the wonders of Lola

I'm just emerging from another weird little illness, this one featuring constant nausea, vertigo, dizziness, and headaches. It came on Thanksgiving day, where I managed, fueled by Alka Seltzer, to finish cooking all eight of the traditional dishes we'd planned, eat a few bites, and then run off to bed to curl up with a vomit bowl. For all of the children's Thanksgiving break, I felt nauseated and dizzy, which led to a distinct lack of activity. I did hold a Writer's Workshop with Lola for several days, where we both did creative writing, and when Iris decided to paint a self-portrait, I broke out my expensive art supplies and we spent a solid half day painting.

I did an abstract painting, Iris painted herself, and Lola painted Rat from "Pearls Before Swine", a slice of pizza, and Lio from "Lio", all before a psychedelic background. I was astonished at how perfect her rendition of Rat was. "Lola! That is so amazing! It looks just like him!" Even grouchy Iris was impressed... until Lola said matter-of-factly, "I only looked right here", gesturing to show us that the newspaper I'd covered the table with had the comics right in front of her, "a few times."

While Lola's Rat may not have been original, her Writer's Workshop pieces were. Here's an excerpt from a piece where she imagined personalities for all the cards in our Apples to Apples game:

For the Jealous apples..............................................................................................................
Have you ever played apples to apples? Well, you have now because I’m the green apple. The adjective. The granny smith apple. The golden delicous apple. The apple the judge picks from the patch for everybody to relate to, to friend on my fruitbook page, to think about all the way through the game. My friend is a lonely red delicous apple, and his poor friend from burning man a gala apple. But I, Granny Smith, will be picked every game. The pile there’s only one of. The days I’ve spent sitting there on a table with all eyes on me!

I just love that, "his poor friend from burning man a gala apple." Does she think of me as "her poor mother from burning man"?