Family

We’ve been staying inside during this frigid week. Warming by the fire, playing with Legos, watching shows, deep conversations, preparing meals, drilling holes…feeling quiet and buried. Snuggling in.

We had a lovely Saturday night date during a big snowstorm: sandwiches at The Blue Tusk, followed by a $5 movie at The Palace Theater. I wish I had known that The Palace doesn’t actually heat the theater in winter. I watched most of the movie sitting sideways in my seat, my stockinged feet in John’s hands and the rest of me buried deep inside my down jacket.

The Christmas cookie project took us from daylight to darkness. But we could feel those extra few post-solstice moments of light.

I spent our snowy winter solstice indoors, watching the snow fall out of the corner of my eye as I crafted last-minute gifts. All under the watchful eye of one feverish director, that is.

the view from our front window the view from the kitchen hallway 8:32 am

I want to need to remember: :: a pod of dolphins hunting for their breakfast in the waters across the cove :: the smell of laundry that has dried in the salty bay air :: laughing and carrying on with old friends over wine and clams casino :: a funky haircut that heralds a new season in my life :: rounded triangles of moonlight reflected off the backs of thousands...

The smell of simmering soup stock and baking bread filled our home yesterday. It did much to take the edge off. Fighting siblings and long-standing worries seem much more manageable when warm bread is on the counter.

The babysitter is in the kitchen. I think she’s sitting at the table, reading the paper and smoking a cigarette, but the door is closed so I am not sure. I am in the next room, the living room. I am smiling. I lovingly arrange my mother’s pink polyester nightgown on my little rocking chair. It’s her favorite nightgown and so when I am lonely for her I take it...

10:12 AM Tuesday, April 15, 2008 Haircut time

10:00 AM DST. Sunny, 30°F. Morning soundtrack is www.magnatune.com. Mom is knitting her first gauge swatch in preparation for the Big Knitting Project, and drinking a single cup of coffee with cream and sugar. Little girl is fingerknitting a scarf for her brother, but takes frequent breaks to Heely through the house. Little boy is eating tortilla chips and vitamins, waiting for math to begin.