Category: friends

Congratulations to Chris and Bob for adopting the most beautiful baby in Vietnam.

We gave Rob and Brooke some tickets we couldn’t use, so they sent us this really nice gift basket full of tasty treats. And although Shep has been enjoying the dried apricots, the absolute best part of the whole package was the pieces of packing foam, which were promptly put to use as sleds.

Another good day at Highfield.

We moved Dinner Club to brunch today. Everyone loves breakfast and no one had to get a babysitter. We were originally scheduled to be at Ben and Kate’s, but poor Ezra has been sick, so Libby and Kevin graciously stepped in to host. This worked out well for Neko. Since she didn’t have Irene to play with, Alice the Pug graciously stepped in. And if you ask Neko about the event, she would probably remember nothing but Alice. And maybe John’s chocolate waffles.

It’s always so good to gather together with friends and catch up. We live far away and most everyone has spouses or kids or demanding jobs to keep them busy, so we don’t see near as much of anyone as we’d like to. I love this informal setting for Dinner Club, since we get to wander from place to place, and get to chat with everyone at least a little bit.

I’ve always thought that you don’t necessarily need to go to church on Sunday to express your gratitude for all the good things that surround you. I think gathering with good friends and food may be celebration enough. When I’m surrounded by friends, my children are laughing, and the sun is shining I try to remember to take some time to be thankful that I get stand in these shoes every day.

Kate, Ben and their kids, Irene and Ezra, have decided to do a garden at the farm this summer. We are thrilled about this for two reasons. First, it made us get our rears in gear and start thinking about our garden. Secondly, we love having their family up to the farm. They are such good folk and we’re super-excited to have a reason to see more of them this summer.

Today was our first hack at the garden. Susie and Doug, and their kids, Chris and Alex, came to pitch in as well, since my sisters and I try to do a garden each year. We’re trying the anti-weed fabric approach after being almost done in by weeds in years past. We have no clue how to go about this, so we’re considering this summer a scientific experiment—one method here, another there. Add to that some really excited kids who are ready to plant seeds right this very moment pleasepleaseplease, and the whole garden has very little rhyme or reason. But kids are good like that. They force you to throw all your orderly tendencies to the wind and just dig in.

So we’ve got carrots here, corn there. A bed of flowers beyond that. Beans and zucchini somewhere in between. We’ll be happy just to see veggies of any kind emerge, and even if we don’t get that, I still think it’s a great experience for the kids. They hung in there for quite some time, digging and staking while we waved our hands around and tried to make a plan. Tom got out the hose and had them “clean” the mower. Everyone planted a little bit of something, even if it wasn’t quite in the bed.

Most of all, it was just healing to be outside, in the sunshine with good people. It’s one of those things that’s good for the body and the soul, and I need to make more time for that kind of stuff.

Thanks to Susie for taking some of these photos while I had my hands full.

Miss Tari has been our favorite librarian since I was a kid. Ages ago. She’s never without a smile and runs the most gentle, tolerant story hour in town.

She retires in May. Clearly, the word has traveled to the kids, all of whom look like they have just lost their best friend.

It’s no great secret that Chris takes great pictures, and for that reason, he’s usually behind the camera and not in front of it. But some of us know that even without his trusty Canon in his hands, he actively hides from the camera. And then years down the road he complains that there are no photos of him.

So when I discovered this cache of photos hidden on my small camera, I decided I should bring them to the attention of the public. I can only assume that Neko took them, since Chris would never mug for either Tom or I this way.

And, Chris, don’t even think of trying to hack into my account and take these down. In 2017 I will be able to point these and say, “See, we took at least four photos of you.”

Every year Beth’s sister, Amy, has a cookie party. I started going years ago because it was a good excuse to get out of town and see old friends. Now it’s a little more complicated with children and a husband in tow, but I’m proud to say we still make it almost every year.

Neko has reached that age where she tears off at the beginning of the evening and we only see her every now and then zipping in and out of rooms until the end of the night. She spent a good deal of time wearing this enormous Eeyore costume and sweating profusely while refusing to take it off. Shep spent the evening rotating between cramming as many cookies in his mouth as possible and threatening to jump off the staircase which doesn’t yet have a railing.

Highlights of the evening include seeing Amy and Tom’s amazing new house which they built (not like “we hired a builder to build” but really used hammers and tools and stuff), and seeing Beth and Dave shortly after their engagement. (Note the ring on Beth’s finger.) We couldn’t be more excited that Dave is becoming a permanent fixture!