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The first time I visited the website of accomplished Stockholm-based illustrator Ingela P. Arrhenius, she was coincidentally having a giveaway. I entered, and to my great surprise I won this studly little Swedish man. He now sits on our nature table and watches over the children as they do their homework. He has found a compatriot in my grandfather’s Dala horse.

Warm cookies and gloomy skies are the October norm in central New York. He was home all week with the flu. We sat next to each other on the couch, our respective laptops at hand. She wished for flu so she could take her place on the couch, too. The after school cookies were my compromise. We’re looking forward to the weekend: bulb planting, garden clean-up, and sewing for some of us, more couch time for others. Happy weekend to you. ...

When they got home from school they began filling the boxes with their plans, hopes and dreams for the month.

It was hard work. I had to lift heavy pine branches over my head to finish the lean-to, and while I held still to staple the sides of the tee pees, the mosquitoes nearly ate my face off. In fact, one bit me on the left side of my lower lip, and I have been doing dead-on Silvester Stallone impressions all afternoon. Adriaaaaaaan! ...

I’m not so brave as to enter their tangled web. Only they know which threads are sticky and which are not.

I found this little guy sitting on a table at the church rummage sale today. His ticking is loud and he sits on my desk and keeps me company.