Alison Hodgson

Expert on the etiquette of perilous times.

Lover Twins

by 1 Comment

The other day I took Eden over to see her cousin. When we got there Rennie was upstairs but came running when she heard us. Eden stood at the bottom of the stairs and shouted, “Hello Lover Twin!” Rennie ran into her arms and they embraced passionately while Torey and I looked on and giggled hysterically. Later that day I thought it was important to take a picture of the Lover Twins. Note the glistening thumb that was popped out of Lover Eden’s mouth just for this picture.

I wish I had a fraction of Eden’s confidence and Ren’s glee.

Here we all are with our various sensory delights.

by 3 Comments

I’m on a mission from God.

OK, I’m just gardening, but since I am in the throes of removing a border of yucca…I’m going to give you a moment to consider that…

Yes, I am removing an entire raised bed of yucca that is beside our pool. This is my third summer at it and as God, and very probably Satan, are my witnesses it will be gone. This is a break. Yucca is one serious plant. It does not belong in Michigan. The foliage is never really attractive, the flowers aren’t either nor are they fragrant and, get this, they have tiny razor sharp – can’t think of the right word – prickly sort of things that sting if you think about touching the plant. Isn’t that the perfect thing to plant right next to where people will be walking in swimsuits.

If there is ever full scale nuclear war, in the aftermath, it’s just going to be cockroaches, rats and yucca. If that doesn’t give one’s will to live a kick in the pants I don’t know what does.

https://alisonhodgson.com/2007/05/722/

by 3 Comments

“It’s easy to love kids who do everything right and never cause problems. But the ones who stand out as difficult, impulsive, wayward, or just plain bad are the ones who change the world – if only we don’t destroy them before they get the chance.”

Dr. Edward M. Hallowell

https://alisonhodgson.com/2007/05/723/

by 3 Comments

Our Mother’s Day ritual is that I stay in bed while Paul gets up with the kids and helps them get together their cards and presents then they all descend upon me with effusive love and, sometimes, coffee. Usually I fake sleep so that can have the pleasure of waking me, but this year my slumber was genuine. I was crashed. They barged in shouting “Happy Mother’s Day!” and all handed me their cards as they clambered onto the bed. I hugged each one and announced I would be going from youngest to oldest. Eden’s card was a yellow piece of construction paper on which a piece of blue construction paper, folded in half, had been rakishly glued at an angle. On the blue paper Eden had drawn something that, when I first saw it, could have been a heart, possibly a barn with a silo, but was actually a “rainbow chick”. Now that I know, I can only see a bird.

Inside it was filled with Paul’s hand writing. Clearly there had been some dictation.

Dear Mom,

I love you ’cause you’re you Mommy, I love anyway, anything, anyway and anything. Mommy, you’re beautiful and pretty. And you can call Daddy a angel, but he doesn’t go in the sky. I love you anywhy! Case. Nice. Pretty. Mommy, you are the one and the kind. A little more stuff. Happy Mother’s Day, Eden efghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz


Does it get any better than that? We have compliments on my personal beauty, declarations of unconditional love, fantastic rhyming, most of the alphabet…what else is there?

Coffee, there was coffee.

https://alisonhodgson.com/2007/05/724/

Patient Jack H.

by 1 Comment

I wish I was referring to our canine lad’s temperament in the above. It was actually his lack of patience that landed him in the animal hospital this morning after a terrible night of horrendous coughing and gagging. Paul and I were up with him off and on the entire night. When he wasn’t sounding like he was trying to gag up all his organs he was quite chipper, so we waited until morning to call the vet. Hearing his symptoms they told me to bring him in immediately.

They kept him for a while, sedated him and found he had simply “Hoovered” his food and a piece had gone down the wrong pipe. Trying to get it up he strained his throat as “coughing irritates the throat more and just triggers more coughing.” THAT was coughing?

The damage was $113.26 and I was happy to pay it having spent the night with the alternating pictures of him dead or needing extensive surgery.

He is lying on the floor staring at me. “What are we going to do with you, Jackie Boy?” I asked. He continued to stare and then ate a small flower in front of him.

I guess we’ll love him.