Window Art

Who knew windows could be so much fun?  My mom talks about a time in her childhood when her father, my Papa, painted their family's front window every Christmas with an elaborate seasonal scene.  Although I vaguely remember seeing a picture of this phenomenon, I would greatly love to have seen it in real time, in real life.  But the days of window fun are far from past, they have just moved on to far less artistic (and messy) endeavors, this being the age of static cling decoration.  Did you know that window cling art can provide half an hour of fun or more in a single sitting?  What glee, what enjoyment, what total diversion.  I do, however, recommend washing the windows first (especially if you have a dog with a window-height nose).

Spring was last week. This is today.

Library day

We take great pleasure in Calvin's love for books.  Yes, we've cultivated it some, reading to him in every quiet moment, and making sure that he sees us reading books for our own enjoyment regularly, but in addition to our own endeavors he must have been born with a propensity towards this recreation.  It's not every two year old who, on a visit to the library, will shirk his duty to the surplus of brightly colored toys littering every available surface for a chance to curl up on a window seat with a good book (and only sometimes his mother).  It may be more common than we think, but we're taking our cues from the cacophony of rowdy pleasure in the children's section, in contrast to the ever available amount of seating in the same, and deciding otherwise.  In any case, we are most definitely pleased with our son's obsession, not just with the library, but with the books within it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Did you wear your green today, or orange?  Or maybe you wore blue?  Saint Patrick's Day is really a church holiday and was actually associated with the Saint's color blue, but in more recent history the American Irish happily turned it into a general holiday celebrating their Irish roots. Why green? Wikipedia blames it on the green shamrock that St. Pat apparently used to explain the Trinity to the unsuspecting Celts those umpteen years ago (try fifth century), but whatever the original reason green has become increasingly associated, by us not so Irish people anyhow, with being Irish, so on St. Patrick's Day, when everyone is Irish, the tradition has been to wear green. For those who more thoroughly understand Irish history, however (myself not really included), the color green is linked not simply with Ireland, but more specifically with loyalty to the Irish Catholic Church, while the Irish Protestants often identify more specifically with the color orange (see the flag, with its Catholic green, Protestant orange, and peace seeking white). Sadly, Ireland has a very rocky religious and political history, and for those who can claim Irish roots 365 days of the year identifying with their piece of that history, be it Catholic or Protestant, can be important; for many it's not a light matter.  So before you go pinching anybody on St. Pat's day, take a closer look at their colors.  I, for one, wore green today.  Am I Catholic?  No, but neither am I Irish Protestant; I am simply an American citizen enjoyng my one day to claim Irish heritage (remember, on St. Patrick's Day everyone is Irish), so I'm sticking to the commercialized, non-religious, Irish culture embracing version of the holiday, wearing my green and enjoying my Irish boiled dinner to the tunes of River Dance.

Calvin and I stumbled upon this lovely corner of flowering happiness this morning after music class and thought it extra appropriate to share due to its excellent green hue, with a touch of orange (okay, that's yellow, but just try to imagine them orange - they are a pretty promise of spring).

Spring

We found it blooming among us again, and that was very exciting.

There are more pictures from our spring day (of outdoor snacks and trips to the park) to be found in the March 2009 album.