Driving Frost to Eve's for a playdate, we noticed a cement mixer down the street from us offloading. One of our neighbors was at it landscaping, again.
"What is they doing with it?" Wren asked.
"Remodeling the garden, no doubt." I opined.
"What is no doubt?" wondered Wren. "Is no doubt in the garden?"
"No, I meant... I am sure they are remodeling the garden."
"Oh. Its remodeling." he nodded.
"No.. I meant, I-AM-SURE that they are remodeling. No doubt is how I feel."
"Whaatt? So, they have a feeling in the garden?"
"Um. No doubt means that you are sure about something. Like, I am sure they are remodeling the garden."
"Ooooh. You are sure."
Yesterday, Wren hit a new stage. He is suddenly happy (even though he had a fever). He is bristling with ideas. He wants to do things and write letters all the time. He wants to WRITE MY NAME [although it looks like hieroglyphics except for the W which looks like M.
Wren is obsessed with mazes and drawing. He traces paths through mazes with intense concentration. He draws the same motif (a monster in flight with big wings) again and again calling it different names and making up different scenarios. Sometimes it is a zombie, sometimes a dragon, sometimes A Bad Guy.
Right now I ask him what he is doing.
"I am having a battle with guys."
"What kind of guys?"
"Wild cats and creatures and stuff" he answers then falls back into quiet concentration in his room.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Breaking the rules
Last night, as I came out of my pilates class with over-extended achilles tendons, I noticed a silver Volvo waiting at the traffic light. A dad was driving. He had two kids in the back seats and a tiny child in the front seat. I couldn't even see its face, just the tuft of its hair as it wriggled around. I found this oddly comforting. Okay, sure, it was a heinous breach of US notions of safety but it was also a rare glimpse into the reality of family life. We all fuck up. We all break the rules.
We recently had a family meeting. Now, in case this makes you feel defensive and compelled to sit your kids down to meet to keep up with us (hah!), relax. This is our first Family Meeting in about 7 years. Frost, Wren and I sat at the table in the kitchen and Joshua stood by a large whiteboard he had propped up across two chairs.
"What are our family values?" asked Joshua who, I suspect, was recently subject to strategic planning at work.
"What makes you happy and is important to our family?" I paraphrased.
At this point, Frost mysteriously fell off his chair. This happens to him from time to time, we are not sure how or why. I blame it on inattention and goofing but it is alternatively tragic and funny. This time it was just weird. After he picked himself up and sat down again Frost said "I don't want Mum to yell at me and nag me and shout at me."
Joshua and I parsed this into the value of "Family Harmony."
"We must also do the LOVE thing," said Wren. "Like, I LOVE to play D&D and I LOVE YOU."
Joshua added "and Love" to the first value.
"And I don't want you to pick me up on your shoulders," said Wren.
We defined that as to value of "Safety". Discussion continued for a while until we had the following values:
Harmony and Love
Fun
Order (clean and tidy)
Safety
Health and Fitness
Friendliness (with others)
Financial Security (This is important to me because with global warming and the ensuing climate driven chaos our children will need cash to buy GOLD and GUNS to survive in the wilderness.)
Home Improvement (Josh added this... perhaps it should be Secure Home or something like that since improvement in itself is not a goal).
At this point Frost stood up and absently wandered from the room.
"Where are you going, Frost?"
"Oh, I don't know..." he said.
"Well, come back and participate!" I ordered [perhaps this was yelling].
He sighed and slouched down but did not actually fall over.
As a result of lots more implementation of our goals I have somehow agreed to have 24 family movie nights in a year, read 6 chapters of a Pema Chodron book on "Working with Anger", Have FUN games, paint a dwarf Warhammer battalion and lose 15 lbs.
Isn't family goal setting great!
Anyway, however lofty our aspirations we probably all yell at times and sometimes sneak children places without proper restraint (but don't put them in the back of trucks like they do in South Africa) and try and eat Vegan at MacDonalds (oh, my, I actually felt guilty throwing away the MacDonalds cup while shopping at Whole Foods, I tried to crush it to obscure the logo).
Now, I have to run or I shall feel guilty about being late for Wren at preschool.
Quickly though:
Yesterday I was about to sneeze from the sun. I get Sun Sneezes. I said "I am going to sneeze!" and Wren immediately grimaced, turned away and covered his face.
"What are you doing?" I asked when the sneeze subsided.
"I don't want to hear and smell your sneeze" he explained.
Another funny Wrenism yesterday was with the large jawbreaker Wren has been sucking since a movie on Sunday night. It is actually ALEX's jawbreaker, but he left it at our house and Wren took it, thinking it was Frosts. Now we have harmony because Wren has been sucking Alex's for a day and Frost has his own.
However, Wren does not call these jawbreakers. He calls them FACEbreakers.
"Where is my facebreaker?" he asks, hunting for the goopy remains of this size of a golf ball.
We recently had a family meeting. Now, in case this makes you feel defensive and compelled to sit your kids down to meet to keep up with us (hah!), relax. This is our first Family Meeting in about 7 years. Frost, Wren and I sat at the table in the kitchen and Joshua stood by a large whiteboard he had propped up across two chairs.
"What are our family values?" asked Joshua who, I suspect, was recently subject to strategic planning at work.
"What makes you happy and is important to our family?" I paraphrased.
At this point, Frost mysteriously fell off his chair. This happens to him from time to time, we are not sure how or why. I blame it on inattention and goofing but it is alternatively tragic and funny. This time it was just weird. After he picked himself up and sat down again Frost said "I don't want Mum to yell at me and nag me and shout at me."
Joshua and I parsed this into the value of "Family Harmony."
"We must also do the LOVE thing," said Wren. "Like, I LOVE to play D&D and I LOVE YOU."
Joshua added "and Love" to the first value.
"And I don't want you to pick me up on your shoulders," said Wren.
We defined that as to value of "Safety". Discussion continued for a while until we had the following values:
Harmony and Love
Fun
Order (clean and tidy)
Safety
Health and Fitness
Friendliness (with others)
Financial Security (This is important to me because with global warming and the ensuing climate driven chaos our children will need cash to buy GOLD and GUNS to survive in the wilderness.)
Home Improvement (Josh added this... perhaps it should be Secure Home or something like that since improvement in itself is not a goal).
At this point Frost stood up and absently wandered from the room.
"Where are you going, Frost?"
"Oh, I don't know..." he said.
"Well, come back and participate!" I ordered [perhaps this was yelling].
He sighed and slouched down but did not actually fall over.
As a result of lots more implementation of our goals I have somehow agreed to have 24 family movie nights in a year, read 6 chapters of a Pema Chodron book on "Working with Anger", Have FUN games, paint a dwarf Warhammer battalion and lose 15 lbs.
Isn't family goal setting great!
Anyway, however lofty our aspirations we probably all yell at times and sometimes sneak children places without proper restraint (but don't put them in the back of trucks like they do in South Africa) and try and eat Vegan at MacDonalds (oh, my, I actually felt guilty throwing away the MacDonalds cup while shopping at Whole Foods, I tried to crush it to obscure the logo).
Now, I have to run or I shall feel guilty about being late for Wren at preschool.
Quickly though:
Yesterday I was about to sneeze from the sun. I get Sun Sneezes. I said "I am going to sneeze!" and Wren immediately grimaced, turned away and covered his face.
"What are you doing?" I asked when the sneeze subsided.
"I don't want to hear and smell your sneeze" he explained.
Another funny Wrenism yesterday was with the large jawbreaker Wren has been sucking since a movie on Sunday night. It is actually ALEX's jawbreaker, but he left it at our house and Wren took it, thinking it was Frosts. Now we have harmony because Wren has been sucking Alex's for a day and Frost has his own.
However, Wren does not call these jawbreakers. He calls them FACEbreakers.
"Where is my facebreaker?" he asks, hunting for the goopy remains of this size of a golf ball.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Wren in the car
I drove Frost to school on Friday. On the drive in the car Wren and I had a 'conversation.' Remember, I am driving and for the most part this requires that one is facing forward. Wren does not appreciate this point but I hope you can.
Wren: Can I rip this?
Me: I am driving. I can't see what it is. What do you want to rip?
Wren: THIS
Me: Tell me what it is so I can ... Frost, what does Wren want to rip.
[silence. Frost is reading Signspotting and cannot hear me.]
Me: FROST!!!
Frost: WHAT!???
Me: What does Wren want to rip?
Frost: The coupon book.
Me: No, you can't rip the Chinook Book or it will be ruined.
Wren: But I REALLY want to rip it. This picture is a man jumping OUT.
Me: I can't see the picture [I glance around] .. oh... the cover. No, please don't rip that off. Its the new Chinook book.
Wren: I WANT TO RIP IT.
Me: Why don't you rip something else?
Wren: What can I rip?
Me: [making one of those dangerous swoops to retrieve something from the floor while driving] Here, rip this. [I give Wren Frost's homework information which shows Six Strategies of Skilled Writers.]
Wren: NO! [crying] That is not good. I want to RIP THIS!
[I am now about a second away from promising cookies if he stops wailing]
Me: Why do you want to rip?
Wren: I want to get it out.
Me: What do you need to do ripping?
Wren: Scissors!
Me: Well, when we get home I will give you scissors.
Wren: SCISSORS!
And this was only 5 minutes. Seriously, Wren is very opinionated at the moment.
Wren: Can I rip this?
Me: I am driving. I can't see what it is. What do you want to rip?
Wren: THIS
Me: Tell me what it is so I can ... Frost, what does Wren want to rip.
[silence. Frost is reading Signspotting and cannot hear me.]
Me: FROST!!!
Frost: WHAT!???
Me: What does Wren want to rip?
Frost: The coupon book.
Me: No, you can't rip the Chinook Book or it will be ruined.
Wren: But I REALLY want to rip it. This picture is a man jumping OUT.
Me: I can't see the picture [I glance around] .. oh... the cover. No, please don't rip that off. Its the new Chinook book.
Wren: I WANT TO RIP IT.
Me: Why don't you rip something else?
Wren: What can I rip?
Me: [making one of those dangerous swoops to retrieve something from the floor while driving] Here, rip this. [I give Wren Frost's homework information which shows Six Strategies of Skilled Writers.]
Wren: NO! [crying] That is not good. I want to RIP THIS!
[I am now about a second away from promising cookies if he stops wailing]
Me: Why do you want to rip?
Wren: I want to get it out.
Me: What do you need to do ripping?
Wren: Scissors!
Me: Well, when we get home I will give you scissors.
Wren: SCISSORS!
And this was only 5 minutes. Seriously, Wren is very opinionated at the moment.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Fierce beasts to protect us
One of the interesting things about South Africa is that people see dogs as home protectors. In addition to the high walls and electric fence, a few dogs patrol each garden. The small ornamental breeds of dog are not as common there. Instead you have Rottweilers, Rhodesian ridge-backs and lots and lots of German Shepherds (crossed with sharks) to produce fearsome looking predators.
Today, Wren and I went down to the U-district to find a home protector of a different kind - a gargoyle! Its Halloween season (although not quite decorating time) and the kids are getting interested in all things spooky. Since the D&D phase, Wren has been very interested in gargoyles so he was intrigued when I told him there was a shop that sold them.
Josh said "Yes, and then you can have baklava at The Continental. You must do it."
A plan was made.
The gargoyle shop is called Gargoyles and is very dark and cluttered with statuary. The floor is dirty - in the sense that there appears to be dirt upon it - and has leaves lying around so it feels as if you are in the garden of a creepy old house. The walls are black and in one corner a fountain gargoyle spouts water from its mouth. Most of the gargoyles are made with resin but some are made from heavy cement and suitable for outdoor use. I nearly bought an old ogre but instead took some pictures of likely home protectors (to go by our stairs on by the pathway). We bought a few tiny little pewter gargoyles for halloween. Wren loves them.
On the way home (by bicycle) we passed a home with a most splendid array of pottery 'personalities' on their parking strip. Its one of those things that one or two would be kitsch but with abundance they are splendid and original. Wren suggested we make some too. Many of them were made from a basic form of clay rolled around a tin can.
Frost did Soccer camp this evening and had his first experience of a fierce macho firm-talking Coach. "WHADDAYOU DOING LOOKING OVER THERE? LOOKADME!" and "YOU CAHN-DO THAT! GOAL TO RED!" when Frost, on the sidelines, moved as if he was going to intercept the ball.
I am not sure what Frost makes of it. It is a very different style to the inclusive, caring and parental coaching style which he has experienced to this point. I saw him rubbing his eyes at one point but he was also very focused, quick, attentive and doing very well on many drills. We shall have to watch and see where this leads.
"STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" he yells at them. "WHADDUYOUTHINK I SAID?"
We are all wondering :)
Today, Wren and I went down to the U-district to find a home protector of a different kind - a gargoyle! Its Halloween season (although not quite decorating time) and the kids are getting interested in all things spooky. Since the D&D phase, Wren has been very interested in gargoyles so he was intrigued when I told him there was a shop that sold them.
Josh said "Yes, and then you can have baklava at The Continental. You must do it."
A plan was made.
The gargoyle shop is called Gargoyles and is very dark and cluttered with statuary. The floor is dirty - in the sense that there appears to be dirt upon it - and has leaves lying around so it feels as if you are in the garden of a creepy old house. The walls are black and in one corner a fountain gargoyle spouts water from its mouth. Most of the gargoyles are made with resin but some are made from heavy cement and suitable for outdoor use. I nearly bought an old ogre but instead took some pictures of likely home protectors (to go by our stairs on by the pathway). We bought a few tiny little pewter gargoyles for halloween. Wren loves them.
 | |
| Why are you making me squint into the sun. The Sun is too hot and sunny. |
 |
| The strange little ceramic creatures living on a mossy stump in Ravenna. |
 |
| And their gargoyle kindred. |
 |
| This is the gargoyle I would like for our front wall. |
 |
| Wren outside the gargoyle shop |
 |
| More little guys on the parking strip |
Frost did Soccer camp this evening and had his first experience of a fierce macho firm-talking Coach. "WHADDAYOU DOING LOOKING OVER THERE? LOOKADME!" and "YOU CAHN-DO THAT! GOAL TO RED!" when Frost, on the sidelines, moved as if he was going to intercept the ball.
I am not sure what Frost makes of it. It is a very different style to the inclusive, caring and parental coaching style which he has experienced to this point. I saw him rubbing his eyes at one point but he was also very focused, quick, attentive and doing very well on many drills. We shall have to watch and see where this leads.
"STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" he yells at them. "WHADDUYOUTHINK I SAID?"
We are all wondering :)
Friday, September 24, 2010
High speed wobble
Its interesting how fast I deteriorate under the fast pace of modern motherhood. The vacation in South Africa was like the crest of a gentle slope. Up there, under the large leafed green trees, creaking around Dad and Ingrid's home getting all my food and laundry done for me, I was a relaxed and indolent vacationer who actually thought "what do I want to do today?"
The languor survived about 4 days at home, days in which the laundry mounded, the food was make-do and there was no school.
Fast-forward a week or two and I am now careening downhill towards an unknown destination. Every day starts with a brief moment of stillness and then I have this high speed wobble as I try and complete the innumerable THINGS TO DO that Don't Get Done By Anyone Else.
I'm not upset or anything, really. This is a not a complainy-pants blog post. Its a post to announce that the culprit is CULTURE not NATURE. I am quite able to slow down and be languid. I am not a stressed out twit by myself. The stressed-out-twitness happens at the intersection of my personality (best described as Be Responsible, Wear Underpants and Don't walk around on Old Toast) and reality (easily referred to as Drive Me to X, Feed Me Y, and Pay Z).
Yesterday, the Driving was to Frost's annual pediatrician appointment where he is growing proportionally and both he and Wren had their flu "snorts" of Flumist. Thankfully this year the "Swine Flu" vaccine is nicely packaged in the flu shot and since they had flumist last year there is really onely one flu vaccination required. Yeah!
Also, Wren went to preschool and was slightly less sad when I left him. He is not yet happy or anticipating it and asks "when is preschool done forever?"
Heather babysat last night and Josh and I went out for dinner to Volterra - a Ballard Italian restaurant which seems to be a bit obsessed with jowls. Every second meal was "boar jowl" or "bull jowl" or something else jowl. I guess animals have tasty cheeks? The vegetarian option was tasty - it was little packets of pasta (like a 3-D ravioli) stuffed with eggplant in a puttanesca-style (not anchovy) sauce with a bit of a kick. We shared a desert and it was too big for both of us!
Josh is still on the quest for a satisfying HOT COFFEE cocktail. I think he means a hot toddy or a coffee with something alcoholic in it. He had one but has not yet found nirvana.
Wren has been a bit miserable. Josh and I talked about his anxieties, which seem to be mounting. We are not sure whether he is 'nervous' about things because of his surgery causing some psychological damage or because he is a bit nervy by nature and is 3. He is very concerned about:
1) dogs
2) baths
3) being carried on shoulders and,
cried out in alarm when Joshua picked him up to put him on a little ledge (ok, on an electrical box in the park and I was sitting on it too. It wasn't the electricity (although he asked if it would go IN ME) )but the swooping pick up that alarmed him.
This morning, Frost is off to the orthodontist. My main concern is to ask the orthodontist to please glue the retainer into Frost's mouth. Or drill it onto his teeth. He chews it around in his mouth all day, rotates it, flaps it. He says its because its loose and falls down when he opens his mouth but regardless it is the most irritating thing in the whole world to talk to a child who is flipping and chomping at his retainer with this click clack noise all the time.
Okay, perhaps I should ask the OD to 'tighten it' first.
Its light. The first kid is awake. If I am going to wash my face and clean my teeth this is the last moment open to me before the speed wobble takes over!
"Are we going to have breakfast, sometime soon?" asks Frost from the couch where he lies in the pants he wore yesterday (which he plans to wear today). We are going to have to argue about it in about 6 minutes (after washing face etc etc).
The court is in session!
The languor survived about 4 days at home, days in which the laundry mounded, the food was make-do and there was no school.
Fast-forward a week or two and I am now careening downhill towards an unknown destination. Every day starts with a brief moment of stillness and then I have this high speed wobble as I try and complete the innumerable THINGS TO DO that Don't Get Done By Anyone Else.
I'm not upset or anything, really. This is a not a complainy-pants blog post. Its a post to announce that the culprit is CULTURE not NATURE. I am quite able to slow down and be languid. I am not a stressed out twit by myself. The stressed-out-twitness happens at the intersection of my personality (best described as Be Responsible, Wear Underpants and Don't walk around on Old Toast) and reality (easily referred to as Drive Me to X, Feed Me Y, and Pay Z).
Yesterday, the Driving was to Frost's annual pediatrician appointment where he is growing proportionally and both he and Wren had their flu "snorts" of Flumist. Thankfully this year the "Swine Flu" vaccine is nicely packaged in the flu shot and since they had flumist last year there is really onely one flu vaccination required. Yeah!
Also, Wren went to preschool and was slightly less sad when I left him. He is not yet happy or anticipating it and asks "when is preschool done forever?"
Heather babysat last night and Josh and I went out for dinner to Volterra - a Ballard Italian restaurant which seems to be a bit obsessed with jowls. Every second meal was "boar jowl" or "bull jowl" or something else jowl. I guess animals have tasty cheeks? The vegetarian option was tasty - it was little packets of pasta (like a 3-D ravioli) stuffed with eggplant in a puttanesca-style (not anchovy) sauce with a bit of a kick. We shared a desert and it was too big for both of us!
Josh is still on the quest for a satisfying HOT COFFEE cocktail. I think he means a hot toddy or a coffee with something alcoholic in it. He had one but has not yet found nirvana.
Wren has been a bit miserable. Josh and I talked about his anxieties, which seem to be mounting. We are not sure whether he is 'nervous' about things because of his surgery causing some psychological damage or because he is a bit nervy by nature and is 3. He is very concerned about:
1) dogs
2) baths
3) being carried on shoulders and,
cried out in alarm when Joshua picked him up to put him on a little ledge (ok, on an electrical box in the park and I was sitting on it too. It wasn't the electricity (although he asked if it would go IN ME) )but the swooping pick up that alarmed him.
This morning, Frost is off to the orthodontist. My main concern is to ask the orthodontist to please glue the retainer into Frost's mouth. Or drill it onto his teeth. He chews it around in his mouth all day, rotates it, flaps it. He says its because its loose and falls down when he opens his mouth but regardless it is the most irritating thing in the whole world to talk to a child who is flipping and chomping at his retainer with this click clack noise all the time.
Okay, perhaps I should ask the OD to 'tighten it' first.
Its light. The first kid is awake. If I am going to wash my face and clean my teeth this is the last moment open to me before the speed wobble takes over!
"Are we going to have breakfast, sometime soon?" asks Frost from the couch where he lies in the pants he wore yesterday (which he plans to wear today). We are going to have to argue about it in about 6 minutes (after washing face etc etc).
The court is in session!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Pulse-Ox Screening for All Newborns
NEWS via PdHeart:
Dear Members,
It is with great joy and excitement that I am writing to
let you know that this afternoon, the Secretary’s Advisory
Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns & Children
(ACHDNC)voted to recommend that pulse oximetry screening
for critical congenital heart disease be added to the
newborn screening uniform panel!!!
The recommendation now gets passed up to Secretary Sebelius
for review and approval. We're almost there!
AnnaMarie Saarinen just called with the news. She has
worked tirelessly to advocate for early diagnosis and
screening and has effectively spearheaded this important
effort. You can follow her blogs on http://1in100.org
Thank-you AnnaMarie for your hard work and determination.
Thanks also to Dr Gerard Martin who REALLY listened to my
impassioned pleas and worked so hard to implement model
screening programs. I tearfully and joyfully post
Annamarie's message below:
"At 2:40 eastern time today, the national committee
on newborn screening voted to YES to recommend pulse
oximetry screening for critical congenital heart disease be
added to the newborn screening uniform panel. I don't even
know what to say right now...still in shock. Was not
anticipating vote until January. Have to hug Eve and have a
major cry right now. It's due time...all babies are finally
going to be screened before discharge. Policy priority #1:
DONE!!!!!"
This is indeed a red letter day for all of us.
Our voices are being heard and yes, we CAN make a
difference!
My love to you all,
Mona
Dear Members,
It is with great joy and excitement that I am writing to
let you know that this afternoon, the Secretary’s Advisory
Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns & Children
(ACHDNC)voted to recommend that pulse oximetry screening
for critical congenital heart disease be added to the
newborn screening uniform panel!!!
The recommendation now gets passed up to Secretary Sebelius
for review and approval. We're almost there!
AnnaMarie Saarinen just called with the news. She has
worked tirelessly to advocate for early diagnosis and
screening and has effectively spearheaded this important
effort. You can follow her blogs on http://1in100.org
Thank-you AnnaMarie for your hard work and determination.
Thanks also to Dr Gerard Martin who REALLY listened to my
impassioned pleas and worked so hard to implement model
screening programs. I tearfully and joyfully post
Annamarie's message below:
"At 2:40 eastern time today, the national committee
on newborn screening voted to YES to recommend pulse
oximetry screening for critical congenital heart disease be
added to the newborn screening uniform panel. I don't even
know what to say right now...still in shock. Was not
anticipating vote until January. Have to hug Eve and have a
major cry right now. It's due time...all babies are finally
going to be screened before discharge. Policy priority #1:
DONE!!!!!"
This is indeed a red letter day for all of us.
Our voices are being heard and yes, we CAN make a
difference!
My love to you all,
Mona
Friday, September 17, 2010
Obsessed with the Boer War
I can't write blog posts or even watch TV. I am obsessed with the Boer War - a war between the British Empire and the Dutch/Afrikaner 'Boers' at the end of the 19th C. More particularly, I am obsessed with transcribing a diary kept by my Great Grandfather during his service among British forces in the Boer War.
The diary starts in September 1899 and I am now transcribing entries from mid December where he has just been placed in a unit manning a very big naval gun.
It is exciting stuff but written in cursive with some quaint spelling and a distinctly old fashioned punctuation (they don't use many full stops or comma's, preferring dashes everywhere). To further complicate my task, the diary was written in a carbon copy order book (probably from the book shop in Durban). Each page is numbered (good) but in some areas only the carbon copies remain - the originals having been, perhaps, mailed or shared with others. The remaining carbon has faded to the point of near illegibility and sometimes I puzzle for many minutes over a word or line.
To cover up my lack of blogging (nobody is complaining because my most loyal reader, my mother, is away at their beach cottage and my brother - according to Facebook - has LOST IT) I shall offer up a few pictures to console you before returning to life with Wren and Frost (which is really fine, Wren doing okay at preschool but looking a tad "forlorn" according to Fred.) I am not forlorn while he is at preschool so it kind of makes up for him being a tad sad.
Hluhluwe Game Reserve - September 5th 2010
The diary starts in September 1899 and I am now transcribing entries from mid December where he has just been placed in a unit manning a very big naval gun.
 |
| A page from the diary. |
To cover up my lack of blogging (nobody is complaining because my most loyal reader, my mother, is away at their beach cottage and my brother - according to Facebook - has LOST IT) I shall offer up a few pictures to console you before returning to life with Wren and Frost (which is really fine, Wren doing okay at preschool but looking a tad "forlorn" according to Fred.) I am not forlorn while he is at preschool so it kind of makes up for him being a tad sad.
Hluhluwe Game Reserve - September 5th 2010
 | |
| Entering the park, you are warned about the dangers of Elephants and ordered to remain entirely in the car without arms poking out windows etc. |
 |
| We liked the warning about elephants crossing which they did at times. |
 |
| Of course, pretty soon the Americans had their heads out the window. |
 |
| We watched this elephant for about 10 minutes while it ate most of this tree. Elephants are very hungry (aka destructive) and tear down trees for practice (aka fun) even when not that hungry. |
 |
| This is a very cute baby zebra until you realize it is peeing. We started to say that Wren was like a laxative for animals. Whenever he was looking they would pee or poop causing him a great deal of amusement. |
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| This giraffe did not pee so Wren found it boring. |
 |
| The first (white) rhino we saw. These rhino were walking through the burnt veldt which still had embers and small fires. |
 |
| Wren has a odd expression because he is eating sweeties (candy) He was often bribed with candy because he had to sit aroudn for long trips in the car. He also liked riding in the boot (trunk) and not having to wear a seat belt! God, I love seat belts. Unbelted children are a lot more of a nuisance! |
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| This buffalo is pooping. Yes, really. |
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| I just thought this was a really nice photograph. My best pictures are of zebra because they are relatively unconcerned by people and quite common. |
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| The View from somewhere over something but no animals. It was more often like this than the other pictures. |
 |
| At picnic spots you can get out of the car and use the bathroom. We saw nyala coming down to drink in the early morning when we stopped at this river side picnic site. |
 |
| .... and surprised some baboons eating seed pods on a tree. |
 | |
| We all love warthog. When alarmed, their tails stick straight up like aerials. |
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
First Day at Preschool
Today Wren started at his new preschool. He was very apprehensive and worried about the details. When I dropped him off he cried and stretched his arms out for me but I was firm and left.
Apparently he did 'well'. I think that "well" might be preschool-teacher-speak for "he was freaked out but we didn't have to call you."
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| Going to preschool this morning. |
Also, that they ate pasta for lunch and after lunch were allowed to have bread with honey.
And that it was TERRIBLE but ALRIGHT.
The whole Waldorf experience has already had an impact on Wren. He came home and went outside and spoke about fairies. In the park this afternoon during Frost's soccer practice, Wren looked for trees where the fairies might live.
Also, he decided he was a dog and ran around with his tongue hanging out and picked up sticks from the ground with his mouth. He also pretended to be a spider. He says that they did not do this at preschool but I suspect that there was some bestial child at preschool who inspired him.
He never wanted to be a dog before?
This evening, Frost asked to help prepare dinner. Apparently, his new teacher gives not too much homework and then allows them to do "alternative" homework including things like making dinner, doing sport and math or writing projects of their own devising. I like this teacher.
Before the Dinosaurs we lived in Magnolia
At breakfast this morning, Wren asked me who built our house.
I explained that our house was built "long ago" by someone (1949) but Daddy and I built the kitchen.
Then Wren wondered how much it cost. I told him it was a lot of money but we borrowed it from the bank. He said "Before that you lived in a truck?"
"No," I answered "before that we lived in Magnolia. You weren't born yet."
"Oh!" said Wren, everything now becoming clear. "That was when the dinosaurs were still OUT."
"What do you mean, 'out'?" I asked.
"Well, the dinosaurs were still out then" he repeated. "Now they are gone 'stinct. They DIED."
I wasn't quite sure where to go in the face of his bold compression of eras spanning millions of years into a scant decade. Even creationism is not as bold. Perhaps it is the power of the Waldorf Fairies.
Later, when I told Wren we are not going to buy something he wanted he suggested we "borrow the money from the bank."
Insurance / robbery update
Other good news is that Liberty Mutual is going to pay for both laptops and the camera stolen minus our $500 deductible. That makes it a lot less than it could have been. I am very impressed by them. I didn't have to fill in ONE FORM. The cynic in me wonders whether our premium will skyrocket next year, but the service has been great so a small increase would be justified now that they know we are high-risk travelers to Africa.
Backlog of photos
Because of the loss of my laptop and the abysmal slowness of the local connection, I didn't get to post much about the last weeks of our trip. I have a load of lovely pictures to which I am going to subject you. Right now, I don't have time to write enough to do them justice but here are a few of the kids while at the Lodge in Hilltop Camp at Hluhluwe Game Reserve. My many pictures of zebra will follow in the days ahead!
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| Wren, Frost and the Large Aloe |
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| Frost climbs a tree in front of the lodge. |
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| The boys run down the road to the swimming pool. This picture speaks to what is missing in a more ordered life. I like the swimming pool being down a road by electric fence with bush-buck in the shrubbery and monkeys over head. This is the way it Should Be. |
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Back to Seattle, takes time
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| Be chilled dude |
I am in a bit of a panic about the artifacts, although the lunch was great. Dad and Ingrid have a rather frantic and chaotic life. They manage their work and interests very well, but there is so much going on that other stuff is delegated to housekeepers, cleaners, handymen and others. Its hard to keep track of some things.
In the box of artifacts I found birth and death certificates of ancestors whose names I had never heard. I learned my Dads family came from Scotland, Glasgow.
I learned what my grandmother died of and found that the family antique toys have been badly damaged in the years since I was a child. Sigh.
Its hard being far away. I want to fix things that are really outside my control.
Anyway, here is Wren at lunch and a family picture from this afternoon. Hope to be home on Thursday afternoon Seattle time.
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| Family 'portrait' on the lawn |
Monday, September 6, 2010
The Road Home
Today we returned to Durban from Hluhluwe, 3 hours up the North Coast into Zululand. Like our earlier trip to Leisure Bay (down the South Coast)we took the N2 and enjoyed a bit of highway tourism.
Driving on freeways in South Africa is unlike the typical US experience. The roads are great - often two lane each way and well surfaced and marked. However, while cars are traveling at 120km/hr in a typical fashion, the highways are also used by people on foot or bicycle and the verges are used by cows and goats for grazing, occasionally spilling onto the edges of the road.
Driving down the South Coast we noticed that near rural settlements, the roads were used by men pushing supermarket carts filled with bits of scrap metal collected along the highway. Women sitting up upturned milk crates sold piles of avocados, paw-paw (papaya) and even crayfish. Ingrid told me that the fine for buying poached crayfish (like local lobster) is high and includes impounding any car used in illegal purchase. She also said that there is a story going around that locals store crayfish in their long-drop toilets to hide them and keep them fresh, which acts as a disincentive to commerce. The cynics claim this story was started by the Parks Board, tasked with enforcing the laws around poaching.
Pineapples vs Bananas
Up the North Coast, from Hluhluwe South of Richards Bay, stalls were erected from lashed twigs making high platforms where bowls of small pineapples enticed us alongside racks of carved wooden bowls and trays. From time to time we saw carvers working under trees near the highway, sitting on mounds of wood chips from their work. Other stalls sold woven grass mats and baskets and the occasional hand of bananas. The North Coast has huge fields of pineapples interspersed with sugar cane while the South Coast has similar fields of bananas, wrapped in blue plastic to prevent ripening on the tree.
Taxi Lanes
Highways also serve as public transport corridors. People walk along them between towns and settlements, hitch rides and cross lanes. Even children dash across four lane highways, hanging onto bags and packets as they do so. There are no official bus-stops on the highway itself, but the private minibus taxis run routes up and down the highways, stopping for passengers who gesture their destinations with hand signals, a sideways wave, a wrist flap or a thumb jerked backwards. Taxi pickups occur along the verge, a risky business because on single lane highways the emergency lane is used by slow vehicles and trucks to allow others to pass. When they are available, SOS highway telephones are used as taxi stops because they provide a small gravel pull-out where the taxi can avoid the high speed flow of traffic. [This is an issue for boys with a small bladder. There are almost no highway 'rest stops's so people stop and pee within clear view of traffic BUT its not safe to pull over where the verge is used by traffic.]
Flashing at Me
When you see a car coming up behind you, you pull to the side and continue at 100km/hr. The faster car passes to the right even when double white lines prevent conventional overtaking. When you have been passed in this manner, the faster car will often show their thanks by a quick flash of their hazard lights, acknowledged by a flash of headlights.
After a while I became quite paranoid about all the non-verbal communication going on. People routinely flash headlights to warn of police roadblocks, speed traps or hazards. They also flash to thank other cars for easy overtaking. Josh took over some of the non-verbal cues, always giving a hazard light flash of appreciation when we overtook, but half the time I wasn't sure what people were flashing about.
Aside: Dad's spot fine
Heading home from Lake Eland Reserve last week after dark, Dad was pulled over by a policeman waving a sparkling baton at a spot check road stop. The traffic policeman approached the car and asked for Dad's license. Dad explained he had left it in his jacket when he went out cycling for the day.
"Please get out of your car and come with me" said the policeman and Dad and he went off into the dark where the squad car was parked near some bushes.
We watched out the back window as Dad and the policeman talked at the open trunk of his squad car. Meanwhile, another policemen waved down and inspected a truck and a taxi.
A few minutes later Dad came back, muttering about them being "twits." He said he had been fined for not having his license on him. He said "I got a ticket."
When I asked how much the fine was, he said "He asked for R200 but I told him I would give him R120."
Josh and I were puzzled. It seems that police here don't have fixed numbers for "spot fines." The policeman told Dad that the fine was R1,000 if he didn't have a license but R200 if he had one but didn't carry it. Dad had the money out but he said that they were just looking for an excuse to fine him and it "was nonsense."
David tells me these "spot fines" are well known. The trick is to ask to pay the fine now, and the cost - in cash - is usually substantially less than any official fine. These spot fines are revenue raising ventures, but it is unclear how official they are or who they are raising fund for.
Fire Burning
It is customary to burn the canefields before harvest so there is often a lot of smoke around the coastal farmlands. The cane trucks, loaded with blackened cane which splays out between the triangular frames of their girders, are a constant reminder of the sugar industry, but even beyond the cane roadside fires are very common. Driving past, small fires often smolder along the verge and looking down from the road into an informal settlement it is common to see a fire burning in the reeds without any apparent concern from residents.
Although I have seen more fires in this visit than in my entire 10 years in the US, I have not seen a single fire truck or even official workers 'managing' a fire. A week before we went away, a large house in Dad
s neighborhood burned down and we have passed the double story brick house with its exposed and blackened beams sticking up like whale ribs into the sky. Even then, we didn't hear a fire truck coming to fight the fire (although one must have, eventually).
It took much of the day to leave Mtwazi and get home. First, Dad and I did a guided game walk which will be the subject of another post. We departed Hilltop around 10am but had to return to search for Soft Shirt which had been left behind under a bed [Josh felt that we should just drive off and let it be a natural ending to the soft shirt but I could not do it] and then we had various detours such as a crocodile farm and lunch in a Richards Bay mall. We got home at 4.30pm and have been unpacking and eating ever since :)
I have downloaded some pictures from David's camera to a memory stick. I hope to have pictures within the next few days or when we get back at the end of the week.
Driving on freeways in South Africa is unlike the typical US experience. The roads are great - often two lane each way and well surfaced and marked. However, while cars are traveling at 120km/hr in a typical fashion, the highways are also used by people on foot or bicycle and the verges are used by cows and goats for grazing, occasionally spilling onto the edges of the road.
Driving down the South Coast we noticed that near rural settlements, the roads were used by men pushing supermarket carts filled with bits of scrap metal collected along the highway. Women sitting up upturned milk crates sold piles of avocados, paw-paw (papaya) and even crayfish. Ingrid told me that the fine for buying poached crayfish (like local lobster) is high and includes impounding any car used in illegal purchase. She also said that there is a story going around that locals store crayfish in their long-drop toilets to hide them and keep them fresh, which acts as a disincentive to commerce. The cynics claim this story was started by the Parks Board, tasked with enforcing the laws around poaching.
Pineapples vs Bananas
Up the North Coast, from Hluhluwe South of Richards Bay, stalls were erected from lashed twigs making high platforms where bowls of small pineapples enticed us alongside racks of carved wooden bowls and trays. From time to time we saw carvers working under trees near the highway, sitting on mounds of wood chips from their work. Other stalls sold woven grass mats and baskets and the occasional hand of bananas. The North Coast has huge fields of pineapples interspersed with sugar cane while the South Coast has similar fields of bananas, wrapped in blue plastic to prevent ripening on the tree.
Taxi Lanes
Highways also serve as public transport corridors. People walk along them between towns and settlements, hitch rides and cross lanes. Even children dash across four lane highways, hanging onto bags and packets as they do so. There are no official bus-stops on the highway itself, but the private minibus taxis run routes up and down the highways, stopping for passengers who gesture their destinations with hand signals, a sideways wave, a wrist flap or a thumb jerked backwards. Taxi pickups occur along the verge, a risky business because on single lane highways the emergency lane is used by slow vehicles and trucks to allow others to pass. When they are available, SOS highway telephones are used as taxi stops because they provide a small gravel pull-out where the taxi can avoid the high speed flow of traffic. [This is an issue for boys with a small bladder. There are almost no highway 'rest stops's so people stop and pee within clear view of traffic BUT its not safe to pull over where the verge is used by traffic.]
Flashing at Me
When you see a car coming up behind you, you pull to the side and continue at 100km/hr. The faster car passes to the right even when double white lines prevent conventional overtaking. When you have been passed in this manner, the faster car will often show their thanks by a quick flash of their hazard lights, acknowledged by a flash of headlights.
After a while I became quite paranoid about all the non-verbal communication going on. People routinely flash headlights to warn of police roadblocks, speed traps or hazards. They also flash to thank other cars for easy overtaking. Josh took over some of the non-verbal cues, always giving a hazard light flash of appreciation when we overtook, but half the time I wasn't sure what people were flashing about.
Aside: Dad's spot fine
Heading home from Lake Eland Reserve last week after dark, Dad was pulled over by a policeman waving a sparkling baton at a spot check road stop. The traffic policeman approached the car and asked for Dad's license. Dad explained he had left it in his jacket when he went out cycling for the day.
"Please get out of your car and come with me" said the policeman and Dad and he went off into the dark where the squad car was parked near some bushes.
We watched out the back window as Dad and the policeman talked at the open trunk of his squad car. Meanwhile, another policemen waved down and inspected a truck and a taxi.
A few minutes later Dad came back, muttering about them being "twits." He said he had been fined for not having his license on him. He said "I got a ticket."
When I asked how much the fine was, he said "He asked for R200 but I told him I would give him R120."
Josh and I were puzzled. It seems that police here don't have fixed numbers for "spot fines." The policeman told Dad that the fine was R1,000 if he didn't have a license but R200 if he had one but didn't carry it. Dad had the money out but he said that they were just looking for an excuse to fine him and it "was nonsense."
David tells me these "spot fines" are well known. The trick is to ask to pay the fine now, and the cost - in cash - is usually substantially less than any official fine. These spot fines are revenue raising ventures, but it is unclear how official they are or who they are raising fund for.
Fire Burning
It is customary to burn the canefields before harvest so there is often a lot of smoke around the coastal farmlands. The cane trucks, loaded with blackened cane which splays out between the triangular frames of their girders, are a constant reminder of the sugar industry, but even beyond the cane roadside fires are very common. Driving past, small fires often smolder along the verge and looking down from the road into an informal settlement it is common to see a fire burning in the reeds without any apparent concern from residents.
Although I have seen more fires in this visit than in my entire 10 years in the US, I have not seen a single fire truck or even official workers 'managing' a fire. A week before we went away, a large house in Dad
s neighborhood burned down and we have passed the double story brick house with its exposed and blackened beams sticking up like whale ribs into the sky. Even then, we didn't hear a fire truck coming to fight the fire (although one must have, eventually).
It took much of the day to leave Mtwazi and get home. First, Dad and I did a guided game walk which will be the subject of another post. We departed Hilltop around 10am but had to return to search for Soft Shirt which had been left behind under a bed [Josh felt that we should just drive off and let it be a natural ending to the soft shirt but I could not do it] and then we had various detours such as a crocodile farm and lunch in a Richards Bay mall. We got home at 4.30pm and have been unpacking and eating ever since :)
I have downloaded some pictures from David's camera to a memory stick. I hope to have pictures within the next few days or when we get back at the end of the week.
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