verbatim

Daddy Tries to Take a Nap

The Girls

Separation Anxiety

Julie kept her promise and melted down at preschool this morning. She started sobbing in the car and had to be carried in. She never says she doesn't want to go or she doesn't like it or she's afraid I won't come back to get her. She just says she wants me to stay there with her because if I leave, she'll miss me soooooo much. Heart-breaking. So I left her, crying hard, with one of the teachers and waited in the hallway, fighting back my own tears. Some of the other moms took turns peeking at her for me and reported that she was sitting on the teacher's lap at the puzzle table but not doing any puzzles. I peeked too and saw her in her classic sad pose: head bowed and the middle knuckle of each index finger shoved between her eyes and her glasses. She was the picture of misery. A few minutes later someone said she seemed better, so I peeked again and saw her standing up and holding some puzzle pieces. She wasn't crying, so I left. I called about a half hour later and was told that she was perfectly fine and on her way out to the playground. I was still nearby, so I drove by and saw a little figure in pink and green bounding across the field with the other kids. Phew. At pick-up time, she lit up when she saw me and said, "Mom! I had so much fun!" We'll see what happens on Monday....

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. I Suppose - Loudon Wainwright III
2. Still Not Ready - Eva Cassidy
3. Think - Aretha Franklin   
4. Ocean of Diamonds - Peter Keane
5. Louisiana 1927 - Randy Newman
6. Natural Woman - Eva Cassidy
7. Don't Forget About Me - Nanci Griffith
8. Train Home - Chris Smither
9. Johnny Too Bad - The Slickers
10. Stagefright (live) - The Band

My God, I will never again listen to "Louisiana 1927" with dry eyes. Never.

What has happened down here is the winds have changed
Clouds roll in from the north and it started to rain
Rained real hard and it rained for a real long time
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline

The river rose all day
The river rose all night
Some people got lost in the flood
Some people got away alright
The river have busted through clear down to Plaquemines
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangelne

Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tyrin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away
Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away

President Coolidge came down in a railroad train
With a little fat man with a note-pad in his hand
The President say, "Little fat man isn't it a shame what the river has done
To this poor crackers land."

Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away
Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away

Friday Fiver

Creature Comforts

Name your favorite....

1. Soothing sound: one of the kids breathing regularly, sound asleep
2. Comfort food: soup
3. Relaxing music: James Taylor
4. Gentle voice: Andy's
5. Calming smell: clean, warm kids

First Day of School! First Day of School!

Hey, loyal readers. I haven't been much of a blogger lately, and I apologize. Now that school has started (yippee!), I hope to get back to my daily routine of updating you on the minutia of my life.

So. Today Stephanie and Pete started school. Yesterday Stephanie (and I) had intermittent headaches and tummy aches, and Pete announced once, grinning, "I'm scared!" But all went well—at least as far as I can tell. I didn't get too many details, and I know it was an overwhelming day for them to process, but I'd have to guess that it came out on the positive side for both kids. Right after school I whisked them off to their first classes (Stephanie yoga—more on that later—and Pete "supersports workout"), so they were cooked. I'm glad this will be a short week!

Julie had her open house at preschool today. She announced that she wants me to stay there with her tomorrow and that she'll cry when I leave. Suuuuuuuuper.

Tell It, Keith!

Wowee Kazowee. Perhaps the heart and soul of journalism are still alive and well. Keith Olbermann gave a moving—and scathing—editorial last night on MSNBC. Watch the video (here, here, or here) or just read the transcript. I'm always grateful when someone so eloquently states what is swirling around in my brain but can't find a graceful exit via my mouth or typing fingers.

Back for Good

OK, now I'm really back home! We went up to New Hampshire one last time, for our annual outing to the Lancaster Fair. We sat on tractors, we fed baby goats, we ate the Robillards' apple crisp, we marveled at the Belgian horses, we admired the award-winning pumpkins and zucchinis, we put altogether too many quarters into one of those machines with the sliding panels that always seems just on the verge of releasing all the other quarters down the chute into your greedy little palm....

Tomorrow is Tuesday, and then comes Wednesday, and then comes school! Woo-Hoo!

Katrina and the Big, Big Waves

I don't know anyone who lives in New Orleans, and I've never been there myself. I've also never been a victim of any kind of violent storm or other natural disaster. It's hard for me to even imagine what those poor people are going through. But I keep wondering, are they any better off than the victims of last year's tsunami in the South Pacific—I mean, after all, they're Americans, and Americans are so much wealthier and better organized, right? Wrong. I've been appalled at the news stories showing the disgraceful way this recovery effort has been handled, all because of short-sightedness and foolhardiness and carelessness in Washington. What must those poor people think when they're watching their lives floating away and Dubya has yet to visit the scene or offer anything beyond meaningless platitudes? All he did was send his daddy and Bill Clinton (who, suddenly, isn't just as bad as Michael Moore anymore, I guess) to do what he should be doing.

Well, we can do better. In the aftermath of the tsunami, I did a little bit of research and determined that a donation to the American Red Cross was a good way to get money where it's needed, fast. There are many, many good organizations out there, but I urge you to do your research before donating, because there are always going to be scammers trying to make a quick buck off of someone else's suffering. There are also organizations that are reputable but not terribly efficient. So I chose to give again to the Red Cross, and again I did it by clicking a few times over at Amazon, where it's easy as pie to help our friends in New Orleans. Go ahead, give whatever you can, or a little more. Anyone who is reading this blog is almost surely in a safe, dry place with plenty of food and water and all their loved ones accounted for. If it means you give up downloading a few iTunes this week or buy a cheaper bottle of wine for dinner tomorrow night, that seems reasonable, dontcha think?

Movies

1. Bringing Out the Dead - A lesser-known Scorsese film with a truly outstanding performance by Nicolas Cage (yes, I know, you either love him or you hate him—I happen to love him). He plays a burned-out EMT in a lousy area of NYC. It was really powerful, with surprising bursts of very black humor. Two thumbs up.

2. The Prisoner of Azkaban - I have to remind everyone that I've never read any Harry Potter books; it's just not my thing. But I have seen all the movies, and I think this was the best of the lot so far. So you can argue all you want about which movies were more faithful to the books, but as a movie standing alone, this one was surprisingly good. Again, not my favorite genre, but just fine for an evening's entertainment.

3. All or Nothing - Add this to my ever-growing list of almost unbearably depressing movies. It's about a struggling, dysfunctional family in London. It ends up happy(ish), but getting there is pretty close to not worth it. I just can't do this stuff anymore.

Friday iPod Random Ten

I usually cheat at least once when I prepare my "random" lists. I do hit the "random" button, but the ten songs I list are not always the first ten that come up. Sometimes I'm doing lyrics and an instrumental comes up. Sometimes something embarrassing that I have no idea why I have it comes up. Sometimes too much by one artist comes up. Whatever. This week, the first ten songs were all good to go. Here they are:

1. There She Goes - John Prine
2. Brave Companion of the Road (live) - Nanci Griffith & Bruce Cockburn   
3. Ain't No Sunshine - Eva Cassidy
4. Baby, Now That I've Found You (live) - Alison Krauss & Union Station
5. Almost Blue - Elvis Costello
6. James (live) - Huffamoose
7. Annie - Willie Nelson
8. (Dawning of a) New Era - Specials
9. Angel From Montgomery (live) - Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Bruce Hornsby, & Bryan Adams   
10. This Hard Land (live) - Bruce Springsteen