We moved Lex into his first ever apartment this weekend. He’s living off-campus this year, with two of the guys from his campus apartment last year. They seem like a good group. One of his roommates who lives an hour away was there as well, with his family for a bit, unpacking and moving in. We had a nice chat. The boys have a nice apartment a few blocks from school. Second floor, three bedroom, classic old house with wood paneling, gypsum lath and plaster walls, and high ceilings. Lex has the smallest of the three rooms, but he seems fine with it. We bought him a new dresser, desk, mattress (he has a hand-me-down bedframe from a roommate who upgraded to a bigger bed), and window AC. The tenant before him left a pile of Christmas lights on the floor, so E and I put them up around the window for a little whimsy.
A cute little house…… on a cute little street.Building a dresser. They started it, but Eve finished it and built all the drawers.Building a desk.Photos by MemaGoats and musicCozy room with little sister resting on the bed.Good night.
Alan and Lex went out to buy an AC and some groceries while E and I finished building the furniture and unpacking his bags. We ordered pizza for dinner and finally said goodbye around 10pm.
I almost forgot to take a family photo! Fortunately I remembered, just as we were saying our goodbyes. I was sad to leave my baby, alone at night in that apartment by himself, but he was ready to settle in and start making it a home for the next year or two.
The next day he had his drumline audition. He’ll be playing Bass 2 again this year. He was hoping for snare, but he said bass is fun too and he’s just happy to be back on the field with his band friends. <3
I’m going to try to write a post that I feel strongly, but also have no words for — just feels. The world feels like it’s falling apart and I’m just over here, moments away from sending my little ducklings out into it.
These last few days we’ve had air quality alerts. Something I’ve never experienced before until (I think) this summer. Canada is on fire, the air is hazy, the sky is flat, and we all have irritated noses, throats, and (in E’s case) headaches. According to the local news (WCAX), “Today’s air quality is the 5th worst air quality we’ve seen due to wildfire smoke ever and the 2nd worst air quality we’ve seen from wildfire smoke this year.” We are VERY grateful for our new house and all it’s air filters!
Flat sky. For days.Very red sunIgnore the phone pole. :(
The sun was so red last night that it was casting a red light on my bedroom wall! I took a short walk to get a better picture of it, but this is the best I could get.
Several months ago (maybe last summer, even) I started reading a book called The Ministry for the Future, by Kim Stanley Robinson. It’s a tome of a book with a really interesting premise around climate fiction, but the first chapter starts with a detailed description of a heat wave in India. The story is fiction and futuristic – but barely. The chapter stuck with me and now as the real world gets hotter I keep picturing that heat wave description. I don’t think it will be fiction for much longer. :(
Also, you may have heard, the government is in chaos and democracy is crumbling. Public media is over. Schools and libraries are losing funding. (Our own schools are full of toxic chemicals that no one wants to pay to clean up.) Human rights laws are being rolled back to the 1950s and earlier. Colleges are rolling over to the dictators bullying. Businesses are caving. People are disappearing and dying. Every day citizens are protesting, but it hardly seems impactful.
I donated some money to an aid group (I don’t even remember which one at the moment), and now my social media feed is full of starving children in Gaza. I know that through the years there have been starving people in Syria and Ethiopia and other places, but this one is so easy to fix, if everything else wasn’t falling apart as well. I guess the world has been in a falling apart state in the past, but it’s definitely the worst it’s been in my lifetime. The hatred and disrespect are out of control.
Meanwhile I’m doing my little job and taking my kids to their appointments and trying to decide which businesses are ok to support while I prepare three kids for college. Trying to stay positive. Encouraging them to make plans for their futures. Silently hoping that the Department of Education doesn’t dissolve, student loans don’t disappear, and their chosen colleges don’t decide to cave to the dictator (or maybe they already quietly have, I haven’t checked).
I know that those of you who are older than me have probably seen some stuff and have maybe lived through more ups and downs in this world, but in my eyes, this is the worst… and it’s getting worse by the day. What is the end game here? Where are we heading?
I just finished reading Worthy Brown’s Daughter, by Philip Margolin for my book group. It takes place in the 1860’s and is loosely based on a true story. Towards the end of the story a white woman is talking to a black girl and tells her that a civil war is happening and things will be different when the war is over. The book had nothing to do with the war. It reminded me of a quote (that I’ll butcher here) along the lines of, “None of the dystopian books I read prepared me for the fact that while civilization is crumbling, I’ll still have to go to work.” I guess that’s how I’m feeling these days. The world is on fire, our country is crumbling, but I still have to go manage my library budget and make sure my kids have twin XL sheets for college. Weird.
This isn’t a cry for help or anything. I probably just need to take a social media break, and a walk… when the air quality improves.
PDW (post dog walk): The moon is super red tonight and we have an air quality warning in effect for tomorrow as well. The expression “rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic” frequently comes to mind.
We spent last week in lovely Long Island for Espen’s college orientation. Student orientation was Tuesday-Thursday, with a parent orientation on Tuesday morning. We drove down Monday night and met Alan at the hotel. The next morning we dropped E off at her dorm for the week. It was a rough start. They didn’t let parents into the building (which was known from the start) but she couldn’t carry all her stuff, so they sent her in to check in while I waited outside with her stuff. I stood there in the hot sun, watching people come and go, waiting for Espen to come back. Meanwhile some other mother walked right in and another asked about bathrooms and was sent inside. I was super annoyed. After like 15 minutes Alan got there and I had to explain it all to him. I asked one of the orientation leaders to go check on her. She came out a few minutes later, on the verge of a panic attack. Said she didn’t know where to go. Didn’t know how to carry everything. I gave her big hugs, piled her stuff on her, and sent her back in. Tears were shed. Alan and I headed to the parent orientation. Awhile later she texted and said she figured out where to go. A bit after that “Gerald” posted a pretty positive post on Instagram. I sighed a huge sigh of relief.
I spent the afternoon exploring a GIANT mall. Biggest one I’ve seen in a long time. It was expensive and exhausting. LOL. I spent the next day working at the hotel. I ended up with a two-room suite, which worked out well for the whole “work from home” thing. I had a desk and plenty of room in the fridge for snacks and beverages. Then I spent a few hours exploring IKEA :)
Thursday I picked up E around lunch time. We took a quick trip to the campus bookstore, then headed back to the IKEA! LOL. We got lunch there and bought some fun little things for the house and dorms. We had a long, whimsical drive home.
I love spending time with my girlie. She’s the best. <3 I’m gonna miss her next year.
Hofstra mascots – Kate and WillieKate and William Hofstra, founders of the university, trace their roots back to the Netherlands and that’s seen throughout the campus.Scenes from the mallHofstra is full of interesting plants. These mushrooms were huge. We were surprised to discover they’re real!This flower was bigger than my hand.I finally got the complete set!Dinner at a tavern with some IKEA otters.
Lex is doing his IQP at Acadia National Park. He’s spending the summer living in a dorm at College of the Atlantic and doing a research project (with his group, not on his own) about the effectiveness of using QR codes for participant surveys.
Rosy, Eve, and I went up to visit him over the 4th of July weekend. We rented a cute little house on the “quiet side” of the island (Mt. Desert Island). We visited the National Park, drove up to the top of Cadillac Mountain, visited Thunder Hole twice, walked over the Bar Island, took a ghost tour of Bar Harbor, and watched fireworks over the water in South Harbor.
Cuties on the lawnDinner at the marinaLove the sun on the boatsWe stopped for some sunset picturesGolden hourRocks :)LighthouseEve, shutting downOne of Lex’s QR codesThunder HoleView from Cadillac MountainOn top of the mountain!FireworksThis whole thing is underwater for most of the day!Burning in the sun on the sandbarLooking back at Bar Harbor, from Bar Island
It was so beautiful and we took so many photos! I was going to share a link here to the photo album, but Rosy set it up and link sharing is disabled, so you’ll just have to imagine the beauty. :) Or Google it. We’re not the first people to take pictures of this beautiful place.
Eve and I had a fun drive home too. We stopped at a plant store and an antique mall kind of place and a diner for lunch. I was feeling like Grandma on the drive home. LOL. Stopping for all the whimsey we could.
For some reason I haven’t researched we have been getting some amazing rainbows this year! They frequently span the house across the street , which means great views for us!
Double? Triple?Even more? The other side of the sky
A few weeks ago I joined my college besties for our annual summer trip. They’ve been doing it for so many years that I always want to say “their” trip, but they kept reminding me that I’m in it now and it’s “our” trip. :)
This year we went to Atlanta, GA for a Braves game and other adventures.
The clouds were so tall!Look at those three towers. It was like cloud cairns.We were on the 14th floor and the view was great!
Thursday afternoon we all got to Georgia. In the cab ride to our hotel there was a huge storm. Thunder, lightening, pouring rain. It was powerful! We were all happy that it waited until after we all landed.
On Friday we visited the Coca-Cola Museum and went to the Braves game.
The Coca-Cola Museum is ridiculous. It starts with a 10 minute presentation while standing in a room full of old Coke memorabilia. The presenter was really funny and, honestly, that was the best part of the whole thing. We could have done that and left and been happy. Actually, then we would have missed the polar bear mascot and that had us dying laughing!
This is just a fun statue outside the children’s museum.A whole lotta memorabilia in one room.The real “secret formula” that made Coca-Cola so successful!OMG, this bear is HYSTERICAL!!All the money they have….and this is the best they can do. LOL
There was a super long line to get your picture taken with the iconic polar bear. The line went around the corner and out the door. We skipped the line and kept exploring the room. Imagine our surprise when we turned a corner and found the beginning of the line — with this bear!! LOL. Imagine waiting in a line like that and this is the bear you get. He shuffled out and leaned against the wall like a tired, old dude. Hysterical! We laughed so hard and just looking at these photos is cracking me up again.
That night we went to the Braves game. It was supposed to start at 7pm. They did the opening announcements, played the national anthem, then the skies opened up!!! Guys on the field were scurrying to cover the infield, people in the rows in front of us were scurrying to get out of the rain, and we just sat and enjoyed the whole thing because our seats were under the cover of the section above us! We watched an awesome storm roll through. The sky was SOOOO dark, except when it was lit up with lightening bolts. The field had a lake on it from all the rain. We thought for sure they would cancel the game. But they didn’t!
Before the gameThey had the Home Depot tools in attendance. So ridiculous.Bring on the tarps!!Soooo dark!It was after midnight before the game ended. Pushing 1am, if I recall.
They started playing a little after 9:30 and ended after midnight. It was a terrible game (Braves lost 14-0) but we had a great time!
The next day we explored Olympic Park and escaped from Mars!
The Quilt of Nations at Olympic ParkWe escaped the escape room — with time to spare!The coolest hotel lobby I’ve ever seen!Shriners bands
On the way home from the escape room we stopped for dinner. While we were eating, the skies opened up again! We could hear it beating down on the roof. It was weird to hang out in the restaurant for too long, since we were done eating and they had no bar, so when there was a slight break in the storm we made a run for the nearest bar (don’t judge) which happened to be in an amazingly huge and beautiful hotel lobby! I took so many photos and videos. On top of the beauty, there was also a Shriners conference going on in the lower level with some sort of jazz band play-off. It was awesome! I wanted to watch the whole thing, but my friends wanted to go to the lobby bar a floor above. After a few minutes, we all got what we wanted! We enjoyed delicious (expensive!) beverages and the three competing bands came together and performed in the main lobby area for like twenty minutes. It was awesome!!
The next day we all flew home. Just as I was boarding, the skies opened up again!! Fortunately we got off the ground before the thunder and lightening started! I didn’t want to be delayed in Atlanta when I had this cutie waiting on the other end. :)
I’m hanging out in Long Island for college stuff, but apparently I haven’t posted high school graduation stuff yet. Life is busy!
Last month sweet baby Eve graduated high school. Not sure how she went from a cuddly baldy to a high school graduate, but here we are. She graduated with honors, excellent grades, a solid friend group, and a plan for the future.
We had a beautiful evening for graduation. We hosted a party afterwards, that was a lot of fun, if you ignore the fact that it was very dark! I thought of everything except the fact that the sun would go down! LOL. We had fun anyway!
The next day we celebrated Mema’s birthday at the lake. :)
Happy Birthday to Mema! Happy Graduation to E! Happy summer to all! :)
The weeks leading up to graduation have been tumultuous for Miss E. She’s got all the feeling swirling inside (and sometimes outside), like many other seniors at this time of year. Her senior trip was rocky, senior “skip day” was chaotic, and the boys are home getting in her space. She’s excited to be done with high school, scared to move on, worried her friends don’t like her, worries she’s going to miss all her friends, etc. Anyone who’s ever graduated from high school has probably had these feelings. We also have several busy weekends coming up, so last weekend E and I took a little road trip.
Road Trip
We started with a quick No Kings protest, which was packed!! After doing our part as good citizens, we spent the rest of the day in the hinterlands of Vermont, enjoying the sunshine and lush scenery.
Visiting the Haskell Free Library in Derby, VT has been on our bucket list for a few years now. The Haskell library sits on the US/Canada border and has been in the news a lot lately. It’s a beautiful library and we were excited to visit. Apparently author Louse Penny lives nearby and her next book takes place, in part, in the Haskell library! Unfortunately we got there exactly at 4pm which is when they closed. :( We enjoyed the exterior anyway. It is beautiful and interesting to be so close to the border. We waved at a group of Canadians across the bolder line. :)
The borderThe board on the roadImagine having to show your library card to cross a national border.Channeling her inner lizard and basking in the sun
Then we had some sweet Sunday driving through the rolling hills, stopping only to charge up the car and our bellies, and headed to the Cold Hollow Sculpture Park, an outdoor sculpture park…. which closed hours before we actually got there. We got a great picture of the entrance sign though. :)
We thought about maybe sneaking in and checking out the sculptures anyway, but turns out its actually on a hill behind someone’s house, so we decided to be good and move on. We stopped for dinner and more charging, then drove home under a pink sunset.
We had a great day, she felt much better (nothing fills her bucket like car time with mom), and we fully intend to return another day… maybe a little earlier in the day. :)
Award Night
The following day we attended Senior Awards Night where we clapped for over two hours for kids we know and love and kids we’ve never even heard of before. It was a long ceremony, but E got a few awards (for science and good grades) and some grant money, and I got to chat with some old friends, so we considered it a good night all around.
My tiny baby boy entered a new decade last week! Years ago my grandpa made a comment about how we take so many more pictures of babies than of older people. That came back to me just now as I realized I only took two pictures of Lex on his 20th birthday, but probably a hundred on the actual day of his birth!
The pile was small, but high quality..The photos weren’t even good photos. Poor kid. I’ll have to do better on the 21st!
The weekend before, E and her friends went to Senior Prom. They took photos at the Powerhouse, had dinner at Panera, survived torrential rain to get there, then danced their hearts out at the Marriott.
We also attended the FRC wrap party on a recent weekend. E and her teammates designed trophies for the coaches and we 3D printed them. We had fun at the party and everyone enjoyed the awards.
G and E presenting the awards.The gold is their robot design. :)
I’m currently home alone, getting a tiny taste of the upcoming year. Lex and E drove to Worcester together to meet with Lex’s roommates and landlord for next year. They planned the trip, including extra time for whimsey, and seem to be having a great trip. They’ll be home soon. E sent me some photos while Lex and his roomies made plans. I can’t wait for the full update when they get home!
The living roomHis bedroom. Now to figure how to furnish it!
R spent the day sleeping, waking up at 4pm when I woke him!, then headed out to spend the evening with friends. I’ve been alone with the cat and dog for company.
We are skewing towards calm around here, but the chaos still rears up… usually around midnight! And I love it. <3
I want to write something deep and profound about motherhood, but the words never come to me when I want them to, so instead I’ll just say, it was a good day. I woke up to a clean kitchen and a cute card on the table.
We went out to brunch (organized and paid for by the kids and Alan), then the boys went home and cleaned my car while E and I got mani/pedis.
We watched a movie (that I napped through) then the L&A got pizza and we watched silly TV for awhile. It was a very wonderful day.
Each phase of life is unique and this one is no different. I now have three kids who are all legal adults with licenses and jobs. They make plans, they pay for things, and they still love me and show up for brunch. <3
Pretending to be short again so I can feel tall. LOL.
The one important thing I failed to do is call my own mother. So sorry, momma! I love you forever and am only the mom I am because of the mom you are! You modeled the way for me. Modeled kindness and acceptance and grace. Modeled handling the calm and the chaos. Modeled it all and for that I will be forever grateful.
