Friday Happiness:: looks good on paper

Because it is Friday,and it is Summer,and it is raining,
and I am missing two of my girls,
and worrying about things I can't control,
like weather patterns and airplanes,
and because I have two little girls,
(who I can't control, either, come to think of it)
down here on the ground,
who are giggling and teasing,and eating bagels,
and are right here in front of me,
needing me
and drawing me away
from my worry,
and I am full up, knowing that I will very soon
have all six of them back in front of me
and will be wondering then
how I ever will manage with all of them,
just as now,I am wondering
how I ever will manage without them all around me this week;
I take a breath now and think: yes,
this is who is here and where we are in the summer;
remember when we drew this plan?
remember how I thought it would feel?
and it is better, because now I am feeling it,
and real,
is always better
than on paper.
And for that,on this Friday,
I am happy.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

tt

Me, mom::13

Me,mom::how I sign my notes to my daughters.

Me,mom::Callie and I, taking pictures of our days.

Mine on the left, Callie's on the right.

And a little something about us, each.

How we feel about flying:

Callie:: loves it; can't wait to get on the plane. Will get the chance again tomorrow morning.


Tara:: practically grew up in an airport. Hasn't been on a plane in seven years. Doesn't miss it.


More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

In it.

Have you had one of those moments lately? The moment you've been waiting for?

And I don't mean the big announcement sort of moment.

I mean one of those tiny little moments that you do all of the other stuff for, just to be ready when it comes.

On the one hand, I had one of those moments yesterday at the beach.
On the other hand, maybe all of it is nothing but a long series of those moments, strung together.
Maybe I just finally sat down and was quiet long enough to notice.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

A post in which she (finally) talks about the gallery (and the beach).

Hi. Remember me?

Not me, the mother of many, lover of flowers and fruit pictures, follower of design*sponge, navel-gazing forty-something.

It's me, the partner in a small, contemporary art gallery, and co-curator of the first issue of a collaborative art journal.

I just thought I'd stop in to update you on what's going on downtown.

Well, we sort of took the summer off. The gallery is still open during the week, for a few hours, when Tim is in there, mostly working on this stuff. We were in-between shows, and when we decided to put off the publication of the book until the Fall, we looked around the back of the gallery and realized we have some pretty exceptional work from our various artists on the shelves.

So, we cleaned the walls and hung a few of them, in a sort of informal retrospective of the work we've shown over the last year. I put out a few of the postcards and posters we've printed in the window, and it struck me: we've shown excellent work. And built a community of artists that we're both proud to show, and eager to promote.

Which is how Public Bookstore began in the first place: wanting to be able to give more artists more exposure than we can in our little space here in Tarrytown alone.

So, while we may have taken a bit of a break as far as gallery hours this summer, we have not been idle. The book is complete and ready to go, and we can not wait to introduce it when we get back to business-as-usual in September.

::

Between then and now, though, we've got a lot of vacationing to do. Turns out I'm going to get to spend nearly four weeks in my beloved Maine in August, with some side trips for us to Ithaca, a friend's house in New Hampshire, and another short camping trip thrown in for good measure.

And today, we're headed off to a nearby beach in Connecticut for an afternoon swim and early picnic dinner. I'm loading the car, and picking Tim up from the gallery...See, I told you he's down there sometimes.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

Monday morning, and arghh.

Hi.
If these photos look a wee bit familiar to you, well...
Since I started taking all of these pictures, we'd been having some storage issues with our computer here at the home office. So Tim gifted me with the very romantic item that is an external hard drive. Once I figured out how to save my photos on that, instead of the computer, I ran with it and meticulously set up new files to hold all of my stuff.
And then it crashed.
And burned.
And all of the pictures I had taken for a week or so, gone.

There were a couple that I really liked, and I've been trying to recreate. Pathetic, I know. But there you have it.

Turns out, easier said than done.

::

In the meantime, there's some sun right now, and a nice breeze, and the natives are getting restless. We're off for a bike ride and maybe a little picnicking.

And summer marches on.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

Pink

If we should all have a room of one's own, around here that is the impossible dream.

The least we can do is carve out a little space for ourselves: a desk, a favorite chair, the top bunk, a spot on the porch.
For the littlest one, for whom nothing is ever hers first, everything is hand-me down, a little space of her own seemed the least she deserved.

In an awesome shop in Red Hook, Tivoli Mercantile, there was a little table-desk, covered with Cath Kidston oilcloth, and meant for the owner's daughter, to keep her busy while her mom worked the shop. Anna went right to it.

So I got to thinking that we could do something similar at home for her. An old Ikea table (from my first apartment in the city! Practically vintage...), some Marimekko coated fabric I got tired of seeing on the kitchen table, and the perfect pink paint which Tim mixed up under careful supervision by Anna: in an hour or so, she had some room of her own.

Now the only problem is: I suppose they'll all want one. I'll see what I can do.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

Friday Happiness

Things I've learned this week::

That watercolor paper is really expensive, and acrylic paints don't come right off of a four year old.
That the best way to get help is to ask for it.
That I do not like dark-chocolate covered edamame, but I do like roasted shrimp cocktail.
How to play the pentatonic scale on the bass guitar.
That even the best laid plans need to be changed, sometimes.
That the chemistry between Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn can not save every movie that they are in together.
That there is a place behind the Pleasantville train station that makes hands-down the best lobster roll I have ever eaten. Anywhere.
That it still gets light out very early in the morning, but it's getting dark, earlier and earlier in the evenings.
That I am so not beyond needing my mommy.

Learn anything new this week?

Enjoy the weekend! Thanks for reading.
tt

Me, mom::Twelfth - Just Callie

Me, mom:: how I sign my notes to my daughters.

Me, mom:: Today, just Callie with a camera, on the Cape.









What could I possibly add to that?

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

A few things

that made me smile today::

watching Ina Garten on tv in the waiting room at the orthodontist: she's baking something with her KitchenAid, and when she pulls the paddle attachment off and puts it to the side, Lindsey says, incredulously, "she didn't even lick it!"

my girls genuinely laughing at me, and my pathetic attempt at an Australian accent. I'm a sucker for a good accent, and have always wished I could do an English one. However, we all agreed it's a good thing I can't, because I would definitely use it all the time, and annoy everyone.

my mother dropping in unexpectedly this morning, and her being exactly the one person I needed to talk to just then.

cherries-local(ish) and dirt cheap (well, relatively speaking)...

even the boys pitching in to clean up our basement (the girls pointed out that it was only fair, seeing as they spend as much time down there as they do.)

this photo. and this one. and this one. summer.

the newborns next door getting all cute and chubby.

and an old favorite tonight: broccoli rabe, sausage, white beans, pasta. Oh, yes, thank you.

Hope you had some smiles today. Thanks for reading.
tt

Trailer food:: Bubby's Burritos

In search of the ultimate roadside burrito, we went north, up the Hudson, to Bubby's. No Phone, no website, no nothin'.

Nothing but rice, beans, and cheese, local lettuce, tomatoes, and homemade salsa.
Served up with the perfect combination of hot and cold ingredients, rolled together in an organic flour tortilla. Made while you wait, and fresh, fresh, fresh.

I used to say that I wanted my ashes scattered at Spotty Dog Books and Ale, but I think now Tim might have to swing by the parking lot at the corner of Routes 9G and 199 in Annandale, and throw out a handful or two.
::
The details, as I know them:
Bubby's Burritos
Tuesday through Saturday 12-5
Montgomery Place parking lot/corner of Routes 9G and 199,
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
There are a few picnic tables, and a grassy area to bring a blanket...or you can drive over to Bard College and spread a blanket there.

While you're up there, there's a nice farmstand right next to Bubby's, a museum at Bard, a pretty walk around tiny Tivoli, plus nearby are the towns of Rhinebeck, Red Hook, and (a little farther) Hudson.

Eat more burritos. Thanks for reading.
tt
ps::that's not me obviously, with the long hair and an orange hat and shirt, but she's stylin', no?

A new bed

We took another nice, long road trip up to Tivoli on Saturday, primarily to buy burritos from the side of the road (more about that later...).

On the way, we passed a stand selling organic flowers, and I asked Tim to pull over. That he is the sort of man who will gladly turn the car around and pull over so that I can buy some flowers is a constant source of surprise and gratitude for me. Just saying.

Anyway, part of my almost daily routine, as you may have caught on, is to walk around our yard and cut whatever looks good and make little arrangements for the house. At times it's easy-that one week of peonies; when the daisies and coneflowers are going; even into the fall with thyme and lavender-but the truth is, it's sort of slim pickin's around here, bloom-wise.

So, yesterday, Tim found a heretofore neglected patch of our small lot, and dug it out to make a bed for cutting-flowers.

As usual he had a little help.

He says it will take a year or two to really be "productive". In the meantime, I'll keep using what we have. And he'll keep pulling the car around when I spot something good on the side of the road.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

A day in the city.

Sweet potato fries; the cleanest public bathroom on the planet;
Good Samaritan on the bus; walking walking, bringing extra shoes;
St. Marks Bookshop, A Year of Mornings;
little shops; huge rat;
city people in summer clothes;
mojitos and seviche; running for the train...
psychotic cab driver;
arriving home late in the pouring rain to open windows and the band playing in the living room.

Hope you are enjoying another stellar weekend. Thanks for reading.
tt

Friday Happiness

Months ago, when many of our summer plans were hammered out and set in stone (camp, vacation schedules, gallery deadlines, house rentals, pool fees, camping reservations-it takes a lot to organize summer for eight), it all seemed abstract and so. very. far away.

Another week goes by, and as I mentally (and literally) cross off day after day, I shake my head in disbelief.

I know I'm not telling you anything you don't know, here. But I'm wondering, is there something you're not doing, or have not yet done, that you meant to do this summer?

I can think of a few things on my summer wish-list that seem to be slipping out of my hands as the summer progresses.

Let's promise ourselves to do them.

::

This afternoon, I'm checking one off: a day in the city with grown-up girls, only.

Tomorrow, a road trip upstate again. Mapping out our culinary stops with the help of the latest Edible Hudson Valley. Awesome.

And here's my summer love-song dedication to the man who'll stay behind, today.

Enjoy the weekend. Thanks for reading.
tt