Movie Night

Inga is away visiting Brad in Philadelphia. I spoke to her via cell phone tonight while she waited in line for a They Might be Giants concert. I wanted to make sure she had her mittens on. I know she is 16 but mothers don't stop worrying... maybe ever. Erik is frequently gone to friends houses so Karl and I have been spending our free time at the movies.

We went to see the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The theater was filled with teenagers who all seemed to have their feet up on the seat backs. They were good they didn't talk or anything but still it was slightly uncomfortable to be soo old and seemingly short on hormones. Oh yes and the movie was very long. Very long. Generally the characters were unlikeable. The story wanted to be a magical fable but it fell short of the dream.

Last night we saw Happy Go Lucky which was excellent. The theater was filled with forty somethings. Funny how people are generally most comfortable with their own age group. Mixed age grouping is okay but really I don't want to be the ancient one! The movie was about a woman who is unfailing happy. She starts off as annoying but ends up as really likable. It has some startling scenes where she talks to a homeless man. I wanted to shake her for being so stupid. I definitely connected to her. Great movie. Oh yes she goes to Flamenco Dancing class which is just hilarious. The teacher is very passionate shall we say... Sort of like the kids at the Benjamin Button movie!

Webcams and Walks

Karl has been having a lot of fun with his new webcam. We talked to Bill and Carolyn and we talked to everyone at Ken's house. Carolyn looked pretty comfy on her couch. And her cookies looked pretty fine. Ken showed us his new wine glasses he made with the wooden stems. Inga waved at everyone. I like having the pictures to go along with the words. I'm a picture book gal at heart I guess! Skypers rock! We figure maybe we could pop-up randomly on the kids computers just to amuse them.

I did manage to get out for one dog walk. Yucky weather. Our Statue of Liberty looks a little cold don't you think? Okay I promised fluffy snow. I bought snow boots for my niece but all we got was icy rain. Weather never works for me in winter.

Flip and Glass

We went for a family outing to the Glass Museum. No holiday around here is complete without a trip to our favorite museum. We all did projects at the studio. Inga and I made glass flowers and everyone else including my 7 year old niece and my reluctant teenage son made glass ornaments. We used to take Inga and Erik to make an ornament every year so Inga wanted to try something different.

Before we did our project we watched the hot glass show to get "fired" up so to speak. My niece, Lara, filmed the hot glass show with her new Flip. The Flip is new flash memory video camera that plugs right into your usb slot on the computer. I am thinking of buying one so I had to check hers out! I am liking it though I have to figure out how to get the best quality video up on the blog. The picture looked a lot better before I uploaded to the blog. This thing is the size of a large credit card. Perfect for videos on the fly. I could carry it around in my purse. As always I do love the tech gadgets though sorting out the "how to" may be stressful! I guess that keeps me from atrophy.

Pinball Wii- Wizards

Mom and Dad are down for Christmas and my sister and family are on their way. They are set to arrive at 1AM. After dinner the adults retired to the TV room for a little bit of gaming. Video gaming that is. Who needs cards. Nana took pleasure in knocking off everyone's high scores. Which of course she would never gloat about. NOT. We opened up a new game. Pinball. Love it. Mom, Dad,Nana, Granddad all love it. Kids want to know what's up with the whole Tilt thing. And the kids are slightly disapproving of all this video gaming. Slightly bizarre says Inga. " Are you going to make us wait upstairs on Christmas until you beat the high score?"

I'm Dreaming of a White....

Another snow day today. No school. Today was one of those days when every time I got on the computer there a big red exclamation mark on the bottom of the screen. Right now I have an exclamation mark, a dripping thermometer, and two gray clouds with snowflakes. And the dogs really don't want to go for a walk. My dogs don't shed. That is nice for the couch and all. But their kind of fur acts like Velcro when it comes to snow. Just like a snowball going downhill. Go for too long of a walk and pretty soon all you can see is two ears and two eyes. We have to blow dry them off to find the dog again.

Erik snowblowed the driveway twice today and it pissed him right off when he looked out only to find more white stuff on his driveway. He wants to make sure Mom can get out to drive him around.

They are predicting two more storms over the next few days. There is no question about that white Christmas!

Lollipops and Wonder

Inga and I have been making lollipops! Her lunch table is having a potluck tomorrow at school. This is the teenager's idea of potluck: someone makes cupcakes, someone makes cookies, someone makes cake, the boys bring soda and Inga is making homemade lollipops. Yes, sexism prevails.

I never made lollipops before but Inga made hard candy at the Glass Museum a few weeks ago so she had some idea of the problems like melting spoons...

She was lucky enough to have a Mom who happened to have flavored oils and powdered citric acid on hand. All we needed were sticks and wrappers and we were good to go.

We wanted molds but we couldn't find any so we just poured little blobs on the back of a cookie sheet. Not perfectly round but perfectly yummy.

I gave my girlfriend one this morning on the our dog walk. About one o'clock she called me from Super Walmart. She wanted a list of ingredients!

• 1/3 cup corn syrup
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 to 1 teaspoon flavoring
• liquid food coloring
• 1 to 2 teaspoon(s) citric acid (optional)

The Saga of the Tamales

Tomorrow I am having the ladies over for lunch. I thought I would spend Sunday peacefully making tamales. Well, I did spend Sunday making tamales but it was rather less peaceful than I would have liked. Just as I was beginning to get started I sliced my finger open on my new stupid sharp knife. I am simply not used to having sharp knives. It was not a good time to go to the emergency room since I knew on Sunday morning it was likely to be crowded. I taped it up really, really tight with lots of band-aids. Every once in awhile a little blood leaked out which I taped over with more band-aids. I was thinking about that book "Like Water for Chocolate" where she cries sad tears in the food as she's cooking and everyone suffers from heartbreak or some such thing. I am not sure what effect a little blood might have...Just kidding none got in the food.

The tamales turned out pretty well but they did take all day. Jeez! I was wishing for a large Hispanic family to make the things with assembly line style. And some alcohol. Lots of alcohol. Karl did tie them up for me since I really had a problem with the leaking blood trying to tie bows.

Monday I thought maybe I would go on over to the emergency room since the dam thing was still bothering me. Maybe some stitches would be more effective than increasing layers of band-aids. The waiting room was empty. I walked right in! But they have some stupid rule about waiting too long to get stitches. Something about infections. They wouldn't stitch me up. All they had to offer was a Tetanus shot. GRR. And I heard them instructing someone on how to give shots on the other side of the curtain. When the baby-face young man came in to give me my shot I asked him if he was old enough to be giving shots but he claimed he was. I asked him if he had ever given a shot. He said he had just not a Tetanus shot. Go figure my arm really hurts today. Oh yes, and he mentioned how cute I was questioning him and all... One hundred dollars later all I got was a gauze wrap and a sore arm.

So I went home and carried on with the tamales. I still had the meat ones to construct. The emergency room doctor did show me how to cut the thumb off of a latex glove to fit right over the gauze wrap. That kept the blood in and the water out. I set the little TV up on the kitchen table and finished up the tamales while watching a documentary about Hunter S. Thompson. Gonzo journalism or something..

One Thousand Tinkerbells

Thursday night we had our first snowstorm. Only 12". The kids had a snow day. Three day weekend yahoo...?

Last night as Inga and I were pulling into the driveway Inga observed that our snow covered net lights made it look like a thousand Tinkerbells were trying to escape from our snow covered bushes. That's me a poor, wet, cold, Tinkerbell trying to escape from a suffocating blanket of heavy snow. If only I could dry off my wings in the warm sunshine...

Ho Ho Ho? Sigh....

The lights are up. I went for the net lights on the bushes. Our bushes used to be too small for lights but time moves on and so do the bushes. Yeah! No ladders. I am happy with them. Fairly satisfying. They twinkle. I ran out of extension cords so that's it for this year but next year...More nets! More extension cords! I may be the only one who enjoys them but so what.

Yesterday my son informed me that the whole" Joy of the Season Thing " was wasted on him. And my daughter asked why having things under the tree to open was such a big deal. "I don't want you to pick out things for me". I want to do the shopping. Okay. At lunch my girlfriend said she exchanged the necklace her husband bought her last year for a better one... I guess that is okay since it was a lot of money but somehow...

The one thing they do seem focused on is the COOKIES. Both kids want to know when the cookies making will begin and "Aren't you starting a little late this year?" I guess it will start when I lose the fifty pounds all those other cookies added to my petite frame!

I am having my lunch bunch over for a cookie exchange so the baking will actually have to begin. Tamales and cookies. I am making tamales for lunch which it turns out only one of my friends has ever had. The one who lived in Texas. I am always reminded of how radically different parts of the country are from one another. Bill, I actually miss the paper bags and the sand! One year a friend sent me a string of chili peppers to hang by the front door for the holidays which is common practice in New Mexico. The UPS man refused to ring my bell. I assumed he thought the chili pepper might rub off on him. Or maybe he thought it was an evil charm to ward people off..

To Hang the Lights or Not

When I was a wee child we never had Christmas lights so when I grew up I thought I should. I tried out one string on the garage roof in Albuquerque. That was good. I wished for a whole house lined with lights but one string was better than none. When we moved to the great white north we bought a house with wickedly high roofs. You would need a cherry picker to line the house. I settled for the the garage roof again. I dangled off our six foot step ladder hanging icicle lights. I almost gave the construction workers next door a stroke one year hanging lights in a snow storm. They were quite sure I was going to end up flat on the driveway. I didn't but it was touch and go. One year Karl dangled off the ladder for me but that was just as dangerous for any number of reasons. Last year I hoisted some lights up on our trees using a broom. Well a broom and a ladder. None of these attempts has ever been really satisfying. They aren't satisfying because a few trees or the front door and the garage roof is not the whole house! What I want is icicles dripping from every roof line or better yet the whole house outlined in magenta lights...

Of course after the holidays you have the problem of how to get them down. Taking lights down in a snow storm is not nearly as entertaining as putting them up in a snow storm. And by January ice has built up on the driveway adding an extra element of fun. And then there are all the complaints about wasted electricity. But the more I write the more I realize I will need those lights again maybe just to the break the gloom of December.

Originalist Thanksgiving

In 1602 Jamestown settlers sailed the ocean blue. That first November the happy and perhaps starving newcomers sat down to their very first Thanksgiving dinner. Since they were far from the New England forests filled with turkeys, but close to the ocean, it was crab cakes they enjoyed! Following this tradition we too will sit down to an originalist dinner of crab cakes. And ginger sweet potato soup, swiss chard, mashed potatoes, corn spoon bread, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, ginger bread trifle, and apple sour cherry pie. Notice the happy abundance of desserts! Perhaps not an option for the Jamestown folks, but when it comes to dessert, we draw the line! Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Books and Owls

From time to time my electronic things let me down. This month tragedy occurred when my Kindle ( electronic book) went kaput. It was fine and then one night I turned it on to read before going to sleep and it had a horrible blank line across the screen. The blank line grew until half the screen didn't work. I stared at it in gut wrenching dismay.... I am happy to say everyone is awake at Amazon at midnight and they are most sympathetic. You do not have to select a bunch of irritating options before speaking to a real person. And that real person is working somewhere on this continent. They were happy to send me a new one but unfortunately since Oprah had recently endorsed them they were out of stock. I had to wait two and half weeks for my new one.

I turned to paper books once more. Last week I read the autobiography of Julia Child. Good book. It was our book club book this month. Julia doesn't really get going with her life and cooking until she is fairly old marrying in her late thirties and beginning her career in her forties. My friends and I were quite happy to read that! Her husband held a job during the war which included designing war rooms for generals. What exactly that job entailed I do not know.

I bought the Life of Edgar Sawtelle. Can't recommend that one. The dog died and I put the book down. I don't like creepy books where the dog dies.

My Kindle came last Monday. Yahoo! I downloaded a book called Wesley the Owl: The remarkable Love Story of an Owl an his Girl. This one is cracking me up. This girl has something in common with Erik. She cried when her mother thoughtlessly killed a spider. I once had to go to preschool and rescue Erik and a spider from an evil preschool teacher. And there was the time when Erik burst into tears when someone squashed a green beetle at the ice cream store. The girl in the story works at Cal Tech and is given a barn owl to raise. This is a 24/7 job. Baby Barn owls need to eat lots of mice all day and all night. Going on a date with a baby Barn owl makes a pretty funny story. Her date really didn't care for going into a restaurant with a dinosaur shaped bird and a box full of chopped up mice. For our family having mice in the freezer is perfectly reasonable. Here is a girl I can relate to! And I am a little bit of a sucker for a good animal story every now and then. I know I know it is a strange weakness...

I'm Back!

It has been a bad month for blogging. First we had the election which made it hard to blog honestly and then winter came. The last couple of years we haven't had any real snow until January or so but not this year. Tonight's low is predicted to be 19 degrees. That is fahrenheit folks. When I was little growing up in upstate NY snow was fun. I have so outgrown the whole snow thing! Like totally. If I speak in valley girl will southern Californian weather appear outside my window? I have been trying to climb out of my gloom and blankets. Nothing better than a toasty warm electric blanket at night to warm my heart. Electronics once again to the rescue.

Speaking of electronics...Some time ago I mentioned I was thinking of getting a Wii Fit. Karl was out of town coincidentally at the same time I noticed Best Buy advertising Wii Fit. Being lonely and all I went over and bought one. We have all had lots of fun with our electronic fitness. My mother was down and she tried it out and pretty soon she also had a Wii and Wii Fit. My brother-in law was out of town and coincidentally my sister noticed her Best Buy also had them. We are a family of Wiiers. Karl does yoga every morning then plays some of the games. So far Mom is also putting her hour in every morning. I play but not daily like they do. I will have to up my game! I have yet to get across the tight rope and Mom tells me my score wouldn't even show up on her score board. Just too low! But hey, I have been to the rainbow in my floating bubble and she hasn't made it yet. Of course like everything in this family there is some competition going on. Competition is okay except when the only game you have the high score in is yoga breathing. Yep. I am good at breathing. Go figure.

Halloween 14 Years Later!

Not too many people can say they have been friends since they were three months old but this is the case for Brad and Inga! They met at play group in 1992. To me it feels like just the other day but they see it a little differently. The picture where Inga is a clown and Brad is a dinosaur was their very first time trick or treating. Looking at these pictures always makes me nostalgic for Albuquerque. Halloween just isn't the same back East. Better weather and more candles in Albuquerque. And the zoo...I miss the zoo! Moving is more traumatic than you realize at first. We have lived in NY 10 years and I still miss the West. Not that I want to move back just that I wish we could visit. If plane tickets magically became affordable it would be great to take Inga and Brad trick or treating one more time at the zoo in Albuquerque. Do you think 17 is too old?

For all the blog readers who don't know this story. Brad and his family moved east shortly after we did. They now live in NJ. Last spring we went down to visit Byrn Mawr and we stopped by for a visit. Well they started right back where they left off fighting over toys...well not quite...They don't seem to be fighting anymore...

Happy Dance

I have to say I love the "Happy Dance". Yesterday after working in the yard all day planting bushes in the cement I only call dirt when I'm not digging in it I brushed off my hands and hopped in the van. It was time to take Inga to her allergy shot. Click. Click. The van was dead. Someone left the the dome lights on all night. Dead battery. Karl is out of town. Nope I don't have AAA. But I do have jumper cables. But I don't know how to use them. My girl friend came over drove us to get the shot and then we set about jumping the van. We both had visions of things blowing up. Do you hook up red first or black first. Other car on or off? I texted a picture of the top of the battery to Karl. And Yeah! Happy Dance. Happy Dance. We did it before any husbands showed up to help us!

Old Flannel Shirts Anyone?

Not too long ago Erik was given an old raggedy hoodie by an older boy who sometimes plays with his band. And thus began Erik's homeless fashion look. I call that hoodie his Brazilian street urchin sweatshirt. It has marker all over it and convenient holes in cuffs for your thumbs. Erik loves that sweatshirt. Yesterday he arrived home without it. Shocking. He lent it to girl. Sigh. Now we had huge problem it was predicated to be 44 degrees on Wednesday and Erik was supposed walk to drum lessons after school. Of course he has normal coats but of course he was absolutely not going "to wear a "GAP COAT"! "MOM". "I think they use slaves to make their clothes." MOM. Ridiculous. MOM! Thank goodness Karl has a red flannel shirt which apparently looks appropriately homeless. Of course Karl is out of town so we had to call him to get the okay but the stars were aligned and it was okay with him even though I believe his grandmother made it for him. Whew.

Inga also has a homeless flannel shirt which she stole from her boyfriend but I had to laugh because it turns out he stole it from his Dad. So Dads beware those kids are after your old flannel shirts. Lock up your closets.

Today found me at Salvation Army looking for flannel shirts that didn't look too new. I have to say on cold gray day like today maybe a raggedy, soft, stolen from your Dad,flannel shirt is the best thing to wear.

A Tree for Me

One of my favorite nurseries has an annual half price sale every October. That is one dangerous postcard they mail out! They sell perennials but mostly it is a tree and shrubs place. I don't have a huge yard and I already have pretty many trees...But I did need some new shrubs. When I moved in I really didn't know what would thrive and what wouldn't or what the deer would find ever so tasty. After ten years I have figured things out some so I thought I'd replace all scrappy or dieing shrubs with new sure to be happy and alive ones. My girl friend and I headed down the road. (I should mention she is a very bad influence!)

The first time we visited it was a beautiful fall day. I was a good girl and only bought three bushes. The second time we visited everything seemed to be "just right" and I was a very bad girl.

I fell in love with a tree.I found a Pagoda tree or Katsura tree.This particular variety of tree grows a huge weeping canopy all the way to the ground. When I was a kid there was one in the park across the street. It was a magical tree thirty or forty feet across with weeping limbs that created a secret space perfect for hiding and building forts. Mine is a smaller variety but it should still make a decent fort.This is a tree for the grand-kids!

The nursery guy assured us he could fit three trees and fifteen bushes in one minivan and dammed if he didn't! I ended up with five bushes and one tree. Of course this morning when I got up it was snowing. Not very good gardening weather. Hopefully it will shape up because I have some holes to dig!

Spirit Week Slideshow

Click on the white arrow. Next click on the white box in the lower right corner.

Inga's Coming Out Conference

On October 12th 2008 Inga Koch gave her very first poster talk at a professional conference! Yesterday afternoon Inga presented her summer research project at the Division of Planetary Sciences meeting of the American Astronomical Society at Cornell University. No shrinking violet Inga had no trouble communicating her project to lead scientists from around the country. Enough people stopped by to chat so that she kept pretty busy for the whole two hours. The man with the blue shirt and the strange pocket is a principal investigator at NASA's Goddard Space Center. You can't really hear Inga in the video but you get the idea.

Inga did the work at Astronomy Camp outside Tucson last June. She spent a week at the Catalina observatories on Mt. Lemmon. Teenagers from around the country spend the week staying up all night observing the night sky with "big boy" toys like 60" telescopes at their disposal. She loved it. Some nights I believe they just spread their sleeping bags out on the concrete floor of the observatory. Not much sleeping going on and lots of group cheers for things finally located! She hopes to go back if schedules match up next summer.

Oh yes, her project was characterizing the 5992 Nittler asteroid which happen to be named after her uncle Larry. He was given this asteroid or the option to name it as an award several years ago. Getting to name an asteroid was fairly common among yesterday's crowd because there were several other scientists who wanted their asteroids studied too. Inga could set up a nice home business if only we had an observatory in our backyard. And no clouds. No clouds in Upstate NY now that would be some kind of global warming...

This should all look pretty good when applying to college if only we could find one she likes! We are hunting for a school where there will be other pink/purple haired science loving chillins. Nope MIT isn't a good fit...

Farah Fawcett

I have to go to the hairdresser in a little while. I hate going to the hairdresser. The last time I really liked my hair was around 1978. I loved my Farah Fawcett hair! Since then nothing but dread. And I have had some really ugly haircuts as my kids are happy to point out when looking at old pictures. It is hard to tell the hairdresser what to do while simultaneously avoiding the mirror. Even with my glasses off there is that giant mirror right splat in front of me. I guess some people like staring at themselves for forty-five minutes? Some people have stage fright. I have mirror fright.

Inga and Erik have an evacuation drill today at school followed up later in the day by a Pep rally. Erik wants to know if he can go out for the Pep rally and keep right on walking all the way home. Not a big football fan. The evacuation drill is the modern day equivalent of the "old duck and cover drills". This time they are preparing for an event where they need to move 2,000 kids to another location in ten minutes. Crazy. Shudder the thought. Imagine trying to move that many teenagers quickly? I recommend texting and candy.

For The Kids

Our JV girl's soccer team walked off the field with their coach because the coach felt it was not a safe or appropriate atmosphere for soccer. And we did forfeit the game. Some parents are blaming the referees however I really don't think it is the refs job to control parents. No one in the crowd around this horrible man stepped up to stop his behavior. The other school district is denying anything happened other than our girls were playing a"physical" game. Our local athletic association is looking into the case. The parents on our side of the fence or not shrinking violets so I imagine what can be done will be done.

At lunch yesterday I asked two highly involved soccer moms at the table what they thought about the incident. They said we always have a problem with Vestal and Vestal parents. Never before have the comments been racial but they are constantly harassing our kids from the sidelines. Unfortunately they also said last Fall two of our parents went over to the Vestal side to apologize for the behavior on our sidelines. My friend Jackie told me her son on the JV soccer team was constantly being being screamed at by parents when he took over a new position. They felt obligated to tell him how to play his position. Sounds like parents and family members need to be banned from the games until people are able to be civil. Erik's History teacher told the kids yesterday if that had been his kid he would gone over to the guy and socked him. Great. Now we have the potential for a parent brawl.

As for racism people seem to think the South is somehow more racist than the North but the confederate flag seems to flying pretty high in my corner of the North. North/South we just haven't come as far as we need to go. Or maybe there will always be some stupid drunk fat guy on sidelines who just needs to be removed. For the kids sake.

Spirit Week

It's Spirit Week at the High School! Every day has a different dress-up theme. Yesterday was "Decade Day" dress as your favorite decade. Today is "Color Day" each class wears an assigned color. Wednesday is "Team Day" wear your favorite team shirt. ( Inga will wear a Team Edward shirt which is a character from her favorite book series, Twilight.) Thursday is Crazy Day which needs no explaining except to say nighties are forbidden. And Friday is Raider Day ( all of our sports teams are called Blue Raiders) and the Pep Rally. I didn't go to a normal American High School with sports teams so I have no way of knowing if this is all common practice. I do know we had a Japanese exchange student living with us one year who found the whole thing very very strange.

Speaking of school spirit here's a sad story from our local paper this morning. Yesterday our girl's soccer team had an away game. An adult spectator for the other team started yelling racial slurs at two of our fourteen year old soccer players. Other team members tried to defend the girls and told the man to shut up. The girls started to cry. He continued and the referees did nothing despite parent complaint. Our team walked off the field to jeering and catcalls which continued as they loaded the bus. It sounds like a TV episode doesn't it? In fact there was a Friday Night Lights episode with the same situation. Sad but true. So much for spirit.

Woolly Bears and Life

Yesterday while walking my crazy bookcase hopping dogs I came across this woolly bear caterpillar. When I was kid we used these little guys as a snow -day predictor. We would peer at them trying to determine if the black bands were bigger than the orange ones. If they had really wide really furry black stripes then it was going to be a long very snowy winter. Lots of orange meant no snow days. Also the direction they were traveling had something to do with it. Okay this guy I came across is more than half orange folks!

It was Thursday so Inga had voice lessons. I don't know how much she is learning but it certainly is a stress reliever for her. And Inga is a kid who needs that. I tried to make a movie of her singing with my digital camera which came out okay but it of course the camera creates .mov files instead of .avi. I can not figure out how to edit .mov files on a pc. No one has Macs in spite of the cute commercials and why don't all files work on both platforms? I ask you why must they purposefully aggravate me? It is the same with mp3 players and itunes. Why don't those tracks work on non- Apple players? Re%*)ds!

In spite of the aggravation I do love electronic gadgets. When it's time for dinner I just text up to Inga, "Time For Dinner". Way easier than yelling and teenagers seem to respond to texting like it was some form of mind control. I text her "Walk the Dogs" and she comes downstairs with the leashes in hand. Cool. I love filling my mp3 player up with songs that make my kids scream in pain while riding in the van. I find some sweet revenge in that. I love our Wii. I think might just get that Wii Fit for Christmas. But best of all I love my Kindle.( Electronic book) Since I bought it I am never without a book while waiting and I am often waiting for someone. It is very consumerish of me but still I love my gadgets!

It was a Dark and Gloomy Day...

It has been dark and gloomy the last so many days. There are two things I want to do on dark and gloomy days: cook or curl up with a good book. The cooking can be extremely dangerous for me. I went outside and realized dark and gloomy days are actually quite nice for gardening. The key is being outside some part of every day. I'm like the old timers who put the baby on porch for some air every day no matter what the weather. Why should it stop with babies? When I'm old in a wheelchair please put me on the porch.

Wet Pumpkins and Lambs

Karl wasn't feeling too well yesterday. His head is really aching from this latest surgery. In spite of feeling ucky he managed to go (it took some coaxing) to his friend's lamb roast. This is an annual event for us. I think we have attended the last five years.

The women who hosts the party is a biologist and a big gardener. She has the same weird trees in her yard that I have which is saying something. Last year her Kentucky Coffee looked much bigger than mine but maybe because I threatened to dig up mine last spring mine has really taken off. She collects orchids and has a small green house filled with orchids attached to her house. Pretty nice place to eat your breakfast I would imagine. Yesterday there was a very loud tree frog in greenhouse. Somewhere in the rosemary.

They live on a farm and raise a small herd of sheep, chickens, sometimes turkeys, geese, and three cows. I am not sure when they sleep. Last year they were bringing in the hay when everyone arrived for the party but this year it was all safely rolled up. We joked with their son about pushing one of the bales down the hill but he told us he had actually tried it out once. "I had to jump in front of it when I realized it was just going to keep rolling." "Forever." We took his word for it and didn't try it.

The food is always wonderful at this party. It's always potluck and always attended by people from all over the world. Usually there a big group of South Americans, Russians, Chinese, Serbs etc. That is my kind of potluck. Not one person brought a bag of chips. Of course the main attraction is roasted lamb. I have to say that I don't find roasted lamb nearly so appetizing when it looks so lamb -like just before you eat it. This year I decided I just couldn't do it. Although I enjoy roasted lamb as much as the next person I passed. I am one of those people who really should be vegetarian but loves a good steak so much...

Today, we are having some much needed rain. That will make cleaning up the garden for Fall that much easier! The trees are starting to turn and seems the colors may be outstanding this year. Driving up to the farm yesterday, Karl and I debated which was better: dark gloomy clouds as a backdrop for the leaves or sunshine making them sparkle. At any rate they bring out the photographer in the most innocent of us.

Emo Backwards

Today is Friday. Karl usually goes out to lunch on Fridays so I figured when my friend called it was also okay for me to go out again. We went to the sushi restaurant. You might think sushi is risky in a tiny town too far from the coast but it is actually quite good. Sushi has become so mainstream that even truckers with those girls on their mudflaps eat it. We had a good meal and we tried to solve the thieving in the locker room at the high school problem but of course we didn't. I maintain that we should expect and demand that people be honest and she maintains the kids should just lock their locker more carefully.

This morning Cooper crawled up on my chest for his morning nap. Tiny little cuddly dog has a way of endearing himself no matter what. They did get their long walks and they returned home safely. Now they are napping. Good dogs and children take naps when Mom is on the computer!

Of course Erik is in a band. As I was walking the dogs today I was thinking about that joke, "What do you get when you play a country song backwards..." So what do you get when you play an emo song backwards...Your Mom lets you stay in your room forever, all the girls in school love you, and Spanish doesn't suck.

Karl is going for a new biopsy of a new spot today. Always worrisome. I thought that was a great picture of Karl and my niece Lara so I included it in today's blog. Also the picture of Lara and Erik is good. On the last night we were at the lake Lara and Erik went fishing on the dock. Lara caught nine fish one after another. You always want Erik on your team when you are fishing. Erik has spent the last three summers teaching fishing camp at the nature center. He's very popular with the kids for good reason. When you click on the pictures they do get bigger and you can actually see them!

Tiny Violins

Well instead of "Elmo" days at our house we have "Emo days as in everyone is soooo sad. And everything totally Sucks! You know the scenario, "How was School?" "It sucked." "I hate all my teachers." "Spanish sucks." "Not one kid in my English class can actually read. It sucks."" The lunch line is too long". "Canoes suck". Today was one of those days. Tiny violins all afternoon.

Later on I was watching some fashion designers on TV and there happened to be a Russian guy on the show. I realized Russians are the ultimate "Emo" people. Remember how they had to ban dying on the ice in figure skating a couple of years ago because the Russians kept skating to gloomy music and then laying on the ice. Sesame street is really grey and gloomy in Russia because they aren't comfortable with the more colorful version we are used to. Imagine what happens then when you ask a Russian teenager how school was? No. wait. Let's not go there...

We had "emo" children and crazy ass dogs. Cooper believes we have hidden his favorite toy on the bookcase. Why he believes this we do not know but he does. Every night when we sit down he whines at the bookcase. Incessantly. We have tried picking him up and showing that there is nothing there to no avail. We started hiding things up there but that was a very bad idea. Nothing we do will convince him his koala isn't up there. Tomorrow I think I will take him for a very long walk...

Hamster Wheels

Today was the school superintendent's round table meeting. Once a month he goes out in the community to try and generate good rapport. The "Lunch Moms" usually go as we did today.
one of us is on the school board so she has other reasons to go.

Before the meeting we went to the gym. Sigh. The gym is sooooo boring. I forgot my mp3 player in the van so I had to listen to whatever hateful stuff was spewing out of the talk radio on the ceiling. I like to get my exercise actually outside walking, hiking, kayaking, or gardening. That was easier to do when we lived in Albuquerque. Riding on a little machine like a neurotic hamster seems like some bad sci-fi movie where everyone does weird things because the world has been taken over by robots. And getting naked in the locker room isn't quite the same as when I was 30.

The meeting went well. I guess. The same old story, "Well we would love to do that except the teacher's union would file a grievance." Our local teacher's union has really made me question unions. In this case there seems to be a conflict of interest. Much corruption and a quest for power. A necessary evil I guess. But I wish just once it was actually about educating the kids.

Math and Division

This morning Inga was telling me about a t-shirt she had seen at camp that has the symbol Pi saying "Get Real" to the square root of minus 1 ( which is apparently denotes an imaginary number). The imaginary number answers, "Be Rational". She wanted that t-shirt. Being a supportive parent of geeky children of course I tracked it down and ordered it. ( Maybe the word is not supportive but indulgent?) Anyway I thought it was funny so I ordered it. Well, I thought it was funny after it was explained to me! I ordered it along with the one which had the moon telling Pluto, "Don't feel bad I'm not a planet either!" Inga wears her geeky t-shirts proudly and she backs that up by clomping around in combat boots which are pretty hard on flip -flop wearers.

The thing about this election that is difficult for me is that way it is hammering home how divided we have become in this country. Of course I too feel strongly about "the issues" and the election but more and more I keep it to myself because I don't want to know how the people I am eating lunch with feel. It is much easier at this point to be friends and eat lunch happily when you don't know where they stand. "Embracing Diversity" only works when you have someone to hug.

Rita's Rocks!

A new ice cream store opened in our tiny little hamlet. For us that is a wondrous event. It is an Italian ice/custard chain based in Philadelphia, Rita's. It just so happens we were in Philly not too long ago and we ate at Rita's so we were already familiar with their yumminess. All week long the Italian ice is free so I've been twice today. Passion Fruit the first time and Key Lime the second. Inga is lactose intolerant so having a place to get a treat she can actually eat is doubly exciting.

We stopped at Rita's after the meeting about a high school trip to London/Paris over Spring Break. None of Inga's buddies are going so I think she is going to pass and instead try to get accepted into the Japanese exchange program which is also over spring break. We had two kids from the program stay with us when Inga was in seventh grade. It would be great if she could see those same kids four years later. So many opportunities kids have today that never existed when I was in school!

My Heart Bleeds

Yesterday I met two friends at Target at 2pm. Our mission for the day was to create a basket for our friend who was recently diagnosed with stage-four throat cancer. We tried to find light hearted things and orange things. Things that might be comforting in the hospital. We bought two detective novels, a book called "Eat, Pray, Love", orange and black striped furry socks, a tiger striped Magna sketch board, 27 Dresses on DVD, Friday Night Lights on DVD, Mentos, a set of candles, a soft Halloween afghan, lotion, and one Halloween takeout box of shortbread cookies. I made the cookies in the morning. Shortbread with butterfly stamps.

After all of that shopping the three of us were pretty tired so we went to see the year's worst movie, "The Women". As I was watching it I kept thinking, "Boy this is a really long movie". Always a bad sign. A chick flick that was not funny. Yawn.

We found a basket at Micheal's and made it up on the tailgate. Covered it in a giant basket bag and a bow. Then we debated about the best way to get it to her. None of us wanted bother her and we didn't really know how she was doing. I was voting for "Ding Dong Ditch" for a while. Since none of us is 10 years old that was out of the question so we all straightened out our backbones and drove up the hill. It turns out she was out so we ditched the basket with her son and fled.

It was now 7pm so we all went to dinner. As we were eating our friend called and came down to join us. She loved the basket. She starts Chemo and radiation on Tuesday in NYC. She has one son still at home. He is in between Inga and Erik's age. She never smoked. Her cancer is most likely the result of the HPV virus. She never suspected and didn't go to the doctor for about eight months after symptoms appeared, partly because she doesn't like her primary care doctor. (Does anyone? Not around here!) Her treatment has already started with the insertion of a feeding tube. She has trouble swallowing and breathing. It is going to be a long six months. My heart bleeds for her.

This has not been a good year for us in terms of friends and family members being diagnosed with cancer. Maybe it is our age.

Unique Books of the Year (Or Recent History )

Here is a list of books I have read recently that I think have a unique point of view or tell I story I just haven't read before. Maybe some of you folks out there in blogland will give me some suggestions. Pretty Please!

The Golden Spruce

The Icarus Girl

Intuition

A Short History of the Tractor in Ukrainia

Tales of the Otori ( Series)

March

The Thirteenth Tale

The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency ( Series)


On the subject of lists Inga and Erik have a new ongoing funny list story. The superintendent of our schools has decided that each classroom in our district should display a poster of"150 ways to Show a Child you Care". This includes the High School. Well, the quickest ways to inspire rebellion among a large group of teachers seems to be to require that they do something. They just don't want to be "bossed". And well some things on the list sound pretty funny when you apply them to High School teachers and their students. Play outside together, tape record a message for them, share a meal together...share a secret... predictably Erik's history teacher has something to say about this poster. " Ladies and Gentlemen behold the poster of "150 ways to be a pedophile" An art teacher is going through the list and trying one thing every day. Friday she was giving out Dixie cups of juice to all her students. A couple of kids from history class had to borrow something from the art room when they returned they raised their hand and said, May we please have juice too?" I am sure they used their best "please" and "thank you voices!"

Notice them.
Smile a lot.
Acknowledge them.
Learn their names.
Seek them out.
Remember their birthday.
Ask them about themselves
Look in their eyes when you talk to them.
Listen to them.
Play with them.
Read aloud together.
Giggle together.
Be nice.
Say yes a lot.
Tell them their feelings are okay.
Set boundaries that keep them safe.
Be honest.
Be yourself.
Listen to their stories.
Hug them.
Forget your worries sometimes and concentrate only on them.
Notice when they're acting differently.
Present options when they seek your counsel.
Play outside together.
Surprise them.
Stay with them when they're afraid.
Invite them over for juice.
Suggest better behaviors when they act out.
Feed them when they're hungry.
Delight in their discoveries.
Share their excitement.
Send them a letter or postcard.
Follow them when they lead.
Notice when they're absent.
Call them to say hello.
Hide surprises for them to find.
Give them space when they need it.
Contribute to their collections.
Discuss their dreams and nightmares.
Laugh at their jokes.
Be relaxed.
Kneel, squat, or sit so you're at their eye level.
Answer their questions.
Tell them how terrific they are.
Create a tradition with them and keep it.
Learn what they have to teach.
Use your ears more than your mouth.
Make yourself available.
Show up at their concerts, games, and events.
Find a common interest.
Hold hands during a walk.
Apologize when you've done something wrong.
Listen to their favorite music with them.
Keep the promises you make.
Wave and smile when you part.
Display their artwork in your home.
Thank them.
Point out what you like about them.
Clip magazine pictures or articles that interest them.
Give them lots of compliments.
Catch them doing something right.
Encourage win-win solutions.
Give them your undivided attention.
Ask for their opinion.
Have fun together.
Be curious with them.
Introduce them to your friends and family.
Tell them how much you like being with them.
Let them solve most of their own problems.
Meet their friends.
Meet their parents.
Let them tell you how they feel.
Help them become an expert at something.
Be excited when you see them.
Tell them about yourself.
Let them act their age.
Praise more; criticize less.
Be consistent.
Admit when you make a mistake.
Enjoy your time together.
Give them a special nickname.
Marvel at what they can do.
Tell them how proud you are of them.
Pamper them.
Unwind together.
Be happy.
Ask them to help you.
Support them.
Applaud their successes.
Deal with problems and conflicts while they're still small.
Chaperone a dance.
Tell them stories in which they are the hero.
Believe in them.
Nurture them with good food.
Be flexible.
Delight in their uniqueness.
Let them make mistakes.
Notice when they grow.
Wave and honk when you drive by them.
Give them immediate feedback.
Include them in conversations.
Respect them.
Join in their adventures.
Visit their schools.
Help them learn something new.
Be understanding when they have a difficult day.
Give them good choices.
Respect the choices they make.
Be silly together.
Hang out together.
Make time.
Inspire their creativity.
Accept them as they are.
Become their advocate.
Appreciate their personality.
Talk openly with them.
Tolerate their interruptions.
Trust them.
Share a secret.
Write a chalk message on their sidewalk.
Create a safe, open environment.
Be available.
Cheer their accomplishments.
Encourage them to help others.
Tackle new tasks together.
Believe what they say.
Help them take a stand and stand with them.
Daydream with them.
Do what they like to do.
Make decisions together.
Magnify their magnificence.
Build something together.
Encourage them to think big.
Celebrate their firsts and lasts, such as the first day of school.
Go places together.
Welcome their suggestions.
Visit them when they're sick.
Tape record a message for them.
Help them learn from mistakes.
Be sincere.
Introduce them to people of excellence.
Tell them what you expect of them.
Give them your phone number.
Introduce them to new experiences.
Share a meal together.
Talk directly together.
Be spontaneous.
Expect their best; don't expect perfection.
Empower them to help and be themselves.
Love them, no matter what.