Weird Bird in Love

I’m typing this post on my brand spanking new iPad. My laptop has a wonky connection that renders it a desktop… So with help from various quarters, I am now the proud owner of a new and highly desirable mobile device. I love it. So does the Bean. She is much enamored of a program that simulates a pond with fish. She can splash in it. It makes her squeal.

Maybe this will mean a whole new era of more frequent blog posts, here at Weird Bird central. Maybe it will be easier for me to get around to posting stories and thoughts more often, on my cute little laptop device. They will have to be rather brief stories and thoughts, since the typing is rather more cumbersome than on an actual keyboard. Perhaps it will be a useful corruptive for my tendency to verbosity.

Let me see, what can I post now, to celebrate? I ran into a neighbor today who has a five year old relative visiting. The neighbor and said relative ran into Zag and Tilt today, out and about. Upon learning that the other child was also five, Zag remarked gravely, “Lots of people are five, at around this age.”

Well, after an exciting Friday and Saturday and a really busy Sunday, we all got sick. By Sunday evening all four of us had (mild) colds – including the dog, who led the pack by getting a huge fit of reverse sneezing at 5:45am Sunday morning.  (more…)

First, Barack Obama came to our little town. Life in a swing state! This was our best look at him, but still, he was right here. (more…)

Tilt says many people on the Internets are pointing out that Jesus was a community organizer, and Pilate was a governor. (more…)

… why your usually-amiable 3-year-old takes 2 1/2 hours of active parental management to get to sleep. Well, at least it doesn’t happen often. And he wasn’t sobbing hysterically the whole time. (more…)

Is it just me, or is Sarah Palin seriously creepy? Did you see her Vogue cover? I can’t imagine her appealing to many Hillary voters. She’s a completely different type of woman. I can see how McCain’s guys might not have understood that, but it seems transparently obvious to me. We shall see…

We’ve had a nice couple of days. Thursday was like unofficial Present Day for me. Jil sent me a stunningly beautiful warmy thingy, the kind you microwave, and a matching hair clip. It will make a stunning ensemble, come cold weather. And my mamma sent me another stunning ensemble: red-and-brown rose-patterned rain boots and a matching umbrella, from Boden. Yay! Presents!

Then, Thursday evening, we went to the fair. Apparently, in New Hampshire, there are several regional state fairs, instead of one central one, as there was in North Carolina. We had a terrific time. Zag rode on several kiddie rides – wearing expressions of intense concentration. We wandered around and looked at exhibits, tasted maple sugar cotton candy, climbed on backhoes, and admired ducks, rabbits, sheep, llamas, and cows. We went to the petting zoo, which as usual was dominated by goats, and we stumbled upon a very endearing clown-and-trained-dog show, which held Zag transfixed. We discovered the existence of rhubarb soda, and ate fry bread. We checked out the giant pumpkins, and Zag showed great interest in the exhibit of animals made out of vegetables and toothpicks. It was a nigh-perfect fair experience. Zag loved it – in fact, he woke up at 1:45am that night and had hysterics for fifteen minutes, because he wanted to go back to the fair RIGHT NOW.

This morning, Zag and I went yard-saling together – there were a lot of sales nearby this weekend. Our most exciting scores were a set of fireplace tools, which we need (or will need, in a month or so…), and a Roomba, allegedly working, for $20. I’ve been wanting to try a Roomba for ages – I’m eager to see if it can keep up with our rates of dog-hair production. After coming home and unloading our treasures, we went to a party across the street, held by members of my parish, for people with small children who live on our road. We were there for three hours, and Zag had some great playtime with two boys about his age who both live more or less across the street, as well as with some of the older kids who live nearby. Yay! Meeting people! Yay! Play buddies!

Tomorrow we go up to my godparents’ on the coast, to enjoy the ocean a little for a couple of days.

Zag doesn’t do initial S’s. Lately he’s been encouraging us to smile at each other more. “Do a mile,” he’ll tell me.”We are miling at each other.”

We spent two nights and parts of three days up at Lake Winnepesaukee, with friends who have a summer home up there. They were incredible hosts – they were great with Zag, and they took us for multiple boat rides. The weather was perfect, the lake was gorgeous. Prize came too and loved it. We came home tired from the trip, but truly refreshed. This weekend we’re going to the coast for a day or so. A little spurt of vacationing, before the autumn really gets into gear.

(Yes, autumn. Trees are starting to change. Leaves are falling already. I lived in North Carolina for a long time, where August is hot and heavy, and this is blowing my mind.)

If you’re ever in Center Harbor, NH, the Red Hill Dari stand is the real thing. Fresh fish freshly fried, boatloads of french fries and onion rings, and soft-serve ice cream. Good stuff.

I’m half-listening to Joe Biden on NPR. I catch little phrases here and there. He sounds pretty good.

We’ve been working along on the house – painting, arranging, purchasing – and parts of it look pretty good these days.

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It pops into my head at the oddest times – walking home from work, ducking into the church kitchen to get a cup of water, driving to a pastoral call, sweeping the floor. I’m happy. (more…)

Have I really been working for two weeks already? I guess I have. Crazy. Seems like I’m only working about a 35-hour week these days – I keep telling myself that there will doubtless be 45- and 50-hour weeks down the road, and the average will probably kick up to 40-ish once the full Sunday schedule kicks in in September. (more…)