we just had our first blizzard in boulder… in typical colorado fashion we went straight from summer to winter, with only an afternoon of fall. i never get used to the roller coaster weather here. i am never prepared with the right size snow boots for the kids or snow pants that fit properly or matching pairs of mittens. at best, i get a whiff of the cow poo smell (which is a pretty reliable snow predictor - i don’t know why) and i have a few hours to get ready. at worst, i wake up and the yard is all white and i have to scurry around and see how i can outfit the kids in some collection of warm clothes before school starts. we are usually late on this first snow day… i just always expect there will be that third season before the snow comes and even after seven years here, i haven’t learned to check the weather.
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corona neighbors
when i was growing up we did not have the friendliest neighbors. the grumpy lady on the left would complain about the noise when we rode our big wheels past her house, the grouchy lady across the street would yell at us just for being outside and the old man next door was very kind, but SO old and frail that he was just a periodic face in the window. after i left for college, i didn’t live in a proper house again for over twenty years… i was always in apartments.
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corona first day of school
in family
(lucy‘s first day of school four years ago)
today is the first day of “school.” of course it is unlike any previous first day. usually we all walk over to the elementary school and the teachers are out on the lawn with big signs so the kids know where to line up. i stand near my kids and take pictures of them and with them and with their new teachers. when they start marching toward the doors i follow (a reasonable distance behind) waving and blowing kisses and crying… i ALWAYS cry. except this year because they didn’t go anywhere. well…lucy went into the playroom where her desk is all set up and theo went to his bedroom. he has a desk in there, but prefers to sit on his bed with his big, navy study pillow. i DID suggest that it might be more productive for him to sit at his desk, but i couldn’t in good conscience enforce it as i like to do everything in my bed (except eat because that is too messy.) i always studied in bed and i still frequently work in bed because i like to be comfortable.
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furnishing children's rooms
when designing the baby room for my first child, we repurposed a pair of walnut bludot dressers we had used for years in our own bedroom as well as a vintage steel nurse’s desk from an office we no longer needed. we flushed the room out with a simple, white crib and changing table from ikea and hung bright, happy artwork on the walls. as my son got older, we replaced the crib for a toddler bed and later a “grown up” bed, updated the posters and art on the walls to reflect his changing interests (he shifted from a love of animals to james bond and skateboarding.) to this day the dressers and desk have remained in his room - he is now fourteen.
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on the road again... corona road trip part 2
because the scenery on our road trip from colorado to california was so uninspiring, we decided to take a different route back in hopes of seeing lots of ocean and even those elusive, giant red rocks. we left our darling cottage at the crack of dawn and hopped on highway 1, the road that follows the coastline, to take us to los angeles. my kids had been questioning why we were traveling a way that would add hours to our journey, but as soon as we hit half moon bay, they understood. it was a LONG day (we were in the car for ELEVEN hours) but my heart was swelling as we traced the coast and viewed the pacific in all of its iterations: rocky cliffs, pebbled beaches, sandy dunes… we detoured in pebble beach and took the 17 mile drive - breathtaking! my girlfriend grew up there so we had her on the phone narrating our journey as we drove through pebble and carmel. she directed us to the most adorable sweet shop on ocean avenue (it was still too early to go in, but we are determined to return!)
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california corona
somehow against all rational thought i imagined going on holiday in california would also be a break from the corona. of course, the closer we got to the golden state, the more the virus was spiking in our destination. we arrived to a berkeley even more bunkered down than boulder, where EVERYONE was wearing masks in public, where most of the restaurants were closed (except for take-out), where many people still had not had a proper haircut (most notably my parents who look like a couple of the founding fathers - my dad favoring thomas jefferson [normally he looks more like jimmy carter] and my mother’s curls reminiscent of john adams’ with the middle bit filled in) and people practicing really conservative social distancing. nevertheless, we were DELIGHTED to arrive.
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UPDATE on flexible corona homes
(american gate-leg dining table from 1695-1720 owned by the bowdoin family [founders of college in maine]; photo: historic deerfield)
my dear friend, cait mcquade, who is a museum professional and has extensively studied american cultural history (and has a TERRIFIC blog on the various ways we experience museums) let me know that i am not the first to endorse flexible home furnishings. according to cait: “U.S. domestic spaces in colonial and early republic homes were also convertible. all furnishings were kept against the walls when rooms weren't in use (maybe so as not to trip over things in the dim lighting?). folding furniture, mostly tables, kept the center space open until it was time to play cards, work on sewing, or serve tea.” super interesting!
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corona road trip
in this time of corona when air travel feels dicey, we decided to road trip to california for our annual summer visit… spoiler: WE MADE IT! that may be an obvious conclusion for most, but given my flimsy navigational abilities, it was no guarantee for us. (our odds WERE probably elevated by the fact that my first husband generously decided to accompany us on the ride out - corona concerns aside, i think he was worried that we would end up in toledo or baton rouge by mistake.)
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corona projects
pre corona my day ended by 2:55 pm for school pick up (actually 2:40ish because i had to get there.) from that point on i was making snacks, helping with homework, schlepping kids (my own and other peoples’) to soccer or hip hop or tennis or trumpet, prepping dinner, and schlepping back to pick said children up from soccer or hip hop or tennis or trumpet, squeezing in trips to the safeway or the UPS or the walgreens and trying to send out work emails or texts in the odd ten minute windows that were available. by the time we got through dinner (and all the nagging and threats around eating “five more bites” or no dessert or no phone or whatever else i could think of, i was exhausted. and i would put us all to bed very early because i had no “cheese” left.
Read Morei love you higher than the sky is high and deeper than the ocean is deep
for as long as i can remember, my father has said this to me… when he was putting me to bed, when he was saying good-bye, or sometimes just because he was passing by. i always imagined a vast, navy blue sky sparkling with stars reaching down to a deep purple ocean filled with colorful, friendly fish. (somehow even after i saw jaws WAY too young, that imagery never penetrated this phrase.) the enormity of all of that love surrounding me and protecting me made feel so safe, like i moved through the world in my own special cocoon. so on the tougher days like when i wasn’t invited to the sleepover or i got a really bad hair cut (fall of 8th grade and again in 10th) or some boy didn’t like me back or we didn’t win the spirit cup senior year like EVERY other class or i didn’t get into the college i wanted (my father actually called some schools and asked for my hand printed applications back) or i didn’t get the job i interviewed for (i am colossally poor in job interviews) or the boyfriend whose eyes are too close together cheated on me (i should have known when my father pointed out his flawed eye configuration) or i forgot to put the parking brake on and my big, two-ton sedan rolled down a hill right into the side of another car whose owner was at the same party i was going to or i got laid off or i couldn’t get pregnant or i had to move from amsterdam to a hot, dusty mountain town or my marriage fell apart or i missed my children so much i remained paralyzed on the sofa binge watching "girlfriend’s guide to divorce” and eating pirate booty until the roof of my mouth was shredded or even last week when i couldn’t remember where i parked after a lunch date and looked for my car (with my date) for FORTY-FIVE minutes in unbelievable heat only to find it right in front of the restaurant (i know - it’s amazing - i did NOT hear from him again!) … on all of those days, and every other, i knew my father loved me. that’s no small thing.
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flexible corona homes
last week my daughter had a piano recital on zoom along with two dozen other students. it was great to see her perform (she did a TIP TOP job), but the best part was getting a look into everyone else’s homes. my favorite was the one with the little sister laying on her belly across the top of the sofa with her feet in the air and her chin in her hands. runner up was the cat in the window seat behind the piano napping.
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poppies
in family, hank, holiday, photography
as if a global pandemic and quarantine and the whole country feeling like the apocalypse isn’t stressful enough, today i made my children pose for the holiday card… (our poppies are in FULL bloom and i couldn’t help myself.) they always look so forward to this photo shoot and were absolutely GRATEFUL that i suggested it (i’m a thoughtful, FUN mama like that.) i DID have to use the full force of my diminishing strength (since i can’t go to my bar method classes) to pull my son off the sofa and detach him from the Xbox and i didn’t even try to get him to change out of his corona comfort clothes (no one really knows how many days he’s been in them) - i just matched lucy’s outfit to his - but i could tell by the warm snarl on his face that he was thrilled. i ALSO had to promise them dunkin’ donuts AND frozen custard from the good times drive thru which is a much richer offer than i usually extend, but i really didn’t want to miss the poppies.
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corona summer
(a road trip to my grandparents’ house circa 1974)
i am not sure what week of corona it is anymore, but here in boulder it is now summer. last week my son virtually “graduated” from middle school with a youtube video sharing their 8th grade yearbook photos and some candids and my daughter’s fourth grade year was capped off with a parade of her teachers on bikes and decorated cars. both of these ceremonies made me teary and stand in shock at what has happened the last couple of months. the transition to online school was so swift and difficult to manage, but now we are all wondering WHAT THE HELL we are going to do with our kids until it starts up again?
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a slice of cheese
now that we are all spending so much time together, we’ve had to negotiate how to share space, energy, attention and generosity of spirit. it’s become more and more clear that we all have different needs at various times throughout the day and they often don’t coincide.
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corona hank
hank has had it with corona. he REFUSES to go on walks now. i can hardly get two blocks with him, let alone all the way to the lake that it took so much effort for me to learn how to find. when i put his leash on he’ll maybe get to the corner and then just lay down all spread out so he’s completely planted. even with his svelte new figure, he is far too heavy for me to carry (i am lazy too!) so i have to stand there and coax him with ice cubes (it’s already blazing here in boulder, even though we had loads of snow just weeks ago.) and this goes on… walking half a block, him laying down, me waiting and begging, walking another half block, him laying down and me waiting and begging and then finally me saying, “all right, do you want to go home?” at which point he pops up and RUNS at a clip all the way there. i know now that he speaks perfect english, as well as his native french. so i have to go on dog walks without my dog… and when i pass people they all ask after him (he is quite well known in our neighborhood) and they are clearly disappointed that it is only me.
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corona week 6
in family
this week i definitely hit a wall with the quarantine. like most people i’ve been cleaning and cooking and cleaning and cooking and feeling like i am running underwater and not getting anywhere. last week i was distracted by passover and easter and lucy’s tenth birthday (she said it was her BEST birthday ever, which has really made me rethink these elaborate, themed parties i threw pre-corona: a dutch one in honor of her birth country with wooden shoes to paint and pannekoken [pancakes] and loads of dutch candy to eat and vases of tulips everywhere; a fairy one where i made glittery tulle fairy skirts and wands and a bazillion tissue paper flowers and decorated every tree in the backyard; a farm one that we had to move to the front driveway because we had a BLIZZARD and the snow didn’t stick to the cement, but it DID to the grass - the pig wouldn’t come out of his pen into the snow so he just stayed put on the drive. they were super fun, but maybe a little over the top… CLEARLY i needed to throw my extra energy into something and probably should have gone back to work sooner. anyway, this year we just had a long, lazy breakfast, zoom calls with family and friends, a neighborhood walk, a long, lazy dinner and finally cupcake baking… so much simpler and she LOVED it… something to ponder.)
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corona "gezellig"
in art, dining room, family, family room, hank, living room, pet, residential interior, sofa
one of my sweetest, most poignant learnings from living in the netherlands for nearly six years is the idea of “gezellig,” the dutch word for coziness. gezellig applies to social concepts like inviting or friendly people, parties, situations and meals, but what i have been really thinking about lately as we all “shelter in place” is how the dutch instilled gezellig in their homes. in a land where it rains at least a portion of most days, our amsterdam neighbors knew how to create welcoming spaces to retreat within and enjoy their families, while the rain drummed outside. corona is pushing us all inside now and we can learn from the comforting, warm interiors of the dutch.
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corona week 4
there are some things i have enjoyed about the quarantine… i like not having to drag my kids out of bed by seven so we can leave for school at eight. they really prefer to sleep in until somewhere between eight thirty and nine and are generally more pleasant when they wake naturally.
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artful bookshelves
in this time of "social distancing" and "shelter at home" when we are meant to remain within the confines of our houses we probably have a bit more time. it is the PERFECT opportunity for interior improvement projects. channel your boredom and extra energy by reorganizing your bookshelves to maximize their visual impact. thoughtfully arranged bookshelves add life, color, warmth and intimacy to a room. bookshelves can provide amazing insight into your loves, interests, travel, collections and favorite authors, personalizing a home and making it unique. following are tips for turning what is often only a functional aspect of a room into something that enhances, informs and brightens the space.
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happy birthday lulu! x0x
for some reason it was not easy for me to get pregnant. we tried all kinds of things (besides the obvious) before finally ending up seeing the amazing dr. cedars of UCSF’s center for reproductive health. dr. cedars guided us through the whole IVF process and we ended up with ten embryos. two of those we used to get theo and we froze the rest. then we moved from san francisco to amsterdam.
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