Late in the summer, I put an ad in Front Porch Forum, the local virtual bulletin board: free mulch. Chloe came from around the corner with her garden cart. She filled the cart up in a leisurely manner, which both children appreciated. So did I. She told us where she lived. And so we saw her house each time we walked by, and we noticed, not long thereafter, that she had her own gigantic pile of wood chips delivered. I had thought she might come back for more. It would have been nice.

So towards autumn, I wrote her a letter, offering some strawberries. She came and dug them up slowly, quite slowly, with even greater leisure than she had shoveled wood chips. Indeed, I had never seen anyone dig strawberries so slowly in all my life. Akiva quite enjoyed it. Iris was at Mz. Terri’s, I believe. Which Chloe may have been a little disappointed about, or Iris may have been a little disappointed about— I forget which.

Later I discovered that her father might also like some strawberries. That was a good thing! So Chloe had to come dig up more strawberries. It was a good thing no one was paying her to dig strawberries! Poo! Akiva could have dug faster than that! Well, perhaps the slowness was due to the fact that Akiva was actually the one doing the digging. I don’t recall. But when the last strawberry was dug, I knew I’d run out of things to give her, and I believe I told her so.

“I don’t know how I’ll get you to come back,” I said.

“Well,” she said, “I’d like to.”

The days just seem to tumble one after the other and we haven’t really gotten to see her much, even tho she lives almost just around the corner.

Lucky for us, now and again we remember to visit. Or she does. I don’t have any photos of her, tho.

Here she took a walk with us into the woods to discover which patches of ice were frozen.

We found a few.

Last year’s baby goats, grown big, are surrounded by a tall fence.

Bears can not get in.

But the hen house door was not shut tight,

and in the bears did wander.

First, scattering the chickens, they went after the eggs.

Then they had their way with the hens themselves.

Mad bears!

They had themselves some fun.

They had snow.

Minou.

chak chak chak chak chak

chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak

chak chak chak chak

chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak

chak chak

chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak

chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak

chak chak chak chak chak

chak chak

chak chak chak chak chak

chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak

chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak

chak chak chak chak chak chak chak

chak chak chak

chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak

chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak

 chak chak chak  chak chak chak  chak chak chak chak chak  chak chak chak

 chak chak chak  chak chak

 chak chak chak

 chak chak chak  chak chak chak

chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak

chak chak chak chak chak chak chak

chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak chak  chak chak chak chak

chak chak

Gramps!

My family all came back for Christmas.

I have not been taking nearly enough photos.

No photos could have captured the loud neighing to which everyone awoke on Christmas morning.

And then we went outside.

It was cold.

Akiva spent a good deal of time fitting delightfully through Doorway Dan.

Then they talked about cars and stuff as they walked down the road together.

Ari was exceptionally cold.

She came up with the brilliant idea of using a baby as a wind-block.

“I like winter,” says Iris. “Except the part about putting on so much clothing.”

She made sure her little brother made it home safely.

Iris & Akiva were playing with Dressy Bessy.

Alice-like, Bessy had her foot out the door of a small house.

Akiva pulled.

There was a tearing sound.

It made me sad to put Bessy in the trash.

We aren’t all in these photos. Notably missing are Cate, who did not attend, and myself, who was behind the camera. Almost entirely but not quite missing is Ari, who you can see in the background of a photo, waiting for an excruciating kiss to end. Dan read books, Martin grew facial hair, Mom cooked everything, Dad made mom happy, Akiva and Iris were cute, and I took a few photos. Having all these people visit my teeny-tiny house made me quite happy.

Uncle Dan reads to Akiva & Iris.

Akiva tries to compete with his mother for memorable Thanksgiving photos.

Unclear on the concept: knife.

Formats of roundness.

Mmmm. Eyelashes. I mean, turkey wing.

Mmmm. Mustache.

My father & my brother.

My mother.

Magical hands.

Amen.