A day at the zoo

The day before my trip to CA, the kids and I went to the zoo with S, A, and L. It was threatening to rain and a chilly day, but we went for it and had a blast. Personally, I thought it was a nice collection of animals. Wolves, bears, otters, sloths, and barn owls are all animals I particularly love. (And I loved seeing a dray horse for the first time.) These wolves were pretty interested in the kids for awhile, following them around and coming up close. But, soon after, the alpha of the group decided that they were behaving utterly too domesticated and drew them all back.

The squirrel monkeys and two toed sloth lived together. When we came upon them, the sloth was being fed. The monkeys were especially enchanting for the kids and we stayed to watch them as their home was cleaned and the monkeys jumped about. I enjoyed the up close view of the sloth. The video of this encounter reflects the liveliness of the moment much better....

The reptile house is always fun. I remember it was always a cool oasis at the zoo in Sac and on this day it was a warm respite for us after hours spent in the cold damp outdoors (and our private train ride in the woods and along the reservoir :-). I found out later that First was afraid of the large pteradactyl up in the rafters. The tortoises were much more active than the ones that live at the Sac Zoo. Actually, most of the animals we saw that day were very active. This tends to be true on days that are cool and wet.

It looks as though we cornered this peacock, but it was actually hanging out by the buiding, looking into the windows. Spring was in the air as the males were strutting their stuff. It certainly made an impression on the kids that the peacocks were roaming about "free". Though not as big as an impression as...

this fountain. This fountain was the first thing that caught the kids' attention as we entered the zoo. They came back to it as we were walking towards the playground. I don't know if it's just the kids we know and love, or if it has something to do with homeschooling, but they wanted to get into the fountain and explore the water. We talked about the water and the copper flowers and the copper coins...

Kinder commented when he saw the pics, where are the pictures of the playground? Definitely a highlight that is remembered in their hearts and minds...the playground at the zoo.

A trio of movies

On the plane west I watched "The Pursuit of Happyness". Liked it. A decent movie about a decent man.

While away I watched "The Namesake" with B. Liked it a lot and am liking it a bit less since that intial impression. There are some really good things that happened during the course of the film, but overall it was a bit dissatisfying. I love Kal Penn, but felt like he couldn't carry the weight being placed on him. Part of the problem was the sceenplay. It attempted to cover a lot of ground which is simply hard to do well when you're telling the story of two generations in two hours. Still worth renting for fans of anyone involved in the movie, I think. Mira Nair got some moving performances out of her actors and the actors who portrayed the parents (both Bollywood stars, I think), in particular, were wonderful.

On the red-eye back, I couldn't sleep and so watched "The Holiday". Kate Winslet is just dreamy. She could read the proverbial phonebook and I would just sigh and love it. The rest of the movie? If you're ever on a red-eye and need to distract yourself, then this movie can be your friend.

East meets west

I went away for a week and came back to a new craze: sumo slammers. On the show (Ben 10---which, incidentally, they have never watched), Ben's favorite videogame is called "Sumo Slammers". So, of course, there are little sumo slammer action figures "available in stores now". I think they're kind of cute. Last summer, Takai brought back from Japan some card cutouts of sumo wrestlers that came with a dohyou that one could play "sumo" with. They weren't that into it. Fast forward to this spring, mix in the magic ingredient of Ben 10 and they love it. They've been building their own stadia and filling the stands with crowds of aliens.

Waiting for godot...I mean, spring

The nor'easter of 2007 has swept through. What a fickle, confusing, climate change-y spring it has been thus far. Our nature table reflects the stuttered pause we are experiencing. Green still mixed with brown, Easter eggs and popcorn seeds present, but no blossoms yet for the vase (from Ojiichan's collection).


The snail shells (barely visible in the nature table picture) are from the Raymond garden, collected during a soil turning. It felt great working the dirt with Will and Karen. I was mesmerized by these shells, their color, their wholeness, so much better preserved in a pretty form than the many sea shells that I've found in my day. I've been tossing thoughts around my head about how to approach gardening this spring/summer and have settled on growing herbs in pots. I'll be taking a class given by a homeschooler on how to grow herbs and then use them in cooking.

I've been working on our taxes for the past three days and am nearly done. Cap'll give them a final double check and then we just have to sign them and get them in the mail tomorrow. It was the first time in over a decade that I've done the tax paperwork (I took over the household finances about a year ago) and I underestimated how grueling a process it would be. I'm thinking of going for a "tax neck" adjustment with Dr. Jayne tomorrow. Especially since I'll be flying cross-country on Wednesday for my trip to California.

All about my mother

Great flick. Cap didn't like it as much as I did. I loved the colors and designs of the textiles: on the women, on the walls, in the kitchens, etc. It was sad, intimate, dramatic, deliberately orchestrated and well structured. But, completely accessible at all times on a frequency that felt unique yet familiar. In Spanish, directed by Pedro Almodovar.

New pics

...have been added to Knex, The egg has dropped and Money matters in Dec '06 and Peaches in winter in Jan '07.

It crept up on me

...today marks one year since I started this blog.



(on Mummu's beach last weekend)

Children of men

Intense. So well done. The scariest movie I've watched in a long time. Clive was yummy, but honestly, there was little time to even think about that. Barb will need her remote in hand for this one, although there's a scene of violence that comes so quick the remote would be of no help.

Unlike The Departed, I think this movie will hold up to any level of hype or expectation. We both loved it. Our hats are off to Alfonso Cuarón.

Sick day

First spent Thursday running to the bathroom periodically, unable to keep anything solid in his body for more than an hour. We made popsicles out of apple and pomegranate-cranberry juices. He amazes me with his calmness when sick. He takes it in stride. We watched our first ever episode of Spongebob. He thought the slapstick was hilarious. Kinder was under the table with a zabuton pulled up to just under his eyes. He doesn't trust screen images not to terrify him unexpectedly.

First and I also started James and the Giant Peach together, snuggled in bed. He was very resistant, but then listened quietly once I started. I'm not sure we'll continue. He is on a cusp of reaching for new independence and growth, but he's not a big reader of traditional books. He loves to read comic books.


Sometime in the afternoon, I came upon Kinder bustling about in the kitchen making "Ghostfreak" lemonade. As I helped him slice the lemon in half I felt like I was seeing myself as a child. I was often afraid of getting hurt and he is very much like that, letting his anchor hand pop off the lemon thinking he was about to cut himself though my hand was firmly guiding his slicing hand.

He spent some time looking for our red (go Carp!) plastic bullhorn and I soon discovered he wanted to use it as a funnel to get the lemon juice from the bowl into the old apple juice container. He wrote/drew up a "how to" for making Ghostfreak lemonade and taped it onto the container (a large Apple and Eve bottle for about a cup of lemonade :-) By then the finished lemonade was in a measuring cup with a lip so he poured it in gently, capped it, priced it ($4.99), and put it in the Ben 10 store.

I talked him down to $2.50 and had a lovely glass of fresh lemonade. Which he shot on digital video.

Mummu's beach

I love Mummu's beach. It's not big, crushed in on both sides by "private" beaches, but it holds a lot of memories. Cap and I spent many an hour there pre-children being one with the sound of the surf once the rays were slanted and the 10-3 danger zone was passed.

I prefer the beach off-season. I don't like crowds and my favorite thing to do on a beach is to look for shells and sea glass.

We've been to Mummu's beach with the kids in all seasons and I feel lucky to be attached to this particular slice of nature. We went last weekend after saying our good-byes to Mummu (not a beach bum that one). It was the perfect coda to a day that included cooking and dying eggs, lunch from Seafood Sam's (my first lobster roll of the season - yum), figuring out and fixing the leaking fridge and being together within the waiting and wondering that has defined so much of the last six months.

First diligently dug a small but deep hole (not to China, but that's exactly what it looked and felt like), we watched two seemingly innocuous but utterly mystifying black vessels that almost looked organic move silently and quickly across the water just under the horizon (Cap thought they were subs), I delighted in the shells that were washing up so distinctly different from the summer shells, and Kinder got his feet wet, socks and shoes and all because he is not always careful, he simply is, which is something I treasure about him.

Dying eggs

We cooked our own vegetable dyes this year. We used the dry brown outer layers of onion skin, turmeric, beets and red cabbage. The dark burgundy tone is from the onion skins, the mustardy golden rod color is from the turmeric. The red cabbage produced a pale, pale blue with marbling effect (the eggs were wrapped in the cabbage leaves and then bound up with rubber bands). The beets, Kinder was inspired in the produce aisle by them, resulted in a barely there wash of dull red-brown. The cabbage egg can be seen in the single egg holder in the back on the left.

It was fun to create and observe the alchemy. The kids were not into participating very much (we were at Mummu's and they were immersed in drawing), but when asked at the end of the weekend, First expressed his preference of these eggs over the ones that he painted with Karen and the kids on Sunday, a project he called the shots on from step one (he really wanted to paint eggs, the eggs had to be white, etc.)

I like to think he was irresistably drawn to the undeniable earthy and grounding quality of these Easter eggs symbolizing the arrival of Spring. (Thanks to Olivia for the use of her bunny bowl.)

Thanks also to Mummu for connecting with the story Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco and reading it to the boys.

It does pay forward

We went to Fiber Arts today. I struck a deal with the kids. We would go to FA and stay till 3:30 and afterwards, I would take them to Toys R Us where they would buy, with their own money, some Ben 10 toys (a nearly weekly ritual anyway).

The kids felt very shy. I have been inconsistent with attending FA and though the kids are fairly familiar with the FA crew, we were at Kate's house for the first time today. Ada really set the stage when she offered them candy from her Easter basket. Kinder enjoyed what may have been his first ever peanut butter cup and First was grateful and excited by the whole roll of Smarties that came his way.

Kinder perked up, between the candy, Curious George book we read, and the pretzels and cookies that were on the snack table. He is more social than First and he quickly became involved in taking turns on the treadmill with a bunch of kids and then playing with legos with Elliott. And he wove one row of his potholder.

First stayed close to my side as I fingerknit the long jump rope I am working on. He spotted a puzzle that he had just seen at Will and Olivia's this weekend and he worked on that. It was nice to see him build up to feeling comfortable asking Kate things like where the clock was in the kitchen (he was keeping an eye on the time like nobody's business).

My favorite moment was having my hair sprinkled with glitter by Ada.

After two pleasant hours, it was time to go. I left without my bag, which I discovered as we got out of the car at Toys R Us, so we ended up having one of those cozy late afternoon rides in the car where it's cold outside but toasty inside from the slanting rays of the sun. Kinder fell asleep for awhile. It was an additional hour to go back to Kate's and then back to TRU.

Fate was smiling though because as the kids wrestled with the question of what to do because they only found one toy (4 inch Four Arms) that either of them wanted, I happened to spot across the aisle, in completely the wrong location, a small batch of toys. Among them, a 4 inch Heat Blast, also much coveted.

At the register, as I pulled out First's twenty from my wallet, he said he would pay for Kinder's toy, too. Kinder piped up quickly, "thank you", I swooped in for a hug and a kiss and a compliment, and in my heart, I thanked Ada for her candy generosity earlier in the day. It was lovely to witness the linking of such simple and soulful acts of giving.

Catching up

• Danielle said yesterday, "what were the chances that four kids who like repackaging Ben 10 toys with their own alternate Ben 10 creations, with the zeal that these guys have for it, would be brought together at just the right time in life?"

• J.R. and Pam have been in town since Friday and will be in the area for a few weeks working Home Depot contractor service shows. As usual, it's been wonderful having them around. It's been a particularly yummy food time that they've inspired: Thai curry with homemade panko crusted chicken cutlets one dinner, cold sesame noodles and collard greens one lunch, and one of my ultimate comfort foods, spaghetti with meat sauce, a deluxe salad and corn bread last night. It's always a treat for me to make a salad since I only do it when we have company (Cap does not eat salad and it's hard to get through a great salad solo without it going bad.)

Seeing and hearing the kids play with J.R. reminds me of playing with You-niichan when I was little. He was younger than my parents, a single company man, I think, and he would play with Sandy and me for what seemed like hours letting us climb all over him. We were always so happy to see him.

Pam and J.R. treated us to books at the bookstore where I had gotten them their birthday presents back in January. We all walked up to the bookstore and spent a leisurely time poring over books and cards. I've actually started fantasizing about working at this bookstore because I love it so much. Kinder got a Spiderman book, First a dot-to-dot, Pam some nice cards, J.R. a book about Spain, and I picked out Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie for Cap and Neil Gaiman's American Gods for myself. I had a Jodi Picoult book in my hands for awhile because I am intrigued by her, but I am also repulsed by the rate at which she seems to crank out books. I don't trust that there will be enough...depth?

• On Sunday, we celebrated my dad's 70th birthday with my side of the family up at Mohonk. My parents used to take us there around the Christmas holidays when we were kids. It's a beautiful Victorian hotel nestled in a mountain with numerous hiking trails, a lake, gardens, an ice rink and these cute little wooden resting huts and gazebos scattered about the grounds and trails. We had brunch (First loved the breakfast sausage and Kinder the bagels, jello and mini key lime tartlets) and also did a lot of walking, rock climbing, looking at the rainbow trout in the lake, skating, and communing with each other. It was amazing being there with my family again and also being there with Cap, Kinder and First.

• On his actual birthday, my dad came over for his first visit to our place. Cap picked him up at the train station and then drove him up to the Uni to show him around up there. The kids played with him indoors and out. We had Red soup (purée of beets, carrots, chicken stock and miso), sautéed cabbage, hummus and a little birthday cake---featherlight yellow cake (from one of Bette Hagman's GF books) with powdered sugar and lingonberry preserves on top. The kids and I are really into lingonberry these days. We ended our visit with some time out in the backyard shooting hoops. A beautiful spring afternoon.

• Saw Mean Girls on tv the other day. I was pleasantly surprised by Lindsay Lohan's screen presence.

• We lost the gift of HBO for one day, but it has returned. I'm still keeping in mind that it could go away again at any time. I'm enjoying Real Time with Bill Maher these days. And am planning on catching the final episodes of The Sopranos and the new episodes of Entourage.

• Ashley Judd was luminous in Come Early Morning.

• I was psyched for the return of The Shield last night.

• I just love Hugh Laurie in House.

• Was a little blue, a lot tired, and quite "shut" last week. When I got my period on Sunday, I thought, "oh PMS". I'm giving up on ever having it be second nature to know PMS when I see it.

• I think I'm about to abandon Middlesex for the second time.

• Our get togethers with Anna, Lukas and Silke are becoming regular on Tuesday afternoons. Nice.

• Egypt Day is Thursday. The kids will make a posterboard about Egyptian currency. I'm making an Egyptian Foul (bean dip). We'll see if the kids help in the making of it. I was in the new Whole Foods yesterday picking up some ingredients. I hadn't been there in awhile, but had other errands at Staples and The Rag Shop right next door. It is really a nice store and experience, huge as it is.

• I posted to the Watercooler for the first time yesterday asking for recs for a notary public. I got many nice responses and found out the library has some notaries on staff and that the bank should notarize, even if it isn't official bank business.

• We're seeing Lucia and Holly today. Haven't seem them in ages. No picnic as hoped it's going to be rainy and in the thirties!

• We're picking up an African drum for Kinder today. We're getting a good deal through his drumming teacher.

• I researched and bought two subscriptions for the Symphony for the 2007-2008 season. They are incredibly reasonable. ($8 per ticket for the family series and $11 per ticket for the Sat night series for me and Cap) The best part though, was doing something which will expand our experience where we are and knowing we'll be here to do it even though it's "next" year. I also thought of my grandfather who loved classical music.

• I need to do our taxes! The first time in ages that I'll be handling taxes since Cap handed over our finances to me last spring.

• Cap did not get the Japan Foundation grant. He is still hoping to get to Japan for a couple of weeks this summer to do some research so he can publish pieces of his dissertation supplemented with new data. Our credit card foundaton will fund his travels.

• This means a summer here lies in wait for us and I can begin imagining.... Danielle and I talked yesterday of weekly outings to their lake place where they have a membership. (I think a dreaded bathing suit buying excursion may be in my future.)

• We will be at Karen and Brent's this weekend. Turns out Karen and I have been in Easter baskets overdrive, independent of each other (me in The Rag Shop yesterday: "ooh, First can eat these bright yellow rabbit "peeps"!). Like two peas in a pod...

We'll be spending Saturday afternoon with Mummu who is still in limbo in terms of her heart surgery. At this point it is the surgeon's office which is lagging in their scheduling. The new health insurance is on track and she has an appointment with a potential new PCP. But on Saturday, we'll enjoy Seafood Sam's and other springly delights.

We'll also see Jake and Evie and some other folks at a small Easter brunch on Sunday. It'll be good to see them and the house. Hopefully, we'll squeeze Jamie in there, too, if the timing works out.

• Ebs and Victor are due to have their baby later this month, Edith and Stephen had their baby, James, on the last day of February, Ellen and Jen are due to have twins in a couple of months, Ben just got his first post-Ph.D. job at SUNY New Paltz (we found out the morning we left for our day trip there) and Anna is suddenly in the position of traveling to and from interviews after waiting so long (bless her heart which has needed to be so strong this winter).

• I am looking forward to some solo travel again. I'll be in Oakland and Sacramento in a couple of weeks.