August 20, 2011 Taurus (4/20-5/20) There’s a vibrant cloud of creativity in the air right now, and it is intoxicating you! Take advantage of this inspiring energy, and use it to stimulate your day. Take a trip to a museum or an arts-and-crafts store, or just pick up a pack of crayons at the supermarket. Do whatever you need to in order to let your juices flow. Even if you just doodle on a notepad…
We keep thinking that Tin is in the digital world because he Skypes with family and he watches YouTube with us, but honestly he is not. I have seen kids his age playing iPhones and iPads as if it was second nature. Yesterday, after learning that preparation for gifted testing means he should be playing video games about logic (not sure I am really on board with this) I let him use my computer and…
Finally on day three Tin fell asleep – like one minute ago – I didn’t notice it at first because instead of the sounds of Oh When The Saints Go Marchin In a la Jewel Brown suddenly there was silence, sweet wonderful silence. It almost made my heart stop since Tin hasn’t napped since T left Thursday morning and I haven’t had a good night’s sleep to equip me for any of this. Toddlers are…
Dr. Pavlovic is the Dr. Doolittle of the house and since she’s in New York, no one is talking to the animals or giving them grades at night for their behavior – always giving A plus or minus and rarely even a B. They look at me with that look, the one that says, you’re not like her, sigh. When I’m asked to grade them I dole out Fs and D minuses. “Lots of people…
Tin and I have spent every waking hour together for the past 48 plus hours. He is communicating so much better than even a week ago, but he has returned to the frequent use of no for just about every response. Do you want breakfast, no I don’t want breakfast. Do you want to go to the park, no I don’t want to go to the park. As I write this he is learning how…
About 5am this morning, I lit my dad’s yahrzeit candle. Twenty-six years since his death and coincidentally the yahrzeit candles burn 26 hours. The custom of lighting a yahrzeit candle comes from the Book of Proverbs 20:27 “The soul of man is a candle of the Lord.” This custom of lighting a yahrzeit for the deceased is very widespread and deeply ingrained in Jewish life. Many Jews who are otherwise unobservant follow this custom. So I took a…
In the 70’s Jimmy Carter said we were in a malaise and so I was trying to think of the word for where we are now and I have to say we are in TRANSITION. The entire globe is going through a check list of what they believe in and what they support (either through apathy or engagement) and everyone I know is questioning the standard responses. So it is that today I spoke to…
In Franklinton, in someone’s yard, is a marquis that says: A wise son heareth his father’s instruction. Was dad being maybe a touch melodramatic? As tomorrow approaches and I contemplate my father’s own passing and my own parenthood in general, I am wondering if anyone who chooses to be a parent ever really knows what they are doing. Yesterday, after spending the day where my mother comes from, around her people, meeting a man who…
The day started in the usual manner of days around here at the LaLa, we had a lot to get done today the least of which is to get Tatjana to the airport early, but as is the case around here, I hadn’t even walked out the door when a lost dog appeared on my porch courtesy of a neighbor who found her and decided I might be able to help by calling the owner…