last day with the sweeties

today is the last day; this afternoon i will drive them to cambridge, and tomorrow on to new york state, where we'll return them to their other grandmother. the sun came out yesterday, so we went to fort williams. i lined all the cousins up and told them to look serious.

 jonah was meditative.























 zoë was glamorous.























 oona found a rock that curiously resembled a letter B, which inspired us to create a font from rocks.























 some letters were more challenging than others.























 we went to otto for lunch. jonah and oona gave their pizza two thumbs up, though oona thought the sauce was a little too "bunchy."























 and then, bubble maineia! jonah, isaac, zoë and i had bubble teas, and oona had some ice cream. we walked all over town and all the way home.























 buddies.























 aspiring farmer with a farmer's tan.























 last night we had another little bonfire and made s'mores. mama d came over briefly and commented that this is what life would be like if mark and i had had five children. if that's true, i wouldn't mind it one bit.

a couple of sweeties

day one with two of my very favorite sweeties, robot and pink (or should i unmask them, too? oh, okay: they are really jonah and oona, my bruddie's kids). mom and dad picked them up in vermont, where they were spending a couple of days with their other grandmother, and mark, isaac, and i met them in portsmouth for a sweetie hand-off at the friendly toast.

we ate some delicious cheesy fries and other treats, but jeeze their prices have gotten so high. granted, their portions are humongous, but still. i'm becoming more of a silly's fan all the time.






















jonah and oona said their goodbyes to mana, pop, and lulu, and then we drove (via a very long, scenic coastal route) home to portland.






















mark and oona made a perfect fire in the fire pit.






















 yay, lighting things on fire!






















all day today it's either been rainy or that strange hot-cold-humid that makes you want to go see a movie. i took the sweeties to see toy story three, which was awesome. it was really really funny, until the end when it was incredibly sad. i can't remember the last time i didn't cry at a pixar movie (oona kept me company and cried a little too).






















 tomorrow, i'm hoping for a little sun, so we can take long walks and maybe take a picnic to the beach!

i only eat pretty things

may i present: the world's most adorable radish (it made the other radishes jealous).

 and its cousin, a mighty cute strawberry.

island

isaac is off on an adventure* this week: but first, we celebrated father's day with a short hike at bradbury "mountain." maine state parks were free that day, which was kind of a wonderful surprise. below, mark, isaac, and max at the top of the mountain hill.






















at some point, isaac made me take creepy pictures of him wearing a weird jacket and holding one of his fake guns. looking dead.






















and he gave me another very special temporary tattoo.























 *he's on vinalhaven until next weekend with his friend jack's family, playing around, making movies, being computer-less and tv-less and -- if he's inspired to -- participating in designinquiry. i miss that boy.

happy father's day!

happy day to you, dad! you're still the coolest, even without the cigarette and skinny tie!! i love you.

une femme est une femme

anna karina,
singing, fighting, being french,
wanting a baby.

veranda thai

lucky, lucky me: zoë took me out to lunch at veranda thai today (she had a gift certificate max's mom gave her as a graduation gift). we shared pad thai and drunken noodles, and we also had some kind of delicious spicy soup (maybe tom yum?) that they vegetarianized specially for us. i loved the place. the service was really friendly, and it had an intimate, neighborhoody feel. the food was very tasty, with lunch prices (i find it annoying when lunch is just as expensive as dinner - green elephant, i'm talking to you) and huge portions. i think i preferred the drunken noodles very slightly, as they were less sweet and had nice toothsome hunks of broccoli.

mark and isaac have been in new york since yesterday morning - mark returns tonight, and isaac is staying another day with oliver and matt. not only did they see dan deacon play in red hook last night, but they very quickly ended up with their photos on brooklyn vegan.* i only wish someone had gotten a picture of oliver "being tossed into the air by the crowd," as mark described it in a text message.


*scroll down to photo number twenty-one and look for isaac's mustard yellow jeans.

stella

she came to visit us this weekend with her mom and dad. we spent a lot of time drawing with markers, reading books, and playing with the small collection of playmobil 1-2-3 toys we wisely saved for just such an occasion.






















it rained on and off all weekend, but we took advantage of a few dry hours and ventured over to deering oaks and the (relatively) new playground. stella approved of the slides and various bouncy things.






















especially the bouncy lobster. or anything involving isaac.






















i MISS her. and her mom and dad, too.

summer, officially

 yesterday was isaac's last day of school, complete with eighth grade graduation ceremony. i didn't cry a bit, even though he's my baby and next thing you know he'll be off to high school and then the next thing after that he'll be all grown up and out into the world. i think i'm all cried out, and besides there are more than 150 students in his class and the ceremony lasted almost three hours. and i was distracted by these people sitting in front of me who didn't clap one single time. it was as if they'd randomly wandered into this middle school event and didn't know any kids there. and hated kids. they looked so bored.

also, isaac is very pleased to be finished with middle school and excited at the thought of a nice long summer stretching in front of him. i took a bunch of pictures of him with his friend anthony afterward, and this is honestly the one in which they look the least goofy.

the darjeeling limited

cartoon india:
i want to ride on that train!
but not with these guys.

sandwich

it's such an awkward word, isn't it? sandwich. sangwitch. sammich. anyway, i made grilled sweet potato sandwiches on pumpernickel bread the other night, and i thought they looked funny on the table. sandwiches for dinner is funny.

various things that happened on friday

at some point, there were zombie hunters in my kitchen.























zoë, mark and i went to the library, where she got some books about learning hindi, complete with helpful travel phrases.



















i was going to get this book for minnow, but then i saw it was for people.























the main event at the library was isaac's eighth grade culminating event, based on the four freedoms*. this is his gorgeous collage, illustrating "freedom from want," focusing specifically on access to education.























*which was the theme of the poster stolen from isaac's social studies classroom by the knox county republicans last month, remember?

she did it

she graduated. i cried, but only a little bit. i neglected to take any photos at all, but mark took some which we'll upload to flickr soon. i did snap this picture of zoë and max's graduation gowns hanging cutely on the wall.























the ceremony was wonderful. their entire class spent the night at project graduation playing games and making tie-dyed t-shirts and eating food. i picked these two up at six a.m. and they mostly slept all day, with a lovely break in the middle to eat lunch with my mom and dad at green elephant.



















again, i missed a great photo op near the end of the meal, when they both looked like they were about to fall asleep with their heads on the table.

annoying grammar tip of the day

you don't graduate high school. you graduate from high school. you're welcome.

rabbit rabbit

i know, can you believe it's june already?