My garden after I weeded it. Not perfect but much improved.
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Monday, May 18, 2026
A tale of two sofas
This is the new sofa. It's a lot more comfortable and attractive.
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A tale of two sofas
This is the sofa that has been in my living room for decades, a hand me down from another family. For years I've really wanted to replace it. When we're not at camp Eugene spends his evenings on the sofa watching his shows. So I wanted him to have a comfortable sofa. This year all the elements came together. Bailey and Cam quite generously gave us a sofa. They even delivered it and hauled the old one out. Since it's May the old one will be hauled away for free.
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Sunday, May 17, 2026
Pop Corn (juvenile fiction)
Remember Judith Viorst's classic 1972 picture book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? Well Rob Harrell's Pop Corn is a latter day middle school version. It's protagonist, Andrew, like Alexander, has a day when everything that could possibly go wrong does...
On a day that everything needs to go right. It's Andrew's school picture day and he has to keep up his appearance until his homeroom gets called. It's also his mother's first day at a new job and she's stressed about making a good impression on her boss.
Andrew lives with anxiety. It impacts every aspect of his days. He's very dirt and germ phobic. He catastrophizes about even seemingly innocuous situations. And he lives in fear of having a panic attack, especially at school.
Andrew's day goes downhill very fast. Before his turn to sit in front of the camera he's a total mess sporting a black eye and broken glasses. And his grandmother who has Alzheimers has gone missing. His anxiety has been ramping up. Now his worst fear coming true seems inevitable.
Between the text and the cartoon like illustrations that look like they were drawn by a twelve-year-old kids can get a very real understanding of anxiety and its impact on the lives of their peers.
On a purrrsonal note, yesterday was really fun. Eugene and I started off with our weekly delicious 😋 😍 😊 breakfast at Governors. Then we went on a big road trip. We stopped at a bunch of yard sales. My best finds were a Squishmallow, really cute dish towels to replace the ones that are falling to pieces, and some Christmas gifts for friends. Eugene and I like opposite kinds of yard sales. He likes ones with practical stuff and old fashioned stuff. I like ones that have kids stuff (as in clothing that actually fits me and--you guessed it--Squishmallows) and whimsical, sparkly stuff. So when I picked out the dish towels I made sure he saw that they were practical. We had a Subway subs picnic. The weather was perfect: in the 70s with a breeze. When we got home I opened the studio window for the first time this year much to Tobago's delight and dropped in on a neighborhood 🎂 party.
A great big shout out goes out to Silas who just turned three with wishes for his fourth year to be wonderful for him and his family.
Jules Hathaway
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Saturday, May 16, 2026
Thrifting
And speaking of thrifting, Friday I started volunteering with the Clean Sweep crew. People have lugged all the stuff students left in the dorms to the ice hockey 🏒 arena. Now we're sorting it out and organizing it so that everything will be in place when the sale starts. It's so fun and exciting. This is my best friend, Lisa Morin, showing us granny multitasking. She's keeping that stroller moving with one hand while taking care of business with the phone in the other. Making it look easy. I think she looks radiant. Don't you?
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Thrifting
I was really lucky Catherine saw these slippers and pointed them out to me. They're precious and fit just right. And their tails move when I walk.
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