Love Is Cage Free Eggs

Usually, my husband and I do our grocery shopping together.  It may sound like a waste of time, but it works for us.  He keeps me honest and somewhat frugal, and I remember to buy things I've forgotten to add to the grocery list, like sweet potatoes and juice boxes.  On Sunday, Jamie went shopping alone; we had returned from a weekend away, and Duncan was exhausted, strung out, and asked to stay home.  Sometimes, it's eye opening to see what he brings home when I am not around to influence his purchases. This week's revealing item was cage free eggs; those cage free eggs spelled love.

If you're landing here for the first time, you need to know that I have spent the last several years slowly, steadily, determinedly encouraging my family to reduce their impact on the environment.  We joined a CSA, stopped using paper towels and napkins, and committed to packing waste-free lunches.  I stealthily joined the Meatless Monday movement and stretched my flexitarian lifestyle to include meatless Tuesday. I made it a practice to bake my own bread for our weekly grilled cheese night and started making soup instead of buying it in cans.  We took a hard look at our recycling practices and endeavored to be the best recyclers we could be; we started composting.  We've made a lot of changes, and we know now that we have a lot to go, but we work at it every day.

Working on our food choices has been a long adventure.  Ultimately, I'm trying to feed my family more local food, less processed food, and less but more humane meat.  It is not a perfect world, but we try.  I have been buying most of our meat from the farmers' market or from a local, organic farm; when I can, I buy eggs from the farmers' market or I buy the most local options available in the grocery store.  This weekend, Jamie returned with two dozen cage free eggs.  I know they cost more; I'm sure he doesn't understand why I care about the chickens, and I'm not going to launch into a diatribe about the lives of the typical, "factory" laying chicen.  But the truth is, I DO care about the chickens.  Jamie could have bought any eggs.  We had a rough week; I wasn't going to complain about his egg choices.  He may have to live with my choices, particularly in what we bring home from the grocery store, but I don't believe it's my business to criticize his.  Nevertheless, there they are.  Cage free eggs.  He had heard my concern for the lives of the chickens, the healthfulness of the eggs, and the carbon footprint of our food.

To you, they may just be eggs.  Cage free eggs in biodegradable cartons.  To me, they're love.

No Apologies

There will be no apologies; no excuses.  If I were to decide to explain my absence, list the myriad things that were assigned a higher priority, or in any way attempt to make a justification for my time away, I might never come back.  I want to be back...so let's jump in.

Back to School!

I have a lot of summer left to write about. You know me well enough by now to know that it may or may not happen. I hope it does because there were a lot of lovely things in the second have of the summer. For now, though, I thought I'd give a quick update about Kindergarten. Duncan started a week ago, and things have been going well. Three of his friends from Little Professors are in his Kindergarten class, which helped the transition a lot. Each day I have asked him if he learned any of the other kids' names; each day he says he has not. Today, however, he told be he made a new (nameless) friend, and then I watched them walk into school together, hand-in-hand. He's enjoying the "specials" (art, physical education, music, library, and something called "project adventure"). He claims that he hasn't "learned" anything, but I'm not sure I trust that assessment. Tonight at dinner we were playing "what was your best thing that happened today" and "what was the worst." To the latter, Duncan responded "Nothing." I asked "So there was nothing today you didn't like?" "No," he reassured me. I think that's a great statement about how Kindergarten is going!

First day pictures:

Back in Time

It turned out that Old Sturbridge Village was a perfect place to spend the 4th of July. It felt right to be connected to the period when the Revolution occurred, and OSV provided many activities centered around the Revolution. Artillery demonstrations, a town parade (including a calf), an opportunity to purchase Independence Day Cake (it was not what you would think), and a reading of the Declaration of Independence supplemented the everyday exhibits provided at the museum.

We tried to hit some exhibits we didn't get to see on our last visit as well as some favorites. Much like our last visit, Duncan really enjoyed watching people make things. We had a nice talk with the tinsmith, who gave Duncan a biscuit cutter and assured me that the Revolution would not lead to a tin shortage because he would get it illegally from Canada, where it was cheaper anyway. The potter showed off his skills again (and I'm sure the picture I took of him this year is identical to the one I took two years ago). Duncan was mesmerized by the blacksmith. I suppose it was the fire; aren't we all drawn to it in some kind of primordial way? We thought with the dangers of blacksmithing that children wouldn't be involved, but we discovered that the blacksmith had an 11 year old apprentice, who was part of the OSV's summer program.

We took a horse drawn carriage ride (well, it wasn't a carriage, but I don't remember what it was called ; forgive me) and a boat ride across the pond and looked at the variety of ways the Colonists harnessed the river for transportation, carding wool, and sawing wood. It was difficult to drag Duncan away from the water pump; other than the boat ride, it probably had the longest line of anything at OSV as the children took turns splashing in the water and drinking it, to cries of parents who insisted "DON'T DRINK THAT!"

Of course, you can never predict what will and won't appeal to children. One of Duncan's favorite parts of the trip was our stay in the hotel. The novelty of the hotel, the pool, and the free continental breakfast (complete with waffles) enticed him like a trip to a 4 star resort. "Look, this hotel even has a safe!" I think he was sadder to leave the hotel than to leave the Village, but we all had a great time, and Jamie and I were reassured enough that we could survive a night in a hotel with Duncan that we feel brave enough to try it again!  Maybe with a historic trip to Mystic!

Just Own the Night Like the 4th of July

This year, we took Duncan to his first fireworks display. Because he's pretty sensitive to the effects of sleep deprivation, we haven't wanted to keep him out that late at night; however, this summer, he has shown a slightly improved ability to sleep in so we thought it would be worth a try. Our original plan was to stay overnight in Sturbridge, watch the fireworks display at Old Sturbridge Village on the 3rd, and then spend the 4th at Old Sturbridge Village, soaking in the history. At the last minute, the fireworks were canceled at Old Sturbridge because one of their possible launch sites was flooded from early July rains; the other had been destroyed in a tornado. Instead, we took Duncan to Lime Rock Park. We had a nice picnic and were entertained by the cast of Rent from Sharon Playhouse. There was a visiting group of hearing impaired children from a summer camp, and it was heartwarming to watch as their counselors jumped into signing the songs for the kids. One of the counselors stole the show; Jamie thought he was part of the cast at first. He knew the songs well and added so much emotion that he seemed like he had rehearsed with them. Actually, I was really impressed with those counselors. While they were waiting for the sun to go down, they quickly got the kids involved in races rolling down the hill, leapfrog, and, of course, singing Katy Perry's "Firework," on repeat.

Finally, the sun went down; it was a struggle for Duncan to stay awake, but he enjoyed the fireworks immensely.

Graduation! (Bring Your Own Airquotes)

My baby boy "graduated" from preschool! Honestly, I expected to be overcome with motherly emotion, that kind where pride, anxiety about the future, and the sense of ceremony combine to set an unmistakably emotional scene. Or is that just me? No? Anyway, I expected there to be tears, but it really wasn't much of a ceremony (as is appropriate, I believe, for preschool). Miss Anne called each kid out the side door onto the deck, one by one, handed him/her a certificate, and sent the little ones to stand in line for a picture. Then we had a potluck dinner. And cake. I did tear up once when we arrived, but really, that was the only opportunity I had because here's what happened.

Duncan, who had talked excitedly about "graduation" all week, at home and at school, was overcome with anxiety, possibly sadness, and an overwhelming sense of pissiness for the actual event. Look at these faces:  

  

Then, once the "ceremony" was over, and the girls turned back into tomboys, and teachers turned back into teachers, and he was cautious but relieved.

And finally, he was won over by the opportunity to spend extra time in the sand.

In the end, he had a great time and allowed us a few extra do-overs with the camera. This is a MUCH better one for the archives.

Well, baby boy (because you will always be my baby boy, even if you fight it every time I dare speak the words), welcome to Kindergarten! 

Fathers' Day 2011

Way, way back, when summer was fresh and new...and in fact, I wasn't even on vacation yet...we celebrated Fathers' Day. It is becoming our tradition to attend a minor league baseball game on Fathers' Day. It's a pretty great setup. Jamie gets to enjoy some baseball; there is plenty of family activity to keep Duncan from getting bored, and there's lots of good people watching for me. The baseball, the cheaper food (than at Yankee Stadium), the mascots:  it's a no brainer.

But first, we gave Jamie a hammock. I wish we had all found more time for it this summer. It is sheer heaven to lie in the hammock on the perfect summer day, daydreaming or reading a book. Check out Duncan's choice of reading material that week. It was all about mummies, Pompeii, and gross insects.

And then we were off to the game. We caught a Tri-City Valleycats game in Troy. I have no idea who won. I'm pretty sure it was the Vermont Lake Monsters. Seriously.

See how intently the boy is watching the game? His interest was partly encouraged by how close we were. We were in the first row! See how close we were?! It makes it a lot easier to follow what's going on, even if a 5 year old would rather watch cars race around the outfield and people dressed as catsup, mustard, and relish running the base lines.

All in all, it was a great tribute to Dad and fun way to usher in summer!