Her love for the natural world is both pragmatic and deeply passionate. She has been, and continues to be, perhaps the most consistently single-minded person I have ever known. In fact it was the perfect piece of continuity to celebrate my curious, fiercely scientific first daughter. This, at least, was an idea my brain could figure out. But one of the things she asked for was that I drive down to the Smithsonian Zoo with her to spend an afternoon sketching the animals. My brain can't seem to wrap itself around this idea. My daughter, Angelica, has a birthday on Friday.

The Mummy's Ball - Spooky Halloween Music Video (with puppets!) from Mirandum Pictures on Vimeo.

That’s why this video will always and forever be tremendously special to me: The Mummy’s Ball was made so quickly, and with the help of such dear friends, that I didn’t even have time to feel guilty and horrible for doing something resembling fun. They seemed to know it was time to just make a little magic with cardboard and markers and cheap craft supplies. There came a moment when I needed to work, and I needed to just lose myself in creating something, to keep from falling beneath the waves. Second, my friends Zack and Jerzy swooped in and, with some help from Colin and Rose and a few other friends, wrapped me up in the project of making a short music video, with puppets, to the tune of a nearly forgotten Halloween song called “The Mummy’s Ball.” First, my publisher seemed to sort of fast-track an agreement for a third Julia’s House story (the one that would become Julia’s House Goes Home).

But there were two very important things that happened with work. It’s hard for me to remember what happened when. The months immediately following Ida’s death are a bit of a blur.

Hatke ben