friggin' adorable: Tyson's adoption story

I gave quick mention to needing a dog in my last post. It actually started much earlier.

Last winter, after first having to think about the high school as reality, I really did panic. And I really did tell CD that I needed a dog. Bug and I got quickly into the idea and were looking online at rescues, oohing and aahing over adorable balls of puppy-fluff that we found.  When I asked CD to take the idea seriously, he and Pook showed me some dogs they found attractive. They all looked like wolves. So that took some time to reconcile. 

Bug and I continued to look at websites, and decided that a labradoodle might be the best breed to have for my allergies, the dog's temperament and blending the varying interests of our family.

Suddenly this showed up in May, just as the end of school craziness was beginning:

Before letting Bug get too enthusiastic, I cautiously showed it to CD. He was approving, so I showed the boys and contacted the rescue organization. The photographed dog had a sister at the same shelter, and we leaned toward getting a female. We decided to drive the hour-plus to go meet them both. At this point we all felt a tentative excitement but were afraid to count on it working out.

But we fell in love with Tyson before meeting his more reserved sister. He chose us and licked us his approval. Labradoodle? Probably not, although there are some mixes that look like him, so maybe. Terrier was written on his vaccination paperwork, so we'll assume he's some blend of those breeds. The vet tech who first met him back at home has told us his breed is "friggin' adorable." We can live with that.

Tyson is the perfect first dog for us. He has barked a few times, at chipmunks, but is otherwise quiet. He doesn't jump on people or furniture, and he's old enough to be completely potty trained (about 1 1/2 yrs.) In fact, our only problem is that he gets anxious when we're out, so we're crating him to avoid more of this:
 

 Yes, it was homework. Thirty pages, finally ready to be turned in after weeks of work.

Most of the time he's doing his job and keeping me/us company. Hard to resist this smile!

no vacancy

I'm here. I haven't written for reasons of laziness and busyness and winter blues and indecisiveness.

Those same problems have caused us some trouble. We've been planning to go to the Grand Canyon during the summer of 2015 for about two years. Two years.  And about one of those years ago we should have made reservations because... we are not going to the Grand Canyon this summer.  There are NO VACANCY signs hanging outside the canyon, just for us to see. And to make us feel dumb. Nothing but laziness prevented us from planning ahead. Apparently there are over 900 rooms on the South Rim alone. All taken. North Rim? Nada.

Instead we will travel to All The Parks except the Grand Canyon. We will save the Grand Canyon for another trip another summer. Someday.  The kids also want to get to New England, maybe driving up the coast all the way to Maine. Again, another trip, another summer. We have a few left before our dear Pook tries to get away.

We've started our planning. The boys both want to drive through Arkansas. Not that they want to see anything in Arkansas, but somehow it's a state we just plain missed on our big Yellowstone tour. It's right there, so I don't know how or why we didn't drive through it just to say we'd been there, but we didn't, so this time we've got it in the itinerary.

The rest is quickly evolving. We'll hoof it out there in two long days, then start day trips. Carlsbad Caverns and the Petrified Forest will accept us sloths even without a year's preparation. We'll stop in Monument Valley and Natural Bridges, and carry on to Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. Somewhere in there will be rafting on the Colorado River, probably in Utah.

We'll see the Four Corner states in more depth than we saw any of them on our Yellowstone tour.  We should have enough time to see each park thoroughly. The Grand Canyon can close its doors on us and we'll simply divert ourselves elsewhere. We're starting to look forward to it already.

where we are

 I found $68 today in the pocket of some pants I haven't worn in a while. Oddly, it included a $50 bill and I can't figure out why I had a large bill. Or when.  Not that I can't spend a $50 bill, but nevertheless I am curious.


*****     *****

We just went a full week of school and work and all the accompanying errands without using any gasoline. CD has taken to biking Bug to school and then continuing on to his office. Pook either takes the bus or I drive him with the electric Leaf. I drive myself around to work and errands in the Leaf. Great feeling!

Update on the Nissan Leaf: Electricity consumption has gone up more than expected but not really very much. I think our bills are about $20 more each month.

*****     *****

Pook decided that carrying a purse is really practical. This hasn't swayed him to actually carry one, but he did make a list of what he would put in it if he did:

• Swiss Army knife
• iPod
• matches
• penlight
• pen and pencil
• small notepad
• playing cards
• fishing line (hmm?)
• handkerchief (?!)
• wallet
• charger
• earbuds

I don't understand what the matches or fishing line are for, and he's never used a handkerchief, but whatever. I think with the pocket knife, iPod with charger and wallet he's covered for any emergency. He isn't a boy scout, but I think they'd accept him.

*****     *****

Update on the fishtank: Years of fishes have proven to me that I should just keep my mouth shut. Soon after showing off Freddy to the world, my fishtank acquired a nasty disease and every single fish died. I felt particularly badly about losing Freddy and his/her parents. Only a few fish have ever been named.

*****     *****

Pook will be passing me up in height this year, at age 13. He's about an inch shorter still, but can make himself a three egg omelet for a snack. For a while we thought Bug might catch up with him, but he's suddenly looking much older.  He likes to point it out to me when his voice cracks. He also thinks he's growing a mustache but I haven't pulled out a magnifying glass to confirm this.  The child is way too fair for any facial hair to show anyway, so I think I'll be spared the shaving for a while yet.

*****     *****

We've opened windows, at least at night. I love to hear the night noises as I go to sleep. If we turn on fans in the early evening and early morning, I think we can be done with air conditioning. Ahh, fall. It still looks like summer here, and days are still warm, but hopefully the night temperatures will encourage plants to start fall shows.

fun with a funyak

Sorry I've been gone so long. Summer vacation does that to me.  You'd think I just sit around all day, then lounge at the pool, then hang out for the evening. I have very little to discuss.

We went to the mountains for the weekend, near Highlands NC.  Pook was about to stay for a week of camp and we were invited to stay the prior weekend before saying goodbye.  It was a beautiful and relaxing place, all meals included, so we enjoyed ourselves. 

I love driving places up in the mountains. First you pass the produce stands with "boiled p-nuts" and the fancy spots with both cold beer and live bait.  One place advertised (on little signs stuck in the ground at intervals along the road) "frog jam" and then "toe jam." I'm assuming that the people who want those know what they're getting.

Then you get into reading the street names. They're awesome. I can just picture some town council telling everyone that the map makers have requested that they name their roads and everyone needs to turn in their road name by month's end.  Some think for weeks before choosing. Ted writes his down immediately.  Ted was probably ten.

My favorites:

Lingering Shade Lane (the winner, in my book)
Grasshopper Lane
Pumpkintown Road
Buttermilk Road (and then Upper Buttermilk Road)
Teds Road
Mirror Lake Lane
Turtle Pond Road
Turtle Creek Road (not near each other)
Gold City Lane
Corn Creek (or maybe my writing is messy and it was Cow Creek?)
Lazy Bear Ridge
Rebel Ridge (It is the South, remember)


While we were there we took an excursion to go rafting on the Tuckaseegee River, a smaller and less crowded river than the Nantahala. The outfitter had these wonderful inflatable kayaks, called "funyaks" which we chose.  They were about ten feet long and relatively comfortable. Paddling was simpler and more responsive than in a canoe. I thought they were easy to guide but the boys ran a lot of rapids either backwards or spinning around uncontrolled until they hit a rock. The rapids were Class I and II, so nothing requiring a helmet (which is good because I lied about Bug's age) but we all got wet.

The camp had started a week prior for those wanting two weeks away, so we came in on the middle. We met three other families doing the same thing, and hung out with them part of our time. I enjoyed seeing how bonded the kids were after a week together (think of lots of young teenagers hugging, dancing and singing and generally making a ruckus.) I hope the newcomers like Pook were welcomed in.

(And now, sniff, I'm missing our boy.)

back in time

I have been deeply absorbed in family video recently!  For my birthday, CD and Pook gave me equipment and a "coupon" to transfer all our old mini DV tapes onto the computer. One hour-long tape at a time, six years of video. Randomly, the first tape transferred was the most recently recorded. Bug was three, Pook six. This means Bug will gradually get younger, until he disappears like an ice cube held in a warm hand.

We're enchanted. The boys laugh, barely recognizing themselves, hearing their little boy voices. Bug refers to himself as "he" instead of "me."

Bug is usually in dress-up clothes in these videos. In one of the first we watch, he's asked me to interview him (with my 2lb weight as a microphone) about his "Aklympic" experience. He "mostly does fencing. And hurdles." He used to do swimming. And gymnastics. When he got too old for being an athlete he coached. Now he talks about the sports (he's dressed in a suit to be a commentator) but then he'll be a minister before he's a president.  I keep a mostly straight face during the interview. He's adorable.

He wasn't always adorable. I filmed a couple tantrums of Bug's. I reassure him that we don't have to watch them; they were filmed so I could appreciate how much better he became. They're tough to watch even for me. I may not ask him, but I'd kind of like him to see at least one.

In many of the videos, Bug is doing something loud and silly. Pook shows up and pushes into the scene for some attention too. Either Pook tries to outdo his baby brother or Bug begins to copy Pook. Soon, they're both wild and silly.  The Pook videos will be quieter. All the attention from both parents, but a quieter, calmer kid too.

I'm addicted and can't leave the computer. I'll be back in six years.

a little of this, a little of that

I feel like I need to catch up here.

• The kids are outgrowing clothes. Pook hasn't put away the shorts but has worn long pants all this week. If he hadn't, I think the school might have turned me in. We had lows in the 20's. I went to a nearby thrift shop and bought him six pairs of pants for about $20. Glad the kid doesn't care about brands. Or, for that matter, doesn't care what he wears.
• The garden has frozen. The leaves still look wonderful however. I'm looking around for things that need help next spring. I must get better at cutting back fall bloomers so they don't get too leggy.
• I cooked teriyaki chicken with fresh baby carrots the other day and it turned out great. Last night we had some fresh spinach and everyone moaned with joy. (It had butter and Parmesan cheese on it.) We had about twelve leaves of swiss chard from our own yard. While I feel grateful that I have a family who likes food and all my cooking, Pook did surprise me by saying that "what really matters to me is just that it has calories." See #1, above.
• I sort of stole a four foot basil plant from Bug's old school. The cold was already predicted and the plant looked so neglected that I couldn't help myself. I made enough pesto to fill two ice cube trays. I didn't have many pine nuts so I tried pumpkin seeds and it turned out great. Much cheaper. Stolen basil is already pretty cheap however.
• The Halloween candy is gone; banana Laffy Taffy was the final sweet in the bowl. Bug doesn't like them, but ate one because "well, it was candy." I, on the other hand, am a candy snob.
• The Paid Job is good. I don't have a well defined job description, no idea what sort of title best describes me, and I forget to pick up my little paychecks since I don't always work the day they get distributed. I come home exhausted, but I really like what I'm doing. I have a nice blend of shadowing a couple of kids who need support and doing observations in other classes when teachers request it. I think I'm useful.
• Someone told me that the holidays "were upon us." I went into Starbucks and then Kroger one evening last week and discovered that Christmas had thrown up all over them both. Poor Thanksgiving.

bits and pieces

The eye doctor appointment did indeed lead to glasses for Bug. He picked out frames over the weekend, put them on an hour later, and hasn't taken them off since. He wore them in a baseball game to pitch two innings and at school for picture day Monday. After school he said to me, "I may be like Pook and wear them all the time. I mean, I can, like, see stuff!"  The frames are very modern and somewhat bold, but he knew as soon as he put them on that he liked them best. My job then was to back away and say OK. I'm not used to seeing him in them yet, but in another week he'll look familiar again.

* * * * *

We paid for cable. We upped our cable bill from "technically your service comes from a cable but no, you don't receive any channels which are worth charging you extra to receive" to getting channels showing baseball. We set ourselves up for an October of Braves Baseball! Maybe we'll invite over friends! We can have a playoff party!  When the Braves play the World Series we'll... we'll... Sigh. Over before it could start. We'll probably keep the cable long enough to watch anyway.

* * * * *

Pook has been wanting to understand the news he hears on the radio.  This seems all good and well until you try to explain it. I told  him that some people don't believe that anything but black or white are ok. If black is right then white is wrong. If white is good then black is bad. All gray is compromising your values and not to be considered at all. "Well that seems dumb" was his first response. And actually quite the fitting response to much of what has been going on in Washington. 

cooking blog time

Before CD and I married we both cooked. We both worked full time and, for fun, we'd shop and cook elaborate meals together. We experimented with Indian curries, Thai dishes, a great from scratch gumbo and other fun projects.  Since then life has given us two kids. I stay home now and CD works. And I make dinners. (He gets full credit for making great breakfasts.)  I've always had this idea that we'd take up fancy cooking projects again after the kids left. I pictured us replicating cooking shows together on weekends.

But now that our kitchen is more cooking friendly, (I think the last drawer is going in today, therefore making this place still unfinished but photo ready finally) it is more practical to cook together again. Yesterday CD suggested we make the homemade pasta recipe I'd been discussing. I jumped at the chance!

From the PBS show America's Test Kitchen comes Homemade Pasta with No Fuss (named by me).

Begin by separating five eggs, saving the yolks for the pasta and keeping the whites around because you can't think why you would throw out perfectly good egg whites. In a week you can toss them out with no guilt. Add to them two full eggs.

Spin 2 cups of all purpose flour in the food processor. Add 2 Tablespoons of olive oil.

Dump in the five yolks and two eggs and give it a whirl for 45 seconds.

Dump the dough out. It should feel soft but not sticky or crumbly. If it is, I can't help you. Go watch tv again. If it feels good, hand knead it a tiny bit to get it all in one lump.

Form it into a six inch log. Then walk away and let it rest for four hours. Feel free to nap.

Now, go upstairs to the last unpacked kitchen box and dig under the vases which used to be wrapped in bubble wrap but are no longer wrapped at all, and under the lunchboxes and in the same place as some utensils you might sell or give away. Yes, there! Get the rolling pin.

Cut the dough into six equalish pieces. Form the first one into a 3" square and dust it with flour. Dust the clean counter with flour and the rolling pin too. Toss some on the nice new hardwoods just cause you know it will be there soon anyway. The kids are now interested in the goings on and the cooking date with your husband has become a family affair. Roll with it.  (Ha!) Roll the 3" square into a 6" square. Pick it up and dust it with flour anytime you want to make sure it doesn't begin to stick to any surface.Remember that this used to be a tile countertop and nothing could be rolled on it. Smile!

Your goal is 6"x20". The kids each rolled one and they all ended up the same thickness but not the same length.

 

The pasta should be thin enough to see through slightly but not so thin it rips. This wasn't a problem for us at all. Lay them on a towel to dry for 15 minutes.

This should be plenty of time to start a simple sauce with olive oil, garlic, basil and cherry tomatoes. It should also be plenty of time for your kids to set the table and pour drinks. Maybe.

Fold the sheets of pasta into a 2" roll and slice to your desired width. We made a pretty standard looking fettuccine. Shake them out a bit so they don't stay stuck to themselves. At this step I think you could pause in your pasta making if you wanted to do this for guests.

The noodles boil for three minutes. After draining, we tossed them in the sauce.

The result was incredibly tender pasta. We tried to eat slowly to savor each bite, but it was really good!  We had this as our whole dinner and we had one serving leftover. I'd say that in general it makes six servings.

bon appetit!

More Adventures of Pook and Bug

Pook and Bug Go to their Nation's Capital, continued


Chapter Five:
It is museum day for Pook and Bug (and family). Today we visit the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

Since the Washington Monument is closed for earthquake repair, we climb/rise in an elevator to the top of the Old Post Office bell tower for excellent views.

Pook and Bug (and family) end their day by visiting the National Archives. No photos are allowed, although the Constitution and other old documents are sadly faded and unreadable anyway. We are now very tired and hungry and a storm is brewing.

We get stuck walking back to the rental because the mean mom of Pook and Bug thinks that all the biking without helmets is bad enough, but biking during a thunderstorm is too much.


Chapter Six:
Today is the day that Pook and Bug meet their government. We bike to the Capital and take a very comprehensive tour. Outside I catch the eye of Henry Louis Gates during some filming.

We followed the underground tunnel to the Library of Congress, not on our original To Do list, but well worth the time.

The Supreme Court impressed all of us, not just Pook and Bug. The free public lecture takes place right in front of the nine justices' chairs.  It is the day after the DOMA decision, despite the fact that neither CD nor I have heard or read any news for a week and have no idea what has been going on. We learn after the fact.

Popular advice is to eat a meal at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian. The advice is good. I want to find the recipe for the wild rice salad. We head out of town to go visit friends.



Chapter Seven:
Our friend Laura and her son join Pook and Bug (and family) and take a train back into town to see the Smithsonian American History Museum. Bug is fascinated by the story of the Greensboro Woolworth's Lunch Counter. We hear a dramatic retelling of the experience.

Apparently I am shallow. I like Kermie.

Pook wears us all out. Another storm prevents us from going to see the Hirshorn Sculpture Gardens, but really we would have collapsed.


Chapter Eight:
The Udvar-Hazy annex of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum is near Laura's home. Wisely, she drops us off. The place is one gigantic hangar. It makes this Concorde and the space shuttle Discovery look small. I enter into a four way text conversation between relatives in Nebraska, Oregon and North Carolina about the family member who was a pilot. I am interested to know if we are looking at planes he commonly flew in the Air Force or for Pan Am.

We take a two hour tour of the "highlights." Pook is inexhaustible. Bug and I sit for a bit.

Chapter Nine:
The eleven hour drive up felt short in comparison to the drive home. Pook and Bug (and family) are ready to rest from their vacation.

The End

Epilogue:
We are so thankful for our friends who hosted us and made this trip possible (and more fun!). We are grateful that they have teenage sons who were interested in joining them (and Pook and Bug and family) for parts of our tour. I am happy that Pook and Bug enjoy learning about history and can sometimes teach me new things.

bright copper kettles

I was looking around our living room realizing that I will soon need to pack up some of the Stuff. (Yes, construction starts soon!) I realized we have a lot of Stuff. I'm not a pack rat, and in fact I often toss things I then find I need again, so my mind immediately went to "what here can I toss?"  But then I saw this:

This is a carving made a long time ago by my father from one solid piece of wood. Now it has links and working gears. I've always loved fiddling with it and I keep it out on an end table so others can enjoy playing with it too.

I realized that most of the Stuff around me is important to me. Yes, there are probably a few things that won't make it back out of the boxes, but most of it will. I began to walk around my house looking for more of My Favorite Things.


My recipe file. This used to be my grandmother's. She was a great baker and I remember seeing the relative size of the recipe sections inside it when I received it after her death. There were an equal amount of cards under each category of "desserts" "cookies" "cakes" "pies/pastries" and "frostings/fillings." Yes really. The sweets took up most of the file. I suppose the cooking she did was by memory; a roast chicken didn't need a recipe card but baking usually does. I've tied up and put away a good number of her recipes to make room for my own, but the cut-out fruits on the top, matching her kitchen wallpaper, remind me of her every time I use it. (I seem to accumulate both cookie recipes and appetizers. She'd be proud.)

The Hummels on my dresser are from another grandmother. When she passed away, family members found multiple, conflicting lists of items she wanted to give away. Headache. I'm grateful to have these from her collection. Are they valuable? I don't know and I don't care. They're valuable to me regardless.

 The bear toward the right is my Teddy. I've had him most of my life and I'm happy to have him here in Bug's room, still nearby.  Next to him is Easter. (I leaned toward practical names) Her original dress, which matched the plaid in her ears, was left tied to a hotel bedpost somewhere between CA and IN in 1974. Sister M.D. made the jointed bear on the left. And the red overalls he gets to wear. My china doll is on the end.  Bug is sentimental enough to enjoy having them around.


This is a baby sized baseball hat. It used to fit my baby. I keep it hanging in my bedroom because Bug inherited that sentimentality from someone legitimately. I should have put something next to it to show the relative size. It fit him until he could sit independently, so still tiny (in that Bug was ever tiny.)


This takes more explanation. I don't even remember what year this is from, but I'll guess that Bug was three or four. I just remember that I was going to fly to Indianapolis with the boys and leave CD home alone. Bug was trying to express how much he would miss his daddy by stretching his arms wide. I took a long piece of masking tape and let him show me. He helped write on it "I will miss Daddy when I leave T H I S much." When the kitchen is finished and repainted should this be removed and the door repainted? Probably. But only if the tape comes off intact.

Rodgers And Hammerstein
My Favorite Things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into Springs
These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad.

R&R but no painting

No, Pook's room isn't finished yet. Almost. Poor kid-- his books and toys are piled into boxes still.  But the baseboards needed to be painted and we had a week at the beach scheduled, and, well, life got in the way.  Soon. In fact the painting of the trim will happen tomorrow, and maybe we'll get his art on the wall over the weekend.

We went to St. Simons Island last week for a bit of R&R. This spring when summer camps first came into conversation (everyone seems to register in February for these) the boys expressed interest in Circus Camp. I pulled the laptop out one evening and investigated it. Over $300 each and it didn't even last all day. I turned to CD and moaned that we could rent a beach condo for that price.  He very logically suggested then that we do. The next morning I put it to the kids: do you want a week of Circus Day Camp or a week with Daddy at the beach?  And the beach won.  We've raised those boys right.

Of course we didn't manage a week at the beach for $600, but it wasn't too bad and it was well worth it. We were in biking distance of the beaches and walking distance to the many restaurants in the pier area. We had some good food-- my favorite was at a place called Bubba Garcia's where I had a calamari and pineapple taco and some of the best guacamole I'd ever tasted. Another night we ate award winning BBQ and, being right by Brunswick GA, some Brunswick stew. All good.

I also realized that kids are magnets. All it took was two boys with two boogie boards and two shovels and suddenly there were boys ages 8-12 all over the place. Everywhere I looked. They all had boogie boards and they all had pails and/or shovels. I couldn't find a toddler anywhere, and yet when I had tots, I swore they were everywhere I looked.

Today was "Bridging Day" at the middle school. Pook and I were given (different) mock schedules of classes and spent 25 minutes in each. We met the core teachers, counselors and other administrators. I believe the kids learned how to open a locker. I liked all the teachers I met. They divide the 6th graders into two "teams" and then four teachers share those kids, plus "specials" for PE, art, band, etc. There are lots of clubs and activities and since Pook's good friend K attended one of the other feeder schools, he'll have an easy time meeting all the good geeks. I'm optimistic for him.

No pictures of the finished bedroom and none of the middle school (I'm sure everyone is so sorry about that) but here are some pictures from St. Simon's Island:
 

Two holes connected with sand "snowmen" keeping guard

Pook rides a wave all the way in

Fort Fredericka

Live oaks and Spanish moss

A Logerhead turtle at the Turtle Hospital on Jekyll Island

Clearly we needed one more day of vacation so we could finish this

log ride

I have found my desk.  And emptied my email inbox.  And the kids won't be home from school for an hour still. (I just want to pause now while you gasp with amazement. Thank you.) (And don't look in the laundry room. That doesn't count because it wasn't on my desk.)

I've started picturing April as the long climb up a roller coaster. Every time you blink someone adds something to your May calendar. You see it filling fuller and fuller and see the multiple conflicts which you don't have time to adjust. And then comes May. You might as well enjoy the ride because there is no stopping it.  Until June. And June feels like the water at the bottom of the log ride, stopping the action quickly. If you can make it to June you're home safely. If.

Piano recitals went beautifully. In-laws had a good visit. Baseball is over for both kids. We didn't win anything at the baseball family festival.  Pook turned eleven and the sleep-over boys slept a bit. Pook has turned in three of four end-of-year projects and if he doesn't volunteer to present the fourth today I will have his head. Mother's Day got some notice.

My own mother's birthday celebration will happen Saturday. Sunday afternoon we have an end-of-baseball swim party. Monday is field day for the second grade. (I'm helping.) Tuesday is my last day of work for the year and field day for the fifth grade. Wednesday is the second grade end-of-year party. (I'm helping.) Thursday is awards day for the fifth grade and their party. (I'm helping.) But Thursday is also the last day of school.  So Friday? Friday we're sleeping.

the gene pool

I'm just gonna come right out and say it:  I think my kids are smarter than me.

I have acknowledged that they both know more about music than I do. I tried, I really did. I took Piano 011 (note that I did not qualify for 101, but 011) in college and continued with private lessons before Pook was born. I can play some things- if I know what they're supposed to sound like. But, I just can't read music.  I can't make that leap from notes to sounds in my head. I'd like to be able to see a new hymn and know what it will sound like. I can't.

My kids have their daddy's musical brain. And, while I'm a bit sad that I haven't been able to keep up with them at piano, I'm generally ok with it.  I didn't manage to keep up with them in baseball either. This is ok.

But Pook just received a major award (no, not a lamp in the shape of a woman's leg) at school for his academic achievement. A few kids were chosen from each school in the county, and his school included him.

I was more surprised than I should have been.  I know Pook gets good grades. I know he's done well on standardized tests.  He attends a public school, but there is no lack of bright kids at our neighborhood school. I guess I just didn't know he was at the top.

I shouldn't leave out Bug. His first standardized tests amazed me too. He whizzes through homework, assuming he'll know it all- which he does- and so I stay on the sidelines.

I'm not saying I'm not smart. I learn new tasks quickly. I don't remember facts like CD, Pook and maybe even Bug (the call is still out on him), instead I process information well. I tie together all the loose ends and try to make sense of facts and how they relate. Holistic. Maybe "Wholistic" even. As an adult, this serves me just fine, as long as I avoid trivia games. 

The thing is, I  think both boys have this skill too. Right now this is more noticeable in Pook's brain than in Bug's, just because of age. But they both seem to have such well-balanced brains, left and right. They love to draw, and can make representations of things they've hardly examined. Bug is our Great Explainer, able to (and always wanting to) explain how he does the things he does.

And they "get" music. And they're fact wizards.

So I've been asking myself, "where did I get such smart children?" and the answer I have accepted is that I fell in love with CD's brain and together we produced some amazing kids, possibly better than their two halves.

merry and bright

Our Christmases were all they should be. Kids and toys and food and family.

Pook gave me a big bag of Lindt dark chocolate and raspberry truffles and Bug gave me a pair of earrings and a drawing. He gave CD and me, jointly, a clay bunny he'd made in art at school.  Because I know they used their own money, I'm doubly impressed with their choices.  (Not that I didn't like getting my own bubble wrap.) CD gave me a Kindle. I've been reading Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante, which he gave to me also. All good.

Mickey did not show himself by eating more gingerbread and getting stuck in a mouse trap. BUT! I went into the storage room to get a paper bowl and picked up a plastic bag holding a paper tablecloth. Which sprinkled shreds onto my feet.  Shredded paper + gingerbread nibbling = not good. I will try to remember to mention the final results of this drama when they unfold.

We are hosting a South Georgia Islands New Year's party again this year. Simple menu of soup, salad, bread and dessert. There are a total of eight adults and eight kids (ages 5-11) who will be here. I'm looking forward to it. Gotta get to the dollar store with the boys to buy some streamers and horns to toot!

I doubt I'll be posting again this year, so have yourself a merry little New Year's Eve.

one happy family

I agreed to do what?

Our devious music director came to me and asked if the boys wanted to be shepherds in the Christmas pageant again this year.

Is Bug too young to be a narrator?

Yes, maybe in a year or so.

Then sure, they'll be happy to be shepherds.

And would I be willing to be Mary to CD's Joseph?

(CD agreed to be in the pageant? Really?) Sure, I guess.

Apparently he had already asked CD if he'd be willing to be in the pageant as Joseph to my part as Mary.

Tricky guy.

But here we are, the happy family of Mary, Joseph, Shepherd Pook and Shepherd Bug.

I must go unearth a baby doll upstairs. We'll need a Jesus to pull this off!

running, screaming with my ears covered

I heard the phrase:  "This Holiday Season."  Later, my mother in law called. She'd seen a toy in a catalog and wanted to know if I thought it was appropriate for the boys.  My first instinct was to say "for what?" but then I caught up with her and realized that she had Christmas shopping on her brain.

Up until then I was comfortable in autumn.  Really, summer lasts so long that we've only just started autumn here.  The holidays are in the winter, last I'd checked.  Or, at least the one which requires shopping, which is the one in the reference.  Winter is a long time away.

I am not there yet.  I am so not there.  I am in "the school year is well underway" mode.  I am in "this is the coasting, life is pretty simple" time of year.  I am in the "enjoy those last warm days" clothing.  I am not wearing sweaters.  I am not making my list and checking it twice.

We are planning for Halloween.  If the calendar doesn't cheat, it is still a few weeks away.  I'm willing to make plans for Thanksgiving, but only if it is necessary to make them so early.  Christmas?  No.  It is not on the horizon yet. 

But the family will need ideas for the boys. I will have about three ideas and I will give them all to the family members who ask first, and then I will panic. 

It is a good thing that my kids want so little.  It is a good thing that they have the things they need and understand that too much is not better.  Does this mean we can skip the retail portion of the holidays?  I could suggest that we give to charities instead.  I could suggest that we draw names and only buy for one person.  I could suggest that but it would never work.  The family members who buy presents for them want to buy presents for them.  The children who receive presents would not give up the opportunity to receive presents.  No, I can't skip it and I can't hide from it.  I will have to embrace it and start The List.

rolling off the tongue

You never know what will come from a family dinner time conversation.  That's one of the reasons I enjoy them so much.  Last night Bug shared his favorite words with us, then made a list of the favorite words for each of us.

Bug's list:
mystery
pathetic
enthusiastic
gorgonzola

My favorites:
papillion (French for butterfly)
Guatemala

CD's faves
polysyllabic
strengths
humuhumunukunukuapuaa (Hawaiian word for the Trigger fish)

Pook's favorites:
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
zyzzyva
samurai


I thought our lists were interesting.  Bug's words were new-ish words from vocabulary lists in school, and I could see what they had in common to attract him.  Good words too; I like the sound of them.  He's been obsessing about cheese recently (don't ask; I can't explain) therefore "gorgonzola."   I pick words based on their sound too.  "Papillion" has been a favorite since middle school French class.  I was told I needed a second word and "Guatemala" was the first to roll off my tongue.  I've never thought of it as a favorite before last night, but perhaps I'll keep it around.

Pook and CD had different, or at least additional reasons for their favorites.  "Zyzzyva" is the last word in the dictionary (that Pook has investigated). It means "any of various tropical American weevils of the genus zyzzyva, often destructive to plants," just in case you care.  "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" clearly was chosen for length. "Samurai" he chose for the way it sounds.

CD liked "polysyllabic" because it describes itself, "strengths" for the greatest number of consonants making for the longest one syllable word, and "humuhumunukunukuapuaa" because, well, why not?

So, share your favorite words in the comment section.  If you have a reason for liking them, share that too.

the better-late-than-never summary

On the Great National Vacation...

• 5,280 miles driven
• 18 states visited
• 1,141 photos taken on 3 cameras
• 48 license plates seen from the United States. (We never saw one from Deleware or Rhode Island, but Hawaii was represented.)
• 7 license plates from Canada
• best road names: Buttermilk Road, in Alabama, and Rattlesnake Gulch in CO
• worst road names: O 1/2 and B 3/10 and others of that ilk around Grand Junction CO
• smallest town: Emblem, WY, population 10
  
• worst observation: Bug, who was trying to read his book too often, and missing scenery
           me: "There's a giant pink dinosaur on Bug's side (of the car)."
           Bug: "Where?"
• best observation: Pook, "I saw a mirage but it turned out to be real." 
• best redemption from having poor observation skills earlier:  Bug, "I recognize that tree."  (And he did.  We'd accidentally  reversed direction on our long hike after stopping at the observation point.)
• best food: local place in New Mexico, although the salsa ("sauce") was hotter than my good eaters were prepared to consume. 
• most common question:  "What state are we in?" 
• most common statement: "I guess I have to go to the bathroom after all." 
• best idea: to include Mesa Verde in our route 
• worst idea: to get to Fort Worth and Dallas at rush hour on a Friday 
• oddest encounter: a family from our church, visiting the same paint pots area of Yellowstone at the same time as our family

What would I do differently?  Not much.  I would have liked to spend more time on our way and way home.  We did all our exploring by car or by foot and I'd have liked to have time for a bike ride, day of tubing, canoeing or horseback riding or a train ride. I'd have found time to visit Devil's Tower.  I'd have driven less in Texas and added Arkansas to our list of states visited instead. 

We were gone for 17 days, and I think just three more would have perfected it.  It was a wonderful trip and I wish every family could do something similar.

what I did on my summer vacation

We're in the home stretch.  Home looms ahead.

We LOVED Mesa Verde.  I am so glad I pushed to go there on our way back.  We spent one long afternoon at the top of the mesa and squeezed in two Ranger-led tours before staying in their lodge.  Incredible.  I think the boys were just as impressed.  There are over 600 homes built into the cliff-sides by "pre-Puebloian peoples."  (Apparently "Anasazi" is a politically incorrect term these days, meaning "ancestral enemies" and the tribes who have descended from these people don't like it to be used.)

I'm not sure what has been my favorite.  I am in love with Colorado, although the eastern half has no point in being around at all.  We drove through green mountain passes twice and felt as if they almost equaled the Beartooth Highway, although there was less snow visible.  And we still didn't see a big-horned sheep or mountain goat.  (You have tried to guess my animal photo in the last post, right?)

We were at a grocery store in Nowhere, CO when a scruffy-graying-bearded-guy-in-a-pickup (that narrows it down to all the men in the state over 40) commented on our distance from home and then nicked my plans to drive through Santa Fe.  He called it a "dusty big city" and suggested a different route.  I wish I could tell him we'd taken his advice and had a lovely drive.

The kids have been great. They've had lots to do in the car and we haven't had any "I'm bored" comments at all.  We have had to confiscate Bug's books to make him look out the window at times.  We've given them some choices-- longer but prettier, or faster and maybe time to read aloud before bed, etc., and they've usually opted for the scenic route.  We packed a huge box of books and only Bug has read more than one.  (At least we didn't fly.)

Enough chat.  Here are photos.

The photo of the Tetons that everyone must take

Out by the Snake River, looking unsuccessfully for moose

Can you see the Triceratops femur? Almost as wide as the photo, 4' long

Petroglyphs at Dinosaur National Monument

Bug and Pook working on one of many Junior Ranger badges

Long House at Mesa Verde National Park

Cliff Palace

Goodbye National Parks.  We're on our way homeward.

contest time!!!

I think I shall have my first ever Pook and Bug contest!  See below for details.

The boys are a bit disappointed that we haven't seen more wildlife than we have.  I think I promised them moose, which has not happened, even in the Tetons.  We have seen:

• elk, which are all over like pigeons around Mammoth Lodge, and scattered here and there everywhere else in the park
• bison, which I am not to refer to as buffalo without hearing Bug correct me
• two pronghorn antelope, which are apparently not really antelope at all
• a bear of some type, although Pook missed it.
• prairie dogs
• trumpeter swans in the Tetons
• mule deer
• llamas (yeah, they were on a ranch, but still...)

So, here is the contest.  Look at the photo below and find the animal.  Something is hiding there.  No, I don't see it either, but it's there!  Leave a guess in the comments and win a prize-ish-like-thing! (Or at least my profound admiration.)