May 12, 2008
Lots of good time spent with jb and lbg. Nice gifts (all botanical) which jb had lbg deliver to me at various times. Oh, and I think my parents are purchasing season tickets to the ballet for me to go with MB next year!
lbg and I made cookies again. Butterscotch. You know, the only cookies we ever made growing up were snickerdoodles and oatmeal cookies. As an adult, I have made oatmeal cookies consistently. Don’t much care for chocolate, so never got into the classic chocolate chip cookies. But I am relly enjoying all of the cookie recipes I never thought of before. Never realized that butterscotch is just dark brown sugar with butter.
Cooking with a toddler requires some flexibility:
I find it interesting that, though she pulled the utensils from the drawer, she mostly only pulled hers in her attempts to sample the dough.
Saturday evening we welcomed our friends’ new baby in a traditional Hindu ceremony. lbg was fascinated throughout-but afterwards she ran and screamed with the other kids for hours, until we cut her off. Cinderella on her way home from the party:
May 9, 2008
Buffalo Peaks, 9800 feet. We did not encourage/suggest/help in anyway. She saw the rock and needed to climb to the top. I am very afraid…
May 9, 2008
I just dropped lbg off at daycare and biked home. I’m taking a vacation day for my birthday to warp my loom-my present to myself. I haven’t been able to weave, because I never have the large block of time necessary for setting up the warp.
lbg arrived at daycare in her chariot (not Chariot). Because I was coming back home and thus didn’t need to put the bike trailer in the back yard at the daycare, we pulled up front. One of the kids spotted us through the open window and started yelling excitedly “lbg is here!!!” The other kids crowded around the window and started calling her name. lbg looked up and saw them, and stood up in the trailer with a huge huge smile for them all. It was so sweet.
Tonight, Sujata thoughtfully offered to have lbg come over and play with her kids while jb and I go out to dinner. I feel like I am getting off easy on the first babysitter anxiety (need to go answer Johnny’s survey). I mean, S is not only a fabulous mom with a son lbg’s age-but she’s a doctor! How could I possibly worry my way through dinner when lbg will be in better hands than mine! And, we have had lots of conversations about adoption adjustment issues over the months, so she has awareness.
So, jb and I will pick lbg up on the bikes and go for a ride around Sloan’s Lake, before dropping lbg at S’s and biking to the restaurant (probably the Peruvian one, unless anyone has other suggestions in the ‘hood?).
Ah, and my perfect birthday started last night with my knittah ladies-they even sang HB to me! Sadly, T shared that she is indeed moving to Singapore, by way of a year in LA. We will try to visit her, but, in addition to missing her, it is disappointing to miss the arrival of her long awaited baby in the fall.
Oh, and my angry neighbor? Gave me a tentative wave and smile as we biked past her this morning. Maybe she realizes that the dog thing has escalated out of control too.
Off to warp! Pictures later! And yes, the camping pictures/stories will be coming this weekend too. Preview of my little rock climber coming up.
May 7, 2008
Yeah-I biked to work this morning. The good news? The trailer I keep harshing on (OMG, I’m an English major-C and L, cover your eyes-I did not just use that slang-and don’t tell jb-he might be a biochemist, but he’s still British and loyal to the queen’s English) kept lbg comfortable and dry. Me? I would be the drowned rat. Crossing five points before the hill, I yielded to a pedestrian and dropped my chain. Fortunately, a colleague mentioned something before I walked into a meeting with grease all over my face and neck.
Due to the flooding of the underpasses, my quiet little residential route was a superhighway this morning. And the irrigation canals? I went as slowly as possible through those. Drivers overall were very considerate, due to the trailer. And perhaps everyone’s awareness is heightened by the death of a bicycle commuter this week-an engineer (i.e. cautious) who biked the same route to work for 30 years, hit by a car swerving from the other side of the road on a curve. Jb and I had a conversation about that last night.
And yes, he suggested that I drive him to work today, but it was only drizzling when he left-and I made the wrong call.
Oh, and hey-this is Denver people. By no means was I the only cyclist commuting this morning. Um, I think it’s safe to say though that I was the only one wearing a cotton dress. My fingers are purple…
May 7, 2008
That would be the native columbine.
May 6, 2008
How fabulously good natured my daughter is (when she’s not tantrumming)? This morning, after not having been on the bike for a week, she walked out to the garage, pulled down the canopy, climbed into the trailer, put on her helmet, and picked up her book to start “reading” on her commute.
Of course, I didn’t have my camera-these pictures are from two weeks ago:
FYI-if anyone is noticing such things? The reason there is the same pile of empty boxes in all my garage photos is that I told jb not to put them in the recycling since my entire family was born between March and May-and I am behind in mailing birthday gifts. Huh. Wonder what I am likely to receive for my birthday this week from all of them?
Oh, and note the configuration of those straps. You see the limitations of this trailer. Oy, why is the safety rated trailer almost $700? How can new parents manage that?
May 5, 2008
Coming soon. After sleep.
April 30, 2008
Not a bad place for a business meeting, yes? Except for the six hour drive part, and it looks like I am not going to get out the door early enough to stop and visit Christie on the way.
I did my usual-pack in the morning before leaving-which works less well with a toddler. Oh yes, lbg is coming with me. I am taking some vacation time between meetings/events, and we will do some hiking and camping in the San Juans.
Saturday morning, we will meet jb in Crested Butte to visit with our favorite Mayor-and probably spend the weekend at Fossil Ridge.
My colleague stole my laptop because she is stuck in a booth at an expo the next few days. Note to self: keep laptop at home, not in office desk drawer where people with more seniority and nerve can help themselves. So I am traveling blind for my meetings and probably won’t be blogging much-but I will have lots of fabulous photos of springtime in the mountains next week!
April 29, 2008
So, this is from the weekend before last-delayed because it took me a while to get up to speed with WordPress’ new dashboard.
We took lbg to her first dance:
And yes, I danced with her in the sling most of the evening, occassionally twirling with her on her feet on the side of the line of dance. At one point, Cynthia took her for a dance, weaving in and out of the line of dancers with her-teasing her by swirling past jb and I from time to time. She was delighted. Cynthia was, er, exhausted.
I worried that people might object, but, honestly, lbg is too extroverted to have meltdowns in public. And most people realized how hard it was for me to dance with a 25 pound kid across my chest, and they were supportive-even giving her high 5s as we swung by. Several people thanked me for bringing her and encouraged me to do so again. One woman actually had moist eyes, as she shared how much she misses the days when dances were family affairs.
The next morning, lbg and I needed to do a little yoga to recover:
Then we rewarded ourselves by baking gingersnaps. Funny thing, she immediately knew what to do with the beater:
April 28, 2008
So, I picked up a goatshead thorn, and had to pump the tire every day last week (jb fixed it over the weekend) thus, lbg insisted on a turn with the bike pump.
Heading out along the ridge:
I love biking around the lake in the morning. There is something primal for me about cattails:
This is where I am fortunate enough to work:
On the way home, I generally take the creek trail:
And yeah, I stop to watch the trains the way I did with my Grandfather when I was little:
But the best thing about biking? I get to say good morning to everyone along the way-a fabulous way to start the day. I remember walking with my grandparents on the East Side in Chicago, when I was growing up. They shared a car, but in the neighborhood, we generally walked. I thought it was so cool the way everyone said hello and chatted briefly. Often I would ask “do you know her” and they would sometimes say yes, but often no-that it was just neighborliness. This never happened in my parents’ suburb and may be part of the reason I have always insisted on living in the city despite my farming yearnings. I love being able to pass this on to lbg.
Now, don’t you want to bicycle commute too?
