No, They Are Not As Good as My Sister's

I try, I really do.  It used to just be my son who reminded me that my baking would never measure up to my sister's.  But last night as my daughter and I hung out together, feeling the first crisp fall air blow through the windows, she also, gave my sister the cookie nod.  She said, "Hey mom, can you make some cookies?"  Of course, I tell her.  Then she says,  "Mom, can you just try a little harder...?"  I stop her and tell her I'll do my best.  I think they taste fine.  Don't they look good?

Surprising

In March or April of this year when the presidential primaries were all crazy I had my class of 30 middle school students write letters to the candidates asking them some questions about their views on topics such as education, immigration, the economy,  and global warming (they chose the topics).  We wrote to 8 candidates, four on each side.  NONE responded by May.  So we wrote again, still nothing.  I wrote a follow up letter in June and still NOTHING.  I'm surprised and sad. Come on!  Those letters came from real people with real issues needing real answers.  Sheesh! Not even Ron Paul responded.

In The Water

I was up on the great Gunflint Trail this past week for more forced family fun.  There are many moments I will cherish and some that I will try hard to forget.  On day three I was at the dock getting ready to go fishing with the kids on our evening walleye hunt.  As I was reaching from the dock to hand something to the son my camera fell into the water.  There was a brief shriek and I looked at J to DO SOMETHING!  The camera was in about 5 feet of water, still visible from the surface.  First he tried grabbing for it but he couldn't get his arm deep enough from the dock. Then he raced up the 25 or so steps to our cabin at the top of the hill and emerged with a wimpy pair of tongs.  After about 5 minutes of trying to grab the camera with the tongs he gave up and again ran up the stairs only to emerge about 5 minutes later toweling off his hair.  M and I laughed our heads off then I ran up to get my swim suit on and I got the camera out.  It is broken of course, beyond repair.  Five other families came up and joined us mid-week and two other cameras took to the water.  I believe the other two cameras are still functioning.  We saw loads of wild life including a bear cub, a mom moose and child moose, three otters, a bald eagle, several turtles, a snake, and a gazillion mosquitos.  We took three nice canoe trips and I was glad that J had recovered enough from his soccer ankle injury enough to portage the canoe.  J goes to school on Friday.  I think that will be a fine day.

I will have no photos for a while - until I can find a camera on Craig's list I guess.

Forced Family Fun

On Saturday I had the need for some forced family fun with my two teenagers who are weeks away from leaving for college.  So we go bowling.  In the car on the way to the bowling alley it is pretty much silent, so I play some music.  Nothing.  Then we get to the bowling alley and get settled and J says, "Do they have food here?"  That's his focus in life.  Thank the lord they have food and he starts ordering.  We start bowling.  We finish the game in about 26 minutes.  I get 5 strikes and have to yell, "Hey kids - I got a strike!" to get them out of their teenage stupor.  M sashays up to the foul line and lets go of the ball mid air.  There is a loud crash the ball teeters down the alley - usually going directly towards a gutter.  Then she sashays back sullenly and sits down.  She starts chewing her hair.  J on the other hand throws the ball the rock star way - you know, you don't put your fingers into the holes, you just sort of hold the ball in the palm of your hand and use your wrist to give it a good spin.  It went fast, very fast, banging hard into the gutter most frames.  So I kicked butt but neither of them really noticed.  I bowl about once a year and it's always with them.  So we get home and M marches to her room and J goes to the basement.  About an hour later they emerge.  M is light hearted for some reason and walks over to me and says, "Wasn't that the crappiest family fun time ever?"  We all laugh and I ask them why it went the way it did.  Neither of them could tell me put they found it entirely out of character.  I wonder how many strikes I'll get next year.

Peace

Kids and Teaching

Look at the sweetness of these boys.  We are building a space shuttle and International Space Station out of plastic, tape, and some air pushed into it with a fan.  The ISS was looking sort of sad so the four of us did some sleuthing and fixed the trouble.  We just needed more tape and some patience.  These boys were so proud of their work.  We sat back and watch the ISS come to life.  Teaching is so exhilarating.  It is indescribable.  Sometimes I feel guilty about it because the feeling I get after a day with boys like this is so similar to the feeling I get after I eat an entire carton of Haagen Daz.  Pure joy.