molly irwin

been working on ...

Advent tags, shown here in progress. 

Yes, yes, I know the project is due Saturday.  I'm never one to miss a deadline. I worked in advertising, and I'm well-schooled in a big push to the deadline.  Wish I could show an actual photo, as the scan is not great quality.  That's why they are shown smaller than actual size, which is aprox. 3 x 4.  They are made of thin wood, covered in patterned paper, with a few ribbons, words, etc. adhered.  Just a bit more tomorrow and they'll be ready to hang.   

to be continued ...

holiday reading for young [at heart]

Caution: a very linkey post - lots of jumping around.

Do you have a favorite book that you take out and read each year at Christmas time?

For some, it may not be a traditional Christmas-themed book.  My friend Terry would (for some reason) re-read JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye each year at the holidays.  Not a choice I would make, but he said it took him back to thoughts of that particular Christmas as a young person when he first devoured that book.  He got something different out of it at different stages of maturity -- a mark of a good book, I'd say.

A few years ago, I borrowed a book called Two from Galilee, by Marjorie Holmes, that I really liked and could easily read again and again.  It is historical fiction, written from a the very human perspective of Mary, about the events that took place before the birth of Christ.  It really moved me to think of this time of year in a different way, as a mother; as a woman.  It's in my shopping cart at Amazon now.

Last year I picked up a second hand copy of Susan Branch's Christmas from the Heart of the Home.  Not so much an in-depth read, as a lovely flip-through.  While the recipe ideas and the illustrative style are not modern, this book has such a sweet appeal that I like to have it out handy on my table at the holidays.  I also reach for the Silver Palette Cookbook, for holiday hors d oeuvres and special, festive cookies.

As for the kids, we pretty much stick to Christmas (and winter) themed stories for the month of December.  Some favorites, pictured above, include: Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree (great for the younger set 4-6) Look a likes Christmas (a visual treat for all ages) An Angel came from Nazareth (beautifully illustrated with embossed touches) and the Wild Christmas Reindeer, a Jan Brett classic.  Others are classics we read straight through the winter include: White Snow Bright Snow, and The Snowy Day (Keats). 

I've just loaded up a large basket with all these and more to put in their bedroom. 

My girls are growing [too] fast, and we are ready for some more challenging titles that they can grow with over time.  I'm definitely taking Lori's glowing recommendation on this J.R.R. Tolkien book:

[photo courtesy of Lori Pickert, campcreekpress.com, click photo for book link.]

I find myself visiting Camp Creek Press daily.  It's always a great read, full of wit and wisdom.  It matters not if you are a homeschooling family; if you are a caring parent, that alone is enough to find gems among Lori's themes.  If you're looking for holiday gift ideas, you should check her posts on kids's studio art supplies and her post on book recommendations.  I love what she says about family time, education and mostly this post about keeping the holidays in perspective.  I want to know if she was writing it specifically to me, and so will you.

So ... back to the books:  Please share the Christmas-y titles that you and your family enjoy.  I'd appreciate your help as I add a few more titles to our selections this year.

Happy holiday reading!

the good day

The girls were busy crafting today - entirely their own ideas, since i was busy in the kitchen.  Funny thing with this one is the only "everybody" we had come over was their uncle.  Another version of used wood scraps is to the right of the noshes, below.  I don't think those leaves are going anywhere, anytime soon.

After collecting leaves for table decorations they settled in to some puzzles.  I thought it was interesting they chose this one today; a day with a uniquely American celebration.

Using heirloom pieces for the table setting made our dinner feel extra festive.  Who says a kitchen table can't be elegant?  The girls fell in love with the German figurine wine glasses (they drank cider) and although Paul and I worried that they might get broken, I really wanted to make a special memory for them.  They proclaimed these their favorite part of the meal.

And that was one of the last pictures I took before I dropped the camera.  Now everything looks like this.   

I'm pretty bummed, but I'm sure (????) that it's a simple, inexpensive repair (she said with quivering lip.)  But it was a great day even with a new thing to add to the fix-it list ... really great all around.  I'm so ready to go into this weekend with fun things to work on. 

Hope you all had a good day as well.  Soon it's December.

family treasures for the table

Getting ready. 

Grandma's finery; Bavarian china. silver, and carving set.  I'm so thankful to have these treasured things and -- after many years in storage -- be washing them to use, for the first time since she had them on her own table.  There's service for six; just right for our small gang together this year.

While the family plays outside on this sunny, warm afternoon, I'm pouring over recipes and will soon head out armed with my list.  I'm sure the stores are crazy, but that's okay.  Not much can get in the way of this good spirit today. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you, near and far.

feathered headresses and corn bread

An entry for the kindergarten memory book project. 

Not the stuff of the stereotypical book.  But i want to keep it real; sincere. This isn't fiction after all.

[For a woman who's been shooting everyday images for a few months, wouldn't you know I forgot the camera at home for this "big" kindergarten event.  Thanks to my friend Megan for snapping a few for me today.]

----------------------------

The Thanksgiving feast

Your class had been preparing all month: discussing native Americans, making beaded patterned necklaces and feathered headdresses, choosing your own squaw princess names, and crafting tom-tom drums. 

For you (for us) this only meant that your anxiety over the event had been building for equally as long.  We tried at home to offer assurance that Mom will be there, right by your side, and we recounted the tale of Helen's same experience just a few years ago.  Still, you didn't want to think about it at bedtime last night and were distracted this morning enough to not mention anything. 

During the procession into the school hall, you grimaced and tucked a couple strands of hair into your mouth (a new comfort mechanism you've started in the last two months) barely looking up even as you saw me.  While other children laughed and caroused, you sat quietly by my side ... trying to hug an uncooperative Marty or shift your little body as close to me as possible, because you were uncomfortable with the little pilgrim girl to your right. 

You nibbled some popcorn, an apple wedge, a cornbread square and a small serving of corn.  It just didn't seem like enough (to me) to hold you through the afternoon.  It was all you wanted to manage with the excitement going on around us.

Then something good happened: your friend Reily came up and tapped your shoulder with the biggest smile and warmest greeting.  This gave you just the boost you needed to feel okay.  Good timing, as just after Reily bounded away, they called for Indians to gather at the front.   This was it: the moment you had been dreading for weeks.  However, in light of this friendly encounter you felt energized; more confident even.  You simply stood and with a quick "bye" went off to join the rest.  I had to check myself; was it really that easy?

Situated comfortably between Jo Jo and Riely, friends since preschool, you seemed fine; happily anonymous among the crowd.  Still, when the singing and gesturing to songs, like "Lullaby little papoose" or the energetic "pow wow" song began, you remained motionless; stoic.  I'm really glad that you have a buddy to prod you on, as Riely did, even though you participated only to the level that you chose.  No peer pressure was going to sway you on that one.

As your Mommy, it's hard for me to stand by and watch when you are so uneasy and want to be rescued.  Sharing a smile and a wave from across the way was the best I could do in that moment.    But you did good, Joanie!  You did great.  You did as much as you could do, in your own way.  And I'm so proud of you.  With each small accomplishment like this I'd like to think that you grow.  At least that's what we parents tell ourselves to get through it, as a way for us to deal with our own uncertainty perhaps.

images of the season

There is so much beauty out there this season.  I've collected these few from flickr, as seen through the lens of some very talented women.  Lately I'm taking in so much inspiration, and by this I don't mean merely a project or idea that I want to copy outright (though sometimes that might be the case) but more so, I'm identifying a visual sensibility that speaks to me; that I want to emulate.

Links/credits for the above mosaic images are:

1. handmade by me 2. window 3. wool pillow  4. studio table  5. untitled  6. objectos da caixa de lata  7. Flor de Inverno  8. cover shot 9. reindeer  10. bliss cookie  11. tree  12.  blocks  13. wondering if it will ever get cold enough to wear my new bird coat from anthropologie  14. chestnut&acorn peeps  15.  Sunday  16. Untitled

Some new goals have been established around here.  No sense in waiting for the new year when I'm feeling the motivation right now:

1. I'm designing and finishing a layout a week to capture our family stories.  I conceived and quickly put together this on the weekend.  Fun!
2. I'll be creating one small illustrative piece per week.  Some might be line art doodles, some watercolors or acrylics.  A confidence maintenance exercise. 
3. I will take one photo (maybe more) but always one a day, now through the end of December, focused on a small piece of this season in our daily lives.

Sometimes I think that my new year's goals don't stick because of the time of year that they're set.  There's a natural lull come January where we want to just huddle inside or play in the cold and not concern ourselves with the future and the seriousness of goals.  For me there is anyway.  Right now, when I'm really busy, is the best time for me to adopt some regularity to these routines.

Onward!

talk ... witty talk

Over the summer while visiting friends in Cleveland, Ohio, we spent some time at Lake Effect Radio studios recording a demo for a conceptual segment on building and architecture, currently called "living structures".  I love the name and I think it evokes the right sense of our interests on the subject.

The demo arrived this week and during a quiet evening we sat down together to listen.  What we heard had us laughing, smiling and nodding in agreement.  The producer, Joan Andrews, made us sound ... not bad ... in fact, pretty darn good.  I expect "good" from Paul, he has a natural, clear voice that reveals his humor and good nature.  But I think the demo alleviated concerns as to my own contribution.

Details aren't firm, but what is absolutely certain is that we trust Joan -- completely -- with the refinement of our thoughts and ideas.  She brought together our questions and remarks, which were often tangential in the studio, into a seamless, smooth (dare I say) interesting dialog.  She's a talented producer who knows what she wants, how to get what she needs, and how to bring it all together in editing to achieve her desired result.  This doesn't surprise me, but it does reassure me of my ability (with her support) in this new public presentation of self.  Thank you Joan, for that.

Of course this is still conceptual and will take time to arrange schedules, topics and specifics. I share this here mostly as a way to capture and share my excitement at the possibilities right now. I'm really looking forward to the prospect of making a radio segment part of our new reality for 2008.

There are a couple of links to current Lake Effect Radio programs in my left sidebar: Novel Conversations (a very fun program about classic literature) and Greenlight Reviews, covering film.   You might listen to the podcasts, which I heartily recommend, when you have some time.

learning something new every day

Okay, I know I said recently that I believe hand written journaling is best -- and here I've gone and done something different.  I still do prefer hand writing to type, but in this case there was just a lot I wanted to say and sometimes the best way for me to get it out is just to sit down and type away.  There will be no shortage of my handwriting in my children's albums.  This one can be different.

What I learned on this layout: 

1. I am fickle.  Where telling my own stories is concerned, as soon as I finish something I look at it and see a bunch of other directions I might have gone. The answer to that (the way to satisfy that feeling in myself) is to simply do more.
2. Maybe everyone out there already knows this, but there is a product called Art Accentz tacky tape that is just great for little strips of cord and ribbon.  I bought it on advice from a very helpful woman at Recollections, (which, btw is going out of business) thinking "yeah, okay whatever ..."  But I'm very glad that I did.  Made super easy work of the ric rac, here. 
3. I decided the next long note I write like this will be tucked into a little library pocket. Its own tidy little spot. (next time)

It's not easy for me to photograph these layouts. It looks crooked, which it's not.  A close-up of the whole page is in my gallery at two peas, or here in my photo album.

Does anyone know what this is?

If I had a category entitled "weird things you find in the woods" this would be the first entry.  The color is correct, a sort of neon yellow, brain-shaped fungus.  A google search proved fruitless.  We saw four of them in all.  Another unusual woodland sighting ... What?  Is that a city over there?  Yes, that's Georgetown, part of DC, a really nice shopping, dining, residential part.

 

When you're half way around the Roosevelt Island hike there are paths leading down to the edge of the Potomac and civilization is visible once again.   But for most of the walk it's lovely and serene.

Just right for junior journalers.

And just playing outside (while still inside the beltway) taking in the sights.