New and Improved

Look for 2 new features on our blog here:
1. Link du jour
(thanks for the idea Derek & Lesley)
Where we pass along a random selection of interesting links.
This is too over the top to be troublesome, but funny anyway: ACLU Pizza
Boy this is a real time killer! Collective drawing
Solo art this time and a more creative time killer - Mr Picasso Head

2. I Love my Neighborhood!
Where we tell you about happenings in our neighborhood that are a little different and amuse us.
- It's only our neighborhood for a little bit, but while we are here in Breckenridge, we live at the top of a very steep dirt road. The other day we saw a man jogging up the hill with a fist full of flowers.
- In Portland, on our neighborhood's main drag, we have a person who sells peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from his/her 2nd story apartment window. When "open" they hang a basket down to street level advertising PB&J for a $1. Pull on the rope to ring the bell for service. For a while they had a tiny radio in a tin can also hanging down to attract attention.
- Also in Portland we walked by someone who wanted to sell his electronic piano keyboard. He chained it to the fence on the sidewalk, set it on a table with a stool, and invited people to play. If you wanted to buy, knock on the door and make an offer. On our second time by, someone was playing.
- Before we left for our trip, we accidentally let 3 zucchinis grow to monstrous size. We were leaving, so we couldn't indulge in the fabulous chocolate zucchini cake recipie we have, so I printed up three copies, tied them to each zuchinni, and put them out front with a sign. They were gone before dinnertime. Yum!

We get 10%

Some of you read; some of you write. Some of you do both. Here's your big chance to win books!
(we won't insist on 10% if all you get is the mouspad!).

By the way, if you plan to buy books from Powells, you should go to the site through Wrigley's preschool website. The preschool gets a cut from your sale when you enter Powells from Hawthorne Family Playschool.

Whose?

It takes a while to load, but most everyone can find this amusing.
This Land Parody
 
 

The Curse of Imagination

We went on a great hike today - along the Blue River (we think) to the shores of Lake Dillon. We tossed sticks and stones in the river, pretended to be bears, and enjoyed a picnic lunch while watching fly fishermen toil. (In our many trips to the lake, we have seen plenty of fishermen, but not a single fish. Huh.)
 
We have been blessed with heavy afternoon rains for the past couple of days, so the river was running cold, high, and fast. None of us were foolhardy enough for any serious wading, but it was fun to toss sticks in and watch them ride the current (Xtreme Pooh Sticks, as it were). Wrig would put her toes right at the edge of the bank, balancing precariously while holding a huge stick above her head, then lurch her entire body weight forward to throw. All I could picture was her losing her balance, tumbling into the cold water, and racing downstream, bouncing off rocks while wailing for help.
 
My imagination is often filled with pictures like this. In each and every one - the falling from great heights movie, the being taken by a stranger movie - I am forced to try to visualize my own reaction: what would I do to help? What am I ready/able to do to protect my daughter? The answer is always the same: not much. I hate those damn movies.
 
I know, I know. The imagination is also responsible for the other movies. The ones where she graduates college and wins athletic events and finds a boyfriend whose knuckles don't scrape the ground. But today, while watching clear water tumble over sharp rock, it wasn't the wind that gave me the shivers. 

Archaeology

We've been spending a lot of time on the shores of Lake Dillon this week, which means we've been picking up other people's garbage here and there. The other day, Christie unearthed a pull-top from an old pop can. I was a little surprised to see that some company was still making pull tops, but not surprised to see one littered on the beach. Before we left, Christie found another pull-top. "You know what this is about?" she asked. "It's the drought. The water is at 80% of normal - these are probably 20 years old."
 
Who knew going to the lake was going to be an archaeological experiment?

And So It Begins ...

W: Daddy, maybe one day we can buy a dog.
D: No, Wrig. We won't be buying a dog.
W: Well, maybe we can buy another cat. When Marble. When Marble. Decides she doesn't want to live with us anymore.
D: Yes, sweetie, I think that is likely to happen.

Henceforth, all books featuring anything resembling a canine are banned from the house.

Junkie

Christie is addicted Ricolla Mints (only 69 cents at your local Trader Joe's!). Just like any parent, she has passed her addiction on to Wrigley. Any time Wrig sees Christie chomping on a mint, any time Wrig even smells a mint, she asks, "Christie, can I have a big piece of your mint?"

Yesterday, tragedy struck. While waiting for the bus, Wrig asks, "Mommy, would you like a mint?" (which is, of course, quickly followed by, "Can I have a big piece?" Mom said sure, so Wrig dug through our bag to find the box. Which was. EMPTY. Horror of horrors.

I asked Wrig if she wanted to go with me to throw the box away, but she decided she wanted to eat pretend mints. Moments later, she offered Mommy a pretend mint. When she accepted, Wrig asked,

"Can I have a big piece of your pretend mint?"

Greetings from Colorado

We're staying in Colorado for most of July, which means our entries will be either a) less frequent than usual, b) more airheaded than usual, or c) both.

We are staying at Christie's folks' place in Breckenridge, which is a city as much like Portland as you can get if you shrunk it down to 10 city blocks and replaced all the puddles with mountains. We really like it here, except for the fact that the air is so thin you have to stop and rest between flights of stairs.

Christie's folks kept us company for our first couple of days here. We had a fine ol' time, feeding chipmunks (W: Those are chipmunks, not squirrels, because chipmunks have stripes), riding in a boat (W: I liked when we were coming back, but I didn't like the part where we went bumpity-bumpity-bumpity-bumpity), and searching (successfully) for pika and marmots (Christie's Dad called them sun bathing dust mops) - and finding a deer, a porcupine!, and an elk along the way (W: I think it was a deer). We've spent a considerable amount of time admiring hummingbirds. The orange hummingbirds do not know how to share well (my comment, not Wrig's). They aren't so much interested in feeding at the feeder as making sure none of the other hummingbirds try to enjoy the feeder. The weekend was finished off in spectacular fashion with a Texas-style dinner of corn on the cob, Grammy's cole slaw, and Granddaddy's brisket (which made an even better lunch this afternoon!). Wrig cannot comment on the quality of the brisket because, for some reason, she will not try meat.

We had a special treat on Friday, when Wrig's Uncle Jim and Aunt Wendy stopped in Breck on their way back to Denver. Wrig finally got to meet and play near her cousin Jake (who is mighty cute in his own right). They got along fairly well until it was time to say good-bye. Jake gave his Aunt Christie a kiss good-bye. Jake gave his Uncle Eddie a kiss good-bye. Wrigley, who may not be able to read but sure can read the writing on the wall, dashed into the bathroom and shut the door. "No hugs! No kisses!" When we asked if she at least wanted to say good-bye, she courteously hollered, "Get out!" I hope Jake has better luck with women when he hits high school.

That's all for tonight. Stay tuned. When we get back home in August, I'm sure Christie will have a ton of photos for your blogging pleasure.