Ramblings

It’s the second to last day of September and I am sitting at my desk in my cozy little office wearing a sweater and drinking tea. It’s raining outside and I am working away on a variety of work projects. More on this later. Telfer should be home soon and I think we will head out to lunch before we pick up Cate promptly at 3:02 pm.

The last few weeks have zipped on by. I must admit, we are all still figuring out morning schedules. You can read quite a lot into that statement! On a good note though, last Friday was Cate’s school’s Harvest Festival where the kids make the lunch from produce grown in the school gardens. Since our Fall will be crazy, I decided to volunteer for something big right at the beginning of the year: I coordinated parents and helped kindergartners and first graders make 50 (yes, you read that right) pumpkin pies. Yes. The kids roasted the pumpkin, scooped it out, made the pastry, and the filling. It was awesome. I now know most of the kid’s names and some of their parents. Kindergartners cooking is both hysterical and absolutely awesome. One little girl sneezed twice into the bowl of filling. I pretended I didn’t see anything.

Cate took this picture of me when we were transitioning from dropping Jane off to walking Cate to school. Obviously I was working from home that day but it cracks me up. I had no idea she was a taking a picture and I look so purposeful.

Jane turned four on September 10. When I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday she said she wanted to play marbles with me. When I asked her what she wanted to eat for her birthday she said cheese and crackers. We can do both Jane! We had cheese and crackers on the boat and then motored out to nearby Boston Harbor for ice cream. Such a sweet four year-old request.

Our garden is almost finished for the year. We still have lots of greens and kale but we are pretty much done with zucchini (sigh of relief) and the girls and I harvested our little, ornamental pumpkins last week.


My mom turned 60 this month as well. The whole family gathered in Richland for such a fun weekend. On Friday night all the adults went to a winery for dinner, wine and dancing. At least all the girls danced – I am still cracking up over the memory of Alyssa picking up a tambourine. Then on Saturday, at my mom’s request, we went to the Pendleton Round-up. I was slightly skeptical at the outset but we had the best time. Those cowboys are tough and so much fun to watch.

Elizabeth took this of me and Telfer at Bookwalter Winery and I have to say, I love this of both of us. I don’t remember exactly what we were talking about but Telfer must be explaining something. I love both listening to him and watching him talk. He’s so himself if that makes sense. Oh, and I got bangs too! I told you I was going to ramble!

One last thing though: I finished Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel a weekish ago and it is still drifting through my mind. Even if you think you can’t read one more post-apocalyptic novel, please put this on your list. Mandel seamlessly weaves together stories and time periods and characters in a way that absolutely left me in awe. Yes, this takes place at the collapse of civilization (from a pandemic this time) but there is so much life and beauty in this novel. One of the highlights of my reading year for sure.