Day Thirteen: Clay and Pie
Taiya woke me up early after she had a bad dream about an Evil Olaf, which to be fair does sound terrifying. I was groggy and sought caffeine as soon as she fell back asleep.
A little later in the morning I was sitting on the porch when I believe it was Jeremy who first noticed that a snake, about eight feet away from me, was crawling out of the wall of the "old cabin" that our house is attached to and that has been half-repaired, half-neglected in favor of more pressing matters for years. We could see it's head and about a foot of its body poking out at about five feet up the wall. It was a king snake. Black back, white belly, non-venomous. We got Taiya and William out to see it, and we watched it look around, taste the air, stare down a skink that ran past, and then slither back into the house. Now, I've been talking about wanting to bulldoze the cabin for years. I always say, "When I win the lottery, that thing is gone." I turned to Jeremy in the middle of this nature show (during which I was having to act like this wasn't creepy and awful at all, not wanting to prejudice the children with my snake aversion) and said, "I'm going to actually start buying lottery tickets now." My next thought was, maybe I should start a go-fund-me page to get rid of the old ramshackle thing once and for all. One mention of snakes in the walls will make people sympathetic to my cause, don't you think?
After that episode of Close Encounters With Nature, Jeremy went to the post office and returned with an order of Sculpy (the modeling clay that you "fire" in the oven). Whatever I thought I was going to get done today was abruptly sidelined, and I became a pottery teacher. If you don't know my mother, Kathy Clarke, you don't know that for decades she has been teaching pottery to students of all ages, first at Frog Hollow Craft Center, and then at Middlebury Studio School. I don't know how many children she has taught over the years, but it's got to be in the thousands. I did my best to channel her.
When Taiya nearly cried because her llama looked crazed instead of cute, when William needed a house for his llama desperately AFTER we had cleaned everything up, when they both wailed I can't! at various points in the THREE HOURS we spent making things out of Sculpy, I thought of my dear, saintly mother who sat through classes with kids doing these same things. Mom, I never fully grasped the depths of your patience and skill. Understanding this now in such a visceral way is a gift. And when you do come to visit, Mom, you're in charge of Sculpy class.
Honestly, I forget what else happened today. I spent so much time with the psychedelic colors of my children's creations... it's all a blur. When we were finally done, I went outside and weeded the garlic, nibbled at my mint and lemon balm, and just wandered around among the greenery. Jeremy said to the kids, "Mommy is in her happy place now," and Taiya asked incredulously, "You're in your happy place??" and I said, "If I'm in a garden, I'm in my happy place." And she said, "Well, you'll always be happy, because we're surrounded by gardens!" To which I replied triumphantly, "Exactly!"
The kids and Jeremy went to do evening chores, and I stayed home, glad to be doing the simple, peaceful act of chopping onion, carrots, turnips, and potatoes. I threw them and some ground beef into a skillet, then whipped up a pie crust and threw that on top and stuck it in the oven. It made for an absolutely delicious dinner, if I do say so myself. We rounded it out with ice cream: Neapolitan for the kids, and non-dairy Ben & Jerry's cookie dough for lactose-intolerant me. Taiya asked as we were happily sitting around the table gobbling up our ice cream, "What's better than eating ice cream with your kids?" And I said, taking another bite, "Not much!"
A little later in the morning I was sitting on the porch when I believe it was Jeremy who first noticed that a snake, about eight feet away from me, was crawling out of the wall of the "old cabin" that our house is attached to and that has been half-repaired, half-neglected in favor of more pressing matters for years. We could see it's head and about a foot of its body poking out at about five feet up the wall. It was a king snake. Black back, white belly, non-venomous. We got Taiya and William out to see it, and we watched it look around, taste the air, stare down a skink that ran past, and then slither back into the house. Now, I've been talking about wanting to bulldoze the cabin for years. I always say, "When I win the lottery, that thing is gone." I turned to Jeremy in the middle of this nature show (during which I was having to act like this wasn't creepy and awful at all, not wanting to prejudice the children with my snake aversion) and said, "I'm going to actually start buying lottery tickets now." My next thought was, maybe I should start a go-fund-me page to get rid of the old ramshackle thing once and for all. One mention of snakes in the walls will make people sympathetic to my cause, don't you think?
After that episode of Close Encounters With Nature, Jeremy went to the post office and returned with an order of Sculpy (the modeling clay that you "fire" in the oven). Whatever I thought I was going to get done today was abruptly sidelined, and I became a pottery teacher. If you don't know my mother, Kathy Clarke, you don't know that for decades she has been teaching pottery to students of all ages, first at Frog Hollow Craft Center, and then at Middlebury Studio School. I don't know how many children she has taught over the years, but it's got to be in the thousands. I did my best to channel her.
Honestly, I forget what else happened today. I spent so much time with the psychedelic colors of my children's creations... it's all a blur. When we were finally done, I went outside and weeded the garlic, nibbled at my mint and lemon balm, and just wandered around among the greenery. Jeremy said to the kids, "Mommy is in her happy place now," and Taiya asked incredulously, "You're in your happy place??" and I said, "If I'm in a garden, I'm in my happy place." And she said, "Well, you'll always be happy, because we're surrounded by gardens!" To which I replied triumphantly, "Exactly!"
Comments
Post a Comment