Cheese Face

You'd think that I would wipe her face before recording these precious moments...

Frosted Flakes

Tillie had a cupcake at her friend Oliver's 2nd birthday party earlier this month. Or, at least I thought she did. I found the cake part uneaten on the floor later--she had simply eaten the 1.5 inches of frosting. When I say "eaten" I use that term loosely. Really she just mashed if all over her face, shirt, and hands. See Figure 1 below. Zoom out (Figure 2) and you'll see that Oliver managed to get chocolate frosting all over his feet. When is cake not sweet enough for you? When you are two!

Figure 1

Figure 2

New York Adventures

I just got back from a refreshing vacation (solo!) in New York. I took an informal tour of all the chocolate boutiques of Manhattan with the lovely Kharissia. Plus, since my travel adventures must include all things gustatory, you can guess that I also ate many delicious pastries, pastas, salads, risottos, sushis, pizzas, and Chinese soups. I also enjoyed finding great discounts on all the sale racks in Soho.

An exotic highlight of the trip included helping my friend Amy prepare for a ready-to-wear fashion show as part of the New York fashion season in Bryant Park. Not only did I pick up some very useful sewing tips (this season's line included some fabulous jackets, six of which I pinned and pressed into submission), but I got to rub elbows (quite literally because the room was too small) with some fashionista fancy-pantses.

The three days of mad sewing was an adventure in itself, but the actual runway show was an incredible thrill--lasted only about 15 minutes, but what an exciting 15 minutes! Imagine tall, elfin models teetering on stick-like legs with bored expressions, hair frizzed to there, and glowing eye makeup. All around them buzzed the team of black-clad makeup artists, hair stylists, concept designers, producers, dressers, seamstresses, and shoe-putter-oners (my job). While lacing up the $2500 Manolo Blahnik boots (a task that took 20 minutes each), I had take furtive breaths at strategic moments in order to avoid inhaling a cloud of hairspray or bronzing powder. My proudest moment involved the last-minute stitching of a zipper so that it wouldn't spring open and reveal the model's bony butt as she pranced down the catwalk. I even got to yell "Dust!" so that the make-up artist would quickly smudge the pale stitching with brown powder so it wouldn't stand out on the dark skirt. Days of little sleep and backbreaking labor payed off, as I earned a mention in the show's program--please refer to me as Accessory Coordinator from now on.

PS. I do not understand how you can fit the normal allotment of human guts into the narrow body of a runway model--it's a biophysical paradox that I suspect involves some sort of hidden mini-dimension.

Chocolate F(r)iends

Molly Takes Manhattan

Runaway Runway

Cow Girl

I used to get on these same stone cows when I was a kid. Delighting little wranglers for 25+ years and counting...very impressive!

Lunch Lady

A trip to the zoo included feeding the goats. Tillie now wants to hand feed everything and everyone--dogs, cats, neighbor kids...

Frank Talk About Pluto

If you have not been following the Pluto controversy, I highly recommend reading up. No, knowing about it will not affect any part of your day, year, or life. No, ignoring it will not put anyone's lives (or livelihoods even) in danger. However, it is one of those purely intellectual quandaries that make us delightfully human and I don't want you to miss out on it.

The debate also brings to light what science is about and how it can and should affect society and education--but it does so without threatening anyone's religious beliefs, health, or budget. (A la evolution, stem cells, and global warming...) It is a lovely, accessible thought experiment. And, everyone from all walks of life seems to have a strong opinion about it. I am dying to know what Tillie and her generation will have decided in 30 years.

I just read something (old news, well, not even news really) that blew my mind. "Pluto last crossed Neptune's orbit on Jan. 23, 1979, and remained within it until Feb. 11, 1999." (from NASA's website) I had heard this, that Pluto spends 20 years as the 8th planet rather than the 9th planet from the Sun every 250 years--no biggie. However, I didn't realize that this was occurring NOW! (That was "then" of course.) It was happening while I was learning about Pluto!! Pretty much from the time I could understand what a planet was and that there were 9 of them and that they were in a certain order--until the time that I was beginning my career as a textbook editor--Pluto wasn't even where it was I thought it was in the solar system. Nobody mentioned this to me!!!

Why is this little factoid important? Well, if you feel that Pluto's status as a planet hinges on tradition--then perhaps you should consider that Pluto itself completely disregards tradition. He (or is it a girl?) says, "Please excuse my dear Aunt Sally, but my very educated mother just served us pine nuts and NOT nine pickles, at least while I'm on my tropical sesquibicentennial vacation in the sunny part of Neptune's orbit, hah, hah, hah!" What a little imp!

Meanwhile, Tillie shops for a revised poster of the solar system...

Road Trip

I took a quick solo road trip yesterday. I love to drive for a few hours by myself. I used to hate it, but that was when I had more time in my life, more time for thinking and not doing anything. I can't just lay and stare anymore. No time. I could be working, reading, cleaning, child-minding, home-repairing, laundry-folding, show-watching, crafting, catching up on sleep, etc. If possible, I should be doing two of these things at once, which means no thinking. The great thing about driving is that you can't do anything else at the same time. You are not tempted to multitask. You can only think. Just in time, too--the old mind files needed a good dusting.