ABC Phonics

K and D love the ABC phonic song. K knew her letters and their sounds by the time she turned 3. This was one of her favorite tunes. I catch D also singing its and bits of it now and then.

Thanks Ms. Chelsea for writing it down for me.

Bikers in D.C.

According to the Washington Post, an estimated 500,000 motorcyclists rolled into Washington this year for the 22nd annual Rolling Thunder Ride for Freedom.

It was amazing to see that many bikers together.

Rolling Thunder is an annual motorcycle rally that is held in Washington, DC during the Memorial Day weekend. Participants call for the government's recognition and accountability of all Prisoners of War (POWs) and those Missing in Action (MIAs).

Good morning star...

Just outside my window early today.

Doodle

This is Doodle playing with his blue blankie and his bunny.

Terra Cota Warriors

China's Terra Cota Warriors are coming to the Houston Museum of Natural Science in what promises to be an amazing exhibit. I can't wait - opens May 22, 2009!

One day I hope to make it to Xi'an to see site where the warriors were found and the collection of the Museum of the Terra-Cotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huang.

Thousands of terra cotta soldiers guarded China's First Emperor Qin Shihuangdi since the 3rd century B.C. Amazingly, they stood forgotten until 1974 when farmers digging outside the walls of the Emperor's tomb complex stumbled into them.

See more photos by Wang Da-Gang in the HMNS photo gallery:
http://www.hmns.org/exhibits/special_exhibits/terra_cotta/tc_photo_gallery.asp

Mickey, I'm talking to you...

K had her retainer removed today after 9 months. She was so happy to take it off her mouth she wanted to share it with Mickey.

"Mickey, I removed my retainer today."

Mickey didn't acknowledge, so again she goes..."Mickey, Mickey, I removed my retainer todaaaayyy!"

It's amazing (and scary) to see how involved the kids can get into the cartoons that the characters seem real to them at times. The magic of entertainment.

Goofy, the Great

Goofy can't get his words right when doing his magic tricks. The kids are laughing away at the sillyness. Nothing like the sounds of your kids' true laughter.

"Hocus Pickles!"

Gray

This little one was sitting so still on the fence yesterday as I drove by I thought it was asleep. I approached him from the left, but after a while it turned its head and I was able to see both eyes.

Makeshift office

My group has been working in a large conference room with PCs and workstations scattered around the space. It's going to be several days until we can go back into our offices. This afternoon large 18-wheelers drove in with gigantic "portable" AC units to handle our 15+story building. Large genarators to power these AC units and elevators will also be necessary... it's going to be interesting to see all this play out.

Unscheduled day off

Rain, thunder and lightning continued in bands through the night. Around 4:30am I was awakened by the loudest thunder I've ever heard around here - everything vibrated. The kids slept peacefully through it. It's been a while since I've gone through such a loud storm.

We set out for our morning routine just to find that school was closed. I drove to the office with the kids and my office building was also closed - 12ft of water in the basement. From the driveway you could see the "pool" down the delivery ramp.

I'll be surprised if they can actually clean up today and have the building ready for the workday tomorrow. I'm sure plumbing, electricity, elevators all will need to be cleaned out and inspected...what a mess!

It was treat to spend the morning with the kids just playing around in a museum.

Thunderstorm

The kids and I got a big soaking today. The rain started in the end of the afternoon just in time for school pick-up and rush hour. We waited inside pretty much until the school closed, the rain and wind didn't let up so we ran for it. Running or not we got to the car pretty wet. The kids were laughing away!

The drive home on the freeway was not that fun though. Traffic was moving at an awkward 40mph with very poor visibility.

We are still under severe thunderstorm , flash flood and tornado warnings.

High Island Rookery

Lemurs

K continues to enjoy her art class. This is today's model and her rendition of it.

The Girl Has Character

K went to her Dad with her little brother D asking to climb up in the bed to sleep in our room. D had been misbehaving earlier so L told her that she could come up in the bed but not D because he did not listen to him that evening. K didn't miss a beat. She stood up for herself and D turning to L and saying no thank you. She returned to her room with D in tow.

As she came back to her room, I asked her what had happened. And she told me: "Daddy said he would only take me but not D, so we came back."

I have to say, I was so proud of my 4-year old girl. My kids never cease to amaze me.

Along the Rhine

The stretch between St. Goar and Bacharach is a beautiful part of the "Romantic Rhine". Castles line the hills all along the river.

Even if you're on a budget you can overnight in a castle. Stay at the Youth Hostel in Burg Stahleck in Bacharach for amazing views of the town and the river.

Castles and Swans

Swans swim free along the Moselle River in Germany. On the hills, castles complete the picture.

Picasso's Flashlight Bull

Fortune magazine recently featured this photo in the insert Moments in Time part of The LIFE Picture Collection.

I love this picture - for me it is about the genius and the freedom in the artist that Picasso embraced and that is present in so many artists and in a sense in all of us as unique individuals.

I first ran into this photograph several years ago in the book Talking Pictures by Kismaric and Heiferman. Several people were invited to talk about a picture of their choice that had a lasting impact in their lives. Tony Bennett chose this one by Gjon Mili of Picasso drawing a bull with a flashlight. Mili captured the moment with perfect balance and 'light'.

In the Nest & Self Portrait

K loves her new art class. She drew a beatiful bird tending to its chicks in a nest.

After coming home she went on to try out her new markers and came up with this self portrait. She was actually wearing a red shirt and a purple skirt with black dots. This shirt and skirt pair is currently her favorite outfit. She picked it out at Talbots a few weeks ago. She would wear it every every day if she could. On the back she signed her name and drew a roller coaster.

Stardust

Last week I came across a March 09, 2009 post on Adri Mendes' blog comparing the work of William Blake and Stardust by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Charles Vess. http://adrimendes.blogspot.com/

I did a quick search and found interesting articles at ImageTexT Interdisciplinary Comics Studies. Volume 4 number 1 (Summer 2008), The Comics Work of Neil Gaiman.

http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archive.shtml

Meredith Collins in the article Fairy and Faerie compares images of Vess and Rackham.

"A particularly strong relationship exists between Rackham's illustrations and Vess's. [...] The mood and content of much of Rackham's art appears in various modified forms throughout Stardust. [...]

Figure 3. Comparison of Rackham's illustration from The Wind in the Willows and Vess's illustration from Stardust, p. 171."

http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v4_1/collins/

The article of S. A. Reed is also pretty cool on the works of Neil Gaiman and Tori Amos.

http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v4_1/reed/

HMNS Blog Butterflies

The Houston Museum of Natural Science blog Beyond Bones has a great post on common butterflies around town (March 09, 2009).

http://blog.hmns.org/?p=3302