Squirrels

Alex is fascinated by DC's black squirrel population. During a trip with his science class to the National Zoo, he learned that these ubiquitous rodents are descended from eighteen animals released during Roosevelt's presidency. Something about the steady infiltration of their gray cousins' stomping grounds hooks his imagination. A fascination with invasion is our payback for having a child with a namesake in Alexander the Great.

Katherine, meanwhile, has taken to placing grape tomatoes in her month in such a way that the squirrel has become the animal she most resembles.

Behind her, by the way, you can see my birthday gift to myself, perched atop the piano. When we moved to the Six Month House we donated our stereo system to charity. CDs are so 1990s. Our strangely silent new home yearned for music, and now we live with a soundtrack again. Aural furnishing, we have discovered, is just as important to a sense of place as any coach, rug, or piece of art.