Red Engine

2012-01-23T22:10:00.000-05:00

We spent most of the weekend in the park hurling ourselves down a little icy mound on sleds with half of Brooklyn. And also following wandering Anna up hills in the park "woods." She'd climb and dig and lick snow off of stuff and then sit really still for a long time. She never sits that still. The snow zone.

Threeish inches really isn't much but it changes everything. It's been winter here now even though it wasn't today. A mist came and slushed everything up. Now there are just a few little chunks in the gutters. Smells like spring.

King's County Clerk

2012-01-20T23:13:00.000-05:00

I go to room 189 with two pieces ofpaper, to get them twice stamped and once signed (and some numbers handwrittenin the stamped place). Look: scuffed bulletproof glass in the grand revolvingdoor. Bored cop at the metal detector stares at a screen-full of the curled andnestled insides of everyone’s bag (mine: little nests of computer cords, onetiny pink mitten, pen caps, acorns, tampon, book).

Room 189 is a vast, sad blue. It’snetworked with cubicles (a human or two or four in each). “Information: Window#1” says a miniscule sign at the door. But where’s #1? Here’s “Window #12: wills…” The path winds betweencubicle walls, each box hung with a number, but not next to the numbers you’dthink. At the back, next to “Window #5: rewiring” (gaunt man waiting eagerlywith a pliers in each hand) sits “Window #1: passports.” And next to that, “Window#1 (again): information.” Empty,both of them. Not even a chair in there.

Wandering back I find accidentally “Window#2: business registration and bankruptcy. And juror information.” That last penciledin…an afterthought? I wait as each soul in line before me is soundly chewed outby the exhausted attendant (rouged orange, wig askew). My turn. I say nothing,just hand over the papers. She sighs mightily, throws up her hands, looks me inthe eye and says, “YOU are a pain in my ass all day long.”

“But I just got here,” I offer,trying my best to be winsome. She ferociously stamps both, signs one, fills inthe numbers I’ve come for, then turns around and plants herself, arms akimbo.Her cubicle is empty but for a cracked vinyl chair. Her counter:immaculate with its row of stamps and pens on chains.

I grab my papers and skip for thedoor, jostling out with a huge, delighted family (also fleeing, twin girlsdressed going-out fancy, hair braided identically but with opposite parts,dragging grinning grandma). On the way out I pass the snack bar where ablind man sells candy bars by touch, and a woman sleeping soundly in thewomen’s room doorway (balanced, bent into an L). And then, past metaldetectors, through dim revolving doors, into the cold, bright air ofdowntown Brooklyn.

I’ll take this, I think, and place it up against the cubicles: bright windowsfull of discount sneakers and baby clothes, women walking arm in arm, wrappedin the same scarf. And against bulletproof glass, I’ll put the boil ofteenagers just sprung from school (smacking heads and grabbing hats and bumpingstrangers and kissing each other like no one can see).

And then, Jay St. Metro-tech. AgainstWindow #2 and pens on chains: the tired-eyed fellow on the downtown F platformpicks up a fiddle and makes the whole distracted herd of us tap our toes inunison. When he opens his mouth and closes his eyes to sing, it’s like a jar ofhoney suddenly poured out all over a bed of pine needles. The look and smell ofthat, is what he sounds like. The F blasts in and he just keeps going, Iimagine, long after we all stand clear of the closing doors closing and balanceour various ways home, up and over the elevated bridge, train strung throughwith setting winter sun.

Here he is, just before he startedsinging:

A List

2012-01-16T21:02:00.000-05:00

What Anna Prefers to Wear to Bed (in various combinations, listed in order of preference):
1. Swimsuit
2. Fanciest dress ever
3. Kitty costume
4. Bandanna
5. Winter hat and mittens
6. Gold lamé number
7. Tights

What Anna Prefers Not to Wear to Bed:
1. Pajamas
2. Nightgown

Found!

2012-01-12T14:53:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Paul, it's found. Along the back side of the top shelf, in the last unexplored box - the missing tape, Christmas in Ohio 1976! The sound quality is horrible and though I've listened to it a few times through, there is no Froggy Went A-Courting in Grandpa Bob's voice. Did I imagine it? Or just remember it? In fact, I can't pull the thread of his one voice out of the jumble anywhere, except maybe when someone says, "Hey, kid, I like that new sweater!" It might be him. Or it might be my dad, or an uncle. Mostly though listening to this tape is like being a kid falling asleep under the dinner table while the adults sit up late and shoot the shit and laugh. I'll take that. And then, towards the end, this little nugget (can't figure out how to upload straight audio,so excuse my quick first attempt with iMovie):

I guess Christmas '76 I'd have been just over 2.5. Whoo-eee. Our girl is older now than I was then. All I can think is, oh long and lovely, lucky life.

Snail Mail

2012-01-11T18:09:00.004-05:00

I'm taking a break from the blog-as-kid-photo-vessel because I’ve been hunting down a box of old cassette tapes for the past month. There’ s a tape in there with Grandpa Bob’s voice on it. He’s singing Froggy Went A-Courting, bouncing me on his knee in the old armchair with the orange roses. I remembered that tape after finding, about a month ago, a gizmo that translates cassette recordings into mp3s, and I want to save that gravely cigar-smoking voice for all time. But I can’t find it. I’ve almost plumbed the storage depths of our tiny city home, and now I’m starting to slow down the looking because so long as there are a couple of unsearched boxes, its existence remains absolutely possible.

During the girl’s nap (upside-down on top of the blankets, wearing pink plastic heels and covered head to toe in bug stickers) I allotted myself two storage-shelf boxes worth of looking. They both said “Old stuff. Basement.” Sounded promising. I think the last time they were opened was two apartments ago. Both were completely random samplings of beloved (or formerly beloved) objects. The first was mostly out of sequence stacks of snapshots (Cape Town up against Cape Lookout up against Glen Helen up against Patzcuaro up against a truckload of rockweed, lupines growing out that lost Chevy’s back window, round bales of Alfalfa back home). No tapes.

But the second, the second box was completely full of letters. Paper letters. Entities that exist in physical space. Bent and smudged and hauled around, scribbled on and used as grocery lists, and most importantly, full of handwriting. Handwriting! A record of some loved person’s kinetic energy. Whoah. They seemed almost like museum pieces. I mean, remember when mail used to look like this?!

Paper letters sent through the mail might be to email what live music is to streamed. I mean, I’m as Facebooked and blogged and emailed up as most, I guess, and often happily. The instant exchange is what makes possible my work-from-wherever, and often whenever, whilst-wearing-whatever-I-wish gig. Among other things. But I want to take a moment to remember (and maybe a little to mourn the loss of) the weight of the envelope in hand. The little feathers or maps or pinches of far-away dirt you could slide inside. That faint winter smell of paper and glue. The crossings-out and coffee rings and oil stains. And the time it takes to write by hand, and knowing that it will be days, if not weeks, before the eyes you aim for see what you said. I know I wrote more carefully back then, pulled out a different frame of detail, a different sort of more lasting sort of storyline than I do now, shooting out emails by the dozens each day. Much has been said about all of this already, about how email etc is changing our brains. Whaddya gonna do. I wonder, though, while we’ve still got the good old USPS, if it might not be a good idea to write a letter or two. And maybe stick in a newspaper clipping, a leaf of still-going-strong kale, a picture of the girl, a Brooklyn pebble. Any takers?

Relaxing in Horse Country #2

2011-12-29T16:36:00.001-05:00

Short and blurry - frozen fingers!

Relaxing in Horse Country #1

2011-12-29T16:26:00.002-05:00

Red Light, Green Light, 'Round the Town!

2011-12-25T10:29:00.002-05:00

Halloween: before, during, after!

2011-11-02T11:38:00.004-04:00

Summer in October. Find Anna!

2011-10-10T11:28:00.001-04:00

Sunday Adventures with the Daddy-o

2011-09-25T21:42:00.003-04:00

All of a sudden, a big girl....

2011-09-25T11:18:00.002-04:00

UP

2011-08-16T14:02:00.002-04:00

Manhattan: with girl, playground, rocky streams, harbor, reconstructed Irish house, and chocolate shake

2011-08-16T13:58:00.003-04:00

Dragon Tamer

2011-08-08T08:05:00.000-04:00

(photo courtesy of The Daddy-o)

The Motherland, phase II

2011-08-03T14:55:00.002-04:00

The Motherland, phase I

2011-07-28T14:08:00.003-04:00

Garrison!

2011-07-20T12:27:00.002-04:00

The Jump

2011-07-08T09:00:00.004-04:00

Portsmouth, Portland, Points Between

2011-06-27T21:45:00.002-04:00

Heat Wave Garden Visit

2011-06-27T21:41:00.000-04:00

Not So Sure about the Pink Elephant at Newkirk

2011-06-06T14:15:00.001-04:00

Girl on the Half Shell

2011-06-06T14:13:00.001-04:00

Spider Girl

2011-06-06T14:04:00.001-04:00

With Ponies in Manhattan

2011-06-01T16:31:00.000-04:00

Last day of May: roses, fountains, friends

2011-05-31T15:49:00.003-04:00

fun

2011-05-30T17:06:00.000-04:00

Anna and the Art

2011-05-29T19:13:00.001-04:00

May at the Garden

2011-05-29T19:05:00.002-04:00

The Best Way to Fly

2011-05-15T10:17:00.000-04:00

Pigtails!

2011-05-15T10:16:00.000-04:00

Gardening Ballerina, Gardening Kitty

2011-05-15T10:12:00.000-04:00

After Super Soccer Stars with Daddy, Anna Climbs Trees!

2011-05-14T10:41:00.002-04:00

Spring!

2011-05-11T14:05:00.000-04:00

Spring has sprung in brooklyn and we playground hop in the mornings. This is the newest addition to the family of Prospect Park Playgrounds. Anna spent about 20 minutes climbing around saying to herself, "Just hanging out here in the ropes, Mommy. Just hanging out inthe ropes!" She was very pleased. Sorry about the long hiatus, computer drama combined with not enough hours in the day. Stay tuned, though, more coming this week!

More Fun in Rockford

2011-04-13T08:53:00.002-04:00

The Red Steps of Rockford

2011-04-13T08:51:00.002-04:00

April, with Stomach Bug

2011-04-13T08:49:00.000-04:00

April, Before the Stomach Bug Came

2011-04-13T08:46:00.000-04:00

Look what I found in this hollow tree...

2011-03-28T13:27:00.001-04:00

Love!

2011-03-24T07:07:00.000-04:00

Anna befriends large, stern bat-like pig

2011-03-22T22:04:00.002-04:00

Bubbles in the Park with Aunt Tini and Swank!

2011-03-17T15:51:00.001-04:00

March, Granny, New Hampshire, Maine, Atlantic

2011-03-09T08:10:00.003-05:00

Weber grill woodfire fairy princess

2011-02-27T22:37:00.002-05:00

Snow, Snow Bunnies.

2011-02-21T22:45:00.002-05:00

Girl, Linens.

2011-02-17T10:37:00.001-05:00

Visiting Some Old Friends

2011-02-16T14:27:00.001-05:00

(Belated) Happy Valentine's Day: 3 years of the Heart Hat

2011-02-16T14:15:00.002-05:00

Anna Banana, Playin' the Pian-a

2011-02-13T08:52:00.003-05:00

"Anna Banana, playin' the pian-a, but all she could play was the Star Spangled Bann-a!"

Daddy Made Sweet Potato Fries

2011-02-08T21:46:00.000-05:00

Yesterday

2011-02-06T15:02:00.003-05:00

Yesterday morning we were slurping oysters at J's, slung just above the bay in Portland, Maine. High tide and fat gulls and engine oil and fish grease and a white winter sky, and the light over the oil tanks across the harbor, and friends. And pointed firs, and a dark winter sea, and cobbles, and dark, wet brick. Hard to avoid noticing the light in that city, all the time. The sea changes color as the sky does. And then back in Brooklyn, snow tamped down by rain, foggy tail lights on the BQE. Stars are up there somewhere, behind the pink night sky. A package unwrapped from Harbor Fish - fat scallops still fresh in their sleeve of ice. After the girl sleeps, we eat them one by one. Mouthful by mouthful, the Atlantic.

Princess Time with Aunt Tini!

2011-01-29T20:12:00.001-05:00

Very Big Snowball

2011-01-29T17:22:00.002-05:00

Anna and the Snow-Mommy

2011-01-17T12:33:00.001-05:00

We 3 and a Snow Bunny, New Year's Eve Day

2011-01-07T21:40:00.002-05:00

fun in the snow, numbers 10, 11, 12 and 13

2011-01-02T09:17:00.003-05:00

New Year's Eve hike in Ward Pound Ridge Reserve!

fun in the snow, numbers 8 and 9

2011-01-02T09:06:00.002-05:00

Prospect Park, Brooklyn!

fun in the snow, numbers 6 and 7

2010-12-30T14:29:00.001-05:00

*note the princess gown stuffed into the snowpants

fun in the snow, numbers 2, 3, 4 and 5

2010-12-27T21:59:00.002-05:00

fun in the snow, number 1

2010-12-27T18:31:00.003-05:00

16 hours later...

2010-12-27T07:08:00.002-05:00

It's beginning!

2010-12-26T15:09:00.001-05:00

Santa Came!

2010-12-25T15:03:00.002-05:00

And then Anna changed her clothes a million times, and Olivia the pig (thanks Grandpa Mark and Grandma Julie) slid down the roof! And everything fits, and everything works, and everything is so exciting,and now the girl sleeps soundly into the afternoon. Love and Merry Christmas from all of us here in Brooklyn.

Anticipation

2010-12-24T14:45:00.004-05:00

Since we put it up, she's spent as much time as she can getting as close to the tree as possible. And hugging her Cinderella ornament from Uncle Jeffrey and Auntie Jessica. And bringing the present she got Daddy to him, and then saying, "Daddy has to wait. It's not Christmas yet!" Almost, almost, little mouse!

PS: Thanks for the Christmas camera, mom!

Pizza at Grimaldi's

2010-12-23T15:19:00.000-05:00

'Tis the Season!

2010-12-18T19:59:00.001-05:00

She Likes to Hold the Umbrella Herself

2010-11-30T21:42:00.001-05:00

730th Day

2010-11-20T22:41:00.005-05:00

Anna's first day. Ever.

And then she was one.

And now she's two. The world of haircuts, stories, digging, climbing, expressing opinions, playing from dawn until dusk. What did we do before Anna was here? I've no idea...

Leaf Pile!

2010-11-07T12:57:00.001-05:00

November at the Garden

2010-11-03T23:10:00.001-04:00

The Garden

2010-10-28T23:21:00.003-04:00

At the tiny gem of an East Village garden we visited today, Eva and Anna descended the steps in the blur that is the result of my phone camera. Anna recently drastically altered the lens on the real camera, so there might be a more few Monet-inspired posts...

Sunday Adventures with Daddy

2010-10-24T11:44:00.000-04:00

A Girl and Her Babies

2010-10-21T20:45:00.003-04:00

Vigorously rocking...

Not asleep yet?!

City Child 2

2010-10-21T20:41:00.003-04:00

wind

2010-10-09T22:12:00.000-04:00

Fall is here,

2010-10-09T22:00:00.002-04:00

and we go to the library to read books about pumpkins.

The Week of the Fairy Costume

2010-10-01T21:36:00.002-04:00

elephants, lions, pizza pie

2010-09-16T14:30:00.002-04:00

September light on Central Park West, the rosy hulk of the Natural History Museum: Anna and I went to see the elephants. I haven't much studied the taxidermy at the museum since I was a kid myself,visiting beloved Auntie Julie from my home on the plains. I remember being awed by the vastness of the indoor space at the museum. In MN, our sky is endless, but I don't think I'd ever seen buildings that held so much air. I remember looking through the apatasaurus to the arc of the great hall above.

Anna wanted to see elephants. And elephants we saw. A troop of them have been standing stock still there since the 1930's, trunks frozen mid-swing, calf sidled up to its mama. As much as I'd rather they'd been left to live out their lives on the Serengeti, both Anna and I were awestruck by the sheer bulk of them, and close enough to touch the palm-size toenails, too. The grace of them stood me still. It sent Anna dancing and galloping in circles. "Elephants, elephants, elephants!"

After gaping at skulls the size of Anna's stroller and a blue whale big enough to live in, a horde of butterflies and a film about waves, we walked out umbrella-less into the sudden downpour and took refuge in Nick's Pizza where the fella gave Anna her first balloon. Yellow. She hugged it all the way home.

Serious Girl, Lamb, Crib

2010-09-02T11:44:00.002-04:00

Summer, Still

2010-08-31T09:03:00.003-04:00

West Coast Girl

2010-08-16T23:14:00.003-04:00

What happens in front yards in Portland

2010-08-10T16:23:00.003-04:00

Midsummer

2010-07-28T13:45:00.003-04:00

City Child

2010-07-25T22:57:00.002-04:00

The heat broke and her daddy bought her lions and took her to the King Neptune fountain. Happy, happy girl.

Paul's Daughter at Coney Island

2010-07-22T22:41:00.001-04:00

Through the Harp Sprinkler at Harmony Playground!

2010-07-17T15:27:00.000-04:00

Snowboarder Baby at Breakfast

2010-07-07T22:24:00.004-04:00

Anna Tells Sun Story

2010-07-05T17:13:00.002-04:00

Anna Tells Fish Story

2010-07-05T15:18:00.002-04:00

Girl, Wind

2010-07-02T20:23:00.001-04:00

Anna Enjoys More Public Transit

2010-06-30T20:41:00.001-04:00

The Reading Railroad

2010-06-24T19:42:00.001-04:00

fingerpaint #3

2010-06-10T10:47:00.002-04:00

fingerpaint #2

2010-06-10T08:38:00.002-04:00

Girl Milks "Cow"

2010-06-09T20:42:00.002-04:00

playground sprinkler

2010-06-02T17:48:00.002-04:00

2010-05-31T19:46:00.002-04:00

Beach!

2010-05-28T22:35:00.001-04:00

Girl Meets Sheep

2010-05-15T14:34:00.004-04:00

Rhythm

2010-05-09T17:53:00.002-04:00