Writing Prompt: A Tree in Time

This prompt is brought to us by C. M. Mayo’s Daily 5, October 20th. And by the letter Q and the number 7.

A Tree in Time

Corkscrew willow, c. 2005, shortly after transplanting from bucket to ground

Outside my kitchen window grows a corkscrew willow tree.  The willow tree and I were the same height when we brought it home five years ago.  The sapling was growing in a black five-gallon bucket and fit inside our van.  On the ride home from the nursery, the three Sonars  in their car seats had to dodge the twisty green leaves that wagged around on bumps and turns, threatening to tickle ears and noses.  

We have a tree-climbing rule in our house: no putting your full weight on a branch narrower than your own wrist.  Call it a rule of wrist.  It protects the trees and the kids.

The first couple of years, no branch of the willow tree satisfied the rule.  Now, all of the lowest branches are fair game.  The supple, willowy branches all reach up over the top of the house.  The Sonars can shimmy up at least ten feet, crowing as they look over each other’s heads, spying the neighbor’s yard, shouting in imaginary conquest.  The green, waxy leaves of the willow twist around their faces in a whispering curtain.  

The corkscrew branches reach out and up and down, threatening to tickle noses, grasping for a final caress before the kids are out of reach.  

Warm Regards to Sonar X10 (double digits!)

Sonar X10, back when he was SonarX2monthsThe birthday kid! He has a lot more hair now.

They get bigger when I'm not looking

There will be a Sonar upgrade next week (aka Birthday), so here’s a quick, pre-upgrade update on the Sonars. Click the pics to make them bigger, unless you don’t want to. 

X5 It was a good day to read in the sunshine

Sonar X5 in a garden chair, in the sunshine, with sunglasses, reading Ghosthunters and the Incredibly Revolting Ghost by Cornelia Funke

X7 Go ahead, try to wash off the shaving cream, I dare you

Sonar X7, with shaving cream splattered across the front of his chest, and a funny look on his face, waiting to see if a classmate can wash away the rest of the soap with a squirt gun

X9 I used to think 1 mile was hard. Now I think 5 miles is tough.

A sweaty Sonar X9 after finishing the final segment of the Beach to Bay Relay Marathon in Corpus Christi, with his finisher’s medal around his neck

Product Placement

Looking to put a little zing in your snack time?  Let me be the first to introduce you to Wingbar!

Wingbar box prototype, courtesy of Sonar X7From the whirring brain of Sonar X7.  “It’s new.” Wingbar “makes you grow wings.” This snack has “real chicken inside,” along with a prize!  For one low price, you’ll find “15 bars in one box.”  

Do you get bored easily during snack time?  No fear, Wingbar has a challenging maze on the back of every box.

Wingbar prototype box, reverse side, featuring a maze

The Gifts of Knitting

I could TELL you that I’ve been knitting, but that’s all.  But for the most part I can’t tell you WHAT I’ve been knitting, so this post is really rather pointless.  

I can’t tell you, of course, because all of my latest knitting is Gift Knitting, and the giftees just might be among you, dear readers.  I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise.  I will promise to post pictures when the items are gifted later this summer. 

One set of stuff has already been gifted.  I could show you pictures of the two pairs of lovely baby socks and the Little Helper Bucket I made for Sonar X9’s teacher, who is expecting her second baby very soon.  I could.  If I had remembered to take pictures of them before we wrapped them up with bows and tissue paper and sent them on their way.  Such is the trouble with finishing gifts the night before you hand them over.  

A note on the Little Helper Bucket:  the Sew Mama Sew tutorial calls it a Toy Gathering Bucket.  Without the felt toys, it would make a great container to create a Nursing Bucket.  Fill it with resuable breast pads, nursing balm, a couple of soft burp rags, a snazzy water bottle, some chapstick, a notepad and pen, some of those teeny nail clippers, or anything else that the new parents might like to have handy when it’s time to feed the baby.  

In the meantime I’ll distract you with an oldie but goodie that includes babies and knitting, circa 2004.

Smaller Sonars on a lovely knit blanket; click to embiggen

That’s Sonar X1 (now 7), Sonar X5days (now 5 years), and Sonar X4 (now 9) back in the day.  The blanket underneath them was made by a lovely group of knitters that I hung out with regularly back then.  For this stealthy project, they distributed skeins of sock yarn and sampler patterns and set out to make blocks—many, many blocks—which were then crocheted together by their ringleader.  It’s a large baby blanket, but not too heavy.  I’ve always marveled at how long it must have taken them to make it with that lightweight yarn, and how they kept it a complete secret and flaggergasted me into tears while I was nine months pregnant.  Granted, prompting me to tears when I was nine months pregnant wasn’t exactly a hard thing to do, but the love that went into that blanket still astounds and warms me.  People bandy about terms like “instant heirloom” pretty frequently, but this one is the genuine article.  I hope it goes on warming babies in our family for many generations to come.  

My dear friends should know that I have no such miraculous powers of knitting to call upon these days, and you should expect more modest marvels for the babes you have cooking.  xo