hummmm

Walking a neighbor's dog

The day after we arrived home from the ice storm, it looked like this. Balmy. So of course we went out, along the bike path one day...

 ...and to the ridges another, for some warm wind and squishy tromping.

(Don't be completely fooled by these photos - my girls are at least half polar bear, and I was, in the meantime, wearing a down vest and my hat. Winter is still around here, somewhere...)

Today was a good sampling of the kind of busy we've had this week. Ideas are ricocheting off the walls, brains are humming, and I'm just trying to catch up.  Eliza has picked up her camera again and is thinking about starting a blog.  She just finished the first chapter of a book she's reading aloud to me (lucky me!) - Indigo by Alice Hoffman.  She is so tickled to finally be enjoying reading, and those chapter books are such good milestone markers. 

 Today we had a go at a game we've had for a while - Frog and Toad - it's a maze making game that you can play several ways.  After piano practicing and getting some cleaning done together (Eliza tackled the breakfast dishes while Ani and I folded laundry), I pulled out the needle felting, which we all did for a bit and then Eliza started asking about the new sewing machine that has been sitting all new and shiny in the art room. Alone. Off. Silent.

 So I faced my fears about machines - even new shiny ones - and we got down to it. I learned how to thread the bobbin, thread the...um...thread, and finally we were ready to sew.  I handed that bit over to Eliza who already has more experience than I do. It was great! I feel like I kind of understand the machine, and she is beyond happy to have something to work out her ideas on.

Figuring it out - photo by Ani

I convinced her to start with something simple - a bag - rather than the "valentine's dress!" that she was dreaming about.  Let's just say I was feeling overwhelmed.

 Everything seemed to need to happen at the same time today, which was a bit anxiety producing for me, as I seemed several steps behind each one of them, and pulled in a couple different directions, but the girls were getting along which helped so much, and we managed to eat and make it to E's piano lesson, so I guess it all worked out.  Eliza and Ani decided that it was time to start Ani on some piano lessons,  so they spent a while at that (Eliza is the teacher, of course).

 There was reading Shel Silverstein aloud at lunch, and the making of cardboard books, and more reading of Coleman and by the time Dan walked in just in time for me to run to bando class, I needed the 3-breaths during each pose and the silence of the dark night to recharge a bit before letting myself become enveloped again by the crazy, lovely, humming whirlwind that is this home.