Sunday, September 23, 2012

Of Late

I need to make a confession.  Lately I've been preoccupied with an assortment of random things - politics, new furniture, the September book club selection, & college football, to be more precise.  I've received some complaints from Reagan's grandparents blog devotees about the dearth of photos of Reagan on the blog, which I admit is an understandable complaint considering the numerous photos of empty chairs & Paul Ryan that have been featured.  So, here's a rundown of how Reagan & I have spent the latter half of September.

Trey had to be in San Francisco last Monday morning for a deposition, so naturally he left town the  Thursday prior to do a little sight seeing.  Reagan & I enjoyed our girls weekend doing very, very little, changing our pajamas once a day to stay fresh as we roamed the house.

While digging in a closet, she discovered the chair I bathed her in when she was tiny.  It provided about an hour's worth of entertainment.


Anytime I spend lengthy amounts of time in the house, the blender inevitably makes an appearance.  We stuck to basics like strawberries & bananas.  Much like the vacuum, Reagan has an iffy relationship with the blender, so I made one large shake that we shared & quickly tucked the blender away in the cabinet.



We drank real coke:


Shared a vat of macaroni & cheese for dinner:


Watched TV in the "big bed:"




Once Reagan was snuggled in her own bed, I returned to mine to settle in with Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.  Not what I'd usually pick up when in the house without Trey, but it's the book for September, so I forged ahead, feeling fairly secure with the alarm turned on & my revolver by my side.  Seriously.  

I was also comforted by this purchase I snagged at the Books-A-Million counter while waiting to pay for And Then There Were None.  The salted dark chocolate was gone before the first body hit the floor.


Tuesday afternoon, Trey returned bearing gifts . . . a pillow for Reagan:


Patriotic chocolate for me:


Chocolate Golden Gate Bridge, again, for me:



Stanford T-shirts for Reagan & I, just in time to celebrate their win over the perennially overrated USC Trojans:



I must backtrack for a moment & tell you that prior to his trip out West, Trey finally made the leap & jumped on the Apple bandwagon, one I've been riding high for years now.  He purchased an iPad under the pretense that he needed it for work.  He's been extremely happy with his purchase, & already I am hearing whispers of an iPhone 5 purchase.  While in California, he visited Apple's headquarters, which of course means Reagan & I added yet another awesome T-shirt to our Daddy's Depositions collection:

Hers:


Mine:


Last week wrapped up with the delivery of a piece of furniture I've legitimately needed for a good while now, my desk (where I am currently seated, happily blogging away).  Other pieces of furniture I do not legitimately need will, of course, follow.   


In an HGTV-worthy endeavor, I've transformed an unused, empty corner off the dining area into my home office, or as Trey calls it, tax deduction corner:


Below, my loves - Reagan, my MacBook, & my new desk.  I'll put a picture of Trey on the desk, & the whole thing will be complete . . . & maybe a Paul Ryan screensaver, for good measure.  


So, that's us lately.  The only other thing worth noting is that tree frogs of various sizes have taken to plastering themselves on our patio doors & windows at dark, which is endlessly fascinating to Reagan.

I snapped a pic of this one Friday night so that during the day, when the frogs aren't around, I can show Reagan the picture when she asks to see the frogs, because ask she does:


It's now officially fall.  This is our first fall in our house, & I am excited about it, & not because I got a new desk.  Many of the great writers had a slobbering love affair, to borrow a phrase from Bernie Goldberg, with spring.  I much prefer fall.  I may have to dig up some poetry, or prose, fawning over fall.        


Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
~Albert Camus   

AZ

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Sunday, September 2, 2012

The Gifts of the Greeks

After many years have slipped by, 
the leaders of the Greeks, opposed by the Fates, 
and damaged by the war, build a horse of mountainous size . . . 

Then Lacoon rushes down eagerly 
from the heights of the Citadel 
to confront them all, a large crowd with him, 
and shouts from far off: 
'O unhappy citizens, what madness?  
Do you think the enemy's sailed away?  
Or do you think any Greek gift's free of treachery?  
Is that Ulysses' reputation?  
Either there are Greeks in hiding, 
concealed by the wood, 
or it's been built as a machine 
to use against our walls, 
or spy on our homes, 
or fall on the city from above, 
or it hides some other trick:  
Trojans, don't trust this horse.  
Whatever it is, I'm afraid of Greeks, 
even those bearing gifts.'"

-Virgil's Aeneid, Book II