friends, kids, cards, and pumpkins

shakin' rattles





































This is Gauge, son of Scott and Amanda, a young family that we met traveling the Alcan a couple of years ago. It has been a real joy to get to know them. Hanging out with Gauge is like sitting down to eat a whole container of Ben & Jerry's "One Sweet Whirled" ice cream. He is a dear and a half. Very thoughtful and present. When he was a baby, Scott would turn the dial to talk radio so that Gauge would hear the give and take of conversation and presentation. We found that so interesting. When I heard Gauge first say Zoralee's name, with the blurred "r" of a barely three year old, I nearly melted.

After kid playtime was over this particular night, they set up Gauge's sleeping bag and pillow on the living room floor, and Amanda sang lullabies to him while I was one wall away in the bedroom singing to Zoralee. When Gauge and Z were konked, the adults played cards and talked of our travels. Isn't that a scene right out of our parents or grandparents' time? It totally makes me want to reclaim that as a regular occurrence - getting together to play cards late into the night with other adults. I'd kind of forgotten about the whole sleeping bag thing for kids.

Oh, here's something cute Gauge had said to Amanda that day. They'd gone to the store and picked out a pumpkin for him to take to preschool. The pumpkin had to be small-ish but heavy enough to be a challenge for a three year old to lift. The children were to take care of their pumpkins every day, carrying them outside in the mornings and inside at the close of school, and they were to pay special attention to the details of their own pumpkin, so they'd be able to pick it out of the pile. Amanda had bought an extra pumpkin and was making it into a dessert to bring over here. When Gauge asked her what she was making and she said, "Pumpkin Bread," that made perfect sense to him in light of all the care that had gone into his pumpkin so far. He said, "Oh! You're making food for my pumpkin!"