the Kansas - Oregon trail: October 2006

all hallow's eve

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Samhain. All Hallows. All Hallow’s Eve. Hallow E’en. Halloween. The most magical night of the year. A night of glowing jack-o’-lanterns, bobbing for apples, tricks or treats, and dressing in costume. A night of ghost stories and séances, tarot card readings and scrying with mirrors. A night of power, when the veil that separates our world from the Otherworld is at its thinnest. A “spirit night”, as they say in Wales.

We think that's all well and nice but we just like to dress up our daughter like vegetables and this is the only day we get to do it.

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jack-o-lanterns r us

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spooky. We were invited to a pumpkin carving afternoon over at John and Nicole's house across the street.

It was the collection of prison shanks that we were presented with to carve them up that will keep me coming back.

This is serious work. John even broke out the power tools for his abstract creation.

Nicole will probably want to kill me for putting this picture up, but their home is put together with such care and thought that I feel compelled to show her in her living room. She is due again in the middle of December.
Such great people in our new life here.

Ariana is one of them. I don't think she cared much for the whole pumpkin business, but she came out of her shell today with us and was amazingly playful where she had mostly been shy and observing before.

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fall with new peeps

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me and some of my people hopped in the truck and headed out into the fall day. deer season just started, I'm told. I almost hit one on my bicycle the other day. That's another story.

my peep.

my girl and her peep.

ruca has a new friend named Oakley that lives directly behind us. She is very happy. The neighbors seem really cool as well. A couple most recently from Chicago here for law school and a teaching job.

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pumpkin patch evidence

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the two doctors were intrigued by the bio-socio-neuro-culutural implications of these anthropological finds so much that they felt compelled to join in.

it was a cold one. the wind hinted that winter was coming.

this is obviously for us and not her, yet. photo ops that border on child endangerment are the norm in the patch.

...evidence of our complete disregard.

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the shelter of a pink cloud

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my brother Paul was in town with his girlfriend, Taryn.

he got to meet his little niece for the first time.

we went over to Tom & Linda's for some take-out thai on Sunday.

I woke up to this the other morning.

who doesn't enjoy a pink cloud?

goodbye Uncle Paul and Aunt Taryn. There will be more pictures coming in a few days.

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first playdate

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Ms. Violet had her first playdate with her friend (to be) Sabina. Thea and Wendy spent time out on the lawn with the two little ones while we got our new roof installed.

It's really good to notice how much our little girl smiles. she certainly cries a lot as well.

magic afternoon flights on the clouds (the anesthesia is wearing off from the minor surgery today).

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Sanity break

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Today we were informed that a movie we were interested in seeing had just arrived to the Liberty Hall, a great downtown Lawrence landmark that plays the art films and is also a great rock and roll venue. Mick Cottin asked us if we wanted a private viewing before the theater opened so we could see it and not have to worry about the baby screaming and making a fuss in public. It was so nice and it probably doesn't occur to him how cool that was. He's that nice of a guy.

ticket for one.

let the show begin! the film was amazing. It was titled, "Half Nelson". It was a huge stretch for me to relate. It was about a drug addict teacher in the inner city who grows disillusioned. It was really nice to see it played so empathetically and not cartoonish and silly. Great acting. it was hard to watch for me, but good all the same. Go see it.

on a lighter note, this is David Sedaris. You'll have to take my word for it, I suppose. He was hysterical. I wasn't sure how funny it would be to see him read his own stuff - even though I enjoy him immensely on This American Life - and I laughed through the whole thing. Perfect. Also our first time with a "babysitter", Linda took great care of Violet. All in all a sanity day sponsored by the Cottin's. Thank you.

These two fine gentlemen made this evening possible. They are responsible for the performing arts center funding - and everything about this couple just screams "Party", Kansas style, if you ask me.

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whoa, cosmic!

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I don't know what's funnier, the fact that from this angle she looks like a raver with the jeans - even down to tripping out on simple shapes and sucking on a binky, or the fact that we are offended that her favorite thing is this garish, primary-colored plastic crap that we are required to have in the house and will need to get used to. I suppose we fall into several cliche categories with that pointless wish.