Friday, June 7, 2013

Song of the Lark






Thursday afternoon at the playground with Mabel there was constant alternation betweeen warm and chilly depending on shadow or sunlight. This was a hard fact for me to comprehend when I first moved to Northern California in the 1970s, the bigger temperature variations between sun and shade than my Midwestern childhood had taught me to expect. Mabel's expectations, as a native, easily line up with the San Francisco weather as it exists. But in fact two-year-olds (with their hyper-efficient internal systems blazing away) do not actually feel either hot or cold most of the time. They feel just right.



In the last picture Mabel is demonstrating how high she can sing. She hits notes about three octaves higher than any I can produce from my own throat. It amuses Mabel when I try to sing as high as she can. It makes her proud when I fail so miserably.