A walk in the woods

What a beautiful day for a walk. Dried mud crunching under our feet was decidedly less satisfying than the pine forests of the New England, but I am so not missing the cold. I wish I hadn't had my phone with me. The calls ruined the magic of being "alone".

Then of course, Isabella started whining... can we go back... carry me on your shoulders daddy.
It would be nice, just for a minute, to be child-free. (I know that is a terrible thought, awful, evil, but I had it, so there is no lying to myself.) Totally free. With no one to worry if I wander in late or if I might have been run over by a mad skateboarding fiend (of which there are many around these parts.)

Of course I love to hear the child discussions going on behind me, the swishing of the fallen leaves, the entimology discussion of Nico... precocious kids are great.

So, off to the lovely Alison's house. We decided to throw a party in her fab space in honor of survival and Chema's wedding next week. It's too bad we can't go to Venezuela, and I _really_ regret not being able to go to Xalapa for Melissa's wedding over Thanksgiving ;( I hope it was the fest it promised to be. On other fronts, Julie is pregnant and happy... so parts of the friend world _seem_ to be in order. Funny that the appearance of happiness is not to be taken for the reality of it, but heck, we might as welljust go with the flow. Which I will.

So, girls getting together to cook for the boys. Very sexist, but fun, too. They'll all be cute when they show up later and we will have been "slaving" away (with bottles of wine, and... ;)