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fun in threes, sometimes fours

the girl

Afternoon Ride

Sunday 22 October 2017 | 0 Comments

We went back to a favorite park this afternoon -- the kids and K went the short way in the car; I went a somewhat longer way by bike, just to see what the route was like.

I found myself out of suburbia and in the "country" in a matter of kilometers, and I got to thinking about taking a new way to work when I ride. It would double my current distance, but 90% of the ride was so much more pleasant.

This meant that everyone got a headstart on the walk/ride.

That meant I missed all the manhole climbing that inevitably takes place. Still, there are mysteries: did Clover jump up or was she placed? Certainly the latter.

I also missed all of L's silly games. I don't know if it's just a little way to exert a bit of control over the Boy or if she's actually enjoying it, but she sometimes proposes to E that they play something that place her clearly in a place of authority. Today, she had to check the bikes every time we reached one of the walking-only wooden bridges.

I finally caught up to them just as they were climbing off yet another manhole cover. The Boy was ready to leave the slow girls behind, but first we had to walk across yet another bridge.

And then we got the idea for the picture, one that's instantly become one of my favorite portraits of the two of us.

His expression is just classic E: so serious, trying so hard to be such a grown up little boy.

During our ride, the Boy noticed a family riding the opposite direction.

"That's really dangerous," he said.

"What?"

"They weren't wearing helmets!" This morning, coming home from Mass, E kept checking that I was going the speed limit. I'm pretty sure he's going to grow up to be a safety engineer. I can see him coming home for a visit and with his new, more diplomatic communication skills, beginning many a conversation with, "Um, Dad, about X you did in the backyard..."

Once we all regrouped back at the car, I headed home another way. I knew the trail we'd been riding on continued a bit further, and my thinking was that I might ride that whole trail to its end next time I rode to work. It will indeed be a pleasant ride, but not for a week like this week, when I have hall duty in the morning and must be at my station at 7:45. The idea of leaving before 6:40 to make it there in time with enough time to change -- not going to work.

I got home and checked my stats on Strava and had the same depressing reaction: my average power output for the ride was right at 150 watts. Some perspective: amateur riders are considered decent riders, able to start small-scale races, with consistent power outputs of 250 watts for about two hours. At 300 watts, you're really a good rider. The pros? They are over 300 watts for a four- to five-hour, 180-230 kilometer race, with the ability to crank it up to 700 watts for twenty minutes or so. That's so unreal that it's like watching Tommy Emmanuel's fingers on the fretboard: "How is that even humanly possible?" I ask myself.

Kids, Dog, Ball, Swing, and Trampoline

Thursday 19 October 2017 | 0 Comments

The Boy loves playing with the dog — sometimes, he gets a little too excited about it.

The dog occasionally gets a little too excited as well, taking matters into her own jaws.

And all the while, the Girl has been working on her flip.

Down at the Swing

Tuesday 17 October 2017 | 0 Comments

Induction

Monday 16 October 2017 | 1 Comment

The Girl’s induction into the Junior Beta Club

Camping with the Scouts

Sunday 15 October 2017 | 1 Comment

Camping is almost synonymous with Boy Scouts. To think of one without the other seems almost impossible. Whenever we've gone camping, it seems we almost always see some scouting group or another pitching their tents. We encouraged the Boy to join Cub Scouts by, in part, telling him about camping trips.

This weekend we had our first trip, and as I might have expected, he was terribly excited about it until Friday. "I don't want to go camping," became the day's refrain. In the evening, though, I sold it to him by suggesting we might just need to have a men's weekend. That did it, and so we did.

We packed our gear, kissed the girls goodbye, and headed to our first scout camping trip.

At first, the Boy was hesitant, careful. Shy. He ventured onto a playground after lunch (we arrived just after lunch because of the soccer game -- one goal this weekend) and played around a bit, but he seemed to be playing apart from the other boys despite being in their very midst. He kept coming back to check on where I was, to make sure I was still around, and then to ask me if we could go.

"No, we've committed ourselves. We'll be staying till tomorrow."

"Okay." No fussing, just resignation.

By dinner time, he'd made friends and disappeared in the storm of boys that raged around the camp. When the evening came and the pack leader began the scout meeting, he was only vaguely aware or worried about where I was.

By the time the sun had set and the pack leader had transitioned into the flag retirement ceremony, he wasn't even paying attention to where I was.

But he was paying attention to what was going on. Sort of.

The leader discussed the proper way to handle a flag, the proper way to show respect, and then explained how to retire a flag. It involves fire, which is ironic considering all the controversy over the years regarding burning flags. Yet the pack leader explained that the flag is first cut into four pieces, three pieces with stripes and the star field left whole to signify the unity of the country, and at that point, it is no longer a flag.

"We burn the cloth," he concluded, "then respectfully gather and bury the ashes."

During evening prayers, he suggested we pray for the flag.

"What do you mean?"

"So that they never burn it like that again."

Apparently, he'd misunderstood what was going on, and I suppose he'd simply sat and watched, somewhat horrified, as his pack leader instructed scouts to burn flags. I explained what had happened, and he seemed okay with it, but still a little disturbed.

In the morning, he was ready for more running, yelling, and falling with the boys. It was as if he'd forgotten all about it. I suppose he has, but we'll see next year when we go again.

Stabat Mater

Sunday 08 October 2017 | 0 Comments

The Girl has been singing in the youth choir for about a year now, and she was recently chosen to participate in a small ensemble to learn some more challenging pieces. Last night, she and the other seven members (ages 10-16) sang “Stabat Mater,” an a cappella, three-voice piece in Latin.

At the Swing

Wednesday 04 October 2017 | 0 Comments

Point of View

Wednesday 27 September 2017 | 0 Comments

We've been taking Clover over to our neighbor's fenced-in backyard while we wait to have our fence complete. Our neighbors, who are absolutely the best neighbors one could have, told us to feel free any time to bring the dog over to let her have unfettered free play, and we take them up on that generous offer daily. They even set a plastic chair out for whoever -- usually K -- is there with the dog.

Right now, I sit in that chair, and I glance over at our house and see K leading E into the house. It's not clear if he's hurt or in trouble, or perhaps neither, but for a moment, I'm an outsider looking at my family as if I were the neighbor.

What do I know about that odd family that lives next door?

The wife is a sweet and hard working woman from Poland, who has a slightly noticeable but endearing accent and a penchant for phrasing things in an unusual way. She's clearly devoted to her children, and spends a great deal of time with them, often down at the little corner recreation area the family has made in the far corner of the lot. She fusses at her children from time to time, but I've never heard her yell.

The daughter was such a little girl when they moved here, a regular princess. How she's changed and how she's stayed the same. She was always dancing and prancing about as a princess as a little girl, but now I see her out in the driveway sometimes, roller-skates on, improvising some dance routine with the seriousness of an accountant. And how tall she's grown: she'll soon be as tall as her mother, I think.

Then there's the little boy, who is always so eager to help. Every time I'm out washing the car or the camper, there he is, eager to help.

That's what I think -- hope, believe -- my neighbor thinks of my family. And what might my neighbor think of me? That I'm helpful, a good father and husband, a good neighbor -- all the normal things, I guess.

Helping

Monday 25 September 2017 | 0 Comments

The Boy was playing a computer game just before dinner. He decided he needed the Girl's help. She eventually helped him.

That's the short version of it.

The long version includes coaching the Boy about how to ask for help without being an annoying and intrusive presence and encouraging the Girl to take an active role in helping the Boy through difficult experiences.

The Choice

Sunday 24 September 2017 | 1 Comment

She didn’t want to go to the park to take the dog for a walk. At one point, she adamantly refused. Not at one point. Immediately. Had she not done so, I might — might — have considered letting her stay behind, considering what she wanted to do instead, but that immediate refusal made that impossible. K and I pointed out a few simple facts: she hadn’t gotten much exercise today; she was dying for a dog and now not willing to help; there was time for that other activity when we got back; and so on. So she went on the walk with the Boy and me, with Clover leading the way. (Next training task: get her to stop pulling on the lead.) And it’s safe to say she enjoyed it. We laughed a bit, chatted a bit, and she danced down the trail a bit — all typical. And in the car on the way, she did what she wanted to stay behind to do: she read one of the mountain of books she checked out of the library yesterday.

She wanted to stay behind to read.

I can’t get some of my students to read a paragraph without griping, but she wanted to read. She’s chewed through an unbelievable 2,700 pages so far this school year, and she’s gotten hooked on a new series, which I’m ashamed to say I can’t even identify. Given her year-long obsession with mythology, it’s not hard to guess about the subject matter. But that number, which she shared during breakfast today — 2,700. That’s just impressive. I’ve read 39 books in 2017 so far. That’s probably a touch over 3,000 pages, but that’s over the course of almost nine months. She’s read almost a third of that in a ninth of the time.

So the choice was this: force her to get some exercise and share in the companionship of a walk or let her read. Had she not forced my hand with her fussing obstinacy, I’m not sure what was the right choice.

Today’s Picture

I was too lazy to import and work on the handful of pictures I took of the morning light in our backyard, so here’s one of a fruit and vegetable vendor in Warsaw over the summer getting ticketed for not having the proper paperwork.

Note

Where’d I get that 3,000 pages? I was tired. Somehow I did the math in my head so incredibly incorrectly that it’s laughable, but now that I realize that, I’m too tired to go back and rewrite it. L’s better at math than I am, too.