If you leave / When I go / Find me / In the shallows / Lying on my back / Watching stars collide / Let it all rain down…
‘Shallows’ is taken from Daughter’s first album ‘If You Leave’.
Find band background, bio and related post: Daughter
Tag: daughter
Running. With Lessons for Rachel.
She started it.
With the taunts. The insults: “Jelly Belly.” “Man Boobs.” “Sad.”
This being Daddy’s Girl.
Daddy’s Creation. I built THAT.
She’s 2x younger. Or better stated, Dad’s 2x older.
And, then, she threw out the bait.
Dad: “Let’s compare daily step counts. Download this App. Maybe we can get that (pointing to the belly) in better shape.”
So, it has become a Father-Daughter ritual.
Each night, before bedtime, we check our step counts via a text share.
Week 1 was a partial week and a ramp up week – – and her gloating.
Week 2 is the first full week and both sides are in full stride.
She shares her report tonight. Her steps are shown above – along with her step count each day for the last 7 days.
My response: “Not bad Honey. 🙂”
I then reciprocate and send her my daily report. (Below) Continue reading “Running. With Lessons for Rachel.”
She’s Gone (Again)
Four days later, and the tops of both thighs still burn, sensitive to the touch. No, nothing to do with running, which is another sad story, left for another day.
I load my canons, yes one “n”, and fire.
- The Tort: “You entered into a verbal contract. You said you would stay.”
- The Economic: “Manhattan is nose bleed expensive. You’ll drain whatever savings you have.”
- The Nostalgic: “I’m turning your room in an extension of my Den, and calling it my West Wing.”
- The Desperate: “You know in Italy, kids live with their parents until well into their 30’s.”
- The Fear Mongering: “I’m cutting you off Netflix, Amazon Prime and yes, AT&T Mobile Service.”
Nothing works. And we’re off.
The family caravan departs in the Resettlement. Eric (Son) drives the U-haul with two friends. Mom, Dad and Rachel are up ahead in a separate car. Waze estimates 44 miles – a whopping 1 hour 42 minutes to lower Manhattan.
The rain falls gently, setting the appropriate back drop.
It’s a five-floor walk-up. I now know what a 5-floor walk-up means. No elevators and narrow stairwells. Walk-up means walk-up. With furniture, furnishings and oversize and overweight boxes, all up five floors – on foot. With adequate resistance provided by non-ventilated, A/C-free hallways. The musty carpet fibers are pulled deep into the lungs with each trip up and down the stairs. Continue reading “She’s Gone (Again)”
Ruth & Eve
Artistic collaborations can happen in unexpected ways—just ask Ruth Oosterman. She has found a unique, creative partnership with her 3-year-old daughter, Eve. Together, they produce beautiful works of art. Through Eve’s vivid imagination and Oosterman’s talent, the colorful paintings are a mix of unrestrained creativity and small, intricate details. The Toronto-based mom calls the ongoing project Collaborations with my Toddler.
Together, they produce beautiful works of art that display both the vibrant, unrestrained creativity of a child and intricate details that could only be done by a talented artist. The tag-team style paintings are often started by Eve who doodles on paper with a pen or paint. Then Oosterman takes the lead, transforming the abstract marks into animals, landscapes, or portraits. With both of their contributions visible, the results reinforce the idea that two heads are better than one.
For Oosterman, the artistic journey is more important than the final product. “Through collaborating with Eve, she is teaching me how to paint all over again,” she writes on her website. “I treasure this bonding experience more than words can express.”
For more Oosterman Mother – Daughter collaborations: Ruth Oosterman
Notes:
- Source: My Modern Met
- For prior year’s Mother’s Day Posts
I’m listening.
There are many such assignments one can give. When Janet Fout’s daughter was a little girl, the two of them used to spend time together out of doors, playing and inventing nature games. My own favorite was listening for the sounds they could not hear, which Fout called “The Sounds of a Creature Not Stirring.” Examples might include: sap rising, snowflakes forming and falling, sunrise, moonrise, feathers, dew on the grass, a seed germinating, an earthworm moving through the soil, an apple ripening, wood petrifying, a spider weaving its web, a leaf changing colors, a salmon spawning.
~ Christian McEwen, World Enough & Time
Notes:
- Photo – Gene Spesard with The rising of the Worm Moon
- Related Posts: Christian McEwen