Thursday, July 26, 2012

thistletooth

(written this morning...)

do you know what i'm going to do today?

i'm going to pull out the thistle plant near my bike. because i look at it everyday and i think, if only i were wearing a pair of gardening gloves.  but i never just happen to be wearing a pair of gardening gloves on my way in or out the door.  i have to search them out and put them on and pull the crazy thistle in the corner where the pavement doesn't hold life back.

....

and do you know what i did?

here, just look at the before and after...

before

okay, i admit it.  there was a lot more than one crazy thistle plant.

now the after...

the after

and my landlord came over.  she is back in town now, after living over(one)sea(no s).  she convinced me to take a second look at a job posting at the university here.  not a big thing.  just a part-time tutoring position.  and i may edit her dissertation if i can learn to stop starting sentences with 'and' and figure out how to capitalize.  of course, it doesn't really matter how i write, and besides, we all know it's okay to start your sentences with 'and' and throw out the capital letters, as long as you aren't doing it in your dissertation.

when i picked up the guys from school, william was in the far depths of the playground hunting dinosaurs with two other boys and a girl, who, other than the ultra-blonde hair, reminded me quite a lot of his friend sonya back in madison.  running around with the boys, hunting sticks in hand, donning a pink and very poofy dress.

and then henry bit one of the dinosaur hunters while i should have had my eye on him.  a mere day after bragging to the child development expert that he's never bitten anyone at school.

he also pointed to his nose on cue just after i told her he never points to his nose on cue.

oh henry bean.
using teeth appropriately

tomorrow we can theoretically get the key to our new place.  we have to arrange it with the realtor who was maybe not so happy with us for holding onto it for two days the last time we looked at the place, but as long as we can arrange that, it is ours to start painting (not that we have paint) and moving things into (not that we have furniture).  

may the projects begin!

3 comments:

nina said...

Eh. Just between you and me (and the world, I guess), I bit someone when I was older than Henry and should have known better. You're there to help him. He'll be the kindest, sweetest kid in high school, just you wait and see.

But you know that. Now, about that thistle: awfully nice of you to pull it out. Very ambitious.

Unknown said...

Three cheers for the Thistle Remover! In 69 years of living on this planet I never encountered a thistle until I moved to Troy Gardens. In the last two months I have pulled gazillion thistles. Oliver casually mentioned, a few weeks ago, that his dad pulls them out with bare hands by getting his fingers right down to the soil and grabbing the stem there. I tried that. It works! Now that we've had rain, those buggers just lift right out. SO satisfying!

greg|regan said...

Nina, I hope you're right about Henry!

Phyllis, yes, I remember that Jake does it this way. I think Greg does too, and I have as well, but sometimes they just have so many prickly leaves drooping around the stem that I'm too nervous to do it without gloves. That poke is among the most unpleasant of feelings! You know, I think Troy may have been the first place I encountered them too, but now here they are in Denmark-- we probably carried the seeds in on our luggage!