That green, green grass on the other side

A couple of days ago I was plunging the toilet (can plunge be a gerund? Wait, is that an infinitive or a gerund?? Past participle? I'm definitely placing the husband in charge of the Grammar phase of the classical curriculum) and Hudson was watching with growing excitement:

Hudson: I wan DO that.
me: No, it's Mommy's job right now.
Hudson: When I a grown up, I DO that!!
me: Yes, when you are a grown up you CAN plunge the toilet.

This morning I found him in the study poring over T.S. Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral" and to his delight he found a 3x5 index card within. With words written on it! I distinctly remembered having brought the book with me to a staff development day (or, as I liked to think of them at the time, "a day I get paid to read and not have to teach my students")that had something to do with technology. On this index card I had written this cryptic message:

Mark and Peter skipped school.
Mark has a large house.
It has ornate landscaping.
his dad had stone siding & a new fireplace installed.

What the? I have no idea. It has nothing to do with "Murder in the Cathedral," which is a play about the death of Thomas Becket. There's a blurb critique by Mark Van Doren on the back cover--the father in "Quiz Show." The father or maybe the uncle. That's a great movie.

So the dog has found three different escape routes from the backyard. She wiggled through a hole in the side deck this morning and the kids came running in to tell me. I went out to retrieve her, leaving the rest of my flock, and the foolish beast refused to come with me. I was cranky because I had wet hair and a dishwasher to unload and reload and a half fed baby in the high chair and I launched into a little monologue that went something like: "Sasha, I am not going to chase you because you are not even actually my dog and I have three human children who need me AND I need to dry my hair and do you even understand that if you would just stay in the stupid backyard we will feed you and give you a warm blanket on which to sleep and bones to chew and a ball to chase? Do you understand that Sasha? There is a big truck COMING GET BACK ON THE SIDEWALK. Okay, I'm going in now and I don't care if you follow me or not but you really should because you have no idea how differently things could be going for you right now.." She finally listened and allowed herself to be carried back into the backyard where Hudson and Harper were waiting with the fatted calf etc. etc. (you'll forgive me for mixing parables, which is a crime slightly less grievous than mixing metaphors, I think)

For lunch Helena had some raspberry pear yogurt and I reminded Harper of this story and she laughed and laughed and laughed.