In Which Miss Ingu Plays on a Pirate Ship, Hangs Halloween Spider Webs from the Windows, Has a Picnic in a Rocket Ship, Rescues a Hamster, and ...

Yes, all that and more. The kaleidoscope girl is in India. She left on Monday early morning and traveled for days, phoning this morning from the tip of the India saying she'd arrived safe and sound. Her luggage got lost on the 1st leg of her journey between PDX and Atlanta, but luckily arrived in time for the international flight. No other mishaps were reported. Her little guy, the boy I love, also known in this blog as SIE (short for "Smile in His Eyes"), put aside some of his banana this morning for her return. Lucky for me he is off to school this morning counting uno, dos, tres with his amigos. I wonder if he will always wake at the crack of dawn ready for excitement. It takes me about 2 hours most mornings to clear the fog from my brain. Meanwhile SIE has taken charge directing multple games. Stopping to pee or eat real food is only a very brief distraction to him. Hapapapa says to me, "Does he ever have any independent playtime when he's with you?" Hum-m-m? I think so, but it doesn't feel like it today. Before kaliedoscope left, she put together a bag of dollar store gifts. Yesterday we opened the pirate booty, among which was a small plastic treasure chest and a board game map. After playing one round of the pirate game, it became a treasure map and SIE was out the door with barefeet and no sweater burying the treasure chest in the sand by their garden. He reappeared with an oar from a plastic boat for me to use as a shovel and, "Please, please, please...we have to follow this map and find the treasure!" So out into the chilly air I follow, trying not to see the spot where the sand was disturbed. Ah! There's no better life than to be a pirate's wife...or grandma!

Blue

This is a blog about Miss Ingu's faithful companion, Blue. Blue is your typical black and tan mixed breed dog like the kind you might imagine running the hollers in the Appalachian Mountains. She weighs about 35 lbs and comes up to my knee. She arrived at my door about 3 yrs. ago, a gift from my daughter. I wasn't quite sure she'd be around long. I'd seen her before. She was chubby little puppy tired up in a neighbor's yard. She seemed terrified of strangers. I watched one day as she ran after the boy who lived in the house. He was on his way to school and somehow she had gotten lose from her chain and caught up with him. A few minutes later, I watched as she followed him back home. My daughter befriended this little pooch, bringing her bowls of water and a treat or two. Kaliedoscope, being very tender-hearted, couldn't bare to hear her whimpering at night. So one day she offered the neighbors $50 for the dog. Hapapapa put his foot down; they already had 2 dogs, a cat, and a baby. So Blue ended up in front of my house.
Now it just happened that Kaliedascope's family was heading out on a two week vacation the next morning. So here I was with a little dog whose history was questionable. It was obvious she'd been abused. She was afraid of the broom, skittish hearing paper rattle, and very difficult to convince she was allowed in the house. It took two of us to carry her up the porch steps and into the house. And because I was doing a lot of childcare at the time, I was nervous about how she'd act around the babies.
The first night went well I thought. She slept on the floor at the foot of my bed. During the day she hid under an end table next to the couch. The second night she slept with her chin on my bed. That next afternoon she disappeared while I was over feeding my daughter's pets. After searching the streets for hours, I finally found her under their deck curled up in a hole she'd dug. The third night she curled up on my bed near my feet. This was fine until midway through the night, she started scratching and licking herself.
All I could think was how much I did not want fleas in my bed. Then I heard a tiny cry. Between 2 AM and 6AM that morning Blue delivered 11 puppies. I became a puppy midwife. A very bonding experience.
The next 8 weeks had a special dimension as the puppies grew and were given away. Now she is my constant companion with few faults. She likes to bark when she's with Izzy and Frankie, but not so much on the farm. She does dislike the neighbor lady and barks like crazy when she's near. And she tries to trick me into going out for a walk by barking toward the drive and looking concerned enough that I go to check. Sometimes she's right; someone's coming. But a lot of the time, it's just her ploy to get me out and down the lane for a walk. If I could only teach her to close the door when she comes in.............

An Odd Reflection of Miss Ingu's

Today I was looking in some drawers for a missing item, and I came across an old penny. It was one of those with Lincoln's face on one side and "one cent" written on the other, dated 1950. I've heard recently that pennies may be taken out of circulation. I've heard that many times. In fact, it occurred to me that the first time I heard it was in the early '50s. It was during primary school, I'm not sure which year, that our class learned about the threat to the penny. We were horrified. And our class proceeded to put on a little play about the importance of the penny. Isn't it kind of interesting that the first political play that I was ever in was at a much earlier age than I ever realized, and to boot, prompted by an unit of capitalist economy?

In Which Miss Ingu Ponders Life

I have a new theory on life and original sin. I think sometimes the soul is given a gift to see things that origional sin usually blocks from our sight. Like looking for a moment above a mist to the clearing, maybe not understanding why at the time, but maybe in hindsight. I talked to a friend on Sunday night. It had been a while since we talked and we visited on the phone for a while. She sounded good, which made me feel good. I got the news yesterday that she died Tuesday afternoon. It was a sudden thing, probably a pleural effusion, and I'm glad she died quickly. She had suffered a lot in her life even though she was still quite young. I haven't cried yet, but I feel that will come in time - there's a fragile ache in the back of my throat that I think is the grief waiting. But this has happened to me before. This talking to someone and then they unexpectedly die shortly after. The chance to talk on these occassions has been a blessing to me. God is good. I do wonder if He grants our souls this reprieve from the cloud of sin to know to take the moment to join with another soul that is a kindred spirit.

In Which Miss Ingu Finds Her Clogs

It looks like yesterday may have been the last sunny day for 2007. The weather report says rain for the next 7 days up here in the North West. Being it's the middle of October, that sounds pretty acurate. The horses have been removed from the field. I miss them. But it's better for them. Just before they were moved out we went over to the fence to chat. They were soaked! Their hide looked like a cat's that had been dunked in the river. The little bit of shelter from the trees wasn't helping. Plus, it looked like they had rolled in the mud. I found out later that the momma mare had slipped in the mud and her owner didn't want that to happen again. She miscarried her last little foal and we're looking forward to a healthy one this May. Meanwhile, back at the house the tin roof is tap-tap-tapping in a steady rhythm with nature.

In Which Miss Ingu Surveys the Land

Tonight we went for a walk. The evening sky was glowing with a rose sunset and lots of bitty clouds against a pure blue background. Blue ran on ahead and I could hear deer scattering behind the blackberry hedges. We know where they sleep and try not to disturb them, but they must have bedded down early. Earlier in the day the autumn colors dappled with sunshine made all the animals invisible. We only saw the orange cat from the farm next door. The sound of falling leaves made us think there were animals on everyside, but except for the deer we didn't know for sure. It was a good day to celebrate friendships and to remember that we are connected even though we may be miles away.