Andrea Y. Griffith

My Sweet Henry

When you love a dog they become part of your personal history and your family history and for better or worse become more beloved than most people. Especially in Telfer’s training years, Henry was my main companion and friend but even now, with two girls and another puppy, Henry and I were very connected. I love this dog. Henry hasn’t been feeling well for about a month and I took him in last week — the x-rays showed he was full of cancer. It happened so fast. We spent the last few days cuddling and eating bacon and chicken and chocolate chip cookies (why not?). But then last night he stopped eating and this morning he couldn’t go down the stairs. I had to let him go today and I am so sad.

Last week I went through our 4000+ pictures on flickr and put my favorite Henry pictures over the years into a set. He was such a very good boy.

A Trip to Powell’s

The last few weeks have been very full – I have been doing an additional project at work that although interesting, has consumed all my extra time. We hit a bit of a lull at the end of this week and I am looking forward to a weekend with Telfer and the girls and friends and little home projects and books and food.

But this picture. There’s a lot that has happened in the last few weeks that I wanted to report on but this picture is really all you need to know. Telfer and I did a complicated switch with Alyssa and Nate right outside of Portland last Friday. We put Cate and Jane in their car and Alyssa and Nate and Judah headed back to Olympia. And then we took all five girls to Powell’s City of Books. I had given them gift certificates to Powell’s for Christmas and have been so looking forward to going with them. Five girls in Powell’s was just too fun. Several people asked me if all the girls were mine and I said no every time but was tempted to say yes! And aren’t they beautiful? It really could be worse.

Eden, Cora and Neva love books and reading and have never been to Powell’s. They were absolutely floored by the variety and sheer number of books and consequently, absolutely adorable. We bought horse books and Mo Willems and drawing books and novels they had read at the library but now wanted for their very own. I loved taking them. We stopped at the coffee shop in Powell’s and had hot chocolate, cappuccino, and cookies. We drove home, to Olympia, the car quiet with my two small girls asleep in their carseats and Telfer driving, and the rest of us, reading.

Sweetness & Spring

My main source of gratefulness these days revolves around these two girls. Is it bad to admit that I love having older girls? I loved them as babies too of course but I think back to one year ago, two years ago and there is no way I would go back. Last Tuesday I took the girls to Casa Mia for our usual every-other Tuesday dinner out. Telfer was working and that used to mean there was no chance I would take the girls on my own. Now, I love having them to myself for the evening. We talk about their days and how they feel about Parmesan cheese and what Tressa said to Malia in Jane’s class (usually involves the word “sassy”) and the flavor of dum-dum they will pick out after we finish. They have become friends this year. Most mornings I awake to the sound of intense play coming from the next room. They go on complicated picnics and trips all before 7:00 a.m. They make food sculpture statues and have their friends all lined up and say, “MOM, don’t move our uni-gumi statues before the Fall Scepter!!” What? Okay girls. I love this. I love that a whole morning can go by and the television doesn’t go on because they are playing. It used to be that I could not imagine life without at least 22 minutes of peace during Yo Gabba Gabba. There are times now when I miss them because their play is so involved. What a wonderful, blessed problem to have. They will probably come screaming into the room and we will have an evening of epic behavior issues right after I write this but I tell you: I am so grateful for the things I am seeing in their lives this year.

Also for pink trees and really fun books. Cate had the stomach flu yesterday and I read almost this entire book in between cleaning up bowls of vomit. Good times.

Signs of Spring & a George Update

A couple of things early in the week:

The sun is shining today and Spring seems like a possibility. To say it has rained lately is a bit of an understatement. But look at these beautiful purple flowers in our yard. Can you also tell we have some leaf management to do?

A few nights ago I settled in to try to finish The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. At around page 700 (book is almost 800 pages long) I could tell things were wonky. Pages started to repeat themselves and at one point the pages go from 714 to 757. So I finished but I am not sure what happened really? Powell’s is sending me a new copy. I should be annoyed but I made the mistake of leaving the novel and George together in the same room unsupervised. When I came back into the room thirty seconds after leaving it, the top of the spine was completely chewed up. So a new copy is not unwelcome. And maybe then I will find out exactly what happened with the painting. Because I am a little confused.

Speaking of George, we have entered into the late preschool stage of puppyhood. We have great days which lead to smug moments where we think things are going so well and maybe there’s just something about us that just raises good dogs. And then there has been the last 24 hours. George has dug holes, scared Jane, pooped on the rug, pottied on the floor, ran unsecured through the backyard and into our neighbors yard. I could go on. Our street is busy, particularly in the early evenings, and so I really do have safety primarily on my mind but I swear, my neighbors must think I am crazy. There has been a lot of “GEORGE!” stretched out into several syllables.

And finally, Jane is now a jumper :
)

Little Free Library

Our little free library has been up for about a week now! Last Thursday was so beautiful and sunny and springlike – bookended by days and days of rain. Telfer had the day off after a grueling night call (slept all night) and so he spent an afternoon sawing wood and digging a hole to finish up the project. I am of course a little fuzzy on the technical details but I do know about shelving books. Classic.

I am delighted by the whole thing of course. It’s so interesting to see which books have already been borrowed and the titles that have been added by neighbors. One of my neighbors threatened to bring over her copy of 50 Shades of Grey (!) and in the spirit of public libraries, I said of course you can! If you have never been to our house before, our street is one of the borders of our old neighborhood. Across the street is state buildings and our sidewalk gets a lot of foot traffic all day long – neighbors and state workers. The girls love this little project of ours too. They check on the LFL every morning, clomping down the front steps in their rain boots and rain jackets, on our way out the door.

I registered our little free library on the map today but it could be awhile before it shows up. If you don’t live in Olympia, you might want to see if there are other LFL’s in your town.