Seven Quick Takes: It's Summer!

1. It's summer!  Yes, for me, summer only truly arrived this Monday when I cleared my portfolio review! I have officially (and literally) closed the books on the 2010-2011 school year.  Everything from here on goes in a new binder for next year!

O frabjous day! (And happy Fourth of July to the rest of you!)

2.Yes, we do school year round, but not the way most people think.  School kids need the summers off because they've just been in "school mode" for 10 months.

If we are ever in that mode, it's in late summer and late winter, when it's too unpleasant out to do much else.  Most of the year we are doing what is best then.

Think of it like eating fruit in season.  Going on long rambling hikes in the Spring.  Doing museums in early Fall when they are nearly empty.  And always doing a little math, because, if you ever stop, it leaks out their ears and you're doomed.

3. Lena finished her "diorama" of the Roaring 20s. Hers took the form of a 3D picture.

The background is a photo of a speakeasy.  Popping off the page (on loops of tape) we have girls dancing the Charleston, gangsters strutting their stuff and one moll dancing on a table.

4.  What is it with Zorg?  He has a knack for taking pictures that reveal something about their subject.  I call it "the eye" and I know I don't have it.  I took photography classes in college and I can tell you why this picture is great, but I couldn't have taken it myself.

Interestingly, both my siblings have "the eye," and in both cases you could see they had it as kids. One is now a nun and a professional artist.  The other is a police officer and a professional photographer.

5.   I love watching Choclo feed the birds.  He is holding up a branch of millet near the cage.  Courage is nibbling away outside the cage, Love is working on it inside the cage, Hope is on Choclo's head, and delight is all over his face.




6. Went to the zoo this week.

How many monkeys do you see in this picture?

If you are missing Klenda, so are we.  She has been off at a horseback riding camp these past two weeks and she "graduates" today!  We'll be happy to have her home and I'm sure I'll have pictures of it up soon.

7. Oob has been having fun dressing up as a "boss."  This is not the  "boss people around" type boss (although I'm sure he wouldn't mind), but more like the "big challenging fight at the end of a level on a video game" type boss.

He dresses himself up as scarily as possible and comes around saying in a teeny tiny gruff voice, "I'm the boss, will you please fight me?"

Note the scary expression. And the shoes.

More with Jen, don't forget to congratulate her on her lovely new little one!