I think it’s great that Penrose feels comfortable taking the initiative to give herself a break. And I don’t want to ignore her when she’s yelling for me. But I also don’t want to reward the part where she’s yelling (and, if I tell her I’m waiting for her to feel more calm before I go upstairs she comes down and starts pulling on my hand, which I also don’t want to reward.)
I couldn’t help but remember the Ice Storm of ’98 as we luxuriated in front of the woodstove, watching Singin’ in the Rain and eating root vegetable gratin. That storm wasn’t nearly as forgiving, and it colored the second half of my senior year at Mt. Blue High School.
“Happy Holidays” has its place. But for a Jewish person in an isolated community, the feeling of being seen, heard and acknowledged with Chanukah-specific holiday greetings is rare and wonderful.
Hello from North Haven! And a happy belated Thanksgiving! Penrose, Bill and I made our customary trip to central Maine to spend the holiday with my parents, sisters, brothers-in-law, and my nephew, now a sturdy two-month-old. We walked down to Parker Pond before dinner with my nephew bundled up and strapped to his father’s chest. […]
Although the thought of traveling with a young country kid to the big city seems daunting, cities are full of young kids. They’re scootering down the sidewalks ahead of their parents, climbing on the playhouse at the park, and taking advantage of all the fun things a city has to offer.
As the helmeted drivers made their introductory laps to the wild cheers of the crowd, I realized I’d never been to the derby before. I must have been too busy being aggressively uncool in high school. Too bad – this was GREAT.
Hello from North Haven! By the light of a pink and purple sunset, the Hebrew calendar ticked over last night from one year to the next. My husband, daughter and I invited a few other families – none of them Jewish – to share the evening with us, and we laughed as the kids took […]
Later that evening, as I kept Pen company in the bathroom, she turned to me and said, “You and daddy are such frustrating babies!”
Aha!
For that back-to-school scourge, hand, foot and mouth disease, has broken out in the midcoast, and that includes North Haven. My three-year-old hasn’t escaped.
And so, that first summer, wondering whether outing ourselves as weirdos would earn us a one-way ticket back to the mainland, we donned leotards and wigs, spray-painted water pistols gold, teetered around on platform heels…
