Angel

Oh what fun it is to play... we are closing 2010 with lots of laughter and happiness!

Festival of Christmas Lights

We drove through glitzy River Oaks tonight to see the lights. Beautiful decorations with Santa and reindeer and snowflakes and toy soldiers and colors were all over. In the middle of it all a blue shark on a gate, huh? All in all, several houses could easily make the "Extreme Holiday Lights" list!

It was a fun Sunday evening stroll/drive.

Pigeon Point

Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park sits on a cliff along the California coast between San Francisco (50mi S) and Santa Cruz (27mi N). The 115-foot Pigeon Point Lighthouse is one of the tallest lighthouses in America and has been guiding mariners since 1872. Its five-wick lard oil lamp and first-order Fresnel lens, comprised of 1,008 prisms, was first lit at sunset on November 15, 1872. The lens stands 16 feet tall, 6 feet in diameter, and weighs 8,000 pounds. Although the original Fresnel lens is no longer in use, the lighthouse is still an active U.S. Coast Guard aid to navigation using a 24 inch Aero Beacon.



UnklStuart in Flickr shared some incredible shots of the original fresnel lens. In his shot above you see the current working light outside the window and the fresnel lens. Stuart was part of a team that cleaned the lens prior to it's annual lighting in November. While no longer in service, the fresnel lens is lit once a year on the anniversary of the first lighting in 1872!

The restored lighthouse keeper's housing operates as a Hostel. We've been a guest at Pigeon Point several times and it's always a wonderful experience to wake up to the sounds of the ocean. I took the photo at the top on our last visit a couple of years ago.

A "Big" Christmas Tree

I decided this year that I'd get a small 5.5-foot Christmas tree so the kids could trim it and reach all the way to the top. They were super excited when it came home a couple couple of weeks ago. We set off to decorate it together with small ornaments, ornaments they had made, we added lights, a few red globes and we were mostly done. Over the course of two weeks we've added a few more pieces as they've made additional ornaments at school and at home.

Yesterday, I was talking to Daniel's teacher and told her that I had chosen a small tree this year. Well, she told me that Daniel said that he had a BIG Christmas tree at his house. I guess it's all a matter of perspective and relative size!

Daniel is responsible for supplying the tree with water every morning. Our tree drinks about a cup of water a day.

Scratch-off flakes

Kaila's holiday party at school was a blast today. Pizza, chicken nuggets, chips, veggies, fruits, a bite for everyone. The kids made a frame for their class picture and decorated scratch-off snowflakes! To finish it off they had a book exchange - it was truly fun day at school.

I was happy to visit and spend time with the class today.

Snowflake Bentley

Dentrite Star


Star Crystal


How is it possible that I don't recall ever hearing about Wilson Bentley?! The most incredible snowflake photographer, born in 1865.

This winter, I'll be sure to check out some snowflakes upclose.

For the kid in everyone - Snowflake Bentley is a wonderful biography written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and illustrated by Mary Azarian. The book is sure to captivate the imagination and curiosity of kids and adults alike!

Bentley's photographs are available in the public domain. I love the collection at the Smithsonian: "There are seven basic shapes of snowflakes: the Star Crystal, the Dendrite Star, Columns, Plates, Capped Columns, Needles, and Irregular Forms."

Photos by Wilson Bentley from the Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 31, Box 12, Folder 17, Negative no. 976 & Negative no. 332.

For a modern microphotography spin it's worth checking out Kenneth Liebbreth's book Snowflakes.

The windows in our computer/guest room have been decorated with snowflakes all year round, courtesy of Kaila. Kaila and I love to make the paper cutouts. It was specially fun and 'refreshing' to have them up through the 100-degree Summer days.

Urban Coyote

I was finishing up a run at dusk a few days ago when a coyote darted across the street right in front of me. The animal was running so fast it didn't even acknowledge I was coming. It continued on it's merry way without a blink which I was very thankful for...

Happiness

There is nothing like hearing your kids laugh spontaneously and worry-free. We had a great weekend!

Skating

Kaila found a new love last night - ice skating! She is all excited about going out to the rink again...

Elves and More

'Elves and More works in partnerships with local school districts in Houston to distribute bicycles to under priviledged kids. Students "earn a bike" by contracting with their teachers to make improvements in one of four areas: Academics, Attitude, Attendance or After-school activities. The contracts are signed by the student and teacher, as well as their parents in an effort to involve the greater community in the activities of both the school and their children. As the semester progresses the teachers use the "carrot" of the bicycle as an incentive to keep the students on task. Early in December the contracts are reviewed and all those that have made improvements in their chosen area are assured of a bicycle. The bicycles are distributed by volunteers (who have also built them) to the children at their schools, usually in December. Local communities, principals, administrators, students and parents are all involved in this process; which has a very positive impact in the greater community.' - Elves and More

Caroling

Daniel was super excited about Christmas caroling yesterday with his class. We were treated to Jingle Bells, The Dreidel, The Twelve Days of Christmas, Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeeer, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town - and yes... a surprise visit from Santa!

Rudolf was the most enthusiastic one for Daniel, we practiced it a lot the last couple of weeks at home and on our ride to school.

Dear Santa

Can you bring me a crystal ball?

Kaila and I traded secret Santa wishes. I can't tell hers, but I want a crystal ball.

The Story of the Orchestra

On my shopping list for the kids - The Story of the Orchestra by Robert Lavine. The book discusses the history of orchestral music, famous composers and instruments of the orchestra. A CD accompanies the book with selected pieces paired to specific pages. Beautifully illustrated by Meredith Hamilton.

The Snowman

A couple of years ago, we saw the animated short Snowman, based on the book by Briggs, with the score played live by the Houston Symphony. It was wonderful. Today, we were back at the Houston Symphony to see a family matinee of the Snowman. This time however, they did not play the movie. Someone narrated the story while the symphony played. Having seen the book and watched the movie where pictures alone tell the story - no words are spoken, I did not like this presentation as much. The real magic of the book is that the illustrations alone tell the story - you interpret it on your own.

After the performance, we joined friends for a holiday lunch and ended the outing with baking gingerbread cookies!

Letters and Friendship

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

The Perfect Front

A perfect cold front came through Houston yesterday morning, November 30th. My husband called and told me to look out the window. In the horizon, I saw this perfectly straight line of clouds crossing the city - I took a short break and snapped a few pictures... A co-worker sent me the NOAA satellite image.

Owl

Schoolwork - connect the dots and color.

I love how Kaila colored her owl. The marker strokes on the wings and body follow the feathers, as does in the eyebrows. The yellow feathers on the feet give her drawing dimension. I also really liked the orange outline around the eyes and feet.

"Who, who... am I?"

Felting

I wish I had time to do all the little things that catch my eye here and there at the craft store. A few weeks ago, I spotted on a shelf Laurie Sharp's book "Wool Pets: Making 20 Figures with Wool Roving and a Barbed Needle" and had to page through it. She makes the cutest little felt animals. I hope to find a workshop in town where I can try felting, just for fun.

Click to look inside on Amazon - "Wool Pets".

The Nutcracker & Dreidels

A traditional Christmas ballet and a party for the kids to play dreidels - that started our holiday season this Saturday.

The kids attended their first Nutcracker performance. Kaila and Daniel were completely enchanted by the music, the dance and the story. The first act went by pretty quickly. The Christmas tree scenario was beautiful making the living room setting come to life. The children playing on stage added fast movement and interest. The Nutcracker becomes a prince after saving Clara from huge mice that invade her room. Intermission and act 2 begins. Clara and the Nutcracker Prince travel to the 'Kingdom of Sweets' and a series of dances begin - Arabian, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, ...and it went on as Daniel falls asleep in my arms 3/4 of the way through and Kaila starts to want to go home...at this point I shift Kaila's focus by asking her to watch the ballerinas' feet very closely to see their movement. That did it pretty well - a few minutes into it she says very quietly, "How can they do that without bars?!" And by 'that' she meant all the footwork and arm positions she started learning in ballet class. That exercise took us through the last 10 minutes of the performance and everyone was happy. The Sugar Plum Fairy and the Nutcracker Prince dance beautifully and as the celebration ends in the enchanted land, Clara finds herself back at home drifting off to sleep and Nutcracker salutes everyone goodnight.

A game of dreidels followed at a friends house. The kids played for pistachios and were treated at the end to making their own marshmallow dreidels decorated with pretzel sticks and raisins!

A fun afternoon for everyone.

Photo Credits (www.HoustonBallet.org)
Ballet: The Nutcracker
Dancers: Amy Fote and Nicholas Leschke
Photo by: Amitava Sarkar

Martha Stewart Punchers

Quick note cards are easy to make with edge punchers. I used a monarch butterfly figure and bubble punches for the kids' birthday "thank you bookmarks".

I just discovered while shopping this weekend the new "punch everywhere". The top and base separate allowing a punch to be made anywhere in the page, not just at the edges! There is a heart that will be really neat for Valentines and a set of stars that I fell in love with (and, of course, not to be found at the store!). Will check back in a couple of weeks...

The Butterfly Project

One and a half million innocent children lost their lives in the Holocaust. In an effort to remember them, Holocaust Museum Houston is collecting 1.5 million handmade butterflies to be setup in an exhibition scheduled for Spring 2013.

If you'd like to participate, create as many butterflies as you wish and send them to The Butterfly Project.

Better than chocolate

I love those moments just before Kaila falls asleep when she just has to share something that pops in her head. A couple of days ago she told me:

"Mommy, I love you more than I love chocolate..."

"I love you too, sweetheart", I replied and she drifted off to sleep.

First Day of School

Kaila loved the first day in her new school.

DIY light pens

Kaila drawing with "finger lights" (on July 31st).

Drawing with light! Neat tools - gotta try it!

LED Light Drawing Pens: Tools for drawing light doodles - More DIY How To Projects

Let's Draw

Kaila has been having fun with her Nintendo DS "Let's Draw". She decided that she wanted to keep some of her drawings and used the DS as a guide, but made her drawings on paper rather than on the screen. And, of course, she always draws herself as the spunky "teenager"...

Visiting the capital

We had a fun-packed weekend in Austin. Ate brunch at a great new restaurant La Condesa, went for a swim at Barton Springs Pool, took a "choo-choo" train ride around Zilker Park, visited the Texas State Capitol, took a day trip to Fredericksburg, bought a Tickle Monster book with mitts, had the most delicious peaches on a stand by the side of the road, tasted some good Texas wine at Becker Vineyards.

Half way home, we drove through a very severe front - a pretty loud thunderstorm and lots, lots of water coming down from the sky!

At the beach

Hurricane Alex managed to agitate the Gulf of Mexico waters pretty well in early July. The beaches in Padre Island were covered in sargassum, an earth-brown seaweed. It was interesting to observe a whole micro-environment and habitat it creates. The sargassum provides a protective living space for shrimps, crabs and fish. All these small animals are camouflaged to blend in with the seaweed and they do it indeed.

The kids had a blast collecting some of these tiny animals. Their beach buckets became mini-aquariums. Kaila and I found a palm-size sargassumfish and as soon as we placed it in the bucket the shrimp went crazy. They all literally jumped out of the water, running for dear life, back to the beach, away from the fish. I guess sargassumfish think of shrimp as a delicious meal...and the shrimp know it.

We were happy to release the fish back in the ocean after identifying it (with the help of a Padre Island National Seashore park ranger). The shrimp took care of themselves.

Dear Diary

And here's a glimpse into Kaila's world through her Kindergarten free-writing journal. It was nice to learn that it provided her a stress-free outlet to express her ideas.

"Writing book. I like my writing book because I am by myself and nobody is saying, 'No, that is not how you write that.'"

"Planting. You need to give them water, sunshine and love."

Sweet Pears

Took some time away from the kids tonight to go to a painting class/BYO Wine party. Amazing how well most projects came out with only basic instructions.

We painted on canvas two "Sweet Pears" on a table top. I documented the 'evolution' of my painting, just for fun. The background for me was the most difficult, as you can see in the finished product... anyway, it was a fun Monday evening.

The Blues...

Blueberries any one? We picked close to 20lbs of blueberries this morning! The kids had a blast - and my bucket was always the least full. Kaila and Daniel picked berries from the bushes and from my bucket... They had a big laugh seeing Daddy eat straight off the high branches like a giraffe.

It reminded us of our trip to Alaska a couple of years ago. The best part of our hikes, scenery aside, was picking wild blueberries and salmonberries along the way. One big difference, 60's and 70's F in the AK summer versus 80's and 90's F here in TX.

Oh, and Kaila did not "allow" me to take too many pictures. It degraded productivity. "Mommy, you're not picking your blueberries! You're just taking pictures!!!"

I'll have to try making some blueberry jam, blueberry cobbler, blueberry pancake...courtesy of http://www.moorheadsblueberryfarm.com/. I'm glad they supplied us with some yummy sounding recipes.

Giggles

Just as Kaila was going to bed on Sunday she told me:
"Mommy, my favorite part of the day today was spending time with Eden. I like her and she likes me, too. I made her laugh :))
Just like Connor. He likes me a lot and I like him, too."

Both Eden and Connor are 1-year olds. Kaila just loves playing and spending time with the little ones. She loves to make them giggle!

NYC Public Library

Reading room and NYC & Hudson river valley map exhibit.

Desigual

I discovered Desigual this week in NYC. They had the most fun, colorful pieces. It was a treat to browse around a new clothing store.

Nigardsbreen

Norway is such a beautiful place. Arthur and Elizabeth from Poland just sent us their video from a walk in Nigardsbreen glacier in 2004! What a happy surprise. Thanks, guys!



Where the sun never sets...reindeer everywhere. Pretty neat!

Oil spill, still going...

For how much longer...

video of the spill by BP/AP

Tiger Swallowtail

A beautiful yellow tiger swallowtail greeted me this morning as I did a short warm up run before a yoga class today. This is only the second time I see one of these butterflies in my runs. I spotted on for the first time about 2 weeks ago - I was delighted to see the large yellow and black butterfly fluttering around. It was definitely a male since it did not have the blue on top of the wings, just a small patch on the underside.

The black swallowtails are quite common by the reservoir and sometimes I'll run by one that will follow along with me for a while. It always makes my day a bit brighter!

The black swallowtails are apparently very common in Ohio also.

Spill

Approximate oil locations from May 1, 2010 to May 5, 2010 including forecast for May 6 based on trajectories and overflight information. Produced May 5, 2010.

From NOAA's website - daily updates and forecast of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill:
http://deepwaterhorizon.noaa.gov

Hopefully the weather will hold steady and not hinder on-going cleanup efforts and efforts towards stopping the leak.

Great Egret

We were back at High Island this past weekend. We saw many nests still with beautiful blue-green eggs. Parents were busy preparing for the arrival of their little ones. A couple of nests had chicks and the egrets were carefully feeding their chicks. Last year by this time most nests had chicks already and the egrets were busy feeding their young.

The roseate spoonbills seemed either to be a bit behind in breeding or they took great care in hiding their eggs in the nests. It looked like they were just hanging around with some happily playing courting games.

A great number of warblers were reported in the woods. Sam Wood's blog has great pictures of the birds migrating through the High Island Sanctuaries. Yesterday he posted gorgeous pictures of a Kentucky Warbler and an Indigo Bunting.

I'm yet to see an indigo bunting or a painted bunting that migrate through. The kids will need to be a bit older for that kind of birding. Daniel is good at spotting alligators, frogs and the big birds. As expected, not very patient or quiet to wait for the smaller birds. He hears them though and is quite excited about it. A couple of more years...

All Pink

I took this photo of my glamourous princess on the left a couple of days before receiving the postcard on the right from Melissa in Ottawa.

Too funny...

This is a really neat calendar by Nils Kjeldsen.

New camera anyone? New bag?

There is no such a thing as too many bags or too many shoes, right? Or too many cameras, by that matter.

Epiphanie is has a great giveaway of a Canon 5D Mark... check it out.

www.haveanepiphanie.com

Spelling?

“ I DN'OT GVIE
A DMAN FOR
A MAN WHO
CAN OLNY
SELPL A WROD
ONE WAY.”
- MRAK TIWAN

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt.

I read this text at the San Francisco Exploratorium a few years ago. I was quite surprised and amazed that, yes, I could actually read it!

Spelling

Kaila is quite fluent in reading. Now she is working on her writing. It's fascinating to have a glimpse into how her mind works throught the learning process.

We played instant messaging this weekend. Here are some very nice messages I received from Kaila with interesting phonetic spelling.

flayurs aer byotufol.
you are byotyfol too.
theyc you mommy.
sh sh shark.
f f fesh.
w w wayel.
I now wat you are goweg too say.

Flowers are beautiful.
You are beautiful too.
Thank you, Mommy.
Shark.
Fish.
Whale.
I know what you are going to say.

I love you, too.

Happy Valentine's Day - Daniel. February 14, 2010.

Why are words so long....?

That seems to be the question on Daniel's mind this week. He has been experimenting with shortening the words as he talks. Tomorrow became "tomah", Lightning McQueen is "Light", guacamole is "guacamah".

- Can I watch Light tomah? I don't want guacamah today.

It's been a fun couple of days, deciphering his new shortened language.

I vaguely remember Kaila going through this same thing a couple of years ago. I wish I had made some notes of her expressions then.

Who are you??

The things you see on the road... minivan license plate: "IAMGOD".

I wish I had my camera ready for a snapshot...for real, as my 5-year old says. Who thinks of doing something like that!?

On the big screen

This was Kaila's first baseball game. She actually made it to the big screen on the stadium. Cheering and dancing on her seat!


More finds in my desk clean up.

Old notes

I'm in the process of cleaning my desk and as always I have many small bits of paper with random notes. Things I'd like to eventually look up or read.

One note says "When Nietzche Wept by Irvin Yalom" and "Terroir by Wilson; the role of geology, climate & culture in the making of french wines". The first book I read probably 2 years ago and really liked. The second one on the note is still to be purchased or borrowed...

A second piece of paper has "Quilts of Gee's Bend". I love their quilts and I still have some stamps the U.S. Postal Service released in 2006. The Houston Museum of Fine Arts had a Gee's Bend exhibit with 70 quilts on display in that same year.

Good fortune

We closed the weekend with dinner at Pei Wei. Some days the fortune cookies seem to have just the right message for each one of us...a positive thought always comes in handy.

Daddy - "New and rewarding opportunities will soon develop for you."
Daniel - "Your eyes will soon be opened to a world full of beauty, charm and adventure."
Kaila - "A dream you have will come true."
Mommy - "You will get what your heart desires."

"Can people fly?"

For the past few weeks Kaila has been fixed on the idea of flying. Not flying as in an airplane, but flying as birds fly. She has asked several times if people can fly. As I respond to her that people can only fly in their imagination and in their dreams, she just gives me a pensive look and an "Oh, okay..."

For the longest time I had this recurring dream of flying over towns and fields. In these dreams I could actually control where I went by moving my open arms like wings and gliding with the same ease as birds. I enjoyed these flying adventures and many times would remember them. Most other dreams for me get lost, no memory whatsoever.

Maybe Kaila is having similar dream adventures? Or maybe she has just been reading about magic carpets. Last week her class was discussing Cinderella and they made a few projects associated with it. Kaila drew a nice pumpkin coach for Cinderella, but for herself the pumpkin turned into this beautiful carpet. A magic flying carpet, I'm sure.

The Magical Shoe

"The magical shoe has many colors..."
What would you do if you had one?

This was a kindergarten school project in Nov/Dec 2009 based on the poem by Linda Ball.

Glass roof

Literally, Kaila wants a room with a glass roof so she can go to sleep watching the stars. Our architect to be, for our house to be, already has special requests to incorporate in his plans. My requirement, if the glass roof makes it, is a self-cleaning glass roof!

The initial seed for this conversation was today's school nature walk and checklist. From there, Kaila wanted to live outside and have the insects live inside. A better compromise once we thought about the cold and the rain on her books among other things was to have a room without a roof or an attic. But rain was still a problem, so the glass came into the picture.

Diving in Brazil

Arraial do Cabo is about a 2-hour drive north from Rio de Janeiro (traffic can be heavy on weekends and could take longer). The marine life is rich and diverse in Arraial do Cabo making for great diving. The water is cold 18C-22C and you'll need a wet suit.

Near Arraial do Cabo there is also good diving in Cabo Frio and Buzios. You can stay in Buzios and enjoy its lively nightlife and dive off of Arraial or Cabo Frio. Or just come down to Buzios for dinner one day.

Onda Azul is a good contact point in Rio. They use Litoral Sub as their operator in Cabo Frio.

The island of Ilha Grande to the south of Rio also offers good diving spots. Nearby are the towns of Angra dos Reis and Parati. Parati is a historic town in the region with old streets and good restaurants.

Going to northeast Brazil, the best diving is in Archipelago of Fernando de Noronha(National Park).

Bench Monday

Kaila and I had a great lunch date today. We walked around a park for an hour and took some pictures along the way. I posted one of the pics on Bench Monday (Flickr pool).

No soccer ball?

There is a reason Brazilians are so good at soccer. Every place you visit in Brazil no matter the size of the town or how remote it may be, you'll find a soccer field. It might not be fancy, but there will be one. It would be nice to always have a real leather ball, but when one is not available, a ball is improvised.

To my amusement, this past December, I found my 3-year old son playing soccer with a coconut. We were visiting a coconut plantation and as I turned around there was Daniel with his 'ball' . His brand new white running shoes - instantly transformed into dark brown with dust and mud, by the way... but an expression of pure joy on his face as he chased his coconut around the trees. It must be in the genes.

On second thought, balls are known to make really good friends. "Wilson", a volleyball, that I could've sworn was a coconut - that's how good my movie memory is..., grew to international fame as it co-starred with no one other than Tom Hanks in "Cast Away".

Dreidel

"Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay.
When it's dry and ready, then dreidel I shall play.."

For the last couple of years Kaila comes home around the holidays singing this song along with Jingle Bells, Rudolph and Santa is Coming to Town. It's "The dreidel Song" as she calls it. This year I finally researched it on Wikipedia.

Dreidel is a four-sided top kids play with around Hannukah.