Yesterday was another class of gymnastics for Maxim. Afterwards, Marcela took Noah and Maxim to a nearby playground where they ran around and kicked the ball and played. "I'm a big boy," Noah told another boy's mother as he stood at the top of the slide. Maxim likes to practice being a dancer. Last night she pulled the kitchen door open half way into the room and hid behind it, stage left. She came onto the "stage" in full pose and twinkling along on her toes. When they picked me up at the train, Maxim had still been in her nightgown from her nap and was still quite sleepy. By the time we got home, they wanted to play. Within minutes, Dawn and Catherine wandered by the open kitchen door. Maxim invited Catherine to stay and play and they built another backyard structure, you can see in the photograph. We were delighted to come home and NOT have to paint some huge chunk of the house. We wandered around the backyard, looking at things again. We noticed that Maxim's gourd has produced another fruit. This one is yellow and green. Maxim's teachers have asked me to do a science presentation for the Teddy Bear room. I have been trying to think of ideas. Maxim, Noah and I have a story we tell on the way home from dropping Marcela at the train in the morning. Maxim complains that the sun is in her eyes and I ask her if she'd like me to call the people in charge and have it turned off. She says yes and I relay the message that they say they'll do it, but she's going to be hungry. Then we go through a long series of days that no one knows are days because the sun doesn't come up, and the plants start getting sad and weak, and the animals too, and finally there is no food to eat. "What should we do?" Turn the sun back on, they shout. I may use that one, and a song called Hey Little Ant that gives an ant's perspective on being squished by a boy. Marcela went to work early and returned late today. We ate tofu in coconut sauce and kielbasi for dinner. The kids sat with us for the whole dinner and then played in the living room. They listened to several books and went to bed quietly. Abuela called before they went to bed and Noah spoke to her. Earlier he had said 'Te quiero' [I love you] to Marcela, but he wouldn't say it to Abuela. Having Noah get on the phone was love enough for her.

Every Friday afternoon we experience a fleeting joy when our work week is done and the weekend has arrived. We will sleep in, we tell ourselves, and take it easy... I did say fleeting. Maxim went to her second dance class on Saturday. Marcela and Maxim had bought the dance "Zone" required outfit - black leotard, white tights - during the week, so Maxim was excited to be dressing up. Marcela brought Noah along too and they walked around downtown while Maxim learned some new steps. Saturday was also our neighbor Jake's 30th birthday. By early afternoon, people were beginning to gather next door. All four of us got cleaned up and wandered over with a small gift for Jake and beverages for the food table. Hot dogs and hamburgers were grilling and salad was spread. We ate a delicious ("Delicioso," as Maxim likes to say.) lunch and met more interesting Maynard people. At 3:00, Noah went to sleep and Marcela brought Maxim to Elizabeth's fifth birthday party, where Gwen and Lauren and Ahwa and Griffin and Joey and Sammy and Connor and Nicole and, well, pretty much the whole Teddy Bear room of the Community School, played and ate cake and played some more. Maxim returned with an extra gift bag for Noah. At dinner time, we noticed that the birthday party was still going strong next door, so we wandered back over and found the grill still grilling with hot dogs and burgers and many more of our neighbors sitting around amidst Jake's friends. We were offered dinner and cold beer, which we gladly accepted. We nibbled in the twilight catching up with people while Maxim and Noah and Catherine and Emmaline ran around under the trees and made houses in the grass. On Sunday, after breakfast, Gordon came over and picked up Maxim so he could take Gwen and her mushroom hunting in Stowe. We distracted Noah and he didn't seem to notice Maxim was gone. He likes to play around in different rooms and make up games that involve grunting and pushing things. Maxim returned from the mushroom hunt exhausted and Marcela had already lain down with Noah, so she climbed quietly into her bed and only bothered Marcela once to look for her blanket. I made curry and Gordon made kuchen and Marcela made salad and we ate dinner together while Maxim, Gwen, and Noah played at the end of the hallway. Perhaps the other notable thing this past weekend is the completion of all the big painting on the house. Front, back, side to side, all of the trim and body and about 1/3 of the basement, is covered. It was a bigger job than we thought, but it is mostly complete. For both of us, Marcela and I, it is a nice relief to know we beat the cold weather and rain and can gear up for next Friday, when for a fleeting moment, we will feel a momentary elation as the work week comes to an end. We can sleep in, we'll say to ourselves, take it easy...

The first day of fall, September 22, was among the most beautiful days of the past warm season. It rivalled July 4th in being sunny, yet dry and comfortable. It was the first day of fall, but it really felt like the middle of spring. Today Maxim remembered that she had been earning money for being helpful around the house and she asked if she could spend some of it on the coin-operated plastic carousel outside of the K-Mart in nearby south Acton. Marcela thought that was a great idea. But before they could go, there were lots of things to do at home. Marcela and the kids took a walk downtown in the morning, while I put together pictures to show to my class. After lunch, Marcela and the kids took a blanket and dessert and had a picnic by the side of Mill Pond. "This is just like camping," Maxim said. Noah and Maxim fed the ducks, who have gathered by the dozens in recent weeks on the pond. While the children slept, Marcela decided to paint the wall behind the counters in the kitchen with the blue paint we decided not to put on the house. I came home to the smell of drying paint and a nice new look to the kitchen. You can see in the photograph above the structure that Catherine built with the kids even later in the afternoon. Catherine would send Maxim in for blankets or pillows and, every time she went inside, Maxim would ask Marcela if it was time to go to the carousel yet. We need to mow this lawn. It has been two weeks with several rains. But instead, we finished painting the back of the house. It is now done! Only three sides to go. You can click on the photograph to see it a little bit better, but the light is a tad too flat to really show it off. Weather permitting, we will finish everything by Monday. Having been arms distance away from every brush of paint, we stand and look at the finished house and see all of the uneven lines and every place where there is a slight discoloration of paint, looking closer at more pieces of detail than anyone really would. It will take a few days or maybe a week before we can really see it, so our joy is muted today. But our sense of accomplishment is growing. Maxim helped us paint the basement section and described the details of the new paint out loud. "We used to have a yellow house with pink windows and now we have a green house with yellow windows," She said, "Red is my favorite color." Just before dark, they jumped in the car and went to the carousel.

Today was Maxim's second day at gymnastics. Marcela said she enjoyed it and followed directions well. They have her jumping on the big trampoline now and moving in and out of exercises with poses. Noah really wants to join her in the gym, but he is still too young. After the class, the three of them went to the shoe store and got Noah some fall sneakers ("They look too tight," he said when I held them up in the evening) and new black patent leather shoes for Maxim. When they all picked me up at the train everyone was in a good mood and relaxed. They even sat quietly with me in the car while Marcela ran into a store. It was warm enough to walk when we got home, so Marcela took the kids downtown while I finished most of the rest of the body of the house. The kids got back at the same time that Catherine came over and the three of them played in the front yard while I painted. Catherine likes to bring out the kids' guitar and make up songs while Maxim makes up dances. Noah likes to run around and see who will wrestle with him. Catherine is around so much these months that it is amost as if the kids have an older sibling. They have found their rhythm together and enjoy each other's company. Unfortunately, almost immediately after the sun went down, about a half an hour after this picture was taken, a downpour floated through. Heavy steady rain for twenty minutes. This morning, I peeked my head out the door and saw the results. The house has long yellowish streaks along both sides of the bay window where water runoff tore through the not-yet-dry paint. Fortunately the sun is up today and the sky is blue, so everything will dry and we can try again. This is one of those lessons we've learned as parents; sometimes you work hard to complete something and other forces have other ideas and you have to just smile, sigh, and wait for another opportunity. Everything gets completed in its time.

Up at the end of the right-of-way, where it turns north in front of our neighbors' houses, you can look out through some trees, across a placid mill pond, and at a large brick factory complex. Digital Computers once had its world headquarters here, before Hewlett-Packard put them to bed. We watch a colorful sunset paint the clouds in the eastern sky behind the factory. It was a very nice weekend for us. On Saturday, Maxim began her dance classes at Miss Kathy's Dance Zone right in downtown Maynard. We walked there from home, through the Farmer's Market and past the new pharmacy. Maxim got new white tap shoes and a smiley face for her ballet slipper - because she had done a good job, the teacher told her. It stayed overcast, but the weather web site said it would not rain, so we put more paint on the front of the house. We are quite nearly finished with the body now. Just a couple more stripes and chunks around the bay window and then we can finish the trim. On Saturday evening we jumped in the car and visited our friends John and Lisa, whose son Griffin is in Maxim's class at the Community School. We ate grilled tuna and grilled potatoes and fruit pudding and ice cream. Maxim and Griffin played very well, Maxim adapted to some new games and she convinced Griffin to dance a little bit. Lisa, who is a musician, played piano music for Maxim to twirl to. Noah hung drums around his neck and beat out a rhythm. Lisa and John worry that their son is too hyper and disobedient, but he seems perfectly four to us. Griffin is a very smart kid, and it seems that with intelligence comes intensity. On Saturday before we headed over to Griffin's house, while Marcela and the kids napped, I decided to paint a little on the back as well. I got another two stretches of the strip at top and both of the second story windows. I almost fell asleep in the rocking chair at the end of the night in John and Lisa's living room. You can see the new paint in this photograph. On Sunday, we piled in the car and visited Boston. We ate delicious southern cooking and listened to loud jazz music with my father and some dear old family friends. Then we took a short walk around Boston. We ambled through old neighborhoods and warm memories. Three generations. Those who saw me grow, watching me take my turn with grandchildren or near-grandchildren. Marcela and I are happy with the colors we have chosen for our house and we are pleased with the tenor taken by our life together.

Rain for two days. They expect rain for two more. It is good for the plants, but it slows us down, and it makes the kids a little antsy. They want to be outside, riding their bikes or otherwise running around. They are slow to nap because they haven't had the same exercise they usually have. Today I realized that Noah is suddenly evolving into a young boy. This is good, in that it means he tries harder to do big kids things and he's getting good at them. But it is bad, because it challenges us to set new kinds of limits. He is emotional, making him warm and loving and (sometimes) irritable. Marcela and Maxim have begun drawing a mural on the wall of the kids' room. More accurately, Maxim has drawn a mural on her wall with a little bit of help from Noah, who drew a 'train,' ('No it isn't,' Maxim whispered) and from Marcela, who drew clouds, a bee, a bird, and a train. Maxim drew butterflies and dragonflies and flowers and a sun and two upsidedown ballerinas. Marcela is going to pick up paints this afternoon and make the best of a rainy weekend by putting color into the drawings. I painted one more small section of the front of the house, right above the bay windows, but beyond that, we haven't put a dab of paint on the house since last Tuesday and may not be able to paint again until next Tuesday. We have stopped working outside, but the squirrels haven't. This is what remains of the smaller of the two sunflowers growing by the back fence. The squirrels bit it off cleanly and dropped it to the ground, where they broke it in half, ate part of one side on the spot and took the other half with them up the backyard Norway spruce tree. I didn't see this with my own eyes, instead I found these sunflower seed husks and pedals caught in this spider's web in the nook of the fence directly below the squirrels' nest in the Norway spruce. The squirrels were no where to be seen. The spider was probably as annoyed with the squirrels as I was. I did not want them to eat my sunflower seeds. I wanted to eat those myself. And the spider needed that web to catch insects, and look at it now (you have to click on the photograph to see it full-sized). It is filled with the squirrels' compost pile. But I do not think the squirrels are very bothered by that. "What's a spider and a human got to do with anything?" They probably ask themsleves.

Today Marcela took Maxim to her first gymnastics class of the fall term. Maxim got to jump on the big trampoline and Marcela said Noah wanted to go into the gym and play too. They sat outside with the other mothers and siblings and watched. The three played the memory game in the afternoon and then Maxim and Noah slept a good nap while Marcela painted a couple more windows with the trim paint. The kids looked tired when they picked me up at the train station; Noah had just woken up and was a little bit grumpy. Maxim was in a good mood and told me she only didn't listen to her Mom twice today, "Once when I pinched Noah and one time when I pushed him," Maxim told me. It was so warm today that we pulled out the kiddie pool when we got home and the kids put on their bathing suits. Maxim, Noah, and, a little later, Catherine, played games in the water that included the slide and the business cards from the house next door's for sale sign. You can see the results of that game still drying in the lawn in the photograph above. You can also see the ladder stretching up to the very tippy top of the of the roof, the highest point we have to paint on the house. We finished three sides now, north, east, and south and have about half of the front finished. The front is more difficult because it gets sun during the longest stretch of day, and you really shouldn't paint in direct sunlight. We also finished the frame around the kitchen door and the top of the triangle of trim on back. "No one paints their house themselves anymore," Cynthia, our neighbor from the bikeshop, remarked as she was out walking her new dog. "Not no one," I thought.

What a Saturday! In the morning we painted a little bit and then Marie called and invited Noah and Maxim to go to Stow and visit Gwen. They gladly accepted and Marcela and I took the opportunity to go out for breakfast and choose the final colors for the house. We had a lovely walk through downtown Hudson, one of the hidden treasures of metro west Massachusetts. Maxim did not want to leave Gwen's house, but Gwen's grandmother was there and Marcela wanted to give her time to visit Gwen, so we all jumped into the car and returned to Maynard. The kids ate and napped and then Gwen came to visit us. She brought her pink bicyle and red tricyle and red helmet. She rode the tricyle, Maxim used the bicyle, and Noah drove his car. Maxim and Gwen play very well together; they discuss and pretend and negotiate and arrange in a seamless dialogue that sometimes lasts hours. About an hour after Gwen arrived, Catherine came by and played a little bit with Noah. "I think he has a thing for girls," Catherine said to me as Noah chased her around in his car. "I think he has a thing for you," I teased her. She seemed delighted. The whole time, from when we got home until after Catherine arrived, we painted. Marcela worked on details, window frames. I painted the walls. We finished the back wall and almost finished the south wall. Only the front remains, and the trim. You can see on the bottom half of the pantry window the final color for the trim. It is called Chestnut Beige by the company that makes it. Marcela likes it (and I agree) because it has a subtle hint of red, the compliment of green, and so it matches the basement color (a rich burgundy) and pulls out the green in the body paint. I think it will take two coats to cover things. We are closing in on the last stages of this summer's painting. It has been a good, growing summer for all of us here. Maynard has been a fertile place to land.

It was another beautiful day in Maynard. Sun and cool weather. Marcela took the kids to the playground in West Concord where Noah played on the big slide and Maxim chased him around. They were so tired that they slept almost three and half hours in the afternoon. Later in the afternoon, when I came home from the city, Marcela and I painted different parts of the house for a little while and the kids played in the right-of-way with Catherine. We invited Emmaline to come over too, but she went to the library instead. First, they played policeman and Noah had to be the policeman and give them tickets. Then Maxim and Catherine drew pictures on the porch while Noah kept driving around in his plastic car. Later Catherine showed Maxim some dance moves on the front lawn. The yard is cleaned up again, and mowed, but for some reason the pool is burning the grass wherever we put it down. You can see the brown circle in the upper left of the photograph by the swingset, and the pool on the table. Marcela has just finished a small section of the front of the house. She and Noah are putting the paint and brush away. You can see the area around the door where Marcela painted. I did about five rows of shingles on the back wall. You can see that the windows on front are all ready now too; we trimmed, caulked, and painted them last Tuesday, which took all morning. We expect to finish the body of the house by Sunday and we will be choosing a color for the windows and trim this weekend. It has been a good process to work our house this way. Not only does it begin to look nicer, but it feels more and more like our home.

Twighlight in the yard. A long day of painting and playing in the yard with the kids. They were relaxed and well-behaved all day. We cleaned up the back yard and Catherine made a new structure, hanging the cloth across the chairs and building a wooden teepee over it. Maxim and Noah played around and inside it for a long time. They also played in the street with their bike and plastic car. Back and forth, forth and back. Maxim and Catherine pretended that Noah was a police officer and he gave them tickets for driving on the grass and skidding off the road. At dinner we made sausages, which are the kids' favorite. We made ten, they ate six between them. They were so hungry because they were outside all day. So were we. You can see how we finished the north side of the house and got the top and bottom of the back of the house done, plus (and you cannot see this here) all but a thin strip on the south side as well. We finished the upstairs windows on Sunday, you can see them trimmed and painted. We will finish the upstairs windows on the front on Tuesday. Our house slowly gets its new look. The neighbors are beginning to remark at the changes.

Catherine and Maxim tried to make a teepee that would hold all three of the kids at once, but it was challenging. I tried to help for a little while, but there was painting to be done, and windows to finish. We hoped that we would finish painting our house this weekend, but it will take us a little bit more time than one weekend. We did a lot of painting anyways. The weather was very nice, the air was dry and it was sunny all day long, except for some fluffy clouds. The kids played very well and then napped. Catherine came back over before they were awake. She couldn't wait to play some more. Maxim is trying to learn dances from Catherine. Noah chases them around. Marcela and I wish that they were just a little bit bigger because someone needs to mow the lawn and neither of us wants to do it. You can see how long the grass is getting. With all the rain, the grass grew a lot this week. With all the painting, we didn't feel like doing anything about it. We finished scraping, sanding, and puttying the front windows. We also painted two stripes along the top and bottom of the south side of the house. I suggested that we paint a black stripe through the middle, but Marcela did not want a striped house. Only Maxim and I thought it was a good idea. We ran out of trim and the local lumber yard is closed Sunday and Monday. We'll finish the front windows by next weekend. The house feels different when you know it this well, when you work it this closely. We like that feeling.

Saturday was a busy day for everyone. Lots of work on the windows, although we didn't quite finish them yet. More exciting was the fact that we bought our paint and started painting. Marcela worked along the bottom on one side. I worked along the top on the other. The kids had a blast being outside all day. Maxim and Marcela went to the farmer's market on their bicycles. Noah played around in the yard and house while I sanded and caulked. Everything got moved around into messy piles in the yard. Later in the afternoon, Catherine came by and played hide and seek with the kids. On Saturday there are many people who walk by our door to get to the farmer's market, so we say hello and have short conversation with many people. Maynard is a quiet, friendly town. Lots of kids and folks like us with lots of ideas and very little money. Perfect. Catherine learned how to build tee pees this summer at camp so she and Maxim took the larger sticks we had piled in the back of the yard and made one of her own. The kids played in it for a long time. You can see the new paint along the bottom of the side of the house. All of our neighbors wanted us to go with the bluer paint, we opted for the green, which was our original idea. We are excited to be moving into the final stages of this project. Little changes are finally adding up.

The kids do not seem to want to go to sleep this evening. It is a cool evening. We had a quiet afternoon. Catherine visited again. She had no school today. She came along with Maxim and I when we picked up Noah. She and Maxim drew pictures while Noah thought up ways to bother them. They napped well, but woke up fussy. Are they sleeping too much? Are they not eating enough lunch? Noah had two servings of eggs noodles with cheese and asked for a hot dog. They drank plenty of fluids. We talked about going to the supermarket when Marcela came home, but decided to stick with what we had on hand. A delicious vegetable stir fry with wild rice. Everyone ate dinner well. The back yard is just as we left it last night, except for the picnic tale, which I turned over this morning. This morning after I dropped off Maxim, I picked up paint samples for the two colors we had narrowed it down to for the body of the house. Some people have suggested the blue (the left swatch) is a brighter choice, but we want green, so we're going with the right color, called "Halifax." They are mixing up a big batch of Halifax for us in the morning. We will paint all weekend and make the house even more ours.

It was a school day on a non-school day. Usually Marcela is home on Thursday. Today she worked. I walked to the Community School to pick up Maxim at 11:30. The winds were still blowing, cooling everything off. We walked home and then picked up Noah at noon. He drove around in his little plastic car, and she pedaled her bicycle until napping. When they awoke, Ken, Coralie, and Nico were here. They did not mind that I left them behind to pick up Marcela at the train. We barbequed chicken and sausage and asparagus. As the twilight set in, the kids chased each other around the yard and we all began to get bit by mosquitoes. I have known Ken since 1985. We roomed together in college. Our kids play together now, twenty years later. I noticed the leaf that had fallen off my jade tree had something on top of it this evening. If you look closely, you can see it. A new jade tree sprout coming out of the top edge of the leaf. A small root reaching for the ground. Maxim learned another dance with Catherine tonight. Noah and Nico built buildings out of blocks.