suspension

Just like life, everything in suspension, every moment transient...

excitement

Sometimes being the onlooker is the more difficult role. The kids were all psyched and excited to start a new year of learning today, while I felt a little worried about their transitions. They came home with big smiles and enthusiasm, loving every single teacher they had the pleasure to meet.

All is good at ONE ✷ ELEVEN.

P.S. Sophie insists on wearing socks with sandals because "she is German".

library museum pass

I love my library, their museum passes are such a gift. They allowed us a long overdue visit to Fruitlands in Harvard and gave us: beautiful nature and magnificent vistas, classic and contemporary art, history and of course a puzzle piece of transcendentalism I was actually missing. There are great things all around us, sometimes it takes us a while to notice.

leaves

The hurricane that posed an extreme threat luckily turned into nothing but a little more than usual wind and rain. Nothing really extraordinary happened here outside of leaves everywhere. I myself caused the storm to fizzle out by using Murphy's law, preparing for the storm of the millennium and also cancelling the birthday party of my little one.

cat in a hat

Boredom often is the root of creativity and at times purely annoying to cats.

k-ah-f-ee-zeit

You can count on it, at some point in the afternoon, one of my children will say it: "k-ah-f-ee-zeit" (Kaffeezeit), meaning it is time for a leisurely sit-down, have a cup of coffee or tea and maybe a biscuit. I believe it is the ritual and the connotation of this being so traditionally German as well as the mix of having a little time out and the sweet treat that makes this so appealing. And in case you are appalled, I do not regularly caffeinate my kids, we make fruit or herbal tisanes or like today, what we call 'Kinderkaffee', a malted grain coffee.

colors of August

I wish I could hold on to the colors of August and make them last a while longer.

finally

Almost putting it for the umpteenth time in about 5 years on my to-do list, I decided yesterday to forgo planning and actually doing it instead. Finally we have a house number sign. That feels so good and I think it looks good, too!

words

Playing Bananagram with the Soph and having so much fun that sometimes we can't stop laughing. Hurrah for words!

memory

Good memories often create the basis of anticipation. Last fall my mother and I had a wonderful time on Crane Beach and we were talking yesterday about how beautiful it is and how much we are looking forward to go again when she comes next month. I adore the words on the steps leading to the beach, because I love words and I also love the beach :)

dragonfly

At least one creature is happy about the flowers not being dead headed. Whatever the reason these insects were given the name dragonfly, their wings are pretty amazing, looking like Tiffany made them under a microscope. Click the pic bigger to see the details of the wings.

stone spiral

Another one - this is a stone/rock spiral I made with the girls a few summers back on Horseneck Beach. It was so much fun to build it and many people stopped to look at it and pondered its meaning. The high tide washed it away later, a rather symbolic act.  Click to see it bigger!

nautilus spiral

Yes, I have spirals on my mind as I am working on the one in the back yard. So here we have another fine specimen, probably one of the most iconic: a nautilus shell.

pink spiral

So let's just stay on the topic of spirals, because they are so fascinating. This is a blossom of one of our Hibiscus - Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) shrubs, tightly curled up in a spiral like fashion before opening up into a big beautiful flower and a little taste of warmer climates for us here in the north.

gray spiral

Some are complaining about the gray weather, but gray can be very nice, like the spiral staircase in the tower of Mount Auburn Cemetery. Anyway, gray and rainy days are perfect for working inside and since I am kid-free this week, there is a lot of organizing and renovating going on here.

clear

 

It is so wonderful when the weather turns clear and slightly crisp in August, a small token of a promise that fall is just a mere few weeks away. 

ahoi!

Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me... the girls had a great time at sailing camp and showed me all they learned. Ahoi mateys!

perfect summer day

Weatherwise: this was the absolutely and totally perfect summer day as seen at Regatta Point on Lake Quinsigamond this morning.

hedgehog

Meet Cookie, our little hedgehog house guest for 10 days. She was desperately trying to escape the foot bath that was rather necessary this morning. Being quite adventurous and curious, she was a good sport though and not the least bit upset.

bumble bee

Bumble bees are so round and fuzzy, buzzing around my purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) in the front yard. They don't like their picture taken and fly away as soon as I try to focus on them - it took a lot of patience to actually get a good shot. --> click to see big!

japanese balloon flowers

We know it is August when the Japanese Balloon Flowers (Platycodon grandiflorus) are literally popping into bloom overnight.

tanglewood

Leaving the torrential downpours behind, the BSO's summer home Tanglewood in the Berkshires welcomed us with sunshine and lovely music (Smetana, Mozart & Tchaikovsky) - being there with great friends and having delicious food and yummy wine made it even better. And of course, let's not forget my fantastic 'table in a bag' had its inauguration today.

juxtaposition

Standing on the top of the tower on the Mount Auburn Cemetery and looking towards Boston, there is a strange juxtaposition. The cemetery is so peaceful, a quiet resting place in any meaning and there you see Boston, noisy and crazy, busy, stuffed full of cars and people... and in the end, it all becomes restful and quiet (one hopes).

eleven

Yesterday my 'little' one turned eleven and had a really wonderful day. She enjoyed having a birthday at home for a change, I think that only happened twice before.