The Inward Ringtone

Tonight we are having a mini-blizzard. Not much accumulation, but a couple of hours of heavy, slippery snow that makes driving difficult. I have a piece of mail that really needs to go out tonight, and if I get it to the (nearby) post office before 8 P.M., it will. I go out, brush snow off the van, and start it so that it will be warm for Ethan. The other kids are with Firmin, so the booster seat in the back remains unoccupied. I bundle Ethan into his deluxe carseat and start out. It is about 6:00 but darkness has fallen. I miss the longer days of summer.

A couple of blocks out, I see a woman pushing a stroller. There is no sidewalk on our busy road, and concern for safety has forced her well off the shoulder, onto the increasingly snow-covered grass. A single blanket covers the child in the stroller from her upper thighs to the top of her head. Only her floral cotton leggings, thin socks and slip-on shoes show. I notice that the legs are longish. The girl must be about four years old. Three if she's tall. The woman holds a cell phone against her ear with one hand as she clumsily maneuvers the stroller along the bumpy ground with the other. I imagine she is calling someone to give her a ride. I hope she is successful; it's a terrible night to be out at all, let alone with a child. I drive on for another block. I wonder how far she has to go. I wonder whom she is calling to help her, and if they will come.

The realization is slow but certain: My warm van with space for the stroller, my non-urgent errand, and my extra booster seat make me the one who is being called to help.

I turn around.

Note to Self:

Next year, plant cover crops earlier. Like before the temps plummet to the 30's and 40's. Apparently even cold-hearty field peas and fava beans need warmish soil to germinate.

Weeds, on the other hand seem not to be so picky.

:o(

Belated Halloween and Field Trip pics

Alexander was Robin Hood. I'm particularly proud of this one. It looks good and didn't cost much. The pheasant feather in the hat was the single most expensive part! (The little feathery things around his head are in the background, not part of the costume.) He got lots of compliments on it while trick-or-treating.

Brianna's Mad Scientist hair turned out pretty good. At a Halloween party earlier in the week, we experimented with letting just be loose and puffy. It looked great, but she didn't like how it got in her face, so we went back to our original idea of using wire.

My mom took pics of Ethan in his doggie costume, but I don't have those yet. He was done and out of costume by the time we took these.

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We had a chapter in history on the Netherlands, so we took a field trip to Holland. Holland, Michigan, that is. My younger sister just moved there to be an assistant editor at the newspaper there, so we got in a visit as well. Unfortunately, most of what we wanted to see was closed. We could only see the dutch windmill at a distance and the historic village was closed for the season. There were a few shops open, however, so we browsed a bit.

The wooden shoe factory was a hit, as was the candle shop where they make decorative carved candles. (The candle shop was featured on an episode of "How it's Made", in case anyone caught that.) Ethan amused himself by putting the wick of a little mushroom candle up his nostril. Very educational, no?

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