Girlie Fun

Two of our little girl grandchildren finally got together last weekend.  Emily is five and has been in California for the last 2 1/2 years.  Her family (parents Will and Rachel, older sister Keely) moved back to Vermont over the winter.  They live abut an hour and a half away and we have seen them a few times, but this was Emmy's first sleepover with Grandpa (she calls him "Bumps") and G.G.

It was also her first real meeting with Lucy, 3, who was only a few months old when she moved out West.  So the sleepover was really fun, about 85% happy and we look forward to doing it again sometime.  I think the main source of friction, which was mild, was the fact that neither Emmy nor Lucy ever thought they would have to share Grandpa!

He got a real workout - from making Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes to playing Uncle Wiggley for hours.

I haven't had a chance to photography Emmy since 2008, so we dug out some princessy dresses and...twirled and twirled!

Spectacles

I just had to put these on the blog.  Lucy is such a comedian.  Very deadpan and, of course, much of the time she has no idea she's being funny.  While Mom was at a swimming lesson last week Lucy found her glasses and wore them around for about 15 minutes.  I was hysterical.  For one thing she reminded me so much of my sister Barbara who wore glasses at about age three.

Mothers' Day 2011

I had a lovely Mother's Day coffee date at Belle's Cafe with Elizabeth and Lucy.

Mothers' Day was never one of the big holidays in our house - my mother never liked it - something about commercialization and Hallmark cards.  She was always 'thrilled' with the presents her five kids made, but once we were all sprung she didn't want us making it into anything.

I never paid much attention, was always happy with the lovely presents my kids made but it seemed like a non-event to me.  I am changing my mind.

Watching my grandchildren and how excited they get over it all - Anthony and Dad made popovers, eggs and bacon for Elizabeth - Lucy brought me 3 of the 4 daffodils in her yard - Anthony made me a beautiful card, has made me appreciate it more.  I guess just seeing this generation of kids and parents and how happy they all are celebrating Mothers' and Fathers' Day has let me off the hook, so to speak.  My mother won't be any more or less happy if I get into the spirit of Mothers' Day.   My son Anthony, who works hard at appearing unsentimental, also sent me a great card.

I want to thank Thom Randall's cousin Val for sending me this:

An article in the Oakland paper details Mother's Day origins as an early feminist anti-war protest. "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience." --Julia Ward Howe's 1870 proclamation.

So, I guess I can like it even better.

Another Tea Party

I spent Thursday with my granddaughter Lucy who is such a happy and enthusiastic child.  I picked her up from her swimming lesson, we went to visit Grandpa Ed where he was working, colored for a while, then came home to have a tea and sandwich party with the cats.  The real cats wouldn't cooperate, so the toy ones took their place.  Lucy just loves to 'cook' and makes food out of pretty much everything (note the coffee coaster sandwiches and magnifying glass spatula).

I got a tiny brass tea set in Tangiers when I was there with my Dad in the late 70s.  Hes used to live in the Middle East (I can not get used to saying 'Mid East', and why should I, after all?  Does it really save any time?)  Anyway, I joined him on a couple of his vacations - that time we were staying in Torremolinas on the Costa Del Sol and took a boat ride over to Tangiers.  It was just a day trip, but later he moved to Morocco where he met my beautiful stepmother Najat.  I always think if our trip when I see the tea set, which I do constantly, since both Anthony and Lucy love to play with it.

Later Lucy and I had dinner with my Peeps Dineen, Joyce, Kathy and Bonnie.  Lucy was in her glory, didn't have to share any of the attention with her brother.  You know how boys can be - they can suck all the air out of the room!

Help, When You Need It Most!

You may have heard how much rain we've been getting here in Northern Vermont.  Lake Champlain is lapping at the doors of some of the oldest buildings on the waterfront, basements flooded, some neighborhoods wait-deep, canoes and kayaks in the street.

So, on a rainy day last week I drove to Rutland (they've had less rain, I'm told, plus no lake to worry about) to see my good friend Donna who had offered to help catapult me farther into the social networking sphere.  She is a whiz at all that stuff and is an amazingly creative thinker.  She keeps up with the trends and uses them so smoothly in her business and social life.  Donna owns Expressions by Donna portrait studio in Rutland and we've been friends for years.

One other great thing about Donna is her willingness to share information and ideas.    Frankly, I would miss a lot of stuff without her!  Not only did she get me started and pointed in the right direction, her superhero Brad even lugged my computer down the stairs and into the car.  Big thanks also, to Courtney her cutie-pie assistant who popped over to be sure we were doing it right.  I am in the range of 60, Donna in the range of 40 and Courtney's in the 20s.  So I'm pretty sure I'm off on the right foot!