Long Time, No Blog

I'm pretty sure no one has really missed me (you know, with that prickly sort of longing you only get when you're jonesin' for some interminable run-on sentences and parenthetical asides). But I've been missing this outlet, so back in the babbling saddle I am.

I have many blog topics stacked up in the back of my brain, thoughtful and occasionally nostalgic essays waiting to be written on summer fruit, old friends, fireworks, the role of ritual in my life, parenting kid #2, hostessing, the writing process/Madam Muse, and of course that old favorite, whale cheese. (Go on, Google "whale cheese"...would you believe there are already 5 pages of links? The mind boggles. Or should I say, the mind Googles. Anyway.) But I also have a head cold, no doubt brought on by the problematic cocktail of too much to do, too little sleep, and being around too many random people over a holiday weekend.

So once again I will break my promise to write a long, interesting blog entry "soon." On the plus side of the ledger though, getting some sleep is probably a good first step towards actually writing something one of these days. At least now I have a list I can reference.

In apology for not getting my shit together to write something good, I'll offer several thousand words of pictures:

^ Stars and stripes, little brother and big brother.

^ The rare and elusive mama-and-baby photo.

^ Eli on the ferris wheel at the Marin County Fair.

^ More cute brotherly love. I adore the mood of this shot, even though it's blurrier than I wanted.