Long Week

REHOMING: Earlier this week, we finally decided it was time to 'rehome' a couple dozen of our extra tomato and tomatillo plants.

We loaded them up into a couple of big aluminum trays and put then down by our communal mailbox with stickers encouraging passersby to take some home with them. 

We left the trays out for about 24 hours, and all but a half dozen disappeared in that time.

They look pretty healthy, don't they? And how do you like my eclectic collection of 'pots'? I had to get creative with the containers, we had so many plants.

Today, Christian took the leftovers and left them out for co-workers to take.  

PLAY THE GAME: We managed to squeeze in a couple new-to-us games this week. One was Fantasy Fluxx. We own numerous Flux games of various themes (everything from Star Trek to pirates, Christmas to chemistry).

We also played a card game called Dungeon Mayhem. It's a quick-to-learn little game where your character is trying to kill off other players' characters.  

CJ enjoyed being a barbarian.

In the end, I outlasted my opponents, so I liked the new game. ;) 

QUIET TIME: A dearth of news from MPA this week. Apologies. It's not that we haven't been doing anything, it's just that we've been doing lots of things, including some super Not Fun things for at least one of us - namely me. I had two gnarly dentist appointments this week, plus a couple of other issues, and wasn't exactly at the top of my game. That, and Laika is limping around with an injury. Unfortunately, $500 and no diagnosis, that's still a mystery. Hopefully things will be on the upswing soon. The kids are staying busy with classes. Tonight, Annabelle had her weekly Gage for Teens session, while the rest of us we watched a movie for CJ's World Cinema class. The movie was a Colombian film, "Birds of Passage."

Here's a trailer if you want to check it out.

 

 The movie covers a span of nearly 20 years, showing the genesis of an indigenous Wayuu family becomes involved in the booming Colombian drug trade of the 1970s, and how that affects nearly every aspect of their lives as the entanglement progresses over time. 

It is definitely not a 'feel good' movie by any means. Rather, it's one of those where you start muttering, "This isn't going to end well," about a third of the way in. The film chronicles the sad descent into violence and a changed way of life for those involved. 

APPLYING THEMSELVES: With spring quarter winding down, and fall a few weeks away, there's been talk of the kids trying to find some summer work. So, we've spent a few hours updating their resumes and crafting cover letters. CJ sent out his first application on Thursday, and today he already had an email asking for an interview at a museum next week. Cool!

Annabelle will likely make her first online application tomorrow. She's targeting artsy opportunities to start out.

SUMMER FUN: News about free, fun activities for students to do over the summer thanks to the National Air and Space Museum came via email this week. The museum has opened up all of their "Anytime Expeditions" to everyone effective May 24, 2021.  You can find the resources for these activities, which are designed for different grade bands from grades 1-12, at:

https://airandspace.si.edu/learn/programs-and-activities/virtual-field-trips/grades-3-up

To see what's available, you scroll down to the program you are interested in, and press the "+" next to "Related Resources" to access the activities for that program.