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{Saturday, December 21, 2002}

throw-up food?
We went to Hal and Ellie's for Chinese food last night. It was great to have our families together for a couple of hours to nosh and gab. But as soon as we got home, Clara threw up. She hasn't thrown up in years--- the last time, in fact, was after dinner at (let's see now) Hal and Ellie's house. In Ellie's defense, the food last night was take-out, and Clara didn't eat any of it anyway.
posted by Tom 3:29 PM
lunch outing
Mallary and Ellie took their assisted-living friends out for lunch on Friday. They all complain about the food there. Here is what they ordered for lunch:
  • Miss Alice - Chicken strips and French Fries

  • Miss Helen - Chicken strips and French Fries

  • Miss Jo - Chicken strips and French Fries

  • Ellie - Chicken soup; pasta with tomato sauce

posted by Tom 3:25 PM


{Wednesday, December 18, 2002}

Dee Brown
Saw in the paper that Dee Brown died last week. I met him once at an August House event, and was impressed with his utter lack of pretense. And it is more or less because of him that I got to be friends with Jim Supplee. (Note after Arkansas visit: Liz tells me that Ted visited Dee almost every week, and that Dee had been feeling bad for quite some time now.)
posted by Tom 3:27 PM


{Sunday, December 15, 2002}

Harry Potter 5 -> 8
Clara was so excited when she finished the fourth Harry Potter book, and so was I. I was really looking forward to getting a chance to talk to her for the first time since she started the first book in October. She promptly read a Pony Pals book that she had been interested in ... and then picked up the first HP book for a re-read. Sigh. She's finished that one again and moving on.

Mallary and I are so happy that our kids love books, BUT ...be careful what you wish for.
posted by Tom 9:47 PM


{Saturday, December 14, 2002}

crush crushed?
It seemed as if Clara's crush withered the next day--- the boy pleaded with her to publicly refer to him as "the worst kid in the world." Clara seemed fine, and was still atwitter with excitement as she recounted this turn of events.

Today I glanced out the front window and saw "the worst kid in the world" chasing an errant baseball across our yard. Then again ... Mallary drove up about this time and asked him if we should tell Clara he was outside. Shrugging, he replied, "Sure." Clara got ready in record time and ran outside with a baseball glove.
posted by Tom 4:50 PM


{Wednesday, December 11, 2002}

Sundance Winter Festival
Tonight was Ellie's Winter Festival at Sundance ... the holiday-neutral, energy-enhanced show that was postponed a week ago due to snow. Ellie's class performed Tikki Tikki Tembo, as had Clara's class a few years ago. Ellie had seemed a bit tired throughout the day, but she perked up by our ritual pre-theatre dinner at IHOP. She was buzzing by the time she got to Sundance to get her costume on.

The show went flawlessly. Ellie's class is a year older than Clara's class when they performed this play (Sundance cycles its shows every four years), and the 4/5 yr old version was more involved. Ellie played the part of a ball dancer --- that's someone who dances with a ball, not at a ball. And before and after the class plays, the songs we had practiced in the car for weeks were delivered at full volume.

Sergio and Gabby came to the show, which of course thrilled Ellie. Clara presented Ellie with flowers afterwards, and Ellie happily shared the flowers with her teachers and friends. When she was down to one stem, she handed out petals. So in a vase in the dining room, we have 3/4 of a flower to remind us of her show.
posted by Tom 9:08 PM


{Tuesday, December 10, 2002}

first love
Words fail me as I try to describe Clara's dinner-table recounting of her mutual crush with a boy in her class. She was so joyful, apparently both with the fact of the crush, and their plans to keep it secret. Will it last the week?
posted by Tom 10:48 PM
micro-recital
Clara's piano class through the rec department ended tonight, and the parents were invited in for a five-minute recital. Clara played Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star to great acclaim (the applause of three parents and the teacher). The teacher mentioned one benefit of group lessons was confidence-building. She singled out Clara: "she doesn't need any more confidence, but she inspires confidence in the other kids." Not sure what to make of that!
posted by Tom 10:26 PM


{Monday, December 09, 2002}

Little Mermaid party
Gabby was sick today, so I took Ellie to a birthday party at the house of one of her friends, Kayla. It was a Little Mermaid theme party, and the theme was extensively carried through. Ariel made a guest appearance, singing songs, doing magic, and leading them in the limbo. Ellie has gotten to be really good friends with Kayla at school, and did her very best to make sure she was right behind Kayla in every line and next to her at the table. All the girls at the party got a Little Mermaid storybook with a workbook section... and after the cake several of them sat down with their workbooks and new mermaid pens and went to work!

I was the only male for miles around.
posted by Tom 10:23 PM


{Sunday, December 08, 2002}

Mini-reunion
We made a dash back to Potomac this weekend, this time to see some of my dearest friends: the Whiteakers, the Settlages, and Scott Turley. Turls was in DC for a meeting, and we all gathered at Pammy's Saturday night for dinner, Kevin's drinks, and many laughs.

We first went to the Whits on Saturday afternoon. Scott was there, and we all spent some time sledding down the hill in the back yard. Clara and Ellie both tried little skis for the first time, and really dug it. All the kids got along remarkably well at Pam's house, despite the spread in age --- and the 9:00 dinner bell!

Carol --- we really missed you.

Obligatory I-95 note: easy travel both ways this time.
posted by Tom 10:17 PM


{Thursday, December 05, 2002}

Snow!
Finally --- we have at least six inches of snow (more than all of last winter) --- and it's still falling! Ellie's school was cancelled, and Clara's had an early closing. The downside is that tonight was to be Ellie's show at school, so we hope it will be rescheduled.
posted by Tom 4:56 PM


{Sunday, December 01, 2002}

This Old Piano
While browsing the Steinway website, I noticed a way to look up the dates of manufacture of pianos using the serial number. A quick lookup confirmed our piano was built in 1893, the date I thought I remembered a tuner telling me.
posted by Tom 10:03 AM
Heading Home
Mentioning Wednesday's record travel time had the expected jinx effect. It took us a bit over 6 1/2 hours to get back. Suggestion to Delaware: how about if we all pay you now the net present value of all the tolls we expect to pay in our lifetimes, and you TAKE DOWN THE DAMNED TOLLBOOTHS. At least we had an August House tape we hadn't listened to before: Donald Davis's Listening for the Crack of Dawn. We all loved the title story.

Ellie woke up around 9:30, and Clara is still asleep. Ellie wants to call cousin Nina, to whom she became very attached this weekend. Today we have only a few things to do, notably unpack and make latkes. It should be a nice recovery day.
posted by Tom 9:54 AM

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