dessertfirst4me: July 2008

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Camp musings

Cyrus spent last week at camp - Mon- Sat. It seemed like he was gone for a very long time! We all missed him. He had a blast and was so glad he went. He seems more sure of himself - a little more independent. When I dropped him off and was saying goodbye it was the very first time ever that he didn't really hug me back. We were surrounded by kids - many of whom he knew from baseball or tennis. I understood. It was bittersweet. But he hugged all of us individually - big bear hugs - when we picked him up at the end of the week. We were still surrounded by the same folks, but then he was hugging them too! It was a joy to see him stand up in front of all of the camp and parents and give an account of the day they had visiting musicians. He also performed wth his "ohana" cabin group their haka - or war chant. Now that was something I would never have thought he'd do!

Of course, we have heard story after story about his week away. Many of is stories are about the adults and the things that made them crazy and, as Cyrus said, made them "get mad at us for no reason". The way he tells the stories it is apparent that much of how and why the adults reacted as they did was mysterious and curious to him. I was reading at the Blog of the Zombie Princess today and looking at her photos of the RU Fun camp out that happened this past week on Salt Spring Island in BC Canada. All Radically Unschooling families - oh the bliss! One of the photos captions reads: "Glow sticks anyone?". It made me smile. Cyrus told a story from camp about the director's youngest son who had found her stash of glow sticks that she had brought and passed them out. The whoops of joy caught her attention and apparently she was miffed! "Where did you get those?" Blah Blah Blah. The kids were having a blast, but she couldn't get passed being pissed that they had been passed out before her intended time for them. Cyrus said she finally said, "Well, I guess you should just go ahead and use them now since they are already out!" But she said it in a heavy, annoyed, "but I don't approve" kind of way. What a waste of joy! And then there are the RUers - playing with glo sticks because it is fun, and they feel like it, and they want to, and nobody is telling them, "No! Wait! It isn't time for glo stick fun yet!"

I am so glad he went. But next year I want RU Fun camp!

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Friday Fill Ins (a bit late)

Thursday, July 17, 2008
Friday Fill-In #81

1. If I could be a fly on the wall I would ______sometimes_____.

2. Jealousy is not ___my thing____.

3. When I see a shooting star my wish would be that___people I love saw it too_________.

4. I'd rather be___watching waves__ than ___in waves__ any day!

5. Certain songs when I hear them make me wanna ___"pull your skin like wrapping paper round my heart"~ Elvis Costello___.

6. If time were in a bottle ____ I'd sip it slowly in a hammock under the shade of the mango tree_________.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to __seeing Billy___, tomorrow my plans include ___picking up Cyrus from camp! and roasting marshmellows while watching the moonrise over the water at the poperty__ and Sunday, I want to __dance (but I am going to clean my house for guests instead)___!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

My family and Other Animals

Last night it was just the girls and I at home. We watched the Masterpiece Theater production of "My Family and Other Animals" based on the book by Gerald Durrell. We had read the book a while back. We laughed all the way through the movie! At the end of the movie the Mum is quoted as saying, "If you can control your family you have made a very terrible mistake somewhere along the way." And as the family sails away from their zany and wild life on the idylic Greek island of Corfu back to England at the beginning of WWII the mother, in an attempt to see the positives, says to 13 year old Gerald, "well, at least now you can get some education." And Gerald looks at her with a very puzzled expression and says, "Isn't that what I've just been having?" And Mum nods her head at the irony of it all.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Friday Fill Ins

1. Oh, I can't wait until I have a _Face without zits!!!!_____.

2. ___The # of months til my Mom's next visit ( she always cleans my fridge when she visits)_ is the first thing I see when I open my refrigerator.

3. I never leave home without __my car, unfortunately_______.

4. If I were a condiment, I would be ___mango chutney - sweet, exotic and a little bit sassy!___ because __that is the secret me:)____.

5. _stepping on chunks of avocado in the kitchen - eeeeww ____ is really high up on my list of pet peeves.

6. The last thing I thought of before I went to bed was _"I wish I hadn't had that last glass of wine"__________.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to _more of that yummy wine I had last night____, tomorrow my plans include ___working in the concessions booth at the little league All Stars tournament and cooking the fresh lobsters for lunch for the crew that the framers are going diving for at 3 am tonight before they come to our property to help Billy finish the floor of our house tomorrow!! __ and Sunday, I want to __go to the beach!___!
Posted by Janet at 10:16 PM

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Carport view

I love looking up at these trees from our carport. There is something about the date palm shape - reminds me of fireworks- juxtaposed with the rigid vertical lines of the lodgepole pines. And the sound the wind makes in each one is so distinct and so different. The palm sounds like rain, only a little calckity (I'm pretty sure that's not a word, but it describes the sound well.) -more like a rain stick sound because the individual fronds are quite rigid. The pines whistle and remind me of being in the mountains. It often seems strange that they grow so near one another.