Sunday, May 31, 2009

Baby Names

The baby doll Immy got for her birthday five days ago has already been named:
Hats (on Wednesday)
Warika (on Thursday)
Karhaas (on Friday)
Gaberella (on Saturday) and
Bennie (on Sunday)

My Darlings

A few times every day, Imogen switches roles with me. She calls me "my darlings," and I call her "Mama."

Snake and Butterfly

Olympic Discovery Adventure Trail
Today

Now We Are Three

Olympic Discovery Adventure Trail
Today

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Free-Range Parenting

It seems as though the newest wave of mothers is saying no to prenatal Beethoven appreciation classes, homework tutors in kindergarten, or moving to a town near their child’s college campus so the darling can more easily have home-cooked meals. (O.K., O.K., many were already saying no, but now they’re doing so without the feeling that a good parent would say yes.) Over coffee and out in cyberspace they are gleefully labeling themselves “bad mommies,” pouring out their doubts, their dissatisfaction and their dysfunction, celebrating their own shortcomings in contrast to their older sisters’ cloying perfection.

Lisa Belkin
The New York Times Magazine | The Way We Live Now
"Let the Kid Be," May 29, 2009



Box Bike

My friend Trina in The Netherlands will soon be a mother of four. She bought a "box bike" to get her kids to school and back. I love it!

Monday, May 25, 2009

Somewhere a Small Girl

Imogen at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center fountain today

Tess Gallagher

Tess Gallagher reading poetry today--Raymond Carver's birthday, his empty chair behind her--at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center during the Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts

Goodwill 2.0

Sunday, May 24, 2009

For Now

I Stop Writing the Poem

to fold the clothes. No matter who lives
or who dies, I'm still a woman.
I'll always have plenty to do.
I bring the arms of his shirt
together. Nothing can stop
our tenderness. I'll get back
to the poem. I'll get back to being
a woman. But for now
there's a shirt, a giant shirt
in my hands, and somewhere a small girl
standing next to her mother
watching to see how it's done.

-Tess Gallagher

Festivalizing

Immy May having fun at the Juan de Fuca Festival 
Saturday, Port Angeles 

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Of Course

Immy is now saying "of course" as in "we'll need party hats, 'uh' course."

Wiktionary: "of course...[a]sserts that the associated phrase should not be argued, particularly if it is obvious or there is no choice in the matter."

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Word World

Imogen asleep in her car seat
with my dictionary
Today

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Handcrafted

Craft is the handprint of all culture.

Imogen, last night

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Microeconomics

At Immy's pretend stores, ice cream shops and fish markets, everything costs "50-god dollars."

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Duck Derby



Rosy Posies


Happy Mother's Day!

Imogen surprised me today by drawing one of Great-Gramma's tulips on her magnetic doodle pad.
She also named this blog post.

Almost three years into mothering and I still feel like I need to be pinched. I find Immy so exponentially amazing that I can hardly believe she came from me. I don't take credit, I just watch in awe. Thank you Immy for making me a mother. I've never been so proud or felt I had a higher calling. Having you is the fulfillment of my greatest dream.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

One Child at a Time


Top: Immy briefly helps her cousin YaYa, who spent more than four hours at the farmer's market today raising money for Pennies for PeaceWhat a great person YaYa is, spending her beautiful Saturday helping girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Bottom: Imogen shows off the tulips we gently picked out for Great-Gramma.

Three Trips Around the Sun

Imogen turns 3 on May 27

Semper Paratus

Imogen's co-op preschool and cousin YaYa's home-school program went on a field trip last week to the Coast Guard station. We toured a boat, watched a helicopter hoist up a man, and, "always ready," the Coast Guard dads set up a bouncy house where the kids bounced themselves silly.


Friday, May 1, 2009

In Dewy Damps

When I was nearly five in the fall of 1975, my family moved from Seattle to Sappho, Washington, near Forks. Recently, on my way to Forks, with Imogen asleep in the back of the car and a camera on hand, I drove up the road we lived on.

Two of my favorite bigleaf maple trees are still standing, covered in chartreuse moss and old man's beard lichen:

One is partly hollow so that my sister and dad and I could go inside if we crouched down.
The other held a beloved handmade swing.

I'm amazed and happy they're both still alive and reminded to be thankful for the abundance of nature and this enchanted place in the landscape of my childhood.


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