Ninja Georgia

came to me after working hard to find all these dark clothes. Later, I discovered the contents of the winter hat and mitten bag exploded all over the place.  Becoming a ninja had apparently been urgent.

She sidled up to me and stated clearly, "All I need is a knife."
I did not give her one,

New Moon

I was so brave!

I went for a swim alone in the dark of the new moon.  Here is a view from the small dock
It was lovely.
Some friends were going to come, but one by one they bailed.
Rob encouraged, "You could just go." and I did.
I drove the winding roads to the lake.
First I sat on the dock and watched the sky and the water get darker and darker, then, finally I stepped out into the cool dark water.

 I swam out toward the center of the dark quiet water.
I could see my hands in front of me, moving gracefully in the water, pure white in the dark in front of me.
I turned over onto my back, looking up at the great darkening sky as I floated.

Magnificent.

I'm so glad I went!
I felt purified and changed as I emerged from the water.
Bright orange lightening was flashing above the nearby mountain.

The Basement

I have been planning on going through the baby clothes and get them off to goodwill forever.
It used to be a task that was very fraught with sadness and regret; I had always wanted more children (My role model for mothering had always been Maria Von Trapp from Sound of Music, but I just realized; she didn't birth the children herself! And she had a cook, a housekeeper and a butler!)  I don't have any of those things and my body was done. 
Which is actually great.
I'm so happy to have the two girls I have and I'm thrilled to have the time to spend with them.  It worked out well.

Today Georgia was off on a playdate and Lily decided she would help me tackle the bins of clothes.

It was still a very tender process, not because I wished for more babies of my own to fill out the clothes, but because I thought about my girls when they were babies.  It was so sweet to go through their tiny outfirts and blankets.  It almost seems impossible that my girls were so small.  It was perfect to do it with Lily because whenever I got too sad, missing those tiny girls; there was a giant 11 year old telling me to pull it together and keep going.  And that was her! The same girl who used to wear the lime green leather shoes when she learned to walk (still her favorite color!) So it tempered the pain to have her there with me.  There was nothing to mourn.  We had a lovely time when she was small drooly and cute and were still having a great time. Carry on.

But she also was moved by the tiny clothes and we decided to wash up the most precious and put them in a bin to use as doll clothes or for just having.

Don't tell Rob.

Then we went for a cooling jump in the Northfield Inn Pool.
We became members at this local pool this year (They had a big sale!) so we can go 7 days a week 11a-7p.  Awesome!  I'm a bit paranoid about water and children and supervision, so I love that there is an alert lifeguard there at all times.

We have been going almost every day.  This evening we had it all to ourselves!

Fireworks!!!

We settled in with some friends and enjoyed the festivities; fried dough, weird little train rides, avoiding plumes of smoke, procuring mustaches and glow sticks while we were waiting for the fireworks!

I got a video of the finale!

BOOM!!
It's always a great night until the traffic getting out of town.

The new hangout

When she was really litttle, Rob promised Lily the "room above the garage" as a hangout when she turned 12.  She has been drawing pictures of what it will look like, furnished with Pottery barn Teen items from the catalogs she finds before I quickly toss them in the recycling.

The girls headed up there on this hot day to check it out.

I thought they'd be disappointed by the grimes and dust and nails, but they had fun and are excited. 

The entrance is a bit steep and narrow for me.
(Which might be why they like it. It's kid territory.)

Happy Fourth of July!!

We started the day with a last-ditch effort to get a flat of strawberries and make a pie, but alas, no more strawberries at Upingill.

Georgia did get a ride on the newly created rooster made of maple wood.

In the aftenoon we went to our friend's annual party at a nearby lake.

It was hot hot hot, but the water was cool and the food was great.

Lily learned to kayak and paddle across the lake (The first time she twirled around and ended up going backwards most of the way, but by the end of the day she had figured it out.

I didn't want to leave, but finally it was bedtime for the girls so we took our wet and tired selves home.

Sometimes I feel like, "Oh no! It can't be the 4th of July! It hardly feels like summer!"  Not this year, I feel smack dab in the middle of summer wonderfulness.  I think it's a big advantage to be able to walk this year, and swim!  What a delight to float in the water for hours!

Hope you had a great holiday!

Happy Summer!

Forget-me-nots

Such a lovely flower!  With all the wet weather, they are thriving this year.  I have never been able to grow them in my yard, but they grow in great blooming patches in some damp yards nearby.  I love the bright colors and this year I realized part of why I love them so much is because they are featured in one of my very favorite books A Fairy Went a Marketing
http://www.amazon.com/Fairy-Went-Marketing-Rose-Fyleman/dp/0140547517#reader_0140547517

The illustrations by Jamichael Henterly are so wonderful, and I realized when I was reading it to Georgia yesterday that Forget-Me-Nots are featured in the final page.

 Here's another page I love.  The bee drinking from the saucer, the mason jar greenhouse!  The Snowdrops, Trout Lilies, Bleeding hearts, Fiddleheads and Trillium all botanically and seasonally accurate!  Amazing!