Yesterday's 5 hour power outage resulted in Chinese take-out. Larkin asked Emile to read the fortune from her cookie.
Emile: You will be rewarded for your excellent listening skills this week.
Larkin (totally *not* joking): What?
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
What's Up, Doc?
Larkin and Finn have been attending a series of doctor appointments with me (I'm having a wart removed from my heel... uncomfortable and gross, but nothing too dire). It's a family practice office and we often get placed in a room with a Disney theme.
Today, the nurse was chatting with the kids about Disney movies and characters. She asked them if they could name all the dwarves. Oh! how my heart swelled with pride when Finn started with, "Well, there's Oin, Gloin... Bifur, Bofur and Bombur..."
Today, the nurse was chatting with the kids about Disney movies and characters. She asked them if they could name all the dwarves. Oh! how my heart swelled with pride when Finn started with, "Well, there's Oin, Gloin... Bifur, Bofur and Bombur..."
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Bamboozled
Last week, Emile went down to San Francisco to attend one of Bamboo Bike Studio's bike building workshops. Look what he made!
He has definitely caught the bike building bug and has spent some quality time testing his highly scientific, sophisticated design innovations. Why, just this morning, I found this on the table:
Since he flew down for the workshop, he had to ship the bike home. You can imagine that those two bike-less days were quite tortuous.
This morning, the bike arrived! And guess what! It came in a Very Large Box! I bet you can guess what Larkin and Finn were most excited about. Here, they are both inside said box:
They asked us to tape up the lid to seal them in as they played games. As I walked by, I heard this exchange:
Finn: I spy with my little eye, something that is... black.
Larkin: Uh... the whole box?
He has definitely caught the bike building bug and has spent some quality time testing his highly scientific, sophisticated design innovations. Why, just this morning, I found this on the table:
Since he flew down for the workshop, he had to ship the bike home. You can imagine that those two bike-less days were quite tortuous.
This morning, the bike arrived! And guess what! It came in a Very Large Box! I bet you can guess what Larkin and Finn were most excited about. Here, they are both inside said box:
They asked us to tape up the lid to seal them in as they played games. As I walked by, I heard this exchange:
Finn: I spy with my little eye, something that is... black.
Larkin: Uh... the whole box?
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Braaaaaaiiiins!
Totally without warning, my (previously noted, rather inept) treatment of the religious significance of holidays has come back to us. Once again, the best conversations happen in the car.
Finn: Easter is when some people believe Jesus came back to life after being persecuted to death, right?
Me (barely concealing a snort over "persecuted to death"): Right.
Finn: So... god's son is... a zombie?!
Finn: Easter is when some people believe Jesus came back to life after being persecuted to death, right?
Me (barely concealing a snort over "persecuted to death"): Right.
Finn: So... god's son is... a zombie?!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
A Hard Grain's A-Gonna Fall...
Long ago in China, there lived an emperor who had a daughter that he loved above all else. When his daughter fell sick and seemed unlikely to recover, the emperor was inconsolable. He called upon all the healers and shamans in the land, but none of their tinctures or arcane rituals improved her condition.
As a last resort, the emperor had the wise old woman who lived in the hills brought in. The wise woman brought an herb from the mountains that was unfamiliar to the valley dwellers, and ground it into the sick girl's gruel every morning for a week. At the end of this time, it was clear that the girl's condition was improving and the wise woman packed her bags for the long trip back to her mountain home.
The emperor was beside himself with joy at his daughter's return to health and presented the wise woman with a large basket and invited her into the royal treasury to fill it with any precious metals or stones she wished.
The wise woman returned the basket, insisting that she had no use for such worldly riches. The emperor was unwilling to allow her to leave empty-handed and asked her what she thought would be a suitable reward.
The wise woman told him that what she could use more than anything else was a month of grain. He was to deliver a single grain of rice on the first day of the month, and each day thereafter would double the amount of grain delivered until the end of the month.
Now, the emperor was feeling very magnanimous after winning back both the life of his daughter and a small fortune in precious gems. He thought a few handfuls of rice was small thanks for all the wise woman had done, and declared that he would deliver grain through the end of the year, about four months away.
The wise woman smiled and nodded her silent assent before leaving the emperor's palace for her humble home in the hills.
The emperor kept his promise and on the sixth day delivered a scant quarter teaspoon full of rice to the wise old woman.
On the twelfth day, he delivered a scant cup of rice-- still not enough grain to feed the old woman for a single day.
On the eighteenth day, he delivered less than a gallon of rice, and was still feeling slightly guilty about his agreement with the old wise woman.
The next week, as he began loading horse-drawn carts with rice to deliver, he began to understand that he had underestimated the wise old woman. At the end of the month, the wise old woman's grain storage shed was over-flowing. She told the emperor on the last day of the month that she would not expect him to keep his word and continue payments until the end of the year if he agreed to fill her shed once a year for the remainder of her life.
The emperor readily agreed, and that is for the best since this is what would have happened had he continued:
[Many thanks to Jim for his project inspiration. We worked with long grain brown rice... I'd imagine variety could skew results significantly.]
As a last resort, the emperor had the wise old woman who lived in the hills brought in. The wise woman brought an herb from the mountains that was unfamiliar to the valley dwellers, and ground it into the sick girl's gruel every morning for a week. At the end of this time, it was clear that the girl's condition was improving and the wise woman packed her bags for the long trip back to her mountain home.
The emperor was beside himself with joy at his daughter's return to health and presented the wise woman with a large basket and invited her into the royal treasury to fill it with any precious metals or stones she wished.
The wise woman returned the basket, insisting that she had no use for such worldly riches. The emperor was unwilling to allow her to leave empty-handed and asked her what she thought would be a suitable reward.
The wise woman told him that what she could use more than anything else was a month of grain. He was to deliver a single grain of rice on the first day of the month, and each day thereafter would double the amount of grain delivered until the end of the month.
Now, the emperor was feeling very magnanimous after winning back both the life of his daughter and a small fortune in precious gems. He thought a few handfuls of rice was small thanks for all the wise woman had done, and declared that he would deliver grain through the end of the year, about four months away.
The wise woman smiled and nodded her silent assent before leaving the emperor's palace for her humble home in the hills.
The emperor kept his promise and on the sixth day delivered a scant quarter teaspoon full of rice to the wise old woman.
On the twelfth day, he delivered a scant cup of rice-- still not enough grain to feed the old woman for a single day.
On the eighteenth day, he delivered less than a gallon of rice, and was still feeling slightly guilty about his agreement with the old wise woman.
The next week, as he began loading horse-drawn carts with rice to deliver, he began to understand that he had underestimated the wise old woman. At the end of the month, the wise old woman's grain storage shed was over-flowing. She told the emperor on the last day of the month that she would not expect him to keep his word and continue payments until the end of the year if he agreed to fill her shed once a year for the remainder of her life.
The emperor readily agreed, and that is for the best since this is what would have happened had he continued:
[Many thanks to Jim for his project inspiration. We worked with long grain brown rice... I'd imagine variety could skew results significantly.]
Monday, January 30, 2012
On Splatter Art, Sneetches and Suicide
Before Christmas, we decided to make some wrapping paper. I spread out some butcher paper on the deck, got small jars of paints and old toothbrushes, and we engaged in some splendiferous splatter art. Here's our small test-canvas, used to see if we wanted to embark on a larger project:
Well, of course we did! Here is Finn demonstrating his Mad Ninja Paint Flinging Skillz:
This was the most excited Finn has been about an art project in a long time-- he spent at least an hour happily flinging paint. Larkin flung for quite a while, but then started drawing more distinct images, the numbers from 1 to 14, and made a splatter pattern around a leaf. Consensus is that the results were quite striking. I'm on a mission to find more physical art projects to work on with Finn.
Larkin's recent fascination with Zinn's U.S. history book (geared toward young teenagers) has led me to wonder a bit about how much the kids are actually absorbing from the various things we do with them. I know a lot of the language and concepts in the book are going over Larkin's head and doubtless she will get a lot more out of it if she chooses to read it again in a few years, but I'm often amazed at how much information is making a lasting impression.
A few days after reading Zinn's chapter on civil rights, Larkin and Finn and I were cuddled up on the couch with the good Dr. Seuss (whose political biases, I realize, are no more subtle than Zinn's... Really! We're not trying to brainwash our children!). We were reading a long-time favorite, The Sneetches (in which, in case it's been awhile for some of you, the star-bellied Sneetches are under the impression that they are superior to the Sneetches with no stars upon thars). A light bulb clearly went off for Larkin a few pages in: "Hey! This is just like when there was [insert word that should be segregation but had a few extra syllables] in our society!"
Another recent, very popular, topic of conversation has been suicide. I believe this started after reading about what happened to the native Americans when Columbus and his cronies showed up. There were some pretty gruesome stories about natives having their hands severed if they failed to show up with an acceptable amount of gold, and mothers killing themselves and their children rather than face persecution.
Heavy stuff, and it obviously made a big impression on Larkin. For some reason, these conversations always seem to come up in the car. She wants Emile and I to name all the famous suicides we can think of and tell her how they killed themselves and why. It's pretty disturbing, but we comply. If this fascination lasts, we'll probably have to find some relevant books or web sites. I can only imagine where that search might lead.
When we were on our way to a Christmas Eve/Birthday dinner, I did let Larkin know that Grandpa Don and Grandma Vicki probably wouldn't think that suicide was a suitable conversation over a festive meal. She was happy to postpone the discussion.
Well, of course we did! Here is Finn demonstrating his Mad Ninja Paint Flinging Skillz:
This was the most excited Finn has been about an art project in a long time-- he spent at least an hour happily flinging paint. Larkin flung for quite a while, but then started drawing more distinct images, the numbers from 1 to 14, and made a splatter pattern around a leaf. Consensus is that the results were quite striking. I'm on a mission to find more physical art projects to work on with Finn.
Larkin's recent fascination with Zinn's U.S. history book (geared toward young teenagers) has led me to wonder a bit about how much the kids are actually absorbing from the various things we do with them. I know a lot of the language and concepts in the book are going over Larkin's head and doubtless she will get a lot more out of it if she chooses to read it again in a few years, but I'm often amazed at how much information is making a lasting impression.
A few days after reading Zinn's chapter on civil rights, Larkin and Finn and I were cuddled up on the couch with the good Dr. Seuss (whose political biases, I realize, are no more subtle than Zinn's... Really! We're not trying to brainwash our children!). We were reading a long-time favorite, The Sneetches (in which, in case it's been awhile for some of you, the star-bellied Sneetches are under the impression that they are superior to the Sneetches with no stars upon thars). A light bulb clearly went off for Larkin a few pages in: "Hey! This is just like when there was [insert word that should be segregation but had a few extra syllables] in our society!"
Another recent, very popular, topic of conversation has been suicide. I believe this started after reading about what happened to the native Americans when Columbus and his cronies showed up. There were some pretty gruesome stories about natives having their hands severed if they failed to show up with an acceptable amount of gold, and mothers killing themselves and their children rather than face persecution.
Heavy stuff, and it obviously made a big impression on Larkin. For some reason, these conversations always seem to come up in the car. She wants Emile and I to name all the famous suicides we can think of and tell her how they killed themselves and why. It's pretty disturbing, but we comply. If this fascination lasts, we'll probably have to find some relevant books or web sites. I can only imagine where that search might lead.
When we were on our way to a Christmas Eve/Birthday dinner, I did let Larkin know that Grandpa Don and Grandma Vicki probably wouldn't think that suicide was a suitable conversation over a festive meal. She was happy to postpone the discussion.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Roxy Ann
We've been having a spate of unseasonably warm, sunny weather. Yesterday, Larkin, Finn and I decided to hike Roxy Ann loop. They were pretty excited, partly because Roxy Ann is visible from our living room and they thought it was pretty cool to be able to just get up and go there.
It's a bit hard to figure out, but using Crazy Google Technology, I think we walked about 3.5 miles. I think that's about as far as the kids want to go at the moment, but I only piggybacked Finn a few times so I think it's a pretty reasonable limit to put on my future hike searches.
A big bonus of this particular hike is that there are LOTS of geocaches in the area. We managed to locate six during our outing-- which is some kind of record for us. This awesome old madrone had one hidden among its roots:
Naturally, we had to spend at least 20 minutes playing here before moving on.
Closer to the peak, we spotted a spectacular oak. The way it was positioned, the bank was falling away from its roots, leaving some exposed. Finn decided he needed to visit them.
It was quite a climb. Here's a shot of the tree and roots so you can better appreciate Finn's admiration:
Larkin and Finn were pretty exhausted by the time we got back to the car-- but, of course, a couple of hours later you certainly couldn't tell by their energy levels that they'd done anything strenuous that day. I'm thrilled that the kids can manage longer walks these days... there are definitely more in our near future.
It's a bit hard to figure out, but using Crazy Google Technology, I think we walked about 3.5 miles. I think that's about as far as the kids want to go at the moment, but I only piggybacked Finn a few times so I think it's a pretty reasonable limit to put on my future hike searches.
A big bonus of this particular hike is that there are LOTS of geocaches in the area. We managed to locate six during our outing-- which is some kind of record for us. This awesome old madrone had one hidden among its roots:
Naturally, we had to spend at least 20 minutes playing here before moving on.
Closer to the peak, we spotted a spectacular oak. The way it was positioned, the bank was falling away from its roots, leaving some exposed. Finn decided he needed to visit them.
It was quite a climb. Here's a shot of the tree and roots so you can better appreciate Finn's admiration:
Larkin and Finn were pretty exhausted by the time we got back to the car-- but, of course, a couple of hours later you certainly couldn't tell by their energy levels that they'd done anything strenuous that day. I'm thrilled that the kids can manage longer walks these days... there are definitely more in our near future.
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