Pulling Up

She's also realized that our stairs exist. Things are about to get real interesting!

Box Monster

Book #32 - An Atlas of Impossible Longing

This book was in the Washington Post's Top 5 Works of Notable Fiction of 2011.  An Atlas of Impossible Longing by Anuradha Roy may live up to it.  I'm not sure of my opinion yet.  I enjoyed the prose and the plot up to the last few chapters. 

 

The novel is a multigenerational story broken into 3 sections/generations.  Set in a small town in India, the family is set apart in their large house except for a connection with the British woman in the villa across the street.  I found parts of it reminscient of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and over all a tender, sad story. 

There are so many 'impossible longings' in the book, in the hearts of each of the characters. There are things they do not understand, human frailities, and messes that they create. 

Their wistfulness reminded me of universal human longing for God and the famous quote of St. Augustine - "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you."

I was a bit saddened by the end of the book,  the issues worked out a little too well to be believable in my opinion.  To have been a better story, the choices made should have held their consequences instead of being easily swept aside in the name of a 'grand and true' love.  In real life it usually isn't so simple, but pragmatically maybe that doesn't sell as many copies.

Scratched eye humor

Last night around 7, John noticed that Gregory had a pink eye.  Examining his eye, I realized something more serious was going on - like a scratch back on the sclera (given to him by Thomas that morning).

Calling the doctor's call line to see if this was an ER visit or an urgent care appointment, or even a next day appointment was interesting.  The nurse kept asking me to ask Gregory questions.

Nurse:  Ask him if he sees double.
Me: Gregory, do you see double?
Gregory: Yes.
Me: Do you see 1 or 2 Ree's?
Gregory: 1.

Nurse: Ask him if anything looks blurry...or if anything looks funny to him.
Me: Gregory does anything look funny to you?
Gregory:  Yes.
Me:  What looks funny?
Gregory:  When I look in the mirror.

Determining that we didn't have an ER crisis on our hands, we were given an urgent care appointment at 8, and John set off with Gregory.

Evidently he amused the doctor at that office too.

Doctor:  Does your eye hurt?
Gregory: It hurts alot. (As he says this calmly without even a tear or exclamation point.)
The doctor had to laugh

They then proceeded to give Gregory a vision test in which his injured eye scored better than his non-injured one.   He also sat calmly through them turning his eye yellow with dye and then looking at it with a purple light.

Home he came with an ointment for his eye.  And we had a long talk with Thomas about the importance of eyes.

This morning Gregory slammed a lid of a bin across Thomas' face, scratching the bridge and top of his nose quite badly.

Somehow I need to teach my boys to not go for each other's faces.

Grandpa B!

Yesterday was Grandpa B's birthday! 

The kids just love their grandpa, especially Gregory who adores him and enjoys anything that Grandpa does.

Here are these 2 having cake at Grandpa's party.

Grandpa also took the opportunity to teach the kids chess, or at least start.

It's a work in progress.

Here's to many more birthdays to come and countless games of chess and checkers.



Book #31 - Turn of Mind

What would it be like to have dementia, to fade in and out of what you know, what reality is or seems to be?  Alice LaPlante's Turn of Mind is a psychological thriller which somewhat answers this question.


Jennifer, the main character of the book, is a highly skilled hand surgeon, who also has Alzheimer's.  The plot revolves around the murder investigation of Jennifer's best friend Amanda.  All of the evidence points towards Jennifer, but even her own mind won't unlock the truth for her.  As time passes, Jennifer's condition worsens and still the investigation continues.


It is also a book filled with secrets, Jennifer's secrets, her children's, her spouse's, friends' and caregiver's.  The novel can be dark at moments, but we all have dark spots in our souls even if our sins are smaller than the characters portrayed here.


A fast read, this is a book I couldn't put down and finished in 24 hours.  I think of all of the books I've read so far this year, this is the one I would choose for a book club because it is totally gripping.

A Whole Decade!

10 years ago I married someone with a great sense of humor and patience, a radiant smile and dark hair.

The only thing missing today from that picture is the dark hair.

How blessed I am to be married to John!  He is such an anchor in life for me, keeping me grounded and keeping the waves in perspective.

That day we were so blessed to have so many friends with us.

So many of these people have continued to play a large role in our lives, and I am so grateful.

I know too, that whatever the future brings, we will be blessed together.

As incredulous I am that 10 years have passed I'm sure the years to come will speed by as well.

I can't imagine anyone better to spend them with.

Park Visit

A visit to our local park - we don't make many of these at the moment because of someone's nap schedule.

"Mission Control, we are looking for an alien planet."

"If I pull on this, can I knock down the castle?"

"All aboard!"

Looking ahead for adventure

At the top of the world, or at least this ladder

Ree's first swing ride.  She loved it, but I couldn't seem to capture a smile.

Wordless Wednesday -Potato Prints

Book #30 - The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt

At 486 pages (not including notes), spanning over 5000 years, The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt by Toby Wilkinson is quite a read.  I gave myself plenty of time to spend with it, almost 2 weeks, aiming at 50 pages a day.

I enjoyed it, it feels a little like a real life Game of Thrones.  There's not much to say about a history book like this, there are plenty of events and names. (If I remember correctly there are about 30 dynasties in ancient Egypt.)  Wilkinson covers quite a bit about wars,  the after life, and what it meant to be Pharaoh - you were basically an incarnation of a god.  It stunk to be a commoner (John and I would already be in our old age, living to the ripe old age of 35), and Egyptians had really long strange names.  The book also has a nice selection of pictures to help illustrate the author's points.

Feed me, Clare!

Recital Day

Beautiful Spanish Rose

Clare waiting for her dance.  She always tries to bring a book

Lined up to pray

Here's our studio's head leading the girls in prayer.  That's why I love our studio.

She also tells the girls they don't need make up because God already made them beautiful!

Posing

Ree and I watched the dancers in the back room for both shows. I'll admit it was a long day.  Ree is such a trooper.

Luckily, they set up a big screen tv so we could all watch the dances.

This entertained the children and I felt like I had an opportunity to watch as well.

This is sort of a modern Degas, all the girls sitting in front of the tv.

The craziness is over for the summer, but I'm sure we'll be looking forward to it in the fall.

Quick Takes - 1st Week of Summer Vacation

1)Tomorrow is Clare's dance recital. We've had a crazy week of rehearsals. I volunteered to be the stage mom for Clare's class, show 1. That meant we had to be at the 3 hour dress rehearsal. I worried a little about Ree, but she didn't even whimper. She loved the hustle and bustle, the music, all of the costumes and the running around backstage. I don't know how she stayed awake the whole time, but she did.

2)How awesome is this?:

Since our parish doesn't allow parents to take pictures at First Communion, the priests give every child a photo of themselves like this.  This brought tears to my eyes when I saw it.

3)The first week of summer vacation is coming to a close.  I think the house is messier since I am trying to do crafts and activities with the kids each day.  I am also sleeping more since I don't have to wake up for the school bus - yea!  Everyone is happier with a rested mommy.

4)It's fun living on our block - I took a few activities outside today and soon had about 10 kids playing nicely with each other.  Everyday, someone is around and willing to play or have some kind of adventure.  I wonder if moms just kick their kids outside when they see other folks outside.

They did a bubble tray (ht: Colleen). One kid made a 12 straw straw by tucking them into each other.  They ran around blowing bubbles, throwing bubbles, and using squirt guns.

Then we set up a cardboard castle and some of the children painted it.  This quickly paled, but we'll pull it out again on a less breezy day.

These guys didn't want to paint but they definitely wanted to be inside.

5)Finally Ree, Thomas and I went inside for lunch and a nap, while Gregory and Clare had a picnic with the other kids.  So awesome.  They continued to stay outside for 2 more hours.  Hopefully everyone sleeps well tonight.

6) I'll end with an awesome quote from Pope Bendedict's Holy Women:

"Consider the immensity of my love: if you want to know it well, nowhere will you find it more clearly expressed than in the Gospel.  No one has ever heard expressed stronger or more tender sentiments than these: 'As my father has loved me, so I have love you' (Jn 15:9)"-St. Matilda of Hackeborn (page 30)

7)And there will be recital pictures to come tomorrow or so.

Have a great weekend! and Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there.

We're on an adventure!

Wordless Wednesday - I'm bored!

7 months

Ree is getting so big!  She's crawling and last night she said "dada!"

Here she is crawling next to her pony.

since she'd rather have the Aquaphor than be in a photo.

7 and 11 months

And I'm so glad she's home for the summer!  Everyone is happy to have her here, even if they drive her crazy.

Free Movie!

I love our dentist.  They are wonderful with the kids and the insurance company.

And then they have awesome events like this one.

They hosted a free showing of Madagascar 3.  You had to enter their contest, but I don't think there were any losers.

The morning of the movie they handed out frisbees and gift cards to the theatre.  It was tons of fun.

It was another great way to kick off summer vacation!

Almost there!

Someone is going to be really crawling any day now.