

:: first person
:: me, first
:: first things first

How are you taking care of #1? My biggie here is the relatively recent 8 o'clock rule: at 8am every morning the kitchen becomes self-serve only so that *I* can have enough time to get a bite of breakfast, a swallow of coffee, and a peek at email before we head out the door. The kids are up early and, hobbits that they are, have usually enjoyed second breakfast by the time table service ends. After that, grab yourself an apple, bub. The mama's got a right to feed herself.

Back in the pre-kid days I had 45 whole minutes every morning just for blow-drying my hair.  Another half hour or more to sit alone at the breakfast table and read the paper while eating at whatever pace I chose. The only way to do that here and now would be to wake up at 5am, and even then solitude is no guarantee.  So I do what I can to preserve a little sanity and cram some nutrients in. 

Don't get me started on bathroom privacy, 'k?

Griff has no such thoughts when he hears "first".  He thinks of long-awaited new opportunities like the first day of school.  The child loves school; this depiction of himself on his first day (past? future?) is no exaggeration. 

Xander, who is two, is already looking forward to his first day of school next fall.  He informed me yesterday that he is going to preschool and that he needs a backpack. Oh, and that he wants to go to the pet store and buy a dog, and a hamster named Hammie for Reese.  I think that's a first for which we can wait a little longer, though.  

How are you looking out for number one? What firsts is your family experiencing?

word of the day 26/365: sesquipedalian

i love that word, originally uploaded by theloushe.

I was caught up reading the book you see above for my book group and never got the chance to post yesterday, so #26 and #27 will both show up today.  I'm reasonably sure my brother is the culprit behind this one. How does one show a tendency to use long words, or a person who uses them?

I considered taking a photo of Reese, who surprised us one day a year or more ago by counting syllables on his fingers before he even knew the word "syllable." He still likes to inform us of the syllable count of seemingly random words.

Just as I was beginning to despair, I came across a word that immediately made me think sesquipedalian! The sentence was perfect and I love images of type. The book, by the way, is Joseph O'Neill's Netherland, and I highly recommend it. I'm a little surprised at O'Neill's ability to take a book about a cricket-playing guy's relationship troubles in post-9/11 New York and make it both interesting and suspenseful, not to mention beautifully written.  If my recommendation isn't good enough, consider that it's what President Obama selected for his bedtime reading when he was sick of briefing books. 

Griff took a more etymological approach to the word. Having heard that it derived from the Latin for "foot and a half", he was reminded of a snake.  One with a googly eye, no less.

word of the day 25/365: pernickety

sipping, originally uploaded by theloushe.

Cool fact: pernickety appears to be the older variant of persnickety. We yanks tend to say the latter, but the word was suggested by Andrea of the UK, where, apparently, they more frequently use the former, which is itself an elongation of its Scottish predecessor, pernicky. I almost corrected the "typo" but instead gave myself a lesson in etymology, and now have passed it on to you. You're welcome. Isn't it nice that I'm a bit persnickety about spelling and grammar?

The fussy people in our home must have their water in a "tall bee glass", full to the top, and with a bendy straw. God help she who fails to comply.

Our home was also witness today to a meltdown of epic proportions when the recipient of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich who normally likes it to be cut into quarters voiced a desire for the sandwich to remain fully intact after the chef had already begun to slice it. Weeping, wailing, and a futile attempt to fuse the cut bread back together followed. I'm not saying that inspired Griffin's art today...you be the judge:

You guys are not going to believe tomorrow's word.  I had never heard of it before it was suggested by my brother and his wife (and I'm going to go out on a limb and guess this one was his).

what does a digeridoo?

I went to retrieve some photos from the little digicam today and found a series of video clips made by Griff this morning.  I love the stream-of-consciousness style of kids' photo/video journeys through a house.  I spliced them all together into something that will probably crack my family up for years to come. 

Gotta love the operatic knights and the didgeridoo song, which I had never heard before. Did you notice the reappearance of Feathers? Griff has re-hidden him (he's not in the diaper box, I looked).  Where does that shifty penguin lurk?

What unexpected things are the people in your life making?