Photojournalism

Madge's class has a photo-essay assignment. They each got a disposable camera and are supposed to be snapping away, focusing on a self-assigned theme. Madge's theme is "How I Feel About My Dad."

This is flattering and sweet, until I catch her snapping pictures of the inside of the catbox.

Why did it take me so long

To get introduced to this site?

http://oldjewstellingjokes.com/

Got some catching up to do.

Coco Tuesday

Half days at school get pretty crazy around here. Disgruntled parents frantically juggling their schedules and amped up kiddies excited about a quasi-vacation.

We had some lunch and rented Star Trek episodes (the first appearance of Khan) and then had soccer later in the afternoon. Not a bad day except for the unpredictable weather. It came down HARD this morning. Right as we were about to leave the sky turned from 8:15 am in Brooklyn to 10:45 pm in Krakow. Weird.

When we went to lunch I let Coco go to the bathroom on his own because we had already gone together and he just wanted to go rearrange some things.

"Why do you need to go again? Do you just want to wash your hands?"

"Noo-wuh. My peenuss feels like its stuck to my pants."

"Oh, go ahead."

The operation took a while and I went over to listen at the door two or three times. When he finally emerged he looked relieved and said he felt like he might never have gotten out of there. Apparently his hands, after washing, were too slippery on the door handle. I recommended using a paper towel on the handle next time.

He didn't get cranky but took it stride. "Oh, good idea, Daddy."

Phew.

Madge Followup

She actually asked me for my Collected Shakespeare and took it to bed with her. She started with Romeo and Juliet. We'll see how she likes it.

Quick question to you: Montague, Capulet - which of these is Juliet's surname?

(I had to look it up, too.)

Madge Monday

Apparently she had a growth spurt. When she measured herself last week, she was shorter than two of her friends; this week, taller. Couldn't be a mistake in measuring, of course.

Still, she's just whizzing right along. She had a rather cranky moment when she was surprised by the fact of a Coco playdate, but her growth-spurty hunger may have had something to do with it, too.

The playdate turned out fine. Madge and I hung out while Coco and his friend played.

Tonight she picked up my collection of Shakespeare's complete plays (told you I was reading Ricky III) and read some of Henry V aloud (quite well, I might add) and said, "Oh, I really need to read these."

Sheesh.

But, hey, we may have to structure our summer activities around this. Who knows. I'll keep you posted.

field trip without kids

Went to have lunch with our friend Taz today in Manhattan. He's working on the stained glass reatoration in the St. Thomas church on 5th Ave. http://www.saintthomaschurch.org/glass.html

He had lured me with a tour of the actual construction, but then realized they were too busy to show me around today, so we just had lunch, which was tons of fun, too. The church is quite lovely and the glass -at least from what I could see meandering through the pews - is crazy.

I didn't write it down, but there was a "Prayer to Our Lady of Fifth Avenue" attached to a statue.

Now, if you'd asked me before today about such a prayer, I would have said it's probably a song by Leonard Cohen.

Could still be, for all I know.

fun read

I just got reminded why I stay away from mysteries: they suck me in and don't let me go until the laundry piles up, the kids are late for school, and the dishes rebel and wash themselves (I wish).

The reminder came in the form of a book I grabbed off the "Assignments" shelf in the library. It's a handy-dandy shelf that has multiple paperback (subway-handy) copies of Classics (and the occasional "hunh"). The cover is quite lame, if you ask me, but the story, well...

It's about an inspector who gets laid up in a hospital and looks at a picture (of a painting) of Richard III and decides Ricky doesn't look like the Monster history makes him out to be.

What makes the book so super-fun is that he crossexamines people's inadequate knowledge of hearsay history and discovers loads of unquestioned contradictions. Then he applies the same investigator's logic to historical sources. Where are the breaks in the routine? Who stands to gain?

Now I'll go reread Shakespeare's Richard III, and excellent double-feature, I think.

Oh, yes, and the book I read is called The Daughter of Time and is by Josephine Tey.

oops

Hee, hee.

I am merrily twittering away, as is my wont. And, looking for something funny to say, I write up some plans of Tazwell's and mine, namely so see something at the NYPhil. Taz calls it: NYPhil with PhillyPhil. They're sold out, though, so he suggests scalping or sneaking in. No blood, no foul.

This is my tweet:

College friend is in town, we're thinking of sneaking into a sold-out show. The difference, 15 yrs older, we're aiming for the NY Phil.

But, heh, it turns out that NYPhil is the twitter account of the New York Philharmonic (smart folks) and this is the response:

@PGoedi Shall we alert the ushers to be on the lookout? ;)

Some might say, "Busted!"

I smell a challenge.

(I love this city.)

Coco Follow

He recently said that he likes living in New York because you're free in New York.

"Free in what sense, Coco?"

"You're free to eat pizza not the polite way."

Madge Monday

Madge has finished reading Coraline aloud to Coco for night-night time. He has requested Harry Potter I as his next book and she can't wait. But it seems I've been retired from the preliminaries and now only come in for the knock-out.

a bit of gardel

I read somewhere that they say in Argentina that his voice gets better every year.

I'd agree.

Field trips

I've also let myself be roped in for exta Kindergarten volunteering. I had signed up for Art. Then, when the Williamsburg Bridge trip was offered up, I signed up for it too; it happens to be in the same week. On top of that a museum trip was scheduled on short notice and, since there were no volunteers, I said I'd go.

I wonder if some of the parents know how irritati--

Hm. I'll stop there. They probably know.

Lunch

Met Madge for lunch today. I wanted to yesterday, but sometimes surprises backfire, as when she has homework hall and I just stand there, waiting. Wie bestellt und nicht abgeholt - like ordered and not picked up.

But today it worked and she was pleasantly surprised. We had some sushi followed by a justly uneaten chocolate croissant - bleh.

The dompany was nice. And calmer than usual. She's been quick to anger lately, especially by Coco, who is overly apologetic for no real reason other than that he's figuring out how to work the I'm-sorries and the thank-yous to his best advantage. Overuse of I'm-sorry is backfiring, though.

We are all tired of the endless apologies for nothing specific.

wordy word word

Ran across meretricious. It sounds like merit but doesn't really mean the same. (Meretricious is false and gaudy and deceiving. Merit isn't.) This kind of thing confuses me.

But, ahaa! the root for both is merere (I'd put a line over the second E but don't know how, in Blogger), a Latin word meaning "to earn." And meretricious comes from meretrix, a female earner: a prostitute.

That's the patriarchy at work, ladies and gentlemen.

Now I'm just keeping my ears open on the subway and bus to hear the name Meretricia.

It won't take long, I'm sure.

Coco Tuesday

We had a picnic yesterday in the park along with two or three other people who had the same idea on a Memorial Day. I know you've never thought of it, but you might try celebrating the beginning of the summer season with an outdoor meal. I'm sure you'll find a nic spot if you show up at 5:3o am.

We found a nice spot right next to a little pile of doggie doo. It was already congealed, so this was prime real estate.

And we met some good friends, so our outing was great.

One of these friends says that she is waiting for Coco to turn eighteen so she can finally marry him. He likes her, too.

Yesterday he asked her, "Are you into Transformers?"

She thought he was trying to talk to her about toys he likes, but I - as an awkward male - know different: he was prepping her to ask her to the movies when Transformers II comes out.

kiss kiss

In the mornings, on the way to school, Madge gets dropped off first, then Coco (because Madge goes in the back and I walk Coco to his room).

Usually I give Madge a peck on the lips and so does Coco and we're off.

Lately Madge has been turning Coco's head down and giving him a kiss on the forehead. This does not please the young lad. He wants his Madge-kiss.

I have occasionally overheard friends of hers say "ew" (as fourth-graders will) when she has given her little brother a kiss, so I figured this was the reason and have tried to work on the Coco-damage-control.

But Julie found out it's because Madge finds that a peck on Coco's lips involves too much extraneous runny and crusty material, as six-year-old lips are wont to collect.

So now he wipes super-carefully. She's not satisfied, but it's a start.

always a good thing

right?

I mean, bad versions abound, but still, who doesn't love a blue sky?

What are we advertising?

Sending out this kind of stuff is what the internet was made for. I'm sure of it.

languid wednesday

Lovely weather, nice day. Coco had a field trip today, Madge has one tomorrow. This afternoon there was a double playdate, meaning Madge did homework with a friend and Coco did his homework with a friend. Madge's homework involved paper and pencil and words and numbers, Coco's involved action figures and "pshchcht" and "aaaah."
My homework involved Werder Bremen losing to Shaktar Donesk (or however it's spelled).
All in all, a successful afternoon.
Oh, yes, some laudry got cleaner, too, somehow.
And we all miss Julie.

Coco Tuesday

Okay, so my titles are a bit off this week.
Madge had her first band concert today. What an afternoon. Because she wanted her best friend there, her friend got to come over after school and accompany us to Coco's soccer class.
After soccer we walked Madge to school, which got a little nerve-wracking for her because the church bell rang six o'clock (the time she was supposed to be there) and we were still ACROSS THE STREET from school. Then matters got worse because the front door was locked.
ohboyohboyohboyohboyohboy
We walked around school and shouted through some windows and by the time we got back to the front we managed to knock loudly enough for the security guard to open up. Madge wiped her tears, took her instruments, and went in.
Coco, Madge's friend, and I went for pizza.
The concert was great, of course.
And terrible, of course.
It all depends on what you want out of a fourth- and fifth-grade band concert.
Coco loved it (even though he got a bit tired). The friend loved it.
Most importantly, Madge loved it and thought the fifth graders were great and wants to do it again next year.