Flowing

Friday

Holly and Lucia, Kelly, Lila and Pippa, Silke, Anna and Lukas, all came
over for lunch. It was phase one of welcoming Holly and Lucia back for
their brief trip stateside to deal with visa stuff (they are in the
midst of a six month stint in Paris). It was a warm, gentle and
wonderful time. The cold sesame noodles were yummy :-)



Kinder's drumming and movement class went smoothly. No issues, no tears, it was
as if last week had never happened. The second class is challenging for
him. He seemed to be off rhythmn for nearly 50% of the time. But, he
just kept sticking to it and sticking to it, his self-esteem untouched.

When Yayah, the teacher, asked if there were any questions about
halfway through class, taking care to check in with the new kids,
Kinder's hand went right up and he said it was really confusing to have
more than one rhythmn going at the same time. (They had been practicing
"Kuku" with three different interweaving rhythmns.) I learned something
about patience and perseverance watching him that day.

Saturday

We trekked into the city and met Lisa, Takai, Ellie, Akihiko and his
mom for lunch at my mom's place. My mom had to work, but had left us a
feast that I just had to warm up. Everyone had a nice time catching up.

I particularly enjoyed watching the kids. Ellie loves the boys and
can't get enough of them. Kinder played peek-a-boo with her for awhile
and First played with her for a long time in that silent, but loving
way he has with young ones. Watching him with babies reminds me of
something Erica told me, oh god, nearly 20 years ago, that for her it
was easier being with animals than it was with people a lot of the
time.



After lunch, the kids and Cap and I went to a puppet show of "Comet in
Moominland" which was fantastic. I was really impressed by the
staging/set. The kids liked it much more than they thought they would
and Kinder asked a lot of questions afterwards when the audience was
invited to check out the sets, each manned by a member of the
production crew available to answer questions.

We met Sandy back at my mom's and then hopped in the car to head home.
And we sat in fracking traffic for a looooong time. It took us two
hours, me on the hump in between the boys in back. (The video was shot by Kinder in the car.)



Once home, Cap fed the kids quickly (I was queasy from car sickness for awhile) and put them to bed. The grownups had take-out from our favorite bbq/southern food place and then Cap and I took off for Matt Pond PA.

Having lived and learned from the Gob Iron show (the one where we left
after Jay's solo set, me unable to bear another minute of standing), we
skipped the opening band, walked right up to the stage when we arrived
(second row of people, there was a guy who looked just like Ricky
Schroeder from his Silver Spoon days in front of me, yes, the place was
full of twenty year olds, some amusingly drunk), and the show started
about fifteen minutes later.

The band was great (Cap thought the bass was too pumped, I loved it),
the lead singer funny and good at bantering, there's nothing like a
fantastic song that you've only whirled around to in your living room
washing over you and vibrating in your cells, completely becoming one
with you as you are in touching distance to the very big amps and the
band jamming intensely, literally, right in front of your eyes.

Sunday

We all slept in (my kids seem to have graduated from waking with the
sun, which is what they have done their whole lives), I made
mini-pancakes (First's new favorite, he's asked for them every
morning for the last week-plus) and then Sandy and I rushed out to get
her to the train station a few towns over (our train line doesn't
operate on the weekends).

We were thwarted by a 5k road race shutting down some streets and ended
up back home. I walked her to the bus instead and we had a nice time
sitting on a bench for a half hour just chatting.

The kids and I went to Lucia's birthday party, phase two of spending
time with them. It was a wonderful gathering. Kids were having fun,
grown ups were having fun, it was a beautiful day, and Lucia's
grandparents hosted in a space perfect for the occasion.
Nick was giving kids ride on the pedicab, there were games where kids
were getting toys and prizes throughout the party keeping them very
happy, I had the chance to talk to friends and meet some new people, it
was really nice.

First had an accidental ingestion of dairy and it was an interesting
opportunity to see that the few hives he got around his mouth were
going down by the time I was giving him Benadryl (about 15 minutes
later). It looked like his body was able to absorb the reaction
smoothly and well. I gave him the Benadryl anyway, but it did make me
go "hmmm".

Saying good-bye was hard. I really like Lucia and Holly has a special
place in my heart as the first friend I made here. But, adventures will
continue to be had and they'll be back in the spring.

Monday

We went to Fiber Arts at Kate's and, drumroll please, the kids had a
good time! It took a year, but they finally feel comfortable with the
kids they've gotten to know and had a great time with a new friend,
Malik. I felt strangely (but in a pleasant way) unmoored as the kids
weren't clinging to me and asking me every ten minutes if it was time
to go. Holly and Mary are absent (Mary and her girls are due back from
Ireland in a couple of weeks), and Felicia and Shannon have joined in.
I actually think I'll be able to get some handwork time in!

Tidbits

Our new nephew was born Sunday night, no name yet. Everyone is doing
well and we're heading up to Beantown on Friday to go see the little
guy. Can't wait.

Kinder starts French class today. If he absolutely hates it, we won't
do it, but I'm hoping that it might help inspire me to do some Japanese at home with them.

I'll be cooking today for our common meals that start tomorrow. Silke
and Roger have started up a small co-op meal group. We'll meet for
dinner on Wednesdays rotating through each family's home. We're up
first. Unfortunately, the schedule didn't mesh with Cap's so he won't
be involved. I'm making Thai curry, rice, tzatziki and an apple cake.

The Red Sox are in the playoffs, they start against the Angels
tomorrow.

Going to Vinny today for a tune-up. My energy has been good, I just
keep corrupting my healing with crap food, though my portions are
getting better. The qigong exercises are pretty impressive in the
results they produce. Even if it's just five minutes that I do in the
morning, there's a difference to the quality of the day.