The Doggie

Sunny Bun (as Huck calls her) has been a Schremmer for two and a half months now and is officially a fetcher of tennis balls, a digger of holes, a fast runner who nearly flies, a catcher of turtles, an eater of cicadas, and a crazed swimmer just like her ancestor Molly.  She spends most of her time in our back yard and is happiest when we are out there with her.  When I try to sit in the sunshine and read, she reveals her jealous side and attacks me (& my book) with her long muppet arms so that I will get up and chase her, which of course I always do with wild abandon.

And my only complaint about working from home is this heartbreaking sight …

The Boy

Not only does Huck have a wonderful teacher and great classmates, but he also has two close friends whose family members are math people like him, just taller.  One leads the accelerated math group that Huck goes to everyday where he is happily hard at work preparing for math league meets that begin in January.  The other is a University of Arkansas math professor who led an event last weekend called “A Celebration of the Mind.”  It reminded me of the Harvest Festival, only for people like Huck.  He went from table to table, interacting with his future self in the guise of graduate students and played games like “Fibonacci Roulette.” Last week he joined other Fayetteville elementary school children at a Razorback women’s basketball game.  I got him a special Razorback shirt for the occasion, which he wore with instant pride, and when I picked him up from school that afternoon he was full of stories about the exciting win, along with an autograph and a gigantic six foot tall Razorback poster that I think would look great in the garage.  Later he expressed disappointment that I didn’t show up at the game, because if your parent is there you can go to the bathroom all you want. After all these years, parenthood has finally been reduced to a free bathroom pass.

The Mom and Dad

Troy’s been subbing as an assistant teacher at the University of Arkansas preschool.  Aside from a tube of Destin cream exploding in his jeans pocket the other week and then just finding out yesterday the university decided not to officially hire him because of his lack of credentials, it’s been a fun (and exhausting) experience for him. I’m transcribing for my old NYC company several days a week (which means I get to stay in my pajamas longer than the average person), teaching drama to kids, finishing up my work with the NWA Prison Stories Project (for now), and driving everybody to and from work and school now that it’s gotten cold.

So there you have it: the Schremmers on this windy November 16th.  22 years ago today Troy asked me to marry him in front of a whole bunch of college friends.  Today we’re off to the farmer’s market with hopes of beating the rain, running into new friends, someday finding a permanent job with benefits, and at least 22 more years together.

Lake Fayetteville

‘Twas a dark and stormy beginning to our Halloween, and minutes after making Sunny come back inside for fear she’d blow away, one-third of a gigantic tree came crashing to the ground, narrowly missing the wooden fence and charming swing set.  That was it for our scare, and before we knew it the sun replaced the rain and turned the red, orange and yellow leaves that have taken over our town even more glorious.

The real fun began with Huck’s school party where I showed up with fall-themed napkins and watched him and his new friends wrap themselves like mummies, make friendship bracelets, and eat snacks together in anticipation of the candy collecting to come. Having spent very little time in his third grade classroom (especially compared to his New York school where I practically camped out), I was the overexcited parent taking a few too many pictures and reading everything on the walls with an overly interested facial expression.  After school we rushed home for some last minute touch ups to Huck’s very homemade Origami Master costume and then headed to the downtown Square to trick or treat at the shops, which reminded us a little bit of what we used to do on good old 181st Street.

(Origami Master had no choice but to pose in front of these golden paper cranes in the window.)

(Having no idea how to accessorize a strange little Origami Master, Troy went with his standby Farmer costume and I threw on my old friend the Orange Witch Hat from Mad Hatters days past.  Troy promises to do better next year.)

While on the square, we popped in to say hello to our friend Liz (the pumpkin thief) and her to-be-born-any-day-now baby boy, and Origami Master made them a treasure from his handy pockets filled with paper.

Next we joined new friends at a pre-trick or treat party in the Historic District (which is where most Fayettevillians go on October 31st because of its sidewalks and fantastic decorations). Once it began to get dark we headed outside for the door-to-door ritual that made our feet hurt from walking and our face hurt from smiling. Secretly I was on a private tour of beautiful homes that I’ve been admiring since moving here, and the highlight came when I recognized a house from Better Homes and Gardens magazine, to which I have a secret subscription. After filling Huck’s 99 cent plastic pumpkin that’s on its fourth Halloween with us, we put our tired and happy bodies into the car and headed home to Mount Sequoyah way past Huck’s school-night bedtime.  Nevertheless, we made one last stop at Bob’s and Amy’s house so they could ooo and ahhh over Origami Master and take some of our candy.  Finally we got home, marveled at the pitch black sky & all its stars, lit our jack o’lanterns and said Goodbye to the funnest month of all.

(We took a little break on this porch where Huck got to hand out candy for the first time.  He got so excited and nervous that he spilled the entire bucket.)

After a year of Lasts, it’s so nice to be living so many Firsts nowadays. Friday night we went to Washington Elementary’s delightful Fall Festival where Huck got wrapped like a mummy, terrified in the haunted house and witnessed his mother win the top prize in the cake walk due to several strokes of luck.  Saturday afternoon we had our First Annual Pumpkin Carvin’ Party, inspired by our landlady Stacey who wanted the fun tradition carried on in her back yard.  We were more than happy to comply, what with this being our very favorite time to celebrate.  New friends showed up with pumpkins in hands ready to carve, and Huck had a wonderful time as the official host.

Next up: the Big Day itself and Huck’s introduction to door to door trick or treating!

Here’s Huck working on Grandma Hottman’s sugar cookies for our party, & here’s the nosy squirrel that spied on us from the rooftop and through the door.  Get a life, squirrel!

Huck has been planning the Decorate Your Own Cupcakes station for months now.

Notice Huck’s use of the word “y’all” in the sign below …

This is where an introverted dog goes during a party.

New Friends

There is no happier time of the year for me than right now with the leaves changing and the pumpkins appearing and the costumes coming together and the sweaters being worn.  We don’t have a wood burning fireplace, but our neighbors do and that means Rebecca Street smells really wonderful during these cold nights.  The other day Huck and I picked up Troy from work and then found ourselves driving around looking at beautiful homes decorated for Halloween, only imagining what Christmas lights we are in for in a month or so.  And on Saturday we three spent the chilly afternoon at a nearby place called Farmland Adventures where we enjoyed a nine acre corn maze in the shape of several African animals, a wagon ride that included feeding tortillas to cows, and burying Huck in corn (much of which remained in his pockets until this morning’s laundry).  And since our beloved Harvest Festival was going on back in New York, Troy and Huck wore some old t-shirts in tribute to where we would normally be on a fall Saturday in mid-October.  To quote one of our friends in the Heights: “We missed you but glad you found some good corny fun close to home!”

Do we ever!

Wrapping up our House Guest Marathon was a visit from the Tacketts last weekend!   Some of us enjoyed the Farmer’s Market, Devil’s Den, early morning runs, a performance of “Julius Caesar,” the Mount Sequoyah woods, rubber band bracelet making, a cookout, an old school arcade, a fire pit, backyard high jinks and all kinds of attempts to win over Sunny.

T4 + S3 = a new Columbus Day weekend tradition!

Last week our former New Yorker friends Russell and Cheryl traveled from their new California home to spend a few days in ours.  Since we’ve basically just undergone the same kind of huge life change, we had a lot to talk about.  Plus Fayetteville’s own OffShoot Film Festival was showing Russell’s short film “Neighbors,” shot in our Bennett Avenue apartment last spring and starring Troy and our friend Dusty.  Thanks to Cheryl’s endless offers to stay home with Huck, the three of us were able to enjoy the well received screening together, and on the last night Troy and Dusty won the award for Best Onscreen Chemistry.  And speaking of chemistry, Huck and the Sharmans have it.  Whether it be a dining room dance party, a backyard ball game, a walk through the woods or sitting around the living room, Huck loves those two like crazy.  And as if that’s not enough, Russell became the first non-Schremmer to win Sunny’s semi-affection.

In summary, high hopes for the Sharmans to pack everything up again and move in with us!

There are a few things I forgot to mention to Huck about this new life of ours.  The main two are the Pledge of Allegiance at school and the real communion wine at church.  Luckily he’s a quick study so it didn’t take him long to memorize the old-fashioned flag pledge, but I can tell he’s a little concerned about drunkenness each time he’s offered the goblet.  It reminds me of the time he was five years old and our friend took him to Sonic for the first time.  She asked if he’d like a cherry limeaid and he very nervously replied, “Does it have alcohol in it?”

And maybe I forgot to mention all the spiders that would be living with us.  For a kid who’s desperately arachnophobic, getting through each day can be a nightmare around here.  I keep hoping the more spiders and webs he sees the more he’ll get used to them, but nothing could be further from truth.  I should definitely stop saying this: “But Huck, spiders are everywhere!  We’re always surrounded by them!”

I also maybe forgot to mention that we live in a former slave state now.  Yesterday he came home from school disturbed by the Civil War, but very proudly stated that though Arkansas was a Confederate state, Fayetteville was on the Union side.  She’s always been a sweetheart of a town.

And it’s possible I never mentioned how many loved ones would come visit us, helping us through the occasional homesickness for everything we used to know.  Along with my Kansas family last week, our Brooklyn John and Shana were here last weekend, and our former Brooklyn and now California Russell and Cheryl arrive tomorrow.  Then our Illinois Tacketts come to town!  Several other friends are making plans to come later in the fall, and we are very glad to have a guest room.

Here’s what people forgot to mention to me: 1) There are less hours in a Fayetteville day. 2) Once you have a beautiful back yard, you only want to be out in it and then you fall behind on all your favorite TV shows.  3) All these beautiful hills make bike riding difficult on all these beautiful trails. 4) Not all grocery stores sell fresh olives or bagels. 5) If you don’t take your hammock down when it rains, you have to wait a while for your hammock to dry and then you lose good hammock time.  5) The only bad thing about all these beloved people coming to your new town all the time is that then they leave and you feel awfully sad for a while.

Flag, wine, spiders, confederate state, constant house guests, shorter days, back yards, hills, olives, bagels, hammock, house guests leave.  Got it.

Grandma and Grandpa Hottman, Aunt Lori, Uncle Steve and cousin Lauren came to visit for a few days last week!  We managed to squeeze in some special family time between work, school, performances and a broken dishwasher, suddenly realizing that we had somehow gone from a never-ending Arkansas vacation to a crazy whirlwind life.  Thankfully those five forced us to sit back and Fayettechill, as they say, for a few hours here and there.  We enjoyed cookouts, Crystal Bridges, a delicious lunch downtown, antique shopping, ball playing, coffee drinking and daydreaming about Lauren coming to the University of Arkansas in a few years.

And for the first time ever, I got to take care of my parents in my HOUSE!

When we first arrived in Fayetteville, there was a house nearby in the very beginning stages of renovation.  At first it looked like the owners were merely adding a garage, but as the days passed we realized there was a lot more building and expanding going on.  That house reminds me of what the three of us are going through as we slowly (and quickly) grow in this strange and wonderful new land.  The last time I drove by the house-in-progress I noticed that while it’s still got a long way to go, it’s getting closer and closer to looking like a real home.  Just like us!

Our friend Cheryl, who with husband Russell just up and left Brooklyn for California around the same time we headed for Fayetteville, likes to call what we’re experiencing a “brave new world,” and sometimes you have to be, well, brave in it. I’ve spent most of these last 11 weeks coaching Huck in the bravery department, what with his fear of spiders, spider webs, wasps, bees and all flying insects, and sometimes I have to remind myself to take my own advice. No matter how amazing this new place is, fear can creep in at any moment.

Here are some not-so-scary (& a few really scary) things in our life these days: Troy has been working quite regularly as a substitute teacher with babies, toddlers and preschool children at a child development study center, and he also volunteers at just about every organization in town.  Sunday night he did a 10PM-5AM shift at the Walton Arts Center loading out “The Jersey Boys” and somehow managed to be wide awake for most of Monday.  I opened “Julius Caesar” last weekend (pictures below courtesy of our costume designer Ruby Kemph) and this week I begin high school workshops with a couple of other actors from the production. I’m also playing a Columbian male puppet named Luis every Tuesday morning at pre-school centers (if you know how bad my accents are you understand how scary this is), and on Tuesday afternoons I’m teaching the after-school drama class at Huck’s school.  Speaking of Huck’s school, he is particularly crazy for his math group, P.E., library activities, technology club and the Chinese language and culture class. In dog news, we officially adopted Sunny last weekend (who we usually accidentally call Molly).  She still won’t go from room to room without being led on her leash, but we see her grow a little less afraid everyday.  We finally found the dog park (see previous post) and witnessed her run and play like the most normal dog you ever met.  And the cherry on top of everything is that  last week our dear friend Shana arrived here from NYC to direct for TheatreSquared.  She’s staying with us for the first two weeks, and though we sometimes go days at a time without seeing each other (theatre directors and third graders have completely opposite schedules), we are certainly enjoying every minute we have with her and fantasizing about the day she and husband John do what we did and make this place their home.

Maybe by then the house down the mountain will be complete and we will have finally navigated this brave new world, doing what Sunny does at the dog park and forgetting the scary stuff.

Huck watched part of our final dress rehearsal and got a front row seat to my creepy Soothsayer.

Most of the “Julius Caesar” cast after Opening Night