Life: Idiotropic

... because I'm never in it.

I knew as the kids grew that I would get progressively busier. I knew that this year with Arianna in school would be a little more chaotic. But, I also thought that having two kids in school full days and only one at home with me in the morning each day, that may be I would have a little more time. No. May be I'm overcompensating by filling my time. May be I've volunteered just a little. But, somehow, the days are absolutely filling up to the point where weeks like this I am literally never home. Sometimes I'll run home for 30 minutes to grab something and run out again, but most mornings now I have something going on while Luci is in school. And 4/5 afternoons we have dance after school. That one day I try to keep free, but that will end when we start swimming. Weeks like this make me long for winter when it's too cold outside to go anywhere - those nice cozy days of hot tea and cocoa when I'm forced to stay inside and work on my own projects.

The good thing is that all the activity is good, healthy, and productive with no major quirks.

Yearbook is going great. For may be forever, there has been one person doing the yearbook, cut and pasted, by herself. This year myself and two friends have found an online program where EVERYTHING can be done digitally (quicker and with less mess), AND we've decided to have a staff of students to do it, meaning a learning opportunity for them and less work for us. The yearbook with be better than ever because it will be created by students for students and will reflect their personalities a lot more. No clipart allowed. Only student submissions of art and prose will enter the book. I'm so excited to be a part of this. It will be wonderful and my own sweet Tiara will be on the staff. She's thrilled!

Kirk was gone this week in Denmark where he got a nasty cold. In spite of that he got some flying in which is always good and he fell in love with Denmark. It was quite unexpected, but now he's excited to plan a trip up there for all of us. He said it is an absolutely beautiful country. He also fell in love with saunas since that is how he got over his cold so quickly. He had a sauna in his hotel room. They are standard there and apparently are great for just about everything that ales you and can help you lose weight as well, so that is now on his wish list and he's desperately trying to figure out just how to get a Canadian sauna over to Germany.

Denmark doesn't use the Euro. They have beautiful Danish Kroners with fleur de lis and hearts on them. Many coins have holes in the centers like old Chinese money. He brought some back. I think I'll try to make a bracelet from them. They really are beautiful.

Kirk said that he knows now why we have to separate our trash here with such care. Denmark buys German trash. Odd, I know, but it's true. Denmark has power plants that use various "trash items" to burn for fuel and they are the sole buyer for Germany's trash. I guess that's better than burying it!










The chestnuts are literally raining off the trees here. On and around Tiara's school are several HUGE chestnut trees that apparently have really tasty nuts. The Spanish and Italian ladies pick them up to cook with them. The burrs are croquet ball sized and covered in amazingly sharp spines that hurt tremendously if you even slightly tough it. Inside each burr are three beautiful chestnuts. The color is so perfect. I would love to bottle it somehow. It is the perfect color for wood... that deep reddish brown. As they ripen they fall, sometimes with the burr and sometimes on their own as the burrs open on the tree. Standing under the tree is dangerous. More than once I've been pelted by falling nuts. If the faintest of winds happens by, you're done for. Those chestnuts can hurt, especially within the spiny burrs. I collected roughly 200 of them one afternoon while the kids played at the playground. It was amazing. A friend collected some for herself at the same time. We'd clear out an area and then minutes later there would be more covering the ground. They are beautiful and I'd hoped to preserve them. Unfortunately, I've found that they are a nut that you can't preserve. The shell is thin and a bit leathery covering the meat inside like a glove. If left, even well aired, they mold with the moisture from the meat. So, mine will be a temporary decoration. Already they're too old to roast, so I'll get some nice photos and that will be that. May be I'll cook some up next year.

On Wednesday I spent my morning in Tiara's class grading notebooks, filing, and binding books the kids wrote. It was interesting to see the vast differences in the kids styles as far as neatness and organization were concerned. The kids had earned a party and left to go play capture the flag, so when I was done with my work I went out to get some pictures for the yearbook. When I got there Tiara was sitting on the picnic table with her leg up and a tiny wet folded paper towel on her shin. She was sitting stoically telling the teacher she was fine. She'd been running and tripped, then fell and hit her shin on the bench. Mrs. Vasko-Kingma wanted to know if she should call for a car or not, so I helped Tiara up to see if she could walk with help. Her eyes immediately welled up with tears and she bit her lip to stop from crying.

So, the car came with the school nurse who told us to go to the emergency room downtown. Since the U.S. clinic was 2 minutes away, we went there instead, saw the doctor, got an x-ray, and found out that she was fine. By that time the swelling that had put pressure on her tendon and hadn't allowed her foot to move much had gone down and she was a little better. The crutches the doctor had given her helped though. By the evening, Tiara was back to normal except for the large green goose-egg on her right shin.

The photo on the left is of Tiara and her friend, Aislann. Aislann fell the week before in kickball and broke her wrist. Another boy fell that same week and broke his leg. I don't think the teacher can take anymore. She was really worried about Tiara.