Boys and Guns, Apples and Arrows

I've voiced concern before over the kind of person Noah will grow up to be.
After a conversation today, (which really is part of an ongoing debate about violence and masculinity between me and my 4 yr old), I'm fairly certain that he will take great pleasure in rebelling against my peace-lovin' hippy ways.

Dinnertime talk:

Mad: Noah, must you turn your garlic bread into a gun tonight?

Noah: Yes, Mom!

Mad: Why do you turn your bread into a weapon, darling?

Noah: So I can kill the bad guys.

Mad: But Noah, can't you just give the bad guys a HUG and turn them into good guys?

Noah: No!

Mad: Why not, honey?

Noah: I need the bad guys to be bad so I can shoot my gun and kill them!


I actually realize that Noah is not atypical, that many boys behave this way, that it is not a personal attack on my values. Sure sure.
Rationally, I realize this. And I take deep breathes. But it's hard to not have internal alarms going off; blaring, warning, warning, your son will be swept up into a cycle of violence and retribution...that doesn't end...until it all ends.  
I don't know what is cultural, what is learned on the playground, what is absorbed from cartoons, or what is biological.
And what to do? Forbid him to pretend? Make guns such an enticing taboo that he will be even more drawn to them? Say no, no, no...and force him to play guns secretly...making them that much more powerful and seductive?
I don't have any answers to those questions.

Here's irony for you: this quote (with it's weaponary and shooting) popped into my head which expresses this feeling of helplessness that parenting can be. The essence of the quote is: 'having a child is like shooting an arrow into the sky...you have no control over where it will land'...someting like that.
However, just now when I tried to google the quote to get the accurate wording, I couldn't find it.
I only found bizarre and violent mentions of children getting shot with arrows, and of course the William Tell shooting an apple from his son's head.

Nevertheless, Noah is an arrow soaring in the sky, already beyond my reach. Sigh. Boys.

On Popsicles and Swings

Noah has finally figured out how to SWING...all by himself...on a big boy swing.
Here he is swinging and enjoying a popsicle at the same time.
Oh Summertime!

Farewell to The Syracuse Daffodils

Our last spring with the Syracuse Daffodils. 

The Syracuse Daffodils. Wouldn't that be a cute name for a little all-girl, retro, lounge singer band? 

They would have to wear yellow dresses and strappy heels, fresh pink lips, dewy skin, and upswept do's.

Singing "Try a Little Tenderness,"  "I'm Sticking With You," and "I'll Fly Away."

After being on the market for less than a week, an offer was made for our house (which is really my mother-in-law's house). This is wonderful news. I was stressing out big time, frantically trying to keep the house presentable for prospective buyers to drop by and peek at. I don't want to jinx us, since nothing is final yet, but it looks like I can start focusing my energy on Decluttering and Packing.

These have all been nibbled up by the Easter Bunny and his crew by now.

                                                        The peeps are long gone.

                          Someone else will have to enjoy the Forsythia next year.

And these.

I hope the new owners take good care of the Lilies...when they finally pop up again.

And the lovely Iris, Phlox, Foxgloves, and Bee Balm.

On the road again, U-haul, and a Birthday

We stuffed the car with birthday presents and luggage and zoomed off to explore the DC area, and to wrap our minds around yet another
Big Daunting Move.
Moving is usually rather traumatic for me.
A snip snipping of ties, a fare thee well to new friends, favorite restaurants, local libraries and parks, a tree we planted, a front porch, a hammock, ghosts of our younger selves that we leave behind.
For a year or so after we moved to NY from CA, Michael and I would cringe and shudder every time we saw a U-haul- I would actually feel nauseous- our moving experience was that awful. We broke down in the hot summer desert...us, our baby, two cats, and all our worldy possessions melting beside the road. This was in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone coverage. We hitched a ride with a kindly trucker. Instead of U-haul repairing our blown tire, they sent another U-haul over a day later. Poor Michael had to unpack the first one and repack in crazy Tetris Master style in 100 degree + stifling heat. Meanwhile, the cats are a'yowling and Noah's a'crying and we're all stuck in a flea-bitten motel room watching the weather channel. And we were traveling with the grief of Michael's father's death, which had just occurred two months prior.
Yep, U-haul evokes a deep nasty sorrow.
Anyhooo- this move is different. Michael has a sweet absent-minded professor job lined up. We're looking forward to living in a more diverse urban area so close to DC, and all the opportunity that brings. We will be situated between my family and friends in FL, and Michael's family in NY. It seems like a good fit for us.
But it's still a leap into the unknown. And I have to summon my strength to surrender control, to let go.
Who knows what paths we'll travel, who we'll meet and befriend, what we'll learn, and how we'll grow?
In fact, we are all transient in life, just passing through.

Oh yeah, so we had Noah's 4th birthday On the Road, and he really loved being stuck in the car with his mom and dad and nana. He really did. He chatted and chatted and sang and laughed and found pleasure in the smallest of things; the hotel elevator, a bridge we drove over, spotted cows in a field, sun peeking through the murky clouds. So lucky he's here to remind us of the important things in life.
Here Noah stands with the awesome Marble Run he constructed in our hotel room. He holds up his fingers and says, "I'm 4 now!"

Snow Days and Ways

The three of us were snowed in on Thursday.
Michael and I shoveled and shoveled. And shoveled some more.
We have a very unfortunate driveway.
It slopes steeply down from the road towards our house.
As if our little dwarfish house were built inside a hole.
Even if there's just a small bit of snow or ice, we have to shovel
or we can't get out of the drive.
On the other hand, this steeply sloping drive makes a nice sledding hill
for 3-year-olds like Noah, and chickens like me.

And even though we received a ton more (about a foot)
of the white stuff by Friday morn,  
Michael's classes were not canceled.
So, at 7am Michael and I descended upon our drive
like heavy-duty snow-removing professionals.
I really have mastered a certain technique.
Rhythm is everything. Well, rhythm, warm gloves and boots.
Anyways, we managed to dig his car out
in the nick of time so that he could stand before
a bunch of surly students
(who were also disappointed that they weren't enjoying a snow day)
and lecture on Dante's Inferno. Snowy day in Hell?

Meanwhile, Noah and I have been playing a new game
called "Pretend Sleep".
For "Pretend Sleep," Noah gets to pretend he's the parent
tucking me- the child- into bed.
This is a pretty good deal for me since I get to lay around
and pretend to sleep and be generally lazy.
But lately, Noah has been pretending to be a mean parent.
On Friday he told me,
"Hush your little mouth, close your little eyes, and cover up your teeny tiny head! Go to sleep, mama!"
I can assure you, he did not learn that kind of parenting from me.

Zoo Animals in the Cold

Noah and I visited the Zoo today.
Even though it was snowing.
Or maybe because it was snowing.
Some animals were smartly hibernating or in a similar sleep state.
But some were much better suited for this weather than Noah and I.

Like these gorgeous little ponies.

A cute little fella here. I so wanted to comb his wooly hair.
But a nearby sign warned of biting dangers.

Below is a La Mancha Goat, which is unusual because of its small ears...like a human's ears.
According to wikipedia, "The LaMancha has excellent dairy temperament and is an all-around sturdy animal that can withstand a great deal of hardship and still produce."
This one stared at Noah and I without moving or blinking. Did not appear to be going through much of a hardship, except for a moderate Syracuse winter. 

A Reindeer, or Caribou took a break from snacking to pose for this picture.

And then got back to business.

Swans, Ducks, Geese:

Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony.

One Lone Wolf

Making trails in the snow.

My little penguin is cold.

Time to retreat back to the human world of flannel blankets, steamy mugs, and central heat. 

  

No Snowshoe Rentals Today

When we arrived at  the Beaver Lake Nature Center today, we were greeted by a sign that read,
"No Snowshoe Rentals Today- not enough snow."
Well, excuse me, I beg to differ. But apparently, they only rent snowshoes when there's 10 inches or so
(Oh, silly us! We Floridians learn something new about this wonderland daily).
Still, Michael, Noah, and I made the best of a cold winter's afternoon by hiking the trails.
We were extremely bundled and waddled along as best we could.
The sun was bright.
The snow was a-sparklin'.
The tall tall trees creaked like a front porch rocking chair when the wind swept through.

I was looking for animal tracks, but mostly found cross-country ski lines cutting across the landscape.

But some creature ambled through here.

And some delicate beast intersected itself perhaps?

My husband left me a love letter in the snow.

These graceful ladies have learned to be flexible under the snow's burden.

Some wear wooly coats of crunchy moss and twig. 

We take a short respite.

There's Beaver Lake- frozen- behind me.

Noah and Michael are looking tired and cold.

Time to head home for hot cocoa and a nap.

Snowshoe next time?

 

Grateful

Over Thanksgiving break,

I was grateful for this little munchkin...

...and this delicious Mediterranean Frittata prepared by my loving husband...

...this sculpture outside of the Science Museum that occupied Noah

long enough for me to admire...

...this tree, its layers,

the process of shedding and renewal...

...and I was also grateful for this good-natured old cat...

...who allows Noah to dress her up in fancy hats...

The Weekend...

We visited the farmer's market.

Brought back Brussel Sprouts on a stick.

I didn't realize they grow that way.

I always assumed they sprouted up like little lettuces out of the ground.

Nothing hotter than a man who loves his vegetables.

We also raked the leaves that had filled our yard.

Yellow. Brown. Crunchy.

Some leaves were still falling.

Like this one that floated gracefully until it came to rest on Noah's sweet head.

Noah jumped in every single pile. Buried himself completely. Popped out again.

His happiness is boundless.

And so contagious.

Sunday evening.

The non-Jack-o-Lantern Pumpkins beg and plead to be used for something

other than decorations for the front porch.

I bathe them. Chop them. Roast them.

They will be transformed into Pumpkin Butter.

Homeade Pumpkin Butter will be a fine Christmas gift for someone.

My Defense for Blog Fail...and some Book Reviews

It has been a week and a half since I last blogged. There were extenuating circumstances. Really. My darling, dear 3-yr-old son placed a magnet on my laptop! Needless to say, the hard drive was completely wiped/scrambled/fried. Like an egg. Or your brain on drugs.

I hired a 'geek' to attempt to retrieve anything from the hard drive. But the geek failed. Geek Fail, nothing worse than being defeated by a 3-yr-old wielding a magnet. So, precious digital photos, goodbye. Luckily I had much of my stuff backed up. But still. It took a while to get my laptop back, get a new hard drive installed, get all of my programs and drivers and etc. etc. back. 

Then, of course, we celebrated my favorite pagan holiday of the year. Being the pagan I am, I was so busy making candy apples, carving pumpkins, and throwing together Noah's costume, that the blog was neglected once again.

King Noah of the Jack-o-Lanterns

My kid has a GUN! Good Lord. What kind of politically-correct liberal am I?!

Finally, the Co-op has been calling and requesting my assistance. Oh boy. We had a 3 and a half hour board meeting on Tuesday night! Lots of work remains to be done, typing up the minutes.

And then there's our little secret. Michael is teaching 6 classes this semester...driving to 3 different campus's... and he is doing online tutoring...and tutoring on campus. Sheeeesh. So to help in some small way, I have offered my skills to Michael for his online tutoring. For 3 hours on Wed nights, I rap the knuckles of college freshmen, and help them get in line and clean up their grammar and punctuation. College freshmen are pretty much just like my high school seniors. Oh my goodness, why oh why do people have so much trouble getting their subjects and verbs to agree!?

I have such high hopes for this blog. I would love more folks to follow and interact with the blog, leave comments, join the discussion. I can't wait to get back and do the Meatless Monday posts. In fact, I had pictures and a recipe for a gorgeous/delicious quiche...and I was all set to post them...but then the Magnet Wielding 3-yr-old came along, and those pics are history. Ok, I will wipe away my tears and move forward.
Stay tuned!

One last thing. I finished 2 books.
Margaret Atwood's "The Year of the Flood" is awesome and prophetic. And I don't give a darn what the New York Times Review of Books says... But then, I'm biased. I'm a maniac fangirl when it comes to Atwood. "The Year of the Flood" takes place in a consumer-based/corporate-run society. The main characters are on the fringes of this society gone awry. The tale is told from the perspectives of 2 women in the God's Gardeners cult. Religion. Science. Non-consumerism. Hippies. Who could ask for more? Not me, I tell you, not me!
Also, I read Shirley Jackson's "We Have Always Lived in the Castle." Jackson's wrote "The Haunting of Hill House," horror/spooky fans.

I must say, Castle was disturbing...but the narrator, Merricat, was the quirkiest character I've met in a long while. If you are agorophobic, and you handle most of your social interactions through your computer, you may find yourself relating to this strange girl. It was a perfectly creepy read for Halloween.

This Morning's Drive

This Morning's Drive

Sometimes the beauty here stops me in my tracks

The trees are raining a delicate yellow spray of tiny lacy leaves

As I take my son to school

He is quiet and watchful as we drive through

this feathery 'car-wash'

Surprisingly, the geese remain, even in October
Grazing beside a pond
Red trees reflect across the water
Their hearts, a fire, bleeding out into the ripples

I see this in just glimpses driving by

A woman on the sidewalk pushing a stroller

She wears a halo of sunshine

Now I've witnessed an apparition

The synchronicity of two cars changing lanes at exactly the same moment

One on the left, one on the right, merging to the center before me

Perfectly timed to the chords and melody on the radio

A dance performed for me alone

I want to pull over and applaud this day, to thank someone

I want to kiss someone's holy blessed momma! ; )