I'm gonna buy me a...

Something major is about to happen in our family.  We’re adopting a dog!  His name is Freddie, and he is a Bichon Frise mix PDaniel found online.  He is currently in a shelter in Park City.  We went to visit him on Friday, knowing he was one of the breeds we were considering; his description on the website was glowing, and well-behaved, young dogs like him don’t show up in shelters every day.  So we went up to visit him.  He seemed like a very sweet dog, good-natured and loving, so we snapped him up.  He was still on medication for a cold, and had to be neutered, but he should be ready by Wednesday or Thursday for PDan to go and get him.  He is thrilled, and spent much of today rounding up dog supplies.  I'm glad, because the dog is his sole responsibility; I have enough people to take care of!

Dangerboy's birthday was last Saturday, and he wanted a Harry Potter party, just like last year.  Ended up inviting the entire neighborhood (almost) of children, as we have been known to do.  I think it was mostly a successful party…several kids asked to stay and play when it was over (roundly denied, we were so tired).  I dressed like McGonagall.  We played the Bertie Botts Every Flavor Bean game as an icebreaker, always a hit.  DB had requested we do a “Harry Potter IV party”, so we had a tri-wizard tournament: diet-soda-and-Mentos fountains to kick it off, then Quidditch, and obstacle course, and a dragon piñata for the three events.  PDan spent lots of time making the piñata, since I couldn’t find one to purchase.  Quidditch was played without brooms, with a soccer ball and a kid running around in one of my yellow t-shirts pretending to be the Snitch.  It would have been more of a success had the grass not been so wet because of sprinklers; several of the kids slipped spectacularly and got soaked.  The obstacle course was lame and last-minute, but the pinata was a hit (ha)!

The cake was another PDan creation: DB wanted the Monster Book of Monsters, so that’s what we made.  I did most of the prep work, and PDan did the creative parts.  Then all the kids went home, we opened DB’s family presents, he started acting weepy, we took his temperature, and realized it was 102.5.  Yikes!  He took a nap and some meds and felt well enough by evening that we all went to Brick Oven for dinner, but after a weekend of high fevers, barfing, and terrible sore throats, he is now on amoxicillin for strep throat.  Poor kid, that has got to be my least favorite illness.

Cookie-Nut funnies:

CN wants a chihuahua and a cat for a pet (not getting them, but oh well).  She wants to name the cat Popcorn; the dog, she wants to name Meat.  She has a stuffed cat she has christened Eyeballs.

CN was using a laundry basket, tied behind her neck with string, as a drum.  She was pretending to be marching in a parade (DB had one too).  Her string broke on one side, and she cried, “My drum is not working!”  She started dragging it along the floor by the remaining string.  “Now it’s a wagon!”  she despaired.  Then she giggled.  “I want it to be a wagon!!” she bounced away.  I thought it was a good example of CN’s flexibility and resilience.  (She can be stubborn too, though).

Last night, at dinner, she said she knows a girl named Guisie (“guy-zie”).  She said that she does not like Guisie.  When asked various questions about this girl,  it turns out the girl lives at Trafalga (local mini-golf place).  She has blue hair, is four years old, and eats bugs.  I asked her if she’d ever talked to Guisie.  CN:  “Guisie said, ‘Come here, come on and eat some bugs with me.’  I said, ‘No!’ and ran home.”  Guisie’s parents, friends, and brothers and sisters are of the same description, age, and disposition as Guisie herself.  This was all told very matter-of-factly, and rather offhand.  I think CN believed it her self as soon as the words left her mouth.  I almost did, too!

I am the walrus?

Well, I'm getting behind on my blogging, as usual. But I do want to report on what we've been doing! I've been worse and worse at making time for "school" as our vacation and DB's actual school gets closer and we are so busy. But our large-ocean-animal week was fairly successful, so I'll report on that.

This week (which was a couple of weeks ago) we focused on sharks, dolphins, walruses, penguins, and manatees--basically all the stuff I planned on seeing at Sea World on our field trip (we have passes--thanks Mom and Dad!). As usual, we checked out a bunch of nonfiction books from the library and had a few fiction-y ones on loan from my mom ("Tooth Trouble" was cute, and a good one for preparing to go to the dentist). We did some reading and rhyming, and a little bit of writing (I've been bad about practicing writing :(--he's going to forget all his lower case by the time kindergarten rolls around! Oh well).

And we did some projects: We made penguin costumes. OK: I did. (It was a hard morning to begin with, and the costumes were a bit under-appreciated. But I got a cute picture out of it.)

We made a sand/shell collage with sea critter drawings.

And I bought some diving toys shaped like some of our animals for a day the kids went swimming (DB's learning to dive for stuff).

A couple of our activities were also our snacks. We tasted nori (dried seaweed--"this is what manatees eat!")--but I knew they wouldn't like it. So we made fruit makizushi--that's a sushi roll. Only we used fruit roll-ups, rice prepared with coconut milk and sugar (I think--I can't find the recipe now), and fruit in the middle. They failed because my rice was too soupy--I forgot to refrigerate it--and the fruit roll-ups were super sticky--I should have used wax paper between the rolling mat and the roll. But they tasted really yummy!

We also made peanut butter balls (no-bake) and rolled them in coconut to make "snowballs." We ate "boats" for lunch one day--peppers with tuna inside.

And had shark-shaped fruit snacks for bribes, of course.

For movies we watched parts of March of the Penguins (it was a bit long), A Shark's Tale, and Atlantis. Free Willy was another one we could have watched (I'm saving some of the other fishy ones like Nemo for when we study fish, maybe in the fall).

Then we had our field trip! I really like Sea World--the vast majority of the population won't ever get this close to these animals in the world--aquariums are not rich enough to house them--and I really think it helps a species to have publicity and interaction. I never realized how obviously intelligent dolphins are, for instance, until I saw them interacting with people from inside their tank.

You could do a whole unit just on their Arctic area, which is really a transporting experience all on its own. I love the beluga whales--they look like moving, floating marble sculptures.

So beautiful. We got a really good looks at a GIANT walrus this time too.

And found out from our books that it isn't unusual--they just look like that~! The thing was at least 15-20 feet long, body the girth of a redwood, with a little pinhead. Weird creature.

No more manatees, though. They got shipped back to Florida. Pity. CN got a great pic with her idol, Elmo, though. She couldn't WAIT to see him, and when she did, she couldn't stop hugging him! Or rather, she stood there solemnly, all snuggled into him, until it was time to go. And she went happily, satisfied. Cookie Monster tried in vain to get her attention!

So that was our ocean week. Next time: a trip to the rainforest.

Poem

The Life Before

It is Saturday. I am cleaning the back porch, rag in hand,
dusting down an old rocking chair, a table, easel. I turn over
a folding cot, springs rusting, frame bent; creak it open
and start wiping the grit from the inside. Then,

a cluster of spiders. I’ve caught them mid-sentence.
They don’t run for cover, just watch me sideways.
The mother is the stillest. Her brown legs spread three inches across.
She was born here, in the half-light, the warm decay.
Now her young are piled around her, white, each large as a thistle head,
but fragile—I’ve already crushed some—legs as fine as the hairs on my arm.
I could easily wipe them all away, wash my rag afterward, still—

“Come see,” I call to my son.
He doesn’t hear me. He’s watching cartoons,
getting over a fever. His cheeks are pink
and his damp hair curls at his temples.
My husband is next to him, dozing,
his feet up on the coffee table. One hand
rests on the book turned over on his chest.
His other arm holds my daughter,
her small fingers opening and closing
on his skin. Her lips open as she sleeps.

So I lift the cot over the side of the deck, lean over and blow.
The mother catches the wind first and wafts down into the grass.
Two more breaths and her children follow in clumps, like dandelion seeds.
I brush the cot down after them.

Inside, my family rests together.
It is not an unusual Saturday.
I shake out my cloth.

Dinosaurumpus

So a couple of weeks ago, we decided to try a sticker chart to encourage DB to dress himself...when he got enough stickers, we'd all go to the San Diego Natural History Museum. It worked (and he's even made a habit of it, though she still doesn''t really see the point of changing his clothes. Ever). It was kind of a big reward, but we'd actually wanted to go anyway, mostly to see dinosaur bones. Their exhibit isn't huge, but Dangerboy enjoyed it enough that he still tells people about it. They also had a couple of cool art exhibits (one African) and an almost-Imax theater. There we watched most of a wildlife movie...not all, because after a great shot of a crocodile chomping ion a baby antelope's head (and Mommy not covering his eyes in time) DB decided he didn't like the movie anymore and we left.

But Balboa Park, where the museum is located (and also the San Diego Zoo, by the way) we found to be very lovely and peaceful, with lots to do. We ate at a yummy Japanese cafe, and look forward to someday checking out the miniature train museum and the puppet theater, and if we're lucky, someday attending a concert at the really cool outdoor organ pavilion.

Centipedes and other creepy-crawlies

P. found this centipede in our bathroom last week, just where I'd been standing only seconds before. You can't tell from the picture, but it's about four inches long and vicious! It writhed and twisted madly when Peter put it into the bug box. I'm not usually too scared of bugs, but this one was a veritable monster, and I was sure I'd seen the same creature in the Aquarium's Dazzling but Deadly exhibit. A quote from the California Poison Control website: "A bite from a California centipede may cause immediate burning pain, redness and swelling. The clawed tips of the feet may cause puncture wounds that can become infected." A quote from Dangerboy (two favorite words lately): "Ew, gwoss."



Speaking of poisonous, last week I played for one of my favorite clients, a rising young opera singer (OK, he's my ONLY client that's close to being well-known in his field)--we recorded a couple of arias, and he brought his fiancee along to two of the sessions. She was just mean--she talked to him as if he were five years old (in a bad way); she called him stupid and insulted him to me when he left the room; she criticized his singing and gave unsolicited advice though obviously not a musician; she mentioned getting him Botox (he rolled his eyes at me); she made him nervous. OK, so I only met her on two occasions (third session, she stayed home and the recording took a fraction of the time because things were so relaxed). But it took all my energy not to tell the poor guy to run in the other direction--or at least send an anonymous e-mail. He seemed so scared of her! It's obviously none of my business, as they're both really just acquaintances, so I'll just leave my "filter" on (thanks Jana) and my mouth shut. Agree? Disagree?

Water and Sleep

At ol' Ricks College, in the Collegiate Singers, we once performed an arrangement of Hark I Hear the Harps Eternal, a 19th-century Southern song with a good tempo for rocking a chair, or maybe rowing a boat:

Hark, I hear the harps eternal

Ringing on the farther shore,

As I near those swollen waters

With their deep and solemn roar.

And my soul, though stained with sorrow,

Fading as the light of day,

Passes swiftly o’er those waters,

To the city far away.

Souls have crossed before me, saintly,

To that land of perfect rest;

And I hear them singing faintly

In the mansions of the blest.

Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Hallelujah, praise the lamb!
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Glory to the great I AM!

The song is about, on one level, crossing over; as in crossing over to the afterlife. I can't relate to that meaning yet, on a personal level, though I suppose I will someday. But I used to hum this tune as I did baptisms for the dead--I like the baptismal image of water, like to think that this song might be sung from the point of view of one waiting for on the other side for the ordinance to be performed for them. More recently, I've come to think of these crossing the waters in the song as crossing over into sleep, and I sing this to DB quite often. Some of these old hymns are so rich--this one touches me on rather a mystical level.

Other waters: my parents came to visit this week, and we went to Laguna Beach on Thursday, to one of our favorite places for tidepools. It was so windy and cold--high wave advisories and all--we didn't think we'd have any fun. But the huge waves had brought in all sorts of beautiful shells and creatures--live clams and barnacles and brittle stars, sea urchins and spiny hermit crabs that played peek-a-boo with Dangerboy, made him belly laugh. I took this tidepool picture of a tiny shell like a cornucopia filled with pieces of tinier shells and sea dust. It was like a tidepool within a tidepool--makes you wonder how far down it goes? (Is it turtles all the way?) (Does anyone know that joke?)

The top picture is The Tetons: Snake River by Ansel Adams. Love the photograph--love the place.

Of Monkeys and Monsters

How would you like to swing on vines through the jungle at, say, 35 MPH, while singing an aria from La Boheme at the top of your lungs? Sounds like a dream come true, right? These monkeys' Puccini may be a little rusty, but their "cords" (as in vocal) sure aren't. Today we visited the Santa Ana Zoo, and while it may not be the biggest around, it introduced me to my new favorite primate, the white handed gibbon. As we came closer to their cage (alas, it was a large cage and not a "habitat") we could hear loud, rather unearthly vocalizing. I realized the sounds were coming from two smallish monkey-type creatures sitting together in the corner, having a loud conversation. They sound not unlike opera singers warming up; the sounds are high, clear, strong, and yet relaxed. They have perfect technique. The sign said they "sing" to declare their territory or to bond; given the amount and intensity of the singing (and of the elementary students milling around), I think it was the former. The best part, though, was when, all of a sudden, they took off! They continued serenading us while they swung around the cage amazingly fast (they can swing the fastest of almost any primate, apparently. I realize that's a lead-in to a joke of some kind, but I can't think of one). I was very impressed. You can listen to them sing here and see some more pictures (it's also where I got the above photo). The songs at the website sound more like "bonding" songs than the ones we heard--they seem to be a bit quieter and nicer somehow.

Dangerboy's latest development it that he's afraid of the fire alarm in his room. He thinks it's a monster--I don't know why. It's affected his ability to fall asleep for the last two nights; he doesn't want to be left alone with it! He hasn't heard it go off recently. He has, though, been introduced to the concept of monsters lately, though. During the day he'll put his finger on his nose and say "Shh! Shh!" until everyone is quiet. Then his eyes will get big while he listens--then he says, "A motter! A motter!" If anyone has any suggestions about helping him not be scared, please share!