Hugh & Malcolm started school this morning. For the past few weeks, I have been plotting how to help them, study-wise, when they are back under our roof at the end of the day. Because, with one in 11th grade and the other in 8th, grades matter now. College is looming. Some admissions counselor, somewhere, [...]
Emily wrote recently about how the transition from summer to fall is her clearest warning sign that time is marching on. On that same theme – how time and tide wait for no man – Chris tossed off a line recently that has had me chuckling every time I think of it. SETTING: A beer-and-burger [...]
Any last-minute summer reading going on in your house? Here, we have Hugh reading The True Story of Hansel and Gretel. He has already finished the other two requirements: The Kite Runner and a book set in Africa whose title I forget and am too lazy to look up. I stole Hansel and Gretel from him [...]
As I write, I’m listening to one of my favorite David Gray songs on my little purple iPod, and the title seems to be the perfect headline for today’s post about taking Ian to college last Thursday with Chris. Yes, I cried, but only at the very end of the day….and only when I looked at [...]
When Ian was two-and-a-half, and I was pregnant, Chris and I decided that our first-born needed to start preschool. After a short search of the nearby programs that did not reject those in diapers, we decided on a place in a church basement called Friendly Faces. I took Ian to check out the place. He seemed to like it OK, [...]
After spending almost every day of every week of this summer at home, we’ve been rather peripatetic this month. Last weekend, Chris, Hugh, Malcolm and I lit out for a tiny hamlet in Virginia (Ian was still at his friend Freddy’s house in the Poconos). Our mission: to meet up with Chris’s friend Jamie from UVA, [...]
We were on our way back from the St. Lawrence River last Saturday, but we weren’t delivering Ian to meet his friend Freddy in the Poconos until Sunday. What to do? To fill the gap, Chris had the great inspiration to plan an overnight trip that would take us to Ricketts Glen State Park. We had [...]
The stars aligned in several ways during our recent stay on the New York/Canada border. 1. We got to see our friends Todd and Suzanne, whom we’ve known for nearly 30 years, and their children. Because they live in London, it’s not as if we can just drop in on them whenever we feel like [...]
We loaded up the car and left yesterday for our annual rendezvous with friends at the St. Lawrence River. We actually packed jeans and sweatshirts – it is supposed to get down to 65 degrees at night. Heaven! This may be one of the last trips the five of us take together. Hard to believe. Enjoy [...]
Recently, our friend Laura was over at our house. As I got out the pitcher to pour some iced tea, she exclaimed, “Oh my goodness, you’ve had that Tupperware pitcher since you lived on Church Street in 1983!” She’s right. Once pale yellow, it is now stained a dark quasi-orange. This pitcher’s sole purpose in life is [...]
