clickmom

back to reality

I fought the urge to simply lie down and cling to the ground in utopia and instead did stuff like pack clothes, sweep the floors and wash about a thousand towels.

Now we are home.  I am so tired I can barely keep my eyes open.

Except for this terror thing that I have going on because when we were in the back yard this afternoon and I was surveying the total overgrowth of all those puny plants we put in 8 years ago, I also noticed a HUGE and I mean at least 18 inches long wasp nest high and bustling in one of my english plain trees.  I adore these two trees because they are the same trees that line (though those trees didn't look long for the this world that last time I saw them)  the park/playground I played in as a kid.  (John Jay on 77th and the east river for NYers who might be wondering) 

Those wasps better not be hurting my tree!

And now I need to figure out who I gotta call (wasp busters?).  hahahaha. I get punchy when I am tired.

Some good news is that the bread knife incident I had last Thursday finally stopped bleeding yesterday and now I am pretty sure that I won't need stitches after all. Hooray for butterfly bandages!   Another bullet (ER visit) dodged.

Have I mentioned the stench of the devil every summer by the time we return to stepford for school?  I know it's the lake because my neighbor's dogs smell the exact same way.  Pretty much in utopia the devil is in the lake 15 times a day.  She always follows us in when we swim, canoe or kayak.  She hops in every time we return from a walk and when ever she wants a drink she wades chest high and sips without needing to bed over.  I almost strapped her to the roof rack for the ride home.  Wouldn't you know, now that summer is history there isn't a spot of rain in the extended forecast!  Good for outdoor dog bathing.

So I have two joys to look forward to before Thursday when the kids go back to school.  Back to school shopping and bathing the dog.  Life is too short!

mosaic details

During my research for the mosaic I wasn't sure how I was going to set the stones.  There was some debating about the risks of cement cracking during utopia's brutally cold winters.  So I thought I would make some small stone mosaics and set them surrounded by the other stones set in stone dust over crushed gravel with sand for grout.  Three round mosaics in cement are a turtle, frog and fish.

Then I gave up on the whole cement thing and just started laying the stones down in the rock dust.  There was a big empty space in the sky so I tried to do a group of flying starlings. 

But that was after I had already made a nice round moon and sun.  Can you see the man in the moon on the moon?  The sun is setting beside a tree and there is a heron on it's lowest branch.  One night we had a bonfire and Evan spotted one of the lake herons sitting in our tree in this same position.  My rocks are colorful but in real life he was black against the indigo sky and I was absolutely convulsing that I didn't have my camera with me.  Sure enough he flew away when I tried to dash into the house and get it.

I also added a boat and wakeboarder (Evan) on the waves.  One interesting note: almost all of the rocks that make up the bottom water portion of the lake are actually from the lake. You can spot them by looking for the string of white pebbles that make up the cord from the boat's tower to the wakeboarder.

Our lake has eagles and I knew the mosaic had to include an eagle.  I am tempted to ask Matt to draw an eye on that white eagle head rock.

mixed bag

Two days ago I sliced my finger open while cutting rolls for the children's sandwiches.  It wont stop bleeding, so I have fashioned a butterfly and a series of bandages along my finger in order to simultaneously keep the wound closed and prevent my sliced finger from bending.

It's hard to type without a left pointer finger.

I really really don't want stitches.

Today the entire day was cold,  gray and rainy.  It was the perfect "wake up and smell the coffee cause summer is over and you have to go home soon" day of reckoning.

I don't want to go home.

But I do find myself overwhelmingly grateful for the fateful series of events that ended up with my family being able to spend time in this idyllic slice of heaven.  And a part of me does suspect that if I lived here 24/7 and had to deal with life's realities from this place that my rose colored glasses might occasionally slip down my nose just a little bit.

I'm not dumb, just dreading the return to the whole school routine.

The pebble mosaic looks very different with the addition of sand as grout between the pebbles. I promise I'll take some iphotos for you tomorrow and amaze you with the details.  Cross my heart.

best line of the visit

The family of the 8 year old Josh professes his love for just left after a three day visit.  Yesterday Josh's love interest came out of her room wearing floral shorts and a pin striped Yankees jersey.  The combination of the two made eyes spin and me adore this kid even more.  Later in the day we went to utopia center and wandered around a bit going in and out of a couple of shops.  

In one store the store owner spied the Yankees shirt (utopia is located in an interesting cross road of yankee vs. red sox fans) and the guy tried to make a red sox joke but came off a little too strong and Josh's love interest's mother ended up stepping in and trying to de-creepify the situation by explaining that the dude was making a joke.  Now, you should know that Josh's love interest is quite petite and to my mother of big brawny boys eyes, she is this delicate flower that should maybe be wrapped in tissue paper and bubble wrap and put on a very high shelf where no one can chip her.

In the next shop there was a pair of elderly women milling about and when one old biddy spotted the yankee shirt she leaned in menacingly close and asked Josh's love interest "Are you wearing that shirt because you are a yankee fan?"   Observing yet another baseball situation I stepped in to be available incase Josh's delicate flower love interest needed rescuing.  Then Josh's delicate flower love interest looked that loud old lady right in the eye and announced with just the right amount of "why is another person bothering me?" attitude "I WEAR THIS SHIRT BECAUSE IT LOOKS SO GOOD ON ME."

sunset dance on the water

Every rock placed - needs sand

I asked the kids what I should do celebrate finishing this pebble mosaic. Evan's idea wins. He said " slam down some advil and go to bed for two days.". My knees will never be the same. Detail photos tomorrow.

my apologies to the watershed association

Day One:

Evan announces that he (like his responsible older brother) is going to do his own laundry. I ask him if he would like some help.  He scowls at me and informs that HE KNOWS how to do laundry.  He (on some alternate universe I am not a part of) does his own laundry ALL OF THE TIME.

Evan returns to where I am sitting with the husband and asks me if it is normal for laundry soap to be dripping out of the laundry soap dispenser.  I tell Evan NO and that he has to push the dispenser back into the washing machine as soon as he fills it.

It seems Evan had already taken the FILLS IT part of my directions seriously.

Evan returns again to ask me which buttons to push because this machine is TOTALLY DIFFERENT than the one at home.  (not so) I tell Evan NORMAL and START.

Evan returns to ask me why the washer is finished and his clothes are covered with bubbles. 

I figured he went heavy on the laundry soap and tell Evan how to rewash his clothes on a different cycle.

Later That Day: 

I enter the laundry area for the first time since Evan washed his clothes and picked up the half full 64 load bottle of washing detergent to discover Oooops! No laundry soap left.   What I deduce: Evan has washed his single load of laundry with approximately 32 loads worth of laundry soap.  I suggest we rewash Evan's clothes one more time, jst in case, (except I know that there is no way they are sufficiently rinsed)  but Evan insists the clothes are dryer ready.  Not being one to sweat the small stuff (also, not my clothes we are talking about) I toss his load of overly soaped clothes into the dryer.

The Next Day:

I take the kids out on the boat tubing and then we stop and drift in the middle of the lake for a swim.  Evan and his utopian BF hang out on the tube chatting for 20 minutes waiting for the rest of us when Evan looks down and asks the 64 million dollar question:

WHY IS THE WATER ALL AROUND ME BUBBLY?

In between downpours I go outside and work on my pebble mosaic.  I may not have taken hardly photos this summer, but at least I'l have the mosaic (if it makes it through the winter intact) to show for myself.  I wonder how it feels to be a person that doesn't need something tangible to validate (not sure validate is exactly the right word- legitimize?  recognize? substantiate?) their season/life/existence?

Have I mentioned the rain?  Sorry, I'm trying to say that stuff in the last paragraph without being all introspective and philosophical and I'm sure I've got a big FAIL here.  

Anyway, it's raining here right now.  That's why I am on the computer instead of outside kneeling the last of the cartilage right out of my knees and working on the mosaic.  I managed to take a few shots of the mosaic in progress that do not include the devil.  Yes, the devil, in all of her canine wisdom, seems to think that she can help me or bond with me or some other canine human relationship benefitting factor by lying in the rock dust as I work.  You can imagine how delightful that is for me!  Anyway, here is my mosaic (note paw prints in the rock dust) about half way finished:

It's been raining here.  Did I tell you?  Really, the best way to get a shot of the mosaic is to be able to hover over it, (Oooops!  I forgot my jetpack in stepford!) which I can't do, but once I have completed the mosaic I am going to find (borrow or buy) a ladder and do the best I can for a photo.  You can see the waves of the water, there is a fish, turtle and frog in the water, and the sun is the yellow spot and the moon is the white circle off in the upper left.  I plan on coating all the parts I want to stand out in some kind of varnish so they'll show up better.  Or I might just coat the whole thing in varnish because rocks look so much better when they are wet!  Which I know very very well since it has been raining off and on here for the last 5 days or so.  

Did I mention the rain?  My goal is to somehow miraculously finish this mosaic deal by Wednesday.

Yesterday there was hail, and I love hail.  I remember the first time I ever saw hail.  I was in college, and I had this decrepit Rabbit that would stall out on me all the time.  I took a chance and drove down to see Pal at his family's summer home and on my way back to school, I wouldn't even dream of stopping (all highway) and I ended up in a huge hail storm and had to pull over on the side of the road and pray that my Rabbit would go when the hail passed, that the hail didn't break my windshield or penetrate the tin foil that my vehicle was made of and also marvel at the wonder of balls of ice falling from the sky.  I was 22 at the time.

Aren't you glad you read to the end today?

three shades of plaid

My (first) last baby is back in the nest!  Phew!  Now I can sleep soundly (well for that and all the potato vodka I've been hammering away at- no joke)  at night.   Matt always comes home from camp with some interesting new ideas on how he is going to dress himself.   He goes to a performing and fine arts camp.  I'm just glad he hasn't mentioned anything about purple hair.  Or body piercing.  

My soon to be ex-black eye isn't even (finally!)  worth mentioning any more.  The band of eye lid port wine color is faded to a barely noticeable yellow with a purple splotch right at the outer corner of my eye that could be mistaken for a beauty mark.  So I say goodbye black eye!  Next!

making peace with the devil

I'm trying real hard to NOT be "I still could choke her!" mad at the devil (not enjoying this black eye at all!!)  over the black eye right now.  It's a struggle.  Pretty much I wish she would run away and find another family.

Yesterday I made a real (but apparently insincere due to the fact that she saw right through me and didn't buy it at all) effort to be a little nicer to the devil.  We were around the house all day because some guys were here fixing the floor and I patted her head a few times and didn't sneer at her at all the entire day.  I felt myself softening when I gave her her afternoon meal and realized she hadn't been begging for it as usual even though I was an hour late on delivery.  Just as she was inhaling her bowl of kibble, the two floor workers came over to tell me they were leaving and describe in their very limited english what they had done to the floor.  The devil came over to the workers for some stranger affection and the one who was doing the talking told me that the other guy was mad at the devil.  I asked if she had been pestering them during the day and the floor guy said "No, she jumped into the truck and ate his lunch."

I'm not trying to be nice to her today.