Let Us Have Lettuce

We've been having a lot of lettuce lately and no one is tired of it yet. Salads almost every day, lettuce on sandwiches and burgers, salad for late night snacks, and so on.

Every five or six days I'm going out to the garden to harvest some more. Who knew this is the one veggie that would really take off in my garden? Yesterday I brought in arm load after arm load to wash. Twice I filled my small sink full as I dared with lettuce leaves. After washing I filled four one gallon freezer bags of lettuce waiting for use. There is still a half bag left in the crisper from last weeks pickings. We are all so very pleased that the deer appear to be uninterested in lettuce. I still see their hoof prints in the ground occasionally, but no nibbles noticed. With the way they would scrounge peppers and tomatoes and peas it had become completely worthless to plant those veggies any more. I think it was the rabbits that got to the green beans. They left more for the gardener but did manage to damage a lot of beans.

Next year I do plan to plant more variety again. With the composter working all summer long I should have some nice nutrients to add to the soil. I have more time to think about some sort of fencing protection. In the mean time Rick planted a thought in my mind that has taken hold and flourished, but the harvest, if it ever comes, is a long time in the future:

Teachable Moments

Last week Presbytera wrote about Serendipity. These teachable moments come around rather frequently for home schooling families.

But some are more memorable and impressive than others, such as Presbytera's example with books and food preparation and eating to experience together. Around the same time, we were having such a lesson in our house, although in a rather less comfortable manner.

My family was outside playing basketball. Not a game, but each with his own ball practicing making baskets. Suddenly the Artist took a surprise basketball to the face. Impact was followed by a stunned quick seat on the ground and a quick check to see if all her teeth were intact.

No ice was needed, but some comfort and cuddling was. Dad and daughter snuggled on the couch and soon I overheard them talking, "Was that kinetic energy or potential energy?" The Artist had frequently gotten the two confused before. So a clunk in the head had yielded a review of some fourth grade physics concepts. There is nothing like an object lesson to drive the point home. Too bad she had to be the object this time!

New Martial Artist

In June the Engineer began taking Tae Kwon Do classes with his sister. He had been waiting for the day to come for a long time, and he shows his earnestness by paying excellent attention in his classes. It was me, mom, who kept forgetting to bring the camera!

Until now. In these first two photos the Engineer and another student are working on their white belt form. Later in in the class he and a partner are working on kicking drills. He is working hard and it is paying off. Last Friday he was awarded his first star for free sparing techniques. Way to go, Kiddo!

Sculpture

This year I found a book for the Artist's art classes about sculpting, Hands On Sculpting by Dottie Erdmann. From the moment it arrived, the Artist was captivated. Earlier this week she began the first few lessons in the book, making a lemon, an apple and a dolphin.

She completed the lemon and reused the clay before I had a chance to get a photo. She did show it to me before she demolished it, and I was impressed. She was more hasty and less careful in shaping the apple, but she did let me photograph it before she turned her attention to the dolphin. I could tell she was pleased with the dolphin. This is her first work with both a base and armature. She used colored Scupley for the base, some large nails for armature and white Sculpey for the dolphin. She shaped the animal beautifully, and adorned her base with some small pebbles and a seashell. After the work cooled, the Artist brought out her paints. Here, he has only a first coat, so there are still some white spots showing through, but you get the idea. Another thing I love about the book is that is gives the baking times and temperatures to use if you are working with Sculpey.

The Artist is really enjoying Sculpey. It is a step or two up from the modeling foam she had used last year. But even in that medium she impressed us with Bumble Bee, Girl with Life Jacket & Inner Tube, Girl at the Beach, and Desert Snake. My favorite of all these modeling foam sculptures is the snake at the desert oasis. Unfortunately, the cactus he is curling around suffered a major injury and was lost.

Beating the Heat

The last few days have been hot and humid. To keep cool I've been serving as many cold dishes as I can for meals and we've been enjoying that garden lettuce for salads.

For breakfast the Artist and I enjoy breakfast smoothies. The Engineer, who turns up his nose at any beverage that is not room temperature water (or on rare occasions cool, white milk) would rather have oatmeal or toast, even on these days when the atmosphere feels a lot like a bowl of oatmeal.

First we take some strawberries that spent the night in the freezer and put them in the blender. Then we add bananas, and a little milk. After the fruit and milk have whirled around for a while I add some yogurt and blend it in. When I remember, I also add a scoop of whey protein from the canister that hides in a corner of my cupboard. This time, I remembered! These make a cool and delicious breakfast for the two of us.

West Side Story

Last night the Artist and her grandpa went to see West Side Story performed at a local community theatre.

After seeing the Czarevitch earlier this month and seeing her reaction to the sad ending, my dad had his doubts about how much the Artist would enjoy West Side Story. But I reassured him. The Artist generally does well with the sad endings as long as she is not surprised by them. She doesn't cry while watching Pinocchio, for example, like some unnamed blog author!

The Artist read Romeo and Juliet in prose in her Shakespeare for Children book. Then I found a synopsis of West Side story for her on line that would help her grasp the rival gangs and the ethnic enmity that are central to the story.

Sure enough, she had a great time! When she came home she was exhausted from having such a long day and late night, but she oozed excitement when she told me her favorite part was watching the gangs tease with Officer Krupke in song and dance.

On a Mission

We're on a mission! Through the magic of audio we've been brought along on A Journey to the Center of the Earth and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. In another ten days the recording of Around the World in 80 Days that I borrowed is due. I've already renewed it once and we have not yet begun the story. Can we do 80 Days in ten days?

Once our audio experience is complete I've lined up the G rated 1959 version of the film A Journey to the Center of the Earth starring James Mason, Pat Boone and Arlene Dahl. I think the kids will enjoy that very much. One of Rick's co-workers did see the movie of the same name that is in theaters now. He told Rick it was good and that it stayed fairly true to the book. The conversation did not last long enough for Rick to learn whether it was acceptable for kids or not. Have you seen the movie that is out now? Or have you heard about why it earned the PG rating? Maybe I can find a way to bring the Artist along to see it with me.

The reading of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was extremely entertaining. I ended up abandoning my knitting in favor of snuggling up in a blanket with the Artist and just listening to the story.

Second Dan Test

Last week the family had a chance to attend a second degree black belt test. What an eye opening experience! The man testing, Mr. K., is frequently a teacher for the Artist and Engineer. Though we see him frequently, we see him instructing others rather than showing his own strength and abilities in the sport and art of Tae Kwon Do. We were all quite favorably impressed with him and the changes we have seen in him these last six years as he has nearly left his teens behind him now.

Some former students who moved to Texas came north to show their support for Mr. K. as well. We had a wonderful reunion with them and look forward to spending more time with them through the week. It is hoped that on Wednesday evening we will all get to see him awarded his new belt. I wonder what these two are cooking up?Preparing for some board breaks. The timing was off on the photography here. Mr. K. was to jump and break both boards at the same time, one with each foot. The first time only one board broke through, but the growing pile of inch-thick board pieces along the wall shows his capabilities. You may have to click the photo here to see the detail. Here Mr. K. is to break through two boards held together, 2-inches of thickness!

Math Boy

An excited voice greets me as I tiredly stumble down the stairs in the morning, "Mommy, Mommy! I can do scientific notation now!" And this paper is waved in front of me.
The Engineer explained his work to me, and proudly added, "And I'm almost ready to learn about rounding numbers."

That made me laugh out loud. I don't know what he thinks he did with the top number on the page. Maybe he knows he rounded it down, but it didn't provide him the same thrill as solving other problems.

While the Artist enjoys filling her quiet hours with sketchbook work, the Engineer has earned a book of his own. He has a composition book full of blank lined paper. Many mornings I'll come downstairs to see him working out a problem at the table before I have a chance to set out a breakfast. He doesn't always get it right, but I do admire his ambition.

The day will come when he will be ready for these treasures my brother and I found hiding in our Dad's basement. These three math concept books were published in 1969 by Lerner Publications Company of Minneapolis, MN. My brother, the math major, had vague memories of them from his childhood. I never remember seeing them before!

The Engineer will devour the information when he sees pages like these!

Kerplunk!

Our neighbors gave the Engineer a game called Kerplunk! for Christmas. It has a plastic apparatus. there are holes horizontally across the center which players fill the thin plastic straws. When all the straws are in place the top of the apparatus is loaded with marbles. Then the players take turns drawing out the straws, hoping to avoid making any of the marbles fall.

It was fairly simple and fun with just a little bit of strategy. The Engineer did very much enjoy the game, until one day...

One day when family and friends from California came to visit. The Engineer brought out his game and the adults enthusiastically joined him in some games. The part that did not go according to the Engineer's plans was he did not win any of the games.

The next day the Engineer wanted to play Kerplunk! by himself. I thought nothing of it until I noticed the door to the den was closed and it had been suspiciously quiet in there for a while. Notice how this boy who loved the color green selected only pink and orange straws to destroy!

Book Buddies

The Artist has taken her first volunteer job after a fashion. She signed up to be a Book Buddy at a local library. The program pairs older readers, such as the Artist, with younger readers or would-be readers. The little ones are 5-6 years old.

During her orientation session, the Artist learned which sort of books, first readers and such, she would be asked to choose and read with her student. Each week now, the Artist and her student, a little girl, sit together with their heads in a book for an hour or so. They are supposed to read three books together each session, and they usually complete their third right on time.

When asked what she has learned from the program, she tells, "It doesn't always go the way you want it to. I'm not really happy about that, but life isn't always the way you want it to be."

Quickly, though, she added, "It is fun reading to others, and if they want to read to me it is fun to know they are learning and to help with the stuff they don't know."

I think the parts she has to cope with that she does not enjoy are mostly enduring strange looks from her student. I get the feeling her student is a little exuberant. There is probably also a degree of the Artist talking down to her student because I notice this happening at home with her brother. Perhaps those strange looks are warranted!

After they read, all the Book Buddies, the older and younger sets, have game time together with a librarian. This continues to be the Artists' favorite part of the sessions. I'll admit I was rather perturbed last week when she came home and told me the librarian said hangman was too violent, so they would play build a princess instead.

The whole experience should be valuable for her. I think she is enjoying being a leader and it is good for her to experience leadership in other areas of her life besides martial arts. And it gives me more opportunities to discuss the idiocies of political correctness with her.

Happy Independence Day

And may the rains stop for long enough to have the fireworks shows tonight!This will be an atypical Independence Day at our house. Rick is leaving us for the weekend to fulfill a rock-n-roll dream help his brother and their band while on tour in Ohio and Pennsylvania by being a roadie and merchandise manager.

If hard rock is your thing, check them out!

After yesterday's storms the kids were able to play outdoors for a while. They had some wet games of croquet and then they took to baseball. A little batting practice and lots of practice fielding grounders bouncing back from the garage doors.

If the weather holds for tonight the kids and I will be able to watch fireworks from my bedroom. The Engineer, still sensitive to loud noises, prefers it that way.

Amazing Amazon!

The winner of this year's curriculum race is, amazingly, Amazon.

Last week I ordered the various books I plan to use for the Artist's and Engineer's next school year. Some things I ordered from a curriculum publisher. They are dependable and I have never had a problem with receiving the items I've ordered.

Other resources I like to use are fairly widely available, but greatly vary in price. To avoid wasting a whole lot of cash I shop around with various internet book sellers to get my best deal. This year, Alibris gave me the best deals on the particular mix of books I wanted.

The prices of a book through Alibris may have been a few cents, or even a dollar higher than another vendor, but the additional shipping I would have to pay for another vendor made the slightly higher price still cost effective for me. There was one book, however, that I wanted to buy new (a coloring book) and was much, much less expensive at Amazon.
When I realized Amazon had the lowest price, I was a little disappointed. My experience with them has been that it takes absolutely forever for books to ship to me. I usually get a couple of emails asking me if I still want the book I ordered or if I would prefer to cancel the order. This has made them a last resort vendor for me. So I was truly surprised when a big padded envelope from Amazon was in my mailbox yesterday.

This book, ISBN 0-7624-0945-2, is a delight! The Artist is excited about it too, which makes it even better. This year she is studying medieval times through the early renaissance in history and art. About 25% of the book is from that time period. We will have about 50% of the book to use in the 2009-2010 school year, and the remainder we will use two years form now. I like that the book includes a study of each art work and a bit of history about the artists too.Have you noticed how quickly prices can change on the internet? If this book looks good to you it is available both at Amazon and Alibris. And this morning when I was looking around I saw that some seller listed new copies with Alibris for under $5. Maybe you can get a better deal than I did!