Sun, 10 May 2026, 07:28 PM (-06:00)
It’s getting down to the 30s up there, he said. It’s just him and Abernathy and the quiet up there in the woods on a chilly evening. There is a fire in the fireplace.
He sent a photograph. The fading sun on the far side of the lake. Pink sky. Pink, still water. A blue bench for sitting. A place to view the land and to listen to that quiet. A place where we have set ourselves down many times over the many years. He knew well what he was doing when he sent that picture.
“Dang man,” I said.
“Yeah right?”
And that is all that needed to be said.
Sun, 12 Apr 2026, 04:47 PM (-06:00)
Ki mint vet, úgy arat. He who sows reaps.
— Hungarian proverb
How about a bit of reaping here now?
Mon, 6 Apr 2026, 06:23 PM (-06:00)
There are lizards here.
There’s a brown Anole who by virtue of the brown must have been scurrying through the leafy underbrush. They are usually bright green like the one who was inspecting Trudy’s shoulder yesterday, having descended from the canopy to cast a dubious glance her way. But this one is brown almost orange. There’s also a juvenile Spiny Lizard walking among the sticks on the ground — we have many sticks. We have many Spiny Lizards.
And although I haven’t seen them today, I know the salamanders are here. Because I see them slithering like snakes in crevices and leafy places when you least expect them. Like right over there by that limstone wall, right over there where the leaves are gathered. They must be somewhere in there, don’t you think?
Tue, 31 Mar 2026, 04:23 PM (-06:00)
“How do we do this one?” she shouted in exasperation from the middle of the room.
“Which one?” he asked without looking up as he finished scribbling some notes.
They were studying for a test. “The hardest one of the year,” he had warned them. This group was working hard (in contrast to the table in the corner).
“Problem 3,” she said as he walked up.
“Ok, watch,” he said. He went to the board where he had discussed that problem minutes earlier with a different group.
“We have a hole at x=3, right?”
“Right…” she said tentatively.
He reached up and erased some of the previous work and began explaining the function that remained.
“If you…”
“Wait wait wait,” she shouted. “I got it!”
And she turned and started explaining it to the others at her table.
That qualifies as a good day.
Wed, 25 Mar 2026, 09:22 AM (-06:00)
We went to Boston last week. Finally.
Two and a half months after that riotous day (January 6). The day when Lila arrived. A day we frankly had thought would never come. For two and a half months we watched the grandparents chat as the pictures and stories of other visits notified us of our absence 24 hours a day.
For two and a half months we sat helplessly halfway across the country watching her grow up before we could even get there. But last week, we finally got there.
We took most of the day shifts, giving Ben and Sam some down time, some nap time, some time to hang out in a way they won’t be hanging out for the next … say … 18 years (although let’s not tell them that … oops).
Oh, we suffered while we were there.
Rocking, Feeding, Cuddling. Helping with baths. Holding Lila on our shoulders where her hot little head would nestle contentedly against our necks. Or nestle perfectly into our elbows where she would fall asleep (as long as we were standing or maybe sliding in the magical rocking chair in the back room). As she began making real eye contact. Began babbling. Began smiling with sparkling eyes.
Oh, we suffered so.
