Carseat Cowgirl

Saturday

My Friend Grammy

Immy twice went to her Grammy's in Forks for sleepovers in the last several weeks. She had a good time. Now when she sees pictures of my Mom in photos she calls her "my friend Grammy."

Guitar Lesson

The brothers-in-law

Tonight

Tappin' Shoes

Immy in the "'raj" (garage) checking out the $1.00 "tappin' shoes" we found today at St. Vincent de Paul in Port Angeles.

I also found a pair of pink cowgirl boots there for $.40 for her Halloween cowgirl costume that until today consisted mainly of a fringed pink suede skirt that I also got for $.40 at the Serenity House thrift shop in PA. Tonight, Cousin YaYa gave us a cool cowgirl hat and the brilliant suggestion that Imogen ride her stick horse Sissy. I'm trying to think of a clever twist on the cowgirl theme.

"That be fun Mama?" she asked--right before I took this picture--of taking a bike ride on the back of my bike.

Play Outside

Top: Imogen with her watering can

Bottom: "Immy draw a whale." Its tail is at the left of the picture and its face to the right. She pointed them out to me, "Tail here. Face here."

Today

Looking Forward

"What's past is prologue."

-Shakespeare, The Tempest, paraphrased by Joe Biden during the VP debate tonight in response to Sarah Palin's continual charge that the Obama campaign is dwelling on the political past rather than looking forward

The Tempest is full of theatrical metaphors, such as "what's past is prologue." The metaphor has been forgotten, and the phrase has devolved into distorted forms (like "past and prologue").

Prologues were common in Renaissance drama, though Shakespeare himself wrote few of them. The prologue usually set the scene and presented the givens of the play. "What's past is prologue," then, translates roughly as "What's already happened merely sets the scene for the really important stuff, which is the stuff our greatness will be made on." -enotes.com

Curious Imogen

"Immy needs her 'nifyin' (magnifying) glass."

Examining a rock yesterday

2¼ years

Family Resemblance

Simon and Imogen Today

Shower the People You Love

We gathered yesterday in Beaver to celebrate the coming birth of Naomi and Aaron's son. It was an extraordinary group of women who came together to show our love for Naomi in this time of awaiting her child.

I wish for Naomi a continued healthy pregnancy, the natural birth she hopes for, a long maternity leave, a perfect boy and all the very best in her transformation into a mother.

At the shower were: my Kindergarten teacher; my first-day-of-Kindergarten bff Jocelyn; my primary school recess aid; an elementary school lunchlady named Zinnia; two senior high school teachers Mrs. West and Mrs. Datisman, teacher-cum-librarian extraordinaire-cum-my generous and gracious landlordess; and so many other wonderful women including my mom and sister.

Sew Fun

I made something!:

"Immy sewin' too."

Highway Checkpoint Protest

The U.S. Border Patrol is setting up highway checkpoints on the Olympic Peninsula to check drivers' immigration status, check for arrest warrants and otherwise use post-"911" powers to root out illegal immigrants and other people by plucking them straight off the road.

I went to last Saturday's anti-checkpoint protest rally in Port Angeles. My sister was there and so were about 100 other people from infancy to a woman celebrating her 93rd birthday.

No! Why Not?!

Immy doesn't really say "yes" much these days, but she loves to say "no!" to every question and suggestion. She does this funny bit where she says "no!" and then immediately answers herself with a whiny "why not?!"

Imogen also likes to say "it's not fair!" Once in the car she said "It's not fair! The house isn't fair."

Indoor Heated Pool

During the recent warm weather, Imogen started bathing in her swimming pool in the kitchen. I put a few tubs of warm water in there and lots of toys and she spends as long as she likes where I can watch her and do other things.

Wednesday

Great-Grammy & Papa's House

Imogen visits with Great-Grammy & Great-Papa,

Grammy, Auntie and Cousins in Sequim on Monday

Handprints

Sunday

Back to School

Immy and I go back to school this week to "Pre-3," the cooperative preschool that we joined in the spring. It's all good, every minute of it.

A Latesummer Evening

YaYa and Imogen

Wednesday

What I'm Watching

project RUNWAY

MADMEN

Wooden Boat Festival

Wooden Boat Festival, Port Townsend

Sunday

The newlyweds Jocelyn and Kevin brought their boat Grebe to the Wooden Boat Festival.

We visited them for a few hours on Sunday and had a really fun time.

Music Together

Immy and I--along with cousin YaYa and sometimes, Ad and Simon--take Music Together of Port Angeles. It's been a very good thing and we adore Teacher Bonnie.

Life is Dynamic

Imogen's in an intense period of development right now, often resembling a two-and-a-half-year old child more than a two-year old. About two weeks ago, after hardly caring what she wore previously, Immy requested a "dancerina" (dress) one day and has every day since. Yesterday, she chose to poop in her little potty and took her own shirt off for the first time.

Life is dynamic, I'm exhausted and I wouldn't have it any other way!

So Amazin'

Imogen wearing a dress that once was mine, Friday

Blue Skies, Blue Berries

Ims and me picking blueberries

Dungeness Meadow Farm, Sequim

Friday

Port Townsend Dancerina

Immy (2 years, 3 months now) dances in a dress I found at the Port Townsend Goodwill.

Today

Day Trip

Port Townsend
Today

Play with Style

For the last few days, Imogen has wanted a "dancerina" (dancerina definition #2: dancing dress) on over her clothes. It's fun to watch her play with style.

Saturday

What I'm Reading

The author of This House of Sky provides a magnificent evocation of the Pacific Northwest through the diaries of James Gilchrist Swan, a settler of the region. Doig fuses parts of the Swan diaries with his own journal. -Back Cover

Weeeeeeeeee!

Sunday

Hat & Boots

Sunday

In The Keep of This Rainy Morning

Rain

By Raymond Carver

Woke up this morning with

a terrific urge to lie in bed all day

and read. Fought against it for a minute.

Then looked out the window at the rain.

And gave over. Put myself entirely

in the keep of this rainy morning.

Would I live my life over again?

Make the same unforgivable mistakes?

Yes, given half a chance. Yes.

Rain Catchment

The Miracles of Birth

It's not just the making of babies,
but the making of mothers
that midwives see as the miracle of birth.

Barbara Katz Rothman, Sociologist,

Author of The Tentative Pregnancy and other books

Berry Picking

Immy picking blueberries, Friday
Graysmarsh Farm, Sequim

Pink Pony

After her pony ride on Sunday, Immy came home and did some art. She made several deliberate, small strokes with her oil crayon and then handed me her paper and said "I draw a horse."

Roger a Nice Man

In 1977, my sister and I rode on the carousel at the Clallam County Fair with our friend Roger. I was six and Kelly was five. In 2003, my niece Elizabeth--at three--continued the tradition of riding with Roger, and this year Imogen joined in the fun by having him accompany her on a real pony ride at the fair. On the way home from the fair, Immy told me "Roger a nice man Mama." I said "He sure is."

BabyLegs Giveaway

From the BabyLegs website, click on "Community" in the top menu to upload and enter your photo(s).

In celebration of BabyLegs becoming a dot com, we are running a (Polka) dot com giveaway. All photos submitted in the month of August have a chance to win a free pair of Polka Dot BabyLegs. We will select 50 photos at random. You will be contacted via email if your photo is selected. -www.babylegs.com

Friday at the Fair

The Cat's Pajamas

Today

The Olympic Spark

Imogen has been so inspired by the Olympics. Simon and I were audience to an incredible gymnastic floor routine the other night. The balance beam routines impressed Immy too. She looked at the TV, gasped "oh!" and ran for her step stool.

A Child of the Pacific Northwest

The inspiration for Imogen's name came when we heard of the photographer Imogen Cunningham during my pregnancy. Simon and I knew instantly that if the baby was a girl, Imogen would almost certainly be her name.

I checked out Imogen Cunningham's photography collections from the library and studied her story online, so I knew she had lived in Seattle, but I was shocked to discover today that she also once lived in Port Angeles:

[She was born in Portland in 1883.] As a child, she and her family lived at the Puget Sound Cooperative Colony, a short-lived Utopian community in Port Angeles. In 1889, the family moved to...Seattle. -HistoryLink.org