Kids! House Tour - So long, half of Steely Dan

Grace, 7, and Max, 4, haven't been to my house in about a year.

Dan came over to fix my Canon printer. Actually I needed him to connect my downstairs laptop, which I'm typing on now, to the upstairs printer, so I can print out things from downstairs.

 I gave Grace some cherries with pits. She had never had them before but really liked em.

You've gotta figger out how to eat em and avoid the pits.

Reader, pretend you're eating cherries now. Use your imagination! Max doesn't eat fruit except for apples, said Grace, who knows everything about her little brother.

So, in the past, there were certain areas I had to protect, like....

The window sill area.

They were also rough with my pets, Pal and Richard Parker.

They ran all over the house, looking in each and every room.

I often find things in the parking lot at the Giant. Here's a penny I found. Now it belongs to Max.

They asked permission to go in the basement.

Sure, I said, as I led them first into the laundry room.

Do YOU have a washing machine? I asked.

Yes, said Grace, it's in the mud room.

Well, here's mine, I said, and Grace peeked into the full machine which was waiting to be turned on.

Can I see, asked Max.

He was too small to look inside. So I picked him up. Very heavy. He was wearing PJs with feet and he was quite excited to see all the dark water.

Then we went out onto the back porch where I was making a mobile for both kids. Next door neighbor, Zeke, 7, was helping me.

Somehow Zeke got red paint on the bottom of his sandals.

Grace wanted to turn on the light to the basement. I noticed for the first time that it had 'contact paper' wrapped around it.

Here are the red footprints in the Nancy Drew mystery. They lead down the street to the Lytle family.

 Grace and Max loved the screened-in back porch and my art supplies. The wicker table is from Judy Diaz who moved to Colorado.

They felt the paint on the styrofoam mobiles-to-be.

Is it dry yet? they wanted to know.

Yes, I said, but please don't touch it.

Max squeezed the bottles trying to get some paint out, but they're pretty much used up.

Max picked up everything in the box and started trickling em through his fingers.

He likes to do that, said Grace.

Here's a - what? - a piece that I made long ago when I had manic-depression. I used newspaper clippings, cardboard, and old CDs, and painted everything with acrylic paint which dries quickly.

Grace said she wanted to see how I make cards that I send people.

Ready, says Ruthie, who has to arise from red couch and lug her fat ass into the kitchen.

Shall I have another cuppa tea? Why not.

Ooh! Steely Dan is playing on WXPN. I own a couple of their CDs, lost in the rubble.

Holy cow! No wonder they played Steely Dan. Walter Becker just died! Here's an obit from Rolling Stone I found. Better info here. Of course, it's WIKI.

From the kitchen window, here's my remaining maple tree. I was arrested by the little design among the backyard foliage. Where dyou think it leads? We could certainly write a poem or story about it.

I keep these in a box in the kitchen.

Anything with hard cardboard can be used as the back of the card, on which you can paste on the person's address.

Grace also asked about other 'props' I use, like an orange netting I have.

What dyou spose the netting is used for, I asked.

A bag of onions or lemons, I said.

Then I said, "Artists like me are always collecting things. We may not know where we'll them but we have em for when we need em."

You can't imagine the GREAT TIME I had with my grandkids.

Happy Labor Day!