We are family

One of our daughters and her two children arrived Saturday.

It's been a whirlwind of movement and giggles and questions and not-so-profound-but-important statements ever since.

My favorite so far: 

Abbi (as I'm preparing the white sauce for the Mac 'n Cheese, keeping an eye on the macaroni boiling in the pot): "Nana, know what?"

Me: "What?"

Abbi: "Ummm... Sometimes, dogs is brown."

Me: "Right you are, kiddo."

Abbi: "Ummmmm.... but you know what? Nana? Nana! You need to look at me for a minute!"

Me: "Yes, my darling. Just let me check one thing.....Okay..... I'm looking at you."

Abbi: "Ummmm....Theo is black and white and so is Lenny and, and,and CoCo is, well....(giggle, squirm) coco, and,and,and Jethro is creamy with reddish spots and Koda is black with kinda brown in his fur but.....Nana, Nana,Nana....you aren't looking at me...."

Me: (looking at her while stirring the white sauce): "Okay, lamb chop, now I am. Go ahead."

Abbi: "Sheesh! Ummm....okay....what was I saying? Oh, yeah, sometimes, dogs are brown - ALL brown - but not one of our dogs is brown (giggle, giggle,giggle)."

Me: "Isn't that something? What do you suppose it means?"

Abbi: "Naaana! It just means that we don't have an all-brown dog!"

All that, and I did not scortch the white sauce which would have turned brown and I would have ended up in the dog-house.

I still got it! I am woman, hear me roar!

I love these family times with children and grandchildren. I love the seeming nonsensical conversations which are really about the ways in which we pay attention to and try to make sense of the way the world works; the seeming randomness of life that form patterns of order; the way life intrudes when you're busy doing other things.

We've been feasting on seafood and there's enough left over for me to make a vat of my Grandmother's Seafood Chowder. This one will include lobster, shrimp, crab, clams and mussels. Because, well, because that's what we've got in the fridge and if I don't use it it will be wasteful and you never, ever want to let seafood go to waste.

I think there may be a special place in hell for people who waste seafood.

See also: the seeming randomness of life that form patterns of order.

You know. The way families come together and are formed.

The kiddos are at the beach right now. I've got a few things to pick up at the market before I start putting the chowder together.  With any luck, the Apple Store will call and tell me that my lap top is fixed and I'll be able to pick it up and start blogging from it rather than my iPad.

Oh, and we have a rubber boat to inflate after dinner, no doubt amidst a flurry of questions and important pronouncements that remind us how precious is our life.

More precious, still, is family time together.