We got a later start getting to Maryland for Christmas this year; our plan was to leave when I got off work last night but a family-wide flu delayed us till this morning. Boy, was it a nasty bug we caught! I thought it was something I'd eaten when I got it on Friday evening since I didn't have most of the other symptoms, but on Saturday morning, as I was leaving Rob and Olive to work the stand at the market, Olive was acting unusually upset and Rob said he was starting to feel sick - a rare occurrence indeed. I went home to make up for the night of sleep I'd lost and waited for his call. It came a few hours later; Olive was vomiting all over the place so I got up to go relieve them. I'd gotten enough sleep to recharge me to the point where I could work the last few hours without too much difficulty. I returned home to a house where the virus was in full swing - a troubling situation for a mother and wife - so I immediately commenced preparing my very first chicken stock from scratch. We all needed to replenish our fluids and I figured that was the best - if not the quickest - way. I roasted the chicken then picked it apart and simmered nearly all of it in a broth with an onion lots of garlic, salt, and rosemary, and let it slowly cook all night. Its hot, salty fattiness was unbelievably soothing on my empty stomach.
So this morning we decided we were all well enough for the 3 1/2 hour drive to my parents' house. A busy day was in store for us with an afternoon stop into Baltimore so I could see my old friends-employers at Amaryllis followed by a visit with my old friend Rita. It had begun to snow lightly before we left my parents' house but the roads were just wet and posed no threat. While we were in Amaryllis (the best jewelry store in Maryland - wait - the country), Olive busied herself leafing through magazines and admiring the inventory while I caught up with Allie and AnnMarie. Rob had been keeping an eye on her but she suddenly disappeared. We looked all over the store and she was nowhere to be seen. I poked my head outside and didn't see her, but when Rob did the same we heard a car horn and then we saw her, up the block and a across the street, being taken into the care of an officious-looking gentleman on the corner. Rob dashed across to retrieve her and she appeared to be oblivious to the danger of the situation and our fear. I suppose she'd simply wanted to check out the feathered deer in the Anthropologie window display (I could hardly blame her). Still, another brush with something like that made me that much more conscious of how easily and quickly terrible accidents can happen with children. I'm so thankful that it turned out the way it did and that my dear child is safe and asleep, warm in her crib.
We ended up nixing church and my longtime tradition of my friend, Natalie's parents' Christmas Eve party, and stayed home because the roads had become too horrific. Fortunately our car performs well in wintry conditions, and Rob and I have plenty of Alaska- and Maine-driving experience, but we saw an alarming number of cars off the road so we opted to play it safe and relax. Being in Maryland this year sure beats the way I spent Christmas last year, laid up in bed with the flu (?) while Rob worked. There was nothing Christmasy about it.
Monday, December 24, 2012
Monday, December 10, 2012
December with the Cramers
This month has gotten off to a pretty great start. It began with my mom visiting the market where I work to do a signing for her book, But the Greatest of These is Love. It was nice to have here there for a few hours so she could experience my workplace and meet some of my friends.
I have just discovered, after nearly five weeks of going without wheat in my diet, that the itchy condition on my legs has drastically improved. I was waiting to talk about it for fear that I'd jinx myself, but it's been nearly a week of relief and it's so much more comfortable at night without all the scratching and bleeding. What's more, I no longer resemble a dog with mange from the knees down, which is great. It really hasn't been all that much of a sacrifice like I'd thought. I didn't give up gluten which frees me up to continue to enjoy many of the foods I love, like oatmeal.
I'm feeling like an artist again, after a few years of taking on very few side projects. I was asked by a friend who manages our neighborhood coffee shop, Tazza D'Oro, if I'd be willing to show my work there during the month of January and I eagerly accepted. My plan was to reproduce a collection of photographs from our trip in October in watercolors, so I have my work cut out for me between now and the first of the year. I'm really excited about creating a fresh body of work for the occasion, and have carved out a small studio space for myself in our living room. In addition to working on paintings for the show (which will also be hung in March for another show at my friend's book store), I have on my plate a large-scale watercolor portrait for a client who won a painting at a benefit auction back in the spring and a very special scratchboard portrait for a dear friend's Christmas gift to another dear friend. I'm busy.
Work has really picked up with the onset of December. People are getting serious about their gift purchasing now. One gentleman came to my stand for presents and bought twenty-seven bottles of olive oil and balsamics! I just had my best Saturday ever - and perhaps weekend, though I haven't compared the total numbers yet. I'm still on the hunt for a storefront space but I've gotten a few very promising leads, so hopefully by the beginning of the new year I'll have found the place where my business can call home.
Rob's been doing some hands-on work with Julie, the female kinkajou in the zoo's education department. She's aggressive and not very friendly, so his goal is to tame her and get her better adjusted to human interaction. He teaches a lot of classes and yesterday led two groups of three year-olds, an age with which he's especially familiar since Olive is only two months shy of that mark. One of the parents told him afterwards that it was the best class she'd ever seen conducted. He puts so much into his work and I'm exceedingly proud of him for bringing such enthusiasm to his job. He excels in whatever he does.
Olive's been a little funny thing lately. Yesterday, after waking from a good nap at the market, I suggested we go to the restroom to change her diaper. "You stink," I told her. "I smell beautiful!," she replied. She's so filled with joy so much of the time (her down moments are rare and short-lived, thankfully). I cannot imagine a more pleasant child. We are so blessed by her each and every day.
I have just discovered, after nearly five weeks of going without wheat in my diet, that the itchy condition on my legs has drastically improved. I was waiting to talk about it for fear that I'd jinx myself, but it's been nearly a week of relief and it's so much more comfortable at night without all the scratching and bleeding. What's more, I no longer resemble a dog with mange from the knees down, which is great. It really hasn't been all that much of a sacrifice like I'd thought. I didn't give up gluten which frees me up to continue to enjoy many of the foods I love, like oatmeal.
I'm feeling like an artist again, after a few years of taking on very few side projects. I was asked by a friend who manages our neighborhood coffee shop, Tazza D'Oro, if I'd be willing to show my work there during the month of January and I eagerly accepted. My plan was to reproduce a collection of photographs from our trip in October in watercolors, so I have my work cut out for me between now and the first of the year. I'm really excited about creating a fresh body of work for the occasion, and have carved out a small studio space for myself in our living room. In addition to working on paintings for the show (which will also be hung in March for another show at my friend's book store), I have on my plate a large-scale watercolor portrait for a client who won a painting at a benefit auction back in the spring and a very special scratchboard portrait for a dear friend's Christmas gift to another dear friend. I'm busy.
Work has really picked up with the onset of December. People are getting serious about their gift purchasing now. One gentleman came to my stand for presents and bought twenty-seven bottles of olive oil and balsamics! I just had my best Saturday ever - and perhaps weekend, though I haven't compared the total numbers yet. I'm still on the hunt for a storefront space but I've gotten a few very promising leads, so hopefully by the beginning of the new year I'll have found the place where my business can call home.
Rob's been doing some hands-on work with Julie, the female kinkajou in the zoo's education department. She's aggressive and not very friendly, so his goal is to tame her and get her better adjusted to human interaction. He teaches a lot of classes and yesterday led two groups of three year-olds, an age with which he's especially familiar since Olive is only two months shy of that mark. One of the parents told him afterwards that it was the best class she'd ever seen conducted. He puts so much into his work and I'm exceedingly proud of him for bringing such enthusiasm to his job. He excels in whatever he does.
Olive's been a little funny thing lately. Yesterday, after waking from a good nap at the market, I suggested we go to the restroom to change her diaper. "You stink," I told her. "I smell beautiful!," she replied. She's so filled with joy so much of the time (her down moments are rare and short-lived, thankfully). I cannot imagine a more pleasant child. We are so blessed by her each and every day.
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