Stuck in IN

We were supposed to drive to Maryland tonight but cannot because of the snowstorms on the east coast. This is a bummer because we would truly like to be there and not here. I think we'll try to drive Sunday night but it all depends on the roads I guess.

This has been a funky week. It opened with an allegedly drunk guy allegedly driving with a suspended license hitting our Toyota parked on the street Sunday night while I was watching the Obama/Oprah Christmas thing. He had to stop because it messed up one of his wheels, and the cops arrived almost instantaneously somehow. He was arrested and our car is undriveable; he allegedly has no insurance, so I think we're up a creek. Luckily it is our crappy "second car" and not the one we actually use everyday, but we do use it and will need it - or another second car - next semester. The rest of the week saw Lilah staying home from school Wednesday with a cold and being sent home on Thursday for coughing too much, and we had a truly terrible Thursday with Aviva sick and miserable as well. No sleep for nearly two nights. Both are better by now but the crud has been passed on to us. My head is pounding and the dozens of Christmas cookies already consumed are making me sluggish and unable to focus on the tasks at hand (trying to finish the Household book, grading a VERY late student paper, and making an index for the Women book). Blech.

And now we can't get out of town because of the weather. At least it's only flurrying here, so we can do whatever we want in the meantime. This morning, between frequent Lilah meltdowns, we continued making Christmas crafts for the family. Tonight, depending on behavior, we'll go to the 4H grounds to see their low-tech light display and visit Santa and the hilarious Christmas displays from yesteryear in the barn. Fun ....

Tears over Cairo

A giant map of Africa came to the library. I'm not sure what inspired this meltdown over Egypt.

Purple Santa

Shades of Lilah past were seen this past Friday, when Vi was placed upon Purple Santa's lap at a UE party. Lilah got close enough to the most genial Santa imaginable to snatch a candy cane, but that was it. Vi wasn't feeling it at all. Thanks K for taking this picture!

Tofurky Time

After years of talking about it, we finally prepared a Tofurky Vegetarian Roast for Thanksgiving. I love turkey, and usually eat it during the holiday season, but I had a horrible and vivid dream a year ago after eating a lot of turkey while pregnant and seeing part of Palin's interview in front of the turkey slaughter on TV. Since then, no turkey. So L and I went to Elberts last week and found a Tufurky, on sale even!

It only took an hour and a half to bake, and came stuffed with wild rice stuffing. Meanwhile, I made sweet potatoes (with pineapple and a few marshallows, as the pilgrims would have enjoyed them), roasted potatoes, rolls, sauerkraut, gravy, cranberries with ginger, pumpkin pie, etc. The loaf looked like this after carving (those are onions):

Here is my plate. Yes, I'm on the sofa, as V was crabby (see feet) and needed a snack before she would attempt the Tofurky. It was very good!

Even L ate some, and the whole thing was gone within 24 hours (it serves 5 according to the box). Maybe we'll do this again at Christmas.

peanut butter

all aboard!

We recently returned from a trip to New Orleans; we traveled by train! We picked up The City of New Orleans from Chicago in Centralia, IL at 12:25 am. Of course I or the online booking thing screwed up the tickets and they were dated the day before, so our "Family Bedroom" sleeping car was occupied and we were stuck in a "Deluxe" room instead. It could have been much worse; luckily the sleeping cars were pretty empty and there was no problem finding us a room. The deluxe room had a bathroom but was still pretty tight; L refused to sleep on the upper bunk when we boarded the train and settled down for the night but loved playing up there the next morning.

We had two meals on the way down and one on the way back. The dining car was pretty cool and the food was actually not too bad. Plenty of pickles to go 'round.

The quarters were cramped, but there weren't so many passengers, so Vivi and Lilah could roam around in the halls. Clearly, someone was ready for a nap by early afternoon.

Success!

Here is the bayou or something as photographed at moderate speed. No gators were spotted.

We arrived at 3:30 the next afternoon and spent the following four days in New Orleans (details forthcoming).

The return home. The station in New Orleans was lost in time. Because we were first class passengers, we were welcome in the Magnolia Room, which boasted coffee, entertainment, etc. Well, we walked in and then walked straight out and into the neighboring Subway because the Magnolia Room was REALLY lost in time - it looked a 70s rumpus room, minus the smoke (but not the smell) and full of people with a TV blasting and coffee simmering in a pot. The murals in the spacious station were really nice.

Mark, our steward on both trips, photographed our happy family about to board the northbound train.

The family bedroom on the ride back was much better. It didn't take long for Vivi to crash that afternoon, and the girls both slept from about 9-4:30, when we arrived in Centralia, IL.

Overall, I recommend it. The sleeping car is an absolute must if there are kids involved, though.

a fine fall day

buglet at storytime

Here is the ladybug at storytime at the Central Library with Abba the week of Halloween (thanks Val!). Note how Abba did not bother to put a black shirt, tights, pants, whatever on under the costume to make her look more ladybug-like. Oh well. Today I went to my first library storytime with Vivi and it was fun! I was reminded of how some of the moms get sort of dressed and made up for these things, and put their kids in "outfits" with big hair bows, etc. We are definitely out of place among them (and there is no doubt that M is WAY out of place) but whatever.

It's also a bit depressing that we could easily be mistaken for Vivi's grandparents around here.

the wedding

Here is Lilah, her prince (with crown) and the cake. She plans to marry at The Centre in downtown Evansville, where she has seen brides on a runway at Superbride Sunday with Abba. Her prince is usually Noah from class, and her princess is Katherine.

post-Halloween roundup

Halloween was good this year! Lilah was Peter Pan for the Montessori cosume party (see also Bob the Builder and Katherine the Princess) and a bee for trick-or-treating. We had fun trick-or-treating around the neighborhood with Wyatt. Vivi was a ladybug, but she wasn't in the costume long. There is still a surprisingly large amount of almond joys and peanut butter cups around here, which brings me joy.

Shoko, we hardly knew ye

RIP Shoko

Our rabbit Shoko died on Sunday at the age of 8. She had not been doing well for some weeks, so it was expected. Her best friend Gabby seems to be doing ok with it, but who knows really? Anyway, I bought Shoko at a pet store in Herzliya Pituach, where we lived for two years before moving here, to be a companion to Daisy, my dissertation rabbit (who died 5+ years ago). She was kind of trouble from the beginning, giving us scabies, being generally neurotic, chewing the whiskers and even fur off of Daisy's face, etc. We brought Shoko and Daisy in a pet carrier on an Air France flight when we moved back to the States in June 2002, and her departure reminds me of how much our lives have changed since that time. She was like a tangible link to a past life, that Israeli shafan.

I am stunned that I can't upload a picture of her. We apparently haven't taken pictures of the rabbits in years and the pictures from our first crappy digital camera won't upload.

Lilah is doing fine with it all (she was basically scared of Shoko) and helped Abba dig a hole in the yard for her. We saw a cat mummy at the museum on Halloween so she had quite a lot of pet death this weekend.

Finally, the cousins

Long ago - or maybe it was just a few weeks ago - we were in Maryland hanging out with cousin James. Here are the three cousins together for the first time. Poor James!

GrandDad's goats

The girls should have known better than to fall asleep during the rolling country drive to GrandDad's house. Among the wonderful things that awaited (in addition to GrandDad and a giant dinner): Chuck and Heidi (the pygmy goats) and Uncle Todd.

Don't forget Australia

Obligatory picture of baby with pumpkins

Taken at Baugher's in Westminster, MD.

Help! I'm lodged under the ottoman

kunstfest

The New Harmony Kunstfest started off well enough with a diaper change in the trunk:

Vi did not appreciate being posed as a giant zucchini, however.

Frolicking among historic buildings was a hit for the small ones! Luca must be running off somewhere ...

This was Aviva's reaction to Paul Tillich's gravesite. It IS surprising to see it in southwestern Indiana.

And the inevitable apple dumpling. Must practice for the fall festival ...

I hate the mosquitoes

... because Vivi can't spend as much time in the backyard/patio as she should. She LOVES eating, I mean playing with, leaves. Such a sporty girl.



We have hardly been out in the backyard since early June, around the time L broke her arm in fact! They are horrible. I decided to spray us all one day a few weeks ago but it didn't really help. Mysteriously, they don't bite me this year, but everyone else suffered greatly.



The Jerusalem artichokes are THIS BIG. They bloomed and are beautiful! I totally didn't expect that the most successful crop of all would result from those sad, ginger-looking bits in a plastic bag that Mollie picked up for free from the co-op last year. We're still getting peppers, some sad tomatoes, and basil (which is tasting sort of bitter by now) but the sunchokes are triumphant.

Welcome, October

My blogging delinquency is disgraceful. And I don't even have the excuse that I am uploading photos to Facebook! It's been busy here, but in a weird, sort of isolating way. The weekdays are all about the same: I go to work and Lilah goes to school, and M and A hit the library storytimes, grocery store, playgrounds, museums, playdates, etc. Then we come home and try to make it through the evening hours. I can occasionally get work done in the evening after Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It's getting darker earlier and earlier these days and it's COLD at night, which is a bit depressing. But October is a favorite month as I love all things orange like pumpkins and apple cider (sort of orange) and circus peanuts and living room paint. And the Fall Festival begins next week!!! And then we're off to Maryland to finally meet cousin James over fall break!

Here the pirate has apparently just eaten. Probably hummus.



In an attempt to get through one particular early evening, we crossed that money savin' bridge to Henderson, KY. I went to Simons to look for shoes that fit my orthotics (no success). I'm all about comfortable footwear these days. Anyway, this is an amusing photo that Lilah took. Looks like Menachem has gone fishin' (just thinking about Kentucky makes me drop my final g's).



Everyone loves a swing.

The babe is not yet crawling, but she gets around. She loves to eat grass and dirt and pick up tiny objects off the floor/ground.