Last weekend, we had a great visit to MICA to see Ian.  It was Parents Weekend – an odd time of year for the event, but fortunately the weather was lovely.

Here you see his roommates and a visiting NYU co-ed (remember the word CO-ED?) hanging out in the living room of their suite. 

Ian took us to his favorite thrift shop, where art students comprise a good chunk of the clientele.  Chris and I have both been there more than once now, and although it doesn’t look terribly promising (tons of rayon and plastic), we have found a treasure each time.  

On we went to the other great place Ian has raved about, “The Book Thing,” an anonymous looking building on a seedy side street in which all the books are FREE.  Each is stamped inside, “This is a free book.  Not for sale.”   The “check out” process consists of signing a clipboard with your name and how many books you’re taking, and any comments.  Most of the comments were “Thank you!” 

Here’s the children’s book section, placed in tubs on the floor for their convenience.

We are fascinated by The Book Thing – who is behind it?  Whose idea is this, and why?  I am heartened to report that many people were browsing the shelves the day we were there, and volunteers roamed the three rooms, stocking books and keeping things neat.  Of course some were dealers but I hope that most were actually readers.   Ian drags home as much as he can carry, cutting up some of the old travel tomes for collages.  His roommates groan that they are running out of space which, as you can see from the photo, is true.

My kids are all getting so tall!

We are addicted to Scrabble on the iPhone.  Great way to pass the time, as we did awaiting a table at Paper Moon diner (very near the Ace of Cakes HQ, by the way).

Before leaving for Baltimore that Sunday morning, I happened to drive by this truck and take a photo of it.  Why, you may ask?

Because back when I was pregnant with Malcolm, this certified restoration company was a client of mine.  I wrote its brochure and revamped its sales materials….but it was difficult to neatly summarize what it was that the company actually DID.  They get called in when there’s been a fire, a flood, a tornado, some vandalism – any kind of severe damage that a homeowner cannot reasonably be expected to clean up by himself.  The firms provides restoration after damage.  How to neatly sum this up?  Here’s what I came up with:

It tickles me every time I see one of these trucks around town – “Hey, I wrote that!” 

Remembering back on the days when I was working with this firm – when Ian was a pre-schooler and Hugh was a toddler and Malcolm was on the way – our life was pretty crazy.  Someone was always sick, someone was always crying, we were constantly running out of supplies and eardrops and milk.  Raising little kids is no picnic.  In fact, it often felt like chaos. 

I’m so happy that order has been restored.

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