The Danger of Being Frost

It is a very dangerous business being Frost.   The world seems to throw many unexpected obstacles in his path which hurt him.  You or I might occasionally stub a toe or hit an elbow closing a car door in a hurry.  Not Frost!   He has multiple injuries in a day.

Here are a sampling of Frost injuries on Saturday.

Incident 1.
Frost is tapping his foot on the floor to pace himself as he practices xylophone in the living room.

Frost:  OW, OWWWW.  DAMMIT. 
Me:  What's wrong Frost?  You ok?
Frost:   OW.  
Me:  Frost?  [You notice that I no longer get up from the table to investigate, being long inured to these  catastrophes]
Frost:  I hit the side of my head with the mallet and now my head is throbbing!

Incident 2.
I am in the bathroom at the Memorial Stadium as we prepare for the 1 mile Children's Marathon on Saturday early.  Frost is waiting in the corridor outside the ladies.  When I come out he is bending over holding his head.  He continues to walk along holding his head.

Me: Why are you walking like that?
Frost:  My head hurts.
Me:  What happened to you?
Frost:  I was sliding along the walk.  You know,I was walking along with my head brushing against the wall and I didn't see a cable box thing and suddenly my head went WHAM and it hit the cable box heater thing!
Me:  Why were you sliding along the wall?
Frost:  I don't know.

Incident 3.
Frost is playing magic the gathering at the dining room table.  He is turning over cards while sitting on a chair with one knee.  The other leg is on the floor.  He keeps jiggling from foot to foot and mumbling thoughts or a song under his breath.  This is a very Frost moment.

Frost:  OWWWW.  DAMMIT DAMMIT. 
Me:  What did you do now?  You are just sitting there!
Frost:  Stop.  Don't .... talk..... ow........argh.

I shake my head.

Me:  Well, you poor thing?  What happened?
Frost:  I ....... hit.... my ...... funnybone ..... on the table!

The other day, Wren was upset with me for some reason and gave me the Fierce Glare (he freezes, goes "grrrrrr" under his breath and then glares at you as if he were a wolf in the forest).  On this occasion he also "flipped a bird" at me.     I couldn't keep a straight face but I told him it was rude.

Of course, Wren also says DAMMIT when he stubs his toe.

Snowstorm revisited

Its back to rain and cold in Seattle and the snowman in the back yard has started to melt - now his head is a pointed pinnacle of snow and on which his hat balances.  Its not as beautiful but temperatures above freezing are easier to dress for and get outside.

Not that the cold stopped us on the snow days. 

The first day of heavy snowfall ended with a bit of a blizzard.  Strong winds blew flurries of snow off the roofs and trees and whipped it into our faces.  Still, we went out to try and build a snowman, and failed.  It was way too cold and so the snow was light and dry.   Growing up in South Africa I never knew the gradations of snow, how it is slippery near freezing, how it makes better snowballs when a bit warmer but you can do it with dry snow if you squeeze hard.  The boys are learning these things a lot earlier and having better success with their aim ;)

Frost and Wren in the neighbors yard after a snowfight

Frost tempting me to come close so he can dump all the snow off the
canopy onto my head.

Wren in the blizzard with a large snowball and silly woolen gloves that
clump snow.  He hates mittens.

 The next day was even colder (14F overnight or -10C) but bright and sunny.  There are various streets in our neighborhood which the local kids have named as sledding runs.  During real snow, these steep hills become too slippery to drive so kids and their parents set up watches at the intersections and the kids sled down 2 or 3 blocks of steep roads - whizzing through intersections market by upturned bins and parents cupping lattes in their insulated mugs.

With news of snow, many residents of steep hills take precautions and move their cars off the steep slopes to flatter streets.  However, when cars or other obstacles remain, folks put garbage cans in front of them so that falling and out of control sledders do not crash or go under the cars.

We even saw snowboarders going down from 18th to 23rd and I did the big hill a few times :)  This big one is called Black Diamond while 73rd down to 24th is called The Bunny Hill.

Elias, Frost and Eli on the Bunny Hill.

The playing fields and parkland at Dahl Field are another favorite snow park.  On the first morning of extreme cold we all walked to Dahl field and sledded.   I haven't managed to import all the clips into iMovie but I have some great ones of Josh descending at speed from the top of a precipitous hill I can barely walk up in fair weather.

Josh after his first descent

Wren and I coming down a small hill at Dahl Field.  Wren said
"It was a bit fun and a bit scary"

Wren at Dahl Field on the first day.  He fell off the sled and got
snow down his back so I had to lend him my scarf to recover.

Frost making a snow angel.  Frost doesn't feel the cold like
a normal person.  He kept throwing off clothing at sub-freezing
temperatures and 'losing' things in the snow.

Snowman Day
On Thanksgiving, after an early flurry, the snow began to melt.  As it warmed it became snowman and snowball snow.  The boys made boxes of them and I made a snowman.  Frost rolled huge snowballs he could barely carry and tried to throw them at Alex.  Alex is far too nimble to be caught by such a colossus and has a dangerous throwing arm (perfected playing baseball) but Frost could not resist the wickedness.

Alex and Frost with a cache of snowballs (they threw at Fred)

Wren with our backyard snowman

Frost bending under the weight of the large snowball

Sledding and Staying In

Seattle has shut down for snow, again.  Schools are closed, classes are canceled, bus routes are halved and North end shops are inundated with shoppers in 4-wheel drives loading up huge carts of food for Thanksgiving.

Meanwhile, we were up at 7am and managed to stare out at the delicious sunny minus 8 degree (C or 18F) day for about 2 hours.  By 9.30am we were heading up to Dahl Field for some sledding.

I am hoping to make a little movie of some our of snow moments and photos when Blogger lets me upload them.

Otherwise, all is well.  We are enjoying the slow pace and having everyone home since Josh didn't go in to work either after his horrendous Monday evening commute which took almost 2 hours to get home.

Snow!

Snow brings a strange luminescence to the landscape, a grey and diffuse light brighter than the usual winter morning.  After being woken too early by an automated message from the Seattle Public Schools to tell me that conferences will run as usual but middle schools will start late due to snow, Wren and I sat and looked out the window.

It was already snowing hard.  Here are the pictures from the window around 7.30am and an hour and a half later.  The snow has now changed to a smaller flake but its still accumulating.

7.30am

8.55am

We have been enjoying feeding the birds on the deck by the kitchen.  They are probably finding it hard to find food elsewhere and the juncos and little wagtails have visited a few times.

Frost and Alex are out in the snow at his house at Greenlake.  As usual with the first snow,  Wren has outgrown his snowsuit, lost his snow gloves and complained he was unable to bend over or move his legs in it.  We shall have to buy a new one.

We have Frost's parent-teacher conference this morning and I am not sure whether its ok to drive the van to capital hill or whether I should do a few trips and drop Josh at work in the Subaru.

Cold come calling

This morning our breakfast was accompanied by a loud rhythmic thudding from our next-door neighbor who was splitting huge logs of timber for firewood. 

Its getting cold.   The morning paper said "Its Fall but this weekend its going to be Winter."   Temperatures, which have been around 50F ( 10 C) have suddenly fallen and today was around 40F (5C) and dropping to freezing.   According to local experts, icy air is coming down through the Fraser Valley from the arctic.  It sure feels like it.

The freezes of winter typically mark the end of mushroom season so I thought today was a last chance to explore some local forests and see what remained.   We were in luck and caught a few late chanterelles, a big bag of clitocybe nuda (Blewitts) and a large flush of chlorophyllum rachodes (Shaggy parasols).

Chris and Pascal came with me and we might still be in the woods but for the kids who were either silently resigned (their kids) or loudly anxious and WANTING TO GO HOME (Wren).

Blewitts (from last week)

Chlorophyllum Rachodes (shaggy parasols) - the red stain has faded.

My last chanterelles for 2010?

After lunch, Frost's soccer team met for the last game of the season.  It was a social between parents and kids followed by pizza at Pagliacci.  We were very luck with our soccer team this season.  It was well run and coached and supported by organized experienced parents.

They presented the coach with a gift and each player received a trophy with a photograph of themselves in action.

Here is Frost receiving his trophy.  The announcement read:  To Frost who was never gloomy and always enthusiastic.

Frost being enthusiastic about his Engraved Trophy

Wren hopes to have a trophy too one day.  He asked Frost if the trophy could be in his room but it is now on the mantlepiece.

Mushroom playground

Frost had a big group playdate at our house yesterday and its hard for Wren to join in when the friends are 10 and 11 year olds.  He is really out of his demographic but utterly misreads the situation and takes it personally.

I offered to take him for a walk in the stroller.  Before we left Wren said "We are not going looking for mushrooms today!"

I agreed.  "We are not going to look for mushrooms but I might pick one if I see one."

Wren:  BUT YOU SAID we are not looking for mushrooms.

Me:  No, we are going for a walk but if there was a mushroom...

Wren:  We are not picking mushrooms.  DAD!

Josh:  I think Mummy means that If there is a mushroom by the path she might pick it.

There was a mushroom by the path.  Wren became a bit exasperated.  He said "THIS IS BORING".   However, he liked picking the Blewitts because they were in a half circle and easy to get to.

Mushrooms being ID'ed.  They include  Suillus Albivilatus
Leratiomyces Ceres and a mystery Tricholoma which resembles
Odora.

The ones that made it to the pot.  I made a highly reduced
"Mushroom essence" a la Cafe Flora to use
on the Portabello Wellington next week.

Found another flush of Blewitts on our walk as well as a lovely
crop of young chlorrophylum rachodes near Teacher Andrea's house.

Wren enjoyed playing at the playground but was concerned that the swings had been taken away to replace the safety surface.  The swingset frame is now bare - not swings hanging there - and looks skeletal which fit the cold, dark weather.

This morning Wren asked when the sun was going to come up.  It was 10am and I told him the sun probably wouldn't come out today.

Lantern Walk

 On Friday, Wren joined his preschool for the winter Lantern Walk.  We met at Greenlake and shared some hot bread and muffins with apple cider before singing some songs and making a short walk through the trees.  The line snaked a great distance as the lanterns bobbed and snatches of song floated past on the cool but clear night.

Frost's Lantern

The lanterns were lit at nightfall

I have lost Wren's hats so he wore my soft pink cashmere one from Sarah.

Wren took his job of carrying the lantern very seriously.
He was also a serious eater of hot muffins.

Afterwards, we got together with Tara for sushi and she took the boys to see a movie at Thornton Place.  Everyone had a great time and I didn't have to wash up plates after dinner.

Are Werewolves Imaginary?

The to do list is done:

1. FLU SHOT
2. BUY FLOOD LIGHT TO REPLACE BLOWN ON IN KITCHEN
3. BUY HENNA FOR HAIR
4. DROP THINGS AT VALUE VILLAGE
5. BUY THINGS AT VALUE VILLAGE
6. EXCHANGE LIBRARY BOOKS

When we returned home I wanted to sit down with some fake coffee and Child-play-by-himself time but Wren stuck to me like glue, talking constantly about playing a game with him now, fighting etc etc.   I suggested he play at the table and tried to check my email but he followed and tried to set up a D&D army beneath my feet, I suggested he not sit right next to me.  He retorted:

Wren:  But I have to.  I am scared of Werewolves jumping out.

Me:  But you know Werewolves are imaginary, right?

Wren:  Werewolves are imaginary but [he pauses, for drama] they have scary faces.

Me:  No, you know what I mean?  They are not in this world.  They are things you think about but they are no real Werewolves.

Wren:  They are not real but they are imaginary!

I pondered that one for a bit.  I don't think real and imaginary are a dichotomy for Wren.  Perhaps imaginary is a sub-category of real, you know, there are REAL things which may be imaginary, manifest, visible, invisible, in this world [Seattle] or Granny's World [Adelaide] or Grandad's World [South Africa] or Warhammer World [on the internet or in a book.]

I tried another approach.

Me:  Just as long as you know that there are none in our house.

Wren:  BUT  WELL,  MUUUUM  [long pause as he looks at me with exasperation]... They are imaginary but when one hits our glass window it will break at the top and go into slow motion and break through ggghhhaaaa...!

 He returns to working on his setup, happy to be underfoot.

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Veterans' Day

It was Veterans' Day today and a school holiday so Frost enjoyed a long playdate with Isaac while Wren and I visited a Memorial to the Fallen.

Seriously.

It wasn't really the Plan, but Wren wanted to see the cannons at Cannon Park so we stopped off in the cold and smattering rain to visit them.  He was very impressed with them and tried to "fire them off" like Drummer Hoff in a favorite book.

Trying to turn the cannon

We had to look in the barrel to see what had been
stuffed there.

"I love cannons"

Afterwards, Wren noticed the memorial and wanted me to read the words on the side.  They read:


TO THE MEMORY OF THE SAILORS, SOLDIERS AND MARINES
WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN DEFENSE OF OUR FLAG IN THE WAR WITH SPAIN,
THE PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION AND THE CHINA RELIEF EXPEDITION.

My knowledge of history is slight but I was sure it was a memorial.

Wren was sure it was a TOMB and there was a DEAD SOLDIER in it.  He found this sobering and wanted to climb up it to make sure.  Fortunately the sides were smooth and sheer and so his ascent for  knowledge was hampered.

Wren attempts to climb the memorial in which
"there is a dead soldier."

Later, we went to the zoo and stopped at some woodland for a quick mushroom poke.  In the duff nearby I found a large flush of lepista nuda (Blewitts) which had been disturbed and partly driven over by a leaf blower and tractor.  I saved them and ate half for dinner and did not feel badly about harvesting them.  I also found a chanterelle-like mushroom with different "true" gills and different features.  I think it was a lepista inversa so it was the day of the lepista (or clitocybe or Tricholoma depending on which is the trulio correct term).

Delicious Blewitts - supposed to be called
Clitocybe Nuda