Hazel is finally strong enough to heft and use my really, really heavy Nikon D80. Watch out! Some shots from her first session:

These and more. :)

Listening: Mumford & Sons pandora station

“First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches. May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Beauty. When the Crystal Meth is offered, may she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half And stick with Beer. Guide her, protect her when crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age. Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels. What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, Youdammit. May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers. Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen.Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short – a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day – And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait. O Lord, break the Internet forever, that she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed. And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it. And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back. “My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes. Amen.”

-Tina Fey

:)

(Are you looking at the photo of her wielding the broom and hearing the Psycho reeeent, reeeent, reeeent in your head like I am? She didn’t hit me. I’m not sure what was going on up there – when I turned around she was sweeping the floor.)

A heart project: shave up some crayons in a pencil sharpener, sprinkle them between sheets of waxed paper… crimp the edges, sandwich that between sheets of brown kraft paper, and iron. When cool, cut out hearts (or whatever) and string them up in window (or wherever!)

What of the crayon nubbins that got too short to shave off any more wax? I chopped them up, divided them into the only silicone ice-cube tray I own (apples, which excite no one in this house in their ice-form, so I decided on the spot to give them new craft-supply life), and melted them down at 200 degrees in the oven. Popped them out when cool – yay, swirly apple crayons! Or, since I didn’t fill the molds enough to get melted wax to the brim and make the full apple form, we ended up with kind of strange hearts-with-butts crayons. You can also double boil crayon pieces in a ball jar or tin can, then pour them into plastic candy molds. I don’t know how well you could achieve the swirly-colors effect with this method? I’m pretty sure the range of candy mold selection is above and beyond ice cube trays, so I may start goodwilling bags of used crayons to make some guitar-shaped crayons (or whatever) for gifts or favors. I love crafts that involve the oven or the iron – aaaahhhhh.

Listening: John Prine

I’ve almost thrown my scraggly pot of live-forevers in the compost several times over the past few months. Their pot filled with water and then froze… I was sure they were not, in fact, going to live forever. I peeked at them a couple of days ago, though, and found new life. And snowdrops in the church yard on a dog walk. And we keep going to the playground without coats.

It’s an internal debate every time. My senses are delighted, and my brain tries to tell them to settle down, because spring in February is actually Not A Good Thing.

But… we keep going to the playground anyway.

Listening: Mumford & Sons