Adieu to Summer, Take I

We have a few events planned between now and Labor Day to help us bid farewell to another summer in Syracuse. This morning Clara and I went with friends to Jamesville Beach for a dip. I thought the water was still somewhat chilly for this late in the summer, but Clara loved it. What a lovely way to spend a hot August day!

Job News

Last Friday night I was sitting on the couch, crocheting, in my nightgown, when I received an unexpected phone call from the English Department Chair at Onondaga Community College, who phoned to offer me a job teaching a section of Freshman Composition this fall. (I applied to teach about six weeks ago, and figured that since I hadn't heard back nothing was going to happen. Apparently I just needed to be patient!) I went in today to get officially hired, and she actually offered me two sections of English 103. And the best part is, as an adjunct I'm not even required to hold office hours! What a boon! (When I taught at Montana State, I sat at my little desk for hours and over two semesters had maybe three students visit.)

I'll be teaching Tuesdays and Thursdays in the mornings, will probably be gone for about three and a half hours, and Jeremy has arranged his schedule so he can be with Clara. It's a win-win-win situation for us, and I feel truly blessed. We'll see how I feel when I get my first batch of papers to grade...

Ithaca

We heeded the call of our inner rovers to get out of Syracuse and spent a fun day in Ithaca, land of the burned-out hippies. It was a great trip (if you know what I mean). This was actually our first day trip in quite a while, and we couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. The weather was ideal with temperatures in the high 60s (yes--in August!). Clara was quite taken with everything she saw, and the change of scenery and crowds of new faces ensured that she was pleasant and lovely the whole time we were gone.

Here are Clara and Jeremy in our attempt for a cute father-daughter portrait near the Ithaca Commons. Clara did not want to look at the camera!














Snacktime is always an adventure with CB. Here she is at Cornell University digging for Oaties, as we call them.



Clara and Jeremy in front of the Cornell bell tower.


On the bridge over one of Ithaca's famed gorges ("Ithaca is gorges," after all).



Climbing back up to the road with Daddy. Clara is so excited, as you can tell by the blurry smudges that are her rapidly moving hands.


The fam.


Overlooking an offshoot of Cayuga Lake. A perfect end to an ideal day.

Autumn in August

Those of you who know me well know how much I love the fall. I take after my mom in this way (Jeremy likes to tease us for our love of "The Harvest"). While August 16 is perhaps a bit early still to think about autumn, Clara and I nevertheless decided to hitch our hopes to the nearest wagon and drive out to apple country to see what we could see. We were not disappointed! Although the trees are as lush and green as ever, the apples are starting to ripen! We picked up our first peck of the season: five pounds of Paula Reds, fresh from the trees behind the farm stand. Oh, how I love the taste of a freshly picked apple. If I could wax poetic, I would. Speaking of wax, did you know there is NO WAX on a freshly picked apple? Just dirt and deliciousness--just how God intended.

I should stop before I get carried away.

As if the day wasn't magical enough with the apples, my second surprise of the day was when Jeremy came home with a pristine copy of Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking, which I have long wanted to read and which was waiting, full of kismet, next to the recycling bins near our apartment. This day was meant for me! Has there ever been a happier girl?

Still Hungry?

This picture kind of makes me lose my appetite, but Clara certainly seems to be enjoying herself. We'll call this an ill-fated attempt at self-feeding-turned-finger-painting. She has an artistic soul.

Who Needs Baby Einstein?

Everytime I think I should be providing Clara with more deliberate mothering to better enrich her developing mind, I just stop for a moment to recognize that she manages pretty well for herself. As you can see from the following pictures, she is practically a prodigy. Especially if intelligence is gained through putting everything into one's mouth, which I think it must be.

Balancing Act

A Rainy Hill Cumorah

Jeremy and Clara and I went to the Hill Cumorah Pageant last Tuesday evening, where we met up with my aunt, uncle, and two cousins who were touring with the Utah Valley Children's Choir. The weather held long enough for the choir to sing a few songs, for us to visit and walk around for about 3 hours for the pageant started (we were very early!), and for us to see about half of the pageant. Unfortunately, after that Clara was a bit fussy and we were a bit tired of crouching under our umbrella in the ever-increasing rain! We're glad we went though; it was fun to see family, and the pageant is always a fun time. Hopefully we'll have better weather next summer (although I think we picked one of only two nights where the rain fell steadily--oh well).

Free-ninety-nine

Imagine our surprise--and elation--when we were driving home from having dinner with friends and found this beautiful TV cabinet sitting on the side of the road, lonely, waiting just for us. Syracuse definitely embraces the culture of putting unwanted items (usually junk) on the side of the road rather than being bothered with a drive to the Salvation Army. All the better for scavengers like us, apparently! We somehow managed to get about 1/3 of the armoire into our hatchback (I wish we'd taken a picture of that!) and also somehow managed to get home--slowly--with no incident. And now look at it! I have had to fight off the urge to troll the streets of Syracuse hoping for my next big find--like a mint condition leather armchair, for example.

And we're back...

I don't know why, exactly, but when Jeremy and I decide to take a vacation, we remove all connotations of "relaxation" from the word. For example, our most recent vacation, which lasted for 10 lovely days, took us through seven states (New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Delaware) and over more than 2000 miles. And all of this was with Clara in tow! When we got home last Sunday evening we were totally exhausted (and poor Clara had no idea where she was), but we had a wonderful time and would certainly do it again! (Though probably not right away.)

Over the course of our 10-day trek, we saw Jeremy's dad, all of my immediate family, and our fab friends Steph and Steve and their cute boys (they are the beeeest!). I wish we could've stayed longer in every place we visited, but we're so grateful to have been able to pack everything in. No one will be surprised when I say that, overall, Clara was a complete angel. We just love our darling girl!

Jeremy's dad put us up in this great bed and breakfast, where an uber-friendly couple have converted old tobacco barns into little cabins. The highlights of the stay were three-fold: 1)eating our weight in meat at 9:30 p.m., courtesy of Short Sugar's Pit BBQ of Danville, Virginia; 2)our little friend the field mouse that joined us for some post-dinner conversation before finding its way back outside to bay with the coyotes; 3)breakfast, which was immense, delicious, and delivered to us in a wooden basket by our friendly proprietor.



We spent about 20 minutes in Savannah on the way to visit my sister, and we can't wait for an opportunity to go back. Easily one of the most unique and amazing places we've ever seen.


The main event of the week (also known as the reason for the seven-state Tour of Glory) was a family reunion with my family in Amelia Island, Florida. We braved wind, rain, and sun to enjoy our three days together. Here's the crew, sans me (behind the camera) and my brother-in-law, who had to work for part of the reunion (how lucky for us that they only live an hour and a half from where we were!).


Jeremy and Clara shared a birthday on July 4th (his 28th, her 8th month). Clara was so, so happy about Daddy's balloon bed!


On our way to Philadelphia, we stayed the night at a run-down little motel in one of the most charming towns I've seen: Edenton, North Carolina--yet another place I wish we could've spent more time in! Clara and I are posing on the shore of the historic Albemarle Sound.


In Philadelphia: Clara's first cut-out photo op. Seriously, if every 10 dollar bill were this cute, I would never spend them!


Finally, at the top of the famous "Rocky" steps outside Philadelphia's museum of art.

A Romp in the Park

Sometimes getting out of Syracuse can feel so, so right, so we decided to take a quick escape to Marcellus (12 glorious miles away!) for a picnic in the park with some friends. The temperature never hit 70, and the sun smiled on everything we did.

Birthday Weekend, Take II

Jeremy has really treated me like a queen this weekend, especially if queens get to eat their weight in super tasty food! This morning I awakened to the delicious scent of an egg-bread-and-sausage breakfast casserole (as if yesterday's waffles with strawberries and cream weren't enough!). For lunch, he treated me to a picnic in the living room complete with sandwiches on artisan bread, our favorite baba ghanouj from Wegman's, and sparkling cider. To top it all off, he made forty-eight mini Funfetti cupcakes! Now I am ready for bed, having enjoyed not only my food but also the kind well-wishes from so many family and friends. Merci!

Incidentally, Jeremy has also, he says, had a nice Father's Day. I, for one, can't imagine a better dad. This picture is of his newly spruced campus office. Happy Father's Day!