I awoke yesterday feeling grumpy. It was a beautiful, late summer day. It needed to be enjoyed by children. But I was having trouble finding enthusiasm for doing anything that required getting out of bed. My friend and I had talked about going to the shore, but I just couldn't pull the gumption to head to New Jersey on a Friday. I went to the gym and then we decided to try out this (free!) lake north of Allentown. I had been there once before on a hair-brained bid to get out of the house with a 3yo and a 6week old. Not one of my finer moments. This was my first time returning.
It was perfect. The water was absolutely clear, and a refreshing temperature (not too hot, too cold), and shallow enough for the younger kids to enjoy playing. The man-made beach provided plenty of sand for digging. And the backdrop of the mountains gave a relaxing vista. They cleverly set up the boating area beyond the swimming area, so that the swimmers could enjoy the "faux" waves from the wake of the boats.
We stayed for four hours, still finding difficulty in prying ourselves away, though the shadows were long. It turned out to be the perfect day.
My blog has had some problems this summer, which are now resolved--making it much easier to post. So a little back-blogging is in order. Namely, our big family vacation that we take every year to Maine.
Usually we go in August. This is our fourth year going, but this year we went at the beginning of July.
On Friday morning of July Fourth weekend, we loaded up the car, bikes on the roof, camping stuff stuffed in with duffels, and fairly effortlessly coasted our way north. There was a cool breeze that morning (which is a little uncharacteristic of this hot summer), which seemed fitting to send us off to New England.
We had a great trip and made excellent time, until about the last 50 mi, which took approximately 3 hours--even with using my phone's GPS to navigate us down some side roads. But, hey, at least we got to wave "hi" to Robert Frost's farm. I love New England.
Weeks before our travels, I obsess over campgrounds at which to stay. Pouring over state park websites to find just the right park and just the right site. And I don't know why I have such a fascination of being by water. I often try to find a place by the ocean, but I was getting really annoyed by the Massachusetts State Parks, so I looked to New Hampshire, which turned out to be perfect.
We arrived at our lakeside campground in the early evening to find the water delightfully accessible and most suited for splashing in, clear and not too cold and just for us. It was a perfect way to soothe the traffic angst of the past three hours. Marlowe surprised us by being a total fish.
Everything about that campsite was perfect. The wood was perfect for campfire burning. The rocks were perfect for sitting. There was good distance between campsites with plenty of trees, so it felt more private. We roasted hotdogs and broccoli and marshmallows.
This was our first time camping this summer, and I have to say, that camping with a 2yo is much improved from camping with a 1yo. From the moment we arrived it was clear that Marlowe thought camping was the best thing ev-ar and embraced everything we did with tons of enthusiasm. We already knew Ellis thinks camping is the best ever. He enjoyed being a big boy and riding his training-wheel-less bike around and around the loop.
Packing food for camping on a road trip can be a little tricky--especially when you don't have any kind of camp stove. So I was kind of proud of what I came up with. Hot dogs, veggies, chips, and marshmallows for supper. And I got a little hot pot for heating water. It's actually not too hard to find an outlet at a state park campground. Usually there's one in the bathroom. So I heated up a pot of water for instant oatmeal and the new Starbucks Via instant coffee, which is decent and great for traveling.
We left our site in the morning, making our way towards the interstate via a Target stop for some forgotten items and lunch supplies. We looked forward to stopping at our favorite park in Portland, ME for lunch. When we arrived M had just fallen asleep, and the water in the splash pond was so uncomfortably cold that it wasn't fun. And we had just missed the farmer's market. We ate our lunch, had some play time on the playground and then went on our way, arriving at our friends' house in Bangor in time for dinner.
We had a great Sunday with them and then jumped into our week of Maine activities. On Monday we went over to Acadia National Park, where we had a picnic and climbed a mountain. Six kids and three adults hiked up Mt. Champlain. I love a good view, and between the shrubby pines and low-lying bushes--including many wild blueberries eagerly harvested by the young hikers--there was nothing to obstruct a most fantastic view of the mountains and ocean. I was so proud of Ellis. It wasn't an easy hike, and downhill was very steep, zig-zagging trail. It was his second mountain summit climb, with last year's great Maine hike being his first.
While Philly was having triple digit temps when we were gone, Maine was having unseasonably warm temperatures, as well. It almost got to 90! We enjoyed a nice cool-off at our favorite swimming hole, Craig Pond, more like a small lake. It's fed by a spring, so the water is crystal clear, and abounds with frogs to be caught.
We chilled with our friends, the Curlyheads, and did some errands on Wednesday.
On Thursday we said goodbye to our dear friend in Bangor and headed down to Portland, where we were going to visit some friends of mine from college. I actually hadn't seen them since college. But we keep in touch a little over blogs/FB, and it was a good excuse to see Portland, too. We had an absolute blast with them. And with four boys and a girl, there were plenty of playmates. It was great to meet their sweet, sweet kids, who basically set about trying to learn everything there was to know about ASL from the minute we stepped in the door.
They took us to see the Portland headlight after dinner.
After sundaes and bidding the kids goodnight, the adults stayed up until nearly 2am talking, shivering in the cool Maine night air.
After a little beach time in the morning, we got on the road again, heading towards our campground in Connecticut. We got there at sunset, though, so even though the little beach area on Long Island Sound was perfect, we couldn't really play there long. And the wood we bought was damp and wouldn't light, and then it started to drizzle. And the kids were tired and crazy. So it was a little lack-lustre.
we got an early start Saturday morning and were shocked as we sailed along I-95 with no traffic through southern Connecticut and NYC. We got home mid afternoon.
It was an absolutely wonderful time, and we were totally not ready to come home yet, and keep scheming of ways to never have to leave Maine again. Thanks, also, dear friends, for your wonderful fellowship and hosting us!
And even though the chances of my winning are about as slim as both my kids sleeping all night all by themselves in their own beds, I may as well try. Because isn't hope part of the human experience?
This year I'm facing a peculiar sewing challenge. Over the past year I've just sewed less, faced with a busy life of toddler and preschooler and a sewing/fabric setup that is a little frustrating since our move. Last year I got a bunch of pants/jeans for my growing like a weed 4yo (now 5yo). I got them a little on the large side hoping we could bring them out for the fall, too. Well, they didn't make it. Hardly three months later, the knees of these pants systematically shredded. I was kind of frustrated because between his grandma and me, we had gotten him good, new jeans with the expectation that they would last. I've patched and patched all his holey knees, but even that's not going to last long before he starts looking like a quilt. So I'm bracing for a big sewing challenge of creating the sturdiest boy pants ever. A serger would make this go a lot faster.
Also, I would love to be able to create more unique, fun Tshirts for my boys. Because we all know that there is so much more out there for girls. I'm scared to sew with knits without a serger. Yea, yea, I know it can be done. But it could be done more easily with a serger.
So this is why I would love to win the serger: to sew clothes for my boys more easily.
Last week I was browsing around a couple of shops, and I stumbled on a new store in a nearby neighborhood. It's a children's clothing retail store, but dedicated to more sustainable clothing options: recycled (aka gently used *grin*), eco-friendly, handmade, natural, that kind of stuff. I'm so excited bc I can bring in some of my gently used stuff, and they'll buy it outright, not consignment. And I might sell some of my Tshirts that I make--will just have to see if I'm up for that. (The store is The Nesting House in Mt. Airy and only goes through 5T.)
But I really hit jackpot with the basket of used Playmobil people and accessories. Woohoo!! I just had a little cash on me, so I just grabbed a couple of pirates and brought them home to Ellis.
One of the units for Ellis's summer session at school was pirates, so it's been all "Argh!" around our house. Then Ellis wanted boats for the pirates. I folded some paper boats for him, and he drew the cutest treasure map ever.
Blueberries go "kerplink, kerplank, kerplunk" into buckets.
Marlowe, where do the blueberries go?
Enjoying apple cider ice in the shop.
And so another step towards instilling into my poor city kids that food comes from plants that grow in the dirt.
Ellis was actually a really good picker. He could've kept going longer than we did. It was end of season, though, and the bushes were pretty picked over. Marlowe did a good job of eating blueberries. Though i'm afraid more work in color recognition would be in order.
Part the First: wherein encounters with the public library lead to benefits beyond my wildest dreams.
I am attempting to renew our overdue relationship with the public library. (heh, heh.) The public library and I have a rocky relationship that is based on fines. When we moved to this house last fall we changed counties from the 'burbs to the city. About a month ago I finally got a library card for the Free Library of Philadelphia. This is what our public library is called, because Ben Franklin invented it and back then what made it distinctive was that it was free. (Except I can't remember if that meant Free, as in no charge, or free, as in anyone can use it, or something else, but "free" is the operative word) (Except in my case, where it should be called Fine Library of Philadelphia--in my defense, though, I'm not doing too badly. under $10 over the month.)
Since it is for the sake of the children that I subject myself to this torturous remembrance of immanent due dates, we've mostly emerged from our local branch carrying piles of kids books and DVDs. And they're really enjoying that. Did you know that Scholastic has recorded tons of books onto DVD? So that means that it's like Not-as-bad TV time, because they're sorting of reading a book, too. See, smart parenting right there. (/sarcastic)
But a few days ago I was browsing around the Free library website looking for something to put on hold for me, since browsing in a library with little ones in tow is basically a non-option. I came across their online databases.
I have access to Oxford Music Online--including Grove Music!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been without any access, save for Google, these past years, and it is like coming across an oasis in the desert. I'm giddy, my step is a little lighter, and I can stand a little taller. I have Access. The hallowed gates to academic research are now open to, yea, even this Non-affiliated Mother of Toddlers.
Part the Second: wherein Access affords interesting discoveries.
The other big thing happening for me right now is that I'm applying to grad school again. Right now I'm in the throes of GRE prep. *groan* But soon I'll be writing essays and whatnot to get my applications together by December.
One of the things I've been doing in order to focus myself to write these eventual essays is articulate exactly which avenues of research I'm really interested. My main area is, of course, late medieval/early Ren. music history, and my main work will probably be done in that area. But there's a lot of interesting things happening in scholarship that can open up different kinds of questions.
The world of Deaf is now an inextricable part of my life, thanks to my son. Before Ellis was born, I didn't know anything about deafness or deaf people. Now, though sometimes it feels like deafness is this little insular minority, it also feels like I see it everywhere now. I never bumped into Deaf people before I had Ellis, now we do all the time. I say this a little jokingly, because I very well may have before, but because we weren't attuned to signing and deafness, we may never have know. Now, if we're signing or see someone else signing, it's a lot easier to make that connection.
I'm rambling a little, but I guess I'm asking the question, what if I put on the eyeglass of deaf and then looked at teh world of music history? how would I understand the music experience of deaf people? Where would that take me?
First, there's Beethoven. What did he have to say about being deaf? There's obviously the Heiligenstadt Testament.
...thus it has been during the past year which I spent in the country, commanded by my intelligent physician to spare my hearing as much as possible, in this almost meeting my natural disposition, although I sometimes ran counter to it yielding to my inclination for society, but what a humiliation when one stood beside me and heard a flute in the distance and I heard nothing, or someone heard the shepherd singing and again I heard nothing, such incidents brought me to the verge of despair, but little more and I would have put an end to my life - only art it was that withheld me, ah it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had produced all that I felt called upon me to produce...
I am sure there is stuff out there on Beethoven and deafness.
Then, there is also Deaf people who make music. I will certainly explore that.
But then, when I plugged deaf into Grove Music I found something I wasn't even looking for.
Contemporary German composer Helmut Oehring (b. 1961) was born the hearing child of deaf parents. His first language in the home was sign language. (I'm presuming German sign language.) He incorporates deafness and signing into his compositions.
Oehring's compositions derive from the complex physical and facial expressions of sign language, which he notates as music. His works outline bleak narratives that address the chasm between individuals and the futility of communication. His early compositions are concerned with stages of agony and human actions that lead to death; in later works, speech as a symbol of the impossibility of human discourse becomes the central musical subject. Much of his work can be considered social criticism. Several compositions include deaf people among the performers.
(Gisela Nauck. "Oehring, Helmut." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 11 Aug. 2010 .)
He uses deaf people signing as soloists in some of his works. Look at the instrumentation for a couple of his pieces:
* Wrong (Schaukeln-Essen-Saft) (B. Sellin, Oehring), deaf person, ob, b tpt/trbn, vn/va, elec gui, perc, live elec, 1993–5;
* Self-Liberator (Oehring, R. Taumel), 2 deaf people, tpt, ens, 1994
* ER.eine.She, 1v + b fl, 3 deaf soloists, vc, installations, elecs, 2002
I'm wondering, do the soloists themselves have to be deaf? or just sign? (I'm inclined to think the former.)
I tried to find a good YouTube clip. This is the best I could find, a sampler of his works. Skip ahead to 5'10" to find the piece with the deaf soloist.
I don't really know what she is saying. German Sign Language? and the highly stylized signing for the context?
I find the staging to be really striking. Distinct contrasts between light and dark. Her face and hands stand out against the dark background, no doubt to ensure that they are clearly seen.
Anyway, can you tell I'm totally fascinated by this? Guess I'll have to reacquaint myself with the German language again.
Recently I joined a gym. Shocker, I know. Yes, it's the first time I have ever joined a gym. I was terribly nervous about it, being the nonathlete that I am. I don't know how to use anything. I didn't want to look stupid. I'm just totally out of my element. Anyway, this isn't really about the gym, but I will say, that in order to make this worthwhile, I decided to just jump in. I got a few sessions with a trainer, gone to a few of the classes, and am working on a 5k training program. I'm figuring out the gym thing.
But one of the things I totally didn't know about was the whole community aspect of a gym. Seeing the same people over and over. Making connections.
Yesterday, I was picking up Marlowe from the (free!) childcare (ok, maybe not free--but included in the gym cost), and another mom was picking up her kid, and she said something about their going to a sprayground later.
At that my ears perked up. I've been looking all over for such fun. I found a couple listed online, but in faroff parts of town, so I haven't ventured forth yet. I was starting to feel like spraygrounds were things other cities had, and our poor city who can barely keep its libraries open just wasn't going there.
But, lo, and behold, this park that I pass all the time has a newly refurbished playground and sprays for the kids to play in! I didn't know there was more to this park than the basketball courts. Best of all, it's only about 10 minutes away. And the new playground part is really, really fun, too.
Later, it occurred to me that this is what you people in the 'burbs call "running through the sprinkler." Well, we do what we can do.
A bunch of my fellow mothering peeps have been writing posts every week about "real" moments, not just the shiny, happy blogpost-worthy moments, of motherhood. I fully intended to participate, but, to be honest, usually on Mondays, I don't feel up to facing reality. Either I'm in a really good mood, and don't want to think about "real." Or I'm too grumpy, I couldn't show that side of myself on the internet.
My true confession: most of the time, I don't feel cut out for the stay-at-home-mom gig.
It's complicated to say that. Because it doesn't mean that I don't love my kids or want to be with them. Nor does it mean that I don't embrace the ennobling aspects of raising children. It's hard to make the mothering jive with the other desires and gifts rolling around in my head. And I wonder how to play things out practically.
I keep trying to write a post about this, but I can't quite explain it. What IS real? The truth is, I'm trying to figure out a lot. It's part of the reason, I haven't been blogging so much. I used to just brain barf on my blog, now I don't feel so free to do that.
If we could just paint all day, I'm sure that would help. Who needs to tidy up and do laundry anyway?
For the rest of the peeps, check out the list:
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But the highlight of our VBS experience this year was Ellis had his first personal ASL interpreter that the church hired for him. It was like night and day for him. He was excited, engaged.
This picture makes me nearly choke up. He's raising his hand!! He understood what was going on, understood the question, and wanted to offer the answer. One day, he stood in front of everyone and volunteered to recite his verse in ASL. It was amazing.
They also took the opportunity to build awareness of deafness and ASL for the whole group. Here is his interpreter and him teaching everyone their alphabet:
which David put to use with his name
Yea, so I basically cried.
And it really confirmed to me that we need to get him interpreter some how, some way for church. He does use his CI, but he takes in information with ASL, his native language.
I have a little back blogging to do, since I didn't get a chance to blog out VBS before we went on vacation.
I was in charge of crafts. And I feel need to reinvent the curriculum. I want the kids to take home something that their moms will like to look at and won't feed Clutter Monsters or get thrown in the garbage out of Clutter frustration. And to me, the curriculum does do just that. It certainly doesn't spark any creativity. I just couldn't do essentially busywork with the kids. Okay, soapbox over.
What I came up with was more Art-y than Craft-y, but that was fine. I also had to come up with something that would work for 2-12yos. Now, I pretty much owe everything to The Artful Parent blog and MaryAnn Kohl books. Both fantastic resources that I utterly depend on in my daily life. So I basically got all my ideas from there. I was happy with what I came up with.
Day 1
This was actually really practical. I ordered a bunch of blank canvas totes from the internet and had the kids decorate them with fabric pastels and markers. Then they had a handy bag for carrying around all their VBS detritus, and a useful souvenir of the week, too. We just used Marlowe's at the library yesterday.
Day 2
Bubble wrap printing. I though this would be great for the younger kids. I tried to think of another printing project for the older kids, but nothing was really working. I have to keep things pretty simple due to limited time and resources. So I ended up doing this for everyone, and they all loved it! I let the older kids squirt their own paint on their paper plate so they could experiment with color, but the youngers just chose one color.
Last year I collected old Tshirts from around church, and we use those as art smocks. I slit up the back, and we do a quick safety pin. Works really well. I also have dish pans full of soapy water right at our work station for quick cleaning of hands. We protect the tables by taping down plastic party tablecloths.
Day 3
I figured I could pass off wax resist paintings as magic to the 1st graders. I was unprepared for how excited the older kids got over this. I didn't even try to do the whit crayon part resist with the 2-3yos (maybe at home--but in that setting, too chaotic). They stuck stickers that they could paint over. I made several cups of liquid watercolor, and that worked pretty well.
Day 4
This was perhaps the awesomest yet. Tissue paper stained glass. Perhaps a bit more intense on the setup end of things. We taped down contact paper sticky side up. The kids then stuck the tissue paper on and we covered with contact paper. Then the older kids decorated with sharpie. (See this book a la Artful Parent) The kids loved this and really got into it.
And I loved covering the windows with their finished project.
Day 5
For the last day, we needed something super easy, quick,and simple. Beads + lanyard. The perfect campy craft.
I was really happy with how things turned out. I don't have any background in art--heck, I never even had an art class in school. But I've learned a lot from the blogosphere and my personal interests. I loved making a creative space for the 40+ kids that week. There was such great variety.
* = People I've Met Including the Entire Spectrum of those Met Only Once to Former Roommates and Family Members
+ = People I Know from My Church
~ = Crafty Blogs
^ = Deaf blogs
Oh, how absolutely beautiful, J! That water looks clear and lovely...