This morning when I was out, I saw a headline in the Chicago Sun-Times which said something to the effect that if you want your child to read better, turn off the T.V. BRAVO!! Talk to your children. Have them read to you. Discuss what you've read. Limit the amount of time your children get to watch T.V. and you will have healthier, smarter children!
I finished the "Da Vinci Code" this weekend. I highly recommend it to you. I'll have more to say in a following entry, but anyone who has every read anything about the pursuit of the Holy Grail will be interested in this book. I was so fascinated that I went to the computer to surf to see if I could discover what parts of the book were fact and what were fiction.
I'm trying to finish up quilting projects that have been waiting for my attention for years! One of my nieces has been waiting three or four years for her quilt. It's on the frame and needs two or three nights of hand quilting, some machine quilting of script in the border and a binding, and it will be done. She was hoping she might have it in two years when she turns 16. I told her I was shooting for her 21st birthday. I created a quilt top about twelve years ago with the signatures of two generations of my family. It's been languishing in the closet. I finally decided to pull the pieces together and send it off to be quilted. I've been making it for my mother, who will be 87 on December 7th. Today, she saw me working on it, and asked who it was for. I couldn't come up with a lie fast enough, so the cat's out of the bag. Oh well.
Will you be handing out candy on Halloween? Each year I buy it, and each year we get to eat it. We've had one trick or treater in fourteen years. We have a very long driveway with a "dog-leg" bend in the middle, lined with trees. I guess kids are too frightened to make the trek up to the house, or more likely, they figure it's too much work for a little bit of candy.
Have you seen the stamps with the drawing of the Alaskan tundra? I was so delighted with the drawing that I bought one. A sheet has ten stamps, and each of the stamps is a small part of the picture. Check them out.
We had a guest to dinner last night. We served flank steak, peas with onions, shoepeg corn, Italian bread, a salad composed of romaine, red cabbage, julienned carrot strips, diced red pepper and cherry tomatoes. It wasn't until we were contemplating dessert that DH mentioned that the baked potatoes were still sitting on the island in the kitchen. None of us had missed them. I sent our guest an e-mail today listing the different kinds of potatoes we would have the next time he visited: double baked, mashed, potato leek soup, French and American fries, potato pancakes, German potato salad, hash browns, etc. He was a really good sport about our gaffe. We cut the potatoes up tonight and used them in Potatoes Anna.
And last, but not least:
Athena
?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ??
brought to you by Quizilla
I know several of you have taken this test, but it came to my attention at Parkway Rest Stop. It seems Jim and I are both Athena-style people.
Comments (8)
We have had exactly zero trick-or-treaters in the 15 years we have lived here.
I actually bought candy today because the Fiance of a friend of ours said she was bringing her two daughters over (she called just to "warn" us; to make sure we had something for the children).
Posted by bogie | October 29, 2003 11:57 PM
Posted on October 29, 2003 23:57
Hello Buffy, welcome back. The concept of Trick or Treat has now jumped over to this side of the pond. There is a lot of feeling that trick or treat is just a way of demanding things with menaces. Certainly there has been a lot of publicity about some of the unpleasant "tricks" that have been played on people who don't believe in giving treats to kids who demand them. Fortunately up to now they haven't knocked on our door....
Adele
Posted by Adele | October 30, 2003 5:33 AM
Posted on October 30, 2003 05:33
Err... no, I didn't post the above at 5.33. I posted it at 10.33 am GMT!
Adele
Posted by Adele | October 30, 2003 5:35 AM
Posted on October 30, 2003 05:35
Err... no, I didn't post the above at 5.33. I posted it at 10.33 am GMT!
Adele
Posted by Adele | October 30, 2003 5:36 AM
Posted on October 30, 2003 05:36
Err... no, I didn't post the above at 5.33. I posted it at 10.33 am GMT!
Adele
Posted by Adele | October 30, 2003 5:36 AM
Posted on October 30, 2003 05:36
Sorry about that. Don't know what happened.
Just a point on the kids watching too much tv. When I was young kids could play outside without any problems. Nowadays you couldn't let them do that unless you were there watching over them - and most parents work and do not have the time to do that frequently. I am an real bookworm and have been one from a very young child. The huge interest in books by Rowling and those like her prove that reading is not dead amongst children. But they will only do so if they WANT to, not if they are forced to.
Adele
Posted by Adele | October 30, 2003 5:42 AM
Posted on October 30, 2003 05:42
That dinner sounds good.
No Halloween sweets for me...it was never something that we got into in Jamaica when I was growing up. There are some 'socialites' who encourage their children to get into it now, but it is not something that I would be invloving my children in (if I have any). Don't come knocking at my door, there certainly won't be any treats!
Posted by Dr. D. | October 30, 2003 7:27 AM
Posted on October 30, 2003 07:27
Bogie, the only trick or treater we've had was one of my niece's boys. Each year I decorate inside, and some years I make a scarecrow and put out cornstalks and pumpkins, but it's for our amusement.
Hi, Adele! Nice to see you here. Kids would be safer going to neighborhood parties rather than wandering the streets. We'll hope you continue to luck out and get by-passed.
About the reading, I'd rather have a child read something he's interested in than watch T.V. Perhaps I could sneak in a new subject now and then, and expand their horizons. I have NO chance of that if they are glued to the tube.
Dr. D, it's just as well that Jamaica has missed this activity. We no longer live in a time when children can safely go door to door. I'd be walking along with my children, and I'm sure that would spoil it all for them.
Posted by Buffy | October 30, 2003 9:44 AM
Posted on October 30, 2003 09:44