Sing with me: “It’s a small world, after all…” Ian’s mother and uncle took high school chemistry and physics from the same teacher, at the same school, I did, though about 20 years before me. And well, P. Q. Boomer is still at it, according to this article, which Ian’s father forwarded to me. Boomer is a performer. Too bad he didn’t start his own circus or something. As a teacher, I’d say, not so much. It’s always amusing to read these profile articles full of fond memories, but I’d really like a slightly more balanced approach. Not all the …
“Four” doesn’t exist. Caitlyn counts the corners on the breakfast table: “One corner. Two corner. Three corners. Five corners.” Same thing when she’s counting pancakes on the griddle: “One pancake. Two pancake. Three pancakes. Five pancakes.” This afternoon, she was counting books: “One two three five six seven eight nine, seven eight nine.” Just to be sure, I asked her to say “four”: “Caitlyn, can you say ‘four’?” She looks at me, tucks her chin, and says, “Five”.
“So, have you written anything lately?” One would think I had, given how much I’ve been working in the backyard. Gardening is supposed to be good for the writer’s soul, if all those Romantic Poets knew what they were talking about. But, I have no words to show for my labor, just some boxes and a lot of imported dirt. In a month or so, there will be more green back here. And maybe with the arrival of the green, the words will follow. Or maybe the words come later, after the garden is well established. Or maybe I should …
March. 59 wonderful degrees. Birds (ok, crows). Actual shadows. And little tiny new leaves on some of the trees in the neighborhood’s central park. Little tiny new leaves on the shrubs that have been sticks for months (“Caitlyn, don’t step on the plants, they’re sleeping.” “Sleepy plants.” And then she drops her ball on them.). There’s even a crocus in bloom in the neighbor’s yard… After a long, dark, freezing winter, let’s hear it for Spring!
The Stranger has an excellent write-up on the Viaduct advisory vote here in Seattle next month. Key points: A new viaduct would be “on average, 71 percent larger than the current viaduct, not 50 percent—in large part because modern safety standards require wider lanes.” Any views currently enjoyed from the Viaduct would be blocked by “a solid 32-inch-high wall and a 10-inch open rail—another casualty of modern safety standards.” “The lengthy construction means the new viaduct wouldn’t be ready for use until as late as 2020.” A new Viaduct comes with a $3 billion sticker price, but “factor in financing, …
The Seattle Zoo has a tiger cub! She’s off public viewing, but the video that the zoo posts is oh-so-adorable. It’s just possible to catch yourself thinking, So cuddleable! …and then remember that she’s going to grow up to be 8 feet long, 200+ pounds, and have a meal preference of 85 pounds of raw meat. That’s just too much cat for this house. Not to mention too much meat. No, I think we’d better stick to felis domesticus. In other news, Caitlyn has her first set of Duplo Legos. She calls them “new Legos” and is particularly enchanted with …