A picture to remember

From a few days ago:

Joe is kneeling on the living room rug, showing Marija how to solve tangrams. Jānītis, a week old now, is falling asleep in my lap. Dinner is done; dishes are undone. The Innocence Mission album Joe got me for a pre-birth present is playing. "Where does the time go?" He is the man I met when we were 18 and climbing trees at night.

Marija is going out and Joe says she needs some shorts on, pulls a skirt off the drying rack and gives it to her to wear instead. They are playing ball on the grass and Joe is inviting me outside under the vaulted blue...

The very last thing before I go

We are a week past our second baby's due date. I have cleaned my desk, packed my bag and told my friends I won't be coming to see them for awhile. This waiting time has been quiet -- except for the storm that sent me to Marija's cribside and down the stairs when the wind hit our house at 60 miles an hour. Things were not bad for us... we got power back within half a day and didn't have to invite ourselves over to our friends' for their air conditioning.

At times today I found myself with nothing I had to do. Joe and Marija made biscuits for dinner.

More than food

This is just a bit of my mundane little life, but now I've become the coordinator for my moms' club event called Cooking Club. I think it should really be called Eating Club... once a month or less often, we gather at someone's house with food to eat and talk and maybe share recipes. Some bring their children, so we have playing... lessons on sharing... tense moments in which we dig dirt from the flowerpot out of a baby's mouth.

There is usually a themes, to inspire people. Here are a few we've had:

Appetizers and salads

Brunch

Fresh from the Oven -- anything baked

Think Spring (having it this month) -- anything colorful, fresh or appropriate for Lent or Easter

I have some ideas for themes for the future, including a picnic. I am telling you all this because Joe thought some of my ideas were cheesy or something, so he started suggesting themes of his own:

Farm animals (this ham used to be a piggy!)

Food you wouldn't eat unless you were starving

For the last one, he suggested I just tell everyone to come hungry.

Grocery shopping before a blizzard

Thanks to the woman who let me cut ahead just a little in the 40-minute-long line at the grocery store after my baby started to scream from weariness.

Thanks also to her and the cashier and other folks nearby for making small talk while efficiently handling groceries. They helped distract us both and reminded me that the world wasn't ending. I thought I was really calm despite her crying, but after a number of minutes of it, I think I was starting to lose it a bit, and I guess it showed on my face.

I was so happy to get to the front of the line, I took just a second after loading my groceries to hand another woman a coupon for the sour cream she had. She saved $1.10, and I saved just a little of my sanity. I was so happy to get out of the store, I didn't even check the receipt to make sure I got my free tortillas.

Thanks to my poor little baby, who found the line at the grocery store more distressing than the shot she got at the pediatrician today. Now she is napping, and it is doing us both good.

(I was going to take a picture, but the camera woke her, so here is one from last month instead.)

What if we moved here one day?

So one advantage to having an awesome sister-in-law who is also an accomplished civil engineer: we have a street named after our family!

It's in a neighborhood she helped plan in Brandywine, just a little ways north of us in southern Prince George's County, and we finally found it Sunday.

That's some sign

Joe giving directions

The excitable one

"Hiding"

Yay!

Everyone had their blinds closed against the sun and heat, so I don't think the neighbors even noticed us taking silly pictures on the street corner.

Hey, we did stuff

When Joe was out of town again, I did some work around the house and on errands, but I also saw my family and took a trip up to Harrisburg to see the American MusicFest with Rose.

People contra dancing (I joined in!)

A train passing directly over the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra concert

The Pennsylvania Capitol

Saturday I went to the La Plata 4th of July celebration and watermelon bash. There was free watermelon, mm, and more music.

I also did a lot of cooking. Unfortunately, I did not do a lot of dishes.

Today Joe is back home, and we went to the park I visited last week. It was still deserted.

Piney woods

Berry picking

Playing in the moss

Moss

The lakeside

A fishing bob stuck in a tree

And I will do a lot of dishes tomorrow.

By popular request

Here are some pictures of pregnant me with Joe in San Diego. He was there for three weeks on business, so we had time to explore together on the weekends. It was great.

I look considerably rounder in real life, for some reason... so if you really want to see what I look like, you'll have to come visit!

I think this is a cypress

The Pacific Ocean in La Jolla

Pools and tidepools

Sandstone + ocean = fun

The lion is stuffed

Under a rare torrey pine tree (they grow on seacliffs!)

More torrey pines

Joe (the white speck) on a ridge in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Near some old desert petroglyphs

At the first Spanish mission in California

Evening activities

Many of the people who have visited have commented on the number of candles we have around, especially in the living and dining area. We happen to have a lot of pretty candle holders, so we like to keep them out.

We use the candles pretty often, but the lights are usually on, too. Well, Joe decided to see whether all of the candles together would be enough to read by. So we turned out all the lights, and he read The Raven, Annabel Lee and other selections by Edgar Allen Poe. 

It seemed lighter than this once our eyes adjusted.

It was a great evening.

Measure twice, cut once

Joe playing with blocks

He is actually starting to make a compost bin.

Okay, now he is really playing!

Kite flying

Sunday afternoon, Joe and I went down to Smallwood State Park. We took in the art at the Mattawoman Creek Art Center and the beautiful scenery all around.

Then we pulled out the kite!

Shortly after that last picture, the kite flew into a tree, where it stayed. If it comes free and you find it, please let us know.

Looks like this

We went home and wrote a letter, which wasn't the worst way to end the day.

Halloween

I did not know I was marrying someone who would want to decorate for Halloween! Here is our front door, all covered in newspapers.

Here is a close up. The poem is by Sir Walter Scott.

We (mostly Joe) also carved this pumpkin. It looks neat when it glows from the inside.

We dressed up and amused ourselves while waiting for trick-or-treaters. Here Joe is pulling an invisible rope.

We had candy, too.

(I am wearing a little of Joe's scary make-up.)

We danced for a while.

(Not really dancing.)

But only four trick-or-treaters came by.

So we ate lots of candy and talked about what what colors we should paint the walls.

(The end.)

Morning routine

Joe yawning

The 10-minute drive to the monastery takes us across Route 301 to some more rural roads on the other side of La Plata. As we drive by, buses are just picking kids up from their stops, so we see people out and waiting - one girl applying hairspray outside her house, another arguing with a mother in a bathrobe. 

Further along, there are cornfields and horses before the road slips into a tunnel of poplar trees. A small lot by the road is up for sale, and Joe and I like to dream of buying one like it someday.