Screen time

I've spent a lot of time on the computer today, going goggle-eyed, but getting a few things done.  Outside the rain poured down, as promised.  Something to do with Hurricane Nicole they say.

After school the Boy had a playdate with his Japanese classmate.  He lives in a furnished, rented house.  One of the fixtures is an ENORMOUS flatscreen television, the biggest I've ever seen.  That plus access to a Wii and a DS equalled much joy for the Boy! 

I had a haircut yesterday.  For once I didn't go to CheapoCuts but chose a place where the hairdressers had trained in their craft somewhere other than an army base.  Now that was a radical idea - and a good move. I'm pleased with the result. 

Chipper

Yesterday was dull, drizzly and strangely humid, but today has been perfect.  Tomorrow they're predicting floods.  It's all go here.

I have several fair trade irons in the fire right now - not interesting to describe just yet, but potentially exciting.  So I'm busy.  But given the loveliness of the weather and the awfulness of the forecast I made sure to spend a little time at Five Rivers this afternoon.

It's all looking very glorious there right now, as you can see.  Compare the tree with one I photographed only a week ago - Fall is progressing apace.

There was a lot of squeaking and scuttering going on in the undergrowth, and I caught sight of several chipmunks.  They are fast movers and difficult to catch on camera, but this one obligingly played statues with me and I managed this snap, from a distance.

Found in translation

I kept the Girl home today with a cold too stinky to be shared with her classmates.  She flopped around half the day, but rallied mid-afternoon and insisted on scootering to the local diner for hotdog and fries - all in all I think she'll be fit for school again tomorrow.

Late morning I left her watching a DVD and went to visit a new friend, the mother of a kid in the Boy's class.  We have things in common: her husband and mine are in the same line of work, and our families have both transferred here from overseas.  But their move has been much more courageous and challenging than ours - they came from Japan 18 months ago, she with little English and her sons none at all.  They're doing fine now, but she said it was very hard to begin with.  We had a good chat.  It seemed to work for us each to speak our own language and throw in translations when required.  I was amazed by what I managed to drag out from the attic of my mind - Japanese words and phrases that have been gathering dust in there for more than twenty years.

Tonight we've been watching a video of the kids from five years ago.  Our first thought was "Wow, haven't they grown!"  Yet characterwise they've hardly changed at all.

Acrimonious acronym

Minus a long bus ride, the kids now have a much shorter school day than before, with more than an hour extra to spend at home at either end of the day. To balance this, they also have homework much more regularly than they used to. Not an unmanageable amount, but enough to complain about now that the novelty is wearing off.

I try to explain to them that if they put a bit less effort into moaning how much they hate Math, Spelling or whatever it happens to be, and a bit more into doing the work they might actually get it done more quickly. But this inarguable advice apparently just makes it all worse. So tonight, in exasperation, I introduced my daughter to one of her dad's favourite acronyms:

JBDI.

Just Bloody Do It!

Fellow parents of school-age kids, how do you get yours to do their homework?

Leaf it out

We got the panda-eyed Girl back around lunchtime today. She's a bit short on details of what went on at her camp-out, but activities included boating, cooking hotdogs over an open fire and reading by flashlight, so that all sounds pretty much like fun.

We've had an odds and ends kind of day, a fair bit of it spent outdoors. We have various jobs to get done in the yard before winter and we've been getting started on some of them. Still-summer-ish weather nothwithstanding, the leaves are beginning to fall (largely collecting in the sadly neglected pool) - soon we'll be having to bring the rakes out.

Treasure seeker

So, the festive day dawned.  But before I could get stuck into it I had to deliver the Girl to a meeting point from which she set off for an overnight Girl Scout camp.   No doubt we'll hear all about her adventures tomorrow (unless she's grumpy beyond speaking due to lack of sleep).

It didn't take long to set out all the craft equipment in my regular corner at Five Rivers.  Then from noon until four I helped a steady stream of children make butterfly finger-puppets out of scraps of newspaper and pages from an L.L.Bean catalogue.  For another table I'd prepared a "Paws off my lunch!" potato-printing activity - stamping brown paper lunchbags with racoon and coyote paw-marks.  And at yet a third table kids were using stickers to decorate plastic milk-jugs which another volunteer had spent all year turning into birdfeeders.  I think all the children were pretty satisfied with their creations, and it felt like a job well done.

Meanwhile the Man and the Boy (plus various friends who also turned up) got to explore the rest of the festival. By all accounts the top activity this year was a GPS treasure hunt - using satellite tracking devices to search for tins, then trying to identify the contents (skulls, skins and other interesting animal remains). 

It was the best weather yet for this excellent festival - warm and sunny and without the seasonal breezes that can cause havoc when you're doing outdoor crafts involving paper.  Attendance was high, and visitors and volunteers alike seemed very happy with the whole event.

Spirited away

This can't be right - it's late September, but we've got the air-conditioning on.

Temperatures were nudging 90F by this evening, and it's been pretty muggy all day.  The Girl, who set off this morning in "school spirit" colours came home almost melted.  The only clothes she happens to have in the school's official colours are a long-sleeved shirt and warm skating trousers - so she sat and sweltered loyally all day.  The Boy, who is getting on better at school now but is still rather lacking in "spirit", fared better in his randomly chosen shorts and t-shirt.

I've stayed in today, finishing up my preparations for the Five Rivers Fall Festival craft area.  Just like last year I'm trying to be creative with rubbish.  I know these little projects will still make it into the landfill eventually, but the point is to give kids and their carers the idea that crafts don't have to involve expensive materials.  I hope we'll have some fun with these and some other ideas tomorrow.

Trash talk

I had to take the kids to the doctor's for their physicals today, a requirement for enrolling at their new school.  They both passed with flying colours, and a lot of giggling because that stethoscope tickles.

I had to act as taxi driver for various members of the family later in the day.  The children's social lives are getting busy again - invitations to play are pouring in thick and fast, which is great.  Today it was the Boy's turn for a playdate, with a kid in his class who looks - disconcertingly - exactly like his best buddy from his previous school. 

Other than that, I've been cutting up old newspapers and cereal boxes.  Tomorrow I'll be sorting through foil yoghurt tops and inspecting potatoes.  Why?  All will be revealed in due course...

Not falling, in love again

It's officially the first day of Fall and so, tempting fate, I took myself to the ice-rink.

My goal was modest, after a six-month break: just stay upright for thirty minutes. No fancy stuff.  But I surprised myself by even, rustily, managing a few fun moves - though I can't remember what they're called.  I didn't fall down, and I did start loving skating and the thought of winter all over again.

Very confusing, then, to leave the rink and have my glasses fog up in the humidity outside.  Temperatures have drifted up around 80 degrees today.

School daze

The Man and I went to school this evening to learn about what the kids do there during the day.  It all seems pretty positive, although we found it a little overwhelming being back in a relatively big school environment having got used to something cosier.  But the teachers seem sparky and enthusiastic and kind and I'm confident they'll teach our children well.  Thank you to the Exile for keeping an eye on the latter while we were out.

Earlier today, inspired by the very same Exile, I sought out a Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy preserve to visit.  It was a small one, Swift Wetland in Bethlehem.  No doubt in the spring after the snow-melt it is aptly named, but following this year's dry, dry summer there was very little sign of wetland.  It was more just a pleasant walk in the woods, quite close to people's backyards and houses.  I admired woodpecker peckings and attractive eau-de-nile shades of lichen, and dodged acorns as they crashed down around me. 

And I avoided this stuff - can anyone say why?

Scootered

I didn't have the car today.  Because it was such beautiful weather I decided to walk to the library this afternoon - a little more than a mile.  It's just as well I didn't urgently want to borrow anything, as when I got there I found it was closed due to a power cut.  So I walked home again.

When the kids were back from school (here they are, on their way) the Girl had a call from her friend wanting to share some more finds - including a bone - from an archaeological dig they'd started on Saturday.  The friend lives within walking distance...on the same street as the library.  So I retraced my steps, only this time on a scooter so as to keep up with the Girl (I borrowed the Boy's and he stayed at home).

Blimey, have you ever tried riding a child's scooter?  Never again!  It's exhausting and, with no suspension under the riding leg, really uncomfortable  It's also slightly humiliating when you ride a small scooter home along a main road by yourself (what, was I supposed to carry it all the way?). 

Luckily the Girl got a lift home with her friend's dad and I didn't have to make the trip for a third time.  I'm having an early night tonight - I'm completely scootered.

Giving Peace a chance

Or at least, giving a Peace Fair a chance - the Peace Fair in Saratoga Springs, in its second year.  I'd learnt about it from Jun-san at the Pagoda the other week, got in touch with the organisers and bingo, set myself up with a Fair Trade Towns table there.

Though for the most part I was preaching to the choir, there were a few people who didn't know a whole lot about Fair Trade so it was a good chance to talk to them.  Plenty more had never heard of Fair Trade Towns, and a few of them expressed an interest in maybe pursuing the concept further - excellent, because meeting them was my main reason for being there.  On occasions like this it's great to be from the UK, which has very kindly road-tested the FTT movement so that I can tell people here that it really does work.  In other circumstances I sometimes feel my nationality gets in the way - who does she think she is, coming over here and throwing her funny European ideas around...?

The Man, once again, was left in charge of the kids.  I think they had fun in town, passing time in cafes and bookshops and the park.  Once I'd cleared up my display, we dropped by on friends L&L and their very delightful 10-month old daughter.  We were able to demonstrate, with live examples, what lovely babies can turn into.  I hope we didn't alarm them too much.

Finally, at the Boy's request we filled up with Saratoga spring water from the pavillion by the Auto museum - although not of course from the "mineral water" spigot.

Skates, dates and workmates

A busy day, but not too far from home.  Down to the bustling farmers' market in the morning, followed by a happy reunion for the Boy with his best buddy.  A reunion of a different kind for the Girl - with the ice-rink.  She seemed very comfortable back on her skates again after nearly six ice-free months.  From there she went on to a playdate with a new friend.

Meanwhile the Man and I had a sociable time at a leaving party for two of his colleagues who'll be returning to the UK soon.  Their house-warming party, held almost exactly three years ago, seems like only yesterday.

US and us

The kids have successfully completed their first full week at their new school, and though is hasn't been all smooth sailing they've survived and seem to be doing ok.  Both have made new friends, and the Boy even had a playdate with one this afternoon. 

For the last couple of days they have been coming home by themselves under their own steam, being among the very few kids who can easily do so in our mostly sidewalk-free environment.  But I like to walk with them in the mornings, and have had many enjoyable chats with the couple of neighbours who also walk their kids to school.  In fact I believe I've spoken more to these neighbours this week than I have in all the previous three years we've lived here.

The new school and the kids' former, much smaller and less traditional one are different in many ways.  One obvious difference the kids have noted this week is the regular recitation of the pledge of allegiance - not something they had really been exposed to before.  But even at this school, our kids (being British) are not expected to pledge loyalty to the Stars and Stripes, they just have to stand up respectfully.  They may be embarking on more of an all-American experience than they've had up to now, but in some ways they (in fact all of us) will always be "other" here.

To bed betimes

I was very flattered this afternoon to learn that my young friend E5N1 had asked specifically to come and visit me.  I suspect he was rather more interested in checking what toys we had out than in having meaningful conversations with his hostess, but even so.  It was nice to see him, and Exile #2.

And otherwise today - more Fair Trade things, including work on a new website.  Also some household jobs, the sort that matter but don't make a big visual impact, like laundry and cleaning out the u-bend of a bathroom sink.

Tonight I babysat all the younger Exiles.  They're very good - all quiet and in bed by 7:30pm.  Not for the first time, shooing my own two up the stairs more than a couple of hours later, I'm asking myself where did we go wrong?

Too far from home

I'm rather liking the longer time we have before the kids set off to school these days.  They don't have to bolt their breakfasts, they are awake enough to have proper conversations and we even manage to read together and other such activities.   Of course, actually getting to school on time is a different matter, following the age-old principle that the closer you live to the school, the more likely you are to arrive late.

My day has involved errands and some time well spent on the Fair Trade Town campaign, working out how best to persuade our local politicians to support us.

I also skyped with my parents, and they gave me the sad news that a family member has died too young after a long illness.  Our thoughts tonight are with all who are missing him.  We wish we weren't so far away.

Fall filling

It was perfect weather for a walk at Five Rivers this morning - bright and sunny, but comfortable and with a bit of an autumn breeze.  But many of my fellow volunteer instructors there (we were out on a training session today) were wishing for rain.  It's true, we have had an incredibly dry few months, and lawns and gardens are suffering.

I was at the kids' new school this evening, checking out what goes on at the PTA.  There was a huge turnout, but I gather that's not usually case during the rest of the year.  There are plenty of opportunities to sign up for this and that - fundraising, hospitality etc - and no doubt I shall soon be getting involved with various events. 

Between school happenings and Fair Trade events and Five Rivers - and the local ice rink reopening, hooray! - the weeks ahead look likely to be full.

Spark of imagination

The Man writes...even if you know you're pretty safe in a car in a thunderstorm, it's still shocking to see someone standing happily in an oversized bird cage getting zapped by artificial lightning.  

Our visit to the Museum of Science in Boston was so good no-one wanted to leave when closing time came. Although determined not to "learn anything on a weekend", the Boy and Girl could not help but be enthralled and entertained by room after room of hands-on, imaginative and insidiously educational exhibits.

Incidentally, spot the cool dude in the dark glasses?

The future looks Fair

I hadn't planned to take a couple of days off from blogging - technical difficulties (due to being away from home and forgetting to pack any power supplies).

We've all been in Boston, the Man and kids coming along for the ride while I attended the Fair Trade Futures Conference.  It's the largest gathering in the USA of FT producers, wholesalers, retailers and advocates, and takes place only once every five years.  I was very excited to have the chance to be there.

There were numerous discussions, debates and seminars to attend, with opportunities for informal networking between-times.  I think everyone enjoyed being around others with a shared sense of purpose concerning Fair Trade.  Though the movement faces some complex challenges, the underlying spirit is positive.  My local FT Town campaign has been flagging of late, but I've come home with renewed energy and determination to push on.

And what of the rest of the family while I was busy mingling with all the very lovely (and, no getting away from it, they are all very lovely) FT people?   Lots of fun things by the sounds of it - I'll let the Man fill you in on that another day.

Only a day away...

So after a mere two and a half hours of school this session, the kids had their first official full day off today.  It's like the vacation has refused to die.    There are so many things I've been saving up to work on "in September when the kids have gone back" - and we're already nearly halfway through the month!  Even the Girl had to admit that she's been on holiday long enough now and would quite like school to get going properly.  Amen to that.

I tried to get on and pretend my lovely offspring weren't - still! - at home, but couldn't get ten minutes to myself without someone calling "Mu-um?" - needing food or wanting to know where something was ("Where you left it!") or sometimes (the Boy admitted with a grin) just for the sake of it.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow...

Back to school (well, sort of)

A new chapter began for the kids today as they started at their new school.   It's very much closer to home than the school they attended for our first three years here, so no early start or long bus ride today, just a brisk scoot round the corner and we were there in under five minutes.

For the Girl, up for this new challenge, it all looks set to be a feast of fun and social possibilities.  The Boy, not a fan of change, will take longer to adjust.  He barely had time to begin the process this morning, with early dismissal at 11:45am, and tomorrow is a day off for Rosh Hashannah (Jewish New Year).  They'll have a full day on Friday, but then we're straight into the weekend.   So, frustratingly, we've a few days to go yet before we can begin to settle into anything like a routine. 

Best wishes to all the kids we know who have also just started back at school, wherever you happen to be.  Learn lots and have a great year!

Something to get their teeth into

Tomorrow the kids start at their new, neighbourhood school.  What better way to knock any nerves they might be feeling into perspective than with a trip to the dentist?

Remarkably, given the cavalier way that they neglect their teeth, neither of them have cavities.  However the hygienist gave them a thorough going-over with the full compliment of sharp pointy things and it wasn't the best fun morning of their lives, I'm sure.  But they survived the ordeal, and after that the first day of school should be a piece of cake.

The Girl celebrated the last day of vacation with a water-balloon fight in the backyard with a couple of friends, and the Boy hung out with his buddy.  The weather may still be warm, but the endless summer is drawing to a close.

The Man adds...here are some of my favourite memories from Mystic Seaport:

The "Joseph Conrad" in early morning. Imagine the rowers singing sea shanties to complete the picture:

A replica of the Brant Point Light on Nantucket Island. "In case you were wondering", the commentary said, "above you is a fourth order Fresnel lens!"



The "Charles W Morgan", 19th century whaler under painstaking restoration.

Mystic deja vu

I thought we'd perhaps spend another hour or two at Mystic Seaport museum then move on to something else.  But in the end we happily spent the whole day there.  There was a treasure-hunt style challenge to complete, old-fashioned games to play, a horse and carriage ride, a live show about whaling to watch, more stores and ships to visit...and the hours flew by.

Mystical experience

We'd been planning to head up to Lake Placid this holiday weekend, but the forecast was iffy.  However the forecast for the Connecticut coast was pretty well perfect, so that's where we headed instead and here we are in the historic harbour town of Mystic.

We arrived in the early afternoon and headed straight to Mystic Seaport, a living museum dedicated to America's seafaring history.  There are wonderful tall ships to explore, seaport homes and businesses to visit and many hands-on opportunities for kids.  It's not a cheap day out - but our tickets are good for tomorrow, too, so we'll have another chance to see all the things we missed or wanted to spend more time on today. 

Market research

A day of recovery after our water park exertions.  The Man in particular is battered and bruised after too many trips through the Mighty Ananconda, and a couple of death defying plunges down the Canyon.

It has been much cooler today - though still pleasantly warm - and quite breezy.  Everything looks suddenly September-ish.  Leaves are not only starting to change colour, but also to come down.  I've heard that the unusually hot, dry summer we've had will result in an early and brief fall season this year, with the stressed out trees in a hurry to give up their leaves.

All sorts of things, including stall-holders' gazebos, were blowing about at the farmers' market this morning.  We like to go there every Saturday, and we seek out something new to try each week.  Today we came home with some Vietnamese veggie rolls which we enjoyed at dinner time.  The kids are more interested in their regular treats of choice - homemade lemonade, chocolate brownie, round chips (fries) made from freshly dug potatoes and cooked on the spot.

Too much fluming fun

So, not only does his own family go off and have fun at Zoom Flume, but the Exile and family do just the same.  And the weather is about to take a turn for the seasonably cooler ahead of the Labor Day weekend after which everything closes.  What's a Man to do except take an afternoon off and go get a piece of that water park action before the summer's over and done with?

By popular demand we went back to Zoom Flume today for a final, end-of-season fling.  The temperature was a good 10 degrees lower than it had been, and it was cloudy, so visitor numbers were down - but it was still warm enough to have a great time all over again, and with much less queueing.  With just a few hours at our disposal we packed in a phenomenal number of slides.  Girl and Boy were yet more daring than on Tuesday, and the Boy would even have braved the terrifyingly vertical Canyon Plunge if it hadn't closed early (slightly to his relief).  And as for their father...

This evening the exhausted Man and I have been taking turns dropping off to sleep before bedtime.  Not so the kids, who have taken advantage of their dozing parents to sneak in a late night.  Sometimes I feel too old for this job.

Catskill Mountain House

The Man writes ...a short walk from North-South Lake where we went canoeing on Sunday leads you suddenly to a small clearing and a seemingly endless, panoramic view from the edge of the Catskill escarpment over the Hudson Valley.

This is the site of the Catskill Mountain House, a neo-classical hotel built in 1823 when the Catskills were the fashionable playground of the New York wealthy and served (from 1892) by the extraordinary Otis Elevating Railway.

Nothing remains of those times today - the railway was dismantled during World War 1 and the hotel was deliberately burnt down by the State in 1963 - except for some (presumably genuine) Victorian grafitti.

Jacques Cousteau takes a bath

After all that excitement yesterday, today has been much quieter.  That said, the Girl did get to try bareback horse-riding at farm camp.  Cool!  I wish I'd been there to see it.

For some reason the children have got into competitive snorkelling - competing against each other for who can stay underwater the longest.  They do it in the pool, but also in the bathtub.  Tonight the Boy claims to have stayed under for more than fifteen minutes, which he admits was rather boring. 

It has been another scorchio day - up to 95F at lunchtime, and humid with it.  I gather it has been the hottest summer on record in this region.