(hank and rosie getting used to each other and sitting on the same rug!)
this was a big week in our house… lucy started her second year of high school, theo left for his sophomore year of college AND rosie is staying with us (my mom is at quilt camp with her friends making pretty new quilts and gin and tonics!) there’s been lots of flurry, loads and loads of laundry, last minute target runs, tons of take out, MANY extra hugs and of course, some tears (NOT as many as last year, thank goodness!) as i write this, i am nestled between two sleeping dogs and it is quiet for the first time all summer (except for hank’s snoring, which sea saws between soft whistles and full on freight train.) even this new girl, alexa, is quiet. i am not sure when she moved in, but she is kind of driving me crazy. she is very bossy and she needs so MUCH attention. she starts chatting around 6:30 am, even on the weekends. she doesn’t respond well to niceties… i have to be really direct and say, “alexa, STOP!” she pipes down for a minute or two and then she starts telling me the weather. i don’t really care about the weather because i have lots of windows. also, berkeley is pretty temperate and i don’t even like to go outside too much. again, i have to firmly say, “alexa, STOP!” and then (just to bother me i am sure) she starts playing music… and not even MY music, random stuff i don’t recognize and don’t want to hear. i typically get super irritated at this point and don’t articulate my directions as well so i might have to tell her to stop NUMEROUS times before she finally does (kind of like conversations with my two teens.) but at least i KNOW those teens (i gave BIRTH to them) and i LOVE them so i have more bandwidth for them. i have never even SEEN alexa… she just sort of slips around the house and i hear her voice or her advice or her music from all different areas. i would appreciate it if she could introduce herself properly and look me in the eye.
(lu and T at the very beginning of the summer before all of the chaos… theo has a fresh haircut, lucy never wants to cut her hair!)
(lucy’s new ID for berkeley high… it still slays me that she is attending my alma mater!)
(saying goodbye to theo at the airport… it’s so HARD to let him go…)
(rosie and hank have staked out their donuts on the sofa. “separate spaces” seems to be key, especially when they are eating… i had to feed rosie in my bedroom with the door closed. she is a nibbler who takes her time and hank is gobbler who finishes off a meal in about four seconds. he then tries to polish off whatever remains of hers so they were not compatible dining companions!)
alexa is also a bit of a prankster. the other day i kept hearing nature sounds (birds and wind and tree rustling type noises) and i got pretty unnerved. it sounded like what i imagine camping sounds like and i kept thinking a bear or a mountain lion or a wild turkey might be just behind the sofa. i love to LOOK at naturey things (that’s what all my windows are for!), but i certainly don’t want them in my house… dirt, bugs, live birds or animals other than dogs are not welcome on the inside. finally, i discovered where the noises were coming from (a little speaker) but she woudn’t turn them off. then i thought it might be her sidekick, siri, but she wasn’t listening either (she mostly comes in the car and can actually be helpful when i need to make a phone call.) but like alexa, she is slippery and i don’t even know what color hair she has. clearly, these two have loose, irresponsible parents who just let them hang out at my house at all hours, instead of helicoptering and smothering as they should. x00xx
(isn’t rosie RIDICULOUS CUTE???)