Soul mates

Annabelle has had an affinity for a certain little boy at school for a long time. He was in a neighboring kindergarten last year, but they would always play together on the playground during shared outdoor time. This year he is in first grade.

It is the kind of friendship that I hear about more than I see. I receive a lot of comments like, "You really should see them together!" and "Annabelle and Zack* are really something!" Last Spring Annabelle came up to me with important news:

Annabelle :: Mom. When Zack and I are teenagers we are going to go to college together.

Me :: College?

Annabelle :: Yes. Either Berkeley or Stanford.

Me :: (mouth hanging open)

Annabelle :: We don't know which one yet.

Over the summer I had some business at Stanford, so we drove onto campus and got lost looking for the right building. I didn't tell her where we were going ahead of time.

Annabelle :: (with great excitement) WHAT IS THIS PLACE?!?

Me :: This is Stanford.

Annabelle :: I want to come here!

The idea of going to college at Stanford continued to be a regular point of conversation over the summer. Of course, I did tell her that it might also be nice if she thought about going to Mills College, but her very first question was whether or not Zack could come with her. I hadn't thought of that, and the undergraduate program at Mills is only for women. She dismissed the idea immediately.

Yesterday I walked into the aftercare room at school to tell Annabelle that it was time to go home. She was in the loft with Zack. She was laying back in a big pillow ordering him around while he messed about in the play kitchen. I walked up and noticed she had stuffed a small blanket underneath her shirt.

Annabelle :: Mom. I have to tell you something. I'm pregnant.

I covered my mouth with my hands and immediately left the room, laughing. A few minutes later I peeked in to watch the two lovebirds playing together. It really is something quite special to see, the two of them together, and I stood there wondering all sorts of things about them.

I'm sure we will be hearing about Zack more and more...

*Zack is not his actual name.

One of the best rides

The trailer is a God-send: One step closer to commuting to school more regularly.

 

 

 

 

Sunday morning

Neopolitan

Yesterday I was overly ambitious in my attempt to throw a pizza for the first time. Little did I know that "throwing" does not technically apply to the tossing of the dough up in the air, but actually describes the moment you pick the pizza up on the giant spatula and place it in the pizza oven at top speed. If you are not fast enough, or smooth enough, or have enough pizza-magic, then other things happen that do not equal making pizza.

This is the easy part.

Catching it is a little tricky.

Building the pizza is harder than you might think: you have to make sure nothing spills over the edge on to the pizza stone in the oven, and you don't want to make it too heavy or else it's hard to throw. My pizza is way too big and too heavy.

This is me, about to throw the pizza. My friend realizes I am oblivious to how hard it is to do so she is moving all the fixings out of the way.

My friend is way smarter than me.

We wrapped it up into a calzone. Did you know it takes approximately 15 seconds to cook a pizza in a real pizza oven?

And if you wait 20 seconds, it looks like this. The husbands gladly ate it. The wives waited for the next one.

Family Friend

Dave and I miss having visitors. When we first moved to Oregon we had friends from all over come to see us and it was just awesome! I think in the first three months we lived there, we had only three weekends without guests. Our revolving front door was always open and it really felt wonderful to have people around all the time. The fridge was full, the sheets freshly washed, and our hearts felt warmed.

When we moved into our little apartment we knew it would take some time to create a space that would be welcoming for friends to visit, but it took far longer than we ever expected! So when summer arrived I set myself on a course to do what I needed to do so we could invite people over. Last week we had our first friend come and stay with us for a few days.

It was really fun. Just the visit we all needed.

Our worms arrived in the mail and we added them to our new composting bin.

There are now 2,000 happy red worms happily working in my front yard.

Gaming. A guaranteed event for every visitor.

See the trailer? It's our latest cycling adventure.

Agricola.

We spent a couple afternoons in San Francisco. Here at the City Hall there were couples getting married in every alcove.