sparkly concrete

i typically open up a blank post... think, "what am i going to write?" (and i'm well aware that probably shows in my posts!) and then, intimidated by the empty space, go straight to uploading the pictures.

tonight i did all that, but then my computer was summoned for a 'little thinker' for a little thinking boy who cannot fall asleep (this time, the older brother), and though the pictures had all uploaded, i'd failed to hit save, and when i opened our other computer to continue the post, the pictures weren't there.

so now i actually have to think without any pictures to guide me.  at least until the little thinker falls asleep and i can get the other computer back.  (i was so efficient tonight i already deleted all the pictures off my phone.)

so, i will lay it all out, in chronological order... the good, the bad, and the ugly.

first was a meeting with one of henry's teachers.  not because things are going badly at school, but because of the disparity in how good things are going in school vs. how much we are pulling our hair out with him at home.

next was a wait outside in the beautiful, if slightly cool spring morning, before catching a train. there's a lake in trekroner, at the roskilde university campus.  you've probably seen it in a few of my pictures lately (and, when i get my computer back, you'll probably see it in this post as well.)  a few of the benches around it are on little docks that jut out into a swampy area at one end of the lake.  i sat on a bench there and my bike stood next to me.  except that my bike is awfully prone to falling over in the slightest wind, and it did so today, spilling my bag and its contents-- namely, my phone and wallet-- into the swampy area.  fortunately, it was onto a relatively solid bit of ground.  muddy, but not wet, and certainly not wet enough to result in a submersed anything.  phew.  but can you imagine this story if i had lost my wallet and phone to a swampy lake?  it would have been a much different day.

then the train to see my therapist.  funny that i hesitate before writing that.  if i don't just say it and normalize it, i'm giving in to a stigma that serves no good purpose.

after, to the grocery store to buy almonds that were not on the shelf, and whose space seems now to be replaced by some other nut or bean or grain.  thank goodness we're going to the u.s. in less than three weeks where nuts are always on our list of things to buy in bulk.

then home, and a late lunch.  william went to a play date after school.  henry and i went to the park, but almost immediately he found a very large dinosaur fossil imbedded in sparkly concrete and wanted nothing but to go home with it.  perhaps he wanted to avoid the otherwise inevitable media frenzy that would ensue when it was revealed that a four-year-old was able to make such a find with so little effort.  it's sitting abandoned at the bottom of our burley now.

later, a little dodge-ball-inspired game created by william, called 'goodie bag' (we think... it's hard for the tired parents to remember), outside, before and after dinner.

then a fairly smooth bedtime with a few of our new ideas inspired by today's professionals.

now it's just a wait on those pictures...

... and, other computer back, here they are...


where i sat...

where i nearly lost my very important documents and telephone...

a very fast train going by at the train station...

a number of towns over on this beautiful spring day...