Cool Photographic Exhibit

Abram has fall break through tomorrow, and this weekend, we all hung out together.
Abram, Owen, and I went to the North Museum yesterday afternoon. We skipped the live animals and the cabinet museum (of preserved animals) and looked at a box of coral specimens in the children's room. We explored the Blood Suckers exhibit with real mosquito larvae and leeches, a tick that swells up when you sit next to it, a CO2 detector that measures you breath to explain how skeeters find you, slides of bed bugs and fleas, and a preserved vampire bat.
We revisited a cool exhibit of physics photographs that I mentioned a while back. Owen actually looked at them this time.
The photographs are from the American Association of Physics Teachers' High School Physics Photo Contest and show a variety of natural and contrived physical phenomena. Each photo is accompanied by a short description of the physics you are observing.
Do check out the website for this and past years' photos of note.
Here is one of my favorites, Brilliant Balloon
from John Wanberg in Colorado. This photo won an honorable mention in 2007.

Lilies in the Fall

It's getting REALLY cold here. Owen has been looking for snow, and I doubt we'll have to wait long for it. It may even snow a bit tonight.
This week, Owen came to tell me, "The plant fell down because it's winter." I was a little afraid to look for the pile of dirt I was going to get to clean up, but found that he meant that the lily plant was dying.
We talked about how the cold weather did make the plant die but that it would grow again next year.
We didn't discuss that I planted these lilies in Virginia after my two miscarriages, but just as it brings me pleasure to see those bright orange lilies around the beginning of June, it brought me pleasure to know that those lilies I dug up and have carted around the country are helping teach Owen about the natural world. For now it is sufficient to discuss the seasonal cycles of life and death, and one day we will be able to talk about how very much I wanted to be a mother and how very hard it was to experience those two losses and wonder if I would ever have a baby in my arms. We will discuss death as something that we can accept as a natural part of life.
Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day was this week (October 15). I rarely discuss my miscarriages, but it is very comforting when I do. I think I'm not alone; I think most moms who have miscarried want desperately to talk about it, but other people are afraid to discuss it.
I'll leave you with a picture of my beautiful lilies blooming June 6, 2006 - my first due date.

Testing: Sniffing, A Scientific Approach

As any experienced parent knows, if your kid is quiet, you should probably look in on him. Today, the silence in the house told me I should do just that. I found Owen in the kitchen with a dozen spice jars pulled out and sniffing each and every one in turn. When I asked if I could help, he said no, he was smelling for the cinnamon.
I put a few dishes in the dishwasher.
He found the cinnamon,
and we put it on some frozen berries for him to enjoy.

Painting

With Owen, everything is a full-body experience. Painting is no exception. Here he is last week (when it was still warm) standing on his palate ready to do a few foot prints. He also did hand prints and painted with the brush on paper, on the porch, and on himself. We are amassing a stack of art that I plan to send out to fans.

Columbus Day Weekend

We enjoyed a visit from Mom, Dad, Micah, Allen, Karie, and Kailey this weekend. Saturday, we took the Alabama crew to the Central Market, the Quilt and Textile Museum (where we saw a display of Christmas items from the 19th century to the present and lots of Lancaster County Amish quilts), and the Heritage Center Museum.
Sunday, we all visited Gettysburg.
Monday, Abram had classes to teach and the rest of us visited a few Lancaster county towns - Intercourse, Bird In Hand, and Paradise and saw plenty of Amish farms. After lunch at Jakey's Amish Barbecue (and t-shirts for Allen and Micah) we checked out the Bargain Room at Goodwill and got a few good deals. While I got dinner ready, everyone else enjoyed a swim at Mom and Dad's hotel in a VERY warm pool. Kailey was very interested in my crocheting, and she learned to chain and made one about a foot long that night. She took some yarn and a hook along with her, and has plans to learn to build stitches onto her chain from her mama on their car trip.
Tuesday morning, a some of us went back to market to pick up some veggies for Mom and Dad to take back to AL. As we were unable to find an Intercourse, PA shirt for Micah the day before, we also got one of those (and a hat to boot!) while we were there. No 16 year old boy can go home without a t-shirt that says Intercourse. Mom, Dad, and Micah have arrived home safely, and Allen, Karie, and Kailey are headed toward Michigan to visit family while Allen is on leave.
Thank you all for coming!

Wordsmith Wednesday: Father Bear Comes Home

As you have probably noticed, we read a lot of children's books around here :o). Even before Owen, I read lots of them, but now we read more than ever. I especially love reading books to him that I also enjoyed as a child. Recently, he requested the mermaid book from the library. Upon further probing, I figured out that he wanted Father Bear Comes Home (Else Holmelund Minkarik). While we were at the library, we also got A Kiss For Little Bear, Little Bear's Visit, and Little Bear's Friend, and we already own Little Bear.
I remember having these read to me as a little girl and reading them independently a little later. I particularly liked Father Bear Comes Home because my Dad worked away on the ocean like Father Bear. Although I never thought he might bring home a mermaid like Little Bear hopes, we were all convinced at some point in childhood that our father was a pirate.

Father Bear Comes Home includes four loosely related chapters. Little Bear goes with Owl to catch a fish for Mother Bear to cook for dinner because Father Bear is away on the ocean; they pretend to get a few exotic catches before Mother Bear comes along to collect the real fish. When Little Bear's father is coming home, he hopes that Father Bear will bring back a mermaid; Hen, Duck, Cat, and Little Bear are all disappointed that Father Bear does not bring home a real mermaid. At home with his parents and friends, Little Bear gets hiccups, and everyone tries to cure him with folk ways - drinking water, patting his back, holding breath, and scaring him. Little Bear's family and Owl go on a picnic by the river, and he and Owl look for a real mermaid.

I like the simple story lines and Little Bear who is a curious, imaginative, sweet, and independent child. Owen loves to repeat the stories and to act them out. He likes for us to play Little Bear and Mother Bear. We both enjoy the illustrations which are done by Maurice Sendak, authour and illustrator of one of Where the Wild Things Are.

Arboretum

After a not-so-long nap, Owen was cranky this afternoon, so I got some beet soup started on the stove and we went over to the Tanger Arboretum for a bit to get some fresh air and a little sunshine. This is our second trip to look at the trees in the last couple of weeks. Owen has gotten interested in trees and likes to ask about them lately, so it's nice to have a free place close by to look at lots of different ones. It is a great place for Owen to walk on his own, and a different pace from the playground.
Tanger Arboretum is nearby on the grounds of the Lancaster Historical Society, and has been dubbed "the second finest arboretum in Lancaster County." While Lancaster County is well-known for its small farms and Amish population, as far as I know, it is not known for having fine arboreta, so I doubt the distinction of second finest is much to brag about. Still, it is perfect for a quick walk before dinner.
Before we even crossed the street to the arboretum, Owen pointed out the very large sugar maple.
We had looked at it before, and it is by far the largest and most prominent tree in yard. But I was still rather proud that he did it with no prompting from me. He likes to talk about making maple sugar from it, but alas it is not ours and we'd need a whole lot more of them.

He was very impressed (I was too) with the large scarlet oak that had been cut down recently. The stump was about 5 feet in diameter, and it didn't appear to be rotten or diseased. We're not sure why it was cut down.???
They have several young American Chestnuts that are bearing right now.
Owen can reliably identify crabapple trees when they are full of fruit. He is still not satisfied that they have nothing to do with crabs.