Spring Break starts in one week. Hoorah.
If I Can’t Change Your Mind – Bob Mould
Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games – Of Montreal
Ventura Highway – America
The Only Flame in Town – Elvis Costello & the Attractions
This Town – The Go-Gos
Our Last Night – Los Lobos
Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl – Bessie Smith
The Trees – Rush
String Quartet No. 8 in c, Op. 110: III. Allegretto – Shostakovich
Tanz Mit Laibach – Laibach
School Girl isn’t especially similar to me. Not a surprise, considering. Besides the obvious physical differences (fair skin, light brown hair, tall and slender/light brown skin, “gothic brown” hair with more than a little gray, short and round like a basketball), there are a lot of others. She loves phys ed, is fantastic at math, and is terrified of trying new things. We won’t talk about how I’m different, but you can imagine. There is one thing that’s come up…
We’re both procrastinators. This has come up in a big, big way over the past month. School Girl is working on a class project, complete with oral presentation in front of, well, the entire community. Next week. Over the past 2 days I’ve been poking and prodding her to finish her speech for the project so that she can practice. (Another thing that she, her other mother, and I have in common – nearly paralyzing shyness. Practicing her speech is nothing but good.) This morning she finally finished her speech, and will be spending the weekend practicing. I had hoped that she’d have been finished by last weekend, so that she could practice on M and C, but it just didn’t happen.
Speaking of procrastinating, guess what parent with two opposable thumbs just finished a Colonial American costume this afternoon? Go on, guess.
*Today’s title is courtesy of this band.
School Girl had her birthday visit with C & M yesterday. She had a wonderful time. It was near their home this time, at a humongous Family Fun Center. There’s a center with the same name near us, except this was easily twice as big as the one at home. At least. It was complete with a bowling alley, a movie theater, arcade, restaurants and a miniature golf course, among other things.
School Girl got a ton of presents at lunchtime; a couple of big craft-type presents, some Hannah Montana things (hey, she’s 8), some books and a couple of other things besides. She got to spend some time alone with M for the first time – once in the arcade, and once doing something else which escapes my memory at the moment. Like I said, School Girl had a blast.
I’m glad, honestly, that M feels able to spend time with School Girl, just the two of them. I have to admit I was a bit nervous – and in other exciting news, water is wet – but everything was fine. It was a big deal for School Girl. I’m not sure how it was for M. There are still some things I’m afraid to bring up. We did talk a little bit about how things were for her on School Girl’s birthday. She was better, at least good enough to talk to School Girl on the phone this time, but not great. Understandably.
It was pretty quiet on the way home; K and I were beat, and School Girl fell asleep once or twice on the trip back, but I think everybody had a good time.
It’s been a while since I’ve done this. These pictures were taken last summer at Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, CO. It’s not the oldest cemetery in the area (I think that honor might belong to Riverside on the far north side of town), but it’s one of the largest. I’ve shown other pictures from here in the past. A couple of these will be in a password-protected post for obvious reasons; leave a comment if you’d like the picture password.
I love this stone. “To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die”. That’s some beautiful carving, from the early 1900’s. One of the names caught my eye, but the carving was what got me to take the picture.
