snaggletooth in the snow!

Hi cutest girl ever,

I LOVED your latest series of blogs. You look so cute with your new smile!! And I love your poems and the cat dish and the cup cakes. The cat picture made me laugh. Maybe you should make one for Mai-Mai for the next birthday?! Or one with geese on it!! That would be really funny!! So, did you get any more snow days?? Cutest girl, I will write you a long email tomorrow, but right now I have to run to catch up with my group of students. Now we're in Luxor, though, so I'll have access to email every day. I love you, sweetest peanut!!!

Love, love, love,

your Mama

p.s. Hug that Dada for me!! And yourself!!!

Fran's birthday...

Dear Mama,

Last night I went to a dinner party at new Maya's house. All the grown-ups were witches and Courtney was there. Maya was the queen and me and Courtney were the princesses. We all made our own pizzas. And the couch was a couch, a bed, and a giant trampoline. It was great.

This morning we baked cupcakes for Fran's birthday party. And some of them said "F", "R", "A" and "N" and the others have sprinkles. We are bringing 14 cupcakes for all the guests. 

Now we've got to say "bye" because now we're going to brunch with Claire and Blake and Nana.

I love you like a chameleon's tongue! I am so excited you are coming back so soon. Just in three weeks!

Love,

Julia

PS - I went to the Met with Maimai and Baba yesterday and they bought me a great Egypt pen (see below).

Snow Things

Dear Mama,

On Friday (yesterday), I built a snowman with Dada. We  built a mustache, a scarf and a walking stick. We were there to see it fall over at least. One of the people who took pictures of it sent it to the New York Times, but today we didn't see it in the newspaper. We also made a igloo and I went in it because it was very strong. I was the repair shop person for the igloo, which means I'd fill in all the little holes. And I also held up parts during construction.

I hope that you don't get eaten up by the statue of the crocodile! Tell me if it is big. What was the temple like? Do you still have ice in your water? I miss you a looooooooot!

I love you a hundred meters than the universe!

Love, 

Julia

Starling...

Dear Mama,

Last week I made a bowl with Nana for Starling, which is Claire and Blake's cat. I'm going to give it to them tomorrow at brunch. I also made a mug for Sonya with her two cats on it, but we haven't picked it up yet from Paint-Your-Own-Pottery.

Love, 

Julia

Monopoly

Dear Mama,

On Thursday I beat Dada at Monopoly. Dada had to pay me ALL his money and he had no money left! 

Love,

Julia

Two more poems...

Rainbow, by JFM

Red as a strawberry,

Purple as a grape,

Orange as an orange,

Green as a lime,

Yellow as a banana,

Blue as the sky.

After rain,

Half circle.

Rainbows are beautiful!

Mom's Birthday, by JFM

Colorful cake.

Pink, orange, blue.

Brown, yellow, chocolate cake.

Warm and smooth.

40th birthday.

100th day of School

Dear Mama,

Today, it was PJ's birthday! PJ is too lucky because his birthday's on the 100th day of school, which was today also. I had a red velvet cupcake for his birthday. And we had to make a list of hundred things that we wanted. Maya wanted 100 toy mermaids, Courtney and PJ wanted 100 sisters and brothers, Lucas wanted 100 moms, Isobel wanted 100 flowers, William want 100 tile-makers, and I wanted 100 butterflies. Me and William are going to make more stuff at paint-your-own-pottery. My teachers loved loved loved the box we made for them (the one that me and William made). 

Later that day, Dada and I both had very bad days. Dada had to give a lecture and he didn't think he did a very good job. All the students were looking at the time and looking bored. Dada felt pretty dumb. And at ACT, Sydney and I had a fight. It was mostly my fault. Mason and Logan were the captains, and Sydney was a cat. And so, Sydney wanted to be on their team right away. And I wanted to show her one more thing, so I grabbed onto her arm. She made a promise I could show her one more thing, and then she could go. But then when I let her go, snap, she was off with the other group. And that got me mad. And so, when I brought a cat in and Sydney brought a horse and a bunny in, she gave me the bunny and I snatched it from her, because I got so mad at her. And then she said she'd tell my dad. And I was so mad I said, "You don't have to tell him, I'll tell him myself!"

After that, me and Dada went to Spoonbread to cheer ourselves up. And then when we got home, we played Monopoly. I was winning and then Dada got some more money. I had 14 properties and Dada only had five properties! We're going to keep playing it tomorrow. We're both feeling a little bit better now, even though I'm still mad at Sydney.

Only 20 days until you're coming home--yippee!!!! I love you a billion... a trillion meters longer than the universe.

Love you,

Julia

PS - Last night Dada bumped his hip and now there's a big bruise. I hope he gets better.

PSS - When I look up on the bars on the top of my bed, I see one of your eyes, your hair, and your face. It reminds me of you!

PSSS - I also painted my toenails to remind me of you, and I hope you still have your toenail polish on.

Photos of Zeno (and me) from brunch on Sunday...

Coming toward you....

Hi My Girl,

It sounds like you had a very fun day yesterday! And how exciting that you've got a working record player. Now you guys have to promise to keep it working until I get home. (remember last year?). Oh boy, I cannot wait to get back to you!! Tomorrow at 6:00 we have breakfast and then we're on the bus by 7:00 and 7 hours later we'll be in the Nile Valley. Our hotel, if I remember from last year, has a pool on its roof where you can swim outdoors. If it was in NYC you could only ice skate outdoors, but here we could sun tan or even burn to a crisp. Anyway, I'll try to find an internet place that evening and write to you.

And you? How are you, sweetest one? Was it fun to be back at school? How is your Spanish? Dada said you're a fantastic reader in English now. I can't wait for you to read me bed time stories at night. It would make me so happy! Well, by my count it is only 20 days until I see you, and that is only like flashing up all of your fingers twice. Nothing at all!

I will keep counting the days, and each day it will be less.

I adore you cutie. Give that Dada of yours a huge hug and have him hug you back too!

Love you sooooooooooo much,

your Mama

p.s. The picture is of Luxor, where I go tomorrow. Then, the next night I'll be in Aswan...

Missed it...

Dear Mama,

Yesterday, we looked for a record player but we had no luck with the first three stores, but at the fourth store we had luck. So then, we came home and listened to lots of records while we baked our banana bread and zucchini pie for the brunch today. My favorite record is still Cat Stevens. We also went to Bleecker Street yesterday and had chicken soup at the Figaro Cafe and I wrote the best poem. Here it is:

Antarctica, by JFM

I went to Antarctica,

Cold as a breeze,

And then, I started to sneeze.

The breeze was so cold,

I started to freeze!

And now no one knows what happened to me.

Except the one who ate me, of course.

Today we had the brunch and Paul and Lara gave me "The Golden Compass" book. And we gave them "The Gruffalo" and some bottles from when I was little. Paige also brought me a party canon from Chinatown. We shot the party canon from the roof and it exploded and shot confetti really far out onto the street. And on our way to Mira's later on we found a lot of the confetti on the street. Also, after the brunch, Zoe and Brian stayed a little bit longer, and so I made a potion and they washed their hands with soap in the potion. It also cured boo-boos. We also listened to lots of records and me and Brian were the DJs.

Then, we missed Ovi's birthday (because it was actually on Saturday) and Dada canceled the pizza party because we thought we'd be at the birthday party too late. But there wasn't any birthday party today!

Well, it's nighttime so I better get to sleep.

I love you a hundred chameleon tongues longer than the universe. (Chameleon tongues are so long!)

Julia

(Some images of the poet deep in thought, composing Antarctica, in the Figaro Cafe...)

Busiest sunday in the world

Hi little one,

By this point your brunch must be over (and I hope it was fun), and maybe now you're at the pizza party or the little brother party. It makes me happy to think of you. I just came back from the roof, where people are having a little going away party. I have to give a talk tomorrow, though, so I'm going to bed earlier than I otherwise might.

Tomorrow most of our group leaves for Cairo, and the day after tomorrow we leave for Luxor. Then I wend my way home to you! It will feel so wonderful to throw my arms around you for the biggest hug ever. I can't wait!!

Well, this will be a short note, because I'm sleepy, but I'm thinking of you and sending loads and loads of love. I'll send you pictures of kids from the mud brick town we went to yesterday, but they aren't anywhere near as fantastic as you.

I miss you and love you 20 million times around the moon and around Mars and around Venus and then back around Saturn.

your Mama

The nicest poem ever!!!

Sweet girl,

I loved that poem you wrote! I do love you (just like you say in the poem), it is true!!! It made me feel so happy to read! You are so talented and so loving. Did you know that when you were first in my tummy, I did a lot of gardening? I grew so many tomatoes, and they grew so big, and then--months later--there you were, like the most perfect garden gift I could ever have imagined.

Well, so were you and Dada busy today buying supplies for the brunch and planning the menu? I'll think of you both tomorrow entertaining. Will you put the recipes and pictures up on sweet peas blog? I'll check. And then Dada says that you also have a birthday party of Mira's brother and a pizza party with new Maya. Sheesh! Let me know about that day if you have any energy to write!

Well, dearest one, over here, I worked in the morning on things for the Valley trip (when we get to see the Nile), as we leave on Tuesday very early in the morning. Then we went on a trip to a very old town all made out of mud, with mud brick buildings of 5 stories. One of them (the one the picture is of) looked like it might fall right on top of us, but luckily it didn't. My favorite thing about it was that it was mostly deserted, but that sometimes you would look through a door and see a donkey or someone's laundry. I'll send a picture of a donkey I saw maybe tomorrow. Another picture for today is of whole big group of bedouin kids. Bedouins are kind of like gypsies. They move around a lot, or at least they used to. The man was someone I worked with and three of the kids are his, the rest are relatives. And, finally, there is a picture of Mirjam and Sander, my co-workers, Sander is pretending he is the sun and trying to flash light where Mirjam is taking a picture. I thought it looked funny though...

So, my love, I hope you and Dada have the most fun brunch tomorrow. I will be wishing I was there (not only for the company but also for the food, as it is seeming like I eat the same thing every day). Yawn.

I love you... (and hug and kiss that Dada for me),

your Mama

Another poem

Mama, by JFM

Nice.

Plays games.

Beautiful as a garden.

Goes to Egypt in winter.

Loves me.

Brown hair,

Peach skin,

My mom.

A Poetry Reading at Le Monde

Dear Mama,

These are pictures from last Thursday when me and Dada went to Le Monde with Zoe and did a poetry reading. I read most of the poems from my journal, and Zoe read a poem she wrote when she was six or seven (and still had!). Then we read other poems by Shel Silverstein and Edward Lear. It was really fun. Would you like to do a poetry reading with me when you get back?

Love, 

Julia

PS - Tomorrow we are having Zeno over and Zoe and Brian and Paige and JC and Paul and Lara over for brunch. That's a lot of people!

Breakfast...

The best fox in the class!

You made the best fox in the class and wrote such a sweet poem about you, Dada and me? And all that with one tooth missing? Nice job!! Well, I am sorry, my cutie, not to have written last night. It was the end of the season party, and the end of the season. So, I stayed at the site and melted during the day, and it was HOT. It was the kind of hot where you can't even stop remarking on it, it's so continuously surprising. And then after that we went to have an end-of-season party at a hot springs, where to refresh yourself you could jump in some really hot water! How silly is that?!

And did you write that poem about our family while out at the cafe with Zoe and Dada? I cannot wait to get back and go write poetry together!!! We only have three more days in the oasis, if you can believe it! Then we go to the south of Egypt and start working our way north for two weeks. And at the end of those few days, I get to come home to you!!! And this is the best news ever!! Do you think that it will stop snowing in NYC by then??

Remind me of what you two are doing this weekend? I think you were going to have brunch with Xeno, maybe on Sunday? What are you doing on Saturday? And, are you still thinking of having a Family Annex reunion birthday party with Liana and Leon and Sash and Maya and Amanda? I think that sounds super fun.

I love you!!!!!!

- your Mama

p.s. I bet you could write a great poem about Ken at Spoonbread.

A Poem

Jules asked that I post this poem from her journal...

My Family, by JFM

Mom,

Dad,

And me.

Nice to each other.

My family.

Don't Melt!

Dear Mama,

Tonight at dinner, MaiMai called and said that Auntie has a rash. She's going to the doctor on Friday. I hope she's okay and that the baby's okay too.

After dinner, I made a card for Spoonbread and I gave it to them on the way home. They put it up on the wall! They loved it so much. Ken wasn't there, but he'll see it tomorrow. I wrote them a poem and drew a picture (with a lot of details).

I hope you don't melt like a candle in the sun! Maybe you could go in the water. I hope that's not too hot. It might feel good after your last day in the sun. 

Also, today almost all the kids except me had no school because of the snow day. When I got to ACT there were new people... and two of the new people I knew. One was Old Maya and the other one was Leon! Maya was leaving right when I got there, but we got a big time to hug goodbye. Leon stayed for a little bit, and Leon told me that at his school if you are really good you get a plastic gold token, and when you get 25 of them, then the teacher brings in presents for everybody! Isn't that cool? No one ever gets gold tokens at my school. I hope me and Maya can have a playdate soon.

Earlier today in school, in technology, we were taking pictures on the computer and turning them into movies. Me and William were partners. William was not too bad.  And in art class I made the best fox in the class! 

Love you,

Julia

My gold coin girl!

Hi my girl,

I heard that you and Dada and Zoe are going to a cafe to read poetry together tomorrow night. Is that true? How cool is that? It'll make me happy to think of you three hanging out. I really love you, my dear. And I miss you so much! And hopefully this last bit of time will fly by. Over here my only news is that it was 105 degrees today. It was so hot that the box that holds the letters for our photo board melted and we felt like we were melting. Tomorrow is our very last day on site, but it is supposed to be even hotter, if you can imagine. I'll send you pictures of the three units our team excavated. The really deep pit is ours. It was so deep that you couldn't really see the bottom unless you peered in deep, deep. The long narrow structure is the street at the other end of the house. And, finally, there is a pillared hall, which may or may not be a church. It is definitely fancy whatever it is. So that's my news from today.

I love you so much, sweetheart. Hug and kiss that Dada for me tons.

Love, love, love,

- your Mama

Tooth Fairy Came!

Dear Mama,

Last night, I broke my tooth in half at dinner. And then I came home and put it in an envelope and I put the envelope under my pillow. Then I had a dream that I was a tooth fairy for one night. Then I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and I went into Dada's bed by accident. And Dada thought I was the tooth fairy so he stayed as still as possible. Then he realized I wasn't the tooth fairy so he got up and put me back to bed. In the morning, my tooth was gone and there was a note under my pillow. This is what the tooth fairy said on the note:

Dearest Jules,

"One tooth, one coin"--that's a fairy's rule.

But my dear, I see that you're no fool!

You've snapped yours in half, right down to the core,

And so I suppose you deserve one more.

Of course, now and again, as a special fairy treat,

We give a bit extra to girls who are sweet.

And you being the sweetest from here to Singapore,

Deserve not just two or three coins... but four!

She also gave me gold coins that had the Statue of Liberty on the back and they were each one dollar. Isn't that weird that it is a one dollar coin? So that means I got four dollars!

Love,

Julia

Hi my darling girl

Hey sweetest one,

I have been dying to know what the tooth fairy brought you... Will you tell? And did you catch sight of her (or him, if he is, indeed, a hockey player)? And what did your friends at school think of your missing tooth? Did you show it off in circle time?

Well, my girl, over here I am SUPER tired. All we are doing these days is working from before daylight until it is time to go back again to get 7 hours of sleep. I wish I could just run away back home and snuggle up next to you and Dada and sleep for maybe 2 days or so. That would be lovely. We stop all excavation the day after tomorrow, so that is a wonderful thing. I will send a picture of me and Mirjiam (my co-worker) in the field. I was filling out about a million forms. I have to stagger off to bed now, my dear, but I love you tremendously, and I'm so excited to hear about the tooth fairy...

love, love, love,

your Mama

Going to a Movie...

Dear Mama,

Tonight we went to a movie about a man who played ice hockey and he turned into a tooth fairy! He had a son who played an electric guitar. I liked the movie. 

And now I'm putting my tooth under my pillow to see if my tooth fairy comes. My tooth cracked in half, which is good because now I might get two things!

I'll write to you tomorrow and tell you what happens.

I love you around the world ten hundred million billion times!

Jules

You lost your first tooth!!!!!!!!!

Wow, wow, wow!!!! That's so fantastic!! I'm so happy for you, and I'm so proud. How could you be growing up so fast? I love that pic of you. You look very beautiful and very funny at the same time. I love you!!!!! (did you know that? Have I ever told you that before??) Anyway, congratulations! Tell me what the tooth fairy brings, too! Did you and Dada ever end up going to the tooth fairy movie? Maybe next weekend you'll have to.

Well, over here, I don't have much new news to tell you. We got up at 5:40 in the morning and I got back from the excavation at 6:30 at night! I'm the tiredest mama ever. And now I have work to do for documentation. The only good thing is that there is now less than a month until I come home to you!!!!!

The only other thing is that yesterday I saw the silliest thing ever. I saw two camels taking a walk behind a donkey who was pulling two baby camels in a cart. What were they doing in a cart? And where were they all going?

Well, cutest of all girls of my heart, I am posting a picture of the tooth fairy for you, because I think she kind of looks like you (she definitely doesn't look like that guy in the movie!!). Anyway, hug that Dada 20 times for me and have him give you like a million kisses from me.

Love, love, love,

your Mama

News Flash from Doylestown

Dear Mama:

MY TOOTH CAME OUT! It came out when I was brushing my teeth and fell into the bath. It didn't hurt at all or bleed. I'm going to wait until I get home tomorrow to put it under my pillow.

I love you,

Julia

Excavating in Doylestown

Dear Mama:

Today Ba Ba and I excavated at the barn (Ba Ba says at the temple of Abarnos). We found a wall and steps. I decided that I didn't want to go sledding in Doylestown. We couldn't sled here because the driveway is clear and I would have hurt myself coming off the snow onto the driveway.

Today we played Old Maid and Gin Rummy and Fifty-two pick up and I won every time (and Ba Ba lost every time!). Tonight Ba Ba is going to put pictures of you and Dada in my artistic (sic) locket and I am going upstairs with Mai Mai to have a bath.

I can now play the first half of Edeweis as well as My Favorite Things.

How do you like my icicle popsicle?

I love you around the world two hundred million times!

Julia

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I could read your card!!! It said: Dear Mama. Happy Valentine's Day. Jules. You clever girl!!! I loved opening the blog and seeing you there with that card. It was so much better than the rest of my Valentine's Day. Do you know how I spent it? I spent it peering into a deep pit in which someone was scooping out a giant ash pit. I had to peer down because it was a small deep pit and two people couldn't fit down there, but I had to know what was going on so that I could write about it. So, I was very funny looking by the end of the day!!

That said, I did have a much more romantic time yesterday evening. We got invited to an Egyptian wedding of the nephew of the guy who runs our house (kind of like Victor in our building). I've included some pictures of the bride dancing and of some of the girl guests who were about your age. It was really fun, but it was so loud!! In fact, all today if you wanted something passed to you at the table, you had to ask for it really loudly, or else the person wouldn't hear you.

The last picture is of the painting from the Roman Villa where I work. Isn't it romantic!

So tell me, did you give Valentines to people from school?? Were there any Valentine's parties? And how was sledding today? Over here IT WAS SO HOT. I almost melted (and you probably almost froze).

I adore you girl. Enjoy your day off tomorrow and tell me all about it. Hug that Mai-Mai and Baba for me!!

Love,

Mama

Dear Mama:

Today Mai Mai came into New York early to pick me up and bring me back to the barn. It took us a long time because first we got on the wrong subway and then we just missed the train at Penn Station.

They have tons of snow here, and Ba Ba is going to post pictures of the storm and after it too. Tomorrow we are all going sledding in Doylestown. We'll have to use one of the old proper sleds because we still have the blue round one at our apartment. That means Ba Ba or Mai Mai will have to go down with me.

Tonight I ate so many peas and so much rice that Ba Ba said I would turn green and white all over.

Here's a joke.

Knock, knock,

Whose there?

Olive.

Olive who?

Olive you!

Julia