what a coincidence

pyxl, it's funny, I actually took that photograph from the time when Ethan was starring for The Little Rascals.

Or that?!?

And the boy turned 5 today. Here he is with his own blue tongue.

What on Earth is that?

Margot had soccer goalie-camp today. The boy and I sat and watched it. After a bit he and I wandered over to the snack counter and I bought him some candy. When the camp was done, Margot wanted a Blue Raspberry candy ring. It did this to her tongue -- she was most excited.

Boy at Run

Ethan and I went out to a local Nature Preserve. It was a great time. We saw birds, frogs, snail shells, pond scum, large flowers and tall grass. He threw rocks, apples, nuts, dirt. He broke sticks and ran and ran and ran. We talked about all sorts of stuff as we walked into a out of deep woods, long, sunny praries and such. We travelled over a mile or two and he never flagged. In the end we had to run back to the car since he could hear pirates coming to get us.

A blossom by any other name...

... would taste as sweet?

On the advice of a friend, and because we planted pumpkins this year, I plucked some pumpkin blossoms and fried them last night.

They were very good. Now let me disclaim at this point that they were bathed in milk and eggs and dredged in crackers and fried in butter, so I suppose it was inevitable that I'd like them.

So I guess fried pumpkin blossoms do indeed have my endorsement, another mild culinary surprise for me. A darned tasty one, to be sure.

well and truly hurled

I have recently begun playing vintage baseball. This is a league that plays baseball by the rules established inteh 19th century (1858 for our league to be exact). the picture above is an amalgam from a set of pictures taken by my friend Kyle who came to the last game. Click on the photo for the larger version.

Fun stuff, and more pictures and links will follow.

'tis the prettiest little parlour...

Today I took a vacation day and we all went down to the Museum of Science and Industry. It is a fabulous, and huge museum. I grew up in the DC area, so I know fabulous, huge museums when I see them. The main exhibits right now are Leonardo Da Vinci, and Frogs. We missed Leonardo but we caught the frogs. Oh boy are they a treat. There were big ones (the guy above is the American Bull Frog -- click the picture for a full-screen view of his pretty face; and the African Bull Frog which was even bigger and looked exactly, exactly, exactly like Jabba the Hutt. IN fact I invite you to go here and then you too can believe that George Lucus had inspiration), little ones (tiny yellow guys the size of your fingernails), bright ones, camouflaged ones that look exactly like moss, and one that was a pretty pale yellow which is considered the most poisonous creature in the world -- touching its skin can kill a person.

I will hopefully get one or two more usable pictures to post.

We saw an amazing model of Seattle and Chicago and the rail system in between, the coal mine (complete with a train ride into the belly of a mine), the fairy house, the idea factory for kids, the old-time main street (and old-fashioned ice cream parlour (because I am a good father my son knew to ask if this was the same kind of parlour from Mary Howitt's The Spider and the Fly (as in, "'Will you walk into my parlour?' said the Spider to the Fly?"). I assured him that it was not.)), the outside of u-505 the submarine the US captured in WWII, the Deere Tractor and Combine, and other and sundry exhibits, all of which were great.

A super day.

cricket

It's been years, but after cleaning the basement a bit and finding the board, I'm back and loving it! Awaiting the next get-together with Sally, so we can hang one up and re-live the old times.

Give me that old time religion

The religion of baseball of course. I have joined the Elk Grove Bucks of the Vintage Baseball League. The rules are those of the year 1858, no gloves, you can catch the ball on a bounce for an out, and you wear long, woolen uniforms in deepest summer. I believe I will be a scout (outfielder) for the team.

At the funeral of my Grand Aunt

My Aunt Marguerite was 98 years old when she died just a few months ago. She was widowed 64 years after her husband was shot down (the author of this article is my uncle, Marguerite's son) over the Pacific by Saburo Sakai during WWII.

The service at Arlington National Cemetery was beautiful, and was for her, and her husband. Here are the soldiers of the U.S. Army Honor Guard folding the flag at the site of the interment, just outside of Jackson Circle.

Right back at ya!

And finally, I have no idea what kind of bird this is, but they were really active and interesting. I recommend Brookfield Zoo. I am ambivalent about zoos in general, I love seeing the animals, but I can't get it out of my head that for the higher animals this is a cruel life.

Here's looking at you...

The African animals were all inside since the day was so cool.

I like the desultory look here.

My kids watching the dolphins from below. I love these tanks that you can see from inside.

Went to the zoo. This is the first in a set I'll be uploading. Peacocks and peahens roam freely around Brookfield zoo. This one looks offended.

Down by the river

More forest preserve pictures. I thought this fallen tree had a neat look. I need to go back and work on the water reflections.

With all due respect to Korsakov

This guy has bored a hole in my house, so he's going to die soon. In the mean time, he was milling about near the tulips in the front. So I spent a long time trying to get a good shot. This is the best, his wings are partially frozen, he's somewhat in focus, and the background is even complimentary. I took about 30 photographs to get it.

Pogo!

Margot is learning the art of the pogo stick. The hair is so especially fun in this shot -- a lot like the Heat Miser!

My parents were in town this weekend and we had a great time. The kids were especially thrilled to spend some time with their more remote grandparents.

Black Bird

Wow, I've been busy with work and trying to ensure I can still have a paycheck coming in, so I've not been updating the site.

I found this bird in a forest preserve near the house. The full-sized version makes it clearer that he was calling out when I got the shot. Unfortunately I got him flying away, but not quite clearly enough. I love the Red Winged Blackbirds of the Midwest.

Spring has sprung!

Beautiful day today, and it's going ot be nice for the next few days. Last weekend we were at my parents-in-law's house. I was out at the car getting something from the car when I heard a strange hissing sound. Looking around I saw a hot-air baloon rising above the house next door. The kids came out and enjoyed the view.

Bracketology

Loving the tournament. As it happends, I have a lot of time on my hands these days, and so I was able to keep up on the day's events pretty well. I don't hold out a lot of hope, but vicariously I am a big Illini fan this year.

Go Big Ten!