matching tracksuits

fun in threes, sometimes fours

the boy

Decorating and Exploring

Saturday 05 December 2015 | 0 Comments

When I was a kid, there was nothing better, nothing more exciting, than the discovery of some invitingly unknown path in a place I thought I already knew. Finding a bit of mystery in the known and the everyday. So today, while we were out for a walk with the kids at Nana's and Papa's, we decided stroll over to a very familiar area, the swimming pool, where we discovered a mystery: a fence atop a small ridge.

The morning had started with a mystery: the Boy had lost in the night his blue pickup truck, and rather than simply pull the bed out and retrieve it (for if it wasn't in the covers or under the pillows, there was only one place it could be), I let the Boy search on his own. Being the Boy, he looked in some original places.

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As soon as sister woke up, the urge to build a fort overwhelmed the desire to find the pickup truck, and so the bit of mystery in the middle of the morning disappeared.

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It reappeared at Nana's and Papa's. First there's the strange bit of mystery in getting holiday decorations up. To begin with, the mystery of finding everything. Then there's the mystery of figuring out how it all goes back together. Not to mention the mystery of the season.

Mystery everywhere. Including, it turns out, in places we might never have thought to look. The weather was so gorgeous that we had to head out for a walk.

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Of course the pool looks a bit mysterious with its winterizing cover.

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But more mysterious, behind the tennis courts that the residents have turned into a dog park is a small ridge, the top of which is crowned with with a fence. Reaching the top of it, we all saw easily that it was not natural but instead part of a detention pond.

Heading up the slow
"Daddy, why is there a fence here"?
Bog 1
Bog 2
Bog 3

K insisted that it couldn't be a detention pond proper because real detention ponds in such developments are well taken care of.

Perhaps that's why there's a fence.

Chess

Tuesday 01 December 2015 | 0 Comments

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Bed Time

Sunday 29 November 2015 | 0 Comments

Live each moment as if it were the first, last, and only time you do whatever it is you're doing at that moment. Like putting your son to bed -- a simple act, a simple story.

Thanksgiving Redux

Saturday 28 November 2015 | 0 Comments

Our annual family picture with our sometimes-annual Thanksgiving Day redux meal.

The Day After

Friday 27 November 2015 | 0 Comments

It gave me a bit of hope to arrive at Falls Park downtown and find so many people. Everyone binged on food yesterday, and we historically binge on shopping today. I say "we" as a reference to the American public at large, not a reflection of our own personal habits. Shopping for me is a tremendous chore, and the thought of doing it along with great hordes of people, all fighting for "deals," is about as appealing as the thought of running a cheese grater along my calf idly while listening to rap "music." Fortunately, K feels pretty much the same way, so we spend Black Friday cleaning the house and cars in the morning and wandering around Greenville's downtown park in the afternoon.

The Boy took his glider with him, and this always solicits smiles from passers-by. L chose her roller skates, which would have solicited smiles as well if anyone had seen her trying to go off-path with them. She can be stubborn that way: if L is doing it, she must do it as well. Of course, the opposite is true as well, but he seems to take the disappointment of occasionally not being able to imitate his sister with more calm and, frankly, grace than she does in similar situations. Just another example of the incredible differences between their temperaments.

Break

Wednesday 25 November 2015 | 0 Comments

I've taken a break during the last couple of weeks as far as writing goes, but the photos have continued.

Conestee Park
New bridge at Conestee
Newly-fixed fireplace
A trip to the zoo
Snakes in a zoo
"Oh, look, lions!"
Finished product
Working the puzzle
Sewing for her doll
"I want to hug you!"
Less-than-optimal teamwork
The playful cougar
The playful cougar
"Giraffes, look!"
Who's for dinner?

Autumn Sunday

Sunday 08 November 2015 | 3 Comments

I can't remember a time with so much rain. It seems like it's been raining for six weeks, ever since the hurricane near-miss that swamped the coastal area of South Carolina and drenched us, flooding our basement. Since then, we haven't had a week that I can remember without at least one day of rain, which means any drought we were having has been settled and then some. This has been especially true during the weekends: rain, rain, rain. And that leaves us with few options but sitting inside and fishing.

But eventually, we have to go out. Even if it's only for a few minutes, with umbrellas, we cannot possibly stay in the house the entire weekend.

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E on Soup

Friday 06 November 2015 | 0 Comments

We tried a new soup tonight for dinner. The Boy wasn’t impressed. A few comments through dinner:

  • After the prayer: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” “Daddy, I asked Jesus for a different soup.”
  • After the first bite: “Daddy, this soup tastes like, like sea turtles.”
  • Later during dinner: “Daddy, some soup is good, and some soup is not so good.”
  • Still later during dinner: “Daddy, I need some water to wash the taste.”
  • When I told him he’d had his last bite: “Hurrah!”

The Two Extremes

Thursday 29 October 2015 | 0 Comments

It's third period -- my first academic period this year, as my  two planning periods are at the start of the day. (Why? Not so important, but it's a nice schedule: I have plenty of time to get ready for classes, then the classes themselves just fly by. Suddenly I hear the afternoon announcements and think, "Already?!") The first student comes in well before any other student.

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"Daddy, let's play."

"Whew! I missed the hall-pocalypse!"

Clever kid, that boy. Makes me laugh quite often.

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"Where?" "In the sandbox!"

Fourth period. Kids are starting The Diary of Anne Frank. I have them exploring the Anne Frank museum's interactive tour of the Secret Annex. Kids who might otherwise be distracted and distracting are silent, looking at the last place Anne Frank was physically free.

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Fifth period -- also Anne Frank, but a little ahead of the other class. They're acting out the first scene in preparation for mini-projects that involve staging select scenes from the play. A student who can be disruptive and disrespectful turns out to be a masterful actor.

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Sixth and seventh periods -- English I Honors. We're finishing up a unit on poetry, looking at Shakespeare's sonnets in preparation for the upcoming unit on Romeo and Juliet. I have them look at sonnet 130:

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

We go over unknown vocabulary.

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The school day's over then, but not really -- there's always hall monitoring to get through as the kids head home. Ten minutes after the first students are dismissed, I see her. She stops dead in her stride and half glares at me.

"Why did you write that on my report card?" She pulls it out to show me, but I know what I wrote. She was one of several students for whom I left extensive comments in the grading system, comments that get included on the report card.

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"Let's hide from N!"

The comment was an honest assessment of how this young lady has been doing in my class. I pointed out that she has "demonstrated some very disruptive behavior this quarter" but that recently has shown improvement. I explained that she needs to improve her ability to "reply disrespectfully to teacher redirection" and mentioned her "problems staying focused and refraining from disruptive side-conversations."

"Why'd you write that?"

"Because I need your folks to know what's going on in the classroom. I haven't been able to get in touch with them."

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"But now I'm gonna get cussed out!"

And suddenly everything becomes a little clearer.

Autumn Leaves

Sunday 25 October 2015 | 0 Comments

We always have leaves in the trampoline when we head down to do some jumping. Even in the summer, there’s a smattering of leaves that we have always swept away before we begin jumping. There are always just enough to be a bother. The sweeping process, in fact, has been quite beneficial: it’s motivated L to learn how to be a more efficient sweeper.

Today, when we made it down to the trampoline, it occurred to us that, with so very many leaves on the jumping surface, it might be fun just to leave them.

We were right.