December 13

Finally, a new camera! And without even leaving Lexington. Sunday school was cancelled today on account of freezing rain, so while we all were glad to get some extra sleep I was bit nervous about having to forgo my Roanoke shopping trip. Happily a little shop in town sells gelt and I had the intestinal fortitude to brave Wal-Mart. (All credit goes to Caitlin for providing me with moral support.) And so without further ado, the beloved and wonderful Mookie!

He's already a lot mellower than when we first brought him home - doesn't (usually) run from Chris and now readily leaves my side to go investigate the children. Although he may not have had the happiest home life previously he was obviously trained pretty well. He sits and jumps up on things when asked, and heels like a champ. We're having so much fun getting to know him and just plain enjoying his company.

Tomorrow may bring his first spell at home, alone, and then later a house full of kids. Wish us luck!

And for those who are interested, HERE's a link to a photo of last year's Hanukkah party, and an explanation of the same is HERE. (The blog is written by our friend Dr. Lowell and is wonderful window into the lives of an American family called to service in Varanasi. Worth taking a few minutes to read the archives...)

December 12

New dog - check.

Visit from Susannah and Paul - check.

Hanukkah festivities - check.

Multiple, and increasingly creative and complex Star Wars games - check.

Outings with new dog, including a solo walk with Caitlin - check.

Nifty Hanukkah goodies - check.

New camera already - uuuhhhhhhmmmmmm......

(Going to Roanoke tomorrow, hoping to track down a camera as well as some bona fide Hanukkah gelt for our Hanukkah and Husbands party tomorrow.)

(Monks are a bit hard to come by in the wilds of VA, but husbands we've got! Looking forward to another cut-throat dreidel game. My money's on Ella.)

December 11

(Warning: This is the lamest, most picture-less excuse for a new dog post ever, I'm sorry to say. Such irony that BOTH of my cameras would fail in the midst of my post-per-day blog month, and on the day we adopted a new dog too...his adoption page is still up so you can click over to see the insane cuteness. )

We named him Mookie and he's a pug mix - probably beagle. Adult, but young, though the folks at the pound didn't know much about him at all. (Things are a bit loose out at the Alleghany county SPCA...) No particular reason for the name, but there are a number of famous Mookies, and also very fitting use of the name in modern slang. (Definition 2.)

Mookie is a wonderful little dude. A bit on the shy side, but warming up fast and already totally devoted to following me around constantly. Mostly he's leary of Chris, which we think comes of being poorly treated by a former male owner, but Chris is patient and mellow about it so hopes are high for good male bonding in the future. The children adore him and Mookie is completely tolerant of all of their affection, if not beside himself with glee.

I let Caitlin in on the surprise earlier this afternoon so she went with me to pick him up. We brought the folks at the pound a tub of brownies which I hoped to soften saying goodbye to Mookie. There were 2 women there who were really attached and one even got a bit teary seeing him go.

Ben was given a wrapped dog toy as his first Hanukkah "present" but he didn't catch on, even after we walked in with the dog. He thought we were just borrowing Mookie from a neighbor, but he quickly got up to speed. Sitting in the big green chair with Mookie and me Ben said, "I knew we were going to have a happy Hanukkah, but now I know it will be a happy HAPPY Hanukkah."

Pictures tomorrow, I promise. We have to document Mookie's first meeting with Aunt Shu and Dr. Paul!

Just want to make sure you know

I have the best sisters-in-law. Ever.

I'm sure your sisters-in-law are lovely, but truly, there are none better than the Ms.es H.

Lovelovelove.

December 10

'twas the night before Hanukkah and all through the house,

there wasn't a darn present because they're all still in my trunk.

(Here's hoping it doesn't rain here again tonight. Gotta get those suckers wrapped and tucked under the menorah. Or something.)

No longer hiding it, and no longer in a splint, here is Caitlin in her spiffy, Gore-Tex lined (I kid you not) cast. Below, girlfriend is fresh from the shower, all praise to the almighty breathable laminate.

And last, an oldie but a goodie - one of the HUGE freakin' spiders we found through out our first month in the house.

My camera inexplicably broke yesterday - display screen is cracked internally - and I've yet to investigate fixing or replacing it. In the mean time I dug out my old camera, which has its own issues, but also had a few surprises lurking on ye olde memory carde.

December 9

How to have a happy day...

1. Start on dessert early.

2. Spend over an hour in the tub. (He is 5 now and won't allow bath pictures, so a sunny, prune-y hand is all you'll get.)

3. Stack your Hanukkah presents nicely on the table after shaking them thoroughly.

4. Clean your kitchen and revel in the sunshine.

5. Study Hebrew with help from a nifty website.

6. Continue to count your lucky stars that you married a man with sisters who send you fabulous kitchen tools that you'd never break down and buy for yourself. (that's real love, people.)

7. Play board games with your mom only to quit the second your dad walks in the door, out of sheer unbridled glee.

Also recommended:

Numerous clandestine phone calls about the fdsjkf to confirm pick-up date and schedule vrngjfkje appointments

Resisting the urge to call your sister-in-law repeatedly to squeal about the fdsjkf. (Not because I don't love squealing with said s-i-l, its just that the kids would catch on.)

Reading aloud to kids, snuggled under big fluffy comforters.

Giggling about Derrida with your husband.

All of the above may help fend off hurt feelings when you learn that your husband actually hates mint brownies, after you've made a 9x13 of them and skipped knitting to stay home with the ingrate, I mean the beloved man.

But honestly it doesn't do much at all to lessen the blow of learning that your dog is dying. What were those cliches again? Must be time to make myself some tea... She's had a long and wonderful life and truly, her memory is for a blessing, but it still just plain sucks.

December 8

My feeble attempts at pulling a certain pre-teen out of a nasty slump this evening included more yelling than I needed to do and honestly, all of the following cliches: "Make the best of it." "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." "Look for the silver lining." "Look on the bright side." "Make do with what you have." "Just make up your mind to be happy." "You can be right or you can be happy."

But when it came right down to it, I was the one who needed to hear a snappy cliche. Sometimes all that's needed is a little tea and sympathy. Thank god I finally figured it out. We may survive adolescence yet.

December 7

A day that starts like this...

and ends like this...

has to be a good one!

The intrepid grandfathers set off early this morning in search of the elusive wild donut and returned triumphant, and with bagels and 'lox' taboot. Fueled up, we walked downtown, hit the library and shopped a bit. Met Chris for lunch, said goodbye to Grampy and then walked home. Then the remaining grandparents hit the road and some of us snuck a nap while others watch a Star Wars documentary. I also squeezed in some secret plotting with Keely and quickly it was time for book group and parade prep.

Today was the annual Lexington Christmas Parade, (yep, I live in a town that unabashedly holds a *Christmas* parade every year...) and the kids and I marched. Caitlin's book group was recruited to help with Boxerwood's entry and Caitlin carried a beautiful handmade illuminated sparkling paper deer puppet.

She was one of about a dozen 'animals' that walked around the tree sculpture you see in the background in the above photo. There were two big paper birds hanging from the tree, and a handful of the animals rode bikes instead of walking - the result was quite magical. Boxerwood never fails to delight me!

And then there was the knitting float!

A bunch of the lovely and talented Wednesday night knitters built and painted our fabulous float over the course of the last 2 weeks - a hearth complete with 'fire', stockings hung with care, piles of presents and 2 rockers in front of it all. Ben and I claimed a rocker and had a great time waving and throwing candy to the crowds. Fellow knitter Ellie treated us all to Rick Springfield and Johnny Cash Christmas carols and the other knitters worked the crowd, passing out hand knit corkies.

Sometimes small town living wears a bit thin, as do the assumptions of homogeneity that go along with it, but even so, I find things like this parade utterly charming. There is something wonderful about bundling up and spending the evening with friends, seeing tons of folks you know and laughing and hollering all through town. Going to bed tonight Ben asked if we'd be in Lexington for another year. I said I thought so and asked why he was wondering. He said, "That parade was really great. I'm going to ask the knitters if I can be on their float again next year!"

December 6

Grandpa 1...

and Grandpa 2!

Also on-site today were a grandmother and an aunt and her boyfriend. Who knew Lexington was such a hot spot?

December 5

"I've been waiting for this miracle all year."

-Ben, upon stepping outside and into the snow

You can just barely see it in the picture above, but Caitlin has a big splint on her left hand. She chipped a bone in her thumb yesterday so in addition to playing in the snow we also spent the better part of the morning in the ER. Luckily it hasn't interfered with her sledding at all. And also luckily, we live in Virginia where its still warm, even during a big snow storm.

Bonus! India Photo Map

It may surprise some of you to her that India has been on my mind a lot lately. I miss it, honestly. Mostly I miss the little monks, but I've got a hankering to go back and explore, even Varanasi. Looks like I'll have to wait until at least summer 2011 though.

I found a link to a great National Geographic interactive photo map of India that I think some of you will enjoy. For those who are new to the SLNC experience, we lived in Varanasi and Pune, both of which are on the map, and spent quality time in Goa and Delhi too.

Enjoy!

December 4

Prince Florizzle saved the day so many times over! We have the best friends...

December 3

Scenes from a play date...

a rowdy goat,

a lovely cow,

and a cozy kitchen bursting with life and beauty.

And yes, there were lots of children involved too, but for the most part they were moving to fast or screaming too loudly to be photographed. What with knitting group and gatherings at the farm the 24 hours between Wednesday evening and Thursday evening are consistently some of my best each week.

For Ne'ke

First fry in our new house, first fry since coming back from India, first fry in well over a year, and still soooooooo wonderful.

3 out of 3 generations of Haskett women agree, frybread is delicious!

How's that old Chinese proverb go? Give a girl frybread and she'll be happy for a day, teach a girl to make frybread and she'll be happy for the rest of her life?

You're such a gift, Ne'ke.

December 2nd

This is my living room rug, as it is now and as it has been since we returned from Madison. He was a bit slow to warm up to Legos, strangely enough. Somehow the 'mess' doesn't bother me...

December 1st

Ben investigating a giant fallen log, at Boxerwood. Spent the afternoon there with friends - excellent as always, with plenty of exploration and creativity and GUMMY WORMS.

I'm aiming to post one picture each day (at least) for the entirety of December, as a way of jump-starting the blog again. (No, the irony of posting this first post a day late is not lost on me.) Lately I've also been really captivated by the blog Micro-cosmic, written and photographed by a fellow traveller we met in Ladahk, Sarah Pletts. And so this project is also in part inspired by her work, as well as her spirit of a more conscious and consistent artistic engagement.

Let the good times roll...

Melvin Invasion

My mom and aunt visited us last weekend and by all accounts, a good time was had by all.

We did the Lexington tourist circuit, spent a day in Roanoke and had some delicious meals. Much shopping was also done, including my first visit to Target since before we went to India.

The kids outside the Southern Inn

Dinner at the Southern Inn

Meema, Ben and Aunt Margaret at Mill Mountain Park

Paying our respects to Stonewall Jackson. Did you know there is a tradition of leaving lemons on Stonewall's grave?

WTH?!

I spotted this sign a few weeks ago in Roanoke...

and then last weekend, this...

Mighty nice of Bud, don't you think?

Charlotte Airport FTW

The Charlotte NC airport has:

-lots of natural light
-free wi-fi
-rocking chairs everywhere
-a USO spot for soldiers to do whatever it is that soldiers do at USO spots in airports
-a live piano player in the main atrium
-pit-cooked BBQ, greens, beans, stew, etc, with decent hushpuppies and swayt tay, all dished out [on the day shift] by sweet old women who wished me a 'blessed day.'

Gogogo Charlotte Airport. I route myself through here whenever possible from now on.

Sorry, no pics.

Two for Ella

Believe it or not, Ella, I learned the Fifty Nifty United States song a million years ago when I was about your age. Here's the version we sang...