creations

Seth is full of creative ideas and usually has several simultaneous projects going in various stages of completion. Yesterday he created a treasure hunt of sorts, changing the search from presents to stars and trees for today's hunt. The picture with his cousin Annelise is from a play the kids created and performed for the adults. I haven't yet gotten around to taking photos of today's confetti salt shaker or yesterday's duct tape shooter or yarn trap....I guess I'm too busy vacuuming up the scraps and putting scissors back in place.

crawl space

In my parents' new house in Goshen, there is a crawl space in the basement because the Mennonites who built it didn't want to spend the extra change to finish out the basement. Before our last visit, my mom put carpets down and cleared out some boxes so the kids could play there. We took a trip to the thrift store and got 4 strings of Christmas lights, a coffee table, tablecloth, and cloth to hang up to hide the insulation. The kids love the space, and even the adults got in on a bit of the excitement.

duct tape wallet

A few weeks ago I made a duct tape wallet for a friend for her birthday. I got the instructions online at http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Duct-Tape-Wallet

Tonight I was looking at the online catalog hearthsong and found a duct tape wallet kit for kids for $20. I guess it's the in thing now.

fiddling around

During a pause in Isaac’s violin practice tonight, he started fiddling around with a melody he was familiar with, but had never played. We found the piece on our computer MP3 files and he played along by ear. Theo and Jon waltzed together in the living room.

Halloween

Walking down Bluffton's Main Steet on Halloween felt like walking in New York City during rush hour. We had only a handful of trick-or-treaters (a block off Main St), while the neighbors on Main got 850!

Jonathan and I took a group of 7 Bluffton students to New York City for an MCC-sponsored conference on climate change. A few things that stood out for me…

• The hottest years on record are, in order, 2005, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2006. The first 6 months of 2007 have so far been the 2^nd hottest ever.
• The impact of climate change will be felt worst in sub-Saharan Africa and Asian lowlands. They are already at their upper limit of temperature tolerance. This will put many more people in a poverty trap than already are.
• Check out this youtube clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjlJ_CS_xWw
• It is a critical time for decision-making about climate change, as the UN Climate Change conference is coming up in December in Bali.

Going to New York was such a good experience on so many levels. Learning more specifics helps motivate me to do more about global warming. It was good to connect with the students on the trip and to learn to know them a bit. I went to see Wicked on Broadway and loved the story, the costumes, the characters (Thanks for the recommendation, Karin!). We went to the MoMA and got I teary seeing van Gogh’s Starry Night. For old time’s sake, we took the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty (my favorite thing to do during my 3^rd year of life when we lived near Harlem while dad went to seminary). I was amazed how cheaply we could get really good food in NYC. It seemed there were markets with organic food on every other block. We ate sushi, Vietnamese pho, dragon eyes, marinated mushrooms, salmon, roasted red peppers, sesame crackers, blue cheese, gyros for about $8 a day. Navigating the subway felt like good Alzheimers prevention. I spent Saturday morning with Jennifer, a college friend who teaches English and belly dance and writes fiction. It was so good to see her. Meanwhile, back at home, Theo cried less in 4 days with Oma and Opa than he does in a day with me. Oma got to experience cuddling with her last grandbaby at night. Isaac and Seth got lots of special time with grandparents, including going bowling, seeing the Bee Movie, and going out for steamers at the coffee shop. It was good all around.