Samday

On Saturday it was just Sam and me for the day. Maddy was attending Youth Conference (and having a ball, I might add) and Lauren took a Bastille Day roadtrip to New York with her best friend, Lucy (where they also had a ball). So after we got a few chores done at home, it was a Sam's choice afternoon. We went to the music store and checked out the drums and bass guitars:

I had to take this photo on the sly because who wants to pose for their mom in a drum and guitar store? Not this boy.

Next we went to Bolocco for burritos and headed to the river near our house for a little kayaking:

 I took a few seconds of video so I could remember those oh-so-peaceful moments in that lovely place with my favorite boy:

Wow, is that my voice? It's certainly not the one I hear from my inside-my-head perspective when I talk. Next time I'll have to remember: shh. don't say a word.

Close, but no cod

{Preamble: I love our town. And our neighborhood. Just last Sunday we had a block party with kids running all around, live music under a tent (a neighborhood teen singing with her boyfriend on the guitar), tons of potluck goodness, and friendly neighborhood banter. It's a good place. We feel lucky to live here.

Our particular neighborhood is very normal and modest (it's unofficially known as "Mayberry" to townies). However, the larger town we're a part of is quaint, historic, and quite...affluent. Over the top, at times, in a low-key, money-is-no-big-deal way that only the ultra rich have. A certain famous Celtics basketball player calls it home. High school kids not only have their own cars, they drive awesome cars.

It presents interesting parenting challenges. Where growing up I used to envy my friends' Guess jeans, my kids envy their friends' four houses (this is not an exaggeration; one of Maddy's friends indeed has that many). At the very least, a LOT of people we know have a "place on the Cape" where they summer. Whereas we summer at home happily.}

Now for the amble:

Every time someone says they are going to the Cape, I always remember my first summer in the Boston area. Years before moving here for good, I came for a summer in high school to earn a little money and live with my aunt and uncle and cousins. I worked at McDonald's & made a few friends there, mostly college students home for the summer and high schoolers like me. Because I was from a small college town in Utah and younger than everyone else, I was kind of treated as the ditsy mascot, a role I constantly tried to rise above.

One Friday, in between chucking stale fries and serenading each other over the drive-thru headphones, we were discussing our weekend plans. Someone asked "what are you doing, Annie?"

I knew there was a special in-the-know name for where we were going so I gave it a try:

"We're going to The Cod!" I announced confidently.

Uh, the raucous laughter clued me in right away. Not the Cod. The Cape.

Ohhhhh.

So close and yet so wrong.

And, really, who would even want to go someplace called the Cod?

{Postamble: I hope I haven't told that story here before. Lately I worry about repeating myself. Shouldn't I be about 4 decades older before worrying about that?}

Having my say

I put on my new red shoes and blue jeans and headed to my polling place...

where there were no lines! 

I was kind of disappointed because I came prepared 

with a novel and my ipod 

and had visions of in-line comaraderie--

maybe some joking and couple of new friendships.

But I waltzed right in, got my ballot,

stood in the booth, filled in the circles,

put my ballot in the box, and got my sticker.

5 minutes max.

Tonight we'll be making Gabi's pizza dough recipe, 

throwing together some voter map pizzas,

and gradually filling in the blank US map

with blue and red

as the results trickle in.

Hooray for democracy!

Hooray for the 19th amendment,

only 88 years ago, giving me the right to vote!

Next presidential election, 

my daughter will vote, too.  Wow.

On a serious note, I do have firm opinions about this election, as I'm sure you do, too.  I don't usually tout my opinions widely because I respect that everyone arrives at their political beliefs and opinions in their own way, prioritizing the issues that are most important in their own lives (the loudest I've gotten here is quietly putting a little image in my sidebar) but I do love to discuss things in person.  The thing is, I can see both sides.  I have both parties on my family tree, back several generations. There are stands on both sides of the aisle that I believe in. 

I am heartened by the fact that, no matter the result tonight, we have four good people willing to put themselves out there for derision/mocking/applause/support/commentary ad nauseum in order to serve our country, to lead us.  I'm sure these next years won't be easy for the new commander in chief.  So my best wishes to whomever it ends up being.

*Did you know my home state of Utah gave the vote to women in 1870, 50 years before the rest of the country? I think that's applaudable (&, as I remember, my great grandmother was a suffragette who pushed for the 19th amendment early on). Thanks, Grandma Achsa.  I thought of you today.

Dear future Annie,

This is a letter of hope to the February-May Annie of any given year, something to cling to in the bitter dreary months when it feels like spring should come but it waits until June...those months when I question "why?why?WHY do we live in New England again?"...when I start looking through job listings in hopes of finding a great corporate law position for Greg in San Diego.  Or Washington DC. Or pretty much anywhere in the lower 44 states.

Hang in there, future (and, no doubt, depressed) Annie.  This is why you live here. Remember? (Well, this and the fact that it's where G has a job and we have set up our lives.)

Love, contented October Annie

^the center of town

^the church where Sam's preschool met

^Maddy's favorite lunch spot

^the town library, where Lauren loves to meet friends

^a fun Halloween decorated house

^one of my favorite trees, down the street from our house

LOVE this house (notice the Red Sox scoreboard above the porch? How great is that?)

^cemetery in the center of town

beautiful stone carving on the gravestone

^This is the house I drool over.

Our realtor said a crazy old lady lives there.

With goats. Inside. And piles of newspaper.

It recently got painted. Maybe they'll be selling?

(but, alas, I won't be buying...

you can get it and invite me over)

Speaking of which,

my friends and family,

shouldn't you be here, too?

You can always make plans for next year...

we love guests!

Where you'll find me for the next two weeks

...at our beloved pond
where Sam is taking swim lessons
every day this week and next

mmm...my pulse goes down and shoulders relax
just looking at the photos

Maddy & Sam on the dock with their friends
playing games
{something about yelling and throwing a stick
and jumping in}

my favorite: reading on the shore
it has to be really hot for me to actually get in and swim
but I love to read + watch + give thumbs up to new divers
+ chat with friends and neighbors

Now it feels like summer.