Thursday, June 9, 2011

Like I was saying...

Playing with Aunt Angie

...Angie spent her precious vacation this year at our house.

(What on earth was she thinking??! We're so boring. I'm constantly rattling on about boobs and poop, while Robb is 24-7 obsessed with building his model skipjack. And then there's the screaming baby.)

But she did it. She braved the airline with the flip-top planes and made her way to our wilderness outpost in Southern Maryland for two whole weeks. And we are so glad that she did!

Sukey waiting for Angie to wake up

Sukey told me that Angie sleeps altogether too late in the morning. She wanted wake Angie up to tell her herself, but I told her that was rude. Instead Sukey decided to sit outside Angie's door and cry. So I had to put a gate across the hallway and make her sit a respectful distance from our sleeping guest. Every. Single. Morning.

Flying baby

Mo loves her Auntie and had lots of fun playing with her. The baby, as usual, limited our outings somewhat. But we still managed to go to Mom's house for a weekend, go walking around Solomons and Annmarie Garden, visit the Calvert Marine Museum, and explore St. Mary's City. Poor Ange, she thought St. Mary's City was going to be an actual city, maybe a shopping district, and not the place I went to on my fourth grade field trip. The look of confusion on her face as we drove up to the historic site... And we made her eat mayonnaise. At least once a day.

Manager visits the...

Much of Angie's visit looked like this: frantic knitting. What do you expect when two artsy crafty type girls get together? Spontaneous knitalong! We both got all amped up after spending a day at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival with Mom and Aunt Bunny. (I forgot to take my camera to both the festival AND Colin's 1st birthday party--still kicking myself about this.) Neither of us got too crazy with purchases at the festival. I bought yarn in one of the sheep barns from a farmer. He and his wife raise border leicester sheep. At first it was very exciting to be surrounding by so many delicious options, but after a while it's a tad overwhelming. Complete sensory overload! And I know that after the first few barns Mom--not a knitter--had seen enough yarn to last her a lifetime. We all took a break from shopping, ate lunch, and watched the herding demonstrations. I love to see border collies shoot out around the sheep like furry missiles. Aunt Bunny bought me the Elizabeth Zimmerman book I've been lusting after. Sweet! That was on Mother's Day. Robb graciously offered babysit so we could take our time at the festival. What a nice Mother's Day present!

Monster butt soaker by Angie

Monster butts

Angie and I each made shortie versions of Das Monster. Hers is green and orange; mine is purple and gold. By the way, Ange, remember when the farmer told me the purple yarn said it gets way softer when you wash it? I think he fibbed. I hand washed both pairs of shorts. Yours came out buttery soft, as did the yellowish-orange stripes on mine. But the purple parts still feel like a burlap sack. Should I wash them again and perhaps again after that? I'm not thrilled with the prospect of Mo's tushie being clad in steel wool.

Bonnet from PA Dutch

Angie brought Mo a bonnet and a doll from Pennsylvania Dutch country. I embroidered a face on the doll (the Amish make them faceless to ward off vanity). Mo was much happier wearing the bonnet than she was with the crown. Although her general ambivalence toward headwear remains.

Off with your head!

Queen Maureen does not approve. Off with your head!

Maureen and Angie

Mainly Angie's visit provided us all with an opportunity to get to know one another better. (This is probably an issue familiar to anyone in a blended family. Or anyone with large age gaps between the children in their family. We've got blending and age gaps going on. Which means that I get along well with my siblings and have a lot in common with them, but I did not share my childhood with them. So I grew up as an only child in one family AND I am the oldest of four in a completely different family. Make sense?) It was an excellent visit. After she flew home I looked around the suddenly too-quiet house and said to Robb, "I miss Angie." -- "Me, too."

Also, she taught me how to crochet and how to bind a quilt. Awesome! I finished the quilt and will be posting photos soon.

Oh and why didn't you tell me that your toothbrush was in that box you asked me to mail home for you? I went to slip a little note in before mailing (weeks after your trip in my usual prompt style) and saw your toothbrush inside. Tell me you bought another toothbrush by now!

3 comments:

Tmomma said...

i love the monster pants, those are so so cute!! and sukey is so cute just sitting there waiting! glad to hear you had such a great visit!

Mo said...

MONSTER PANTS!!!!!!

Riddle me this, though: HOW do you get so much knitting done??? Liam has turned suddenly into Mr Grabby Hands Supreme.

No knitting alowed, unless he gets yo play too, and you know. Even Dr. Sears frowns on giving pointy sticks and string to babies.

Barb Mowery said...

So much knitting??? Bah! You're looking at the only finished project I'll have all year. And only b/c I was showing off for Ange. Now that she's gone home, I've got nobody to impress. And Mo's very grabby now, too.