(no subject)
A jumble from the past few weeks.
I have been gardening more this spring than I have in the past three years. It feels really good to see beautiful plants and flowers out my window, especially the Florida native species I'm trying. The Virginia Willow or Sweetspire is a fantastic new addition, with its red branches and spires of small white flowers. It has filled a troublesome niche in a place that I look at often from the window. I also like the Walking Iris, and I couldn't resist getting some Elliott's Aster.
Gillian and Elliot aren't fans of Fresh Air on NPR, so at that time of day I switch to a different station. Which is how I ended up explaining Freebird to Gillian, and the concept of a guitar solo. Which, she pointed out, isn't really solo, since the other musicians are still playing. I looked in the rearview mirror once to see Elliot happily engaging in untutored headbanging. The whole classic rock lesson was capped when Gillian asked, "Is that a cowbell?"
In response to the letter I sent to Governor Crist, I got a letter from one of his flunkies. The flunkie thanked me for my concern, and then told me how many billions the state spends on education, and where Florida is ranked in relation to other states. Which is entirely beside the point. The point is that the state government is continuing to cut the education budget, and thus the quality of public education in Florida. Thanks for not listening, asshats. Using the word "billion" a lot does not get you off the hook.
Elliot had his first public performance the other night, if the definition of "performance" can be stretched to mean "not fleeing the stage." He insisted that I sit on the stage with him, but then allowed me to go to the audience when Gillian took my place. He didn't sing at all, but did some of the hand movements with the help of his big sister.
With some aggressive, eBay-esque maneuvering, I got us some good deals at a silent auction, saving us about $100 on summer camp and gymnastics classes.
I have made inroads in completing my photo file organization, burning and archiving all of 2005, and getting close to done with 2007 and 2008. This in response to my computer telling me that I was getting low on memory on my 100 GB computer. Nothing like a little hard drive motivation.
We cleaned and cleaned and cleaned the house yesterday, and then went swimming. Ahhh.
I have been gardening more this spring than I have in the past three years. It feels really good to see beautiful plants and flowers out my window, especially the Florida native species I'm trying. The Virginia Willow or Sweetspire is a fantastic new addition, with its red branches and spires of small white flowers. It has filled a troublesome niche in a place that I look at often from the window. I also like the Walking Iris, and I couldn't resist getting some Elliott's Aster.
Gillian and Elliot aren't fans of Fresh Air on NPR, so at that time of day I switch to a different station. Which is how I ended up explaining Freebird to Gillian, and the concept of a guitar solo. Which, she pointed out, isn't really solo, since the other musicians are still playing. I looked in the rearview mirror once to see Elliot happily engaging in untutored headbanging. The whole classic rock lesson was capped when Gillian asked, "Is that a cowbell?"
In response to the letter I sent to Governor Crist, I got a letter from one of his flunkies. The flunkie thanked me for my concern, and then told me how many billions the state spends on education, and where Florida is ranked in relation to other states. Which is entirely beside the point. The point is that the state government is continuing to cut the education budget, and thus the quality of public education in Florida. Thanks for not listening, asshats. Using the word "billion" a lot does not get you off the hook.
Elliot had his first public performance the other night, if the definition of "performance" can be stretched to mean "not fleeing the stage." He insisted that I sit on the stage with him, but then allowed me to go to the audience when Gillian took my place. He didn't sing at all, but did some of the hand movements with the help of his big sister.
With some aggressive, eBay-esque maneuvering, I got us some good deals at a silent auction, saving us about $100 on summer camp and gymnastics classes.
I have made inroads in completing my photo file organization, burning and archiving all of 2005, and getting close to done with 2007 and 2008. This in response to my computer telling me that I was getting low on memory on my 100 GB computer. Nothing like a little hard drive motivation.
We cleaned and cleaned and cleaned the house yesterday, and then went swimming. Ahhh.