More in my life

Prints are back from my uber-helpful print shop, and I'm playing with former images. I added black ink drawings to DRops' photo. It's on its way to you soon, D and T!

Today's theme

Things have seemed a bit gray. Not bad. Not glorious. Gus and I had a few too many nights of collective coughs. We went to IKEA (yechh). Our accomplishments of late are boring: criminal record checks, shipping insurance forms, and short-term medical insurance. And yesterday at 11:00am, the bank said the money hadn't arrived yet and I should come back tomorrow. It was reminiscent of when we stopped by Burger King on a student field trip while living in Singapore and they said, "Oh, sorry--we don't have any burgers." 

But today, after the wonder of a good-night's-rest (thank you Husband of the Year), Gus and I woke up to sun and color and choosing-joy. Some folks even decided to dress like it: 

Keeping with the theme, I started my next sketchbook project. This book's theme is "The little things in life".

There are lots of little things looking good today. The lilacs are blooming, Neighbor B made homemade peanut butter cups, I may or may not have ordered this Waylon Jennings necklace, and there's a painting project underway:

To add to the synchronicity, a friend sent a link to a bucket list for kids under twelve, and it's inspired me to think on our family bucket list. That's good fodder for dinner time conversation in a household of seasoned list-makers.

And finally, as I putter in my office and with my paints and listen to my podcasts on this happy-shiny Tuesday, I savor a BIG thing, which is my dear Father's (slightly belated) birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad!

(it seems rubber boots are a theme as well)

Roar!

March went out roaring. There was so much to do and clean. But it was all for very very good reasons:

A miniature raspberry pie was baked. From scratch.

And then put inside a cake to become the trendy and surprisingly tasty (but still sort of embarrassing) piecaken. A birthday girl was happy.

And there was a last minute weekend to Poland where I may or may not have purchased Polish pottery for my son (What does this mean? What would Werner Herzog say? Have I crossed the line of rational pottery thinking?).

Someone awfully special went from baby to boy and had to celebrate his birthday at school since his parents are too ridiculous (lazy? wise? terrified-of-other-toddlers?) to throw him a proper party.

Amazing folks flew all the way from the US to play legos and give thoughtful presents and take long, windy, cold walks through Praha. We are missing them already.

And, as we wait (change sheets, wash towels, bake gluten-free muffins, etc etc etc) for the second round of guests to arrive this weekend (yay Meehans!), we're thankful for this recent purchase. Yup. We gave into the Man. But--we got it third-hand, so it doesn't upset me as much as it should. That and the espresso it makes is absolutely delicious.

There's no time for art with all this goodness, but we're making memories!

 

Birthdays in Twos

I don't know how it happened, but that kid turned two. WE DID IT. We kept him going another year and he seems to actually still like us a little bit. We know this because he's pretty keen on labeling likes and dislikes right now as he tries his hand at excelling at all things toddler. Our outside doorbell? Dislike. Uncle Bob? Like. Mom's dancing moves? Dislike. Licking the slide at the playground? Like. Hugging, cuddling, and sharing? Dislike. Throwing, stomping, and wrestling? Like.

Gus enters his second year on his third continent, with eight roundtrip flights under his belt, and a big move in his future. He's a hearty dude that knows his alphabet (minus I and N), Glen Campbell songs, and all of the very best hiding spots for all of our very important items. He ensures our home is filled with laugher, humility, and completely amazing bodily function stories. Man, we love him. 

Happy Birthday sweet, hilarious, and fascinating OGG. You keep us striving to be better and longing for sleep. We cannot wait to see where this year takes us; we are soooooo grateful you're on our journey.

Gus's birthday art is a bit of a multi-purpose piece. Today is also amazing Aunt Shelly's birthday--Gus's secret twin. A few years ago that wise lady made this verse matter all the more to me. And so we tip our pen and hearts to her as we drop a print of this in the mail. Happy Day to you dear Shelly: May your year be rich in laughter, peace, and purpose and may all the stray cats and dogs in your neighborhood cease to make noise.

The final Babushka

She's done. And P and I think we'll keep her.

If she'd been around this afternoon she might have told little Gus to "slow down!" before his face collided with a railing. He's got quite the shiner, but he tells us he's okay. And since that railing prevented him from falling six feet into the river below, I'm okay that he's got it.

Babushka for you

Gus has inspired me to paint again. He prefers to watercolor his arm, but I'm finding paper works fine for me. 

I'm going to layer this with colored pencil and marker and see what happens. Lynda Barry tells us to doodle images of our past to unlock our creativity, and at some point in college I took comfort in doodling "Magic Babushka." She isn't afraid to say the hard things and never makes you feel bad about your sensible shoes. I'm having a Babushka revival living in near-Eastern Europe. She continues to know just what to tell me.

I wish I had a Magic Babushka to send my sister K right now. Her family's beloved Pete passed away this weekend, and these are sad times. Pete was a good kitty (and sometimes Facebook friend). He is missed. Babushka would be full of comforting things to say.

 

Balancing bikes and writing

All of Prague was in a good mood and too many layers today. The weather soared above 50 degrees, the horse stables put out their beer garden benches, and despite collective bronchitis we hit the trails with Gus on his Strider bike. Everyone in town had the same idea, and we all grinned like sun-bedazzled fools in a sea of dogs, horses, bikes, scooters, walkers, strollers, and shockingly white arms. 

The elation that taking off our coats brings us is only slightly above the elation this recipe brings us. It cleans out my fridge and allows for rampant substitutions. No sour cream? Try buttermilk or tvaroh or cream cheese. No basil? Cilantro, spinach, parsley, whatever. I grate in carrots, sweet potato, and zucchini. I double the broccoli and toss in pine nuts. I add whatever cheeses need finishing. I use spiral noodles and shells and whole wheat bow ties. It comes together in a jiffy and is one of the very few vegetable laden dishes that inspires Gus to praise.

As we sat at our little table in our little kitchen with our little man eating our mac and cheese today, we were awfully grateful for these little lives. It could be the delirium from seeing the sun for the first time in five months, but neither P or I knew that we were the kind of folks that would find joy and satisfaction in a long morning spent keeping a wild balance biker out of the river. We dig it. We dig it a lot. 

Our Prague time is winding up, and we'll soon both be employed on a new continent. I've been thinking on whether I will continue to capture these little goodnesses in this personal blog while balancing writing about my work and also balancing just working on my writing. I'm in balancing conundrum. This blog existed to help me find joy in the ordinary and to keep me artisitically productive here in a new life in Praha. It has served me well, but it was never really intended for an audience. There are other things I need to write. I teach writers and believe very strongly they need to see me actively producing. Yet, it alarms me to put all my time into a blog for their benefits and not into the writing I hope may someday turn into a something. I'm just not sure how a teacher balances modeling writing while protecting his or her own writing space. One could wear themselves a little thin with too many blogs or too many articles or too many whatevers spread out in all directions for all audiences (and really...let's be honest...how many folks really want to read what's being said?). Neighbor B was kind enough to listen to me process earlier this week and she assured me I'm not the first teacher to ask these questions, but I cannot think of what to type into Google to find the answers: "How can I write and publish things I don't want to show my student communities and yet have the energy to professionally blog and offer writing samples that my students can read and also still feel like I have artistic direction and maybe maintain a personal blog..." Hmm. Thoughts, teacher friends? This will sort itself out. For now, I don't know what will be being typed next Spring, but for today, we are happy in our record of the littles. 

Digital coloring of the last post's drawing. I think I prefer it.