Me: the chief hedgepig; I answer variously to Tiggywinkle, Ceridwen, and just about any variation on "Mama."

The Hedgepiglets: there are four of them: Caitlin (age 14), Jamie (12), Colin (9), and Alex (3).

Supporting members of the cast include: Grammy and Pompa (my parents); Brutus (Alex's father); John (my late husband and father of Caitlin, Jamie, and Colin); and assorted others, including Mr. Mac (my grape iMac and most faithful friend).

You'll meet me as we go along, but here are a few words of introduction to the hedgepiglets, lifted from an e-mail message I sent recently:

Between Caitlin-the-teenager and Alex-the-toddler (and it's amazing how similar the attitudes of the two are) I am just about run ragged. Alex's summer project is destroying the entire house and resisting all attempts to restrain him (I guess that's two projects); yesterday he started off with dumping an entire large, new bottle of Listerine on the kitchen floor and kinda went down hill from there. Wouldn't be so bad if the kitchen didn't have that nasty carpet on it! I couldn't get it all soaked up; the carpet still squishes and the whole house smells like Listerine. *sigh*

Caitlin's summer project is seeing if she can get herself grounded for the entire summer; this entails staying out way too late and also driving boys crazy all over town, by wearing shorts and tank tops and having way too nice a figure for a 14 year old!

Fortunately the other two are not quite so infuriating; Colin is a good boy and has been helping me with my paper route; Jamie is off with Grammy (my mother) in Oregon so is also no trouble. :)

But this child raising business really does take a lot of stamina, and a really good sense of humour! If I couldn't laugh at the disasters (sometimes it takes a while, I admit) I would never get through all this. And I really hate being a single mother; that is not what I expected at all.

But I wouldn't trade even one of them for anything. Alex is sweet and bright and affectionate when he isn't in destructo mode. Caitlin has everything a parent could want in a daughter, looks and intelligence and talent; she could take on the world if she develops the discipline to use all those gifts. Colin is smart and full of big dreams but is a bit lazy; he likes to take the easy way out. He wants to be sneaky but can't quite manage it. The best thing about having him help with the paper route is I finally get a chance to spend time with him without the others around, something that doesn't happen much otherwise. Jamie...is smarter and quicker than the others; as talented as the others and more at ease with his talents; good-humoured but also quick tempered. He is a lot like me and knows it and brags about it, which is a hell of an ego boost for me. We are on the same wave-length; we have the same ideas at the same time and make a good team because we don't have to discuss what needs to be done, we just do it. If I need help around the house he is the one that I turn to first.