Girl Scoots and Boy Scoots

The Man wasn't kidding around when he said I was out partying last night. It was the 53rd anniversary of Ghana's independence, so I put on my poshest frock and took myself off to the local Ghanaian Association's celebratory dinner dance. Like you do.

It was very nice. Sit-down meal, live music, lots of people wearing fantastic national dress, and an awesome selection of dancing shoes. Going by this party, I think the fair trade chocolate-themed event I'm planning to hold with the Association in a couple of months' time will be lots of fun.

As for today, the weather has been Spring-like. We didn't take full advantage as some of us have colds and are feeling a bit grotty, but scooters came out for a while, and we made it down to Five Rivers for a squishy scamper round the pond.

Changing menu

The Man writes...it's Saturday night and so Albaniana has slipped on her LBD and gone out partying. This has given me the chance to catch up with a few jobs...like cleaning the kitchen floor.

It has been a bright, sunny day of up to 50F, but winter habits die hard and favourite indoor activities have been pursued: ice skating lessons for both Albaniana and the Girl, roller skating for the Boy.

Albany County recently made it compulsory for chain restaurants to post calorie content on their menus. This seems like a good idea, although nutritional information (e.g salt and fat content) would be helpful as well. A commenter on "All over Albany" gave a link to an article on the the most unhealthy restaurant meals in America, some of which are quite awesomely bad. These include a 3000 calorie main course, and a 1800 calorie kid's dish with more saturated fat than an adult should eat in four days.

Vegetable magnetism

I've had an active and sociable day. I met up with a friend for a long skate at the rink, then went on for a nice-cup-of-tea and enjoyable chat with Exile #2 before hoofing it home. It was a great day for walking - relatively warm, and blue skies. As I neared home I was able to pass the time of day with neighbours lured out onto the street by the good weather. Looks like hibernation may be over for another year.

Yesterday's sewing class had a fruit and veg theme, with a magnetic twist. I think the kids enjoyed the project. It got them thinking about what other "food" they could make from felt, and by popular demand I am now tasked with designing them a sewable slice of cake. Watch this space...

Read Across America Day

Another great RAAD today - one of my favourite annual school events. Lovely puppet show, funny and thought-provoking tales from a storyteller, writers talking to kids about their craft and of course the costume parade around the gym. Here's the Girl in her chosen outfit.

For me the most interesting event was a presentation by author-illustrator Matt McElligott. I watched him with a class of five and six year-olds. Using a smartscreen to show the pictures, he had the children help him read one of his stories. Then he explained, in terms the kids could understand and with excellent use of powerpoint, the process of creating, editing and publishing a book. There was a sharp intake of breath in the room when he revealed that the whole process usually takes about three years - more than half a lifetime for most of the listeners!

My own kids had been madly excited about this day, and the general sense of enthusiasm around school was palpable. When it comes to fun literary events there's not much to top RAAD - with the exception, of course, of Linton Children's Book Festival...

ERring on the cautious side

The first thing I have to do is apologise to my son, who would prefer that I did not tell this story even though it doesn't reflect at all badly on him. But tell it I will, and I can only hope that one day when he's older he'll forgive me.

We spent a long part of last night in the Emergency Room at Albany Medical Center. We'd been to the YMCA swimming pool, and in the changing room our Boy fell off a bench, cracking his head on another bench on his way down. There was blood, quite a lot of it, and I rushed him along to the medical room where they dabbed the injury with gauze and held an ice-pack on it and I tried not to faint.

At that point we would probably just have gone home, if only one of the YMCA staff hadn't said at least eight times that it was up to us but we might want to consider taking him to the hospital for a second opinion, just to be on the safe side. Well, once an idea is put in your head...

Off we went, hoping that it wouldn't take too long. So much for that. As far as I could tell, there was only one doctor for the entire ER. Consequently we spent at least an hour and half sitting on a gurney in a rather dismal corridor waiting to be seen, while this over-stretched doctor whistled by occasionally on her way between patients in far greater need.

We finally got home just before 2am after not the very best night out we'd ever had. But thankfully all is well, and everyone has been just fine today (if a little sleepy).

Late for the post

An unexpectedly very late night and I am REALLY tired. More tomorrow.

Pokemoan

Long-term regular readers of this blog have probably been thinking "It's a while since Albaniana's been to see the dentist. Didn't she use to do that, like, once or twice a week?"

Well, that may have been true once-upon-a-time, but these days I just go for a six-monthly check-up. In fact my dentist is so satisfied that she's done all she needs to do to me that she has relegated me to a secondary dentist. It seems I am no longer a cash-cow - my teeth (I was told today) are doing fine.

The kids are planning their costumes for Read Across America Day later this week. The Girl wants to go as Puck from the Sisters Grimm series - happily a not too complicated costume. Her brother, meanwhile, hopes to be that well-known "book" character Pikachu...