i heart mimi

In celebration of sunshine, not rain, I took a hike with my daughter, my niece, and her parents, at Ledges State Park, a favorite childhood haunt. The girls hiked like little troopers through the thick woods, picking up centipedes and interesting leaves along the way. As we approached an area of dense overgrowth, we weren’t sure which way to go. My daughter saved the day by consulting her little compass — attached to her festive walking stick, along with a Happy Meal princess doll — and proclaimed “We need to head north!” (Her navigation skills aren’t to be trusted.) We ended up walking and listening for water, and were eventually rewarded for our efforts with a meandering creek bed. Shoes came off, and little girls splashed for hours in the cool, clear water. We skipped rocks, poked at moss, counted dragonflies, and thoroughly enjoyed a lazy summer Sunday. We have another appointment with Mother Nature in a week or so.

3 Comments | In: Art and Photos | tags: Centipedes, Creek, Daughter, Family, Hiking, Ledges State Park, Mother Nature, Nature, Niece, Outdoors, Splashing, Summer, Water. | #

What better way to celebrate Summer Solstice than to spend a couple of quarters on lukewarm orange Kool-Aid? That’s just what my daughter and I did when we came across these sweet siblings running up and down the sidewalk, flagging down drivers-by. Could you have refused these sweet faces? I couldn’t. For half a dollar, we got a true taste of summer, and a reminder of why Iowa is so wonderful.

2 Comments | In: Art and Photos | tags: Daughter, Half dollar, Iowa, Kool-Aid, Kool-Aid stand, Quarter, Siblings, Sidewalk, Solstice, Summer. | #

Our impatient, very bored daughter has spent much of winter indoors, gazing out the window and wishing aloud for ’sunflower-growing’ time. She can’t wait to walk out the back door to the paved trail that meets our property line, where we will head east to the community garden, or west toward the duck pond and the library. She longs to get on her bike, or her scooter, and use her little body to create forward-moving energy. Instead, she sits in a chair by the window and looks at snow as far as the eye can see. She is a warm-weather person.

Last I heard, we’ve had 63 inches this season. And it’s been that dry, powdery snow that does not pack well. So for all the blizzards and drifting and shoveling we have endured, nary a snowman has graced our front yard. It could also have to do with the fact that I do not play well with snow.

Snowmen are a Daddy thing; I’m the hot-cocoa maker.

But last Saturday, the sun shone, which caused some melting. The snow became heavy and wet, and my husband and daughter went outside to play. Pretty soon, my phone rang. It was my husband saying, “Bring us a face!” So I quickly gathered two smooth, black stones for eyes, a carrot for a nose, and raisins for a smile. And a bright, red scarf. I went out and we gave the snow creature a personality (although the raisins promptly fell off and the dog gobbled them up, so our snowman is a coy fellow).

He’s a run-of-the-mill snowman. Better snowmen have been constructed. (A couple of guys in the next town over even constructed a six-foot-tall snow penis that made the evening news!) But my daughter loves him, and greets him every morning on her way to the bus. He leans forward a bit now, and one of his eyes has disappeared.

She changed his name from “Andrew” to “Cyclops,” and loves him just the same.

2 Comments | In: Family Matters | tags: Cyclops, Daughter, Husband, Snow, Snowman, Summer, Sunflowers, Weather, winter. | #

Originally posted Wednesday, August 26, 2009
In a couple of weeks, my family will descend upon Clear Lake, Iowa, for a relaxing long weekend. The destination is the vacation place of my childhood. For two weeks each summer, we packed up our existence and relocated to Clear Lake State Park, where we lived in tents, hauled water and firewood, and played Yard Darts. Oh, the danger. It was a time when kids weren’t so carefully watched; we found much adventure. Our best friends (father, mother, two daughters) camped with us, so it felt like a two-week party. If we kids encountered an adult that said no to a request, we moved on to the next grownup; at least one of the four child-weary parents would consent. The adults exacted their revenge by making us the official post-meal dishwashers and fetchers of everything. Iowa’s climate guaranteed unbearable humidity, which we combated with countless hours of swimming and boating. And the dads took us on pre-dawn fishing excursions where — in a lake filled with bullhead and catfish — we felt like pro anglers. I dreaded the process by which my dad and brother prepared the fish for frying: a deadly whack to the head with a hammer, followed by a swift gutting. Horrible. I dearly miss the summers of my childhood, a carefree time in which clocks were not watched and life was simple. This Labor Day, we’ll enjoy a beach cottage and, hopefully, much sunshine. The worries of life will force me to don rose-colored sunglasses, but I will wear my biggest smile as we try to recapture some of the magic.

No Comments | In: Family Matters | tags: Clear Lake, Family, Labor Day, Summer, Vacation. | #

Originally posted Thursday, July 31, 2008
The season’s first homegrown tomato graced our table tonight. We had bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches, a favorite for many reasons. Their simplicity — in both preparation and taste — tops the list. They are also a reminder that summer is in its prime. We never eat BLTs out of season. It would be wrong to bring home a hothouse tomato, cut into its too-firm, not-really-red flesh and pretend it tastes good. So we wait patiently for the first ripe tomato. And this year the wait was long — too much rain, not enough hot weather. But our time has finally come and it was well worth the wait. Since we had only one homegrown tomato, we supplemented with one from the market. I’m proud to say mine prevailed in a blind taste-test. I feel good that I can go out and scratch around in the dirt, and the result is baskets full of tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, carrots and herbs. It makes me happy. It’s a simple thing, but so gratifying in a world where takeout food and processed sludge disguises itself as dinner. An evening spent getting dirt under my nails and tending to the plants turns into nutritious food for my family. Doesn’t get much better than that.

No Comments | In: Gardening and Nature | tags: Food, Gardening and Nature, Summer, Tomatoes. | #