Math+Science+History: Unraveling the Mysteries. With a big shout-out to The Bare Naked Ladies and their theme-song for The Big Bang Theory. These are my Monday Thoughts.
So there I was zooming down the neural pathways and superhighways of my brain and I remembered that I’d seen somewhere that the insides of our brains look remarkably like the vastness of the universe. Continue reading The Universe Inside
Then he said, “I sent a message out to the friend group that I’m inviting a new kid to eat lunch with us tomorrow. One of the friends responded, ‘Everybody be nice. Make sure he feels included. Don’t let him feel left out.’” Continue reading Invite the New Kid to Sit at Your Table
I love how much art and music envelop us at every turn, and how the boys have learned to channel their own feelings through art and music to take the edge off of some of those overpowering emotions. They know they are not alone in their highs and lows, because they listen to musicians who can speak their pains or their joys and allow their listeners to feel the connection and the parallels. Continue reading “Can Music Save Your Mortal Soul…”
They were the original reason I fell in love with San Francisco in the first place. I saw a 2” x 2” picture of these houses in black and white in an encyclopedia when I was 14, and fell head over heels in love with a city I knew nothing about. Continue reading The Painted Ladies
For most of us, there is only the unattended
Moment, the moment in and out of time,
The distraction fit, lost in a shaft of sunlight,
The wild thyme unseen, or the winter lightning
Or the waterfall, or music heard so deeply
That it is not heard at all, but you are the music
While the music lasts.
*T.S. Eliot, line from The Dry Salvages, out of Four Quartets Continue reading Music Heard so Deeply, That it is Not Heard at All
So, tears come easily perhaps. And the pain others put into story form, to allow others to see into their world, see what their challenges and struggles were, see what they rose up from, what brought them to their knees – I feel these things deeply. Continue reading Tears Cresting and Falling – Moved by Literature and Theatre
So, within a week of one another, both my 13yo and my 16yo have had their hearts broken. They process things very differently. My youngest is open with me. My older one is shut down. I want so much to help, but know I have to let them have their feelings. Their dad is great at giving them a laugh every now and then. And … Continue reading While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Do you listen intently to the words of songs your kids listen to – the stations, the kinds of music they like?
Continue reading They Don’t Want What We Want, by Asking Alexandra
When the kids were smaller, we did Art Excursions on a regular basis. We have been thinking about gearing up for doing that again. We all are fed by art in various ways. We seek out and find things to do with our creative brains and hands. Tonight wasn’t exactly an excursion. It was dinner from a taco truck, and I saw this mural on … Continue reading Gearing up for Art Excursions Again
par·a·dox noun \ˈper-ə-ˌdäks, ˈpa-rə-\ : something (such as a situation) that is made up of two opposite things and that seems impossible but is actually true or possible Ben went through a Phantom of the Opera phase a while back, after reading a kid version of the story at school, and made the mask, and acted the part, until I had to rent the movie, … Continue reading Before These Moments Slip Away
“Slowly, almost hesitatingly, the train moved on as if it wanted to spare its passengers the dreadful realization as long as possible: Auschwitz!”With the progressive dawn, the outlines of an immense camp became visible: long stretches of several rows of barbed wire fences; watch towers; searchlights; and long columns of ragged human figures, grey in the greyness of dawn, trekking along the straight desolate roads, … Continue reading Grey in the Greyness of Dawn
Because Ben and I are both artists, and experience a large range of emotions, we’ve had to learn about anger and how to handle it, manage it, subdue it, understand it and live with it. We each have a tendency to fly off the handle and we’ve had to study the Primitive Brain otherwise known as the Fight or Flight part of the brain that … Continue reading Primitive Brain – Fight or Flight – and Homework
“I hate School,” is not the first thing out of my kids mouths when I pick them up anymore. “Guess what I did in Specials today,” is what comes tumbling out in an excited jumble and fight to see who gets to talk first. Specials is the ingenious program started this school year that brings art and creative play and physical education back into our school. … Continue reading When School Gets it Right
Today, Bean and I had some errands to run, and I chose the Pandora Station “Peter, Paul and Mommy” for our musical background. We sang along to Feed the Birds, from Mary Poppins, and some Simon & Garfunkel, a little John Denver, songs from The Sound of Music and we sang Puff the Magic Dragon (twice) and I cried. I have always cried every time … Continue reading Magic Dragons and Refusing to Grow Up
Unbelievable precision. This is mesmerizing. We watched this on Thursday for Theater and Dance night. Continue reading Thousand Hands Dance
It was time for Wonders of the World Wednesday, and I called the boys from my room. They came rushing in to see what we would look at together tonight. I told them to hop up on my bed, and the three of us, on our stomachs, with feet up in the air behind us, stared at the computer screen of my laptop, heads … Continue reading Exploring Russia
Last night for Monday – Murals, we started out with this series of murals from the article Fun New Murals by ROA Utilize Tunisia’s Domed Architecture, then checked out 30 Wonderful Examples of Large Scale Street Art Murals! The boys were blown away by the talent displayed in these murals. They couldn’t get over the enormous vastness of these paintings. We would count the … Continue reading EAT ART Series Might Tempt our Kids to Consider Art School
The thing is, the world of the internet is exciting and terrific and mind-blowing and brilliant. It can also be terrifying. My kids got hand-me-down phones that were so worthless, and non-functional that my husband and I had bought new ones for ourselves. Somehow, as soon as they were in our kids’ possession, they worked perfectly, and the kids had ipods. We had tech … Continue reading How I Became Content Creator for my Kids on the Information Super Highway
Yesterday, after completing Tax Season, and being home again, I was able to finally put into place our new Eat Art feature. Ben and I figured it out on one of our recent walks. We decided on the following schedule for feeding ourselves a rich diet of Art. Monday – Murals Tuesday – The Universe Wednesday – Wonders of the World Thursday – Theater … Continue reading Big, Giant Love and the Theatrics and Science to Make it Happen
Once again, I will start by saying I didn’t always love Math. I struggled with it, and couldn’t figure out how I would ever need it in a life of creative pursuit. Then I had children. Those children are creators in their own rights – with structure and form and spatial relationships. My kids build and design and Math is going to be something they … Continue reading Astounded by all the Kissing in Math
Painted by Bean three years ago, when he was Four. It should have dawned on me sooner that this may be his thing. As I was hanging the boys jeans up to dry yesterday, I noticed that on every one of Bean’s pants – whether school clothes or grungy jeans – there are paint splatters and smears. When I found him painting something in the kitchen yesterday, … Continue reading Slowly it Dawns on Me
Yesterday, on the way to music lessons, there was a lively conversation in the car between my six-year old and my nine-year old about whether the word muzzle and snout could be used interchangeably. Ben is a huge reader, and he was saying that a writer will use muzzle instead of snout sometimes, and then other times talk about a snout. At first I … Continue reading Muzzles, Snouts or Beaks
For the last week, I’ve been mulling over the reckless idea of a Singleness of Purpose. It floors me, the thought. I’ve been wondering about it almost nonstop – as if the quest for a Singleness of Purpose has been my purpose lately. Who are the people who seem to have one? People who dedicate large swaths of time to writing a book, who research … Continue reading Where to from here?
It has been a while since I wrote anything here. I have to admit I’ve been a little discouraged and down, perhaps in a bit of a depression for the last couple of weeks. Despite all my best intentions, we have decided to put Ben back into regular school. He is doing well. He missed his friends. I think we both needed to try this. … Continue reading Transition Time
Yesterday, I shared this update on my personal Facebook page: I have a problem. I am not a civilized reader. I read like a glutton or a hoodlum – gobbling what I can from as many books as I can all at the same time. It’s a disaster. It is not calm. It is not ladylike. I’m a depraved book junkie. It is hopeless, I’m … Continue reading Books, Bookshelves, Gluttony, Desire, and Breakdowns
