The Best Recipe Ever (if you are a South African Emigrant Nostalgic baker)

Imagine you emigrated from the USA and ended up in some up-country South African town where people eat boere-wors and Nescafe Instant coffee.  Now you have children.  Instead of the cultured Starbukkers of your youth, they like Milo and anchovy paste on toast.  Your friends let them sip wine and shandies at braais.  What can you do?  Nothing, of course.  But to make yourself feel better you bake choc-chip-cookies and force-feed them pepperoni pizza for parties - imported pepperoni of course.

Well, my expat attempt to emphasize my children's colonial roots is The Crunchy.  If you fly SAA to South Africa, odds are you will get a crunchy with your tea or coffee.  They are served at parties, kept in the cookie tin, sent in lunch boxes and shared (chocolate coated) at Christmas.

Crunchies are the South African choc-chip cookie and now you too can enjoy them!

Here is a great recipe. from Orna Bakes website.  If the link is broken, ask me... I have a copy of a few versions.

I am waiting for my second batch to come out of the oven.  They take a while to harden and the kids keep coming to check "Are they ready yet?  Are they cool?"  Of course, I can't smell anything even this close but they sure look good.

Another good recipe is my aunt's recipe for klapperys (coconut ice).  You American's have no idea what I am talking about... you probably think its some kind of dairy-free desert or a coconut smoothie.  It is not!  It is about 50/50 desiccated coconut and sugar.  I shall post hers later (photostream glitch) but for now you have the web version.

Meanwhile
Wren and I went for a walk together to return books to the Free Little Library.  All around our neighborhood there are little outdoor book boxes where you can take or drop books.  I often read books from them - an odd and seldom curated mix - including When Bears Attack, fantasy novels, romance, scandinavian detective novels and whatnot.

On the way home Wren confided that his friend Piper had told him that her cat puked its intestines out and is now dead.  Did I think that was gross?  I said I thought it was gross.

This is why you must take your kids on walks - to find wild books and learn about gross secrets they have been keeping.

The Blog is Back

Apparently Facebook is not nice for everyone and family, near and far, have been missing out in a big way.  They didn't know that Wren turned 7, they didn't hear about the snow, they didn't know how cute the kids are or that I have lost my sense of smell ... SO... we are going to go back to blogland.

Hello World.

In which we do not get the dinner we planned
The first news to report is that we did not go to the new Seattle Din Tai Fung for dinner because the wait for a table was 1 hour and 45 minutes at 6pm.  Apparently, this is not a family-friendly place to eat as you cannot make a reservation and you cannot put your name on a list until you are standing outside.  Its like that Whale Wins place that is so popular that I have never eaten there.

Because I really care about dumplings, next week, I shall go and take my laptop and put our name on a list and then Josh will join me with the kids for dinner.

Because we were all geared to eat out, we went to Bengal Tiger instead.  Wren whispered "don't tell them but the thing I don't like about this food is that it is all spicy".  He drank two glasses of water and a mango lassi as well as lots of tandoori chicken, vegetable samosa and rice.  Then he was full up.

Frost ate dal.

Josh and I ate as much as we could of the remaining dishes but we have enough for dinner tomorrow in the leftover box.

We all ate sugar coated aniseed on the way out.  I could only taste the sugar since aniseed is mainly a smell.  Today, I also noticed I could not smell cologne, dog poop, Frost, Beezles sour ears or chocolate.

The ENT
On Tuesday I am going to see an ENT.  I went to see the regular doctor this week to follow-up on my anosmia (there, a scrabble word for you).  Last time I had seen her I had impressed her with my profound smell loss by being unable to smell anything in a bottle of dried porcini.

She prescribed 3 months of B12 in case it was due to a deficiency but I have had no improvement and asked to be referred to an ENT.

She called the ENT while I was there.  He said that the most common cause of loss of smell was a viral infection (a cold) or chronic sinus infection.  I cannot recall a particular cold causing this but it has been a long while.  He also suggested I try zinc 'in case'.

I will report back after the appointment.

Cayman Islands... Soon
I have put a laundry basket out in the bedroom and am throwing things in it for our trip to the Cayman Islands.  Today I threw in a $2.99 snorkel and mask which I bought at Goodwill and a $40 pair of fins and mask which I bought on the Sports Authority Sale.  Apparently most people are buying snowboards and skis despite the snow drought.  I have also put a hold on a book at the library titled Birds of the Cayman Islands.  There are many new birds, parrots and a strange kind of forest called Dry Royal Palm Forest in which huge palms poke out of dry deciduous forest.    You can see them in the book preview on Amazon.  I have also ordered a plankton net with 300 micron mesh for the kids to capture larger zooplankton for our microscopic research project.

My Cayman Island To Do List now looks like this.  Of course, this is very tentative and there may be more or less lying around.

Saturday:  Arrive
Sunday:  Explore locally and lie around.  Hunt plankton.
Monday:  Stingray City & Snorkel tour (weather permitting, because there is only one cruise ship in town that day)
Tuesday: Turtle farm and water park.
Wednesday:  Lie around.
Thursday:  Botanic Gardens Iguanas and hike Mastic Trail to find parrots.  Swim NE beach.
Friday:  Lie around & snorkel a new beach
Saturday: Move to hotel and lie around pool.
Sunday: ditto.

That's enough for now.
Bye
Shannon

Adventures in Microscopy

Today, I hooked up the new OMAX Microscope and downloaded the software to record pictures and transfer them to the computer.  Then, I went out and collected a sample of water from our bird bath.

This is what was in it!

Bdelloid Rotifer  90 microns.  100X

It was swimming around, waving its littel cillia around the mouth, sucking  in tiny dots of things.  I read that this animal is a kind of phytoplankton.

It was in my bird bath!

There were a couple of them.  We watched them swimmig, attaching and eating for a while before returning them to the birdbath!

Incredible fun for all.

Wren tastes his first truffle

Wren has been obsessed with truffles for a while.  He has asked for truffles for his birthday, has begged to "go and find truffles" and has asked "when will we GET truffles".  He had not eaten one, his interest was based purely on a child's fascination with things rare, special, expensive, denied.

I told him I could not find truffles because I did not have a truffle dog or pig and that they were too expensive.  This only increased the desire to Have Truffles.

"I know I will like them!" Wren told his friend and his father, "even though I have never had one.  I love all mushrooms!"  "How do you KNOW you'll like them?" asked his hot-dog-and-rice loving friend.  "I WILL" said Wren.

Today, I wanted to lure the kids out of the house to a Farmers' Market and noticed that Foraged and Found  said they have local Black Truffles in stock in November.  I promised Wren that we could get a few truffles at the market.

"How many can I get?" asked Wren.  "Will it be $100?  I want to buy a BOX."
"It will depend on how much they cost..." I explained.  You can definitely get two.

It turned out that local black truffles (which are typically not as intense as the white or european) were $12 an ounce.  We bought 6 for $20.  Wren asked how to eat them and the vendor explained that we should rinse the dusting of earth from the surface and then grate a few finely over fresh cooked pasta with oil/butter.  He suggested a zester.

All the way around the marked Wren was smelling in his bag saying he could smell them.  That they smelled "like mushrooms".  Frost and I could smell nothing.  Frost said "It smells like paper bag".

When we got home Josh became impatient with Wren because he kept saying "TRUFFLE TRUFFLE TRUFFLE".  Its a good word but quickly gets overused.  I decided Wren did not have to wait for dinner since the trufflepation was killing us so I zested a small piece of cleaned truffle onto a dab of butter and let Wren eat it.

Then he wanted a sliver of raw truffle.  We tried that too.

"I knew I would like it."  He announced.  "It tastes delicious, just like FUNGUS"

Honestly, I can't taste anything much - either they were not fully mature and pungent or its my nose challenge.  I shall cook it properly later with some pasta.

At least Wren is satisfied.

Confessions of an Omnivorous Vegetarian

Thesedays, most families have some food issues.  Someone has an allergy, a preference, only eats potatoes, only eats veggie burgers, is gluten-intolerant or overweight, is underweight and that's not even going into the question of the provenance and eco-ethics of your food choices.  This is the cast of my family drama:

Shannon (aka Mom) - professed vegetarian, actually opportunistic omnivore.
Josh (aka Dad) - professed "low consumer", actually opportunistic Jack-in-a-Boxer and Googleater.
Frost - vegetarian, actually pretty much vegan
Wren - "I eat meat and vegetarians".

"This looks delicious!"

I have only been a true vegan for about two years in my twenties.  I didn't have much money and near the end of that period - waitressing for a kosher Jewish wedding caterer - I would shove potato piroshki's and herring in my mouth with one hand as I walked through the tunnel from the commercial kitchen to the function rooms.  I felt that food that 'fell off the wagon' so to speak, was not my contribution to the political nexus of meat production and since there was nothing edible in the fridge at home I would probably have eaten dumpster meat too, if somebody suggested it.  After that, I was vegetarian for about 6 years.  Really - and I recall developing some meat aversion during that time.

Even so, my share house was very ETHICAL.  These were animal liberationists who would go off in the night to 'free' pigs but who still kept meat in the fridge for 5 or 6 refugee cats because cats were by nature carnivorous.

That's how I feel about Wren.  He is clearly a carnivore in sheep's clothing.  Sweet and sensitive, with a porcine aortic valve, you would think his heart would reach out and refuse to eat animals but he is quite emphatic that he likes to eat meat and he will eat it even if I call it COW and PIG and CHICKEN.  Since he was 4 and ate all of Grandad's bouillabaisse - cracking crab legs and pulling clams out of the shell, asking "is this the foot?" before eating it - I have realized that he can't help it. So this is how it goes in our house:

This morning, Wren (6) was watching Yogscast but instead of a minecraft video he was watching a cooking show.  He told me it was "cooking with Duncan" and he had watched it a few times.  He says he was learning how to cook a steak and he would like to do it because it looked delicious.  I agreed it would be interesting.  I cannot recall when we last cooked a steak.

So off we went to Whole Foods and bought the best (aka expensive) grass-fed, level 4 cruelty free (aka the only bad thing in your life was being killed for me to eat) level cow.  The man behind the counter told us it was the best steak so Wren chose that one.  I supported him because I am of the brand of guilty vegetarian omnivore that believes that paying a lot for dairy, meat and related products is a penance as well as increasing the odds of better standard of living for the livestock.

We also bought the ingredients from the Youtube video:  "I need PORT" said Wren as we wandered through Whole Foods... "and salad!"  "Do you have brandy?  And "we need SINGLE cream not whipping cream."  We had a long debate over the color of the sweet potatoes.  The English variety on the video were yellow on the outside but orange inside.  Here in the USA we have only red and white varieties.

We came home and started preparing.  In the excitement of cooking from Yogscast, even Frost (the vegetarian) got involved.  In the midst of the steak smoking, the conversion of Centigrade to Fahrenheit for the oven 'chips' and the drama over how to saute the onions Frost said "don't worry about heating my veggie soup, this is a bit stressful and I don't want your steak to burn."

Wren peels the potato

Wren checks the Youtube Video for what to do with the ends of the potato

Wren watches the steak sear and worries about when to turn it

Partially eaten dinner, still defended.

It didn't burn.

I cut it in half after resting and Wren said it was delicious and I couldn't have a taste.  He actually pointed his knife at me an growled with a mean voice "Not.one.bite."

Frost and I ate canned soup with our chips and salad.

Josh ate about half of his steak and left it on the plate saying he was full.  Beezle waited as I scraped the plates and ate the gristle / fat strip on the edge.  Wren had eaten 3/4 of his half and then he too was full and done and talking about what to cook next time.

There I sat like a seagull watching children spill chips on the boardwalk.

Juicy $24.99/lb steak on the plate, unattended, left for clearing - And.cream.reduction.sauce.  Guess where this is heading?  (The same place it headed a month ago when Fred brought lamb chops...)

Lets just say that there is none left now and until I can remove meat from the area this is how its going to be.  I can't resist the gnaw and grist of it.  

Frost has suggested we make a nut roast with vegan gravy for our next family cook dinner.  I expect to be a vegetarian on that occasion.

Last Days of Summer

After 86 days of summer holidays and well over 2000 miles in the car, it has come to this - the last two days before the kids return to school.

Frost is lying on the couch shouting "I am just sleeping" while Wren bashes him on the butt and head with the handle of a plastic dwarven axe saying "UNCONSCIOUS ELECTROCUTE" and making zzzing noises to the sound of a song I don't know.

I have just fed them lunch while I am fasting - a singularly sacrificial act.  They had to eat their sandwiches, fruit and lentil soup before getting root beer float.  The root beer is one of the last vestiges of summer largess - evocative of the sunflower-yellow 80-degrees of sunshine yesterday when we ate corn soup and apple crumble made from fruit we harvested at Cave B's orchard.  It was so hot we covered the windows with a quilt and squinted at the sun until it dipped towards Phinney Ridge and the evening of growing shadow.

This morning we woke to the sound of rain and the newspaper came in the plastic sleeve they use only when wet weather is forecast.  The lotus flower rainchain burbled with runoff from the gutter outside the kitchen and the grasses that had grown long and leggy fell sideways over the path. 

While they ate lunch Wren asked Frost "What is your favorite food?" and Frost asked "In real life?"  There was a pause as he considered the alternatives.  "No, in Guild Wars..."  If you buy food in Guild Wars the food gives you 'nourishment' which confers an effect such as flight or speed or healing.  Frost says his favorite food is super high level lobster which gives you a ton of health and swiftness for a long time.  The cheese and lentils seem to have conferred plenty of swiftness on Wren but Frost has to be kicked outside to play with Wren in the slippery grass after his couch collapse.  I doubt the outdoor sojourn will last long.  Through the open patio door I can hear Frost tormenting Wren by singing a single repeated word in a staccato monotone while Wren tries to engage the rules of their axe-swinging game, screaming "FROST, FROST, FRRROOOSSSTT!!!" right into his face.

"Sorry, Wren" Says Frost, snapping out of it and kicking off in the swing for distraction while Wren orders the game - describing "bush backs" which are a monster he has imagined, like tree ents but evil, and how they must engage them.

This morning, Frost had his screen time while I worked and Wren was required to play by himself for an hour.  The hour can be broken down into these phases:

Crying [I want you to play a board game with me.  I have nothing to do]

Response: I am not going to play with you.  You are going to find something to do yourself.

Crying face down in red chair in kitchen: [blame and guilting]

Response:  I am going to shut the door.  Here are the things in your cupboard now figure it out.

Silence

Request for supplies (tape, glue)

Silence

Crying:  [I am so embarrassed because you are going to love the thing I made]

Response:  Okay.

Crying:  I want you to see it but I don't.

Response:  I am going to see it now.

Wren runs away then comes back with cautious monitoring of my response.

It turns out Wren spent his hour making coffins from shoeboxes.  They are dramatic gloomy things which are entertaining but hard to consider without smiling.  You must not smile and you must be able to read his pidgin english first time. 

The shoeboxes are called DETHS LAST WRDS and LIFS LAST WRDS.  They are opened with a symbolic key Wren wears around his neck on a chain.  Each contains a poem as follows.  I have translated from pidgin for you and included the original for flavor.  

Death's Last Words.  (Keep Out)

The world of darkness

grows and then

the hand of death

and souls fly around in 

dark and death.

Lifes Last Words

Life is gone

Hope is gone

All lights are dark

Hope's times

are over.

Apparently, this is how he feels when I work and nobody plays with him.  I think we could rework these into a dirge for the end of summer.  In case you are worried, both boxes are empty.  There are no dead cats or stuffies or anything although the bedroom is a mess.

The living room is a mess.

Holiday travel bags are not unpacked.

The fridge is overstuffed with Summer Food and BBQ leftovers.

My plan is to begin to clean today and play some board games.  We have the back to school picnic tonight along with the orientation for new parents.  I am supposed to read and inform about a list of tasks and responsibilities that new parents will assume when school starts - cleaning up after lunch, finding the emergency backpack and supplies, turning up for their workshift.  Really, I will tell them, it will all be a breeze after summer.  Its like the cube root of summer halved.  Back to school time is when we get to be the good guys again - the happy one they come home to, who writes little notes in their lunchbox, who appears early for pickup, who helps with homework.  The times of forced backyard fighting and screen time blackouts and root beers delayed for cheese sandwiches and, god forbid, shutting you in your room to play alone - are OVER!  

Wren rushes in screaming.  Frost comes thudding after him, mock cursing.  They have been whipping each other with the long tendrils I pruned from the wisteria.  Frost runs out the front door.  Wren runs after.  Frost doubles back and Frost locks Wren outside.  Wren thuds at the glass, waving a ti chi sword, perspiration beading his lip. 

Ah, we have had a good run of summer, of fight and freedom but roll me a pumpkin Mr Summer!

Vivre la Fall!

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Wren learned to pogo

We camped

We hiked

Visit to Frost at Camp

Frost has been in Summer Camp for 2 weeks.  Today, we went to visit him for the County Fair themed day.  He has one more week at camp after this - returning next Sunday.  There was good time and there was some sad time.  The good time first:

We enjoyed trying some of the carnival stalls - the huge slingshot, the water balloon darts, the roulette wheel to win candy.  We used our local currency (Wampuns) and met other parents and their kids.  Dogs were welcome and I was thrilled to introduce Beezle to a full-size long haired Dachshund and a Horse.  Frost says his favorite activities are horse-riding and showering.  I have no idea what is behind the showers (other than them being relaxing).  He likes to stand in the shower at home and he said if he could choose any activity for a day he would choose horse-riding and showers.

Frost showed us around camp.  We visited the Horses.  He has been out riding up to a trot but has not "loped" yet.  Apparently loping is the American term (the riding instructor said "the New World term" for a canter).  They are using cowboy saddles and Frost wanted to know why he was not supposed to hang onto the pommel with his free hand. He had been told the pommel was "for lassoing" and had imagined that it was used to lasso the horse.  I explained it was for a cowboy to hang his coiled lassoe on and that he was supposed to hold on with his thighs, not his hand on the pommel - but that it was fine for an emergency.  Frost says he likes to hold the pommel.  He would like to do more riding.

Beezle meets the Horse named Whisper

Horses in the Riding Quad.  They are usually in the back meadow.

We also saw his tent with the stuff for all the B-6 boys group.

Frost shows Wren how he can kick the boy sleeping above him if he needs to.

The schedule for the day.  Boys 6!  Apparently ICE-CREAM means
Making your own icecream and is super fun.  Whittling is "tent-time" and
Frost enjoys lying around and chatting and reading.

 

Frost's Home at Camp.  Its a raised Tent.  He sleeps n the bunk on the right.

Frost and Wren in his bed.

The Sad Time
Frost wanted to talk and ask if he could come home early.  He said some kids had come home early.  He explained that he liked HVT a lot and the counsellors and the activities BUT he was not enjoying the "animosity" and "hectic" hackling between the kids.  He said they were hyper all the time and yelled at each other.  It is particularly bad at night after the counselor goes off duty and leaves the tent, often still awake.  The boys (apparently) divide between three of them who want to sleep and the rest who yell and laugh and joke and bicker.  He says he doesn't mind them having fun but he didn't enjoy the way they call each other "idiot" and "you stink".  The story is that there are two bad jokes going around.  One started when a boy did not bathe for a week.  They started to say "X smells".  Now, whenever there is a bad smell they say "OH ... its X".  The other joke is to say "Oh, X bit me!"   It was started as a joke when nobody bit anyone - like a meme.  You'd yelp and then say "X bit me".  After a while kids started actually biting one another and sometimes getting hurt and crying but now nobody knows if a kid is really being bitten or crying wolf.

Putting this all together, Frost says he just wants to get away at night and sleep.  One night he went out of the tent into the woods and sat in the dark "for half an hour" till they quieted down.  Also, his best friend there has been alternatively fighting and making up with his other friend there.  For two days they were "not friends anymore!" and Frost says "I just want to keep out of it.

Josh and I didn't feel that he needed to leave early.  We said he could not come home and he became a bit teary. I told him to count down the days and it would soon be home time.

He said he doesn't want to do anything at home.  Just hang out with us.  :(

Suppurating Wound
To top it off, I noticed Frost has a nasty untreated wound on his leg.  He didn't mention it but I noticed when he was kicking the bed during a game with Wren.  He told us that he slipped off a log and grazed his leg but it has got worse.  I read him the riot act about dying from blood poisoning and how it was his responsibility to tell people when he was hurt because it could get infected.  He was muddy all over!

Anyway, I took him straight to the camp nurse who treated it with a bandage and neosporin and will now see him twice daily for a check and dressing change.  I also found his camp counselor and told him to check on Frost.

His Camp Counselor and the Nurse did not know about this.
Frost did not tell them!  It has been 3-4 days!  

Finally, I spoke to the Camp Manager and asked them about Frost's concern with noise and riotous nights in the tent.  She said that they had been having particular trouble with night noise and behavior in a couple of the boy tents and would be clamping down on it now.

Frost has received printouts of the emails and asked me to tell Granny and Grandad that "I am fine and having fun".  I asked if that was really what he wanted to say.  He paused and added "well, tell them that there are some boys - [name] [name] and [name] who are too aggressive and are being a bit of a pain."  He also complained that the boys in his tent seemed obsessed with the fact that the horses penises shoot out and retract "Shloop" when they pee.

I told him that was normal for this age and he would have to get used to it.

I told him Elephants had even bigger penises and they also poke out when peeing.

He said "Are you a penisologist or something?"

So, we left him with mixed feelings.  When I looked back he was hanging with his pack checking through the debris on the ground for candy.  I left him with a box of Mike and Ikes and some Sour Patch Kid contraband.  He is still saving his candy.

Counting down the days...

The Perils of Public Radio

I had the radio tuned to NPR while Wren and I were driving to a meeting this morning.  The news report announced that scientists in the Yakima Valley had detected West Nile Virus in mosquitos a month earlier than usual and people should take precautions.  I watched the trees passing, a man roller blading and paused at a cross-walk to allow a mother with a dog-tangled stroller to cross and then started driving on around Greenlake when a serious voice came from the seat behind.

"That is not in America is it?"

It took me a moment to clarify that "THAT" meant West Nile Virus.  I explained it was not in Seattle but nearby.

"OH MY GOD!" Wren wailed "That is why I don't like bugs.  I must have known before it happened about WEST NILE DISEASE.  I knew IT WAS COMING!"

I explained it wasn't as bad as Malaria and most people did not get sick from it.  He was not soothed.  He said "I think my foot is itchy.  Its not HERE though, is it?"

I said no, it was way over the mountains towards Chelan.

"Chelan?  OH.  We are not going camping this year then."

This was not said as a question but as a categorical fact.  He did not like the fact that I disagreed.

"THIS is why I do no like to go outside because of BUGS and what-is-the-thing called again?"  [West Nile Virus] I repeat.  "WEST NILE VIRUS - I will not go outside.  I WILL NEVER go CAMPING!  What if I get bitten by a mosquito?"

I try and explain about mosquito repellent and keeping our tent screen zipped but he is hearing none of it.  After a while of complaining he says "I don't think I am really bitten... its going away."

I felt it safest to say nothing.  Thankfully we had arrived.

This is only the latest iteration of Wren's anxiety about bugs.  From time to time he sees a spider, a cranefly or a large ant and starts screaming.  He is worried about moths and while butterlies are nice out the window he is not too keen on them very close.

We are going to have to work with insects this summer.

Hello Ashland

We are finally on the way down to California for Wren's surgery.   Today we drove from Seattle down to Ashland.  It was a very long day (10am till 7pm!) but we stopped for lunch at Pizza Pi in Portland and a quick visit to Powells.  Josh bought a language course in Japanese and has been trying to teach me the basic greetings.  I have stalled on good morning - something which sounds like Ohio go zai mas (which I remember as "Ohio go I must!") - and sayonara (which we recall from action movies).  He is remarkably good at understanding the advanced disk - I can see Frost will have a parent resource when he starts Japanese next year.   I bought an excellent book on Scottish Genealogy.  The Scots have fabulous genealogical records due to an obsession with writing things down and an abundance of lawyers plus they have made much of it available online.  My Dad's granny was a Scottish McHarg and I am looking forward to exploring her family more.  I think that the Dewars may also be Scottish but a way further back and the Hamiltons are reputed to be Scottish pre-1600.

We had a dramatic departure this morning.  Josh asked me for a list of the Things We Could Not Leave Without.  It included:

Wren
Wallets
Computers
The X-ray disk.

As we were driving off I remembered to check for Wren's hospital bag with all the activities I had bought and been gifted.  It was not there!  I checked back to think where it could be and realized it must have been given to Phillipa among Frost's things and was now locked in their house.  Nobody was home so we had to call Frost out of class at school and use his spare house key to go in and retrieve the hospital suitcase.  Close thing!

That delayed our departure.

We drove through rain and various cloudbursts and dark coniferous forests before Portland but since then it has been green vistas of sunny valleys and long-shadowed red barns with cows, goats and horses scattered in the meadows.

Traffic was easy and Wren's indomitable bladder required few stops.

We are all tired and have another 6 hour drive tomorrow.  We hope to swim in the pool first or at least try the hot tub.

The Games we Play (by Granny)

Frost, Wren & Josh playing Smallworld

Wren and Frost both love games and don't mean only commuter games. Any games. I realized that since I arrived here from Australia a week ago we have played games morning, noon and late.

Frost suggests a chess move for Wren. 

Shannon bought a new board game called Castle Panic which the whole family can play. It is unusual in that it is a cooperative game. Us against the orcs, trolls, goblin kings and giant boulders. Our precious castle is at stake and general panic ensues as the enemy advances. Wren has learnt to give up the cards that he wants to hoard for the survival the team. It took a little persuading.

Later we wanted a little quiet time so Shannon set Wren up with drawing pens and a big piece of paper and he decided to 'make a game'. I think, in doing so, he may have stumbled upon his future career, for he proceeded to design a game with cards; an enemy that inflicted grades of damage to our ‘tents’ and many other details. It bore some resemblance to Castle Panic but not a lot.
I can understand why Wren is so involved in the world of fantasy challenge. His current night time story is Harry Potter and in the car we listen to Greek myths and legends.

Josh plays games with both boys and last Sunday I was introduced to a very complicated board game designed for age 14+ called Qwarriors, complete with expansion packs. Its intricacies were a challenge to me but Wren and Frost were at home. 
Shannon says that Josh looks at http://boardgamegeek.com/ for interesting games to play with the kids.  

Wren with Qwarriors.

Another game for Wren is to shadow fight in the garden or bush, solo against imaginary enemies. On our recent trip to eastern Washington to search for the Sandhills Cranes, Wren walked with us, his wooden sabre in hand ready to deal with possible invaders. He was most concerned with the ancient 'potholes' that we saw in the scab-lands. He had imagined that we might fall into them.

Wren playing his game of imaginary battles.

Shannon and I were taken with Wren’s delight in story telling. To pass the time at dinner in a tiny 'outback' town called Soap Lake, we played the game of 'continue the story', where one person starts the story and the next person continues it.
Shannon, 'Once upon a time there was a little boy called Lump who lived beyond the mountains. He had never travelled so one day he decided....’

Wren was off talking and no matter what twist was made in the tale he was ready with orcs and dragons and mining equipment to enrich the plot. Sometimes he was distraught if we digressed in a different direction. We played this several times on our travels in between looking for elusive cranes and the more elusive burrowing owls.

Back home the kids had a pupil-free day last Friday. So more games were played. First Wren made a shop to which we came to make 'purchases'. Next we played forfeits and he designed a series of forfeits that came randomly with the cast of the dice. …Such as running around the court six times.....

And then Frost had his first match of Ultimate Frisbee. A game I had never watched. It is most similar to soccer. It was a windy cold day - maybe normal for spring in Seattle but freezing in my world. Frost, with help from his team, scored the only goal against the opposition. It is a fast game and a lot of fun.

Watching the Ultimate Frisbee game, Josh, Shannon, Wren & Beezle.

And the last game to end the day was a little tennis on the half-court. More running around the court….No wonder that I sleep well.