It is with great sadness that I report the passing of one of the world's great dogs. About three weeks ago, Genesis was diagnosed with bone cancer in her leg. It progressed pretty quickly and soon she got to the point where she was in constant pain. I took her to the vet yesterday and held her head while she fell asleep for the last time. She passed away very quietly and I have every reason in the world to believe that she's much happier now than she was hobbling around. She was 12 years old.

We miss her. We miss her a lot. She was a funny dog, very quiet and extremely gentle. Where some dogs perfect the "poor me" begging face to coerce a sucker into giving a treat, Gennie had instead a "give me a break" face. She often made it very clear to us that she was only tolerating our behavior because she didn't have the opposable thumbs required to get dog food out of the bin.

Rescuing a racing greyhound is a bizarre experience. We had to teach Gennie that affection is a good thing, but once she figured out that a scratch behind the ears felt good, she couldn't get enough and would walk up and LEEEAAAANNN against my knees until I stopped what I was doing to rub her all over.

With our busy lives and cramped space, Gennie never got everything she deserved. But I try to squelch that guilt by remembering the one thing we did give her: we taught her to play. Racing dogs never learn how to play as puppies since they are trained to do only one thing: run. So for years we tossed balls, squeaked toys, dangled pull ropes, anything we could think of until one day, when Gennie was almost 7, she got it. She learned playfulness. She would toss her own squeaky toys in the air then pounce on them. She played chase with us in the yard. It was an amazing sight. You can indeed teach and old dog new tricks.

Anyway, thanks for indulging me. We're sad around here but at the same time glad that she's got plenty of room to chase rabbits and toss squeaky toys now, and four healthy legs with which to do those things.

This was a few weeks ago. He's a speed demon now.

After the first week, John, Andie, Anna and Kevin left Eli and me at the beach all by ourselves. We had a blast! He is such a goofball and has so much energy. as long as the weather was good, we were outside in the sand or the pool or at the playground. One afternoon, though, the weather was terrible and so was Eli's mood. We had to get out! Where does one go when the weather is bad but you can't stay in the condo anothe rminute? to Target, of course!

While wandering the toy aisles at ye olde Target, Eli found a tricycle sitting on the floor, ready to go. He hopped on and started to pedal. Where he learned to ride a trike, I'll never know, be he is certainly a genius at it now. We're signing him up for next year's Tour de France.

For the last several weeks, we've heard nothing but "Eli ride bike. Eli go fast. Helmet on! Pedals round and round!" Over and over. Fortunately for Eli, he's really really cute. Otherwise...

Over the last month or so, Eli's vocabulary has exploded! One word that he picked up at the beach is "frisbee". But it sounds more like "piseebah". In any case he loves throwing piseebahs.

Eli's also a little bit of a nutjob. I love that about him.


goggles and pj's

little surfer

hilarity at the kiddie pool

There's been a posting drought here at Casa York-Simmons. Dear readers, I deeply apologize. In short, there's a LOT going on around here. No need to go into any tedious detail, but I'll let you in, instead, on the fun trips and experiences we've had recently.

Back in July (approximately 100 years ago), we went to the beach for a little much-deserved R&R. The amazing thing about Eli at this time in our lives is that he seems to keep getting cooler and cooler. The beach trip was so much fun, and the fun was compounded by the fact that we were joined by our great friends John and Andie and our Goddaughter Anna (8 months). Anna is so beautiful, round and delish, and a total charmer. And Eli was a perfect gentleman, very gentle with Anna, and very good at sharing his toys.And it was great having our friends around! Andie helped me haul my carcass off the couch for several morning runs. God bless her for that.

In honor of my friend Laurel's new book Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains or in Search of a Suitable Princess, she has invited all of us (you and me and everyone out there) to give a brief story about what we would be unsuitable at doing and why.

In honor of my trip to the beautiful countryside of Abingdon, Virginia, to visit my in-laws and nephew Hunter, I have to confess that I am entirely unsuited for country life. It was incredible to get out to the AMAZING fresh air, cows, bike trails, etc, and so lovely to visit with David and Jaime and Hunter. I can't wait to go back! But I'm not good at quiet. And it was really really quiet. Truth is, as much as I love dirt, I also like concrete and next door neighbors and walking to restaurants. I like parks and zoos and aquariums. I like quiet for vacations and relaxing and rejuvenating. I like the other stuff for everyday life. Lucky for me, I have great family to visit in beautiful places like Abingdon and a life in a city to come home to!

Finally, a strange new development...
Eli likes to sit on Kevin's head.
Seriously.
He just climbs right up and sits down.
Wierdo.

In other news on the homefront, Eli got his first haircut, a very minor one just to straighten out his bangs. I couldn't bear to trim off the curls at the back of his neck. One of my co-workers pointed out that short in front and long in back is a mullet. Great. My kid has a mullet and it is my fault.

Our backyard is really shaping up. I'll send some pictures whenever I get around to taking them. We now have a fully-functioning sandbox with a tarp cover (I built it myself!). It currently holds 650 pounds of sand. No joke. Sand is really heavy! We have a great veggie bed with tomatoes and peppers, a composter and compost pile and two rain barrels off the downspouts. And we're mowing the lawn regularly. Paradise! Seriously, though, it is really fun to have a functional backyard to play in.

Eli's just discovered that if he chases the dogs, they run away. This is a fun new game in toddler-world. Luckily, even as old and arthritic as Gennie the greyhound is, she is still faster than the kid.

Finally, the most recent accomplishments in the world of learning are:
counting to 4
A,B,C and D (usually in order)
"I love you!"

The last one is my favorite.

One of my colleagues, Chuck, gave Eli a set of big blocks. I haven't had a chance to thank Chuck yet because he's been away on vacation, but Eli LOVES these blocks. Really loves them. He especially loves to stack them up really high then have one of us lift him up to keep stacking until they fall down. He is remarkably good at balancing them.

We've also spent some quality time in the water. Eli's friend Caroline invited us and a big bunch of our church buddies to swim at their neighborhood pool. Eli, quite the waterbaby, had a great time, as did his friends (and their parents, our friends!)

Baikal and Paul and their moms


Ann and her dad


Our buddy Katherine


Eli couldn't decide if he liked the water feature or not.

As Eli gets older and more expressive, his face shows more and more complex emotion every day. I love this picture, not because he's happy and shiny, but because he looks so irritated. And terribly rational.

I can't imagine what ridiculous thing I must have said to evoke such a look, but I should have written it down and vowed never to repeat it. Ever.

Sorry for the abrupt post stoppage. We've been having some internet problems here at Casa York-Simmons. Hopefully we've got them all sorted out.

So I'll back up...

It's summer, hooray!

We've been doing all sorts of great summer things around here, most of them involvong sun, sand water or a combination of the three.

In addition to spending many weekend afternoons at my parents' pool, a few weeks ago we went to the Decatur beach festival, where they dump several tons of beach sand into the middle of downtown Decatur and we get to play in the street in the sand. We met a bunch of our friends there. Eli liked playing with his friend Paul.




Eli tried to swim in the sand.

IT'S SUMMER!!
And as we all know, here in Atlanta, summer means swimming! Eli's been hitting pools all around town.

Here's Eli and Daddy swimming at Grandmaman and Bumpus' house. (Grumpy got a new name, "Bumpus", which Eli can pronounce and my dad is much fonder of.)

I've been getting back into running (again). Our daily schedule is so tight that it is hard to find the time to run between waking up with his highness the little rooster at the crack of dawn and when we collapse into bed in the evening. Seems like something is always in the way. Ah well, I'm doing my best.

To motivate me, I've put some new running songs on my ipod. It is so funny to think about what kind of music I listen to when I exercise, it isn't the kind of stuff I listen to at any other time in my life. A lot of hip hop, actually and not the most savory kind. But it has a good beat and makes me feel tough... both are necessary to keep me going!

So here are some of the songs on my list.
Lose Yourself by Eminem
Hey Ya! by Outkast
Let's Get it Started by The Black Eyed Peas
Jackson by Johnny and June Carter Cash
Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix
Supernova by Liz Phair
Lady Marmalade by Labelle
Crazy by Gnarls Barkley

There's more, but those are some of the highlights. Any ideas to add? I could use the help!

Welcome to the world, Madelynn!
We've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of this little petunia. Madelynn's mother, Elizabeth, is a colleague and friend of mine. Eli's surrounded by cute girls these days.

Eli, master of Jedi mind tricks, says...
Happy Birthday Alison!!

In other food news, Eli and I planted a garden. I built some raised beds and filled one with dirt. Last weekend we put in a few tomatoes and peppers. We're keeping it small this first year and we'll get a bit bigger next year. My composter is nearly full, so soon I'll be able to start to fill the other garden bed to get it ready for next year's crops. Please ignore the lack of landscaping around the bed... baby steps.

This evening after dinner, Eli and I watered the plants. And I watered Eli. I couldn't resist!

One legacy that Kevin and I have in both our families is that of good cooking and good eating. Kevin's mother, Linda, was a remarkable southern cook in the old tradition. Her chicken and dumplings... whoa. There are many things I miss about her and one of them is that I never had a chance to learn her kitchen secrets.

My dad is a great cook of the gourmet variety. He's a foodie. we can be assured at any given family gathering that there will be three times as much food as we can eat and it will all be delicious.

Why am I talking about food?

Because our CSA (community supported agriculture) just started up a couple of weeks ago. We are awash in green leafies, kale, collards, redleaf, beautiful garlic, kohlrabi, beets, vidalias. The strawberries are amazing! If you haven't heard of it, a CSA is a neighborhood co-op that buys shares of produce from a local organic farm. Every week, we pick up a big box of yummies from a neighbor's house and start cooking!

This week's box was so delish. If my kitchen could do a happy dance, it would. Tonight we had a beet and egg salad and sauteed beet greens.

In case you're interested, here's the beet and egg salad recipe, surprisingly delicious:

a couple of beets, boiled and peeled, cut into bite sized peices
a couple of hard boiled eggs, peeled and cut into pieces
some mayo
salt and pepper

Mix and eat. Yum.

We haven't been at the beach since February but we were able to get enough time off over Memorial Day weekend to take a family trip. One of the cool things about going to the beach every three or four months is that it is a great way of marking Eli's growth. He has a different reaction every time we are there because he is in a different developmental place each time.

This trip was marked by his fascination with the ocean at the same time he was sort of overwhelmed. Trips down to the water were very serious for him. He spent a lot of time thinking very hard about the sand, the shells, the water, the birds. I think he was enjoying himself. It is a toddler's job, after all, to organize the world. He was working hard!