||| laura frantz ||| blog |||

national zoo | washington, dc

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:15:00 +0000

Things I learned this day:

+ I can finally get my hair back into a ponytail, and that is where it shall stay for the hot Virginia summertime.

+ Metro escalator repair men will sometimes stop you to talk cameras and lenses at the Woodley Park exit.

+ Diplomatic motorcades are really, really loud when they drive by and they go stupid fast, which you would think would defeat the purpose of not drawing unwelcome attention to the occupants of the vehicles. But they're the pros and I am just a mom.

+ When one elephant pees, the others in its enclosure tend to follow suit. The trainers call it a "pee party". Now I can check elephant pee party off of my list of things to see before I die.

+ Riding the Metro as part of a posse of five kids and two moms with a stroller and a giant backpack is much more fun than riding the Metro as a single working woman wearing ear buds and clutching a briefcase.

our days

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:52:00 +0000

School in the mornings, play in the afternoons, writing at night after everyone else has fallen asleep, so the days pass here. Our days have found a new rhythm that quite resembles the old...well, except for the sun. The new kitchen and dining room get lots and lots of delicious morning sun. I love nothing more than to sit in it and bake my poor bones, made frigid by five years spent in one of the snowiest, cloudiest, rainiest cities in the States. I'm not sure when I'll ever be warm again. We're heading to the National Zoo on the Metro today to see Cyrano the giant anteater. I wonder if he likes sitting in the sun, too?

river walk

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:09:00 +0000

The walking path was covered with seed pods. The kids thought they looked like alien faces. They found a squirrel's nest that had fallen from a tree and poked it with sticks, looking for life. Most everything along the path was brown and grey, except for bright green patches of moss at the base of some trees, and the river itself, colored green by long ribbons of algae that quivered in the current.

erica's

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:53:00 +0000

I've never seen more beautiful light, or more beautiful kids. Their faces just glowed. Erica's house is amazing and welcoming. She puts fruit in a bowl and creates the most incredible, unintentional still life I've ever seen. I love gorgeous her, and her gorgeous kids, and her heated floors. But she can keep her snake.

inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:51:00 +0000

the problem with packing

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:07:00 +0000

One packing problem specific to LP owners: I keep getting distracted by all the eye candy. I'm a sucker for album art. Check out the LPCover Lover blog for more awesome album covers.

handmade homeschool notebook covers

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:04:00 +0000

"We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out."
Ray Bradbury, on writing

Writing is one of the most important components of our homeschool. I want my children to enjoy their journaling, narrations and compositions, and in my experience the feel of one's notebooks contributes to the overall appeal, or lack thereof, of the work at hand. The standard, black and white marbled covers of their history, science and language arts notebooks not only threatened to make dull work out of a task that should be meaningful and pleasant, but also threatened to trigger one of my migraines. I covered them up with bits from my fabric stash: hers are covered in a petite Japanese print, his are covered with a bold graphic Ikea print. Their notebooks are now personalized, soft, comforting, ready to receive.

his grandfather was a gorgeous man

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:00:00 +0000

new year's eve 2009

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 02:08:00 +0000

This night I watched a man at the bar stroke his wife's hair over and over again. I watched women and men stumble around the makeshift dance floor in front of the band. I watched my husband strain to hit some high notes while nailing most of them. I crouched in corners behind my camera. If life was a spectator sport, I'd be world champion.

toolbox

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:01:00 +0000

eight words

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 23:32:00 +0000

a world

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:22:00 +0000

I made a world for them. When I couldn't find the perfect bunny house for sale, I glued wood and moss and stone, late into the night. I crafted grass, and a pond, and a path between the two bunny families. I felted rugs and bowls, sewed tiny curtains and pillows. I released my love into each piece, working as they slept, and with every stitch I sent thoughts to my little ones:

I love you.

I believe in you.
I am so happy to be your mommy.

countdown

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:07:00 +0000

We've decorated our tree (suffering only a few ornament casualties) and had a jolly Saint Nicholas celebration, with our favorite sour cream coffee cake taking the place of the Dundee cake of old. We are reading our favorite Christmas stories. When the kids are at school I am quite busy crafting presents in between bits of "real" work. So much to do yet.

late

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 01:01:00 +0000

I forgot to arrange a sitter, so I sent him without me. Part of me wanted to go, but I was afraid I'd have nothing to say to them. I didn't realize he was going to come home so late and so hungry.

our return

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:57:00 +0000

When we were homeschooling, we would spend hours here every week. Our visits waned after summer ended and they started using the school's library instead. We returned for a late visit yesterday. He was quiet, sullen, changed. The sun sat low in the sky.

ralf

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:06:00 +0000

The first time I visited the website of accomplished Stockholm-based illustrator Ingela P. Arrhenius, she was coincidentally having a giveaway. I entered, and to my great surprise I won this studly little Swedish man. He now sits on our nature table and watches over the children as they do their homework. He has found a compatriot in my grandfather's Dala horse.

a face only a mother could love

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:14:00 +0000

This walleyed draft snake came out of the swirling flokati rug mist and took his place along the bottom edge of our front door, full of kitty litter and all business.

shift

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:23:00 +0000

I do like this time of year, when the outside colors are shifting from vibrance to reserve, diving deeper down into their end season. I, for one, think grays and browns are quite lovely, and bittersweet.

after school

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:30:00 +0000

Warm cookies and gloomy skies are the October norm in central New York. He was home all week with the flu. We sat next to each other on the couch, our respective laptops at hand. She wished for flu so she could take her place on the couch, too. The after school cookies were my compromise. We're looking forward to the weekend: bulb planting, garden clean-up, and sewing for some of us, more couch time for others. Happy weekend to you.

Post script: Our chalkboard wall was featured on the lovely Ohdeedoh today.

intimate

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:25:00 +0000

I was a part of their world for a few hours. They kissed one another with heart-rending tenderness. The camera was our tether and our rampart.

cereal at night

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:37:00 +0000

A classic dinner scene at the beach. I am honored that this shot was chosen as photo of the day today over at The Maternal Lens.

the last sunset

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:17:00 +0000

As I watched this day end I somehow knew that I was really watching the end of a season. When we left the next morning, the air had turned much colder. The leaves that lined the turnpike with fire on our way down turned brown and curled in the wake of our speeding northbound minivan.

october chalkboard wall calendar

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:32:00 +0000

When they got home from school they began filling the boxes with their plans, hopes and dreams for the month.

on the sill

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:01:00 +0000

I am not the only one who waits at the window for my little friends' return.

red pepper garden fail!

noreply@blogger.com (||| laura frantz |||) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 17:52:00 +0000

I could have tried to describe with words the unbearable cuteness of the three tiny peppers that grew in my garden this summer, but the camera makes easy work of it. Next: Laura sews tiny clothes for the peppers and stages a pepper puppet show.