Imagine you are invited

Maira Kalman writes/draws a lovely essay about Thomas Jefferson and Monticello.

Here is his bed, wedged between his study and dressing room. Enter the house

Read the whole thing. PRM

At least homeschooling is the answer for

the education of your special child.What to do if your child has superpowers from the Boston Globe.

Why am I posting so often if I am supposed to be taking a break? Because it is more fun than planning the Bar Mitzvah, cleaning house or doing any of the other "fun" things I have planned. And the blog look is still in transition. PRM

Shhhh, don't tell Grandma

Swine flu confirmed at Camp Judaea

Yakov is on day 10 of Tamiflu. Apparently some of the other counselors became sick with the flu at orientation.

Noach is going to Boy Scout camp Sunday. We are supposed to take his temperature that morning to confirm that he is not sick. PRM

And what am I doing to enjoy this summer?

Addressing Bar Mitzvah invitations. PRM

Time out

I'm taking a short break from blogging as I work on some other tasks, like enjoying summer. I'm also working on the blog appearance. No, it won't be green. This is just a transitional phase, sorry. PRM

I find this all very sad.

They were so optimistic, the women I heard on the radio last week, Iranian women who saw change in the potential election of Mir-Hossein Mousavi. They were excited to be voting.

But the fix was in. Many, of all ages, keep fighting. PRM

This book is a tummler.

At least in the Yiddish meaning JP has taught me. A troublemaker, something that calls one to action.

I picked up Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver about 15 months ago off the library donation sales shelf. Five dollars for the hardback, a real find I thought. It was right before we left on our trailer vacation so I packed it to read. But, as seems to happen each year, I never got to it and over the trip the book vibrated to the back of the closet, to be unnoticed when the trailer was emptied. I found it this spring and, once again, planned to read it while traveling. And again that didn't happen.

However I brought it back into the house this time and it was the first book I picked up after we returned. I'm so glad I did. It was a pleasant read and profoundly thought provoking. In reality I think it just organized my own thinking about this subject.

You can't read this book and then go grocery shopping at WalMart without a twinge of guilt or self-reproach. Especially at this time of year when the local farmers will be harvesting squash and cucumbers soon.

I'm glad I planted some vegetables this year, too. In years past I had a large garden and canned many tomatoes, tomato sauce, and pickles. This garden isn't likely to produce enough to can. Next year, when we won't be traveling in May but September or October, I can have a larger garden.

In the meantime I can buy at the farmer's market and research Community Sponsored Agriculture, CSAs, in our area for next year. PRM

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

Some of the unfamiliar birds I saw on our trip
Two male Summer Tanagers, birds seen in Texas.

The object of their attention, a female Summer Tanager. PRM

And so the summer begins

with Yakov once again off to Camp Judaea but this time as a counselor, not a camper. Dad and Noach are taking Yakov to his friend's house where they will drive the friend's car to camp this afternoon. That's another change, no more bus trips to camp. Some things haven't changed, Yakov loves Camp Judaea, has from the very first day he saw the place, eight years ago. I may have teared up leaving him but he never noticed when we left. PRM

Letterboxing 2009

Today we met some friends for lunch and our first letterboxing of the year. Actually the last time we went was in November 2007.

With this same group of friends, we found our first letterbox in this park in June 2007. I found some photos from that first time and it was fun to see how much the kids had grown.

We found one box and got out all our notebooks and stamps.

Rain cancelled further searching so we saved the remainder of the boxes in this park until same time next week. PRM

We're enjoying

the last few days before the public schools get out for the summer. That means mid-day movies and afternoons in the parks. Friday we have our first letterboxing of the season planned. But of course it is supposed to be cold and rainy that day.

Tuesday night in real retro style, the kids and I watched the movie Ma Wowo while having a nacho and taco salad dinner. Don't recognize that movie title? It was released on DVD when Shoshie was about 2 1/2 or so, maybe 1994. She loved it and watched it over and over and over and over. It was about a cat, Ma and 2 dogs, Wowos, who try to find their way home over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It is better known by the title Homeward Bound but here it will always be known as Ma Wowo. They were very critical of the movie now, being teenagers, but Shoshie could still recite much of the dialogue from memory. PRM

We're home

Blogging on the road just doesn't work for me. Often there is no internet. And when there is, I'm too tired to blog.

I will post some pictures later today. We spent several days in San Antonio and several more in the hill country of Texas. JP and I really enjoyed the LBJ Ranch, partly because we went alone and thus no one was complaining about how much time we spent reading the information and looking at "boring stuff" and partly because, and I am showing my age here, hearing LBJ's voice and seeing the pictures really evoked our childhoods. It was so reminiscent of lovely summer days of youth. PRM