Magic Marker Monday: Butterflies

Last week, my daughter was in feverish anticipation of cocooned caterpillars hatching into beautiful Venessa cardui (Painted Lady). She even drew their life cycle to explain to James:

She hates writing but loves life science. I am being good and not saying anything. Yet.

Back story:
Waaaaaaaaaay back in May, my daughter, while shopping for a friend's birthday gift, caught sight of a butterfly tent. Her eyes snagged on the phrase "butterfly caterpillars included!" and, well, we walked out with a present and a butterfly tent/kit. She paid half from her allowance and I paid half because she had such an awesome report card.

Then the nagging began: "when are you going to order those butterfly caterpillars?" Because of course caterpillars have an extremely limited shelf life and must be ordered after you purchase the kit.

Well, we were going out of town right after school let out in June. So a month went by. July came ... and I finally got around to ordering the caterpillars. Dang, they arrived quickly! Both James and his older sister were fascinated with the spiky, black, undulating insects. Within a week, they were spinning fuzz and hanging from the tops of the feeding can.

We had a minor setback when my daughter realized she'd taken out the gauze circle from the can's lid, meaning the chrysalises were attached to the lid, not the removeable gauze. However, the friendly lady on the 800 hotline assured us they'd be fine if we instead carefully removed the lid and placed it at the bottom of the tent.

Go, ladies! Grow!!

This weekend ... the first chrysalises hatched! Two beautiful painted ladies took up residence in the tent. Our kids went nuts with excitement. We brewed up sugar water and have been trying to feed them with care. Today, in the midst of a sibling fight and subsequent time-out, the third butterfly was discovered to have hatched. The peace and excitement it brought were amazing.

It's been great hearing James and his big sister talking about the caterpillars, and how they are changing into butterflies. She becomes so patient and generously teaches him, coaxing him with his words so he's pronouncing them correctly. He is thrilled with bugs, and being able to share in big sister things. He loves this kind of attention from her.

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Can't Make This Up

Full disclosure: stress and ickiness ahead.



Monday mornings are rough on us all. However, this past Monday morning, I think I hit a triple play: while waiting on hold (and being repeatedly cut off) to speak with an FMLA rep to make sure we've covered everything we need to do to file for benefits & job protection because he's suddenly on medical LOA, daughter comes to me and says:

 "There was a spider on my face ... or I think maybe it was a tick." So now I am in another (dim) room,  looking frantically on the blue nubby carpet with a flashlight while on hold, and see a tick, bold as brass and crawling around in search of its next meal.

Remember, I am on hold with a national government bureaucracy! My call will be answer in the order received.

I send my daughter to get me some tape - STAT. I keep the flashlight trained on the rug, phone glued to my ear. Daughter comes up panting, and drops roll of tape into m hand. Seriously, this is the best way to pick up and dispose of those buggers -- they are really hard to squash (as I found out the day James brushed one off his head during a picnic lunch in the park).

Not today, not ever again!

Just then, husband comes in the front door with James, and wants to know WTH is going on. Um, on hold, tick disposal in process and no, I *don't* know how our daughter picked one up while in our bedroom.

Carp! The line goes dead yet again.

James pipes up "Whatchya doin', Mommy?"

Cue yelling and hijinx.

We recovered.

And hey, did I tell you about the butterflies yet?

I tell you, I can't make this stuff up.

Summer Reading - Done

School starts two weeks from now. Let me just say: "YIKES, that was fast!"

Last week James finished up his Summer Reading list. Seems like just the other day we were filling out that form to get him started! Below are the last two books we read together, and his list from the summer:

"Soon, Baboon, Soon," by David Horowitz:

Interesting cover; I think James liked his nose and the hi-hat.

End papers; I kind of wish they had kids' curtains in this pattern.

Love all that energy ... and then there's Mr. Sad Baboon ...

The artwork was engaging, with it's bright colours and fun with onomatopoeic text. James did love reading those words and identifying the instruments. The end left him smiling too. Not a lot of challenge, but it engaged him, and was still good practice reading.


"Thump, Quack, Moo - A whacky adventure," by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin:

James zoomed in on the hammer; ever since he won that raffle, he's become interested in tools

This page made me a little nervous - James loves to cut things with scissors and almost no common sense.
Still, reading is reading, right?

Love this picture. It feels familiar -- James as the mischievous duck and Farmer Mom, mapping out plans that gang quack a-gley. Seriously, I am heck-bent on plotting for his success for James to live an independent life, and I need to remind myself that he has his own list of wants and ideas that should be consulted.

James lost interest in this book here and there. He did love all the animals using tools and liked to join in the chorus of "thump, quack, moo!" There is a nice little surprise fold-out page at the end. Fun for me but I had to try and explain it to James. National icons are a bit too abstract for his interest at this stage, shall we say. He did like the fold-out page.


So thanks, library -- we enjoyed your summer reading program yet again! James got to pick out a book of his very own as a prize for completing his reading. It was an easy reader chapter book and had a soccer ball on the cover. He grabbed it and I haven't seen it since he started rifling the pages in the car. If I find it, I'll try and post it later.

Here is his list -- including his own writing:

Love drawings like these!

Dreaming Big, all summer long!

Here's the list:

1. Lola Reads to Leo
2. The Duck Who Played Kazoo
3. Spot Can Count
4. We Were Tired of Living In A House
5. Cubes, Cones, Cylinders, and Spheres
6. Soon, Baboon, Soon
7. Thump, Quack, Moo

Special Exposure / Wordless Weds: County Fair

Summer county fairs are so traditional. The Sonoma County Fair was a staple of my childhood. Every year my brother, cousins, and I looked forward to the day when we'd spend a magical afternoon at the fair, whirling on rides, eating corn dogs and cotton candy, and getting up close and personal with farm animals. Through it all, the summer sun soaked into our skins and and the smell of dry, baking hay filled our noses. The best relief came from the large and echoing Hall of Flowers.

It's so much fun to be able to share this with my own kids. They are all about rides, food , and fun. My daughter, however, is really interested in the animals; we'll be starting her in 4-H this fall. James loves all the people. I love the flowers and seeing traditions that have not had to be revived for the new food-to-table movements in our society.

Here are some photos from our day:

Sombrero and bright colours help me track him in a crowd.

Got calf?

Summer in Sonoma County!

Great horned owl, found and raised by humans.

A boy and his dreams.

Looks like fun!

Okay, this is new ...

Love this and want one for the garden.

A set in the Hall of Flowers.

Don't know what this is, but I like the colours.

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               and ... Wordless Wednesday 

First Group Swim Lesson

What's new and exciting this week? Well, for starters:

For the first time, James is in a group swim lesson, just like his big sister has been doing for years!

While James still has trouble focusing, keeping both hands on walls, and putting his head close to the water, he's also more game to try things than a lot of first timers. Here he is, kicking on a board on his tummy ...

... and his first attempt on his back:

Looks like he's off to a good start!

So Hard, Just for Me

Today I am doing something that is excruciatingly hard - donating my car. It's not just my car. Not just my first new car (25 years ago). My first new car that my Dad helped me test drive and buy.

It's my car that's Been There through a slew of awful life upheavals: breakups, moves I did not want to make, times when the only person I could bear to be around was myself ... and my car. Back when gas was still under $2 a gallon, we'd take off on weekends to hike or be alone on central coast beaches. This car has over 240,000 miles on it. Some parts have been replaced, but it's still basically itself. I've had good times with it too -- road trips with friends to Santa Cruz and Los Angeles.

The hardest thing for me to release is my last big physical link to my life before everything changed in 1991. I'm talking about the Oakland Hills Fire. Where I lost the home, neighbourhood, and things  I grew up in / with in a day, seared by temperatures well over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit and blasted in a firestorm that created its own gale-force winds. My family and I ran for our lives twice that day, helped by friends and some family members whom I will remember forever with gratitude.

When I crept back behind police lines the next day, everything was leveled, smoking, and covered with a fine grey ash. The fire was still not out. But there it was, my car -- with the only change of clothes I had in the world in a bag in the trunk. One tire burned and the power lines above had melted and dripped onto it, but it was there, and it the engine turned over when I got in and twisted the key.

In the weeks that followed, I found out who my true friends were, and that process hurt. I lost several close friends and family members in a steady procession in the following 4 years. I found out what bastards our home insurance company was run by, and it sickened me. My auto insurance wanted to total the car, but relented when I said I wanted to keep it. I had it checked thoroughly after, and nothing needed replacing except the burned-out tire. It stood by me and I tried to do the same.

Over the past 2 years, however, it started needing repairs that I could no longer afford. My husband and I decided, after James' diagnosis in 2007, that it would be best to have a parent be stay at-home, and our income halved in consequence shortly after. I've been fighting to keep it with me, though. I know in my head that this has been long overdue; that sometimes I have to let things go to let new things on. I know that holding on to this car is all for me, and it's not helping our family at this point. Someone else can benefit from this car. It still hurts me today though, in a burning way.

I have had the support of friends to help me make the best decision -- it's being donated to the Make A Wish foundation for children. It will go to auction and I hold hope that someone somewhere will buy it and make it go again. It should not take too much - just more than I can give right now. So good-bye, my Mazda. Go and make a wish for someone's child come true, and keep on making a difference in someone's life. I will never forget you.

Scenes By the Pool

Another hot summer afternoon, some more ours enjoyed at the pool. This time I am doing a little work, poolside, before diving in. I just took a break and a few pics with Photo Booth:

I miss the Sunday comics. Just saying ...

Now in ThermalVision!!

And now, back to work ... although technically, this is a break for me, because the kids are occupied on their own and unplugged.

I'd have taken pictures of the skywriters and their "Geico" messages formed in circles too, but they dissipated pretty quickly.

This is how I enjoy the Vineman, BTW. I think it's my new tradition. Pass me that iced tea, Dahling ...