Summer Approaches
general
Pathetique
When we got our tax return, K and I decided to invest a small amount into a piano. We considered a Steinway Concert Grand, but at close to a thousand pounds, we thought the floor might not agree. We settled for a digital, and the three of us have been playing away.
I've managed to pick up where I left off twenty-some years ago: the second movement to Beethoven's Pathetique sonata.
I've been looking for different versions on YouTube.
Gould, in typical Gouldian fashion, turns it into something up-tempo. "Look how fast I can play this!"
The result is not adagio cantabile; it's a march.
Daniel Barenboim gives a very thoughtful performance, but he leans a little too much on the sustain pedal.
For L's part, she's content just to bang. For now. We hope...
Sandburg Home
Meeting with Friends
It took some time, but the Girl finally got to spend out-of-school time with one of her best friends from daycare. With so much anticipation, there was only one fitting destination: the zoo.
"I have a lot of energy right now," the Girl told me yesterday, pointing to her chest and adding, "In my body." It's common for three-year-olds, I suppose. Two of them together had an exponential effect. "Guys, slow down!" was the day's mantra.
It was a day of firsts -- not first-time experiences, but merely who could be first.
"Do you want a picture with the giraffe," we asked, and they bolted to the first photo set, the Girl reaching it first and shoving her head and shoulders triumphantly through the opening.
"I'm supposed to be first."
With some cajoling and physical manipulation, we managed to get them both in the frame. For all of 1.5 seconds, they sat still for a picture, then bolted off in different directions: the only sure way to make sure one is first.
The energy must have been contagious, for all the animals were unusually active. The reptiles were slithering about in their displays, and the four-year-old orangutan, Baby Bob, was climbing, rolling, and jumping.
Just more examples of the continuity among the animal kingdom's pre-schoolers.
April’s List
March was a slow reading month. Too much student work to read. In fact, looking back on the month, I'm not even sure what I finished reading.
| Author | Book |
|---|---|
| Mark Steyn | America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It |
| Walter Dean Myers | The Glory Field |
| Charles Dickens | Great Expectations |
| Louis Lowry | The Giver |
| Robert Marzano | Classroom Instruction that Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement |
| Pope John Paul II | Crossing the Threshold of Hope |
A Perfect Weekend
A perfect weekend might center around something like this:
Friends and family, good food and good conversation. That’s all the adults need.
L looks for something a little more active. Three dogs might just do the trick.
Three dogs and a swing raise the probability of satisfaction to nearly 100%
Three dogs, a swing, and a row of azaleas — well, perhaps we’re pushing our luck with that one. L loves flowers, but only insofar as they are pickable and portable. Lately she likes to pick flowers, tote them about a bit, crush them with affection (like the cat), then proclaim that she’ll plant them in a glass of water in her room so they can grow.
They rarely do, but she never gives up.
The Girl on the Funeral
We were sitting in front of the computer, watching the streamed footage of President Kaczynski's state funeral when the Girl began asking questions.
"What happened?"
"The plane fell."
"Why did it fall?"
"There was a lot of fog. They couldn't see."
"It was dark?"
"Yes, it was."
"I know what happened. They forgot their flashlight."
A simple explanation for the tragedy. Later, she asked for clarification.
"Did the whole plane fall?"
"The whole plane fell."
"Did it fall on the road?"
"No, it fell in the forest."
"It's not good to go in the forest with an airplane. It's dark. They can't see."
Photo: "Dark series #12 - the forest rouse" by Xavier Fargas
Birthday
"You say it's your birthday?" It was tempting to sing the Beatles' birthday to Papa yesterday when he turned forty-something (he was a precocious child). We settled for the old stand-by, in more ways than one.
The first old stand-by: the Girl is the center of attention, even when it's Papa's day.
Even when sisters come to make brother-Papa the center of the day, the Girl manages to charm everyone.
"You, and you, and you -- watch this!"
The second old stand-by: the Girl makes most of the decisions, like who gets to wear the birthday hats and who gets a pass.
Cake is another stand-by, with Happy Birthday New Year candles.
When Papa turned forty-something (the first time, that is), Nana and I tried to put forty-something candles on the cake. It was a Herculean task to get them all lit before the first ones started going out.
"H-A-P-P-Y N-E-W Y-E-A-R" (what are they doing selling New Year's candles in April?) was much easier to light.
And blow out, I'd imagine.
The ultimate, ever-new stand-by: Papa showing Nana that, even on "his" day, she's still the center of his world. (Like the reservoir behind the Three Gorges Dam, though, the Girl puts a little wobble in that orbit. Just a little one.)
Kiss Attack
Viral
Od momentu odzyskania niepodległości Polski do najazdu naszej ojczyzny przez Hitlera i Stalina, i przekroczenie granicy Rumuńskiej przez Prezydenta Mościckiego upłynęło 7615 dni.
Od odzyskania demokracji przez Polskę do tragicznego wypadku w Smoleńsku upłnęło... 7615 dni.
Just doing my part...