I went for a run and I went to Trader Joes...
Which may explain why I often have a hard time verifying my exact location.
Caroline brought the outdoors indoors, a penchant I love seeing in my girls.
In the earlier days it seemed there was no end to the collections of rocks and leaves I'd find everywhere in the house, but now this habit has settled into a more thoughtful pursuit.
The other day she discovered a tattered butterfly wing and brought it home like it was hidden treasure.
We placed it in an enamel box painted a particular shade of blue and now we can peruse it anytime we want with our new magnifying glass.
I love how the glass makes curious things seem...curiouser.
Oh, and may I mention I've recently received no less than two emails from readers mentioning they found a dead bug and thought about sending it my way.
It would be hard to express how happy that made me.
A friend left these tree ripened pears and apples on my kitchen counter the other day. Such a thoughtful, knowing gesture...it would be hard to express how happy that made me, too.
Sophie had a volleyball game. She played very well but best of all, when it was over she let Caroline join her on the court for a peppering session. If I could bottle the joy emanating from my youngest in that moment, the energy crisis would be solved and everyone could drive monster trucks to their hearts' delight.
We had a family photo session which got a bit silly and let me assure you, silliness is a key ingredient to enjoying such an experience.
So is adoring your photographer and better yet, having your girls adore her.
My brother and my nephew came over for dinner...they are bachelors for the weekend and jumped at the chance for a hot meal. We jumped at the chance to have more boys in the house.
Izzy had a grueling, two hour rehearsal with her accompanist for an upcoming music competition. It's amazing to me how hard she works and yet how buoyant her spirits are by the end of the session.
Usually.
Either way, she never misses a chance to be gentle with her teacher's many pets.
When we returned, Caroline was making my brother sit through this. I do believe there was a football game he was hoping to watch, but what is football compared to a medley of your niece's favorite hits from the Baroque period?
Hard to say.
I doubt he had much choice in the matter, anyway.
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Dear reader, between my unintentional allusion to Anthropologie being closed when it's really open, and my intentional announcement of a hiatus when I haven't really taken one, you are probably wondering what crazy hijinks I am capable of these days.
The answer is always: pretty crazy.
But I assure you I was being serious when I said I'd be taking a break from Tollipop. It's just that in resurrecting my story project last week, I suddenly remembered why I haven't written about a zillion books by now: because writing a story requires a little concentration. And by a little, I mean a ton. It just seems my life is a series of interruptions--people needing me with or without notice and anyone being able to make demands on my time. Which is nice, mind you, but not exactly conducive to dreaming up great works of art.
But...that must be the case for everyone else who writes or makes any beautiful thing. Right? There are no special monasteries out there where you are allowed to take a laptop and no one can talk to you for like, seven months.
Are there?
At any rate, I feel as if I'm talking my head off right now. I don't know if I'm on hiatus or what. I know I need to write. I know I want to write that story. And I know life is busy. So...I'll be juggling those balls like an untrained circus performer and the likelihood is I'll probably visit here quite often, as I usually do.