The Bees Sneeze ReVisited

Remember this bush from earlier this year?



Fall has come and gone, taking the flowers, the leaves, and the bees.



But look closer. It has revealed something else.



Only two more Easter Eggs left to find from this year's impossibly difficult hunt.



Max, you are never allowed to hide Easter Eggs again!

Cultural Literacy

My behavior is populated with filmic allusion.

Especially from my childhood favorites. When insisting on something with a child, threatening a punishment or a course they dislike, I challenge them, a la Grand Moff, "Would you prefer another (punishment, objective, chore, etc.), a military (punishment, objective, chore, etc.)? Then name the (punishment, objective, chore, etc.)!"



And Luke, ever earnest, overachieving, and in desperate need of affirmation, "(beat) *I* care!"

It is always wryly disappointing when I hear people get an allusion wrong. The other day, a co-worker joked about needing any "stinking badges", and I asked him if he'd ever seen the movie.

"Blazing Saddles? Yeah, it's one of my favorites!"

To think that kids these days grow up without bothering to source their favorite quotes. It is to weep.



I have tried to instill a similar discerning love for film in my children. I am certain that makes me occasionally entertaining. I am also certain it is not enough.

What are the cultural things that are important for children to know? Do we need to teach them the School of Rock chart of Rock and Roll etymology? Political terms and historical stances?

We teach them what's worth fighting for, striving for, what things are worth the sacrifice. What things are not.

I want my children to know that I expect them to go to church each week, even if it's inconvenient.

I want them to have fun and laugh, but to know when to be tender and reverent.

Funny Thing About the Olive Oil

We both couldn't find it in the groceries I brought home yesterday. I thought maybe it had rolled under the seat in the car.

When I remembered...

...I remembered that I bought ice cream on the same trip.

And put the bags with the ice cream right into the freezer.


So, cool, olive oil can freeze. Glad it was a plastic bottle so there was no risk of cracking.

Soaked it in hot water for a few minutes, and it melted enough to make the Caesar Salad dressing.

*whew*.

Embiggen This and Just Gasp at How Beautiful the Earth Is.

Actually, click here to open this at the Vimeo website so you can watch it full-screen High Definition.

I can't decide what I love most about it. Trying to identify the land mass from the skeletal/x-ray version of civilization by recognizing the patterns of lights (all I was sure of the first time through was the Sinai Peninsula/Egypt).

The massive thunderstorms with lightning rippling through them.

The reflection of the moon on the water below, racing ahead.

Definitely the aurora borealis sparking and dancing through the atmosphere.

If a Watched Pot Never Boils...

... an unwatched bowl of oatmeal must boil in the the ten seconds you take your eyes off of it.

Fall Back Sunrise

I'm fascinated by the pseudo Doppler effect of taking a picture from a moving car. But I'm more fascinated by how pretty the sun looks through the fog.

Maurice Mondays.

Yes, the animation is quaint at best.

But it's Carol King singing, and Maurice Sendak lyric-ing. That's good stuff.