Standing In The Shadows
Bowls, Babies and Turnips
The thing I like about our mismatched ceramic bowl collection is not only the aesthetics of those different colors and styles and even textures, but also the fact that when anyone requests yogurt or granola or sorbet or cereal or pudding or soup or fruit or what have...Fifteen
15 Things I adore about my 15 year-old:1. What he loves, he really, really loves a lot.2. He reads the newspaper.3. He is funny and mostly sweet with his younger sister.4. He is absolutely sweet to small children.5. He understands math the way I don’t think math...Tuesday Starts
It’s hardly profound but I’m pretty sure many parents—maybe all parents at one time or another—would agree with this statement: three-day weekends can feel much longer than three days. I do not mean that entirely kindly. There was, let it be...Hello
My blog has been a little sluggish of late. But Saskia made this face, ordered I take a photo and added, “For the blog.” Duly noted.Only in Northampton?
I’ve never had allergies (I mean, the seasonal pollen-air-ragweed variety). I thought I did, but I suspect it’s a cold that is strange and slow and mild and annoying (and nearly over, thankfully). I am a little grumpy. Given the way colds make you feel,...Peonies in the Rain
The fuchsia peonies up the street are the Susan Sarandon of flowers: siren hot and unapologetically sexy as they show signs of age, like so many petals strewn beneath them revealing no care for what they’ve lost. It’s raining and I can’t get an...The Delicacy and Strength of Children–and Sometimes Their Parents
Father’s Day isn’t a big deal at my house and was especially not a big deal this year (the usual breakfast in bed didn’t happen—another time, though). But I did think about how lucky I am to have a father to be the mom with who is so engaged...Summer Wish List 2013
Now that it’s officially summer, I think I’d better get my fourth annual Standing in the Shadows summer wish list going (here’s the third). However dreamy these ideas sound, be assured I won’t actually get to some impressive chunk of them....Raised Fist in Texas and A Couple More
I’ll be honest with you that summer hasn’t started off with a ringing endorsement for itself. My town seems to have moved into a cloud. We’re all drippy and even a little moldy. And we’re cranky. Sure this is a valley, but it’s New...Hot Sticky
Two words that can be nice are hot and sticky. When you place those words at end of June and beginning of July they are likely not all that nice. They haven’t been all that nice. Like specific holidays, summer’s the season of vacation—without the...More than the Weather (on Tuesday)
In other news, it is hot. Ezekiel and Saskia chillaxing in front of Kate’s fan (thanks, Kate) The weather is sometimes so boring. This weather—relentless heat, nearly as relentless humidity that finally lessened yesterday—it’s not interesting,...Singing and Sweating
There are a few burning questions to my summer. One of them is this: How did I get so overcommitted as a volunteer? It’s akin to potato chip consumption in that a few are fine, the open bag in the pantry, though, that becomes dangerous. I give an assist here,...Portraits or Snapshots
Sunday, this one went off. He left for camp this year with a smile (although the actual smiling photo was rather blurry), and a full head of hair. The second guy begins his last summer as a DASAC camper today. This will mark the end of a long run at DASAC, possibly to...Preschool is Over
Last licks on the most awesome learn to monkey bar monkey bars ever Oh crazybusy week you close with rain. Tomorrow, I go to pick up Remy at his overnight camp. (Yay, go ahead, you can be happy right alongside me). By all accounts, which is to say three...Learning to be a Bad Parent Takes Time
Camp is a second home On a rainy Tuesday, here’s the news: the boy is back from camp. He had a marvelous time. It’s delightful to have him back, but honestly, I was so sure he’d be in camp heaven it was easy to have him away. In fact, even though...5-0
As tempting as it would be to make another list as I did last year on my birthday, I just read it again and I couldn’t possibly come up with much more to tell. It stands as a pretty good piece of who-Sarah-is documentation. I did not change all that much this...City Mouse, Little City Mouse
Fine people, I have gone and done it. Not only am I that five-oh number, I celebrated. No huge toasts or roasts, just a few quiet words from friends at the end of yoga and an outpouring—cards, electronic messages, and real-time hugs and shout outs. My friend...This Week, By the Numbers
By the numbers, we subtracted one teen on Sunday (he returns today; he visited his grandparents). We lost four wisdom teeth on Monday (the eldest teen, to be specific). We gained, in visitors, numerous teens each of these recuperation days. We added to our feats for...Bow to Summer
Three random things on a Wednesday that has me rushing: I mostly think I’m on Facebook for the access to adorable photos of everyone’s babies. This week, I had to expand my thinking. I believe I ‘liked’ every single first day of school photo I...PIE Contest Day and More (It's Tuesday)
These are not my children (I think you knew that). Both are neighbors. I took the photos a couple of weeks ago at our Not Labor Day Not Block Party, an annual event that in some form predates our moving into our house sixteen years ago. I think we attended the second...Sweet as Pie
If I needed two words (okay, two brief phrases) to describe my week, I’d choose—“upside down” and “sweet as pie.” Obviously, pie can be sweet or savory or even sweet pies can be different levels of sweet, so, I fold nuance into my...Nashville Week
There are real, important things to discuss. World affairs, politics, even local goings on, of which there are many—this week. Add in the little things that happened and some charming photos and I could be writing about and thinking about practically anything....Twenty Years
It is completely safe to say that twenty years ago (today) we had no idea (none, whatsoever) of what we were getting ourselves into. Four children, two moves—London and back, from one house to another, crossing the big divide of our main drag Elm...Idleness
Three disparate things on a Wednesday vie for space in my overcrowded and overtired mind: I don’t love to be cold. Mornings have begun to feel cold. I wish I could slow things down in a way you’re not allowed to do. My fantasy yesterday went like this:...All You Need is Bubbles
Super duper tired. Me. While I could use some sleep, the tired I’m feeling isn’t really the sleepy kind. I’m just tired. I could use a change of scenery. I could use a break from responsibility. I would do very well to say no to five things in a row,...The Art of the Muddle
Last week, I missed loads of things that matter, because I was busy with other things that matter (mostly, I’d describe last week as busy with an other thing that mattered: triage of the one parent with four kids while the dear husband and co-parent was out of...What Do Feminist Kindergartners Write (Legibly)?
How do girls differ from boys? Three words, folks. Set her designs on a first grader, whom she told her babysitter is the “best thing about kindergarten.”This Gratitude Business
I’ve written about how other years I’ve found the thirty days of gratitude challenges somewhat amusing, because I have long “gotten” the concept that gratitude improves your life. It’s a tool: to see the half-full glass more clearly and...Parenting and The Teenage Brain
Here’s what I probably think I should do when it comes to parenting teenagers (now that I have two of them, plus one eleven year-old): Talk less Listen more Shrug often Put another way, as much as there are parallels between toddlers and teenagers (“I do...Snowy Morning
Snow on the ground—really? Really. Also, they are blowing snow at Berkshire East Overwhelmed a bit this morning by the notion of excess and family and social whirlwinds and work deadlines buried in the mix and the general much too muchness that can characterize...Thankful For…
Words Silences Gentle sunrises Intense sunsets Those days the air brushes cheeks just rightly The climb from Prospect Street up Round Hill Road The sky Feet Floor Legs Teenagers’ hugs Eleven year-old boy’s hugs Kindergartner’s leaps into arms with...Walk the Line
The words that really apply this week are “flurry,” “fluster,” and “flummoxed.” As in, I’ve fallen behind—a flurry of emails and to-do’s and such. Meantime, this has me flustered. Add to that the notion that...The Family Question, The Holidays
Family’s such a loaded word. What is it, what does it mean, do you have one, did yours do right by you, do you do right by yours? Add, holidays. Here we are. In preparation, we ran a 5K in support of Safe Passage, along with 5,500 others. There’s something...Stuff for Three Plus Santa
The spirit of Valley Gives last week blew me away. Our Valley gave over two million dollars in twenty-four hours. That merits something. Applause? Cheers? Awe? Check, check, and check—and then some. The spirit not so much of Christmas proper although it’s...Holiday Mayhem, Links Galore and All That
When I tried to find a photo of Christmas that kind of said “Christmas” for a post for Brain, Mother about holidays and my overwhelm, I discovered that most of my photographs aren’t exactly Christmas-y. Sharing a couple here along with the link to...The Laundry Did It
Doesn’t this look worse than it was? Ghostly. Poor lighting. In the annals of what happened to you since January first, I really only have to say one word: “Laundry.” Yes, I did baskets and baskets of the stuff. On the second snow day that followed...What Does a Feminist (Selfie) Look Like?
I’ve written about matters of toddler fashion on my little blog. What, I have wondered aloud, do feminist toddlers (and preschoolers and now maybe kindergartners) wear? Next question: what happens when feminists turn the camera lens on themselves? Veronica...Self-Love and Laundry
The thing I notice now that I’m ambulatory after the great ankle twist of Snow Day Number One-Too-Many is how afraid I feel of another ankle twist right now. I’m cautious on the ice. I feel… wary, worried. Old, I feel old—or at least a bit...Pete
For Pete’s sake let’s take today to rise up singing. This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.” – inscription on Pete Seeger’s banjo.Love Lesson
The whole Valley Advocate Best Of didn’t entirely register for me. The deadline is tomorrow. I did not push my blog once. Oh, well, oh, dear, oh no, oy vey. But anyway, here I am with the official request that if you like this blog, please vote for it. You do...Change of Scene
Last week, I posted a photo of a snowman to Only in Northampton’s Facebook page. This week, I saw a sandsnowman. And that’s really all there is to say. Up on Brain, Child’s Brain Mother blog my essay about a surprise that happened to me on...Two Books
We are back, as of midnight. I do not want to wear a coat (hashtag, First World Problems). We should see snow later, so I will wear a coat. Grumpy about the return, I won’t say much more on that subject. Of my three to share, two fall under the category of...Friends and the Power of Bowling
A truism of my winter: we have hosted teens at our house, plural—early, late, all day, all night, and often. I wrote about this—and other friends, for Brain, Child’s blog. A truism about the teens: they use all the glasses and nearly all of the mugs....About. Time.
Just last night I stumbled upon a Pie Chart about bath-time via Honest Toddler. There are things about the very small kid days I do not miss, like certain struggles during tubby time. The cute little wriggly soft bodies, sure, I miss those in some theoretical way....Virtual Water Coolers in the Real World
Essentially, that bin is my office. The two best ways I’ve found to have an office water cooler (of sorts) are these: one, ensure others work in or near your house and two, plug into social media. I have positive experience with both. Our first year in this...Spring and Friday
This week somehow tumbled by fast with the second half of it given over to the New York Antiquarian Book Fair (I’m not there; my dear, bookselling husband is). In service to Cumberland Rare Books, I stepped up the shuttle and parenting duties and I don’t...Old Challenges Met Anew
In its way, it’s been a quiet week for me. I’ve thought a lot about those stuck spots—the ones that make me uncomfortable (think, neck, jaw, shoulder and think, pick up towel, herd kids out door in the morning). I’ve been counseled to rethink...The Thing With Feathers
I love that Emily Dickinson line: “Hope is the thing with feathers,” although I must confess mostly I love it because long ago our baby Remy got a feather lodged into his cheek and by the time the thing came out the other side ten days later, it was the...The Both and Everything
It’s been a quiet, rather turned in, not so easy spring and the cool days, which put the winter jacket right back on me, feel as fitting as they do too freezing. That’s because one, I feel the need to be bundled up and two, the preservation of this...Start Small
(This is just two of the three small boys with my small girl) Sometimes, the smallest things make a day—or night—much better. I felt as if my quality of life rose when I bought a white noise machine. The idea came from my frantic-for-every-second-of-sleep...I Hopped on a (Blog) Train
Last Monday, Karen Rile, editor of Cleaver Magazine, posted about a blog train, which she—and Cleaver editors—hopped on. She invited me to hitch a ride. The rules of the blog train are simple: on Monday, last week’s riders introduce three new...Books About Us (Writ Small, Writ Big)
If you wanted a one-sentence description of Brian Leaf’s book Misadventures of a Parenting Yogi you might go with something along the lines of: “Once Brian Leaf thought he had to find inner peace through yoga and silence, but then he had kids and...When a Community Grieves
The very stunning and sad news that Chris Cavallari passed away quite suddenly last week left our community reeling. She was a third generation owner of Serio’s Market, which she ran with her husband, Gary Golec. People just showed up Monday and probably all...Summer Wish List (Fifth Annual)
The summer days—and the light—seem to have hit us all, collectively, in New England by surprise. Winter was hard, and spring wily. I do believe that during this week before the solstice, though, we have pretty much arrived (those final snow day makeup days...Summer Begins, Wishes Come True
My blog will not be an update week-by-week about the Summer Wish List, promise. However, this week I got to squeeze the nephews (road trip with daughter to Jamaica Plain). I watched The Kids Are All Right (predictably, I loved it). We’ve hung out at Tuesday...Big Oh-One
There are oh so many things in the world (and just my little life) to preoccupy and worry me. You read the news. You know. You have your little life. You know. But today, Only in Northampton, the Facebook page I began on a whim—maybe even a dare—turns one....Moving Furniture
I wrote about some of the seemingly most mundane things that can happily occupy a summer (or other time of year) for Brain Child’s blog. And then, there was a shelf that needed to be moved to our friends’ house just across the way. I handed the task to my...To Greet August
This week, as I walked down the promenade (Elm Street), I saw a woman trip and fall. She was running. A friend had found me walking so the two of us rushed to this woman, calmed her down, called the paramedics, called a friend of hers, and generally felt helpless...Big and Small
I’ve learned the acronym that essentially spells privacy at doctors’ offices is HIPAA. A new ruling extends it to the walls of baby photos on the walls at the OB or midwives’ office (or pediatrician, or orthodontist). We’re gonna miss the...E-Edition
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