space travel

Samuel- "Maybe I will be the first person to land on Mars. How old do you have to be to be an astronaut?"

Hmmm. Let's check that out. It says on wiki answers that you need to have a bachelors degree in engineering, science or mathematics. So, whenever that happens for you, you can then apply to be an astronaut.

Samuel- "So if you really like math! you can be an astronaut and they will let you go into space and put you in charge of an experiment! Cool."

Now he is off telling Eva all about what it is like to be in space. Fun! We are reading The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet and there is much to learn about space travel in that book to be sure!

No photo today. We went bowling and I took my knitting, not my camera. You can imagine, though, four kids, two other moms and me, working out how to fit all of that bowling in. They put bumpers in the aisles for the kids and Eva used this contraption I had never seen before that you put in front of the lane and then you roll the ball down it into the lane. It sort of works. What it really accomplishes is keeping the kids from haphazardly tossing the ball into the next aisle. If you set it down on the contraption, there is no tossing. And Eva could hold her snowy owl and bowl at the same time. And that turned out to be very satisfying indeed.

paper airplanes

Samuel said they are very satisfying. Just the thing for this evening!

Train play. I love how Samuel hums and sings back up music to his game.

I recently read Why is God Laughing by Deepak Chopra and in it there was a joke about kids that I had heard before and I have been thinking about it. Here is an approximation-

A family walks into a restaurant- a mom, a dad, a little girl. The waiter comes to take their order. The mother orders, the father orders and the waiter turns to the little girl. The little girl says she would like a grilled cheese and an orange juice. One parent jumps in and says, "No, you will have chicken Parmesan with a side salad and a glass of milk." The waiter stops writing the order and walks away from the table and over to the kitchen where he tells the cook, "I need a grilled cheese and an orange juice please." The little girl beams and says, "He thinks I am real!"

Earlier today I was taking the compost and pumpkins from Halloween out to the compost pile. I was struck by how glorious everything is. Our yard is covered in a thick bed of yellow maple leaves. There are three smaller trees with crimson leaves and the giant pin oak with his deep red leaves. As I stood in the leaves, the wind blew more leaves onto the ground and I could watch them falling through the air. When I looked up, I saw that the sky to the north was a deep shade of midnight blue and the red leaves against this were striking. And then wonder of wonders, I saw a rainbow- very faint, just over the nearest crimson tree.

I stood still on the leaves for a few moments to take in the beauty around me, to see it for how it was at that moment, appreciating this time of year and all that comes with it. I love its stillness, the changes it brings, the contrast.



You can't make out the rainbow here as it was very faint. To the south there is sunshine and some clouds. Within minutes of taking out the compost, the sky changed and then..downpour! It is raining steady now after about a 1/2 hour downpour.

You never know who will come out in such weather. There are several squirrels who frequent our yard for the tasty selection of birdseed and cracked corn we have spread about. One fellow in particular is a little ruffian with a ragged almost bare tail and scruffy patches on his (or her) body. Little Ruffian Squirrel ventured into the patio for a little shelter and a snack during the downpour.

And then right in the middle of it all, this hawk landed on our fence. I wonder if he is one of the juveniles from this summer.

Eva made this little Lego girl with red barrettes and fancy feet. She drew in the smile with a permanent market which I think is so sweet. Years from now someone else will build with this little smile Lego. We have others that say Love and Momma and Gift and some with little eyes. Little Lego Girl is standing on some Maple and Gingko leaves we found at the Arboretum. Check out those purple berries Eva also found. The lichen and moss covered stick is back outside so they can keep growing and everything else went on the nature table. What didn't make it in the photo?- the brownies Eva and I made this evening. Mmm chocolate. I need to make dinner now!

books

books-
Let's see, I am reading a book called From Here to Here by Gary Crowley. I did a little reading (just a little) about Superstring theory today and a little about panpsychism over on Christian de Quincey's site. The kids and I went for a walk in the woods at the Arboretum and came back and read Born with a Bang (story of how the universe started, told from the perspective of the universe), Three Little Javelinas (Southwestern Three Little Pigs) and Snap (foodchain tale).

I just finished up Ship Made of Paper, an unlikely book choice for me usually but it turned out to be quite a bit about race and was interesting in light of the recent election, which while not about race for me per se, seemed to be quite a bit about race for others, in many different ways. I also recently read In Defense of Food by Michael Pollen, which I admit to speedreading quite a bit of and which I am happy to say does not seem to diminish my comprehension in any way shape or form. Still, it gets a book read right quick.

I am also reading Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman. Samuel thoroughly enjoyed Weslandia and we also read Odd Boy Out about Young Albert Einstein (do you detect a pattern here?). I have A Long Way Gone- Memoirs of a Boy Soldier and Shadow of the Wind on my shelf currently and feel so excited about reading some fiction after a long break. The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (it won the Pulitzer) got me started again and is just an amazing book. I had to return it before I had a chance to finish it and am filling up the space and time until it is my turn again. Thinking of checking out Calvino again, who I tried to read way way back in college but got sidetracked from, what with all of the Tolstoy and Gogol going on during that time...

winterish veggies

So today I was really missing summer eggplant. We get a produce basket every week for the whole year from Pumpkin Ridge Gardens and I love it. The vegetables are incredibly fresh, delivered to my door and really keep my veggie consumption very very local. The farm is really just about a 20 minute drive from my house. Today, however, I was feeling a little sad about the vegetable transition that has been happening slowly over the last couple of weeks. Actually, the vegetables seem to be transitioning always, but you kind of get into a groove at certain points and can, for instance, expect an eggplant pretty much every week or tomatoes every week at the height of the summer season. This weeks basket feels a little more um fall-winterish and doesn't even have my favorite greens like kale or kale or even kale. Today's basket has fennel, romanesco, celeriac, potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, onions and a few bell peppers (yellow, red and green). It seems a stark contrast to see all of those whitish vegetables (minus the peppers) while the trees are sparkling so splendidly. I never know what to do with fennel and I think last year I just took it eventually to the compost pile. I have a ton of fennel growing in my own garden that the last person who lived here planted and which grows so well and expands each year. The bees love it! So I might try the fennel this time if I am feeling inspired. We will definitely be having cheesy romanesco/broccoli soup and probably creamy celery root (celeriac) and barley soup or maybe potato leek soup (leeks from last week). I guess I can jazz it up a bit with some squash and carrot muffins. I bought several squash and 5 lbs of carrots at the farm we went to for our pumpkin this year and have already made roasted squash soup. Still, nothing jumps out at me quite the way an eggplant in the heart of summer does. I look forward to some kale next week. Or maybe I will pick some up at the market this week, along with some salad greens because Eva has been asking for salad and there has been a dearth of salad greens in the produce baskets over the last couple of weeks and we just haven't made it to the farmers market in ages it seems.

Seeing all of that cabbage, too, just makes me sigh. I juiced a bunch recently with some carrots and cherry tomatoes languishing in the produce drawer and it was divine. Really wonderful. Last year I made a bunch of egg rolls week after week but Eva and I got to the point where we couldn't look at another egg roll. Still, there must be something fun to do with all of this cabbage.



Eva yesterday at OMSI. She has a new owl and some rock candy. Earlier in the day, Eva had been asking for rock candy and wanted me to take her to this candy store we know of in downtown Hillsboro that sells rock candy. I told her I wasn't up for that but that if we saw rock candy somewhere else, I would buy some for her. And so we did - inside the gift shop at OMSI, there was a whole display wall of rock candy. She picked purple. Her face is still slightly blue from another costume she dressed up in after Halloween.

Oh, and then today we saw a raccoon out in our back yard, just kind of walking along like they do. I thought it was curious he was out in the daylight. We do have the compost pile, although this one is covered (I'm pretty sure he could get the cover open, though), and I am sure the copious amounts of corn and bird seed for the birds and squirrels is interesting as well. Let me say also that if Jack has a no squirrel policy for the yard, he definitely has a no raccoon policy for the yard. He was most upset that I wouldn't let him outside while the raccoon was there.