Wednesday, August 29, 2012

my gracie.

I've written about this girl more times than I can count, yet I'll never run out of words to say. Things like, how she'll cuddle a crying kiddo and read him a story in a blink of an eye, or how she'll sometimes clean the kitchen from top to bottom, spic and span, without being asked. Her nose wrinkles when she laughs -- really laughs -- and she sometimes wears a robe to bed because she's chilly. Her favorite food is chili and she loves candy and she has the best memory of any of us. One of her biggest problems is deciding whether or not she wants to be a pastry chef or a lawyer when she grows up. Grace is blunt and literal and analytical with a sensible romantic heart (is that a thing? because she has it) and she's one of the smartest, cleverest, funniest people I know. Grace is strong and a fighter, and she loves deeply. She's my baby and I'm the only one who can get away with calling her Gracie. I love her lots and lots.

This is important to me. Taking photos of people I love. Shooting them as they are. When I am old and wrinkled, I want to look back with my sixteen year old eyes at my little Gracie girl. Smooth the yellowed pictures, gently go through the stack of photos, one by one, and remember one of the many times we took photos, just because.

This is Gracie. My little Grace who's not so little anymore.

Monday, August 27, 2012

we baked a cake.



































































Sometimes, the best sort of lunch is a gluten free cake. I'm grateful for boxed mixes when we're low on flour and chocolate chips to scatter in the batter and little hands more than willing to mix and stir and taste. Chloe scooped Sam up and they made lunch (accompanied by some ham) for as all. He licked the frosting and whisked the eggs until flour puffed and the counter was scattered with chocolate chips. The cake came out of the oven, steaming and hot and sweet, and it was a perfect almost-end-of summer sort of lunch.

The past few weeks have been a strange dichotomy of hurried business and a relaxed laziness. We've been torn between prepping for the school year, scribbling notes in binders, reading through books for the year, getting rid of clutter, and hanging onto these lazy summer days a little bit longer. The past week has been filled with all sorts of wonderful, simple, summer joys, like homemade gluten free fritters for dinner, movies late into the night, card games played and crafts created,and cherry coke with a little grenadine.

I'm writing out my lists and planning out my year but I'm still hanging onto bare feet and fresh berries and the summer sun. In the same breath, I am wishing for Autumn, I am excited for fall, I am ready for the smell of cinnamon and wearing wooly scarves and sweaters and apple picking. I am ready for hot cider steaming in cold hands cupped around mugs of it, I am ready for harvest and for bountiful tables brimming with cozy comfort food. I am ready for the splendor of the leaves and the brilliance of the world as the colors burn from the sunset to the land, setting fire to the trees. I am ready for a nip in the air, new beginnings, and the feeling of the world waking up again.

Because, truth be told, as much as I love summer...fall is my favorite.

What have you been up to lately?