trains and frogs

 I took myself on a little trip at the end of February! I rode the train to Chicago and hung out in the executive lounge for a few hours (omelettes were not on the menu), and gave a presentation NBD, and then rode another train to Champaign where Eva picked me up.

Loading up in East Lansing

Found my spot in business class woo woo! Yes I taped my mask to my face. No it did not stick well.

Heading out of town

The cushy work setup - wifi, outlet, footrest, two seats to myself...

Heading into the station in Chicago

Classic public works architecture

Reminds me of DC a little!

What a lamppost!

Waiting to board the next train

Finally! Walking down the platform

Double decker!

Hi guy!

The train had some problems, then we backed out of the station, then it had more problems. The conductor hung out at our end of the train while it all got sorted. Nice observation deck!

The windows tell you just what to do

This fat lady lives in Eva's lab, instead of in the frog room. 

And it turns out these are all the pictures I took - we were chillaxing too hard for a photoshoot! Next time - and maybe next time a deserving child can accompany me...

and here we are again!

We just slid right into April there huh? I know there's a lot to share: a trip to Champaign, a birthday, exciting professional developments, Ben's expanding vocabulary, a weekend in Traverse City - but let's start here, shall we?

Squigz, we discovered, make excellent darts. Points are assigned based on circle of the target and squig shape. Your turn lasts until 5 stick. I am very good at this game.

Then someone tried out the sliding doors as a target. (Not me, I wasn't home.)

Very gentle! Nothing broken! Game on!

two videos

Hitting things with sticks - the best thing ever? What if the sticks used to have fried food on them, what then? (I realized last night that this summer we might go to our first county fair!)

Last night Ben finished dinner first, and he had to make the rounds before he would follow Eric to the den. He started with Edie and me before we realized he meant to be thorough! I've been working hard to convince him that expanding his speaking vocabulary is worth it - he's with me on 'cheese' so far.

 

flebluberry

We're loaded with big and small tangrams blocks now and designs have been pouring out of the boys!

DnD is fun and all but Edie likes to color while everyone else takes their turn. Sometimes I doodle - and then Edie demands it as an object to color.

Fun with stactic elastricity! Yes the tent was set up in the sitting room. For many many days,

Ben got out in the snow! It's a love-hate thing for now - the terrain is a little too difficult.

Freezing cold metal? How delightful!

As Edie makes me watch her climb down, Oscar is headed to the swingset with an armload of snow while John tries to launch himself into space.

Impressive snow cake! And look at my neighbor's windows - almost buried!

Sometimes everyone lets me read to them before bedtime. While I read these two puzzleheads get busy! I've been reading D'Aulaire's Greek Myths and they are so good and so strange. Of course Pegasus jumps out of Medusa's neck! Of course the nymphs at the end of the world give the hero some magical sandals just because he asked! Of course Zeus gets to marry many human women and laugh at Hera's jealousy - but Hera's single lover gets ruthlessly slaughtered! Of course marrying a princess is the ultimate prize! Since I've pointed out one or two leaps in storytelling logic I am proud to say the boys have caught on to the fun and criticize with gusto.

Sometimes everyone relaxes with their own activities.

Two chillens in a tub- oops I mean merfolk

The paw is alluring but it is a trap. Do Not Pet.

The older gentlemen are out to a concert by Sō drumming this afternoon. A public outing! And rainbows are coming in through the window crystals again which means winter really won't last forever. Promise.

are we there yet

I shrank my nice hat. But it's a perfect size for Ben!

cats can make anywhere look cozy

John is not color blind

neither is Edie or Oscar

sorting battleship pegs! Even these stayed out of his mouth!

detente achieved

those fingers are thinking hard

success!

Ben's view of the world

Ben has figured out a lot of stuff! Doors should be shut, at all times, and he is committed to maintaining that order even if your hand or body might be in the way. (Not his hand, though, he only did that once.) All water is for drinking - as say his siblings, puddle-drinkers as they are. And categorizing and organizing are his constant tasks.

A new approach to the play sink

Sorting v.1. So many decisions to make! Can't tell yet if he's a lumper or splitter.

Sorting v.2. Just look at him go!

He devotes his whole attention to his work, but I could not tell you exactly what that work is. I do appreciate that he just gets down to business on his own!

 

sledding!

Yesterday we went on a neighborhood walk with everyone taking turns pulling Ben on his sled. And when we got home the big kids did some sledding down our driveway! It is still snowing but now Edie has a fever and it's probably covid, so we'll see how much more sledding happens. But I do have some videos from our previous adventures to share.

First, though, a well-loved poem:Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, by Wallace Stevens.

I

Among twenty snowy mountains,   

The only moving thing   

Was the eye of the blackbird.   

II

I was of three minds,   

Like a tree   

In which there are three blackbirds.   

III

The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.   

It was a small part of the pantomime.   

IV

A man and a woman   

Are one.   

A man and a woman and a blackbird   

Are one.   

V

I do not know which to prefer,   

The beauty of inflections   

Or the beauty of innuendoes,   

The blackbird whistling   

Or just after.   

VI

Icicles filled the long window   

With barbaric glass.   

The shadow of the blackbird   

Crossed it, to and fro.   

The mood   

Traced in the shadow   

An indecipherable cause.   

VII

O thin men of Haddam,   

Why do you imagine golden birds?   

Do you not see how the blackbird   

Walks around the feet   

Of the women about you?   

VIII

I know noble accents   

And lucid, inescapable rhythms;   

But I know, too,   

That the blackbird is involved   

In what I know.   

IX

When the blackbird flew out of sight,   

It marked the edge   

Of one of many circles.   

X

At the sight of blackbirds   

Flying in a green light,   

Even the bawds of euphony   

Would cry out sharply.   

XI

He rode over Connecticut   

In a glass coach.   

Once, a fear pierced him,   

In that he mistook   

The shadow of his equipage   

For blackbirds.   

XII

The river is moving.   

The blackbird must be flying.   

XIII

It was evening all afternoon.   

It was snowing   

And it was going to snow.   

The blackbird sat   

In the cedar-limbs.

snow and more

The past few weeks - well, they have passed. Eric and I submitted our grant applications on time and all schooling has started again. And we even did a few fun things!

Friends!

Edie and I tested out a new sledding hill, it was the best. Empty. Milk run.

Weaving Step one: sort your loops

This poor dude trapped himself in his dad's underpants when I wasn't looking

Verbascum thapsus is blooming, Verbascum blattaria doesn't seem interested. These are the plants that germinated from 142-year-old seeds! They don't seem to care!

Success!

Of course, it's Baby's new blanket!

MOARRRR

And then, while Ben was napping, Snowy the elf rogue princess was rescued from the goblins by Forest Killer the tiefling ranger and Moon Brook the elf druid. They joined forces with the red dragon-born warrior Bizzrigg who they met at the inn...now the intrepid band is deep in a cavern below a mausoleum, hunting down the necromancer who's been terrorizing the town. Roll on!

More sledding at the teeny hill at the school. Eric and Oscar took turns dragging Ben around. That boy is born to be a polar explorer!

Guilty, guilty, guilty.

NBD, just a little tea party. Turns out the brown in the teapot wasn't a stain, just some old dirt. I learned this once all the 'tea' had been drunk. At least it's clean now!

Oscar watched a movie about a robot and this prompted him to speak only in code the rest of the evening. He used complete if...then clauses, remembered closing parentheses, assigned appropriate variable names - it was a tour de force. Fortunately it seems to have lasted just the one night. This bit of code says (if.penis=hare,mess);

Hare meaning hair, naturally.

Friends!

John's playdough panda

Even Ben figured out the deal! He tasted one piece and that was enough. Edie still was sneaking crumbs here and there.

Good health to you all!