Windblown

Snow Day

nobody@vox.com(Carole) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:57:11 -0800

Had a snow day today.

Had some neighbor kids & their mom over to sled; our front yard is a great sledding hill.

2-1-08 Snow Day 2

Precious Princess had enough of trudging up the hill and decided to try swinging on the backyard playpark.

2-1-08 Snow Day 1

Three little monkeys in the snow:

Eldest Son,

Littlest Brother,

Precious Princess.

Happy Winter, everybody!

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It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christ-mas!

nobody@vox.com(Carole) — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 16:53:20 -0700

I'm dreaming... of a whi-i-ite Easter -- !

Just like the ones I used to loathe!

Ahhh, Michigan weather! Toldya we weren't through with winter yet.

Mind you, it was 70 degrees (F) on Tuesday; we were in shorts and short-sleeve shirts, we're just so desperate for winter to be over. We grab at any inkling of sunlight and warmth. 70 degrees may not sound very warm to those of you in Florida or Arizona, but believe me, around here that's SUMMER weather! So that was Tuesday. Tuesday night a cold front blew in and the temp dropped about 35 degrees overnight. It's been hovering just above freezing all week. Last night it started to snow.

Here's the view from my front porch this morning:

1 4-7-07 Making Tracks

2 4-7-07 Birds of Spring

3 4-7-07 Spring Shrubs

Our church had a pre-Easter party for the kids today -- stories, crafts, and finally, a candy hunt outside on the lawn.

(The candy hunt is divided into two age ranges, so the littler kids have a chance. I stayed with Precious Princess and Littlest Brother in the Age 2 - 4 zone; Dear Husband went with Eldest Son to the Age 5 - 7 area. I couldn't be in two places at once so I only got Eldest Son's picture when it was all over.)

This next picture pretty much says it all:

5 4-7-07 Candy Hunt

Don't you just want to move here?

You think we'd be used to it, but by Friday everyone I saw was walking around with these variably dazed or hostile expressions, shaking their fists at the sky. It's almost worse when you get a teaser like Tuesday, sunny and 70 degrees. You're SO READY for that to be reality, and then the grim truth comes rushing back.

Hmpf.

Well, there's always chocolate!

Easter candy, anyone?

(Have a blessed Easter!)

;-)

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"Stuff's Gettin' Better..."

nobody@vox.com(Carole) — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 11:58:19 -0700

Okay, so maybe we do have spring around here.

Not that we aren't in for a little more winter; I know my Michigan weather.

But today it's all about PRETENDING it could be spring...

It's sunny! The temperature is above 60!

There are BIRDS!

SINGING!!!

Not that we aren't going to get mega-snow-dumpage this weekend, and it's going to be gloomy and cloudy again starting tomorrow...

But hey, gotta take what you can get, right?

*****

PS, today's title is a quote from what is possibly one of the worst book-to-movie transitions EVER, "The Postman".

Kevin Costner utterly ruined what had been a nice little book by one of my favorite science fiction authors, David Brin. Kevin unfortunately just proved with "Waterworld" and this little gem, "The Postman" or as my family fondly refers to it, "Dirtworld," that he cannot direct himself. He's a wonderful actor when somebody else is directing him (see: "Field of Dreams") and for all I know, may be a wonderful director in any movie in which he is not ALSO the star (can't think of an example, but maybe there's one out there).

*****

But I digress. Today's all about sunshine, right???

Let's see, let's see, what was a GOOD book-to-movie transition?

Well, obviously, the whole LOTR thing. CLEARLY, a work of genius.

And then of course, "Jurassic Park" (the original). But then, Michael Crichton at his best writes with an eye toward making a good movie out of it later. Handy talent, that.

Sunshine, sunshine, what else?

Eldest Son's Parent/Teacher Conference last week went great.

The things that were making us all a bit nervous last fall have more or less smoothed themselves out. His teacher is probably a saint, by the way, and I mean that in close to the original sense, someone who is touched by God with the ability to work miracles in daily life. Those old saints, they were not doormats. I'm willing to bet they were some pretty tough cookies. And his teacher's no softy either. But that's okay, that's what he needs. He's an extremely strong-willed child, always pushing, always testing. He'd run roughshod over somebody who wasn't tough as nails, in the best possible way.

He loves her, he loves school, he's acclimating to the routines and expectations there, yay. Now we just have to worry about next year, when he goes to first grade all day... No, wait, sunshine, sunshine!!! No worries.

We are very thankful to live in this great school system, not that this occurred by chance. We moved here on purpose when he was two, because of the great school system.

But I wrote a letter last spring, before Kindergarten Round-up, wherein I explained Eldest Son's unique combination of challenges and talents, and the traits I thought should be present in a teacher who would be a "good fit" for him. I wasn't sure if they'd pay any attention or just roll their eyes and go, "Yeah, right, EVERY mom thinks her kid's a genius!"

But, apparently they did pay attention, b/c his teacher is everything I asked for in my letter. He definitely gave her a run for her money, the first couple months. But she's a saint, like I said.

And Stuff's Gettin' Better. Yay.

The only challenge now is, since we have this central kindergarten school, he'll go to a different school next year for first grade. Different principal, a new principal that his kindergarten teacher doesn't know. His KG teacher doesn't have a lot of say in who he should be assigned to next year.

So, I'll be reprising my Kindergarten Round-up letter for the new school and the new principal. Hopefully his new principal will do as good a job in matching him up with the right teacher for next fall.

Let's see, more sunshine.....

My totally awesome cousin's totally awesome little boy, who's also in kindergarten this year, does NOT have autism! Yay!

Go here to read their story, in her own words.

Sunshine at last!!!

Ahhhhh.....

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I Am NOT The Queen of Darkness

nobody@vox.com(Carole) — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 20:47:43 -0800

It just seems that way.

I've come to the conclusion that I have SAD -- Seasonal Affective Disorder. It seems to be getting worse as I get older. When I was in college I neither noticed nor cared about going off Daylight Savings Time, or the number of sunless days in a row Michigan gets, or how long the snow lasts around here (well into April).

Every year since then it's gotten a little worse for me.

Along about February or March I just find myself completely bonkers and utterly unlovable. Everything's bad, and it's never going to get better. My children are annoying, my humor tends toward the bitter (to the extent it's detectable at all), and everybody else is an idiot.

In Michigan, we don't have spring. At least not as it's been described for me by people who grew up in other parts of the country. We have solid winter through the end of March. (Although, in one memorable year while I was in high school, we had one FREAK day of 80 degrees (Fahrenheit) in March -- we all went out onto the frozen lake in our shorts and T-shirts, and got sunburned -- the ice-fishing shacks off in the distance) (and no, I'm not kidding). We often have snowstorms well into April, though it usually doesn't stick on the ground then. In April, winter and summer fight a pitched battle; there is no in-between weather of what other people call "spring." It's either 70 degrees and sunny, or 30 degrees and sleeting. That's April.

Along about May, when it's clear that summer is going to win the war and winter, to go lick its wounds for five or six months, things start looking up for me.

When I win the lottery? -- I'm going to go to Florida, or maybe Arizona, and stay there for the entire MONTH of February. On second thought, March too.

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QotD: Recess!

nobody@vox.com(Carole) — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 20:04:43 -0800

What was your favorite game to play at recess in grade school?
Submitted by Elisheva Chana.

How bad does it burn?

I wouldn't say this was a favorite. But one of my most memorable recess activities -- here in Michigan, where winter can begin before Halloween, and lasts well into April -- was "See how long you can hold your bare hand on this frozen puddle." Last one to pick their hand up from the ice wins.

Thank God for pain. Negative reinforcement = adaptive trait.

I don't THINK anyone had any seriously damaging frostbite from this activity. At least, I still have all my fingers.

But I still remember seeing the image of my handprint, melted into the ice. And all my little friends, huddled around, admiring.

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