School/Life Begins in Brooklyn

Appearances aside, Camille was ebullient on her first day of school. She's going to the Brooklyn Waldorf School one day a week for 2 hours with me in tow, so it's not really a major milestone, more of a ceremonial one. Anyway, I dressed her up like the real thing, and on a perfectly cool, cloudy September day we set off for school.


Here's the real picture, once I requited the baby, whose absence caused all the fuss.


The class meets in the most charming, doll-house of a garden apartment near Fort Green park. There's a big sunny room full of wooden toys, hand knit baby dolls, eight or so toddlers and like minded parents.


Camille was busy in the kitchen most of the morning, until it was time to wash hands and make bread. I mean really make bread, all the kids had a little dough to work, then we put it all in a pan and the teacher took it to the oven. The rest of the morning we played with the unbelievable smell of the baking bread filling us all with well-being. We ate the warm bread for snack with sliced apples and almond butter, and it was all very sublime and idyllic.


Here she is exploring the hallway and the front door, just before snack.



Also that week, one of Remi's closest, oldest friends (also a best man at our wedding, Seb) came to visit from Paris.


Seb's a tough guy, actually once while we were walking someone (jokingly?) asked if he was our bodyguard.


But don't let him fool you, he was a big softie with Camille who absolutely adored him.



Here Remi and Camille are practicing their grimaces. Camille is actually getting pretty good at her "mean face" and Remi, well, he's like the guru of grimaces.



I'll leave you with some more sweet first-day pictures. I am in love with this little ensemble, a gift from France. The buttons on her white shirt are wood, a little canary, umbrella and flower, and all the details on the jumper are leather. I'm sure that in 20 years we'll all cringe when we look at these, but for now, c'est trop jolie!

At Summer's End: Albuquerque

We had a wonderful time in Albuquerque, it felt a little like being home again. We took a weekend trip to Durango with our friends Robert and Holly and their daughter Mira.



We hiked* one of Durango's beautiful trails.

*Toddler definition of hike: to walk about 1/10th of a mile at an excruciatingly slow pace, reach a creek and spend a half hour or so skipping rocks.



We also went into the small town and did some tourism, including the excellent railroad museum. Durango still has an operating coal-fired steam engine train that is significantly more impressive than your average New York City subway car.






Mira is just a few months older than Camille and they got along really well.



Back in Albuquerque we hit the aquarium with Camille's friend Shreya and her mom, Varsha.



Camille did some suburban-kid stuff, like play in the garage,



and ride in this car with Garfield outside the Babies R Us.



And we spent some memorable evenings with our former neighbors and good friends Jurg and Kathy. Camille was in LOVE with their adorable kitty, Fiona. Actually, the affection was kind of mutual.

Summer Recap: Part 2, the long layover

Remi went to Australia at the end of July for 10 days, so Camille and I decided to go to Atlanta in the meantime, and meet him in Albuquerque. We were able to see my parents, grandparents and sisters.


The complete cultural immersion works like a charm on her English, it seems that, all things considered, we needn't have worried.


Cracking up with Mimi, typically.


With Pops on a motorcycle, typically.


I love this picture.


Here's the real one, with my Grandaddy and his wife Ernie, three of my cousins on the right, Daniel, Jordan and Chase, and my Aunt Susan kneeling in front of my Grandaddy.


Mutual affection.


Eating with her Great Grandmother.


Here she did some dancing with my cousin Dave.


Happy baby in the car.


Look at that guilty expression.


The two cousins really played well together.


At the pool with Mimi, I love this picture. Niki has the coolest pool close to her house with fountains and beautiful mountains in the background. We were only able to stay a few minutes before it started pouring, you can see the impending storm in this picture.

Loss

With the heaviest hearts, we are mourning the death of our wonderful dog, Will. He died two weeks ago, leaving us in such shock and sadness, that Remi and I are both still bursting into tears on a fairly regular basis. He was our friend, protector, listener, our beloved. For the last ten years he's been my near constant companion and it seems that in saying goodbye to him I'm also walking away from my childhood in a sense, and the silly idea that you never have to say goodbye. In short, we're pretty much just plain ole heartbroken around here, grateful for every minute we had with him, but so sad to say goodbye. Since everyone he's ever met has loved him, I thought I'd post a bunch of pictures of our beautiful, loyal, snuggly, baby-tolerating beastie.

May he rest in peace in a world full of creeks, sunshine and tennis balls.