Journal of a Sabbatical

August 30, 1999

simplicity 2959

Today's Starting Pitcher: Pedro Martinez

Today's Reading: Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Cleary, and from the Fairy Tale Omnibus: Snow White and Rose Red, The Wild Swans, The Emperor's New Clothes

The kids claim they missed me, and they must have because they had to bring me up to date on everything I missed and they demanded I read all their favorites from the Fairy Tale Omnibus. (And not read The Red Shoes.)

So one of the things I missed was the end of the session exhibit of the stuff they made at Art Works camp. Apparently one of the projects this year was to make a life-sized double. They showed me pictures of them with their doubles. Andrea has already dismantled hers because she wanted to wear the sweatshirt it was wearing, but the Lizzy double was still hanging around the house, popping up where you least expect it.

We took a walk - roughly 2.5 miles - around a new housing development that's going in just down the street. As we were walking along the main road toward the development, a cop pulled over and asked if we'd broken down somewhere or were just walking for exercise. I guess not a lot of people walk around there.

It was a fun walk though. We tried walking backward, and walking as slow as a snail, and other techniques. We were treated to the sight of a Bobcat spinning in the middle of the road. I hadn't realized those things had such a tight turning radius. We also watched the Bobcat driver reattach the shovel to the front of it - quite a production. Besides meeting a family that's moving into one of the nearly completed houses, the highlight was startling a flock of mourning doves up out of the grass. They burst forth like fireworks when we passed by.

All this walking required reading, right? Gotta have the right balance. Andrea had just started Ralph S. Mouse, a chapter book, and asked me to read chapter 2 aloud. The more then more then more until Ralph's story was all told. My voice was starting to get a little hoarse.

Lizzy was half listening to Ralph S. Mouse and half rummaging around is some bags in the guest room. Near the end of Ralph S. Mouse, Lizzy interrupted me to ask how to work the iron. The iron? What are you trying to iron? On the floor in her room she had carefully laid out the pieces to a couple of doll quilts that had already been cut out. The material was a little wrinkled and she wanted to iron it. That's what she'd found in the bags in the guest room - a project Kathleen had been working on.

Where's there's one project there might be more, so Andrea had to have a look in the bags too. Sure enough there was a Simplicity pattern for a clown doll, along with a partially completed clown and some pieces that had already been cut out. She and I sat on the floor in her bedroom sorting through the pattern pieces and matching them up to what had or hadn't been done yet. Andrea was excited to have, as she put it "a project that Mama started and I can finish it!"