celebrations

Summer is SO FULL that I am already feeling woefully behind on the sharing. And yet, just now there is one girl lying on her bed in front of the fan, taking a break from the hard work that is Harry Potter IV to zip through a 600-page Little Lulu, and the other is reading her own graphic novel, having finished with a math lesson, some Tail of Emily Windsnap and a long go at Wizards 101.  It is a serene lull between Go.

I am also so behind on sharing photos - at least the photos! - from my trip, as once I start a post, I just yammer on and on, and have no idea how to craft it into something tidy.  I will keep plugging away at it, for myself as much as anyone.

Which maybe leaves us with Now and working backwards...This past week was lovely, with many opportunities to celebrate.  Eliza turned eleven, and in celebration wrote her own blog post about herself! You can read it at her new blog, Rattlesnake plantain.

We had some family time - out to breakfast at the diner with mom and dad, and present opening with Ani when she got home from her sleepover at camp.

Then friends! Food! Frisbee!  This girl changed her clothes no less than 7 times. At least.

This might have been the smoothest birthday celebration we've ever had, with no sudden blues or meltdowns, just peaceful joyfulness, which after a busy week was so welcome.

Eliza and the woman she hopes is her 20-year old self-to-be, Savannah

With Esme - the green cast is a story for another time...

 Friday we headed out for a Solstice party at Turtle Hill Farm, where the girls had camp all week with Camp Master Jen.  I think next year I need to work myself in as a junior counselor or something... I mean, this ain't no camp like I remember!!

Camp Master Jen

They got to finish working on benches they had helped construct...

Ari and Noah's bench

...there was straw figure making for the Solstice bonfire...

...and there was some impromptu hair cutting!! Eliza started it, and five more heads followed...(thank you Kylene!!)

Don't you think this could be a new tradition? The Solstice haircut? It seems to fit right in with the burning of the straw figures, the letting-go and starting anew...

This girl just evolves before my eyes. I found myself wondering the other day if I am seeing the version of her that I will look back at and remember having emerged at this age.  I am no longer looking at her child self, though she walks that line between child and young woman as clearly as if she were wearing a hightop on one foot and a delicate sandal on the other.  She is self-assured and loving, strong-willed and persuasive, joyful, creative, insightful, playful...Oh, Eliza, I love you so much! 

The night ended with the bonfire, a dance party and that beautiful nearly-full moon...We spent our anniversary - twenty years together, thirteen of them wed - drinking tequila gimlets, watching Frances Ha and talking late into the night with good friends who asked good questions about us...let us tell our story, probed a little into what our love languages are...it was an auspicious way to begin a new year of Together.

Look! It's us!