I saw a perfect double rainbow while walking down the street to mail the rent on friday. I don't think I've ever seen one of those before. The light was beautiful too.

On saturday, we took all of the kids for a walk in the foothills. Predictably, The Dickens splashed in every puddle she could find. The boys were having a good time looking for animal tracks in the mud. We mostly found dog prints, but also evidence of deer. Due to the volume that the boys maintained while searching, we didn't actually see any deer, or anything else either. Willow surveyed the scene from her vantage point in the baby backpack on Jen's back, dressed in her little blue gnome outfit. All was well until we started back and it became apparent that The Dickens was distressed. She had gotten her feet and legs pretty wet, and we realized that since I had been carrying her for most of the walk, she must be pretty damn cold. I wrapped her inside my flannel shirt as best I could. Willow, who was likewise expending no energy of her own, was also getting pretty cold. It was late afternoon, so most of the trail was in shadow, which meant no place to sit in the sun. We marched back to the van, loaded the kids in, and hurried home. The Dickens didn't admit to being okay again until she was in a warm bath. Those sneaky darn puddles, ambushing unwary little girls who are in tennis shoes because none of their rain boots fit properly... Next time we'll dress the girls even more warmly, or make them carry us. But then I guess we'd be cold. Oh well, life is so tricky sometimes.

cds I listened to while realizing that the holidays are over because the tree is gone: Swans "Forever Burned", Tin Hat Trio "The Rodeo Eroded", Lhasa "La Llorona", and Jan Garbarek "Visible World"