Wednesday, April 14, 2010

My Antonia


I just finished My Antonia by Willa Cather (about a week ago- and read The Help since then).  This is the second book I've read by Willa Cather.  Both are quite memorable.  Death Comes for the Archbishop was a motivating factor at one point to go to New Mexico for residency.

Willa Cather painted a picture so vivid of New Mexico that I could imagine where I would be going, though 100 years will make a difference in the landscape of a place.   Anyone who could inspire the average person to want to visit Nebraska deserves a reward.  I see that as Willa Cather's strength in writing.  She takes a mundane place, a mundane story (who really cares that much about the immigrants who settled in Nebraska), and paints a picture so beautifully that you are right there with her.  Reading her books is as fascinating as traveling to Fiji or Timbuktu.

In the end, I pause to wonder if our desire to travel to see new places is more about an innate desire to understand history, the people behind it, and purpose of place than to travel to the far ends of the earth.   I find that after reading My Antonia, I am more interested in the Norwegian immigrants who settled Minnesota, as described in Giants of the Earth.  In fact, I am more interested in my neighbors, those who have been here for generations- perhaps descending from those who first settled here, and those who have moved here- whose stories are different.

Once I feared having children, because I loved to travel, and traveling is hard with children.  I wanted to see all the people in the world, and see all the landscapes to be found.  I am finding that people right next door are as interesting as those in far countries I've visited.  And as far as connection to the earth- well, Nature still exists, in fact, quite abundantly, here in Minnesota, and nearby.  Those aspects of traveling that I loved before, connection to people and place, are still assessable to me now,  and reading books by Willa Cather, Wallace Stegner, and Wendall Barry are a conduit that helps put the pieces together in my head.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Madeline- a look back


 This is Madeline when she was a just about Sam's age.

It's fun to pull out pictures from the yesteryears and remember what was happening then.
 When Madeline was six months, we were living in Slovenia, downtown Ljubljana-perhaps one of the most magical European cities to live in.  We lived right on the river that runs through the town, and right at the foot of the castle that overlooks the city.   Many of my loves were developed in that city.

 This is where I first started to read seriously.  I was tutored by my friend Susan, whose husband was in the foreign service.  Between her house and the Ljubljana library, I found books she told me were important to read:   Dune, East of Eden, Grapes of Wrath, The Age of Innocence, The Great Gatsby.

  I also walked every day to the fresh market that was just a couple blocks from our house.  Most of the stands were manned by Bosnians, so I could speak Serbo-Croatian to them.  I was interviewed twice at the market and was on TV once and in the paper once.  I would first go inside to get fresh eggs, meat, bread and cheese, and then get my vegetables and fruit outside.  Finally, if I was feeling quite free, I would indulge myself and choose a bouquet at the beautiful flower stands on the side.

Whenever Ryan and I talk about where we would really love to eat out if we could go anywhere, one of us inevitably remembers the "Srpski Restaurant" on the edge of town.  We went the Sunday we came back from the States.  As usual, all grocery stores were closed, and we were particularly famished (now I know it's because I was pregnant with Ella- Ryan has terrible sympathy hunger and fatigue when I'm pregnant-fasting is out of the question).  It's still our favorite restaurant, perhaps because it's so unaccessible to us now.  It lives only in our memories.

Half baby, half boy




  

Max turned 2 on April 5th.  We had fun remembering how much he has changed our lives.  I remembered toiling 9 days late with him and birthing him at home to discover those extra nine days had changed him from the anticipated 7.8 baby to 9.8 baby.  Ryan has enjoyed the new verbal discoveries he makes every day: "bye bye lwa (Ella)", "Mommy.  all done".  "Daddy, want Tom (Thomas the train)".   Ella and Madeline have turned into wonderful big sisters, never lamenting the loss that came with having these two brothers, and always helping.  Just last week, Ella ran upstairs to inform me that while I showered, she had changed Max's poopy diaper all by herself.  Knowing what a feat it is for myself, I greatly feared what remnants I would discover, but apparently Max cooperated and the carpet was spared.

 Madeline related to me a couple of days ago, "You know what mom, I love Max and Sam more than I love myself", and if you watched her help Max tromp through the fields behind our house, climb the play set, you would know it's true.  Watching her, I see that love is evidenced by patience, by a willingness to give up your idea of fun in order to create fun with someone else, by a deep joy felt just being around the person.  Max has brought so much love and joy into our home.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Gabby

       Gabby is the arch nemesis of any parent.  She is the oldest child in our culdesac at age 9, and is tall for her age, and very smart.  She's the girl who would crush a child's faith in the Easter Bunny with brutal honesty, but apparently still believes, as my children told me she wonders why it's a bunny and not a rabbit.  She looks me in the eye as if she's calling my bluff and teaches my children how to do the same.   She is a natural born leader- she can convince all the neighborhood kids to jump into prickly patches, and off ledges to initiate into this nebulous "fun club".  Gabby's persona spurns novellas and magic marker masterpieces in our household.


Recent conversation with Ella as we were brushing teeth to go to bed:

Ella:  "Mom, you know when you called us in tonight when we were playing out in the field with Gabby?"

Me:  "Yes, I remember"

Ella:  "Well, Me and Madeline pretended not to hear you.  Gabby gave us that idea.  She said she does it all the time, and SHE DOESN'T EVEN GET INTO TROUBLE."

Me:  "Yes, it seemed like I had to call you three times before you came in, I wondered about that."


And a picture of a note Madeline wrote last night.


                                  Side A (Bode is Gabby's brother)

                                  Side B (notice the hand-drawn lines)

Ella and Easter Eggs


Ella had just told me that she was wearing a "Gap" shirt and that Gap shirts are sooooo cool, when she made an inadvertent discovery with her Easter egg of which she was quite proud.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Easter weekend

Easter weekend events included:

  • tie dying 2 dozen easter eggs (which actually allowed the best opportunity to talk to our children about why we celebrate Easter.  They understand the concept of eggs representing birth (as they came up with birds, ducks and dinosaurs all hatch from eggs).  It wasn't too far a stretch for them to get that Christ offers us a way to be born again from our mistakes and from death
  • annual visit from the Easter Bunny (who didn't bring the magic wand Santa forgot to bring Madeline, or the "lots of packs" of peeps both girls wanted).  The Easter bunny, like Pepsi (http://www.economist.com/business-finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15772138), is providing more healthful baskets for our children.  (GO PEPSI!!!).  The kids favorite was the fresh strawberries and blueberries.
  • Easter egg roll.  Our favorite sledding hill is now our official egg roll hill.  Max got lots of exercise, chasing every egg he rolled all the way to the bottom.  Madeline had a few eggs that just wouldn't crack, no matter whether she threw them backwards over her head down the hill, or straight up to the sky first, or as hard as she could down the hill.  Ella discovered the best way to get eggs to crack was to stomp on them when no one was looking and then throw them down the hill.  We were amazed that every one of her eggs cracked, until we saw her secret.

  • Turkey dinner.  Ryan cooked the turkey and gravy, I did the rolls and stuffing.  Everything was done on time.  We forgot to cook the asparagus, or bring the pineapple to the table.  We decided Easter meal was much less stressful if we both had only two meal items to be responsible for.  
  • A really fun weekend together.