Ginger and Willow colored pictures before bed.

After admiring them and hearing their accompanying stories...

Me: Ginger , would you like to put those on the fridge for me?

G: YES!!
{she zooms to the kitchen}

W: (unintelligable comment)

G: Check or debit?

W: What?

G: Check or debit?

W: Check on what? What's a 'debitte'?

G: CHECK OR DEBIT?

Me: (time to translate, though I have no idea what's going on.)
Willow, she's asking if you want to pay with a check or your debit card!

W:(epiphany)
..
oh.
..
check.


Moments later they walk through the living room nonchalantly. I am left, as is so often the case, to wonder what just happened.

Speechless(support the writers)

Lion, you are not alone.

In a recent post, I told you about Lion's part in our adventure at the zoo.
How essential he was to Ginger's happiness, and then.where he ended up.

Tonight after tucking my daughters in, I'm not saying this post is about anyone in particular.
But if it were, I'd say that if you are loved by a certain young fiery woman, you should count yourself very lucky. She will take you everywhere like the Lion, shower you lavishly with affection, steal your heart irrevocably with her rare charms.
And then, after she gets tired of lugging you around for a while, she'll stuff you unceromoniously into her two hoods and you'll be forced to spend the rest of the adventure there. Blind and air-deprived. This will happen in the middle of stores, in the backseat of moving vehicles, and anyplace where older people can give you 1)sympathetic looks, or 2)you're-completely-inept-as-a-Lion looks.

But don't worry, because without warning she will forget her anger and once again place you, by her pure affection, among the luckiest to ever have lived. And you'll forget the hood, because in the presence of such unreserved and generous love, you can't help but be completely 'present'.

But don't get to used to it, because as soon as you suggest bedtime she's going to stuff you back in the hood.

So this isn't about anyone in particular, and certainly noone who bears a strong genetic and tempermental resemblance to me.

But if it were, and you were the Lion, I'd probably say you're impossibly lucky.
That you'd never trade your position in her heart for anything.
Being her Lion is always going to be worth getting stuffed in the hood.

Oh - and also, you might want to learn to 'play dead'.

Spending the morning at home with Ginger..

and we have been looking at animal pictures.

found this one of a kitten named Willow.

seriously. the eyes look so much like her inimitable green....it's freaky.

here's the link - blogger is acting wierd about adding images.

Put Me in The Zoo

We went to the zoo with Tara & Tony, Daniel, Isaac & Will..

Ginger couldn't take a trip to the zoo without Lion, her ever-present favorite friend. After growing tired of lugging him around, she opted for stuffing him into her two hoods, where he rode securely(albeit blindly) for the rest of the morning.

We pretty much had the place to ourselves. I think November is my new favorite time to go to the zoo. Will spent much of the day in the arms of whoever would let him hitch a ride. He's irresistible, so finding a willing adult wasn't hard. More on our friends the Rudd boys later in the post..


Don't think of it as running from the lion...think of it as running toward the brown bear..

This guy pretty much did ..this. For a long time. I really wanted to put my arms around his neck and bury my face in his squishiness. I realize, of course, that this would occur moments before my face was ripped off and handed back to me. Still.
Lion and Ginger climbing to get a better view. Turned out ok for Ginger, still sucked for Lion who continued seething in his own carbon dioxide.
In this picture, Tony caught something very distinctly 'Willow'. Utterly earnest.
This is Daniel, lucky Dad of Isaac and Will, and someone who is becoming increasingly important to me. The more I get to know him, the more surprised I am that he can exist. He's shockingly kind, intelligent, imaginative, resilient and free-thinking. It's the best kind of surprise.
Willow and Isaac checking out the river otters......

This young spider monkey was fascinated with the kids...in this shot it's trying to look disinterested, dramatically so. Moments later it leaned over and kissed the glass where Ginger's hand was. At one point Isaac and the monkey were face to face through the glass, both giving each other a kiss.
Ginger took this picture..other than this shot, though, Tony deserves all the credit for capturing our day in these images. :)
The girls had crazy fun making beautiful patterns of layered sand with the art project Tara & Tony had waiting for them back at their place after the zoo. It was really thoughtful and was a big hit with Willow and Ginger.
And, thanks to Tara for a dinner that the girls and I talked about for days. We all want seconds.

hm.

"I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier to answer
questions. I can't answer your question."

George W. Bush
October 4, 2000
Speaking in Reynoldsburg, Ohio.

Sometimes you go for a while thinking that being a parent is normal, but then, while making your daughter's lunch for the next day, you have to go her room and take a sandwich bag off her stuffed polar bear's head.
And you think, nope. It's not normal.
It's more like being a crazy person, living in a house with other crazy people.

Pay the writers. This is (not) a complex issue.

This is kind of a tribute post..


My blog-friend Amy lives in LA(see links list 'faraway friend amy')..for years her posts have been making me laugh and cry. I remember the first time I read a story she was telling about her kiddos, Zane and Audrey, and thinking, "these kids are as funny and smart and crazy as mine..they would be such good friends if they didn't live on opposite ends of the country!". And as they have all gotten older, I still think that's true.

If you've never read her blog before you're really missing out on some great storytelling.

Speaking of great storytelling, Amy's husband Scott is a writer whose contributions have improved some notable television shows.

Currently Scott is spending his days on the picket lines with the rest of Hollywood's lifeblood.

See, the writers have been getting shafted for a very long time.
We hear s bit about the WGA strike here in the midwest, but I think living here it's easy to miss the importance of it..and easy to forget that real families are in jeopardy while parents can't work because of this situation..

If you read Amy's recent posts, you'll see a family who is directly affected by the strike, adapting beautifully(determinedly), and as always, telling their story with a good deal of hilarity.

Also, you can go to www.unitedhollywood.com

I usually find it hard to follow the complexities of disputes that result in strike. But this time, I don't know if it's because these people are in a related industry, or if the issues are just really really clear. The writers aren't getting paid squat for two technologies: DVD and the internet.(there's more to it, but that's the jist)

And that translates to a terribly unfair, inequitable distribution of profits in Hollywood. These people are creatives, they work hard, and they spend the fist part of their careers(sometimes their whole careers) as starving artists. They have kids like Audrey and Zane, Willow and Ginger.
I'm glad they're standing for what they deserve.

I met my friend David for breakfast Sunday before he headed back to LA. We talked about developing the film industry in Michigan, a couple of upcoming projects, and caught up on life. We also talked about the strike and his being keen to get back to LA to walk the line. He seemed to think that this time, the strike will be shorter and effect more change because "we've got more behind us". The show runners(an extremely valuable part of the hollywood machine) who have joined the writers in the strike make me think he could be right.

For David, and Amy & Scott's family, and all the other folks affected, I hope so.

Cookie Dough(a tale of woe)

After a week of fending off the girls' colds while bolstering our immune systems with a witch's brew of echinacea, vitamin c, ginger root, zinc, and throat coat tea...several nights spent counting the seconds between coughs and debating whether to medicate..
the addition of a humidifier and aromatherapy oil nightlight provided by a very thoughtful Daniel..which made their bedroom a much more breathable space..
they are feeling considerably better.
A couple of days later I came down with what they had, complete with a cough that makes me see pretty shapes behind my eyelids and sounds like there's a barfight in my chest featuring a giant bullfrog and a jaded(not to mention drunk) old pirate. If you're interested, the frog is winning. I love experiencing light as art, and admit to a vague fascination with barfights, but currently could do without these displays...

Right now I'm about to drink something which is sure to taste alarming but equally sure to help me get better faster.

ugh.

yep. tastes like roadkill. that must mean it's working.

p.s. do not buy the tea tree oil/zinc lozenges at the health food store just because they're in the clearance bin and you're tired/sick/impressionable..and the guy with the guaged ear discs agrees with the beautiful earth mamma salesgirl that "these things are great for your throat"..my taste buds have asked me to tell the world: the fact is, no matter how well they work, it's just. not. worth. it.

oh, wait - this post is about cookies.
So, I bought cookie dough from my daughter's preschool class fundraiser because Doggonit I'm a Good Mom, and am currently whispered about as the One Mom in class(you know how there's always one mom who just doesn't quite have it together? Late, disorganized, generally clueless but obviously trying?). That's me. But I think I've definitely earned some points after buying not one but TWO tubs of nutritionally void cookie dough.
I went a step further and decided to actually bake it.
The girls were very excited about this rare prospect(refined sugar is not a major player in our household), and waited eagerly.
I swear to you I followed the directions.
Didn't take a rocket scientist. Just put the dough on the sheet. Put the sheet in the oven.
I was greeted within minutes by a funky smell emanating from the kitchen. The kitchen which was full of smoke.
Opening the oven revealed melted globs of cookie and some kind of fumes and charred stuff crackling in the bottom of the oven. The cookies were clearly in distress.
I shut the oven door, opened the kitchen window, and remembered why I don't bake cookies.
The end result was a lumpy mess, which the girls assured me was fanTABulous, and a really weird smelling kitchen.
I'm ok with the fact that my culinary skills are, at best, wildly unpredictable.
And have learned that there are some foods I'm just better off leaving alone.
For instance, I can intuitively create complex spaghetti sauces and pasta salads..
but have never made an edible pancake.
Or hamburger.
Things that i have been assured are NOT challenging fare.
Although it should be noted that my pancakes sometimes resemble a sort of gray Alfred Hitchcock, and I think that ought to count for something.

what the?

I haven't the slightest why popup ads are appearing on this site. Just started today, and I can't find anything on blogger to explain why...
help..
sorry if you can see them too - annoying..

enchanted

~thanks to daniel for catching these moments before trick or treating Wednesday, and this last one at the park. ~