Snow, then rain –

the geese arguing loudly

overhead

Image: Jacqueline-W via Flickr

(A few Christmas pics
will go up soon, I promise!)

Ongoing Traditions

Saturday morning wrestling: year three
(Here, Mr. D is trying to "post up" out of the down starting position.)

Neighborhood caroling: year two

Former neighbors returning for the caroling party: year one

Mr. D waits until hot chocolate cools down
without being prompted to do so:
possibly the first time ever!

(All photos taken w/ my brand new Fuji Finepix F60.
Indoor shots are a little grainy: I haven't used any flash modes yet.
I also haven't read the manual,
which is provided as a .pdf document on CD.
Will consider the next week or so this camera's "try out" period.
Stay tuned...)

Late

We were going to be late.

And it had already been a long day.

I was pretty sure, having already been introduced to the features of multiple forts in detail, that I could live without a personalized tour of this one.

But as soon as I saw the tears well up in his eyes, I knew I'd need to reconsider.

I turned out that he'd saved the best for last.

This was his treasure shelf, full of things that he had found (or bartered for) over the course of the whole week.

It was difficult to overstate the specialness of each treasure. Each one had a story.

I stood listening, awash in memories of what it felt like to treasure the found.

And I let go of "late."

(Thank you to the women
of Sunday Scribblings
for their continuing inspiration.)

Real Life Conversations

Mr. D: Let Tama pitch. She's a great pitcher. She can throw it to heaven.

Then, a little later: Here, Mama, you can have this last bite. I know you like crusts.

Me: Thank you, sweetie, that's very kind of you.

A few minutes later:

Mr. D: You know, it's a little bit harder to be kind to the people in your family.

Me: Really? How so?

Mr. D: Well, you can't say things like, "So how was your day?" because you were with them, so it doesn't make sense to ask.

Me: So you mean that some of the ways of kindly showing interest aren't really available to you if you're talking about family members?

Mr. D: Right. (pause) But kisses and hugs do the trick.

Update: Yes, he actually said "do the trick." And yes, we are the luckiest moms ever.

Jay Smooth's take

(about 3 minutes)

It's not that I don't have thoughts of my own today.

It's just that I am grateful for his.

Interesting stuff.

Up-Cycling

A few years ago, I put myself on a lifetime t-shirt restriction. Simply put, I do not allow myself to purchase t-shirts. I have enough t-shirts that I could probably wear a different one every day all summer without repeating.

I do graciously accept gifts of t-shirts. And thus my problem continues to grow.

Just now, as I was wading through my RSS feeds, I came across this idea via the Alternative Consumer site... up-cycling! (Taking a used item and re-purposing it to make it even more useful than it was before.)

The picture above is from an Etsy shop that specializes in giving your old treasured t-shirts new life as a blanket.

So. Cool.

That's all I wanted to say, really. A girl's gotta get dressed for work, and all.

Funky Pretty Sale!

Every year, while packing for our two weeks of tent camping on Cape Cod, I "forget" my earrings. This creates a situation in which I need to buy new earrings, thus enabling me to bypass my naturally self-sacrificing ways.

Designer Deb Panish's work is one of the treats of my vacation. The buyer at the little shop on Wellfleet who stocks her jewelry clearly shares my aesthetics. And I've just received an email from Deb herself, telling me that she's giving wholesale prices to anyone who places an order of $50 or more.

So. Check out Deb's work via the teaser page here. And let me know -- via comment or email -- if you need the wholesale login info. Support an independent artist, make some folks you love happy, AND get a great deal! Woo hoo!

The Point vs. The Field

(It's an old picture;
I wasn't out in shorts today, I assure you!)

The pavement on our street is in terrible shape. And apparently the Township engineers have reason to believe that the pipes underneath it aren't much better. So tonight a bunch of us trooped down to the Twp. Municipal building to hear what's in store for us. I wasn't there. But T's notes look pretty comprehensive, so here's what I know:

The proposed project includes both reshaping, repairing, and resurfacing roadways as well as renovating our sewer lines.

A township sewer main runs down the center of our street. There is a 4'-6' copper pipe that runs from each house that they're not worried about. The longer pipes, or laterals, which run the rest of the way from the houses to the main are clay, with a life expectancy of about 25-40 years. They were installed between 1941 and 1943. Thus our little sewer project:

1) Install "cleanouts" on our lines to enable them to access it from outside the houses

2) Inspect laterals w/ a TV camera to assess for damage/degredation. (We'll be billed for about $150 / house for this.)

3) Most laterals are expected to be in need of replacing; concern is actually more about groundwater getting INTO the pipes than about anything leaking out. We are trying to reduce our inflow to the Stony Brook regional sewer system. Clay laterals will be replaced with thick plastic pipe, which is expected to last 100 years. (Of course, that's what they said about clay and galvanized steel at the time, too, but never mind...) Existing pipes will be removed via a trenchless, pipe "burst" method.

4) The Township guarantees the installation for 10 years.

5) In January we'll get an assessment (NOT a bill). This is just a statement to help the Township set aside the appropriate funding. When the fees are assessed, they'll be payable over 10 years. Estimated at about $110/foot.

Other notes:

• The timing of this is probably in our favor; not many jobs going out for bid in this economy means that we'll get lots of competitive bids.
  
• Sump pumps must not be tied into the sewer system.
• We should start trying to teach our kids NOW to resist the urge to yank out the little flags the Township engineers leave poking out of the ground.
  
• Work slated to start around April, should take 75-90 days to complete.
  
• There will be a follow-up meeting with the selected contractor to address issues of access to our homes during the roadwork
• Lateral sewer pipe replacement should take about 1-2 days/house
  
• The sewer improvement should not have an impact on our taxes, although the associated road improvements might.
• Curbing is an "all or nothing" proposition. If everyone on the street wants it, it runs about $26/linear foot, again assessed over a ten year period. But it's up to us to decide (as a street) whether we want curbing.

The most interesting part of the meeting? (For me, who wasn't even there.)

Our street joins another street in a kind of hairpin turn, and there's a section of public land where the two streets come together. Over here on our street, that land is universally known as "the point." But if you grew up on the next street over, you call it "the field." How's THAT for some extremely localized linguistic ethnography?!

Slice of Life

It's been a lovely weekend.

I've been baking biscotti and calling old friends. (If you're feeling starved for visuals, you can check out last year's post.)

My lovely partner and I took in a fabulous jazz concert last night and then walked home in the season's first snow.

Our son is downstairs hard at work at a mysterious elf project with his beloved Aunt Chelle.

And even though I wasn't able to attend writer Zadie Smith's talk at the NYC public library last night, I can listen to the whole thing from the comfort of my laptop.

You could, too, if you liked (click on her name below):

Zadie Smith (53 minutes; make a cup of tea)

(Hat tip to Heidi Durrow!)