Colorflower

Okay, seriously, have you ever seen cauliflower like this?
Grammy got it for us at the Farmers' Market, and we couldn't wait to try it out. According to google, the purple has tons of antioxidants, and the orange is high in Vitamin A. Just as long as they didn't get that way by soaking in a tub of food coloring, I'm fine with it. I always felt sorry for those turquoise carnations....

I took a picture before I cooked them, because I figured they'd fade as they steamed. We had some purple green beans once (I guess that's an oxymoron), and they lost every ounce of purpleness while cooking. I guess I needn't have worried here. The colors looked even bolder after the steam had done its thing:
I can't really comment on the taste, because I'm really stuffed up, and can't taste a thing. The kids said that both colors tasted exactly like white cauliflower, though. Trevi added that we should call it Colorflower. And so we will.

Later, perhaps inspired by dinner, the kids and Lisa donned rainbow belts (a.k.a. linking car tracks).
The water in the steaming pot, by the way, turned vivid green. It was a colorful night in our house.

PS: Apologies to all Canadian readers that I have ditched the correct spelling of the word, "colour". When in Rome.....

Getting My Blog On!

Whew! I feel better now! I finally had a bit of down time so that I could catch up on delinquent blogging. Technically, I should have been grading papers...but this was more fun. :)
And Photobooth is fun, too! (don't mind the mess in the background...)

Who needs cleats?

I really don't know what prompted Clara to haul out the rain gear today, but she decided that her boots and raincoat made a pretty good soccer ensemble. I convinced her to put away her umbrella, though.

Shh! I hear a pliano!

We usually listen to our local jazz or classical radio station in the morning, to keep things kind of peaceful as we're all getting ready for the day. Classical often wins out in the end, because the jazz station gets a bit crazy sometimes, or leans too heavily on glockenspiel lounge jazz. One can only take so much. Anyway, this morning, Trevi was eating his cereal, and suddenly he said, "Shhh! I hear a pliano!" So, we all stopped chatting and chewing, and listened to the music for a few minutes. The pliano was followed by a clarinet, and then by a guitar playing some of its highest notes, leading Trevi to the conclusion that "It must be a tiny guitar to sound like that! Maybe it's as small as a ukulele!" An impromptu jam session followed. Better than the radio by far.

Golfing and Surfing

Trevi and I tested out his new scrap wood golf course after dinner tonight. Neither of us sank any putts, so he is going to rethink his design, and try again tomorrow. After a tiring round of golf, Trevi ran around the yard looking cute, so I took some pictures.
He's getting so big.

And speaking of the marching on of time, here's what Clara was up to while we were golfing:
I came in and said, "Whatcha doing, Sweetie?". She said, "Oh, I'm just surfing the net doing research for my speech on sea stars. I just googled it."

Strolling and Boating

Not a weekend goes by that doesn't involve at least one trip to school. I feel guilty. I feel like a rat of a parent. I just can't seem to squeeze all of my work into the work week, though. Asi es la vida, I guess.... Lucky for me, the kids actually enjoy going to my classroom. And while they don't exactly boost my productivity while we're there, they certainly boost my morale.

Today, Clara was at a birthday party/sleepover, so Trevi and I made the trek together. He decided to bring some friends.

The walk home on the weekends always takes an hour or so (it's a 5-minute walk) because one of the neighbors up the street chronically overwaters their lawn. While this is not a good thing for water conservation, it creates the perfect leaf-boat river.
And, since the neighbors are wasting all of that water, I am happy to report that our plants continue to thrive with only a sprinkling here and there. They are filling in nicely:
A really cool thing happened at school this week, too. A parent came up to me and started talking about how she'd been inspired to redo her front lawn after seeing this beautiful yard in the neighborhood.....and it turned out that she was talking about our yard!

A new invention

Pretty much every day, Trevor comes to us proclaiming that he has a new invention. Most of his inventions are machine-like things which have a distinct function. I like today's invention. It's a "Kitchen-floor-cleaning-robot-vaccuum." I didn't have the heart to tell him that his invention has already been patented by someone else, but I did ask him why he decided to invent it. His response: "Because our kitchen floor is always so dirty." Ya.

:59

Okay, so maybe this goes a bit beyond quirky, and into OCD territory, but Clara runs to the digital clock on the stove any time it is 59 minutes past the hour, and waits for it to change to the new hour. She used to watch it from across the room, but then occasionally someone would step between her and the clock, causing her to miss the big event. These photos were taken on three different days:
At least she knows how many minutes are in an hour...

Birdwatching

Our family has watched the unfolding story of a robin and her babies this past week. Here's the nutshell version:

Three eggs hatched. Little scrawny necks and heads appeared.
Mother robin spent every waking moment ferrying bugs and worms to her brood. We had to keep going inside because she wouldn't go near her nest when we were around. Clara and I were actually lucky enough to see a feeding one day. Very cool.
The birdettes sat there for hours on end with their beaks open.

They grew and grew. They pooped and pooped.

Finally, they seemed to get full, and stopped begging.

One of them left the nest one evening, and hopped around on the grass for awhile. We kept the cats inside as a precautionary measure. The following day, the nest was empty, and one of the babies was in our tree.

It was really a treat to be a part of the whole thing. Now, it is time to clean up the mess. I guess they don't call them "dirty birds" for nothing. I keep thinking of Barbara Kingsolver and the bird mites. Makes me itchy.

Gymnasts

I remember dressing my brother, Andy, in my clothes and calling him, "Andrea". He never seemed to mind. Trevi doesn't seem to mind either. He gets to keep his actual name, though. And at least Clara let him wear the black leotard for their tumbling routine.
Snicker.

Treading Water

Remember that episode of Magnum PI where he got knocked off his little paddle board thing by some inconsiderate boaters, and was left treading water for days? That is me....calmly treading.....knowing that I can go on indefinitely (barring the arrival of sharks), but not really getting any closer to land. I see the island over there and I know that I will get there eventually. But for now, I'm just going to keep on treading in the Back to School Sea. Maybe I'll make it to the beach by Saturday, and, if so, I'll talk to you then. If the current takes me out further, though, I may not make land until October. At least I have all of the hot air of unblogged thoughts to keep me afloat.

A Typical Evening

We're back to the world of homework, which typically involves a bit of nagging on my part. Gotta figure out a plan for that. I don't blame Clara for not wanting to do it. Who really wants homework? I give my students a lot less than I'm supposed to, because I basically think it's bogus. Shhh. Don't tell.

I was lucky to find some perfectly-placed bubbles as Trevi bathed, so I could bring you this shot:
He says that he likes the way the world sounds when you listen through water.

Happy Birthday, Lisa!

Since it was, apparently, Lisa's birthday today, Trevi and Clara pulled out all the stops for the grand celebration. There was a healthy feast of fruit and vegetables, followed by a collection of sweets topped with whipped cream.
After the party, Trevor built Lisa a special track. She will awake tomorrow to find it waiting for her. Then, we'll have to convince Trevi to move the track elsewhere, so we won't keep tripping over it.
Meow Meow, Lisa!

The Jumpy!

We haven't had the jumpy out in ages and ages, so today seemed like the perfect day. We got the thing when Chad was leaving for Vanuatu, and I was home with 3 1/2-year-old Clara and infant Trevor. I needed a way for Clara to burn off some steam without leaving the house. I probably owe my sanity to this jumpy.
Nowadays, we kind of break the rules of operation. The kids love to be inside while it inflates and deflates. Trevi loves to threaten to turn it off while his beloved sister is inside jumping.

I'm still here!

To the few, the proud, the "Stuff" readers: Tara, Helen, Eunice, Nancy, Irene, and Ashley (ETA: and Apryl) (ETA: and Miriam!), :)

I'll be back on track with the blog soon. I have a bunch of posts lined up and ready to go, but I've been busy making a class website and getting ready for school, so all of my computer time has been eaten up lately. Keep checking back, because I think I may have some free time on Wednesday night, so I can play catch up then. :)

And thanks a ton for missing me! Who knew that anyone but me would find it interesting to read all of this stuff? I'm so glad you're enjoying it! :)

BTW, what I usually do is log in every day and type a few words to help me remember what I want to say about that day, and then I get back to it when I have more time. Lately, I seem to be letting days upon days pile up before I actually get around to finishing and publishing them. So, that's why you've been seeing nothing, nothing, nothing, then BAM! Seven new entries in one day! I'll try to be more of a one-a-day kind of blogger from now on... :)