RED BLOCKS
really show up on the carpet, thank goodness. This was at my friend Elisa's house whose children are younger than mine. You have to really watch out when your children get to the Lego stage. Little bits of Lego are cleverly camouflaged by any patterned carpet and: ouch! They are agonizingly sharp. Somehow I never expected "The Pain of Parenthood" to include laceration by small plastic building blocks.

PASTRY GIRL
One of my friends from college came into town last weekend, for a surprise baby shower for another college friend who lives nearby. She brought her seven year old daughter and we all had a great time visiting. It is always a treat for me to have a little girl in the house. I got to bring my box of Barbies up from the basement and had fun helping manouver Barbie into teeny little sweaters and impossibly high heels. One morning we walked into town to visit the famous French bakery, and I just had to take this shot.

BEGINNING
I started the day with breakfast at Bob's Diner. I definitely feel shy about hauling out my big old Olympus D-620L in a public place. But I find eating places so appealing, visually and thematically, that I did it anyway. By chance I was re-reading bits of the book Ellen Foster as I waited for a friend to show up and join me, and I came upon this great passage. The little girl, Ellen, says:
"I know that ten years from now I will be a member of the food industry. Or I might read or do art. I have seen many pictures drawed or painted of food. They always appeal to me."
I'm with you Ellen.

OPEN
Henry in a moment of joy. Home from school, got me to give him a popsicle, then led me out onto the porch and settled in the rocking chair, one foot resting on my knee: bliss. Henry is a great teacher on living in the moment.

FURRY
Daisy is the queen of my heart and well she knows it.

IMAGINATIVE
I was meeting someone at the boy's old school to hand over some paintings I did for a benefit exhibition. A pre-school class was painting this castle out on the sunny campus green. Ah, the smell of tempera paint drying globbily in the hot sun! As with Proust's madeleines, this very specific scent wafted me back instantly to that halcyon time. My biggest problem back then was that I was always running out of paint. Come to think of it, I still have that problem.

RELAXATION
A beautiful evening on the lawn, Paul making paper airplanes with the boys. This one patch of grass in our front yard is so deliciously thick and springy that I occasionally just go outside and lie down on it for a little sensory treat. I'm sure any joggers or dog walkers who pass by think I am a nut, or else ill. But so far nobody has yet called 911.

THE EGG
I am chicken-sitting my neighbor's hens while she is away. Two beautiful Rhode Island Reds. They have very sweet, humble dispositions, and seem grateful for any little extras in the way of food, like rusty lettuce, bolted kale, and the caterpillars we picked off our ponderosa pine. They were giving two eggs a day, (one each I suppose) until the weather got cold. Now we are down to one a day. But what a beauty!

DOMESTIC
This back yard scene really sums up this time of year. Soccer has started, but there are still wet bathing suits hanging on the line. The honeysuckle is in full autumn syrup, but it is still warm enough to run around in bare feet and no shirt. Maybe this inbetween season should have its own name. Sum-tumn?

THE GAP
Hugh lost his front tooth on the second day of school. He told me he hoped the Tooth Fairy would forget to come. "Why?" I asked. He said "Because whenever she forgets to come, the next day she writes me a note and gives me double the money!" Maybe our Tooth Fairy reads Miss Manners.

HENRY AT THE FOUNTAIN
This park where Peter often has soccer practice is one of the most beautiful of community parks in our area. Henry and I dropped Peter off and then explored the various delights on offer, like swings and water and that soft silky dirt that collects along the verges at the end of summer. Bare feet a necessity.

ART AND MAN
David Bushnell at the ICA last night. David and Kim and Paul and I went to the opening of Pepon Osorio who we all know through Germantown Friends School. It was a very bustling, exciting event, with at least three different exhibitions going on at once, and hordes of art people (black clothing and visible piercings, with a healthy sprinkling of snazzy suits and chanel bags). We paused to catch our breaths in the hallway at one point and David's shirt just seemed so well-matched with Amy Sillman's mural that I had to whip out my camera.

BLOSSOMS
These Morning Glories in my neighbor's garden really ARE Heavenly Blue, just as their name promises.

I've been thinking a lot about names and their meanings, and this has made me wish I could change Henry's name. The name Henry means "He who rules the household." And this is true. Henry's Autism has shaped our life in ways we would not have chosen. I found a great new name for Henry on a baby name site. If I could choose again I'd call him "Ken-Ji", a Japanese name meaning "Intelligent second son". I couldn't find a name that means "Intelligent, sensitive and easy to live with", so this one will have to do!

By the way, my cousin Sue Sweeney has a beautiful photo of Joe Pye Weed on her blog "In My Garden", if you're interested. I always liked the name of that plant. Who was Joe Pye anyway?

GETTING READY FOR SCHOOL
with a haircut and a little accordian music from our friendly neighborhood Barber.

SIMPLICITY
These beautiful jars and bowls were on display at The University Museum. Because I was shepherding both Hugh and Henry through this exhibit of fragile items and trying to shoot a few pictures at the same time, I was unable to actually read any of the accompanying information about these vessels. So i can't tell you What Where or When. But I can tell you Why:
"If eyes were made for seeing, Then beauty has its own excuse for being."
-Emerson

Hi. It has been a while. Various visits home, children off from school (of course) and camp (alas), and then an "upgrade" on another family member's desktop necessitated the dismantling of my own. Argh. I have been having that unpleasant feeling of having to run very hard just to stay in place, and perhaps not even quite. Oh well! Things seem a bit better today, after the combined efforts of my tech team (Paul, and my brother Bruce).

This was a" test of the new system" post, but I like it. It shows Henry grooving on a pre-columbian art display at the University Museum. Something about the lighting and perhaps the exaggerated and simplified expressions on the faces of the little figures? Anyway, he had a little "These are my people" moment at this case.