A Moment of Calm

Sometimes, A. is gone (on a solo exploration of the woods) . . .

 . . .and Cubby and Charlie are downstairs playing elaborate games with play cars . . .

 . . . and Jack is running laps around the living room with my library card . . .

 . . . and everyone is entertaining themselves without me.

We take these moments of grace as they come. They are fleeting, but appreciated.

A Daunting Calculation

This morning as Charlie was helping me hang clothes on our new clothesline, he noted that there were a lot of socks to hang up. I explained that there are five people in our family, each with two feet, which means that in one day, if it's cold enough that we're all wearing socks, we use ten socks. And in one week, which is seven days, our family would use 70 socks.

Wow, he said. That's a lot of socks, he said.

Indeed. No wonder it feels as if the laundry is never-ending.

Happy Times Are Here Again

Perhaps there are some people who don't feel a great sense of contentment and happiness from the sight of clothes drying on a clothesline. I am not one of those people. And our dryer is currently out of commission.

So A. put up a clothesline for me yesterday, and I now feel as if a clothesline-shaped hole in me has been filled.

Charlie likes it, too, though his clothesline happiness is likely to result in clean clothes being ripped off their pegs. Oh well. At least we're all enjoying it.