Stage Six: Pickled

Patrick slept most of the day on Friday. I kept thinking I would wake him up and take him to the doctor but he looked so pink and peaceful as he lay sprawled in our bed that it just didn't seem right to do so. When he finally woke up he was starving and after watching him plow through five bowls of soggy Cheerios I decided that he was probably going to survive without any further interventions. Whether it just took a solid week to start recovering from the surgery or he was battling some random virus I guess we shall never know. However, I now feel all headache-y and gross so if I had to bet I would say the latter. Of course, now that I think about it, I had a Bloody Mary before ten o'clock this morning so perhaps that is contributing to my mid-day malaise. We are just a houseful of medical mysteries, aren't we? Anyway Patrick, at least, is finally much better and after considerable debate we decided he was well enough to attend the first day of school. Which was today.

Tonight I told Patrick that after I dropped him off I went to a party.

"That's weird," said Patrick. "Who would have a party in the morning?"

"It was a bunch of moms who were excited about the first day of school," I said.

"You mean the party was to celebrate kids having to go back to school?"

"Yep!"

"And all of the other people were happy about this?"

"Yep!"

Patrick looked sympathetic.

"What did you do when you found out?" he asked.

"When I found out... ?"

"When you found out that they weren't sad like you were?"

I blinked at him. He's very cute. Delusional but cute.

I have been holding onto this picture for months. It's from March and it is, like, visual proof that Patrick was sick for MONTHS and MONTHS and yet Steve and I had clearly lost all sense of what a healthy child should look like. Because why was he out hunting for mushrooms when he should have been, oh I don't know, getting a transfusion or something. Doesn't he look horrible? All gray and peaked? He could have walked into a casting call for a particularly gritty Dickens' production only to be told thank you, but we are looking for something a little less starving consumptive orphan.

Yet again I want to be able to flow in two directions:

1. I found these pictures in the same folder as that one of Patrick (not pictured, the Grim Reaper) and I have been meaning to ask you for months; what do you think this building was before it became a picturesque ruin? [Someday I hope to be similarly labeled on a photo "Julia, before she became a picturesque ruin."] Patrick and Steve stumbled across this structure in the middle of the woods in Wisconsin a few miles from the river. You can click on the pictures to make them bigger but it had one wall that was solid stone, one that had three narrow window openings, one with a door and a small window and evidence of a staircase, and one with a large double door. Brick chimney. Constructed of local stone. Any guesses?
 

2. Patrick finally moved back up to his room but I have left the inflatable mattress on the floor for a few days because Edward and Caroline LOVE IT.

"Bow bow bow?" Edward asks. "Bowwwwnse?" Caroline clarifies.

Once Patrick started feeling better (say, Saturday) he was more than willing to bounce up and down on the mattress and send them flying like ninepins.

 

I liked the fact that although Edward was amused by the up and down he never released his little writing tablet and he kept diligently practicing... something, scratching I think... even as Caroline and Patrick were, literally, bouncing off the walls behind him.

He is like the guy at the frat house who keeps trying to finish his paper despite the fact that people are using his room for kegstands.

Once upon a time I was devoted to the works of Maud Hart Lovelace, authoress of the Betsy-Tacy series. In fact, one summer vacation in Michigan I almost managed to convince my father that we should swing over to Mankato, Minnesota and view firsthand the town that inspired the books' Deep Valley. Unfortunately, my mother (O thou enemy of Culture) pointed out that it was about fourteen hours each way, so I had to wait until Steve and I moved to Minnesota to make my pilgrimage.

I mention this because in the books Betsy's family had a hired girl named Anna who had previously worked for a family named McCloskey. The McCloskeys assumed near mythic proportions and they always had muffins on the first day of school. Therefore Betsy's family always had muffins on the first day of school and today I made muffins for the first day of school. Jambalaya muffins and, if I ever stop writing here, I will put the recipe up over at Scrambled. Hey, speaking of which, someone asked if it was possible for me to make a printable version of the recipes over there. And since I am always willing to try to oblige I tried to look up how to do something like that but was stymied when I searched the Typepad help files. So if any of you know how to create something like that and feel like telling me or linking me or just generally shoving me in the right direction I would be grateful.

The first time I took Patrick to school I cried in the parking lot. Today I had a Bloody Mary. You know, because I was so sad.

Comments

[shriek house]

Gotta be a Blair Witch house. Or possibly Bluebeard's.

BTW, I honestly don't know what is more delicious, Patrick or that morell he's clutching.

[Anna M]

Aw poo, I commented on the wrong entry.

I love the pic of Edward writing. The only possible caption for the Dickensian picture of Patrick is 'Please sir, I want some morel.'

I am glad he's doing better and off to school.

[lauren]

i spent a year or so as a hired girl for a family named mccloskey, as it happens. they were near-mythic as well, but in their case it was because their children (who ate only microwaveable snack food, and would have scoffed at muffins) traumatized me so thoroughly that i was never willing to babysit again.

[Tammi]

For those who might be interested, there is a Maud Lovelace award that is voted on by young readers. Any library in MN should have details...or http://www.maudhartlovelace.org/

Though an avid young reader myself, I did not read this series either. Probably cause I skipped from Beverly Cleary to Tolkien to Stephen King. And then there was an entire grocery sack of harlequins that an elderly neighbor lady gave me. (Which I hid in my closet.) Will have to check it out...when I finish the Twilight series.

[pixi]

A fort? Maybe from the time of the Indian Wars? The large double door might be big enough to accomodate a horse. And the narrow windows might be for rifles?

Just a guess!

Glad Patrick is on the mend.

[Denise]

Patrick looks OK to me, but that mushroom is reeeeeally ugly.

For making printable versions: .pdf? You should be able to make .pdfs for free using your Mac. If not, download a copy of OpenOffice.

[Abby]

I'm lazy and I'm not going to read through the comments, but I use Google Docs to create printable documents for my food blog. Easy, peasy.

And yes. Patrick's coloring is so much better in the Three Monkeys on the Bed photo. He looks like he feels MUCH better.

[QoB]

I second OpenOffice - one click and your pdf is looking beautiful.

[Portia]

I LOVE the Betsy-Tacy books. And now I love you even more. They're some of my favorite books of all time (though, now that I'm in an English ph.d. program, I don't think I'm allowed to admit that out loud...damn).

So glad Patrick's feeling better!

[Kristin]

my guess is church?? I love a good mystery... Today was my firstborn's first day of school. I cried like a baby. Can't wait until I feel up to a party on the 1st day of school!

[R]

So glad Patrick is feeling better!
I was unsure what the building was until I looked at the pic where Patrick is standing in front of it. The front of the building (behind Patrick) looks exactly like the entrance of a church! Just imagine the steeple on top.

[R]

Forgot to mention this in my last comment... surpisingly I don't think I've read the betsy-tracy books but I definitely understand where you're coming from. I was a similarly book-obsessed, especially historical books about young girls, kind of kid. I even made a pilgrimmage to go see Prince Edward Island after reading the Anne of Green Gables books many many times. And Prince Edward Island is about 12 hours from my childhood home, so I don't think you were crazy for wanting to go to Minnesota.

[KarenT]

Lovely, meandering post. Patrick looks so much better. I was wondering if you find much disparity between your kids' intellectual capabilities and emotional development/maturity, and if so, does it affect your parenting?

[Amy]

Funnily enough my husband is about to have his tonsils out so I've been reading about Partrick with interest. That photo of Patrick gave me hope because my hubbie looks grey and about a decade older than his age all the time (and has for months). I wonder if he'll look as cute as Patrick when he's recovered from his surgery?

[j]

Go lefty Edward! Yay!

[uberimma]

Small church, probably.

[Michelle]

Edward is clearly a genius. He is holding his little stylus correctly, while my five-year-old still uses a fist grip when she writes.

[Amy]

The fact that you quoted Betsy-Tacy and make muffins for the first day of school secures my undying devotion. I never met a B-T fan I didn't like. :-) I made the Mankato pilgrimage (from TEXAS) a few years ago and LOVED it. There is a Betsy-Tacy Society (http://www.betsy-tacysociety.org) that owns Betsy's and Tacy's houses now and is full of people that sound every bit of stalkerish as I do now, but are really very lovely. :-) I wanted to make muffins for my daughter's very first day of school but she - get this - doesn't like muffins. Traitor! But she turns 5 in March and you can bet your sweet bippy I'll be reading the story of Betsy's 5th birthday party to her that day - I've been planning this since I found out I was having a girl. As I told my friends when we were in Mankato - no I'm not a stalker - I'm thorough!

[Becky]

I, too, loved Betsy, Tacy and Tib. Small world!

[Lisame]

Definately a place of worship.

[Kristine]

Oh, wow, you just brought back amazing memories from my childhood, curled up in my great-great aunt's arm chair surrounded by library books from our small-town library. I loved the Betsy-Tacy books. I can't even guess how many times I checked them out of the library.

Right now I'm sitting here thinking of our old maid librarian who was so sweet to me. She always let me take out more than the three books the rules stated, unlike the mean younger substitute librarian.

I've always been sad I don't have a girl to share my favorite childhood books with. I guess I can try with my boys anyway.

My youngest, Kiel is about six weeks older than your Twinkles, and compared to them looks like the village idiot! OK, not that bad, but wow, you really do grow smart kids! Of course today Kiel decided he wanted to go downstairs and I wasn't dressed yet, so he brought me my shirt and then my bra. He might not talk yet but he gets his message across.

So glad Patrick is feeling better!

[winecat]

Well my first guess from the small pictures would have been a house. But the larger pictures don't speak house to me. Perhaps a Quaker meeting house because it gives off religious vibes but mellow ones rather than Jimmy Swaggert ones.

In a some what but not really related note I discovered one of our tenants does not believe in evolution! Except for certain presidental candidates I was not aware people like this really existed.

And I'm so sad you had to have a bloody mary to help you get Patrick off to the first day of school - that's a group of VERY SMART MOMS!