Monthly Archive

Why is is SO hard to go back to posting when you haven’t in a while? I’ve been hiding from all of you, hoping the blog fairies would just come post witty things and pretty pictures. But no. Stupid fairies.

Speaking of which: the Fairie Festival! As always, we went the Friday closest to Mayday to dance with our Fairie Friends. Kubiando! Every year, I wish I’d planned ahead to spend more time there. Sigh. It’s magical, it really is. Anyway, I know you. You want pictures, so here they are. As usual, they’re utter crap. The magic of the fairies saps my photographic skills. Every year, I swear I’ll take better photos. And then I go have fun instead. Stupid stupid stupid.

Here are am with the girls. I have no idea why they both look so surly. Julianna was annoyed that her wings did not perform well in actual festival conditions, but Lily was perfectly fine.

I was a Fairy of the Sea (Steve: You’re in the Navy?) with a crown of shells, an octopus and a shell around my neck, and starfish hanging on my earrings:

Julianna was the Mallow Fairy. She decided to try gauzy wings hanging from a wire frame, but they kept swinging around together and in general behaving in a most un-wing-like fashion, so she tossed them in a bin not long after we got in. They looked great in the house, though.

Lily was the Forget-me-Not Fairy. What I hope to not forget is that I always have to carry wings and crown within moments of entering the festival grounds. Next year–simple unstructured fabric wings.

Lily’s first request was to walk the maze in which you find five pots of colored chalk, coloring one of your fingers with each pot. At the end, there is a key by which you can tell your fortune by the colors on your fingers.

“You will have ice cream.” My fortune said “You try to find the good in people.” Given that several of you just choked, I’m thinking that this is not the most accurate system the fairies could have come up with. Maybe a bit more thought next time, okay sprites?

Lily and Brooke were very excited to see Scheherezade again. She does a little show with gypsy music and belly dancing moves and a gypsy band of children. Here’s Lily with her drum and Brooke with her conducting wand:

They totally want to be Scheherezade when they grow up.

And really, she seems to be having a blast at it, so why not?

I think we all kind of love the drum circle best. When there is a drumming scheduled, there are lots of drummers and dancers and merriment. And when there isn’t, there are just drums lying around that you can beat on as you see fit.

Molly, Julianna, and Tori

Lily and Brooke rock the dijeridoo

I love to even look at other people’s photos of the Fairie Festival b/c it’s just such a great place to…look. i saw this and had to get a shot:

Fairy baby!

I think the Daddy Fairy might have permanent wings…

Who the heck invited THIS weirdo?

The fairies begin to poop out…

Even the Moss Men need a nap by the stream:

So it’s time to head home, stopping for the Dinner of Fairies, Krispy Kremes:

Next year:  good photos and more time!

I got a grill last weekend and I’m a little obsessed.  First night:  Grill everything in the fridge:

Grilled potatoes and onions are among the best things on earth.  I think I grilled and ate 6 whole onions over the course of the last 3 days.  We even grilled dessert that first night:

Second night, broccoli and tofu marinated in Soy Vey Teriyaki and grilled, served over rice.  YUM!

Tonight, pizza!   The kids got the usual tomatoes and cheese and it was fantastic.  But Steve and I had roasted tomatoes and fennel and red onions on ours.   oh….yummy.  It was a Cooks Illustrated recipe.  I’ll link you, but you may need to be a member to see it.  I have an on-line subscription and it’s so worth it.

So, grill mavens–tips?  must-grills?  As you see, we have your standard kettle charcoal grill.  and remember–no critter.

Those in need of non-stop hilarity just skip on down to the next posting. I was just at the fabric store and was in line behind a woman and her little girl, probably about 3 years old. The child was weeping and the mother was berating her “You do not deserve that because what you did was wrong. You are bad.” I’d encountered them earlier and had scurried away b/c the mom was speaking so very viciously to this very small girl. I couldn’t think what to do to help and really, it was making me die a little inside. I know that it can help to smile at the mom and compliment her child, but this woman never stopped her tirade of nastiness. When I saw they were ahead of me in line, I should have just gone to do something else for a bit, but I wanted to get home. So I got to stand there, literally choking back sobs, while this child asked, “Why did you spank me, mama?” and her mother replied “You know why. What you did was wrong.” Now, given that the child could not have been more than 4 at the oldest, she doesn’t have a morality developed enough to do the sort of wrong this woman was insinuating. And if a child does not know why the one person she trusts above all others has caused her physical pain, the least you can do is tell her. Okay, we know I don’t believe in spanking, but lord knows I have had some less-than-proud parenting moments. And really, it isn’t even the spanking that is bothering me. It was the callousness. The little girl’s face was just destroyed. She kept trying to get in good, to make up. “Isn’t this pretty, mama?” the woman wouldn’t give. At least when she said, while rubbing her sore legs, “will you kiss it, mama?” (SOB! from me) the woman said she would.

So. I admit I give advice better than I take it. I admit I have not always been the picture of patience and kindness, particularly when any of my kids was 3 years old (they’re a special kind of deranged at that age), but this is the sort of thing that helps me remember to be better. So I’m passing it to you. If you have a child, please remember: You are his or her world. Especially before they’re out in the world of other kids and adults, parents are the beginning and end of what they know. You get to make them who whey are, how they think of themselves. If you tell them that they are bad and undeserving, they will believe you. You don’t have to be sweetness and light every moment of the day. You can even be grouchy, but please please let them know that you love them, even when they do annoying things. Please don’t belittle them. Even when they’re big and irritating in new ways, don’t make your love conditional. Don’t tell them they are bad. Don’t withhold affection as punishment. And don’t make me cry in the Jo-Anns. Or I will follow you to your car and kick your ass.

Now, back to your usual merriment.

Oh, she’s cute.

That she continues to wear the green and lavender cowboy boots almost everyday brings me joy.  And that I had her hair in dog ears–if only for a few hour and if only to disguise the fact that the leave-in conditioner I’d put in her hair made it look greasy–made me happy.  And that she’s starting to read and write?  Utter delight.

Lily does “journal prompts” every day at school. There’s a sheet with room to draw a picture and then a few words like “At the doctor I” or “When I’m scared I” and then she fills it in. I get a week’s worth at a time and they’re about my favorite thing ever.

Here’s a week:

Dinosaurs r bad.

I love mom (with a drawing of her thinking of me)

When I’m scared my mom cums. (ahem.)

I am happy when my mom cisis me (kisses me. how cute is that)

If I could fly I wood fly to urooba.

Then this week’s:

At the doctor I got bedr (child hasn’t even been in a dr.’s office in years)

A teacher teachis

A firefighter savs pipl

A policeman yts donuts.

Steve said, “You know, police do more than eat donuts.” And she said, “Well sometimes they do, if they want a snack before bedtime.”