1. this seaside collection. {sent from grandparents.} 2. these field finds. {and the empty snack container to put them in.} 3. this flower press (similar!). {and the four-leaf clover we put in it.} 4.…
I’ve been sending temp checks to my family and friends all week, wanting to know how everyone’s faring in terms of the virus itself, but also more generally. What’s the mood? What are the…
Today is the first official day of distance learning for New York City Public Schools and for schools across the country. James and I have sketched out a schedule as instructed by Faye’s kindergarten…
The nights are coming too quickly. My kids’ internal clocks are set to crave dinner as soon as the sun sets and earlier this week we found ourselves with a kid incensed that we…
Tip # 186: Don’t knock it ’til you’ve stacked it. We live in New York City. And while the crumbling brownstone we call home is far from the most extreme example in this city…
Tip #185: Tackle To-Do Lists. The past forty-eight hours have been a flurry of kid-free activity in this tiny apartment. We’ve scrubbed and scoured, dismantled and reassembled, primed and painted, sorted out old and…
In Brooklyn, a stoop is not just a noun, but also a verb. To “stoop” something is colloquially understood to mean the act of setting something out on a stoop, or sidewalk, with the…
Tip #181: Daydream a little. Five years ago tomorrow, James and I got our keys from a real estate broker and shared a pizza for Valentine’s Day dinner. We sat on the floor of…
The notes of the grinding truck bell rang through our open windows just as I’d taken my first bite of peanut-buttery toast. Clang, clang, clang. Clang, Clang. I left my breakfast behind, sloshed my…
The first of the neighborhood roses and these words: 1 Only now, in spring, can the place be named: tulip poplar, daffodil, crab apple, dogwood, budding pink-green, white-green, yellow on my knowing. All winter…