Guest Blogger: James D. Smith
Why is the sun so hot? Maybe because it is very close to Earth. Or maybe not. It is actually a star. Now let's go to Mercury. Mercury is the closest to the Sun. A day is long as a year on Mercury. Let's go over to Venus. Venus is the brightest object in the Solar System. It might have been Earth's sister planet, because they might be the same size. Let's go over to Earth. Earth is the only life planet. It is not very hot or not very cold, it is just right for us. Now let's go over to Mars. Mars is very dusty and it has dust storms. It has great volcanoes, and it's dusty.
Now let's go over to Jupiter. Jupiter has a giant red spot. It has gas storms. It is really big, three Earths could fit inside its big red spot. Now let's go to Saturn. Saturn has rings. The rings are made of dust, ice, and rock. Anyway, it is far away from the sun. It looks like a bright star, but it doesn't twinkle--it glows! You might have seen it and thought it was a star. Now let's go over to Uranus. Uranus goes on its side. It also has rings. Icicles give Uranus its blue color. Now let's go over to Neptune. Neptune has a big blue spot instead of Jupiter's. It is very windy on Neptune. Neptune is the windiest one. Neptune is too far away from Earth to be seen without a telescope. The wind on Neptune is so strong that it could pick up an elephant! Now let's go over to the last planet that is called Pluto. Pluto is a tiny dwarf planet. It is very far away from the Sun. It is so small that it needs to have a telescope to see it. Now that is all of the things of the Solar System.
The asteroid belt is made of rock. It is in the middle of Mars and Jupiter. Comets now. Comets are lighter and they're kind of made of dust, but not really. My Mom and Dad call them a shooting star. Now let's go over to meteoroids. Meteoroids are metal. They are a little far away from the Sun, but not really. Have you ever seen a shooting star? It wasn't really a shooting star, it was a meteoroid falling towards Earth. And that's all the things.
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Saturday, March 25, 2017
22/100
I. Make Our Garden Grow
Apparently Voltaire thought that philosophy was impossible without having a garden in one's backyard. In that spirit, I have an envelope full of herb seeds in our fridge, and a big bag of soil under my chair. (This looks odd, since I'm sitting in a Wegman's dining room between a rehearsal and a concert in Syracuse). I've been saving egg cartons, and we have seeds for cilantro, dill, parsley, thyme, basil, mint, and some others. We bought a couple of seedlings from the public market last year, but only the basil survived it's first week under our care. If we COULD make an herb garden work, we'd save all sorts of money and convenience on the herbs we have to buy marked up at Wegmans for DNI recipes, and then DNI remakes once we get hooked on homemade tzatziki dressing, or minty ice cream, or whatever else we happen to have tried recently.
And now we need help--how do decidedly brown-thumbed people (and one Kindergartener, who is doing this as part of school) start and keep an herb garden going beyond the recommendations on the package. I know where we've made some past mistakes. We overcrowded a pot with seedlings last year from the public market. Our carrots didn't turn out because we didn't thin the shoots. What else can we do? Where should we plant? When should we plant? Any and all advice is helpful...
II. The Morning
James wanted to stay up late. And by stay up late he meant "get up early." We do this sometimes. If I'm not going to see him for a couple days in a row I'll wake him up before anyone else in the house, bring him downstairs in the dark, put on some coffee for me and some hot cocoa for him, and then we'll lay out blankets and pillows on the floor of the library and read together for an hour before anyone else is awake. We did it this morning. Last night he asked how many hours it was going to be until we "stayed up late." I told him it would be about ten hours, and he said that was too long. I promised him that it would go quickly if he could just fall asleep, but he thought I should probably come and get him in just one hour.
He doesn't need me to read to him anymore. I offered, and he told me I should read my own books. He was a little curious to watch me making a translation from Greek, but mostly stuck to the stack that he'd selected. Eventually he was nearly falling asleep himself and went back to his own room to "play" (really lie down on the floor) for a few minutes before it was "morning time." (That means whenever Owen and Mommy woke up.)
I went in to get Owen and the first thing he asked was "Daddy, you have a concert?" "I do, Owen. I'll be gone all day today." "Okay, come back soon!"
III. Recently Reading
Phantom of the Opera, which was considerably shorter than I remembered it. (Perhaps I was mixing it up with any one of the Dumas or Hugo novels?)
Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy, which wasn't a particularly expository summary of Western Philosophy, but an excellent bird's eye of developments from Bacon to Dewey
Zola's Germinal. I've never read any Zola before. As a matter of fact, I hadn't read particularly much in the way of Balzac or Flaubert before this year either. One of the benefits of intensive French study is apparently finally being able to make enough sense of all the place names, currency units, and untranslated phrases to get an appropriate flavor of French fiction.
Apparently Voltaire thought that philosophy was impossible without having a garden in one's backyard. In that spirit, I have an envelope full of herb seeds in our fridge, and a big bag of soil under my chair. (This looks odd, since I'm sitting in a Wegman's dining room between a rehearsal and a concert in Syracuse). I've been saving egg cartons, and we have seeds for cilantro, dill, parsley, thyme, basil, mint, and some others. We bought a couple of seedlings from the public market last year, but only the basil survived it's first week under our care. If we COULD make an herb garden work, we'd save all sorts of money and convenience on the herbs we have to buy marked up at Wegmans for DNI recipes, and then DNI remakes once we get hooked on homemade tzatziki dressing, or minty ice cream, or whatever else we happen to have tried recently.
And now we need help--how do decidedly brown-thumbed people (and one Kindergartener, who is doing this as part of school) start and keep an herb garden going beyond the recommendations on the package. I know where we've made some past mistakes. We overcrowded a pot with seedlings last year from the public market. Our carrots didn't turn out because we didn't thin the shoots. What else can we do? Where should we plant? When should we plant? Any and all advice is helpful...
II. The Morning
James wanted to stay up late. And by stay up late he meant "get up early." We do this sometimes. If I'm not going to see him for a couple days in a row I'll wake him up before anyone else in the house, bring him downstairs in the dark, put on some coffee for me and some hot cocoa for him, and then we'll lay out blankets and pillows on the floor of the library and read together for an hour before anyone else is awake. We did it this morning. Last night he asked how many hours it was going to be until we "stayed up late." I told him it would be about ten hours, and he said that was too long. I promised him that it would go quickly if he could just fall asleep, but he thought I should probably come and get him in just one hour.
He doesn't need me to read to him anymore. I offered, and he told me I should read my own books. He was a little curious to watch me making a translation from Greek, but mostly stuck to the stack that he'd selected. Eventually he was nearly falling asleep himself and went back to his own room to "play" (really lie down on the floor) for a few minutes before it was "morning time." (That means whenever Owen and Mommy woke up.)
I went in to get Owen and the first thing he asked was "Daddy, you have a concert?" "I do, Owen. I'll be gone all day today." "Okay, come back soon!"
III. Recently Reading
Phantom of the Opera, which was considerably shorter than I remembered it. (Perhaps I was mixing it up with any one of the Dumas or Hugo novels?)
Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy, which wasn't a particularly expository summary of Western Philosophy, but an excellent bird's eye of developments from Bacon to Dewey
Zola's Germinal. I've never read any Zola before. As a matter of fact, I hadn't read particularly much in the way of Balzac or Flaubert before this year either. One of the benefits of intensive French study is apparently finally being able to make enough sense of all the place names, currency units, and untranslated phrases to get an appropriate flavor of French fiction.
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
21/100
 |
| ...the Gods arose, And took their horses, and set forth to ride O'er the bridge Bifrost, where is Heimdall's watch, To the ash Ygdrasil, and Ida's plain; Thor came on foot, the rest on horseback rode. ....There came the Gods, and sate them down on stones. |
 |
| O never mine eyes are closed in sleep On my lonesome couch by the sea, For the clamour the restless seagulls keep Is weary and strange to me. I pine for the mountains free, and the woods, For the snow-clad plains and the chase; And I hate the cold-lipped shore that broods In the shifting sea's embrace. |
Thursday, March 16, 2017
20/100
What the boys did after naps today:
-Raisins and cashews (for James, not Owen) for snack.
-The sacred and elaborately complicated dance of putting on snow pants, boots, mittens, and hats, removing them all again so that James could use the bathroom, and then putting them on again.
-Lucien Morin park at the bottom of the bay with a sled (or, "sleigh" as James insists on calling it)
-Climbing down the ravine and building a snow-ghost (not a snow man, that's something different) on top of a fallen tree trunk
-Climbing to the top of the ridge looking for the teepee. (We couldn't find it)
-Eating snow candy. (For the uninformed, it's exactly the same as eating regular snow)
-Holding a sled (sleigh) race down the ridge back to the car
-A snowball fight in the access path to the park. (It was almost fair, since I had to make a snowball for Owen for every snowball that I threw, and Owen always immediately threw his back at me.)
-French fries and orange juice (and beer) at MacGregor's
-Warm dry clothes at home
-A package from Nama with Bread and Jam for Francis, Noah's Ark, and a Clifford book. (All of which were read multiple times during the evening.)
-Homeschool for James with Owen riding on my back or jumping up and down on my feet the whole time--math, writing (a story about being caught in a snowstorm), a chapter from Robin Hood, and piano practice.
-Hot chocolate, made with milk
-Hanging up planet wall stickers in James' room
-Watching a video of a planet getting blown up. (Alderaan)
-Watching a video of the bad guys who blew up the planet getting blown up. (James is concerned that Darth Vader managed to fly away.)
-Looking for James' telescope so we could search for Mercury in the sky. (We didn't find the telescope or Mercury)
-Bedtime stories: Pierre for Owen, Bread and Jam for Francis again for James.
-Raisins and cashews (for James, not Owen) for snack.
-The sacred and elaborately complicated dance of putting on snow pants, boots, mittens, and hats, removing them all again so that James could use the bathroom, and then putting them on again.
-Lucien Morin park at the bottom of the bay with a sled (or, "sleigh" as James insists on calling it)
-Climbing down the ravine and building a snow-ghost (not a snow man, that's something different) on top of a fallen tree trunk
-Climbing to the top of the ridge looking for the teepee. (We couldn't find it)
-Eating snow candy. (For the uninformed, it's exactly the same as eating regular snow)
-Holding a sled (sleigh) race down the ridge back to the car
-A snowball fight in the access path to the park. (It was almost fair, since I had to make a snowball for Owen for every snowball that I threw, and Owen always immediately threw his back at me.)
-French fries and orange juice (and beer) at MacGregor's
-Warm dry clothes at home
-A package from Nama with Bread and Jam for Francis, Noah's Ark, and a Clifford book. (All of which were read multiple times during the evening.)
-Homeschool for James with Owen riding on my back or jumping up and down on my feet the whole time--math, writing (a story about being caught in a snowstorm), a chapter from Robin Hood, and piano practice.
-Hot chocolate, made with milk
-Hanging up planet wall stickers in James' room
-Watching a video of a planet getting blown up. (Alderaan)
-Watching a video of the bad guys who blew up the planet getting blown up. (James is concerned that Darth Vader managed to fly away.)
-Looking for James' telescope so we could search for Mercury in the sky. (We didn't find the telescope or Mercury)
-Bedtime stories: Pierre for Owen, Bread and Jam for Francis again for James.
Monday, March 6, 2017
19/100
OWEN NICHOLAS plays with the speaker dock when grown-ups aren't looking. He presses buttons, then bangs up and down on the top with his toys, then puts the cables in his mouth and sucks on the ends of them. Then he picks at the wax in the wax warmer and mashes it into the buttons. Now, somehow, there is an alarm that goes off at 7 AM every day, and nobody can figure out how to turn it off. The alarm stays set, even if you unplug the dock and plug it back in. So even on the mornings when Owen doesn't wake us up, he's still waking us up.
JAMES DAVIS looks out his window and sees "a bright yellow planet, covered in methane gas, the second planet from the sun. It looks like the brightest star in the sky--it's Venus!" Owen says that he sees Venus too, and James says that Owen isn't allowed to look at it, because Venus is James' planet.
OWEN NICHOLAS rides in the stroller and complains because he isn't allowed to hold a bird. All the crows fly away before we get to them and Daddy won't run fast enough to catch one.
JAMES DAVIS is lying on the ground, too hungry to move. It will be another twenty minutes until lunch, and chicken pizza. He's been offered salad, but he is only too hungry to move for pizza. Owen keeps on stepping on his head on purpose, but he says "sorry" after he does it each time. James just needs pizza.
OWEN NICHOLAS has found James' Steven on the downstairs couch. He says James gave it to him. He says "Steven is Owen's now."
JAMES DAVIS looks out his window and sees "a bright yellow planet, covered in methane gas, the second planet from the sun. It looks like the brightest star in the sky--it's Venus!" Owen says that he sees Venus too, and James says that Owen isn't allowed to look at it, because Venus is James' planet.
OWEN NICHOLAS rides in the stroller and complains because he isn't allowed to hold a bird. All the crows fly away before we get to them and Daddy won't run fast enough to catch one.
JAMES DAVIS is lying on the ground, too hungry to move. It will be another twenty minutes until lunch, and chicken pizza. He's been offered salad, but he is only too hungry to move for pizza. Owen keeps on stepping on his head on purpose, but he says "sorry" after he does it each time. James just needs pizza.
OWEN NICHOLAS has found James' Steven on the downstairs couch. He says James gave it to him. He says "Steven is Owen's now."
Friday, March 3, 2017
18/100
 |
| 3 Generations at RPO/RPYO side by side. I was Paul's student when I was Matt's age |
 |
| Life with James |
 |
| Owen spent almost an hour "tucked in" under three pillows and four blankets, just thinking quietly, sucking his fingers, and snuggling his George |
My new phone came with iMovie
Saturday, February 25, 2017
17/100
I. Homecoming
I finished my Rowan Williams book, and am now inspired to go acquire and read more Rowan Williams books. With J gone (with the kids) in Pennsylvania for the past several days I've had an immediate and practical reflection on one of his points about the soul/self. The use of language presupposes connections, and a self is not fully realized until it's in connection with other selves. In recognizing and naming the "other" it also locates its own existence and history and importance. The philosophical, theological, and linguistic implications of this idea are much more fully spelled out by Dr. Williams, and they're very big and important. The point came home much more locally and personally for me with her gone.
Without her around, I'm less interesting, less defined, and certainly less myself. I enjoyed puttering through the empty house in my workout clothes, picking up messes that stayed picked up, practicing lip-slurs somewhere other than the basement, and reading books at the dinner table with my feet up on her chair. But two souls living together are more than the sum total of their capacities. This is the flip side of all the horrible and graceless advice that people give in trying to "fix up" their single friends. You really are almost always more yourself, for better or for worse, with someone else.
II. Lessons Learned
Another tax year is in the books! I've started, just a very little bit, to enjoy the process of preparing the taxes. For one thing, I'm no longer surprised (pleasantly) when I start entering W2s and see our "expected refund" number in the multiple thousands of dollars, nor am I quite so shockingly dismayed when I see the "expected amount owed" number creep higher and higher as I enter in our self-employment income, or to see it usually just about balance out as I finish putting in the various deductions and expenses.
Because I have a better handle on what to expect, I'm slowly keeping better and more useful records from year to year. I actually kept all of my business receipts in a single folder this year, and knew exactly where to look to find our property taxes and student loan interest paid.
Next year--and it's really already too late to start next year, but maybe for the 2018 taxes?--I should do a better job of tallying exact mileage numbers. Also, an additional dependent would be fine. Maybe we'll add one in July or thereabouts.
III. New Phone Resolutions
1. Take more/better pictures of the kids. I have (and this is the worst parental cliche) waaayyy more pictures of James at Owen's age than I do of Owen...
2. Text for pleasure more. I think J does this a lot already, but I usually don't strike up texting conversations just for the fun of it. It's not going to come as naturally to me as it does to her, but now that my Dad AND my Mom have iMessage, there's no excuse not to be more in contact. (Especially since I also don't ever make voice calls just for catching up...)
3. Actually use Twitter/Instagram
4. Record more video of myself practicing
5. Actually attempt to use some of the features of the Fitness app
6. Put it away at the end of the night before going to bed. Was doing better about this, then got out of the habit. I sleep better and longer if it stays downstairs when I go up.
I finished my Rowan Williams book, and am now inspired to go acquire and read more Rowan Williams books. With J gone (with the kids) in Pennsylvania for the past several days I've had an immediate and practical reflection on one of his points about the soul/self. The use of language presupposes connections, and a self is not fully realized until it's in connection with other selves. In recognizing and naming the "other" it also locates its own existence and history and importance. The philosophical, theological, and linguistic implications of this idea are much more fully spelled out by Dr. Williams, and they're very big and important. The point came home much more locally and personally for me with her gone.
Without her around, I'm less interesting, less defined, and certainly less myself. I enjoyed puttering through the empty house in my workout clothes, picking up messes that stayed picked up, practicing lip-slurs somewhere other than the basement, and reading books at the dinner table with my feet up on her chair. But two souls living together are more than the sum total of their capacities. This is the flip side of all the horrible and graceless advice that people give in trying to "fix up" their single friends. You really are almost always more yourself, for better or for worse, with someone else.
II. Lessons Learned
Another tax year is in the books! I've started, just a very little bit, to enjoy the process of preparing the taxes. For one thing, I'm no longer surprised (pleasantly) when I start entering W2s and see our "expected refund" number in the multiple thousands of dollars, nor am I quite so shockingly dismayed when I see the "expected amount owed" number creep higher and higher as I enter in our self-employment income, or to see it usually just about balance out as I finish putting in the various deductions and expenses.
Because I have a better handle on what to expect, I'm slowly keeping better and more useful records from year to year. I actually kept all of my business receipts in a single folder this year, and knew exactly where to look to find our property taxes and student loan interest paid.
Next year--and it's really already too late to start next year, but maybe for the 2018 taxes?--I should do a better job of tallying exact mileage numbers. Also, an additional dependent would be fine. Maybe we'll add one in July or thereabouts.
III. New Phone Resolutions
1. Take more/better pictures of the kids. I have (and this is the worst parental cliche) waaayyy more pictures of James at Owen's age than I do of Owen...
2. Text for pleasure more. I think J does this a lot already, but I usually don't strike up texting conversations just for the fun of it. It's not going to come as naturally to me as it does to her, but now that my Dad AND my Mom have iMessage, there's no excuse not to be more in contact. (Especially since I also don't ever make voice calls just for catching up...)
3. Actually use Twitter/Instagram
4. Record more video of myself practicing
5. Actually attempt to use some of the features of the Fitness app
6. Put it away at the end of the night before going to bed. Was doing better about this, then got out of the habit. I sleep better and longer if it stays downstairs when I go up.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)