On our annual Tahoe vacation, unfettered by the 5:15 gym routine and the lunch boxes and the office hours, I totally dig mornings. I like the peace of the morning: a hot, bittersweet cup of coffee and a good lakeside sunrise and a soundtrack of geese squawking in chevron flight. Up until approximately 6 years ago, I liked putting Joni Mitchell on the iPod and cracking the paper and letting the morning happen. I liked long walks before the world woke up. We indulged in leisurely marital debates on the merits of a hike versus a bike ride, beach versus lake. As it turns out, on our annual ... [READ MORE]
Duets
May 13, 2014 by 1 Comment
Do you have a sister? I do. My husband I don't plan to have any more children, and we feel fortunate to have one of each, a boy and a girl. When you are planning a two-child family, it's nice when that balance occurs. But... There is no relationship in this universe like the one I have with my sister. Deep as an ocean trench and fun and complicated and sometimes combative; validating and supportive and honest; sometimes frighteningly honest, because there is no one, and I mean no one, who knows me as well as she does. She's like a mirror, in a room with really bright light that ... [READ MORE]
An Object in Motion, Stopped
January 7, 2014 by Leave a Comment
We never did give LittleMan that haircut. He started the 2014 semester with his usual sticking-out 'do, despite our best intentions. We never got to those last few loads of laundry, either; or the thank you notes (deeply grateful though we are...we're working on it, I promise); or The Pile on the kitchen counter that desperately needs to be sorted through and filed. We did not research the bunk-bed purchase, and I did not update my blog (although I will say with some satisfaction that 2013 was my most prolific year yet, nearly meeting my goal of a post a week). We are still figuring out ... [READ MORE]
Riding in Cars with Moms (and Fun.)
September 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Every time Don McLean's American Pie is on the radio, my husband stops what he's doing and turns up the volume. As he listens, he talks about hearing the song for the first time in a Volkswagon Rabbit convertible with his mom one summer, how she exclaimed, "I love this song!" and turned up the volume herself. I do not know exactly how old he was when this memory was formed -- ten, thirteen years old? But I know that not long after she would endure a brief and aggressive battle with cancer, and that she would pass away at age 48, leaving her 15-year-old son with -- among many things -- this ... [READ MORE]
Birthday
August 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Though the Rim fire burns hundreds of miles away, a thick, purple cloud of smoke lay like a blanket over Lake Tahoe as we drove over Donner Pass on Friday evening, the final weekend adventure before back-to-school. On Saturday morning, we woke at dawn to air thick with the soot and the smell of it, the lake barely visible, the sun bleeding red in the sky. Eventually, as the sun rose and the winds began to move things around, it was clear enough for a walk, and my sister and I ventured out with the girls in their various transports: Babygirl in her jogging stroller and my niece snuggled in ... [READ MORE]
Money Well Spent
August 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment
We are spending about three or four hours a day at the pool since coming to Tahoe, usually a morning session and an afternoon swim. Babyman loves the pool here; for the first time in his life, he can (barely) touch the bottom of the shallow end, and he spends a great deal of time on his tiptoes gasping for air. My husband and I, of course, would love to see some real swimming. For the past year or so, Babyman has been taking private swim lessons, and the kid's got skills. Seriously. But, as with all things Babyman, they depend massively on his mood and inclination to oblige. So we wade ... [READ MORE]
Resisting A Rest
July 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
It's just past noon in sunny Lake Tahoe and I'm watching Cars 2 with Babyman, blogging, and having a mimosa. No complaints here (besides Babyman, who at present is calling the landscaper a bad guy! for daring to mow the lawn during movie hour). I've said it before, but Tahoe Time is a rather wonderful parallel universe in which to vacation. There are swings and slides and rock walls. There is swimming, kayaking, and digging in the sand. There are geese in chevron flight and grasshoppers and dragonflies and ice cream cones melting in the sun and cold beers by the pool in the late ... [READ MORE]
