Minky & Me

Today I had a tea party. Eight friends came over for tea, sandwiches and desserts. It was great fun. This morning Minky helped me bake the desserts.

Sinéad and The Brawn are vacationing this week with their mother so we are taking care of their dog, Lucy.

Lucy always comes here when they go away. She and our dog, Rocky, are like boyfriend and girlfriend. They follow each other around all day long. They get into spats over Rocky’s toys. They both enjoy nibbling a stray finger puppet or stuffed animal. Why just tonight I saw the lion finger puppet on my bedroom floor with most of its face missing.

While my mother was here for Easter she dubbed the dogs, “Team America.” I found this hysterically funny. All week long we joked about Team America doing this or that. “Look, Team America is sitting on my lap,” or “Did anyone feed Team America?”

Being around them reminds me of footage I’ve seen of the secret service hustling heads of state through crowds. It’s the same sense of excitement mingled with the possibility of disaster. A sniper in the living room or maybe a juicy steak bone? It doesn’t matter. Team America is ready, excited even.

Every year I say that it will be winter until June 1 when miraculously someone pulls a switch and gray cold spring turns into hot, humid summer. I swear this is only a slight exaggeration.

This week though it has truly been spring, like the springs we had when I was growing up in Connecticut. The trees are blossoming and the days have been wonderfully warm.

We planted two lilac bushes on Monday. Lilacs were among my grandmother’s favorites and for that reason, along with their smell, is why I love them too. We also planted a Korean Spice Viburnum which has an intoxicating scent.

The Independent Film Festival opened on Wednesday and Layr’s company did the open. It was pretty exciting to see their work on a movie theater screen.

I did three bike rides in the last week: 8 miles, 12 miles and 23 miles.

This morning Minky put on her shirt all by herself. She’s getting pretty good at dressing, which to the non-parent seems like a pretty insignificant achievement, I’m sure, but to me it is damn exciting.

If you click on the picture just to the right of this entry you can view some of our latest photos.

Other than that there is nothing much to write.

Just now, as we were getting dressed, Minky pointed out that we were “nudie nudes.” This is one of her favorite expressions. When asked if Rocky was a nudie nude, Minky replied, “No. He’s a furry guy.”

Every year, the first weekend in May, we head to NYC for Bike NY. This year Minky and I won’t be riding but Layr, The Brawn and Sinéad will. They started their training this morning. If you look closely at the photo you’ll see how seriously my husband takes safety. He is wearing an Irish cap because he left his helmet at work.

Two quick stories.

This evening at Ann Taylor Loft, Minky stripped down while I was busily trying on clothes (not paying attention to what she was up to) and then crawled under the dressing room door. It took me a moment to follow her because I had been in the middle of an outfit change. I whipped open the door to see her sitting in front of a toy chest meant for restless children. Minky was on her knees in front of it…buck-naked. The sales person must have seen but didn’t say a word.

Tonight Minky made her first attempt at sleeping on a “big girl bed.” Her dad pulled the mattress out of her crib when she lay down on the floor pretending to sleep at bedtime. She lasted about two minutes and then came running out of her room with Willard clutched to her chest. Realizing there would be no end to the bedroom escapes and no sleep for Minky either, Layr put the mattress back.