Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Grace In Small Things #15

1) Smooshy infant faces.
At the church nursery, I was put in charge of a four-week-old boy. He slept in his carseat for most of the 1.5 hour service. But every once in a while, bravely fighting the huge gravitational pull of sleep, he'd drag his eyes open and take a peek at the world. As he was drifting in and out of consciousness, emotions flickered across his face. Sometimes he pursed his lips like he was trying to whistle. Other times he'd worry up his almost-bald eyebrows into a frown. I soothed him by rocking his carseat, and was greatly relieved that he didn't wake up and cry. I would have had to call on an experienced mom to deal with the whole properly-supporting-his-head and mind-his-little-fontanelle business.

2) Squirrel boobs.
In High Park I was approached by a Mama Squirrel. She had either recently given birth or was about to, because she was looking rather large around the middle, and also she had a very prominent rack. Normally squirrel boobs aren't noticable, which is why I assume she was nursing. I didn't have any nuts to offer her, nor any squirrel-sized, eight-cupped supportive undergarments. She eventually turned and made her way back up a tree, to where I imagine she had made a her home, complete with a tiny teapot and hand-crocheted tea cozy, a weeny needlepoint sampler on the wall saying "Bless This Home with Nuts", and a four-poster-bed with a patchwork quilt. And six to eight little cribs for her babies, who would be wearing pink or blue bonnets, as the case may be.

3) Fearless birds.
There were many beautiful birds in High Park, including some who were particularly fearless. They were brownish, and larger than the sparrows. They thought nothing of flying right past my face, or settling down to sing on a tree branch within a few feet of me. I could have hung out and watched these birds for hours.

4) My mother, dancing.
My mother turned 65 yesterday. On Sunday evening I went to her house to take care of a few things before we went out for dinner. (She's still afraid to change her printer cartridge by herself, but we're working on it.) I brought a CD I made for her with some of her favourite pop hits from the '80's. She likes Huey Lewis and the News, Billy Joel, and Doug and the Slugs. I put it on and skipped through the tracks so that she could hear what she had. She threw up her hands and shook her hips, dancing in the kitchen while the cats looked on in complete confusion.

5) Best friends.
The woman who was my best friend in grade school is coming to Toronto with her husband and three kids in June. It doesn't matter how long it's been since we've seen each other. It's always like we just spoke yesterday.

17 comments:

wigsf said...

Judging by the first two items in this post, it looks to me like the mothering instinct is starting to kick in. It may be time...

Warped Mind of Ron said...

It's a good list. I'm assuming that behind Mama squirrel were about a dozen other male squirrels whistling and making all sorts of innappropriate remarks ;)

Jenski said...

Squirrel boobs? :-) Funny image!

Sounds like your CD may be on your mom's list of favorite gifts - that's a great idea!

Sparkling Red said...

WIGSF: Nah. I get my fill of baby cuteness at the nursery. It's like admiring lions at the zoo. They're beautiful, but I wouldn't want to bring one home with me.

Ron: There were 3 guy squirrels hanging out by the tree, smoking and flexing. One of them yelled "Show us your nuts!"

Jenski: Yes, that was definitely a successful gift. Now that I know it's a hit, there may be other albums in her future.

LL Cool Joe said...

Cool and positive list! Sorry I haven't got time to add more but I'm still away, but just wanted you to know I'm still reading your blog!

I know I shouldn't have found it rude, but you saying you had no nuts to give the squirrel with large boobs made me snigger!

Anonymous said...

I've got a nut.

Nicole said...

Glad you are having a good time.
And a happy belated BD to your Mom :)!

Sparkling Red said...

Joe: Thanks for writing! I know how it can be when you're travelling, trying to catch some time in expensive, foreign internet cafes. I hope you're enjoying your trip!

Unsigned: You ARE a nut.

Nicole: Thanks! I'll let her know. :-)

wigsf said...

You know, if you don't pay full attention and just take a quick look at the first line of this post; it looks a bit like you wrote "Smooshy infant feces."

And that's funny for so many reasons.

Dianne said...

I love everything about infants, they smell so wonderful

I have never noticed squirrel boobies but now, thanks to you, I'm going to start looking

this entire post is so lovely, so joyful, so thoughtful
thanks for that

Happy Birthday to Mom

Scarlet said...

I remember the paranoia I had with my first baby, especially when it came to holding up her head so it wouldn't flop backwards. OMG!

"Bless This Home With Nuts"...I like that! :)

Btw, I love getting together with old friends. We always seem to pick up right where we left off and I end up feeling 16 again.

PS - Happy Birthday to your cool mom!!

Jameil said...

that squirrel commentary was ridiculous. lololol. loved it. i'm straight on friendly birds.

Sparkling Red said...

WIGSF: Yeah, that is pretty funny, actually. I'm glad to report that I had no contact with baby feces, smooshy or otherwise, at any time.

Dianne: Don't blame me if you get in trouble for ogling squirrel boobs! ;-)

Scarlet: Handling a newborn baby is quite a scary prospect. That friend of mine was in town with her 3-month old, which falls into my realm of comfort for baby-handling, but Ken was scared to touch her. "What if I break her?" he asked. However, I plopped her onto his lap, and they were both fine, of course.

Jameil: I had a Beatrix Potter moment, but then it kind of went off the rails. :-)

Tink said...

What an awesome list.

San said...

Wow. I love the image of your mother dancing. And how cool that your friend will be visiting. Squirrel boobs? I'll try to find the grace in that.

San said...

Still trying. My damndest.

Emma Gorst said...

I kind of wonder if wigsf has a point :-) but more seriously, I think those 'smooshy infant faces' and 'squirrel boobs' are just lovely phrases and deserve their own kind of admiration.