What does she want to be when she grows up? An artist? A princess? A surveyor? A teacher? An engineer? A stay-at-home mom? A police officer? Bob the Builder’s assistant? L the Builder?
It seems so distant. And so close.
the girl
Portraits
Around Jablonka
Birthday Party
With Friends
Sausage
Zab
Around Jablonka
Pumpkin
It must be a Polish Christmas cultural spill-over: we put out our lone Halloween decoration -- a modest Jack-o-Lantern -- on the twenty-ninth. Poles traditionally put up the Christmas tree just a day or two before Christmas, so I guess out late J-o-L is a sort of cultural cross-contamination. That or our hectic schedule.
This year, at least, we managed to make the time. Two years ago, we managed something, but last year it was a wash: the J-o-L-to-be sat in the carport, abandoned and unloved, until well after Halloween.
Naturally, as we worked on the pumpkin, the obvious comparisons came to mind: The Girl is now old enough to help, even if her help is a little more hindrance than anything else: a tentative hand in the pumpkin, a brush with the slimy entrails, followed by a sudden decision. "I don't want to help."
But she's already helped enough by planning the design and serving as a consultant. This year's J-o-l was simple: a princess with a crown.
The Girl choosing a princess: how unexpected.
The Queen’s Prisoner
Once upon a time, there was a terrible, wicked queen. As a prisoner, she held a poor girl from a small, humble village. She fed the girl daily, played with her, took her to school, and inflicted other tortures too sadistic to mention here among polite company.
She was especially fond of binding the young girl’s wrists with Mardi Gras beads and flinging the poor, frightened girl onto the couch.
How those binds tore at the little girl’s flesh! But tight as the queen made the beads, she could not break her little prisoner’s spirit.
Her little captive still had the ability to melt hearts and frustrate daddies in an instant.