McCaaaahhhhhhhll

When I was in college, I wrote a piece about McCall. I just came across it today, and since I'm due for a McCall blog, here's an excerpt that sort of sums it up.

"The waters of Payette Lake in northern Idaho hold more than some old wooden docks and a lot of sucker fish; they're filled with my growing up. These secure waters among the tree's blanket cradle me like a child fitting perfectly in her mother's hold. They have always been here--at least as long as I have--and the regular rhythm of the chilly water assures me of their permanence. Like smoothing wrinkles from a cloth, the tensed muscles of everyday flow into the free moving grace of sunlight on water. "


I read somewhere that you can open your soul to a mountain and it won't fling it back at you, but will catch and hold it. I guess McCall feels about like that, and going there is purely restorative. I don't know if my dad feels this way (I suspect deep down he does, though I certainly can't imagine him waxing poetic about it), but I know all my siblings do. It's like going home to your most essential self, like stripping off all of the life that has been quietly accumulating on you like dust, and you didn't realize how very heavy that life was until you felt it drop away with the rush of the water. Really, I think I could go to McCall and stay just long enough to head down to the dock and have one good clean dive. It's like being baptized once a year. That clean.

I sometimes wonder how much of that feeling comes from the company I'm in when I go to the lake. I'll have to do a seperate post about this year's trip, but running across the old bit I wrote so long ago reminded me just how little has really changed for me about McCall. Here's a picture of Autumn and Laine that speaks where my words are failing. Because it's beautiful, isn't it?

Bones and Buns

That last post was one I started at the beginning of the summer. I never finished it, but like the picture so there you go.

I have had nothing to do but post for the past few weeks, but nothing to say but wah wah wah. I resisted. I broke my foot, and am not a particularly good patient. I'm impatient. But then Mike had some emergency hemorrhoid surgery which really kicked his butt, so to speak, and I began to be just a little amused at the whole situation in our family. Two incapacitated parents can get pretty funny pretty fast. Especially if you've met our children. So then yesterday Paige fell off her chair and broke her thumb. And now it's nothing short of hilarious. So I thought-- why not share the joy.

Here's a picture of cute Paige's thumb (which is really only mildly broken and at the end, so we don't have to do anything. She can't put much pressure on it without saying, "OUCH." But mostly she doesn't seem to mind.) You can hardly see the bruising in this picture, but that's a fat thumb, even for Paige:)

And here's a nice shot of my foot three weeks after the incident. Three weeks of the boot to go, and then I can drive, which is the most irritating part. It's healing quite well, so I just have to get over my impatience and wait.

I'm not going to post a picture of Mike's injury (try to control your disappointment). Poor guy went in for a routine in-office hemorrhoid removal so he could function again, but ended up having to go to the hospital because his problem was too big to handle in the office. He's really having an unpleasant time recovering, but it's all been worth it to get to see him come out of the sedation. He's only borderline appropriate in his comments when he's clear-headed, so you can imagine.... He wanted to talk to the guy who was in the room during the surgery to hear about how it went, and kept hollering for the black, gay nurse to come tell him about his butt. I couldn't get him to just STOP TALKING. He kept bellowing, "Well, he's obviously gay, Courtney." So I can only imagine with horror the things he must have blurted under the sedation during the surgery. Fortunately for him, he won't have to live with the memory. Ah, but that poor gay nurse.

So now that you've suffered through that blog, do you understand why I haven't been blogging? You'll probably trip and break an arm just from reading about our family--so reader beware and take extra caution. We're clearly dangerous, and it seems to be contagious. Good luck.