backyard rainbow

No words necessary.

today's treasure

It's June 1st tomorrow, and I've missed my chance to share signs of spring with my readers. As I view blogging more as an opportunity to trade comments than a diary, I like to post something that inspires people to write back. So, how about sharing some life treasures instead? Our treasure this week involved two baby mice.

My four-year-old and I discovered them in the grass near the porch, so tiny they lacked hair and open eyes. No doubt, one of our felines dispatched with their mother. My daughter carefully collected them in her octogonal box and began mothering them. She fed them for two days with an eye dropper and kept warming them in her hands. Snowflake and Geranium. Her instincts were very sweet. She drew a wardrobe of little pink dresses on paper and cut them out. She drew baby blankets decorated with little flowers and taped them to the box. At the library, she selected Margaret Wise Brown's collection of stories entitled Mouse of My Heart. I read aloud the stories she selected for the mice. Two days later, she buried them in her flower box underneath some pansies so she would know where they were. These were all her ideas, I just sat back and smiled.

I am very awed by these simple expressions of love. My way of saving this treasure is to write this vignette, keeping it in my octagonal box of memories. That and this photo of little pink paper dresses.

urban dialogue

We just returned from our annual pilgrimage to NYC. The yearly checklist includes Japanese takeout with a small mountain of tuna and yellowtail sashimi, watching the seals feed and the animal chimes ring at the Central Park Zoo, and Novalox from Zabar's on a poppyseed bagel from H&H. New this year was the Cosmic Collisions imax film at the Rose Planetarium (mamela, are we really on that planet right now), finding the legendary curving granite slide in Central Park, and Mary Poppins on Broadway--a very special birthday present from one of my daughter's god mothers. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Pure serendipidity also played a role in defining a fabulous weekend getaway. My three twenty-something cousins, one of whom lives in Manhattan, were also planning a weekend get together. I consider their parents my older siblings. We rendezvoused over indian cuisine. It was delight to hear what inspires twenty-somethings these days. I noted that when dating entered the discussion, I got a big zero for content. As the youngest sibling was describing her course of study and summer research, the following memorable short dialogue about careers and choices ensued.

Oldest sibling: So, you're becoming dad.

Youngest sibling: Well, you became mom.

Middle sibling: I'm neither, so I'm truly independent.

I've thought about this exchange quite a bit, wondering how I might respond in kind. There's serious parental blending in my case. I've got dad's negotiating abilities and a calm demeanor under pressure (thank goodness). I've got mom's creativity genes and a flair for planning large gatherings with mountains of good food (thank goodness). Of course, there are many other good things. I'd just like to take this opportunity to say thanks mom and dad! It was fun thinking about you two being young twenty- and thirty-somethings on your first date in NYC, and wondering what sort of urban dialogue inspired you at the time. xox.

spring awakening

A couple weeks ago, a blogging friend recounted a sweet conversation about tulips with her five-year-old son. I was moved by the double entendre to compose a haiku entitled spring awakening.

Tulips are tender flowers caressed by the sun, or

two lips kissing.

Last Sunday, another spring awakening occurred which shifted the sensation from the sublime to the brisk. The 11th Annual Pond Plunge Classic! On the first sunday in May, a group of hearty friends and neighbors gathers on our porch to ponder the annual questions. Who's jumping, who's cheering? This annual rite of spring usually occurs one to four weeks after ice out on our swim pond. Icy plunging and shrieking is followed by maypole dancing, a toenail painting soiree, and divine picnicking.

Compliments of my four-year-old, I earned my glitter painted toenails after immersing myself, twice. A spring awakening indeed. You're all invited next year. Happy Mother's Day!