Ice at Yates Mill Pond

 Christmas weekend was very cold in NC (no snow though). We mostly stayed inside for a couple of days, but I was feeling too cooped up, so I texted Natasha and she was thankfully up for doing a hike around Yates Mill Pond on the day after Christmas. It was a lot of fun with the ice and icicles!

Our pond at home also froze. The kids collected ice from it to put in our freezer -- (yuck!). 

Christmas!

Christmas Cookies

 

(And evidence, from the next day, that I do occasionally play with my children. I'm not sure why I always look so tired and grumpy though?)

Christmas at the Arcaro-Burbridges

 On the Thursday before Christmas we went to Burlington for a Christmas feast. As usual, we failed to take pictures, but had a nice time visiting!

RIP The Mall (Poems of Life and Death)

The m all

When I drive my daughter to swim practice three times a week,
we see machines grinding the remains of the mall into gravel.
I am not much of a mall person, and yet it was a place
where I shopped for work clothes and for maternity clothes,
where I met my friend to walk laps when the weather was unsuitable,
where I took my kids to jump around in the play area on rainy days,
where I paid a dollar for us to squeeze into the little mall train,
where the driver gave the kids a dum-dum lollipop after the ride,
where we trick-or-treated once or twice, weirdly, amidst the Christmas decorations,
where we excitedly saw Santa walk by one time when we were on the tiny train…

Now in that space there is just open air, piles of broken concrete and pyramids of gravel.
What does it mean that a place can exist and then not?
Then I think of all the homes, buildings, places of worship torn down or bombed or burned up, 
and it is too much to think of them all– sacred spaces all crumbling like that, all turning to piles of rubble,
only remaining as memories in our minds,
which will one day also be spaces turned to dust.

-Sera Arcaro (12/20/22)

While I'm sharing my poems of life and death, here's another poem I wrote on the same day, although it was based on a note I dictated into my phone on a walk back in mid-September. (There's nothing like having a bunch of mid-term essays to grade to spur my creativity in a spasm of productive procrastination.)

The last time

On my walk

I passed by a park

And I saw parents

Pushing their kids

In the swings.

And I remember that.

I know how it feels to push your child

Dangling in the air

Held up by chains

Happy to be oscillating.

But I can’t remember the last time I did that.

You don’t know it’s the last time when you’re doing it.

You don’t know it’s the last time your child will sit in your lap.

You don’t know it’s the last time you’ll read them a bedtime story.

You don’t know it’s the last time for almost everything in life.

And it’s better that way

Because otherwise we’d spend our days crying

Like I did

When I passed by a park

On my walk.

-Sera Arcaro (12/20/22)

Ninja School

 Our friend Andrea enrolled her son Murphy in Ninja School, and that seemed like something Simon might light, so we signed him up too. With Alice doing swim team now, our evenings are already wrecked, so why not add more?

The class is one hour long in a big gym about 15 minutes away in Apex. The class is pretty informal, and they have a teacher that coaches them on a course in the gym, they do a couple of rounds, then move to another course. Simon loved it.

Simon plays around a lot at home doing flips and stuff, so this is a good fit for him. Maybe he needs trampoline or gymnastics though?

Simon's messes

 Simon loves to play and make things. He does not like to clean up.

Family Photo

 Don took our family photo for the Christmas card this year. It was a challenge, as always.

Alice's first band concert

 

Don's visit

 Don came down to stay for a week in December to help do a bunch of electrical work before we get our new siding put on in January. He is always a huge help and a very easy houseguest!

Thanksgiving with Covid

 We had a weird Thanksgiving this year. We didn't go to Burlington since I was still contagious and we thought Alice might have it also (her PCR test ended up being "inconclusive"). So we just stayed home and celebrated a day late, thinking I'd be less contagious by then. We ate all spread out, with the sick people in the art room and Simon and Zac in the dining room.

Simon Skateboarding

 Last Christmas, Simon asked for and received a skateboard. He didn't do much with it at the time, but at some point between then and now, he practiced in the garage and got the hang of it.

Covid comes at the right time

 I got sick on a Wednesday night, took rapid tests Thursday and Friday morning before work and tested negative. On a whim, I took another test on Saturday night and tested positive. I spent all day Sunday revamping my plans and writing sub plans. It was actually good timing though, since I'd only miss 2 days of school. And, it worked out great because I got all caught up on my work (grading, planning) and I even had time to watch some shows! I binged a bunch of series recommended by my friend Laura, all around the theme of various cons, from FLDS cult ("Keep Sweet"), to the MLM work-from-home scams, to con artists in "Becoming Anna" and "Tinder Swindler" and "Bad Vegan." It was an education. In conclusion, I highly recommend getting Covid. (I was very fortunate to not actually get that sick. Thank you vaccines!)

Assorted Simons

 

Snack time 10/17/22 

Lego Plane 10/17/22 

Balloon Rocket 11/12/22

4-leaf Clover 11/16/22

I don't know the dates of these two videos; maybe September?

Dominos

 Simon recently developed a wonderful obsession with making domino runs. It started fairly simple, then he increased complexity. Whenever a run failed, he could use my video in slow-motion to analyze what went wrong.

Here are some videos of them:

Off-road biking

 The kids didn't have school today, so Zac took them to a mountain bike trail at Crabtree Lake. I guess they loved it.

Alice continues to do a lot of art in her free time.

Jordan Lake fall hike

 I love fall hiking season, but for one reason or another I haven't been able to organize many hikes this year. But we did get out to Jordan Lake today, and the weather was warm and beautiful. The water level was low, so we could walk along the shoreline a lot. Simon found some lures (of course) and Zac picked up a bunch of trash.