Headlights in the Fog

What to get Kitty for her birthday?

My little girl turns 4 on August 14th. 4! She has changed in so many ways since she turned 3. I've been trying to think of what to get her or what to suggest to people to get for her (people like my mom, who asked.) My mind on the topic has been a blank. The only thing I could think of was a camera, since she so loves taking pictures, but cameras aimed at kids all seem to be big on visual design of the product, but low on quality of images taken with them. I thought about getting her an entry level digital camera which would be about $100. I don't think she's ready for that yet. Plus, my secret dream is to replace our camera with something new and give her our old one. Maybe for Christmas. Kitty isn't any help on the topic, either. I asked her what she wanted and she said, "A princess dress and a magic wand!" Well, okay, she already has 4 princess dresses and at least 1 magic wand. I did tell her that she and I would go pick out a pattern and fabric for the dress of her choice. I'm thinking once she sees all the options of things one can sew that she'll veer away from the strictly-princess-dress category.
Thom had some original thoughts on the subject: we could give her a big ticket that she could use at either Dutch Wonderland or Sesame Place (the ticket would be ceremonial.) We had talked about getting a kitten, but want to put that off until Lulu has had some time to relax. Thom said Kitty would love a wall hanging I had made. I pondered what the subject matter would be and he said, "It could be anything... as long as you made it for her."
This morning I asked Kitty who her 3 favorite loveys are. They are: Fake Lulu, Kitten and Sahnna.
Here is my design for the wall hanging:

Studio Time

With the kids in camp, I have been working in my studio daily. At first I did catch-up on mending and stuff like that, but now I've moved in to working on my latest quilt idea. It started in my head with the image of one chair. Once I had the one chair, I realized I needed more chairs. Many compositions and drafts later, I've come up with the above layout. It's a really, really rough draft... pieces of tracing paper taped together this way and that. I've got further ideas to work on before I commit to it being the actual design I will quilt. You know what? It is so amazingly exciting to me to be working in my studio. With the kids happily ensconced at camp, I can let my mind go in a way I haven't been able to since Jack was born. I spend hours listening to NPR while drawing or sewing. I've been making creative thinking leaps that knock the wind out of me. It feels decadent, and I guess it is. It's just so joyful to fully get in touch with my creative self. Instead of waving to each other from across a river, we're having a conversation in the same room.

Lulu

Lulu is a totally different cat these days. These valium days. She doesn't flinch when you come in a room, she hangs around 'talking' to me, listens to NPR with me while I work in the studio... she's just 'around' more and it is lovely. Thom said last night he was working on the computer and he looked over and saw Lulu lying on her back with her paws splayed out sleeping.

We have to start cutting back on the valium this week. The whole point of it is to try to stop the cycle of anxiety she was in. I don't really want to cut back because she's so damn happy... but if we do cut back or stop and she starts having issues again, we can put her back on it. The vet said some cats use it daily for the rest of their lives. I think Solomon gets a bit jealous at all of the attention Lulu gets now that she is around more. This morning she was asleep next to me on the sofa as I was drinking coffee. Solomon came and got on my lap and then looked about ready to clock the sleeping Lulu over the head. I ejected him from my lap for that behavior.

Kitty has had another photo shoot... this time with the rotating fan. I picked the below shot from about 20 such shots of the fan. Actually, now that I think of it, the pictures could probably be arranged in to a flip book of the fan going back and forth. That would be brilliant.

Parents' Day at Camp

Yesterday was Parents' Day at Jack and Kitty's camp. I had to split my time between their two classes or 'bunks' as Thom wasn't able to go due to mountains and mountains of work. The day started out in Music with Kitty... the music teacher is the mother of one of Jack's classmates from kindergarten... so we know each other. She is awesome... I wish I had had music teachers like her. At one point she had us using scarves and dancing around to an Aaron Copeland piece and pretending we were riding horses.
A few times when we did sitting-in-a-circle songs Kitty told me to stop singing or waving my arms about or whatever was going on. I wonder if this is the beginning of Mom-you-are-embarrassing-itis? I'm sorry to say I think I am going to be a very embarrassing mom. I hope she gets over it, even appreciates my fly-your-freak-flag ways someday.
We then went to art, where we did an interpretive drawing based on the book 'Elmer,' which is about a patchwork-colored elephant. Our piece was definitively a collaborative effort.
After that, I hustled over to the pool to see Jack during his swim lesson. He was so happy to see me... his smile was so wide I could see it on the other side of the pool. He proudly showed off all of his new skills... like going under water and kicking...
  He love, love, loves his goggles... the first day after he got them he told me, "Mom! I can see underwater!" Here is a picture of him with them on:

After his lesson was over and his bunk had left to go back to their schedule, Kitty's bunk arrived on the scene. I was sitting on a bench right by where Kitty was swimming and she told me many times to 'take a picture!'

She also worked on some swimming skills. One of these was 'back floating.' Kitty was too concentrated on what she was doing  to tell me to take a picture, but I took one anyway:

She also demonstrated the lesser-known 'Blue Star Head' swimming move:

The last thing we did was go back to Kitty's bunk to get changed before lunchtime. I got a really good shot of Kitty and one of her camp buddies, Haley.

My Cat is on Valium

I promised more pictures from the beach and here they are! Above is a lucky shot from a trying-to-hold-the-camera-out-and-take-a-picture session. Ireally like a number of elements: Kitty's sly smile, the edge of my hat, the pattern of my bathing suit.
Here is Thom and the kids working at one of Thom's favorite pastimes: sand castle building! This is a good shot as it is a water action shot:

Thom turned 43 while we were at the beach. The kids and I have been watching seemingly 8 million cake making videos lately... if you'd like to see them search "Howdini Cake" on you tube. We hatched a grand scheme for Thom's cake... we all "worked" on it one way or another. Here it is... your favorite Byzantine coin and mine!

We were going for the look of this coin:

Jack and Kitty were SO excited to be a part of making Thom's cake.

A great deal of fun was had at the beach.

In other news, Thom and I saw Les Miz on Saturday while my parents took care of the kids. It was awesome... I think I burst in to tears 3 or 4 times... and really lost it at the end when they sing, "To be loved by one another is to see the face of God." Boy, I'm choking up right now just writing about it.
We couldn't spend the night at  my parents' though because Lulu is on some new medication and we needed to get home to give it to her. I took her in to the vet to discuss the situation of her urinating on my side of the bed 4-5 times a week (once even while I was asleep in the bed!) Essentially, after much talking it was decided she is over-stressed (losing her partner of 13 years this spring and being left with a young upstart of a cat for a compainion.) As a lucky by-product of the appointment, it was discovered she has high blood pressure (normal for cats is the top number being 140 or less and she is at 196.) We are now giving her the blood pressure medication once a day and valium twice a day. I think the valium is really helping her... she has become so relaxed and seems to enjoy being around people... including the kids. Now if only we could get Solomon to be nicer to her! I'm so happy to see Lulu looking relaxed and peaceful. She's been so stressed out-seeming for so long that I took that to be normal behavior. We love you Lulu... we do, we do.

My Secret Door

One of the blogs I read had this on it yesterday:

"Ever had a day so crazy you just wanted to stop the world and get off for awhile? When I have those days, I start imagining a door. It’s kind of like my front door, but there’s something much more interesting on the other side of it than my porch. It’s what you see to the left here — the dreamlike Matavulu Blue Hole in Vanuatu, on the island of Espiritu Santo. Fed by abundant rainwater, the hole (which begs for a more expressive name) is a deep and crystal clear oasis of perfectly refreshing 72 degree water, no matter how sweltering it is on the island. Ahhhhh. So what we’d love to know is this: if you had a secret door you could escape through once in a while, where would it lead?"

I would have to say my secret door would open up on to the top of Sacre Coeur's dome in Paris back on our honeymoon in 2001. It was a 30 minute climb up to the top of the dome through centuries old stairs that were worn down in the middle, across roofs with no railings and through doors that were only 5 feet tall. Thom and I were the only ones up there. The view is just simply spectacular... the Eiffel Tower in the distance to our right, the modern art museum Pompidou Centre to our left. The sun was low in the sky and there was a swift wind rolling over us making my hair fly all around. It's nice to remember who we were then... and really incredible to consider the journey we've been on since then. On a stressful day, I'd love to open my front door to that day, that scene, the intensely amazing start to our marriage.

Where does your Secret Door lead?

Segway Tour

We just got back from a week on the Outer Banks with my family. It was a wonderful week. I will be posting more pictures from the whole week... but I could not wait to get this picture up! Yes... we went on a Segway tour of Corolla, NC. It was such a blast! I can not even begin to explain how much fun it was. I would now love to own my own Segway but see no real reason to have one. The next time we are anywhere where we could do a Segway tour, I will immediately sign up!
Pictured above from L to R: My nephew Scott, my brother James, my nephew Daniel, my brother-in-law Jerry, me and my sweetie Thom.