spontaneous mural making

tonight tristan stole tashi's pencil while she was trying to do homework. we quickly handed him a box of crayons and flipped over a large piece of wrapping paper that was nearby. spontaneous family mural making ensued. art is good therapy, always.

fox field fail

unfortunately the blanket sales at the foxfield family days went rather poorly. the vendors were placed in a far off field where there was very little foot traffic. everyone around me that participated was extremely disappointed. on a positive note, i think tashi and tristan had a good day in the great outdoors and i enjoyed witnessing my first horse races. it was tremendous hearing the pound of the hooves on the turf, checking out the gorgeous equine mammals up close and in their element, and taking in the sweeping albemarle views from the fields. we also saw a chaotic race of yappy jack russell terriers. all of tashi's fuzzawumbles sold to one group of excited girls at the end of the day. this alone made our attendance worth it, a bit of a reward for tashi's willingness to promote handmade goodliness. here are some shots from the day:

faire fare

a couple weekends ago we spent a day at the maryland renaissance festival. the weather was perfect and we all had a good time. aside from memories, we didn't bring home any treasures, though perhaps spent a bit too much on mead and bad food. here are a few shots from the day.

fall(ing) behind

i can't believe two weeks have lapsed since my last blog entry. tashi doesn't even ask me anymore, mom, have you made a new blog entry? i wish i could say it is because i have been engaged in many new and exciting things. but not really.

what have we been up to?

as the farmer's market blanket selling (or not selling) business draws to a close (two more to go), tashi and i are preparing for peddling our wares at the horse races! foxfield has invited the charlottesville city market to join in on their family day festivities. i will be one of many food and craft vendors there. so tashi is making some new fuzzawumbles and i am continuing to make cozy blankets and bibs.





i have never been to a horse race, and have mixed feelings about them. but i do quite love horses and would like to marvel in their glory.

once that is over, i hope to have my etsy shop stocked -- and, well -- designed! we shall see!

in the mean time, the blistering hot days of summer seem to have passed and we have been having lovely -- though dry --weather. the nights and mornings have been quite cool. time to pull out the the warm pj's. babies look so cute in their sleepers don't they?





we went to the final fridays after five of the season. . .



and followed it with an incredible show at the jefferson theater, swedish band, dungen. it was a mind blowing concert of psychedelic rock jazz, and the first date for dan and i since tristan was born. wow!



i'd have to say that meeting baby elsie and seeing her lovely (and loving) parents in their country homestead made for a very special saturday afternoon.





oh, and i have to mention the ugly plastic sand box i scored from freecycle. i had visions of a sweet all natural waldorf-y sand pit surrounded by sectioned tree trunks. but when the immediate fix appeared on freecycle, i couldn't resist it for the busy boy. i think he is pleased. (btw, the wagon is from freecycle too. and wagon has become one of tristan's favorite words)





and what a busy time it is. tashi is back in school and playing soccer. tristan is climbing everything from dictionaries to shopping carts. i am easing my way back into doula work with a client due quite soon while my day job races into its busiest season. there are poems on the back of the tongue and photos to be hung.

around the house there are many tasks left undone: the patchwork curtain i want to make. the ground i want to (finally) prepare for a spring garden. the chaotic garage that has boxes still sitting in the same place they were plopped down on when we moved here two years ago. the photo albums the cat sprayed. and tashi's bedroom; we've been talking about rearranging it since last spring.

but today, as tristan naps, i thought i'd sit at this blog, because really, i do miss it so.

re-use

today i pulled tashi's old play kitchen in from the garage. it felt good to dust it off and find a place for it, once again. tristan seemed quite pleased, and kept saying, cool! cool! cool! unfortunately the little blue ceramic tea pot didn't survive the afternoon. i will have to find some wooden or metal kitchenware for him. tristan of course loved it that there were some knobs to twirl. i can't seem to keep him away from the oven knobs, so perhaps this will become a diversion. a mom can only hope!







i love it when these two interact joyfully. here is tashi making tristan crack up by trying out his shades.



and here is tristan, tackling tashi.



i suspect there will be a lot more of that ahead!