Karn, the Released and other obsessions of an almost-10 year old.

Like his parents, Frost is happiest when he has an obsession.  His current obsession is Magic the Gathering and in particular, the imminent launch of the new MtG set - "New Phyrexia."

Here is my interview with Frost about MtG.

Me:   Frost, what do you like about MtG?

Frost:  I don't know.... its kind of a fun game not just playing the game but kind of opening the pack, getting to know new mechanics, going to tournaments and waiting to see what cards come out.  Also, its got a nice communtiy.

Me:  What do you mean by a "nice community?"

Frost:  Well, a lot of people play it and you can kind of talk to other people about it.  Lots of people go to events and you can get to know people while you're playing it and its kind of fun.

Me:  How much do you think about MtG during a normal day at school?

Frost:  I think about it occasionally.  Some people at school play it and so we play it.  I also think about New Phyrexia a lot now, I am waiting for the launch party.   New Phyrexia is a new magic set with 175 new cards and we are planning to buy a Booster Box.  Its 36 booster packs.

Me:  Wren, what do you like about MtG?

Wren:  There are some Hydra's I like and Hedron crabs are pretty good.

Me:  Frost, what kind of deck are you going to play with the New Phyrexia set?

Frost:  I am thinking of making a deck with this one card called Rage Extractor and maybe an equipment deck.   I am keeping my infect deck.

Me:  What is Rage Extractor?

Frost:  It does damage equal to the casting cost of something if that something/card has any Phyrexian mana, a new kind of mana, in its cost.  So its a pretty good card and I would make a deck with that and lots of Phyrexian mana.

Me:  Wren, what is your favorite deck?

Wren:  My favorite deck is an-fect deck.  I played my Fect Deck against Daddy and I beat his Karate.

Me:  Frost, do kids in your 4th Grade class play magic?

Frost: I think about 3 of them in my class?

Me:  My criticism of this MtG craze is that its a bit like gambling.  All you want to do is get the thrill of opening sealed boosters to see if you get something very rare and valuable.

Frost:  Well, Mum.  That is only the case when you are opening boosters.  If you buy a deck of cards individually that's not gambling.  And even if I open boosters, if I get a mythic rare card I am happy and if I don't I am still happy because I mean, the cards will probably be good.  If they are not good, I can see the value, and I can still trade it with someone else.  So, its still fun to get it!

Karn, Liberated (according to Frost)

Me:  In the New Phyrexia, what cards would you be most excited about pulling from a booster?

Frost:  Karn.  Batterskull and ... oh god... actually..... Sword of War and Peace.  I also sort of want... Joradeen the Prevailer and Melira, Sylvok  Outcast (he spelled these for me).

New Puppy Pictures

Due to Mother's Day and the Puppy being a bit slow to wean, we will probably have to wait 2 weeks to fetch the puppy and bring him home.  We are talking about the 14th as the probable date.

Here are some new pictures.

Wren draws hydras

Wren loves drawing but as with any artist, he likes to work thematically.  The subject of the moment is hydras.

I am now going to interview the artist about his work.

Me:  Wren, why are you interested in Hydras?

Wren:  Because there is different kinds of hydras.  Female ones that are boys and others that I don't know their names.

Me:  But why do you like them?

Wren:  Because if you kill all the necks off then it suddenly goes under the ground and all of it grows back again.

Me:  Where did you first see a hydra?

Wren:  In two Magic cards.

Me: What is magic?

Wren:  Magic is cards and they cost mana to play.

Me:  What did you like about that hydra on the cards.
Wren:  Hydras are pretty cool and one hydra is a 0/0 and you need to spend more mana to make him big.

The Artist has been influenced by hydras in Magic the Gathering

Me:  Now, Wren can you tell about the hydra you are working on now.

Wren:  It is a girl hydra and it fights boy hydras and other evil things like the tyranna sor rexes.

Wren with the girl hydra

Me:  Why is this one purple.

Wren: Because that is girl hydras the color they are.

Me:  Can you tell me about this hydra [BELOW]?
 
Wren:  This is the one with the rarest hydras in the world.  They are GOOD/BAD they kill good hydras and bad hydras.  And its a RAINbow hydra.  Its pink and green and orange and yellow so that is the rarest kind of hydra in the world.

Rainbow hydra

Me:  Are hydras real?

Wren:  Yes, they just grow everywhere in the creepy times.

Me:  What are the creepy times?

Wren:  When the clouds go low, the sky goes green, the sun goes dark black and the grass goes blue!

Me: And that is when the Hydras are born.

Wren:  They grow in tiny things first and they don't kill anything first but then they grow huge and if they grow into this guy they grow into good or into that guy they grow into good and bad.

"Squid in the ocean" aka "Squid in the sea Hydra"

Me: Can you tell me about this older work, titled "squid in the ocean."  Was an this an early hydra?

 Wren:  That hydra waked up in the night so they can like steal stuff.   Its a hydra.  A weird kind of hydra.  It has lots of slippery arms and its head is like this (straight and like a little curve like this).

Me:  What do hydras eat?

Wren:  Hydras... well, there are different things that you never heard of hydras eat.  They eat little ants and things but bad hydras eat little chickadees - but don't write that because Leo (age 4) won't like that.  Bit scary.

The Scared-cat hydra just plays dead

Me:  We have another here.  Can you tell me about it.

Wren: This is one of the weirdest kinds of hydras.  Its one of the most frightest hydra.  When it sees someone coming it just plays dead.  Its frightened for everyone.

Me:  Its a scaredy-cat hydra?

Wren:  Its a good hydra.  But if it sees a BAD hydra it FIGHTS but if it sees anything else it just plays dead.  That other one is the same hydra as this, but playing dead.

Scaredy-cat from another angle, playing dead.

Me: What are all these things on it?

Wren:  Its the rarest one and it has sticky things to stick on things and climb up trees.  In the middle is his like his... treasure chest thing where he puts the treasure in.  The treasure chest with gems and rubies and jewels in.

Wren:  Come, come ... we must play a hydra game.  "Hydra in the scary cave" and I am the hydra!  BOO!

Easter chelsea buns

Because I had a cough and couldn't sleep, and because its Easter Saturday and I am energized by brilliant sun - I got up early and baked chelsea buns with yeast and allspice, raisins and lemon glaze.  Last year I made hot cross buns which were also fun.  I remember how the glaze looked next to the vase of daffodils.  This year we have no daffodils but lots of magic the gathering cards and Wren's drawings.

Here are some pictures of the chelsea bun baking:

I used an English recipe so this square of dough is 50cm x 50cm
covered with butter, sugar, currants and spice.

Then you roll it up like a swiss roll.  Notice my coral colored fingernails
- I had a rare manicure yesterday, inspired by the lingerie visit of a few days prior.

They took three times as long to rise as the recipe suggested.
Not sure if that was due to the cold kitchen, old yeast or something witchy about baking.

Yes, this is X-Large because it says it all.  Chelsea buns dripping with frosting for 11ses

Wren eating his bun.   He is talking about his new
Eldrazi deck called "I will light it cos its dynamite!"
Note the awful wound on his chin from a scooter accident (3 days
and its still oozing and bleeding).

Its hard to say what Frost is enjoying more - the blanket,
the Foxtrot or the Chelsea bun.

I will try and bake again before next year.  I would rate these as a SUCCESS!

Semiotics for preschoolers

Sitting in the sun on the deck.  The plum trees are blossoming.  Wren is assembling another deck from the out of legal magic the gathering cards.  The sky is all blue and the lawn is suddenly lush and overgrown. In the distance we can hear the drone of cars and lawnmowers.

Wren:  Mum, why do all those thing have different names?  Like CROW and TREE and PLATFORM and HOUSES and FORTS and SWINGS and that is all?

Me:  Why do you think?

Wren:  I think it is because things are look different so if a tree looked like a fort it would be a treeHOUSE.

Me: I think it is so we can tell people about things when we are not right next to them. Like, I can say "dragon" and you can think of it in your head even when you can't see one.

Wren:  But why different letters?  Like B-W-R-E?  I can't understand!

Me: That is so people can read the letters and know the name of something.

Wren:  Oh, so what does B-O spell?

Me: That spells "bow"

Wren:  I spelled "bow!"

Alex: Well, that is actually b-o-w! 

Me:  In linguistics they call the word the signifier and the thing it means is called the signified.  The signifier can change in different languages.  So, in Indonesian that thing is called a pohon?

Wren:  pohon pohon

Alex:  pohon pohon

Frost stands in the sun in silence, bending over an ipad and a calculator as he researches and adds the costs of all the proxy cards in Alex's new Take That magic the gathering deck.

"It is going to cost $22," he says, looking up.  Its cheap for a good deck!

Wren:  Argh... nobody is going to the car to get my Hedron Crab.  Why... AAAARRRRGHHHH!!!!!

Me:  Alex, are you going to get it?

Alex:  Maybe, when I am done lying in the sun.

Me:  Frost, will you?

Frost: Nyah.

Wren:  WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Me:  I will get you candy if you go and get it.

Frost:  I am going to get it!

Alex:  No, I am coming....

They all run off.  I am left in peace but now must rise and get candy.  Thank god for the Easter Stash.  At our BBQ this week people were discussing what kind of multi-millionaire was crazy and what simply the natural amplification of eccentricity by wealth.  I would be a lazy billionaire.  Imagine what I could get people to do for me if I gave out golden easter eggs for acts of service.

Sitting here, with the sun so hot the rivets in my jeans are burning my hip, being crazy in the name of indolence doesn't sound so bad.

Dragon in my soup, spring fires still hearthing

I'm having a rare lunch at Vios.  The familiar thump of the barrista clearing the used coffee grounds, the chink of plates and cuttlery, the ladies knitting around the big table and the usual spread of laptops on heavy wooden tables against the backdrop of cheerful fusion music is something I miss now that I work from home and seldom have the excuse to retreat here.

I'm having my favorites:  Kopanisti dip (sorely missed during my 2 months as a vegan) and the soup of the day (tomato fennel) with bruschetta.  It would be perfect if I had another hour here, but as it happens I am between 'running to the grocery store' and 'fetching Frost from Magic the Gathering' before 'checking owner claims' for my work.

Puff, puff.  I blow on my soup and the olive oil twines like a small dragon on the surface.  I am sure someone could read my future in the parsley leaves.

Anyway, enough about the present and the future.  Surely, you want the past?   Kids are on spring break this week so have been home more.  Frost has been having many playdates and sleepovers while Wren draws, plays iPad, comes on errands with me and does lots of gardening and playing with wooden weapons in the yard.

There is still no progress on the house front - we have been looking but the houses that would be just right are priced just-wrong (by a $100K+) while the ones we see are either too small, remote, soul-less or oddly wrong.

Last week, I took the boys to the Seattle Central Library - an architectural feature of downtown.  They were stunned and impressed and excited - reminding me that they haven't really been to many famous or splendid buildings.  As a child I'd visited cathedrals, museums, castles - big old things with cavernous interiors - while neither of them can remember being exposed to structures designed to impress.  I vow now to take them to places that excite (incite?) the imagination to rebel against the stubbornly utilitarian.  

Seattle Central Library - designed by Rem Koolhaus

Frost examines a display cabinet of skulls at Seattle Central Library

"They are REAL SKULLS" says Wren, factually incorrect.

Other than that - we have been on the usual routine of soccer, food and entertainment.  I had a few deviations last weekend - I ran a 6 mile 'fun' race at Bellevue in 54 minutes (my fastest time since injury).  I think I did a minor calf pull as a result (apparently I have to balance distance and intensity better because I don't feel tired but my muscles give out) but enjoyed it mightily.

I had a run-in of another kind at a designer lingerie boutique.  If I was a courtesan I would shop at Zovo all the time.  They tempt you into a boudoir curtained in taffeta and bring you piles of lacy things in your size 'to try'.  I should have left my pocketbook behind but .... well, I didn't.  I think I have said enough and now have a love-hate relationship with Simone Perele.  Next time I think I will go with Trina who tells me she has low inhibitions, good taste and high standards in the lacy-bits department. 

What else?  Blegh.  Time to fetch Frost so no news about the growth of the herbs on the deck, the sudden sunshine or the plan to make s'mores tonight.  No time to draw a tableau of our fireplace, still in use in late spring or of the anticipation of easter.   Adieu till then...

Hanging outside Essential Baking

On afternoons when I fetch Wren early, we sometimes swing by the Essential Baking Company for a coookie.   Yesterday, Wren enjoyed climbing on the wall like a mountain climber.

I told him I would take a picture "for granny".  Granny has been giving me a hard time about being a fitful blogger.  Anyway, he was happy until he slipped.  Then he cursed and said he hated me - possibly because I was responsible for the situation?   Wren has very big and sensitive feelings.

Wren is so sweet...

Until he isn't.

We have bought a dog

We haven't found a house but god dammit, we have a dog.  Actually, we don't have a dog either YET but we have put a deposit on a puppy who is a month old.  This is what we know:

He is a boy.

He is a miniature long-haired daschund dachshund  (you have to be able to spell it before you can buy one). 

He is tan/brown and is the single-only-puppy in his litter.

He lives in Eugene Oregon but we will pick him up near Longview, WA.

Here is his latest puppy pick:

Josh suggests naming him after a Magic the Gathering creature.  I think he looks too fluffy.

Disequilibrium, vast beasts and the property market.

In early childhood, transitions between stages of development are often characterized as 'disequilibrium'.  The theory goes that children are pleasant and biddable when they have mastered a developmental stage but as they start to topple into the next stage they become wild, mean and full of huge lashing emotions  (I envision these as the wild snakes of the Medusa presenting as a corona around the child's head).

So, I think I am in disequilibrium.

Frost Masters Magic
Frost isn't.  He is in the developmental stage called Obsession with Magic the Gathering.  He plays the card game at every opportunity.  Alex is playing it too.  Josh is playing it too.  Wren is playing it.  I was playing it but as they all perfected and advanced the strategy and deck construction my interest degraded into infantile stabs with pretty cards and big creatures.


Wren has a greater lexicon of Magic than do I.


Wren is farming zombies

Wren is pretty stable in his desire to play Zombie Farm on the iPad.  He also likes to run around in the garden as spring comes, wrestle big boys and draw.  He has a nasty habit of nagging and whining but I feel it is really my fault because I am now working and doing things other than playing "pigs in the maze" or "Pigs in the Zombie Forest" all day as we were used to in the past.

"YOU BE A CROCODILE AND TRY TO  BITE MY FEET!"

Look at the big pouting lip when I disappoint

Wren is growing increasingly tall and skinny

Wren climbs across a bridge over a river of crocodiles ( near Ravenna)

I am a Zombie

Okay, so raise your hand if you are a mother and have wondered whether you are getting early onset dementia or Alzheimer's?   I'm not joking!  I just can't seem to remember recent things with any clarity.

This evening, I caught Joshua saying things slowly and telling me dumb and self-evident things.  I accused him of treating me like the Aged-Infirm (the age difference between us makes this a valid concern) but he said he was just pulling my leg because I told him to click the completed sales button to see completed sales on Ebay.   Apparently, implying he is stupid leads him to imply I am stupid in retaliation but hit a nerve.

I started to think that maybe the reason I find life overly full is because I am dementia'ed and that my quality of attention is altered.   This is a change from my usual explanation - life is distracting and demanding and I am never left alone.


So, I was pondering this chicken-egg problem of my failure to remember the date, what movie we saw two weeks ago or the name of a book I just returned to the library when I hit on another explanation.  I think that I am the one in disequilibrium myself and have yet to figure out the balance between work and other jobs.  I am very much enjoying my new role as  a Work-at-Home Mom and a half-marathoner and an artist but there is that pesky stay-at-home Mom element I have going as well. You see the problem?

Disequilibrium as nobody gets enough of me.

Various other things
A few weeks ago we decided we would try and move house to accommodate the greater space needs of our bigger boys.  So far, the search hasn't turned up what we want but we have narrowed down the options and know more about what we like.  We have also come to appreciate our home a great deal, to enjoy the french doors, to improve on the already lovely yard and I have strung a rope swing, dug a firepit and variously tweaked things to make them more of what we like.

Tax Return Time
It is tax return time in the US.  April 18th is the date that all bills must be paid and tax returns submitted.  For the first time in 5 years, we used an accountant this year and were horrified to receive a bill of $1,700 - not from the Inland Revenue Service but from the Accountant!    The tax return is in but we shall be doing our own tax again next year I fear.

And a dog, too

Whether or not we move shortly, Plan get-a-dog has been accelerated.  We had planned to buy a dog in fall, after summer vacation and trips. Now, we have decided to get a dog in June. The current front-runner is a miniature shorthaired dachshund, like this:

Running
I am back to running and hoping to make a half-marathon in May.  I was off 6 weeks with injuries but various physio exercises have improved my core stability and I have run 8, 9 and 8 miles on the past three weekends.  Next week I will try 9.5 miles.  

I shall try and write a few shorter posts this week.  Sorry for the absence.  More soon..

Cranes are here somewhere, probably, maybe not.

On Thursday, we went on a short field-trip from Seattle to Othello, in Eastern Washington State.  Othello is a small farming town which gains some publicity each spring during the Sandhill Crane migration.   According to the local paper, thousands of Sandhill Cranes were wandering the fields outside town and could be seen by the casual visitor who arrived before noon.  By noon, we read, they retreat back to the marshlands in the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge.

Eastern Washington is flat and blocked with green fields
straddled by the wide metal arcs of sprinklers.

The Crew in the Back
(Tara, Alex, Frost, Wren, Phoebe)

Othello is almost 190 miles from Seattle so we left on Thursday afternoon and spent the night at Moses Lake, leaving at 8am after an early breakfast.   It was still cool when we arrived at the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge Rangers Station in Othello.  The streets in Othello are about 8 cars wide and rutted with gravel.  We pulled in and were surprised to find the office open by 8am.   The Rangers were very helpful, giving us a map of likely viewing sites for cranes and burrowing owls and the boys enjoyed seeing the alarming stuffed crane and bald eagle posed in the reception area.


Unfortunately, this was the only Sandhill crane I have ever seen.

The only Sandhill crane we saw was not in the corn fields.

The bald eagle appears to have been struck by budget cuts.

Unfortunately, the Sandhill Cranes had not been informed of their expected locations and were not in the fields.  The ranger said we should probably have been here at dawn when the cranes would have been hungry and visiting corn fields to forage.  We would have come at dawn if we had known but we didn't.  The Rangers said that we had a good chance of seeing them roosting at the wetlands where they returned after feeding. 

We hunted valiantly, following the map along various unmarked roads in the Refuge but did not find the cranes.

However, we had more luck with the burrowing owls.  I don't have a telephoto lens or aspirations to bird photography so here is someone else's burrowing owl.  They are small owls that make underground burrows.  During mating season they stand up near the nest and can be seen on their long little legs. 

Burrowing Owl - feeling anxious at
the proximity of the minivan.

After some lostness we managed to track down a burrowing owl nest.  I won't get into details other than saying that by following the rangers map we inadvertantly overshot the intended viewing site and saw the owl very closely.   We then withdrew, and used the telescope and saw a second owl slightly further away.    It was a wonderful siting of a wonderful bird. 

The boys stalk closer to the burrowing owl
who promptly vanished into his burrow.

The burrow

Fred, Alex and Tara look from a discrete distance

The landscape out there is spacious and you can travel great distances without seeing a car.  Tumbleweeds reel across the road when the wind blows and great drifts of them pile up downwide on steep hillsides and cliffs.   Frost wanted to bring a huge tumbleweed home but we could find no place for it in the van and no way to travel with it on the roof.

Frost, Alex and Tara gather tumbleweeds.

The tumbleweed Frost wanted to bring home.

Me, with the photogenic tumbleweed.

Tara and Fred

Phoebe avoiding any contact with the tumbleweeds.

The Tumbleweed and Tara and Fred, Again. 
Its starting to look pretty malevolent to me by this point.

Frost persevering with this plan to bring the tumbleweed home

Among our other memorable moments was Tara's siting of a farmyard filled with roaming peacocks and peahens.  I have never seen peacocks with such large tails.  Frost stalked into the farmyard to take this picture and another of a peacock leaping from a roof down to the grass.  We thought he might be shot for trespassing because it was that kind of place.  Fortunately, he survived.

The peacock farm

When we arrived home I was distraught to realize we had left SOFT SHIRT in the motel in Moses Lake.  Housekeeping had not found it and I despaired of ever seeing it again.  It turned out that soft had not been left behind - but had been left in the car overnight.

I called Joshua and told him I had "lost soft" and was very upset.

He said "WHAT?"

I repeated "we have LOST SOFT"

"Oh," he said.  "I thought you said you had lost FROST.  I don't care about that stupid shirt."

I was indignant and feel I am now Soft's protector although his comment was probably best understood in the context that he doesn't care about the stupid shirt as much as he cares about his unstupid son.

Tired.  TV.  Tea.