cascadian telegrams

MS Dads Picnic

Sunday was a nice "Father-Kids Picnic" at Lake Sammamish State Park sponsored by 'MS Dads' (i.e. fathers with kids at MS).  It was good fun.  We had some nice barbeque and a chat with some of the other families and Malcolm and Zoe went swimming and played with sand toys on the beach.

malcolm duped me into buying some candies when I picked up my 'side dish' for the picnic, they were like "starbursts" 'cept hard as rock.  Here he is trying to get through a green one and Zoe is working on a red one

while Kai sensibly waits it out below the picnic table

hikes: twin falls state park

a nice day hike to Twin Falls State Park on Saturday, with our friend Jeffrey, his girlfriend Yuen and her dad visiting from New York

it was a good "first hike" since we returned and also a kid-friendly hike with lots to see in a relatively short distance.

It's great to get back in the the forests of the northwest again.  I love the mossy trees and dramatic scenery

amazing how many blown-down trees there were from last winter's storm... the same storm that downed over 3000 trees in Vancouver's Stanley Park last winter

first day of school

a very exciting day for all of us on Wednesday 9/5/07 as Malcolm had his first day of school at the local kindergarten. 

He was a tiny bit clingy and didn't want us to go, but he is such an outgoing little boy that we could see that he loved the stimulus and having lots of kids around his own age.  And no fear of that:  There's 28 in each of the two kindergarten classes... over 20 in each are boys (!) which seems statistically very unlikely to me but the teacher told us that happens some years.

He likes his teacher Mrs. Hixson... she's been teaching for 22 years, most of it kindergarteners.  We like her too:  The school sponsored a 'Parents Night' the previous Wednesday where local restaurants opened their doors to school parents and donated all proceeds to the elementary school, and we spent over an hour chatting with her and her husband at the bar.  She seems great.  It seems like a rather tight-knit neighborhood (even the bartender had a kid in 2nd grade) without being snobby or exclusive, and of course we're happy to have a few nice local places we can occasionally walk to, throw back a few drinks and have a laugh or two with our fellow parents.

I think Malcolm feels important and grown-up going to the elementary school.  We were hoping he'd be in the same class as Riley, a friend and other new boy from the after school care across the street, but Riley's in the other kindergarten class.  They can still see each other at recess and after school, plus Malcolm seems to get on with his "table mates" Maximus, Harriet, Dalton and Julian

Interestingly there are two Rubys, three Liams and two Annas in his kindergarten so those must be popular names of the last 5 years. 

Some of these kids coming to kindergarten can actually read and write already.  Malcolm cannot.  Danish school is about play and social relationships until about age 7 then they get serious about learning, so like everyone else there we didn't push him too hard on reading or writing.  But now he will have to catch up a bit. Before school began they did a little evaluation to see how well he could count and how many letters he could identify (the result:  not too far, and not too many :)).  But I've heard him count up to 15-20 in Danish and he seems intellectually curious, so I'm sure he'll catch up.

I like the way the school is structured too.  They ask you to sign a pledge to read to them at least 20 minutes every evening (no worries there) and they send you home on the first day with a packet of materials about the rules and procedures.  There's lots of emphasis on respect (and the consequences for lack of it) and I was happy to see an effectively "no tolerance" policy on bullying, which is great.  There are few things more disruptive to kids in a school than other kids that are bullying or aggressive.

So things look to be off to a good start.  It is his first solo steps out into the wider world and the life of the mind, and I hope he will love it.  Bon voyage, my boy!

dino-sore-ass

it really *is* a drag getting old... well, some times.  Now is one of them.

I had hockey try-outs for fall league on Tuesday evening -- basic stuff like sprinting around the ice rink a few times, skating, shooting and passing techniques and a brief scrimmage @ the end.  About 90 minutes of on/off high-intensity aerobic stuff.  But it's over a day later, and man am I sore... I mean sore to the point of lifting my legs with my arms to get seated in the car, pathetic stuff like that.  Why is that?

I will tell you:  It is because I am old (in my 40's) yet like most men my little mental image -- only occasionally interrupted by moments of lucidity -- is that I'm still 25 or 30 or something.  If that were true, I'd be out on a five mile run right now.

There's 8 divisions in the greater seattle hockey league ranging from 1 (the young bucks... serious and college-level players) to 8 (rank amateurs).  I've been playing hockey for ages, but definitely I've slowed down.  Guys I used to play with before we left for Denmark are in divisions 2-3 but I got drafted into 4-5 (the div 3 team was full).

I shouldn't complain... it is still fun to play.  But getting whupped shouldn't come so easy.  Wait until Malcolm is a teenager... oh ho ho!  Then I'll be feeling it, no doubt.

memory

funny how Malcolm seems to remember things the same way I do.

For example, Susan and I sat down to watch the BBC series The Human Body.  Malcolm was in another room.  As soon as he heard the first, few notes of the theme music, he said "are you watching 'The Human Body'?"

That's precisely what I would do:  remember something based on music or tone.  Typically if I hear a note or two of something I can immediately identify the thing (show, song, person, etc) associated with it.  It seems that he is doing the same.

77 million paintings

I've been obsessed lately with Brian Eno's 77 Million Paintings.

 

Conceived by Brian Eno as "visual music", his latest artwork, 77 Million Paintings is a constantly evolving sound and imagescape which continues his exploration into light as an artist's medium and the aesthetic possibilities of "generative software".

He first created 77 Million Paintings to bring art to the increasing number of flat panel TV's and monitors that often sit darkened and underutilized. Now Eno is also showing large installations of this work, recently at the Venice Bienniale and Milan Triennale, and in Tokyo, London and South Africa.

There's something compelling and emotional about it... I can't quite put my finger on it.  The images are often fascinating, but it is the droning, ambient music that touches me.  It puts me in a good and contemplative place.... I can't describe it better than that.

all-purpose pizza

Susan had "girls night out" last Wednesday, so naturally Malcolm and I reciprocated by going to All-Purpose Pizza in Leschi with Andy and the boys (Levi and Henry).  APP is an OK pizza place (with interesting thin-crust sourdough pizza) but the cool part is they have miniature metal dough rolling tables and an old cash register etc. for the kids. 

What a great idea!  The waitress gave each of them a dough ball and Malcolm, Levi and Henry immediately set out to make pizzas, pretend to serve them and to "ring us up" with the old cash register on the kids' table. They were quickly joined by several other kids 'making pizzas'.  This of course freed up Andy & I to enjoy a few beers and a nice chat. 

Brilliant idea - wish I'd thought of that :).