My daughter's birthday is Halloween. Like lots of religious Jews, we were brought up with a certain ambivalence about about the day. My mother used to run home from Hebrew School on Halloween so she wouldn't get beat up. My sisters and I were not allowed to go trick or treating, but we were allowed to dress up and answer the door in costume.
When my oldest was born on October 31, all of my parents' ambivalence about the day went out the window. They regularly bought my daughter Halloween themed stuff. They got serious about the day.
For my daughter who loved dressing in costume all the time, there was no better day for her to have been born. Not only was her birthday a day when everyone dressed up, all of your neighbors gave you candy.
A few years ago, I had purchased a length of black stretch cotton embroidered with silver spider webs, My daughter loved the fabric. I wasn't sure exactly what garment I would be making from it, but clearly it was going to be something for my daughter.
Yesterday, the fabric decided that it wanted to be a dress.
I hope she likes it.
I do know that she will like our dessert for tomorrow night. a rectangular pumpkin pie.
If I were a punnier person the headline on the post would be "pi are rectangular". But ultimately, I realized that I would hate myself if I used that as my header. So you have been spared that groaner.
And now for the next topic of this post.
My parents had something of an ambivalent relationship with Quincy, the town where we lived. On one hand, they loved that it was a place of real history. John Adams had owned the land where our house stood. The house where he was born and the one where he spent the early years of his marriage were an easy walk from our front door. The house he bought with Abigail while he was serving as the Ambassador to France was around the corner from our house. We used to play on the grounds of the Adams Mansion.
John Hancock was born right down the street.
Despite it's history, Quincy was somewhat lacking in culture. I think a town with a more vibrant intellectual, cultural life would have made my parents happier.
Their ambivalence was expressed in our downstairs bathroom. They decorated the bathroom with 19th century prints and maps of Quincy. They also bought a souvenir plate from the late 19th century with the image of the beautiful Thomas Crane Library designed by H. H. Richardson. My husband and I gave my parents a Quincy plate of more recent vintage.
When we broke up my mother's apartment, My sister took the Quincy prints. I took the the Quincy plates. Following my parents lead I had already had some old New York images hanging in our back bathroom. I added my parent's Quincy plates to our bathroom.
The other day we found a wonderful Quincy souvenir plate on Ebay. It looks to me like it is from the early years of the 20th century. Today I re arranged the back wall of the back bathroom.
The blue plate is the newest member of the grouping. We found the prettily famed mirror in the garbage about 30 years ago. Above the mirror is a framed 19th century postcard of the Church of the Presidents, where the Adams' went to church.The framed photo on the top right is of our neighborhood. I created a mat out of a subway map.
The weather has suddenly become chilly. While I was running errands today I found the last roses of summer right on 96th street.
When my oldest was born on October 31, all of my parents' ambivalence about the day went out the window. They regularly bought my daughter Halloween themed stuff. They got serious about the day.
For my daughter who loved dressing in costume all the time, there was no better day for her to have been born. Not only was her birthday a day when everyone dressed up, all of your neighbors gave you candy.
A few years ago, I had purchased a length of black stretch cotton embroidered with silver spider webs, My daughter loved the fabric. I wasn't sure exactly what garment I would be making from it, but clearly it was going to be something for my daughter.
I do know that she will like our dessert for tomorrow night. a rectangular pumpkin pie.
And now for the next topic of this post.
My parents had something of an ambivalent relationship with Quincy, the town where we lived. On one hand, they loved that it was a place of real history. John Adams had owned the land where our house stood. The house where he was born and the one where he spent the early years of his marriage were an easy walk from our front door. The house he bought with Abigail while he was serving as the Ambassador to France was around the corner from our house. We used to play on the grounds of the Adams Mansion.
John Hancock was born right down the street.
Despite it's history, Quincy was somewhat lacking in culture. I think a town with a more vibrant intellectual, cultural life would have made my parents happier.
Their ambivalence was expressed in our downstairs bathroom. They decorated the bathroom with 19th century prints and maps of Quincy. They also bought a souvenir plate from the late 19th century with the image of the beautiful Thomas Crane Library designed by H. H. Richardson. My husband and I gave my parents a Quincy plate of more recent vintage.
When we broke up my mother's apartment, My sister took the Quincy prints. I took the the Quincy plates. Following my parents lead I had already had some old New York images hanging in our back bathroom. I added my parent's Quincy plates to our bathroom.
The other day we found a wonderful Quincy souvenir plate on Ebay. It looks to me like it is from the early years of the 20th century. Today I re arranged the back wall of the back bathroom.
The blue plate is the newest member of the grouping. We found the prettily famed mirror in the garbage about 30 years ago. Above the mirror is a framed 19th century postcard of the Church of the Presidents, where the Adams' went to church.The framed photo on the top right is of our neighborhood. I created a mat out of a subway map.
The weather has suddenly become chilly. While I was running errands today I found the last roses of summer right on 96th street.
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