the 53 project : week 9

This week was one of extremes -- the weather turned balmy for one day, hitting the low 50s, and then shot back down to the 20s with wind so cold it felt like the arctic.  I was crazy busy with work, and then got to relax and enjoy time with my sister Dorothy, who is visiting from California.  Here are a few moments.

A great sunset on the way to airport.

Transparent Lucy and Nick at the Providence airport.

Dorothy and Willow, sharing a little morning love.

And you thought you weren't going to see any more seagull shots.... 

Dorothy on Scargo Tower, with a view of Cape Cod Bay beyond.

The graffiti says "Muffin & Cuppycake 4 Life" 

The neighbors stay in the holiday spirit year-round.

Hockey on Little Sandy Pond.

Dorothy and Mom -- and yes, it's 20 degrees with 3 feet of snow and Mom is barefoot.

Gratuitous rabbit ears shot.

LOVED spending time with my sister.  Get home safe, Dorothy!

biking and boats and blue skies

What could be better than spending a gorgeous almost-summer afternoon biking with my son to Woods Hole? Blue skies, boats, biking, and a banana-blueberry smoothie at Pie in the Sky. Beautiful.

same difference

One of the magic things about having children is to be able to see glimpses of myself, their dad, our parents and grandparents in their faces, their mannerisms, even their way of speaking. Nick's got my eyes, his Dad's talent for drumming, his grandfather's interest in helping people through medicine. Hannah's got my hair, her Dad's ears (:)), her grandma's love of cards.

But to me, even more magical and mysterious and wonderful is to see how very THEMSELVES they are. How unlike me they are. How they come with their own look and style and set of talents and personality quirks and frustrating tendencies and creativity and intelligence.... amazing. Like the photo above, we may all be beans, but we're unique beans after all. (Human beans?)

They both love math (insert puzzled mommy-expression here). Hannah has amazing organizational skills that would put any life planner to shame, and she just DOES things so easily, without making a big fuss about it. Nick has this deeply spiritual side and a quiet curiosity about the world that always takes me by surprise. Both of them are capable and competent beyond their years -- I feel like when I was their age I was still stumbling around in geek-land, trying to figure out how I could get away with all play and not much work.

So -- today, I'm reveling in the differences. A great example is Hannah's willingness to take photos when I hand her the camera -- but in her own unique way. When I need a photo of myself, I trust her to take a good picture and delete the bad ones. On our recent road trip, I asked her to take some photos out the car window so that I wouldn't set a bad example of shooting and driving....(at least not while she was in the car.)


So she takes the pictures, and I edit them -- like a little photography team. What I LOVE is that she has a talent for taking pictures of people which I don't have at all. And she has her own unique vision that is completely different than mine -- which is, to me, what photography is all about. So today, all the photos in this post (except the last one), are ones that she took. Now I'm wondering what we'd see if we handed Nick the camera? Stay tuned.

She gets me. I love that.

Uncle Tom

Conor

Me and Fallon, with Sara and Grant in the background (shellseekers)

Claire and Livy

Holiday lights

So, to Nick and Hannah -- here's an old cliche -- thanks for being exactly who you are, similar, different, YOU.

jeffery pays a visit

Jeffery Wilson took a break from his work for FEMA in Iowa and came East to spend a few days with Mom. Nick, Hannah, and I drove to Pembroke to join them for a visit this afternoon -- lots of eating, talking, canoeing, and enjoying the beautiful day on the shores of Little Sandy Bottom Pond. We hadn't seen Jeffery since we all got together at the farm for Thanksgiving 3 years ago, so Nick and Hannah had forgotten how awesome and funny their Uncle Jeffery is. They all helped Mom put a new mattress-topper thing on her bed and make it up with clean sheets, and Uncle Jeffery taught them how to make hospital corners. Does it reflect on my mothering skills that I never taught my children how to make a decent hospital corner? Well, thanks to their cool Uncle, now they know. Their education is complete! Thanks Jeffery! We love you!

The men show off their chests

I think Grandma was telling a whopper of a fish story

Grandma took this one, but cut off a few heads

Then she got it!

Still life with canoe, foot, and flower--
Hannah's artistic shot

nicholas gets buzzed

Nick decided to cut off his hair this morning, so he had his friend Jimmy do the honors with the clippers (along with a little scissor work by sister Hannah). Here are the stunning results!