Telfer carved this little owl for me – he’s the little baby owl in Little Owl Lost, a sweet picture book RaChelle gave the girls. I think he’s so cute.

Speaking of owls, Jane dressed up as one for Halloween. How cute is she? Cate was AMAZING GIRL! It was kind of amazing…We had a good Halloween. There are so many ways of handling candy with kids but I read on a blog a couple of years ago how a mom lets her kids eat as much candy as they want on Halloween and then it is rationed to one or two a day after that. It actually works pretty well. Jane ate maybe two pieces of candy and of course Cate ate a lot more than that but nothing ridiculous. And then it cuts out the control/negotiating aspect of Halloween that can be such a nightmare when you have an amazing type of child. Hah!

Then on Friday, RaChelle brought Brynn and Claire over for a visit. Brynn is the sweetest, most cuddly little three-month-old ever. We had such a nice day at home with all four girls. It always goes too fast though! 

With Telfer turning 34 on Monday, the Griffith family birthday season has come to an end. The girls have been calling Telfer “the birthday boy” so it was both inevitable and awesome when Jane called out from the toilet, “the birthday boy can wipe my bum!” Yes, he can!

Telfer carved pumpkins with the girls on Saturday. We have a kitty and a wolf/dog. We have one more carvable pumpkin and I am hoping Telfer will carve me an owl. The weather has been so beautiful this last week plus – foggy (soggy as the girls still call it – mostly just humoring me now) in the mornings and clear and beautiful in the late afternoon.

The girls have both been up since 5:40 this morning but they know they can’t wake mom up until 7:00 on Fridays. I think this is a very good rule. They went straight down the stairs to start their coloring projects and I was asked, before coffee, and very urgently, to draw a beaver. I could be the world’s worst artist. This is my 7:05 AM beaver. 

My parents are driving in from Richland today and the girls are so excited for a little visit. The weather promises to be nice so I think we are going to the farmer’s market later this afternoon. Mussels are on the menu for sure. The girls want to Grandma to play Calico Critters with them and I thought we would do a Halloween costume dry run. 

A couple of bookish notes from this week:

I love this Neil Gaiman lecture/essay on libraries and reading published in The Guardian. 

Indulge me with a quote: “I was once in New York, and I listened to a talk about the building of private prisons – a huge growth industry in America. The prison industry needs to plan its future growth – how many cells are they going to need? How many prisoners are there going to be, 15 years from now? And they found they could predict it very easily, using a pretty simple algorithm, based on asking what percentage of 10 and 11-year-olds couldn’t read. And certainly couldn’t read for pleasure. It’s not one to one: you can’t say that a literate society has no criminality. But there are very real correlations. And I think some of those correlations, the simplest, come from something very simple. Literate people read fiction.”

And it goes on from there. Good stuff people – about libraries, raising kids who love to read for pleasure,  and our obligations as literate adults.  Please read.

Also, I went to Powell’s last weekend with the women from my life group and picked up this. It dovetails nicely with the essay above. Those two sentences made it sound like I only bought one book at Powell’s. Hah!

I think I have said this before, but I have been slightly ADD with my reading the last few months and on a whim, I grabbed Possession by A.S. Byatt. Rereading is one of life’s best and most intense pleasures. At least if you are me. 

I was cleaning out my little office last night and suddenly, I had a little pajama-clad visitor. I took about fifty pictures of her and this was the best. So, obviously, I am planning to read Flora & Ulysses soon. Thanks for the recommendation Anna.

When Fall hits, I start craving a big, big book. I decided on The Brontes by Juliet Barker. I don’t think I can actually carry it anywhere because it’s so big. I am also going to reread Bleak House this winter. Dickens is a Winter type of author. And The Little House on the Prairie books as well – Chris got me the best new edition of the books last year and I have meant to reread for awhile. 

Amanda is hosting an online book club and we decided to read The Lowlands by Jhumpa Lahiri. Our first meeting is in December. Looking forward to it.

Telfer woke me up one morning in California with the news that Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize for literature. I love Alice Munro completely. Even if you think short stories aren’t your thing, please try. Start with Hateship, Friendship, Loveship, Courtship, Marriage even if for the title alone. Did you read about the study published this month in Science? Reading literary fiction, even if for a few minutes a day, can increase your social intelligence and empathy levels. Readers already know this, but it’s wonderful a study can back it up.

Also, my very short reading reviews page is updated.

And this is my favorite picture of our trip to California – of course it is. Striding through the hotel on the way to Disneyland. Daddy has a pink cardi over his shoulder and he knows where he is going. Cate is almost trying to lead. Jane has feathers for hair. Hard not to love this one.

This was the most talkative, cutest little Tinkerbell you can even imagine. My girls loved meeting her. None of the princesses were this great. We spent two days at Disneyland and California Adventure and the rest of the time at a timeshare in Escondido. Michael came out to visit one evening and we went to Redlands and Loma Linda one day to visit our sweet, sweet neighbors and the wonderful librarians at Loma Linda. 

And the rest of the time we did this: bask in the California sunshine. I just love that dry heat and the beautiful California light and the palm trees and the sun setting behind the hills. But I know we made the right decision moving back to the Northwest. This feels like home, but I am so happy we can visit California. And now that the girls are older and traveling seems attainable, we can go once a year and get our fix. Although I don’t think I can handle Disneyland much more than every three or four years. Just to be honest.

My grandma’s funeral was on Saturday in Baker City, OR and our flights to California were *early* Sunday morning in Seattle. We made it work. I am so glad we did. It was a lot of driving on Friday and then Saturday after the funeral. We stayed in my great-grandmother’s house in Haines with my parents and Alyssa & Co. I will almost drive seven hours for my girls to play with their cousins for one morning. Almost. 

We drove through Portland and took the girls to Multnomah Falls (one of my most favorite places when I was a kid). Cate literally could not see the falls until we were right there in front of it. Then she saw it.

My grandma was known for her delicious cinnamon rolls so Alyssa made some for breakfast the morning of the funeral. Alyssa brought candles and decorations and we had a little birthday party for Miss Cate. 

I don’t claim to know the specifics of death and dying and what the next life will be like in its details and realities – I find it irritating when there is a lot of certainty involved – but my grandmother loved her Lord and she was ready to go home. There is something very beautiful about that and it was actually wonderful to be there at her funeral, to hear stories about her life and fellowship with all that loved her.