Unbased slander

It turns out there were other photos of camp, so I take back my disappointment in Cook's picture-taking efforts. However, they weren't very exciting, so I'm not sharing them with you. Here, though, are two pictures of Skipper in the morning, before Duchess came home and punctured her only-child bubble.

Everything's normal again!

Duchess is home. Skipper and Cook went to fetch her from camp this morning (I had to be in a parade,* so I couldn't go), and Cook was commissioned to take photos of the place so I could see what it was like. Sadly, he only took this photo, of the kids in front of... I don't know - a door? So you and I will have to remain in the dark about Camp Namanu.

Duchess had a wonderful time, of course, and already can't wait to go again next year. She had a few episodes of homesickness, and she never did get to go canoeing, but it sounds like her greatest trauma was that ALL of her cabin-mates had money to spend at the camp store EXCEPT FOR HER and she was SO JEALOUS of them.** However, she successfully cared for herself (she took TWO showers, arriving home actually fairly clean, though her hair is pretty gnarly and un-brushed), made friends, did crafts, went swimming, played games, "learned a lot about nature," and was indoctrinated into camp culture. Camp culture involves lots of rituals, camp names, and the mysterious language of a camp that's been around for almost a hundred years. (This is a direct quote: "Well, Sleven - he's the UD - no, he's the head of the CITs- he fell in the duck pond and he swam all the way there and back, but his boat only made it to Mr. Scrigglebottom's Vacation Island!") Which is what's awesome about going to camp, and finding a place for yourself in another world apart from your normal life.

Anyway, she's home. I'm really happy to have her back (look at her! My enormous, lovely, nattering daughter!"). She and Skipper have already had a bunch of fights, as Skipper is both delighted to see her sister again, and struggling to figure out how to again share the parental attention she got to herself all week long. Duchess is off again on another trip on Thursday, flying by herself to California to visit family, so Skipper will remain off-balance for a while longer.


*Long, not-interesting story.
**  I personally think camp stores are kind of evil (this one sells stuffed animals and whatnot - it's kind of a juggernaut of consumption), and I wish they would go away. Cook was slightly saddened by the way Dutch greeted him, showing very little enthusiasm about seeing him, and immediately asking for money to spend at the camp store. We're pretty sure she's not a sociopath or anything - just greedy.

It's been a quiet week...

We get Dutch back tomorrow! That's pretty much all our news. I've been listening to this a lot. We went to Ikea and bought a picnic table,* and Skipper has insisted on eating outside every day this week This is how she feels about the awesome peaches-with-ginger-biscuits-and-piles-of-whipped-cream dessert we ate tonight.

*We were hoping to forage a super-cheap used table to go with our yard-sale chairs ($2 each), but then we realized that we were just wasting a lot of summer days.

That bus is actually a time machine.

I forgot to mention that Duchess has actually gone to summer camp in 1955 (except for the clothes, and the piercings in the counselors). They blow a bugle to kick the day off. There will be canoeing, and arts and crafts, and mosquito bites, and lots of singing, and fake "Indian" names.

Nest-Leaving, Part One

We took Duchess to the drop-off site for her camp today. (We insisted she shower before she leave, which is why she looks so damp in these photos.) She had everything on the camp packing list jammed into one bag, which we hope somebody else will carry for her. We checked her in and stood around with her for a while until all the kids piled onto a couple of buses. Duchess met one of her cabin-mates while we were waiting, and on the bus she sat next to her new acquaintance; we could see them chatting in their seat while the other kids got on. Duchess smiled and waved and made silly faces at us, and then the bus drove away. Skipper started wailing. 

When I do my subconscious child inventory (all parents do this, I believe, though I suspect when you have more than four or five kids you might just give up), I keep jolting with mild alarm when my brain can't immediately identify where Duchess is. And I won't hear anything from her until next Saturday, when we retrieve her. That's kind of awesome, and kind of tough on my poor subconscious. Cook and I are both enjoying having only one kid to tend to, and the absence of territorial battles. Skipper, once she recuperated from the initial shock of her sister's departure, quickly got used to being an only child. Tonight, after playing by herself for a while, she said gleefully "I want Duchess to stay away!"

But we really don't.

Recommendations

Not much going on. I'm feeling a little insane about my job, and Cook is a little insane about painting the house and generally improving everything. However, the kids seem to be barreling along with their lives, loud and happy and, you know, growing up.
But what I really wanted to tell you is that I have a new TV thing! I just want to say that if I ever go on a reality TV show to show off my awesome dance skills, I would like to hope that I would get up there and deliver a pretty cool dance about the mating habits of insects.

July, middle of.

Tonight we ate part of our yard! We didn't get to the grocery store as planned, so we had an empty-cupboard dinner. We did have pasta and 9 ounces of ricotta, so we used that, salt, parmesan and olive oil, plus yard chard, yard garlic,* and yard basil. It made me feel (briefly) kind of like a real, honest-to-goodness gardener.
In other news, today Cook officially launched the Paint-the-House-By-Himself project. (I plan to help, of course. Just not with the parts involving power tools, which I hate, and ladders, which I also hate. Otherwise, I will be very, very helpful, I'm sure.) Here's phase one... the back of the house! Our house has experienced some additions in its time, mostly done hastily and on the cheap - you can see that the mudroom (to the right) was added on to the nook (on the left). Cook's desire to make everything better (if not perfect) is slowing him down, as he keeps seeing bubbles and blisters and cracks he wants to fix. Officially, we're just doing the trim, and will do the rest (and get rid of the orange color!) in a few years, when we're rich and can afford to hire people to do it for us. Unofficially, I suspect that there will be a lot of sanding and touching-up of the horrible orange paint, because Cook can't let those bubbles and blisters slide.















And this is our parking strip, which got a makeover recently - Cook dug out all the lawn and lots of the dirt underneath, and we got our lovely Friends of Trees cascara tree, and added two kinnikinnick plants and an Oregon grape (natives all!). Cook and Antarctic Uncle spent an afternoon in the blazing sun making those pavers PERFECTLY LEVEL (it's a genetic thing, apparently, as Antarctic Uncle also cannot let sloppy work slide), and then we got a Ziptruck-bed-full of hazelnut shells for mulch.

Tonight the girls are camping in our yard.**






















I can still hear them giggling.





































*We harvested about 36 heads of garlic - that might last us through August. In order to be self-sufficient in garlic, I think we'd have to plant about 150 cloves. The yard would be nothing but garlic. However, they're sort of magic - HOW does a clove turn into a head? Magic, I tell you. And having them hanging in the basement makes me feel like Ma Wilder, like if I turn around I'll see squashes piled in the corner, and jars of preserves stacked on every shelf, and a big barrel of salter pork. ** In the ancient, mildewy 2-person tent Cook and I bought 15 years ago, when we thought we were the sort of people who would go camping more than once every three years.

Evidence of summer

1) Duchess can swim, for reals now.
2) Skipper's legs are all tan and scabby.
3) I just ate a bowl of raspberries that Duchess picked today (at a u-pick farm with friends) and this morning I watered our yard, picking and eating strawberries and blueberries as I went.
4) Most of the garlic plants in our yard have been harvested and are drying on the floor beside me as I type.
5) We all have lots of bug bites.
6) The sweet potato left in the back of the cupboard for too long didn't get mummified - it liquefied and then fermented. Ew.
7) We're all caught up on laundry. (I can do three loads a day if I need to! Thank you, sunshine!)

What we're reading

Skipper: Best Friends for Frances
Duchess: Wolves of the Beyond *
Me: The Newlyweds
Cook: Monkeys **

*This series has brought her to desperate sobbing fits several times. When Thunderheart died, she cried for a good 45 minutes. 
** He's been reading this for a long time, at least in part because lately he spends all his spare time painting.

Raising average children.

I recently read an article that reminded me of an ongoing conversation I've been having with a friend about extracurriculars and parenting. The conversation has prompted me to officially announce that my kids are ordinary kids, and that my expectations for their future do not include anything out of the ordinary.* My goal for both my kids is for them to be reasonably decent, reasonably happy people. Leaving aside my fears that the world of their adulthood will not be a place that allows people to achieve that goal, I'm feeling good about what we're doing to support their vigorous ordinary-ness. Maybe I should offer a class  -  "Ignoring Your Children... It's For Their Own Good!"

Also, I'm working on making them less American. I read part of a short review article about parenting and independence out loud to Duchess the other day, and since then I've said "Duchess! Be French!" about twenty times. The article says, more or less, that American kids are more dependent and less capable than other kids from a variety of other cultures, and it specifically cites a French 3-year-old making cupcakes by herself. While I'm skeptical that the 3-year-old in question was, for example, actually removing a tray full of cupcakes from a hot full-sized oven by him/herself (and if he/she was, I have some concerns), I get the point. Duchess regularly asks me to do things that she could do herself. I try not to do those things for her, but it is so much more work to get her to do them that I often take the easy option and just make the sandwich myself. So I'm trying to do that less. Luckily, she's going to a week of sleep-away camp in just a few weeks, which I'm using as a lever to muscle her into mastering some skills she should have nailed down by now, and is going to need, like shampooing her own hair.**

Hey, you notice that I'm writing this on a weekday morning? The kids are still asleep at 8 AM, after staying up insanely late to watch fireworks.*** When they get up, I'll have them make me brunch!


*Except for Duchess's extraordinary height, I should say.
**She does shower by herself, and wash everything except her hair on her own. We're not THAT bad.
*** We had a lovely Fourth of July, by the way. The weather was idyllic, the kids were decent, we ate ice cream, nobody exploded. Perfect.

Updates

Duchess is done with kung fu camp. She loved it, and is very excited to start the after-school program* in the fall. Also, in the end-of-the-week demonstration, she broke her very first board. This was a great surprise to her, and a source of enormous pride.

There are a few exciting things going on in this photo. First , Duchess's board, and her new kung fu t-shirt of which she is also very proud. Second, Skipper's new Barbie doll, which we found free on the curb, and has subsequently had many baths and a haircut. Third, a very small apple, on our brand-new apple tree, located above and to the right of Duchess's head, on the other side of the roses. (I cut all the other apples off in their infancy, so the tree can focus on just this one apple.) It has been a very exciting summer so far.

Swim lessons this session are going less well for Skipper, who was horrified to find that she had two male teachers, and refused to participate at all for most of the first class. She's warmed up to it, but still refuses to do most of the group activities. Eventually she may learn to swim.

Antarctic Uncle is back! The kids are thrilled. Skipper hugs him at every opportunity.

And that's the news.

*They pick up the kids, drive them to the studio (which is a 10-minute walk from our house), and give them an hour-long kung fu training session along with the usual homework/hanging-out time she would get in regular aftercare.