AlisonH
I remember my mom once mentioning to me, while trying to read a  book to one of my then-small children, that it had gotten hard for her to read the pages that were in black print against a dark background.
I didn’t want my young mom to sound old.
Last night my niece started opening Cat in the Hat to read to her little girl and my husband immediately chimed in that I used to  read that to my kids while I was driving them around: I would chirp “ding!” to tell them when to turn the pages they were holding in the back seat.
The mom grinned: I was on.
I’m out of practice. About a third of the way into it I had to glance at the book Jana was holding to prompt the next lines out of me–but I still remembered how to make the story jump up and down on that ball along with the Cat.
That black print on dark blue background on one page, though–how the generations ease forward. But we had a fine time, and the little one was totally cool with it when I went, oops, I think I skipped a line, while bouncing right to the next.
Speaking of our story. The owner here likes wildlife too; I think it is safe to say not quite in the same way. I might want to argue that he’s practicing the ultimate anti-Darwin: nonsurvival of the biggest and fittest. There’s a black bear in the living room, a massive elk head and a moose’s across from it glaring it down upstairs, and in one room, big as day, a mountain lion.
Now I gotta tell you, what surprised me is, that lion is bigger than that bear. Here, kitty kitty! But if looks could kill, that bear would have our heads. It looks a lot fiercer. They sure caught him on a bad day.
On the other hand, if one of those bears were to try to come crashing through this cabin… I’d switch sides in the argument fast.
One nephew, a teenager last I saw him, is a grown man who walked in the door and exclaimed “Whoa!” at the first sight of me. Short auburn hair? Young mom? Not quite the same anymore. It’s always a shock. And back at him; it was so good to see him and all of us and to start to catch up. Â Been too long.
The generations take a few more steps towards the future, we swap stories together on our pasts, shared and newly shared, we dance and there is great joy.
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It’s not often I’m first in line. But what to say? I certainly don’t like black type on a blue background. You certainly must have a good memory if you even know where the page turns are.
And as long as I’m numbah one, here’s a bit of humor —
I should have been sad when my flashlight batteries died, but I was delighted.
The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered.
A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.Â
Comment by Don Meyer 07.31.10 @ 10:29 amI’m sure the littles enjoyed the time with you. Heck, I think I would have enjoyed hearing you perform The Cat in the Hat.
Comment by Channon 07.31.10 @ 10:33 amI hit a website with white text on a black background the other day and you could hear my eyes cringe. Ten years ago I think I could have handled it.
We did a lot of CitH, too in our day. I had to work hard to convince DH that our new kittens were not going to be named Thing One and Thing Two!
Comment by twinsetellen 07.31.10 @ 11:12 amI really dislike media that tries to be clever. Like black type on a blue page. Or the traffic report on the radio with a background backbeat that makes it VERY difficult for me to make out where the traffic accidents are!
Comment by Carol 07.31.10 @ 4:12 pm….or knitting patterns printed on darkish paper?! What the!
Anyway I am so glad you are amongst kin and are having a good time.
I love Daisy Head Maisy:)
What a lovely post time marches on watching our loved ones grow up is a joy glad to see the books we read to our youngest are still a favorite:)Hugs Darcy
I had a totally Alison moment last night. My nephew got married. He did that a week ago in Idaho, but last night they held a ring ceremony/recption in Maryland, so we were able to go to that. I decided to put together a simple quilt for the new couple. My mom and my sister promised to help me tie it. So I went to the fabric store looking for two patterns of fabric, one for the front, and one for the back. I looked at lots of pairs, but the one that called out to me were in shades of turquoise, one with silver spirals and one with ripples in turquoise, green and purple. So I put the quilt together and we tied it. Well, last night, everything was decorated with turquoise ribbons. The couple will be living with my sister for a little while, so they took me down to show me how they had repainted my nephew’s room. The black and neon walls had been replaced with cream and turquoise! (I’m posting a photo of the couple on my blog if you want to see it. I forgot to take a photo of the quilt, because I was enjoying what my new niece had to say about it.)
Comment by LauraN 08.01.10 @ 1:10 pmLeave a comment
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