NIGHT DELI

Passing in the dark
a quick glance rivets my eye
to the lighted shrine

HAPPY CHICKEN CHASE
My neighbor Fay keeps chickens and they occasionally escape. This is a lot of frustration and worry for Fay, but is a great source of fun for the rest of the neighborhood! Son H was the first to spot a rogue chicken entering our garage just the other day, and the hunt was on! Many amusing ambushes, failed sorties and pratfalls later, Fay had (both!) the runaway chickens tucked firmly under her arms.




n.b. For all you chicken aficionados out there: I got a lot of response to my egg yolk comparison post from last week! Someone who wrote in, Paige Orloff, keeps chickens herself and blogs about them occasionally on her blog Tales from the Parkside. Enjoy!

THE END OF THE FAMILY FEAST
and almost bedtime for some....

THE ALCHEMY OF PLAY

Rocks float in the air
distance expands: feet to miles
plumbing the shallow depths

ALMOST UNNATURAL
in its intensity. The eerie glow of a recent sunset had the boys calling to me to come outside and see it. H advised me "And bring your camera!" Ah yes, how well they know their mother!

GONE FISHIN'
and eatin' and thankin', but back home again now. Here are P and H, who think they see some giant fish in a rocky pool on one of our woods walks. There is nothing half so much worth doing as messing about in streams. (My apologies to Kenneth Grahame for messing about with his famous quotation!)

NATURAL
vs. unnatural. On the left is the pale yolk of a battery-farmed egg from my local supermarket, on the right is the deep orange yolk of a free-range egg from my Farm Share. I've actually met those chickens, and looking at the contrast between the two eggs you can see it pays to know where your eggs come from!

On the subject of whole foods, a friend of mine has started a blog devoted to this subject: welcome to Blogland Ayala! I just LOVE when friends and relatives start blogs (you know who you are!) It's always a whole different look into their lives and thoughts.

TRAVEL
is today's theme at Photo Friday. There was a horrific accident just scant minutes ahead of me on the highway yesterday. I was racing off to Henry's IEP meeting and had inadvertently cut it a little fine. Oh well, I thought, what's five minutes? Well, I guess it can be a lot! Traffic parked on the highway for about an hour, while emergency vehicles and police rushed to the scene. With such an obviously serious disaster just a short ways away...I doubt anybody could feel impatient or irritated by the wait. Medevac helicopters hovering overhead certainly put one's own little "emergencies" into perspective. Very sad and sobering, the realization that tragedy had struck, just around the bend of the road and the reminder that "In the midst of life, we are in death". Finally the Fire Police routed us off onto the median and back the direction we had come. Having no natural sense of direction at all I fumbled (extremely carefully) for my phone and got my personal pathfinder (my husband Paul) to direct me via a different route.

I arrived at the IEP meeting, shaken, tired, and over an hour late. I was just in time to catch the end of the meeting, sign papers and shake people's hands. I guess It's an ill wind that blows no good. - John Heywood (c.1497-1580)

PORTRAIT OF HENRY
asleep. He's on a new medication that makes him drowsy in the afternoon so he takes a nap. Sort of like a very elongated toddler. What an angel (when he's asleep!)

We have his IEP meeting this afternoon. These are always very anxiety-provoking, as any special needs parent can tell you. If you have a chance to send out some good wishes, prayers, or light for us, that would be very welcome!

WORDLESS WITH WONDER
It must be autumn.

HANDS AND MINDS IN MOTION
At a recent family party for my mother's 80th birthday (Happy Birthday dear Mom!), a lot of the children were playing this lively round game. It involved sitting in a circle, clapping and hand motions. It seemed very fast and complicated, but uproariously fun. I was surprised (and pleased) to see nary a gameboy or portable DVD player in sight...just boys and girls playing real interactive games. After this, came a long session of hide and seek, and I saw some of the older kids hanging out, talking and playing cards in another room. So great for their brain development not to mention their social skills. (And yeah, just plain fun too!)

GLAD

The season's first goal
at long last! The boys explode,
fizzing with joy

RAINBOW
piercing the early evening mist. Long Pond on Mount Desert Island, Maine.

HARVEST HUMOR
Some of the last harvest treasures from my farm share. I always draw on eggs I hard boil with a soft pencil. I used to just write HB on them (for hard-boiled) but I soon got bored with that prosaic attitude and now our hard-boiled eggs always have funny faces on them.

STRENGTH
is today's theme at Photo Friday. Made me realize that most of my photos are about softness, stillness and repose. (Maybe it's time to get my thyroid meds adjusted!)

These men were practicing in a leafy glen in a city park. Like Robin Hood and his men in the forest. Strength training in a leafy bower! I wonder if the absence of that particular gym bouquet: sweat, hormones, and industrial strength cleaners, helps or hinders these pastoral athletes?

CODE ORANGE
The threat to family health security is high: P trick-or-treated over 9 pounds of candy last night! Younger brother H netted 8 1/2 pounds. I am glad their dental appointments are scheduled for just a few weeks from now.