Pushing on a Rope
Parenting
Back to School Daze
Tomorrow will be my last Back to School night, the final of 13 annual treks to school to get the lay of the land for the year ahead. It is bittersweet. Even as a mom I carry a childlike excitement about the start of school, with its new supplies, different teachers and vast stores of … Continue reading
Flashback Friday — Reading is Fundamental
The emails are coming in from Catherine’s teachers in advance of Tuesday’s Back to School night. Her Honors World Lit teacher let us know the kids had just finished Gilgamesh, and that they liked it more than they had expected. This kind of class is right up my alley and I can’t wait to hear … Continue reading
Flashback Friday — Let’s Dance
I’ve only got a few hours (read 3 pm) until I’m in biiiiiig trouble for this post, but once I stumbled on these photos there was no stopping me. Apologies for the lousy photography. I was already hiding in dark corners, trying not to be too embarrassing when I took these, six years ago. It … Continue reading
Flashback Friday — Give us a Kiss
Sunday is Grandparents Day, but Catherine needs no special Hallmark nudge to mark the occasion. I’ve probably told you this before, but when she was little, the sun rose and set on my father. Grandpa was IT. Didn’t matter who else was there, whether Sam and Tilly (my parents’ dogs) were trying to angle their … Continue reading
One more time, with feeling
Senior year is officially under way. Catherine is no longer a “rising senior”; she’s the real deal. The bus just ferried her away. I hid among the trees and bushes and snapped this photo of her walking to the bus stop: And then I stood in the yard and watched until I couldn’t see the … Continue reading
Spellbound in Salem
We’ve finally wrapped up Catherine’s college touring. She’s found five she wants to apply to, and now the real work can begin. This past week’s “vacation” had us making our last three stops, all in Massachusetts. The final visit — to Salem State University — turned out to be the most fun. We had a little … Continue reading
Flashback Friday — Pretty as a picture
Catherine’s senior portrait is Wednesday. She’s wrapped up in hair and makeup, and will surely take some of her hard-earned babysitting money and drag me to the mall for a new shirt when we get home from our Massachusetts college visits this weekend. Of course, this week I had to go back in time to … Continue reading
Life lessons — one block at a time
Sometimes, you can’t argue with a kid’s logic, however it flies in the face of convention. We were just home yesterday evening from a whirlwind trip to Cambridge, MA, where we visited Lesley University (Catherine liked it!) and settling in to our comfy clothes when a blood-curdling wail pierced the dusk. One of the three … Continue reading
Flashback Friday — Freezing Time
Our Cape Cod vacations were the best — feeding the heart and soul year after year. Basil and I started the annual pilgrimages when we were still dating, heading north Labor Day weekend, then staying on after the crowds crossed the bridge and some quiet had descended. We stopped for a while after Catherine was … Continue reading
Don’t bug me
Catherine has always been afraid of spiders. Once when she was 6 or 7, she stole down the stairs in the dead of night, wearing her favorite blue feetie pajamas — the ones with the clouds on them — and woke Basil up. “Daddy,” she said, “there’s a spider in my room.” Of course Basil … Continue reading
Pushing on a Rope 