Sleight fantastic

A day filled with gardening and quilting-related activity, topped off by a mighty thunder storm.

The Girl has been baffling us this evening with some of the magic tricks she is learning at camp - she's gaining some useful skills to keep up her sleeve (ho ho) and impress people with at parties.

The Boy has also been attempting to impress us with his own unique card tricks - baffling, too, but for different reasons.

Here's another photo from our week in Cape Cod. Who can tell me where it is?

Now that's magic!

The Girl has been at a Masterful Magicians Camp today, though she hasn't shared any tricks with us yet. The Boy meanwhile visited a shop called Hobby Town and used his own magic arts to persuade his Grandpa to buy him a set of points and some rolling stock for his model railway.

And we've all been in the pool, which today reached a magical 80F (well nearly) - still fresh, but not nearly as bracing as the ocean waves.

The Cape Escape

Cape Cod is a wonderful part of the world. Although the first few days of our stay there were rather grey and bleak, not to say cold and wet, they made for exciting conditions on the dramatic Atlantic beaches.

Then on Wednesday the weather began to clear and we could paddle and swim on the gentle bay side of the Cape:



Top experiences of the trip, in no particular order: a visit to a working lighthouse; fresh fish and chips from the Friendly Fishermen's Fish Market; building a sand boat with a moat, and collecting crabs to put in it; mini-golf; the excellent Mass Audubon nature sanctuary at Wellfleet; frequent servings of Ben and Jerry's ice-cream...




...creating a mermaid from sand and seaweed; TV (kids); no computer (me); crashing surf (Man).



It's a really beautiful place - the beaches are clean and stretch for miles, and the areas close to the sea are completely unspoilt. I imagine that at the height of the season the roads and restaurants must get uncomfortably overcrowded, but we were lucky to be there a week ahead of that time.

I would love to go there again. If you ever get the chance, you should too.

Cape crusaders

Back again, after a healthy week of seaside fun and no computers. The Cape was great, but as it's midnight now I'll tell you all about it tomorrow...

Self-service restaurant

I had some business to attend to at Five Rivers this afternoon, so the kids and their grandparents went on a little hike while they waited for me. They walked round the Beaver Pond - and saw beavers!

When I caught up with my family again they were back in the nature centre at the bird-watching window, but not just watching birds. This much bigger critter was also helping itself from the feeders. Can you recognise what it is, in spite of (or maybe because of) its dastardly mask?


There were also chipmunks, red squirrels, blue jays, woodpeckers, cardinals, red-winged blackbirds and others gathering to feed - it made for quite a show.

Tomorrow we are all off to Cape Cod for a week. We are renting a house that doesn't have internet access so if you don't see much new in this space for a few days, that'll be why.

Long to rain over us

It rained last night. By which I mean water fell in sheets from midnight until dawn, and this morning our backyard swimming pool was full nearly to the brim. And it carried on raining all day, with very little let-up.

The morning I spent out and about running errands and getting wet. This afternoon I went shopping with Mum. We visited various stores, and in between times got wet.

We also squeezed in a visit with the kids to somewhere called Judy's Tiny Shoppe, where we bought some tiny dolls house accessories. The Girl opted for furniture and miniature books. The Boy eagerly bought two teeny model train-set boxes (disappointingly they contained no actual teeny trains) and a dolls house-size computer. With its chunky old-fashioned monitor it strangely manages to look almost antique.

Hummer

The kids were happy to hang out at home and in the pool today, and my Dad was happy to keep an eye on them, so Mum and I made a little jaunt over to Altamont to visit the yarn shop.

We came back via Thompson's Lake and Thacher Park and called in on the nature centre up there. We were drawn to the bird-feeding area - not as colourful a range of birds as I've watched there in winter, but we were very excited to see a hummingbird visit the special feeder hanging right by the window. The hummingbird is a strange creature, being only about the size of your thumb and in flight looking almost more like an insect than a bird. It somehow seems too exotic to be found in these northerly parts, but nevertheless the ruby-throated kind is a summer regular.

Tonight I've been out at a Five Rivers meeting. I came home to find the Boy making a tape-and-cardboard crazy golf course for his cuddly whale. Earlier he had built it a mall. I fear we'll have a whole cereal-box city in the house before the week is out.

Whale of a time

We've had a fairly quiet day, to give my parents a chance to catch their breath after all their travelling yesterday. The furthest we got was into the local town, where the Boy bought himself a cuddly Orca whale, because that was something he really, really needed (obviously). He has been busy cutting and sticking all afternoon making cardboard pools and waterslides for it. He has even made it its own movie theatre, where apparently it can watch Finding Nemo.

Our own pool is slowly beginning to warm up, not that our guests quite believed us as they gamely shivered in it. The Boy managed to stay in until his teeth were chattering almost too much for him to talk, and the Girl somewhere beyond that point - though she's showing no ill effects this evening.

Wild welcome

My parents arrived this evening, via Boston, having had to drive through wild electrical storms and pounding rain for most of the US part of their journey. We are very happy to see them safely here.

The kids have been somewhat wild also, with excitement. They have been noisily telling corny jokes, laughing raucously, dancing and generally performing to the gallery - and why not? That's what families are for.

Mess test

As I'd anticipated, the Boy didn't make it through last night's sleepover. In fact sleep didn't even get a look in. He changed his mind and bailed out. Luckily he decided to do this at bedtime - packed up his bag and announced he was going home - so neither his hosts nor his parents actually lost any sleep because of it.

He rejoined his buddy today (no hard feelings) for a swimming outing. The Man did some more trail blazing at school this morning (heavy duty stuff this time, hacking out a new trail), then went to mow in our own yard this afternoon. The Girl had fun at her friend's house, then had more fun at her final Brownie event - she has now 'flown up' to Junior Girl Scouts.

And I've mostly been sorting and tidying and hoovering, though like the weeds in the yard, mess in our house has a rampant life of its own: turn your back on a nice tidy room for more than a minute and you can guarantee that someone will find something to discard in the middle of it - and then before you know it a whole load more mess will have rushed in to keep it company.

Well...

...I'm happy to report that I'm feeling much better today after my 36-hour fever. Even so, I've taken things slowly and stayed in, and the Man has had the pleasure of going to work, taking the kids to the library and to pick strawberries, then going to the supermarket, then delivering the Girl to a somewhat distant sleepover destination (a 90 minute round trip).

The Boy has also departed to sleep over with his best buddy tonight, a first time for him with non-relatives. Fortunately he won't be very far away in case of late night disaster or change-of-heart.

I am rather behind now on preparations for some special guests arriving on Monday evening. Two days left for a marathon catch-up...

Zoo tycoon

The Man writes...Albaniana hasn't ventured far from her bed today, so with me at work the kids have enjoyed a day with minimal supervision. The Boy's favourite computer game at the moment is Zoo Tycoon Marine Mania. Having played on the computer for (no-doubt) far too long, he then set about coverting the house into a marine zoo. With the aid of pillows and stones and a large number of white sheets the living room became a penguin enclosure. The dining room became the Orca Tank (with an electric fan representing the all-important water filter), and for 25 cents I was a treated to a show where the Orca (aka. The Boy) did a number of cool tricks.

Four freedoms

The Man writes...unfortunately Albaniana has picked up the bug that struck The Girl earlier in the week. Let's wish her a speedy recovery.

While we're in a reflective mood, here's a simple but moving sculpture in the garden of FDR's library in Hyde Park, New York. On a plinth carrying the four freedoms identified by FDR in 1941 - freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, freedom from fear - stand two larger-than-life human figures fashioned from parts of the Berlin Wall. It's almost twenty years since crowds started tearing down the Wall one November night.

All good things...

Another school year has ended, and like last year we've enjoyed the 8th Graders' graduation tonight. They all made fine speeches, songs were sung, laughter shared and tears shed.

The big kids are excited and ready to move on to high school, but for a couple of younger children who (for one reason and another) won't be returning to this school next year, it has been a difficult night of goodbyes. It's hard to convey what a happy environment all the children share here, and the prospect of leaving it must be a daunting one. The Boy, after saying goodbye to an older friend who is leaving, was quite overcome with emotion - how will he cope when it's his turn to go?

And so the lo-o-o-o-ng summer vacation stretches before us - whatever are we going to do with ourselves?

Cruel in tent

The Man writes...Albaniana has just returned exhausted from a meeting to form a committee for her "fair trade town" campaign. Happily she seems to have a quorum of keen helpers.

Earlier today we met up for lunch and then visited a cool outdoor equipment shop. The staff there are persistently attentive. As we stood regarding a small backpackers' tent, wishing we were cool outdoor people, an assistant appeared at our shoulders. "That's a great little tent," she said. "You two could almost stand up in it!"

Making fun of vertically challenged customers? That's the kind of sales technique you usually only see on "The Apprentice".

Here is another photo from last week's show of work, where the Boy's classroom had been transformed - "Changing Rooms" style - into the African desert. The meerkat (top left) and the safari jeep are his work, and the waterfall was his idea - apparently he was quite insistent.

Wan plucky Girl

Instead of running the errands I'd planned on today, I've been at home keeping a poorly Girl company. Sick in the morning, fever by the afternoon. She's desperate not to miss tomorrow's Field Day (a sort of non-competitive sports day during which everyone gets very wet). We'll have to see.

Still, at least we got to snuggle up on the sofa and read Kate DiCamillo's The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, which I think we would both recommend. I snuffled my way through the sad bits, and my daughter looked at me with benign curiosity.

But most of the time she has looked pale and wan and stoical. Here's a reminder of happier times from a couple of days ago:

Berry nice

We had a quiet morning, though we managed to go out and do some strawberry picking before noon. We served up the berries for lunch when friends came over. They were returning the Girl from a sleepover and stopped to enjoy the pool for a while. It was all very summer Sunday-ish.

The children will be finishing school for the year in less than three days - yikes! There is much surprised talk of how fast this has come around, how can it be this time already etc - but to be honest, if you plan the last day of school for the second week of June it's bound to come around fast, isn't it?

The three month vacation awaits...

Baked goods

My friend J and I spent the morning at our fair trade table at the new farmers' market - and a glorious sunny morning it was. Unlike the other stallholders, we hadn't brought a shady gazebo to sit under and our sample chocolates were soon meting away, while we baked. Fortunately towards lunchtime the kind Dutch farmer opposite, who'd sold all his organic veg, invited us to take his shaded space.

The market was lovely and very well attended. We managed to collect four pages of signatures on our petition, including the Town Supervisor's, so it was all worth a little sunburn.



This afternoon we ventured into the pool for the first time - a great way to c-c-c-cool off. But what with all the new inflatables we've recently purchased there was very little room left for swimming even if the water had been warm enough.

A fair cop

A long day: this morning, the end of year Show of Work at school, with classrooms spectacularly converted into a Dutch settlement, Native American encampment and African savannah. Some very proud students showed us around.







This evening: cake, soda and a trampoline - what could possibly go wrong? Surprisingly, nothing. We were at a barbecue birthday party at the home of one of the Boy's classmates. The food was excellent, the company enjoyable and the setting splendid - the house stands on top of a hill surrounded by acres of woodland. We all had a great time.

On the way home, late and very dark, with tired children gently whingeing in the backseat, I was pulled over by a cop for speeding. I'd had no idea I was driving too fast. The cop was incredibly friendly and polite. He saw the two kids in the back, noted my 'temporary visitor' driver's license - and kindly waved me away.

Presidents and precedents

The Man took the day off work and we visited Hyde Park, home of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. I went there with my parents last year; the Man's last visit was about twenty years ago.

There is so much to see there, and our time was frustratingly limited because we had to be back in time to meet the kids off the bus, but it was an enjoyable outing even so. I am still fascinated by the Roosevelts and the events, personal and historic, that shaped them and enabled them to achieve all they did.

We spent some time looking at an exhibit describing FDR's first 100 days in office. Banks closing, jobs and homes being lost - so many parallels with the current situation. It remains to be seen if President Obama, facing similar crises, will be remembered as favourably as his Depression-era predecessor.

Rubbish outfit

I had a fair trade meeting this morning (to be honest, a cup of coffee with my friend J) then spent most of the rest of the day stitching a nice Fair Trade banner to decorate our stall at this Saturday's farmers' market.

This evening I've been down at Five Rivers for a Fall Fest meeting, where I proudly displayed my latest eco-craft creation. Apart from a few staples and a couple of pieces of elastic it is all made from recycled materials. We'll be making them on the craft stall, assuming it's not pouring with rain.

The Girl likes the costume, but the Boy took one look at it and told me, 'Well, boys aren't going to want to make that!' Luckily we'll be making junk-mail paper boats too, which meet with his approval.

Perambulations

I wandered down to a local farmers' market today, a small one that sets up in a church car-park. It mostly consists of plant stalls this time of year, but there's a guy from Saratoga who brings a particularly good salad dressing/marinade which I've used before, so that's mainly what I went for.

With an eye for a bargain, I also looked in on the church thrift shop. The Girl needs a Dutch costume for later in the week and I thought I might find something useful. A suitable blouse set me back all of 50 cents, and I bought her a brand new straw hat and a pair of shorts for a couple of dollars too - not bad for a day's shopping.

A mother and grown-up daughter were in the thrift shop, eyeing up an old carriage-sprung pram. The mother was trying to persuade her daughter that she really needed this item, even though (as the mom cheerily told me) she didn't have a baby and wasn't even pregnant. I did mention that it looked like it would be rather awkward to get in and out of a car, but lack of sense prevailed and they bought it anyway. They wheeled it away, discussing how on earth they were going to hide it from Dad - maybe fill it with plants and pretend it was a lawn ornament?

Walkabout

The Man writes...in US English "walk" is essentially a transitive verb only. You can walk a dog, walk the mall, walk the [elevated] indoor track at the 'Y'. However, you don't walk to somewhere. It's not even possible to walk to the local YMCA without risking life and limb because of the lack of sidewalks.

You can also walk the roads around our home - a very enjoyable pastime as there are many beautiful trees, and birds and small animals to look and listen out for. However, it is clearly essential to first don day-glo lycra, baseball cap, and brilliant white trainers and make sure you march along with a definite appearance of purpose. Or take a dog with you.

I mentioned to some American friends of Albaniana that I thought people might be thinking I was a bit odd, strolling around the neighbourhood apparently just for fun. They were sympathetic and suggested a particular prop, which I was not familiar with until I saw it at the Memorial Day parade...


So what do you think? Will I seem less odd walking around like this?