My weekend in idioms

A watched pot never boils, but an unwatched pot might be a dog's object of obsession and then get tipped over, causing you to cry with the mess of white bean chili everywhere.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make a teenager write a college admissions essay unless she really wants to (and that might be at the last moment).

Into every life a little rain must fall on the multitudes of leaves, making them wet and impossible to rake.

A fool and his money are easily parted, especially when internet shopping.

Blood is thicker than water except when asked to take your little brother with you to the movie with friends. 

Practice makes perfect but a reminding (nagging) mom makes practice happen in the first place.

Rome was not built in a day but I'll bet we could clutter it up really good and put it on the road to destruction in a single Sunday afternoon.

Rather than cursing the darkness, light a candle. And enjoy the extra hour of sleep.

. . .

How was your weekend? What rings true for you today?

image via

Louie, Louie

Louie the dog is cracking me up lately. He's decided to become Sam's long lost brother (from a different mother). Notice how he's holding the paper for Sam's coloring page*? And how fascinated he is by the whole process? I see you're using the red crayon, Sam. Good choice. I might have gone with magenta but clearly you know your way around a coloring page. This is how he is all day long: interested and involved. I unload the dishwasher several times a day but each time, it's the most fascinating thing in the world to Louie.

Wow! Dishes go in there, huh?

And then where do they....oh....in the cupboard. I get it.

Of course, he wasn't such a fan when his collar got caught somehow on the empty dishwasher rack and he pulled it out and across the kitchen floor, attached to his neck. Unexpected! The sky is falling! He's a little more wary of it now.

The other thing that never fails to make us laugh is his response to either (a) phone messages on our machine or (b) sirens. Oh, my. He howls and howls like a wolf on the prairie. I'm pretty sure he thinks the sirens are other dogs asking for his help and advice and support. Not sure what the answering machine is all about. Maybe he just misses me.

Oh, Louie. If only you didn't still steal things from the table. And jump up on shy little Chinese students. Then you'd be almost perfect.

*we had a lovely, lazy Sunday listening to conference talks at home, eating fresh picked apples and pumpkin bread, most of us remaining in pajamas all day. Sam (above) set up projects on the floor where Louie joined him.

Magnificent

weekend.
Thanks for coming, friends.

Jen, me, Deirdre, Vicki (behind the camera) at Burdick's Chocolate in HarvardSquare (fantastic truffles and decadent hot chocolate). Such a beautiful day. Or days. I love showing people around Boston and this weekend the city put on her best weather and represented well (not a city of blinding lights, but almost). Good food, a bit of sightseeing, great chats. It was a great chance to get together and do what friends do: show up, support + love, laugh, scheme, and be serious and indignant and silly at all the right moments. I feel refilled + replenished and hope they do too.

Anyway...

Uno, dos, tres, catorce...

Before the show. Yes, we came early...

but it was worth it.

I wasn't really prepared for how emotional an experience it would be. U2 has provided the soundtrack for a lot of my life. So many images came flooding back to me: moments of longing, joy, heartbreak, memories both manic and melancholy. There were some great melodies woven into the setlist. They combined One + Amazing Grace, added Blackbird to Beautiful Day, and a sing-along Stand by Me that got me all teary. It was such a great night*. Can't wait until next time, whenever that is. (The other three are heading to Vegas in October to see them again, the luckies.)

Now to get back to real life...

p.s. If you go (or are planning on it) get general admission tickets on the floor. I loved our seats--and they were on the 30th row so pretty good!--but if I did it again I would sacrifice sitting for being up close at the band's feet.

happy jumble

Happy to take off my mind:

• Did I register Lauren for driver's ed? Yes, I did.
• the paper for the class last night. I finished it yesterday. Whew, that was a close one.
• the presentation at the Harvard Faculty Club on Wednesday. Turns out, when I get exceptionally nervous I get really, really drowsy. In spite of my desire to find a quiet corner and nap, it went really well. And best of all? It's over!
• Was my house clean enough for the houseguests last night? No. Not even close. But oh well.

Still whirring in my mind:

• how to teach Lauren to be a good (safe, no accidents, please) driver?
• hmm, why does the stake have a big youth dance on Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve?
• are my kids too busy? and (unrelatedly) when will they learn to clean a bathroom really well?
• and, especially, how to best love and support an awesome friend who has been massively betrayed? and help her see that she's incredible and strong and will be fine?

Happy to look forward to:

• time with 2 longtime friends and 1 new one, staying with us for a long weekend*
• touring around Boston in this lovely early fall weather
• going to a concert by a little band that starts with U and ends with 2*
• slowing down a bit more to enjoy September
• maybe finally hanging a few pictures around the house? And curtains?
• apples and pumpkins and mums and soup and pies...autumn is my favorite

Happy weekend to you

* I am justifying these fun things and my trip to NYC (and, I'll be honest, anything else that comes along--hear that, Christie?) by classifying them as my happy 40th birthday fall extravaganza.

photo via loveyourchaos

Wringing the magic from the weekend

1. at Providence's WaterFire, 2. L, contemplative at dusk 3. easy picnic on Monday

4. L @ park 5. we love the park 6.gondola @ WaterFire

7. white legs playing games 8. Miss M 9. more games

10. G on his first holiday off since January 11. protective geese parents 12. crazy Sam

We got two hours of gardening work out of each child (yay!)

went to WaterFire

had a picnic

played badminton

saw Night at the Museum (kids)/Angels and Demons (grownups)

took naps, went on walks

did a lot of lazing

had reallyreally good burgers from our grill

had patriotic, thankful thoughts

and planned and dreamed.

A good restorative weekend, all in all.

Bostony weekend

In New England, we seem to wait all winter lonnnng (all 6.5 months of it) for a lovely, blooming weekend like the one we just had.  Now that the dreary grey and brown landscape has perked up again, I can fall a bit in love with New England again.  Blue skies (full disclosure: with a little showers in the morning). Sunny. Light breezes.  As luck would have it, when that particular kind of Saturday rolled around we had some great reasons to be out and about enjoying it.

March of Dimes walk in the morning along the Charles.

Red Sox game in the afternoon.

Holy Boston baked beans! Now I remember why we like it here...

Now if only the Sox had won that game... 14-5 isn't pretty (you can see Sam's dismay in one of the photos). Eh...you can't have everything.  And I think New Englanders secretly enjoy having something to gripe about. It brings us all together in misery:)

Less forest, more home

"Sometimes our life reminds me

of a forest in which there is a graceful clearing
and in that opening a house,
an orchard and garden,
comfortable shades, and flowers
red and yellow in the sun, a pattern
made in the light for the light to return to.
The forest is mostly dark, its ways
to be made anew day after day, the dark
richer than the light and more blessed,
provided we stay brave
enough to keep on going in."

~Wendell Berry, The Country of Marriage, III

Happy weekend: here's to less forest, more home.

The boys are going camping.

{So I guess more forest for them!}

The girls are enjoying time together and walking in the March for Babies 

{feel like you can throw $5 to the cause? click here}

Various and sundry social engagements for the daughters.

Baseball.

Mother's day.

Hats off to all you mothers and motherers!

Enjoy your lanyards.

photos via JF PLS's flickr