Parties and Pots

left-right: Linden, Juniper, Clark, Tara, and (big-necked) Faye

 My sister Faye is now here, having arrived in just enough time to see the kids before they went to bed on Sunday night (she found the above portrait waiting for her when she arrived, of course). That event was the exciting finishing touch to one whirlwind of a weekend - exactly the kind of weekend one would expect to experience during mid-December madness.  Some events were sadly not documented with photos, such as the Nutcracker ballet which Clark bravely took the kids to on Sunday while I was driving to the airport. It was a shortened version (perfect for the attention spans of a 5 and 3-year old), and - more to the point - it  included our friend Ben as the adult Nutcracker! Apparently the kids were both pretty enthralled - they sat through the first act with no problems, and other than feeling the need to dance in the aisles during part of the second act, Linden was surprisingly well-behaved.  

Anyway, I do have a few photos from other events:

1: Saying good-bye to Oliver and Owen: Clark's co-post-doc, Peter, has accepted a job out west, and so we had to say good-bye to one of our favourite Cape Cod families this weekend.  Luckily we got nice hang-out time amongst the madness of packing.

Juniper, Linden and Oliver play "train" en route to the park

Nestled in front of the fire after our good-bye breakfast. After this photo, Owen (far right) gave me the BEST snuggle.

2. Candle-making at the library: Juniper and I headed off on Saturday afternoon to a great activity at the Woods Hole Library: rolling and decorating beeswax candles. 

Proudly displaying her finished candle

I also snapped this photo of Juniper fastidiously checking her weather station after the workshop.  Is she a Richards, I wonder?

3. Hanging the wreath: For the last week, we've been stymied as to how to hang our beautiful Renaissance Fair wreath.  I decided I wanted it up on the garage, but this was exceptionally difficult with no ladder.  On Saturday afternoon, however, Clark's resourcefulness won out, and backed the car up.  The wreath is not *quite* high enough, but it is up!

The car-ladder technique

Up close

 4. The Barn Pottery Open House:  Kim, Hollis, and some other vendors came together on the weekend to have a lovely holiday fair/open house.  It was, somehow, the first time that I made it out to the studio, and I will absolutely be coming back.  We admired all the beautiful pots, chose out our yearly Christmas Tree ornaments (two beauties made by Kim), and somehow also came home with a wonderful faceted Hollis tea bowl.

Mighty Hollis manages to pick up both kids for a photo, in the brand new gallery shed.

Kim and Juniper by the cozy fire (Juniper once whispered to me "I LOVE Kim")

Linden tries out one of the outdoor kick wheels.

And finally, I would be remiss not to mention the SHOP PARTY (it deserves to be in all caps).  So, every year, WHOI puts on this grand holiday event in the Village.  It is, in some ways, what you would expect of a large-scale do: loads of great food, never-ending drinks, and, at some point in the evening, a live band.  There is, however, one important factor that makes this unlike any event I've ever been to: it is held at the massive, maze-like WHOI machine shop.  Just try and picture this space - a HUGE open area with crazy pulleys and vices and specialty equipment; drawers full of nuts and bolts; huge spools of cable, and other devices that I can't even begin to imagine their use. There are winding corridors with gigantic floats and machines, some of which are so narrow that you have to squeeze through single file. One room had this large water table with a tall fountain-like structure, manned by a guy who was  in charge of throwing chunks of dry ice into it for effect.  If you ventured outside, you would stumble across a bonfire with a GIGANTIC round pan-like thing where they were making paella and roasted meat throughout the evening. The whole place is dark, loud, and frenetic. It is amazing, and somehow, it was the first time I had been.

The kids, of course, had a blast - Linden was mostly intent on throwing himself on the floor, and getting as ridiculously filthy as he could (his hands, for instance, were black within minutes).  Juniper, however, wanted to dance.  We were there before the band showed up, so all we had was whatever they were playing over the speakers (I'm guessing Pandora set to some sort of "world music" station). I've never seen Juniper so in her element.  She was shy at first, but once she got going, she was unstoppable. At one point, she came up to me, and giddily whispered "I feel GREAT dancing with everyone watching me!"

At one point in the evening,  when we had ventured into the food room, this guy I had never met before in my life came up to me and asked,

 "where did she learn to dance like that?" 

"That's all her",  I replied" - "she just does her own thing".  

"That's going to be trouble in a few years" he answered. 

I had no idea what he was talking about, until I managed to get this one little clip. This was more subdued than most of the rest of the evening, but incorporated many of the same themes. Where DID she learn those moves? (this same man appeared later, when I was also dancing, and quipped "I think she's being coached" Ummm... not like that!) I had to add music to this clip after the fact - for whatever reason, my phone didn't capture the sound. See you next week!