"Slumber" party!

Last Saturday night, we had a pretend slumber party with Felix and Scarlett. Felix' Mom and Dad got all dressed up and lovely and headed off for Amy's dear friend Jane's wedding - congratulations Jane! While they boogied the night away, Felix and Scarlett tore things up at our house. There was bed jumping and hat wearing...

Then bath taking.

Then sleeping bags and popcorn! Woo-hoo! Do we know how to throw a party, or what? I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids - or me and Patrick. The little guys were definitely on their best behavior. I think they knew that their first slumber party was an auspicious occasion, even if they didn't actually get to spend the night. Don't worry guys, I'm sure there will be many more real sleep overs to come!

Tough!!!

Tough day yesterday - hottest day in L.A. ever, many students & computers & no air conditioning :(

Also mourning the death of Rigoberto Ruelas Jr., who apparently commited suicide after the Times published the teacher evaluations & labeled him as not effective.

And my highly touted teaching software is still not working three weeks into the school year.

All in all, not the best day for President Obama to announce his intention to increase the school year. Although, once again, he's right & I applaud him for it.

Darn it.

Jack Swims!!!

Jack started swimming at the end of Summer!!!





Now we have two water boys!!!

Richard!!!

Bastard.

Support!!!

I don't have much energy this week with school starting up again, but I'm sending some of it out to support all of the representatives who are fighting to end the Bush era tax cuts.

Not to be too grim, but in my opinion, this one is the game. I think that it basically comes down to this, and if they can't get it done, then we're all in big trouble. Stay strong brothers and sisters!!




Contact your representative here.

Also, more Sheens here.

Houses!!!

One of the great things about this summer was having the time to get our place together a little more! It’s always been good, but it’s really one of the blessings of the teaching breaks that you can really focus on a project to a degree that others might find obsessive.

Thanks to Em for letting me put more plants in the house than she might like, and thanks to Amy for actually trying to answer some pretty neurotic questions : )

Here are some places that inspired me:

And:

Five!!!

Happy Labor Day to all!!!

More Farm Fest...

Josh and Adrienne gave us some great pictures from Farm Fest that we wanted to share. First of all...here's the farm. Isn't it pretty? It's one of our favorite places in the whole world.

Here is a great picture of the Atlanta Dores. As you can see, Lorelei was very taken with Rebecca. That's Jeff there on the end playing one of many wonderful songs for us!

Here I am with my poor Jack who was feeling puny this day. Not a bad smile from someone who proceeded to sleep the entire rest of the afternoon.

A great Farm Fest trio - Fred, Patrick and Mike. We all love Fred, both for his amazing playing, and for his genuinely fine spirit. He and his wife Cindy are just lovely, deep people. Mike has just started playing the guitar again in the past few years and it is really nice to hear him play with Patrick.

Here is Adrienne with a great flower in her hair!

My love.

Dogpile on Robbie! Thanks for looking after the kids and the fire.

The kids showing off the goodies they got from Saturday Market.

Finn and Lorelei coming back from the swimming hole.

Cuties! Thanks to Josh and Adrienne for sharing these with us.

Politics!!!

Em & I have been watching The West Wing again, which is such a fantastic show that it just seems better and better each time through (I think that we're on our 3rd time now)! The only problem with it is that it's hard not to look around and get a little - or a lot - disappointed with our actual political situation.

In particular I was wondering this morning where the powerful liberal voices are these days? You hear so much about Glen Beck, Sara Palin, and ilk, but who is speaking interestingly and passionately for the left???

I do like HuffPost - on social issues Arianna does a great job. But she still seems to have too much of her jet-setter past in tow to really stick it to the man. Ralph Nader has, rightly or wrongly, been swept under the mat. And if you head to the fringier side, like Pacifica, it quickly devolves into conspiracy theories and pro-marijuana rants.

So who is out there saying end this war - end all wars, give homosexuals the same rights as everyone else; that the environment is not going to get better on its own, and, critically, tax the rich - without hate, but without mercy?

Of course there are Dennis Kucinich and Al Franken. But as representatives, their influence is necessarily localized and limited. These men, and I would also include Barbara Boxer and Nancy Pelosi with them, are lions and God bless them all, but they aren't galvanizers.

What I would love to hear is a voice. As much as Rush Limbaugh deserves our infinite scorn, don't you just get a little bit jealous too?

More Directions!!!

Beginning of Summer:





End of Summer:

Conferrable!!!