Moonshine Junkyard

On Thursday I had the most frightening experience of my life I think, followed closely by the time Mikie almost drowned , which incredibly happened at this exact same place. My disclaimer: this will be a little bit long as I tell the whole story to help myself process the events. I apologize in advance for my wordiness. Read on only if you have a few minutes or if you are close enough to my family to care to know the details of a near death experience. We had planned to hike down to the river at Bucks Bar to kickstart a getting-in-shape regime. We have a lofty family goal for next summer that is going to involve us being in tip-top physical condition, and that especially goes for Pops. Our dad has always loved the outdoors, hiking, and backpacking but in more recent years has lost some of his stamina. So we are all hoping to help him get some of that back and focusing on balance and endurance.  Originally it was going to be all of us hiking that afternoon: Joey, Emily ...

When a new year begins, I basically like to make the laziest resolutions possible, things that I know I would've done anyway, such as: I resolve to have a lot of fun this year. I resolve to savor each moment with my babies. I resolve to at least try to exercise, sometimes. But, I do pay special attention to the transitional time, in my secret superstitious way, to try to get a feel for how the new year is shaping up. The first few minutes, hours, days, and weeks of the new year have a certain auspicious feel to them. While tidying up from the holidays and busying myself with the January birthdays, making fresh starts and going about family life, I am also paying attention to what the rhythms feel like, what the days seem to naturally offer. Whether people are in good moods or bad, myself included, what people are talking about, what kinds of general hopes we generate as a species, as little tribes, as families. Traffic, grocery store tellers, words I hear, repetitions, stories...

I can't just let it go like last year. I didn't realize it until much later, but last year I never put up any pictures of Christmas eve, day, or the nearest festivities. Probably that traces back to the fact that I was just about to pop out a baby , but anyway, this year was really fun and endearing and warm and magical so I have to spend a little time enumerating some of Christmas 2014's many charms. On Christmas eve eve, Nana brought over a special gift for Lucy: a sweet little apron that Nana made especially for her! Lucy likes to put on an apron with me every time she "helps" in the kitchen, so this was perfect.   On Christmas eve, during Polly's nap, we put the new apron to work while making pine cone bird feeders. She worked really hard getting the peanut butter nice and thick, gobbed into the nooks and crannies, and the birds and squirrels have been truly enjoying reaping the rewards. A mist crept in on Christmas eve and it...