For my birthday, Akiva shoveled a path through the Johnville Bog.
It was a lot of work!
Meanwhile, Iris & Martin played a game of snowball catch.
Later, Martin built a winding road for Akiva’s cars.
He also did some acrobatics with Iris—
at the same time!
To prove it is autumn, we went to Green Lake State Park.
The older folks thought we were slow, so they passed the time by walking rapidly—
to & fro & to & fro & to & fro.
The younger generation was considerably sower.
We pondered the things we saw in the lake.
We pondered the view of the lake.
We pondered twining roots and shapes of leaves.
We pondered the difference between lake and sky.
And we pondered wheely things. Or, at least, one of us did.
I tried to photograph my mother and her mother together at my grandmother’s apartment, where I like the lighting. I have tried this a few times, but I haven’t gotten something I like yet. On this occasion, my grandmother was really quite compliant & silent, tho she said she couldn’t figure out what’s going on. My mom is really quite talkative, which is lovely, tho talkative mouths are not quite as photogenic as mouths that keep their minds to themselves. Should I have a chance to attempt this again, I would have both of them stand near the window and look straight at the camera with their heads as close together as possible. I have a wide-angle lens & when things aren’t aligned, it really shows the foreshortening.
This is my favorite photo of my two old women together:
I love my mother’s face in this photo:
& I love my grandmother’s face in this photo— but what was my mom chatting about? I have no recollection.
There will be a time when there are no more naps.
I will miss the naps.
Seeking sunlight and a split-rail fence, I went to Iris’s school to take photos of a new doll I made.
Akiva wasn’t particularly delighted that I was not there to take photos of him.
So, of course, I had to take some photos of him.
I tried to get him to do one thing or another for the camera—
but he’s at his best when he’s acting like his regular self.
Iris has always been a people watcher. She stated this to me explicitly at age two. One of her favorite people to watch is Uncle Dan. She likes to watch him draw, especially when he is drawing landscapes. Rendering a landscape in watercolor is a magical act.
Landscape:
* * *
Later, at home, Gramma watches Iris knit.
Now & again, she lends a hand.
Knitting is not one of Iris’s favorite activities, but she is much better at it than I am!
Somewhere in Eden, naked young children play amongst tall flowers growing by a river.
I couldn’t carry both enough water to get us comfortably through our longest of hikes and carry Akiva, so I bought Iris a backpack. It gives her superpowers— the most wonderful of which is the super power to enable us to carry enough water.
