Around here and around there.

I just finished a memoir last night, and when in the midst of a really beautiful section (points for serious transparency), I think, yes, yes memoir writing is the very best writing there is and you, Bridget, shall write yours one day! I’ve been saying this for  approximately ten years though, maybe twelve. When does the writing begin? Year 15? The other day I snipped a cosmos from a pot in our backyard–this sounds very domestic of me but rest assured a lot of my potted plants have puttered out wilting like hydrangeas in the late afternoon sun; perhaps saying I snipped the cosmos is more like it–put it in a bottle that once held soap, and, upon Anders announcing his daily boredom, got the paints out and suggested he paint the flower. I quite like what he came up with, and daresay I will make a very fine home educator based on this and this alone. Also, my child is a prodigy!I feel a bit like I’m nesting, getting things ready and in order for our school year and taking great joy in vacuumed floors, coffee in the morning, my diffuser going, and ready-to-eat healthy things in bowls in my fridge. I just reread that sentence to myself and, wow, thrilling. Nevertheless, it is true. I just roasted some beets the other day, made fresh salsa, and suddenly the world is my oyster. I’m finding myself more of an introvert every year. So long as the boys are happily playing, I see little reason to interject and plan an outing, though there is the nagging that this weather will not last forever, Bridget. But neither does their happy playing, so outings still take place. Point remains: I’m happy at home, and I’m happy that I’m happy about it.In case you didn’t know, I’m a crazy monarch-person now. So crazy that I have the actual live specimens hanging from my chandelier. Some of you may think, wow, neat-o!, while others of you may be thinking, she’s like a butterfly Hannibal Lecter, but in any case here we are. While on a walk with dear friends, I found the mother load of caterpillars, and have since been religiously bringing them milkweed, cleaning their poop (or, frass, for the monarch-nerds of which I am happily one), and ensuring that they don’t form chrysalides in foolish places. When they do, they are scolded and transferred, so now my chandelier is something of an ode to my interest in helping butterfly population. The boys enthusiasm is waning, but I think when we witness them emerge, they’ll be reinvested. Won’t you boys, WON’T YOU.Before I go, let me tell you a few things I’ve enjoyed lately in no particular order: (1) this salsa (and, for so many things, this funnel), (2) these oil pastels (much, much less expensive than the Stockmar brand, but the reviews were good and that is good enough for me, lest we have to remortgage our house for homeschooling art supplies), (3) I was reminded last night (by way of Jordan Ferney’s stories) of what a good job H&M does in the home department and hello, it’s true, (4) the Bird’s Nest Fern–truly, one of the simplest houseplants I’ve ever had, (5) this cabbage taco slaw that we had the other night on taco bowls (a good way to use up the huge head of purple cabbage that came in my Misfits box), (6) and the idea of possibly giving this pita bread a try. Even the I might try that is enjoyment for me, imagine the actual eating of the bread!

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