Night night

At bedtime tonight, my six year old asked me if the tooth fairy was real. Don't lie, he said. Is it real? Goodbye the magic of innocence. :(

xo

A Day of Readings

This past Tuesday was a Spoken Interludes kind of day. In the morning, there was the graduation event for the boys at Abbott School from Spoken Interludes Next, the outreach writing program for at-risk children. Here is the first brave young man reading while the other students listen and wait their turn.

The boys at this school are all in the foster system, and have had to endure hardships that would test the sanity of most adults, much less children in these tender years. The stories they wrote were brave and funny and imaginative and observant. We had a big feast set out for them before and I had the best time serving them apple juice and making sure they weren't too shy for seconds (and thirds and fourths!). It was a wonderful, moving morning. Next few weeks: graduations events at Hawthorne Cedar Knolls, and Blythedale Childrens Hospital.

Then that night, I had a Spoken Interludes at the fabulous and yummy Chutney Masala. Navjot, the owner, made this divine fish dish that I've been dreaming about all week. And I have tilapia to make for dinner tonight and somehow know it won't be half as good. Jonathan Dee was there reading from his new novel, The Privileges, Dani Shapiro read from her moving and wonderful memoir, Devotion, and Tad Friend of The New Yorker read from his hysterical memoir, Cheerful Money.
xo

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Yarmouth Blue

I painted my sons bathroom today with my sons (ages 6 and 3) and my nephew who is 12. When we started, and my six year old was on one side of the bathroom wielding a roller, and my three year old was on the other side, waving a roller, I had a moment of, "What in God's name was I thinking?" My nephew summed it up when he said, "Aunt DeLauné, I think you are spending more time taking care of needs than painting." But never underestimate the tired muscles of small children. They lasted about 45 minutes, then were done, so my darling nephew took them into the playroom while I finished. Hurrah! And I finally disamantled the dreadful fluorescent light above their sink since a new fixture is coming, and suddenly the bathroom is SO much better. But most important, Geaux Saints!!
xo

My New Favorite Thing

Awhile back, I read an article in the New York Times Magazine section about Freedom - an application that disables networking on an Apple computer for up to 8 hours at a time. Since then, it is my new best friend for writing. I punch in how long I will write - usually 120-150 minutes - and I'm off. Offline and off to writing. it is heaven. if the perpetual pull of email or "research" on the web is too powerful for you, too, check it out. I happily sent in my 10 dollar donation for it.
xo