September thirty

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September twenty nine

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September twenty seven

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My friend Polly is wondering who else might still be playing along, trying or practicing or perfecting something for 30 days.  Doesn't matter if you've been on top of every day, but have you been having some fun that you'd like to share?

I'm glad to see the end on the horizon, as much as I have enjoyed these 27 days of photography.  It does sometimes feel burdensome, either in the taking or the posting (or the thinking about or the adding it to the to-do list), but to have the body of work to look at and ponder -- that's where the beauty of really pushing yourself to do a thing every day really pays off.  Thinking about whether or not to continue, or to try something different, or -- bold thinking -- to continue and ADD something.  Natalie would be proud....

September twenty three

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And so it begins.

September twenty

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Happy Friday, indeed.  For all the grousing we do about the weather at other times of year, New England remains patient with us, and focused -- she knows she's going to come through with a spectacular fall.  Every time.  And she'll have us on our knees begging forgiveness for every and any unkind thing we may have ever said about the weather, because THIS is heaven on Earth.  Thank you, New England; I do love you.

September eighteen

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September fifteen

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Today is the half-way mark on the 30-day challenge. Time to start thinking about what the next 30-day project might be!

Stillness

I want to pause and quiet my own thoughts long enough to take in, and be changed by, the gentle calm of fall. It isn't easy, with the chimes of the upcoming holidays (which sometimes sound like sirens) ringing in my head.

Trusting

This lovely little family strolled through our yard this morning, helping themselves to seeds and to the breadcrumbs we scattered underneath the bird feeder.

There seem to be many more wild turkeys around here in the past couple of years; that always makes me wonder what conditions have shifted. Fewer foxes and coyotes?

And what was especially charming, in their own turkey-lurkey way, was that when I opened the front door to take these pictures they just froze and stared at me. I sometimes hesitate to make the run to get my camera when we have interesting wild life in the yard because I figure that by the time I get the camera and then open the door, the visitors will scatter. But these 4 were taking their time, and clearly their first instinct in reaction to some danger is to freeze and see if their camouflage will protect them. Makes sense since they don't have flight or speed on their side.

We did, for the record, attempt to get some raking done yesterday...
...but it was so windy that we gave up after having only done a small area and figured it made sense to let the wind do whatever rearranging it was going to do and then to put our own hands to it after things settled down (maybe today?).

So the boys did their own kind of quasi-American Gothic for me, and then Ken wanted to return the favor--

See how Dean doesn't look that tall when he stands next to Ken, but then he's my height when he stands next to me and thereby makes me look short? Sigh.

Goodness

It has been a really, really good week. As the light fades here this evening and I think about dashing off to the next long list of things that need to be done (making dinner chief among them, but then there's the laundry, too...) I realize that I should slow down just long enough to acknowledge how good things feel right now.

Dean took his very first ever standardized test -- first time with a sharpened #2 pencil, an eraser, and nothing else (or else!!); first time filling in the bubble completely and neatly, no stray marks, full erasures only; first time being timed; first time with those daunting, devilish multiple choice questions with at least two answers that sound so plausible. It's his high school entrance exam, and frankly one potential handicap coming from a progressive school (no grades, no tests) is having to quickly figure out how to face these things.

And he did. Aced it. We got his scores Monday and danced the dance of joy. Not because we now know anything more or different about him than we knew before, but because he's got this hurdle behind him and the results won't be a barrier to what comes next.

We've been super busy lately but it has all been working out. We've managed to be where we need to be (individually, in pairs, and all three of us, depending) and we've been there on time. Weather's turned cool (actually had a dusting of snow last night!) but the oil tank is full and we can bring in some wood for the fireplace now. My camera is back from being repaired, my sewing machine is back from being serviced, AND the pumpkin carving tool set I ordered actually arrived today -- before we carved the pumpkins.

Where we are

I should probably bring my camera to work most days, if not every day. Something always catches my eye, inspires me, makes me wonder, makes me laugh. In a huge sandbox filled with toys, the thing that most captivated the children was finding and sorting and displaying the collection of rocks. This is sacred, to me.

As I think about it, what's amazing is how sacred it is to all of them, too. To think that, in a school with children from age three-and-a-half to fourteen, no one displaced a single rock when the play was over. I found this set up at about 7:30 a.m., which means that it had been there since about 1:00 p.m. (or earlier) the day before.

And then there's my boy. Whew! An 8th grader this year -- so grown up. Here in the U.S., eighth grade signifies the end of your elementary school years, and from here you go on to high school (for four years). Everyone goes to high school, not everyone finishes (you may legally leave school at age 16), and not everyone goes on to college (university). [edited to add: apparently I've felt the need to explain this a lot. sorry 'bout that -- I'm fixated. clearly.]

So Dean is on the threshold, educationally, between childhood and being a teenager. Sigh.

He continues to be a wonderful person. He's kind and polite and friendly; he's smart, he pays attention, and he cares. And while he's been playing soccer for the past 8 years or so, suddenly this season he's a whole new man on the field. All his skills have sharpened, and his ability to see the game and be strategic in his moves is beyond what I would have imagined for him. He's been moved back to play defense because he's one of the "big kids" now, and for the first time he has the ability to play in an appropriately aggressive way (up until now he's been waaay too unassertive to play defense!). Our family wonders together when he'll score from mid-field; he kind of misses some of the fun of being on offense and scoring goals, but his leg and aim are good enough that we (and his coaches) suspect he'll knock one in without playing out of position.

Too. much. fun.

I was awestruck today when I gave myself a moment to realize how wonderful this year has been. Despite my own kind of general grogginess and funk, despite difficulty figuring out what to put down, the reality is that it has been, and continues to be, an utterly fabulous year. I need to keep making myself stop, and think about that.

Leaping

Our fall, back-to-school resolution is to get back out into the woods for some family hikes. We are so fortunate to live in an area with an absolute abundance of trails, Ken and I both really need the exercise, and it's a time for the three of us to be together without anything to distract any of us. Along with broad trails like this one, there are paths that lead up and down through the woods as well, although all the recent rains have made those temporarily impassable.

Every time I see a picture of Dean next to Ken, or next to me, my heart skips a little at how tall he's become. Won't be long before he passes Ken, I think. Beginning 8th grade this year has brought it's own raft of changes for Dean and I keep finding myself holding my breath, wanting to slow things down, trying not to worry about what comes next. It's huge -- in the US, you start high school next, after you've been graduated from 8th grade; the final step before going off to college. Sure that's 4 years away but still, it is momentous. It feels as though that spot in time where suddenly you can see the doorway through which your child passes from his life with you, under your wing, to his own life, out in the world, is right there -- in front of you and in focus in a way it has never been before.

And 8th graders as a whole are an edgy bunch. They feel it, too; the dwindling years of childhood and the massive gap to be leapt into the *real world* of high school and beyond. We laughed when we got back to the car after our hike that we'd never been able to make the loop in an hour before, and it's all about not having to pick Dean up and carry him along the way, about his legs being just as long as ours and able to keep up (actually, I was the one who had the hardest time keeping up).

Dean will take off early next week on his next class hiking trip up into the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I know I don't need to worry as much as I did the very first time he headed off, and maybe I can pry myself away from the weather reports while he's away. Maybe I can think about where I'd like to be headed, and what's past that big leap for me. I just haven't been having much luck getting my brain to go there.

Through rose-colored glasses

Only the happiest memories from 2010.

January

Piano recital

Several trips to the aquarium so that Dean could complete seahorse observations for a research report (although of course we visited all our favorite exhibits)...

Lunch out, just me and Dean. These opportunities have always been wonderful, but they became even more of a pleasure this year as we had new kinds of conversations -- more grown up, as I think about it. So this is all about embracing the changes as they come, and reveling in what is.

February

More time at the aquarium

and oysters for my birthday.

March
The welcomed return of green, growing things in New England, and the discovery in our own front yard
of a wonderful tree for climbing.

April
How exciting to wake up on a day that is BOTH Easter and your birthday!



May
Participating in a piano competition was a first (here's the warm-up before heading to the theater),
as was landing a major (singing!) role in the school play (he was the Caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland, and his *legs* had roles to play as well -- I was quite delighted with being able to design and execute a costume that worked!).

Soccer season got underway in earnest,

and he had his second school trip to The Farm School for the better part of a week.
Also a return to Dean's favorite fundraiser, his annual participation in the Walk for Paws.

June
We had a truly spectacular spring this year, and another lovely piano recital.

July

World Cup!Dean went on a hiking trip in New Hampshire with a group from school, and came back forever changed by the experience -- the goal of all great adventures, I believe.

Dean and I made a trip out to Chicago, where I joined a group of classmates from elementary school for an impromptu, casual reunion (my favorite kind); the ongoing contact with this group has been wonderful for me.
And we spent time with family -- my brother Chris, his daughter-in-law Erin, and our favorite first cousins (or something -- Chris' grandsons) Noah and Caleb.

Noah

Caleb

A special wedding in New Hampshire -- our niece Hallie,

to her new husband Shaun. Couldn't have been a lovelier day, a more beautiful bride, a more perfect way to gather with extended family and friends.

August
We even got to see my other brother, Tony, and his wife Carol this year; Dean and I took them on a waterfall expedition to New Hampshire, and we
spent some time in Boston as well. Seeing this much of my family in one year is extraordinary, although my goal would be to make it standard procedure.

We celebrated Ken's birthday with mini-golf and

cupcakes!

And took opportunities to see a Major League Soccer game as well as
Ovo, a traveling Cirque du Soliel extravaganza.

September
We did a pretty good job getting out into our local woods to hike and for Dean to have

lessons in stone-skipping (a skill fairly well mastered!).

Of course September always means back to school,

and this year it also meant a class expedition to the White Mountains in New Hampshire.

(a whole different look getting off the bus than there was getting on).

We hit LegoFest in Boston; not the most amazing event we've ever been to but really -- Legos -- what more does a boy need?

October
Although we could have used more rain during the summer, this review makes me appreciate how much gorgeous weather we had, and how our plans were really never hampered by weather -- kind of remarkable for New England. We spent a day in Newburyport, Massachusetts, to hook up with the newlyweds

Hallie and Shaun for a late lunch.

And of course the all-important selecting and carving of pumpkins, and the

annual Halloween Parade at school.

November
Oh, hurray for Disney World! Hurray for sunshine and theme parks and nothing else to do but decide what to ride next and whether or not to watch a parade.

Feeding the dolphins at SeaWorld.

(In case you were wondering why we keep going back there.)

I was the first guest to step foot in the Magic Kingdom on this particular day, and it filled me with joy -- an unreasonable amount, even -- to be there, to be that person, to have that moment.

Another opportunity to get together with family, and we learned on this day that Hallie and Shaun are expecting a baby next June!

December
We had ourselves a merry little Christmas!


And a fairly silly new year's eve, spent watching How to Train Your Dragon (highly recommended!),
and watching the ball drop in Times Square because we're Americans and it's what we do!

A toast, to realizing that you can always choose to look back and see only the good stuff and to looking ahead to what surely will be an even happier year.