Art

It is hard to imagine visiting Cleveland and not including the art museum.

I love going out the south doors and walking around the lagoon 

(with a dear friend I have known for 42 years but David has known for 43!).

I like the combination of the art, the chandelier, and 

CWRU's Gehry-designed building (through the window).

The please-touch section included making your own Calder-inspired mobiles.

Can you find R.'s picture?

A. recreating art.

Created by A.

Inspired by Haniwa in the Form of an Archer

Japan, Kofun Perion (c. 3rd century 538)

Paper or plastic?

I can clearly remember rudely nagging the people I was living with to take their own grocery bags to the store, as I was doing in 1989.  It may be that the habit started before that, but I am not sure.  These days I still take my own bags, usually canvas bags I purchased at the thrift store and had the kids decorate with fabric markers.  One child now likes plain bags, but I still like the comments I get with my colorful ones (except when someone asked if my grandkids drew the pictures).

Here are some of my regulars.

by R, Sept. 2004

"Where is my friend?"

reverse side (Nov. 2004)

mermaid party, July 2005

July 2005 (framing artwork done by A.)

Each child's traced hands and artwork, May 2007

Art and tie-dye!  June 2010

Almost plain, but not plain enough

International Multicultural Day

The elementary school has many days that involve being taught by the community.  Today the students had a chance to visit different countries and cultures and learn by listening, taking part in crafts and other activities, and by sharing food.

Around the World in Three Hours was this year's theme.

An amazing parent made these cookies!

On the way to the opening ceremony

Dancing our way in

Some of the presenters, representing

Denmark, Malawi, Mexico, Australia, India, Puerto Rico, 

France, Nepal, Uyghur, Germany, Argentina, Korea, 

El Salvador, Israel, and the Tongva Nation 

Presenters wearing native clothing from the Uyghur people.

The view from the stage.

Outside our room

Inside our room, making it as clean as Danish houses

 My friends who have spent two sabbaticals in Aarhus gave a fabulous and entertaining slide show.  Their kid and mine described the Danish alphabet (including æ ø å) and presented a little puppet show in Danish.

I did my best to teach them how to weave hearts, but it was more challenging than expected.  It was nice to see the pride on the children's faces who worked and succeeded and there were enough volunteers to help those who were struggling.

Afterward the kids had some risamalande (rice pudding) and saftevand (Danish Kool-Aid, but better).

They could look through some Danish and English books.

And everyone got a souvenir (a 1 krone piece).

Holiday photos

Before the seder

Not a gingerbread house (Kosher marshmallows)

April Fool's Day (one item is chocolate and 

it isn't the matza farfel and cheese)

Newspapers

This is why we get the newspaper.  I don't think I would have read an online article about bowls (Finally, the Bowl Gets Its Due), but David read the first part of the article, which described a family that had bought a bowl for a few dollars at a yard sale and then sold it for $2.2 million at an auction.

A great discussion followed.  A. asked what I would do with the money and I thought we would pay off the mortgage ("What?  We still owe the bank money for the house?"), take a trip to somewhere like Puerto Rico, and maybe re-tile the fireplace.  A. thought we should definitely pay off the house and maybe redo the backyard so it has better grass for playing.  R. suggested we buy a backup drive that allows computers to easily share files.

I learned so much about my kids (and their lack of communal wants, which is separate from their personal wants) just from one article.

Nano Days

In addition to the Nano Days event that David is hosting at the library, high school students will visit him at Pomona College and he hosted 170 students at Sycamore Elementary School yesterday.

Notice a cute soccer player in this picture?

With the help of colleagues and students, four stations were set up where students got to use an airzooka to move air molecules, explore the powder inside diapers, and make a bracelet out of beads that change color when exposed to sunlight.

Showing how clear nail polish can
show its iridescence (like a soap bubble).

Normally I don't write about David's outreach efforts, but I had the opportunity to be his lovely assistant and watch him at work.  I know I am biased but I thought he was engaging and explained things at their level.

I loved that most kids wanted to miss part of recess so they could finish their activity.  It might not have been the Exploratorium, but David brought a bit of a hands-on science museum to each child.

my new tattoo - whatisnano.org

Hope to see you at the library!

Emergency Room Visit

A parent reacts one way when a kid has a stomach ache before school, but reacts very differently when that same kid has a stomach ache just before a sleepover.  That same parent reacts more cautiously when her friends' kid was not allowed to leave class because of a stomach ache, only to have her appendix removed later that night.

It seemed a bit much, but after talking with the nurse at Kaiser we were off to the emergency room at the relatively new Ontario Vineyard hospital.  The waiting room was empty and showing funny videos while we checked in.  There was no wait before seeing the very friendly triage nurse.  Next we were off to through the very clean, very peaceful emergency center and into a clean cubicle.  The wait wasn't long before another friendly nurse took some information.  Some time passed before the doctor saw A., but by then he was distracted and the pain had subsided.  She understood and was able to assess the situation, ask questions that got right to the point, and after a pain reliever we were on our way our way home.

"That was kind of fun," was the conclusion.  I suppose it was a good dry run in case of (G-d forbid) a future emergency, and was certainly a better experience than visiting urgent care because of a pea up the nose.