A Day in the Life

HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU: While purging the basement this past weekend, I found several small items I thought the kids would be interested in, including a kazoo (can you believe they've never had one before?), a harmonica (which Annabelle has spent hours playing) and a pair of magnifying glasses.

Today as Annabelle was playing with the magnifying glasses, I thought back to my childhood and recalled using magnifying glasses to start a couple small fires on a sunny day. I have to admit, I'm vacillating between whether or not showing my kids how to start a fire with a magnifying glass is a good idea or not. ...

I'm thinking I'll probably do it. After all, what if they're stranded on a desert island someday and need to start a fire!

SIGN ME UP: This morning I finally got around to some paperwork for the upcoming school year. Specifically, filling out order forms for the Homeschool Day at the Woodland Park Zoo (Monday, Oct. 18), and special homeschool sessions of plays at Seattle Children's Theatre. (I got tickets for "Lyle the Crocodile," "Go, Dog, Go!," "The Man Who Planted Trees" and "Jackie and Me." Lots of good times ahead for MPA!

FANTASTIC "FIELD TRIP": The library wants some of their stuff back, so the pressure was on to watch a DVD that's been collecting dust at our house. Called "definitely a stellar find" by Parenting Magazine "My Fantastic Field Trip to the Planets" did hold CJ and Annabelle's attention for its entire duration.

Personally, I found the songs a bit too corny and the acting pretty bad. But afterward, I asked the kids what they thought and CJ said, "I liked it - I think."

Annabelle's praise was more effusive. "It was great!" she declared.

My favorite part, by far, were the "bonus features," all of which were videos produced by NASA. One was about the International Space Station, another was about the Constellation, there was a short about life in orbit and one of them was NASA: 50th Anniversary Video. Giving goosebumps from start to finish, it covers the triumph and tragedy spectrum, to be sure. It's about 5 minutes long and highly recommended viewing. Happily, as it turns out the video can be viewed on NASA's 50th anniversary Web site . Just click on the NASA: 50 Years icon on the lefthand side of the screen.

PUNCTUATION, PLEASE: The kids read along with a book called "Punctuation Takes a Vacation." The premise of the book is that on the hottest day of the year, an overwrought teacher declares that punctuation is on vacation. The class rejoices, but quickly comes to realize punctuation is pretty darn important.

WORK IT OUT: Late morning, CJ and Annabelle started (rather uncharacteristically) snipping at each other. There was an accusation on CJ's part that Annabelle gave him a raspberry. Bee vehemently denied it. Kirby was the only witness, but she wasn't talking.

Deciding it was time for a distraction, I set them down at the table and gave them each a workbook sheet. It feels like it has been weeks since we we've touched a workbook, but they both got right to it. As much as I'm a fan of spontaneous and student-led learning, it occurs to me that we need to be doing more worksheets to reinforce basic skills - including how to follow someone else's directions, even when those directions are poorly written. That happens a lot in life. ...

TO TOWN: We had errands to run in "The Village" today. We parked by Albertsons, got a couple of grocery items and stashed them in the car. Then we walked 4 blocks to the post office, mailed some stuff, and then walked back to the car, hitting the hardware store on the way. After stashing the hardware store stuff, we walked five blocks in the other direction to the library.

During our walk today, we had a couple of Boeing 787 Dreamliners fly overhead. It's cool to get to see those before they make their big debut for the rest of the world. They are huge and have a very distinctive sound. I know it's the Dreamliner when I hear it coming, now.

Once we were at the library, the kids checked out the DVDs first (of course) before moving on to the over-sized books.

CJ always wants to read "There Was an Old Lady ..." a book which Annabelle decidedly does NOT want to read due to its tragic ending.

After paging through it, CJ shook his head and said to no one in particular, "Why would someone want to write a book about an old lady dying?"

"Well, maybe they're trying to teach people a lesson. It's a cautionary tale," I suggested.

"They wrote it so that people know not to eat a horse?" he said, non plussed. Of course, that led to "What would happen if you ate a horse?"

"You'd be dead, of course. Like it says in the book," I replied.

"But what would really happen? Would your stomach explode?" Clearly CJ wanted the gory details about just how death-by-horse-consumption goes down. So, we talked about that for awhile.

He studied the pictures of all of the animals the foolish old lady swallowed and declared, "It's a food chain!"

FINAL CHAPTER: I was shocked to learn that Zane Goldmanis, the children's librarian at the Magnolia branch of Seattle Public Library, died suddenly a few days ago, at the age of 67.

If you were a child and in that library, she made it a point to make her way over to you and offer some suggestion or direction. One day a few months back, she beckoned for CJ, Bee and me to come over to where she was standing. There, she was putting the finishing touches on a display featuring books by a children's author whose birthday fell in the present month. She told us it was something she did every month. Tucked away in a corner, I'd never even noticed it before.
Today, when we were at the library, I just had to go check out her display for July. It would be her last.

The last time we saw the librarian (on the right in the photo) was a couple of weeks ago, at a special summer reading program.

She will be missed by many, many Magnolians.

Sightseeing

ROOM WITH A VIEW: This morning was low-key. We concentrated on putting our lives back in order post camping trip (lots of laundry and putting stuff away), and we made a run to Goodwill to drop off a Honda CRV load worth of stuff from the Great Basement Purge that took place this weekend.

At noon, it was time to pick Christian up at work and head to Chicago Title to sign our refinance papers. (We got a 4.875 rate, which is great - I guess it's one small "positive" by-product of a crappy economy.) We had to go to an office in a high rise on 5th Avenue downtown. It was a cool building with lots of great sculpture in the lobby areas. By far, the work that captured our collective fancies the most was by artist Dan Web. It was called "Heads Up" and it included dozens of amber colored bodies ascending ladders. And, intriguingly, instead of heads, the climbers had ladders rising up from their shoulders.

The artist's statement on the adjacent plaque said, the head/ladders "represent the act of the mind moving beyond the physical boundaries of the body. The combined effort, creativity and ambition of the men and women in this upward journey - propelled by individuals and sustained as a group - provide the steps for those who follow."

Nice.

When we got up to the 23rd floor, the kids were thrilled to find a well stocked snack bar awaited them in the Chicago Title lobby. (And who says you get nothing for the $2,900 plus in closing fees?) They enjoyed some chocolate chip cookies while we waited. Eventually we were ushered into a conference room with a stunning view to the southeast. We could see everything from the stadium district to the Issaquah highlands. (It was a good chance to check out the new paint job on Qwest Field's roof!) The kids checked out the view for awhile, but soon they found the stash of toys in the conference room. The toys were definitely more for the preschool set, but CeeJ and Bee found a way to adapt them to more mature play. ;)

Signing loan docs is a long and bo-ring process even when you're the one signing your life away. It's exponentially more boring if you're just watching. But the kids were really good and managed to amuse themselves, mostly with 8 or so plastic dinosaurs they found. They were having some prehistoric gladiator type tournament.

Before long, the 60-plus woman directing Christian and me where to sign noted, "They have really good vocabularies."

I had to laugh and said, "That probably because they talk SO MUCH." They're always honing their craft. ;)

Later during the signing she said how nice it was that the kids clearly have an imagination. She said usually when parents bring kids in, they bring electronic devices with them (laptops, games, etc.) to keep the kids amused. We're certainly not above that, but it never occurred to me to do that today. I knew it would take around 30 minutes and certainly the kids could amuse themselves for that amount of time.

The woman went on at length about the perils of a generation (or two) of children who don't use their imaginations and who are used to having a narrative fed to them all the time. As a result, these kids can't construct their own narrative. Interesting to think about. ...

Though the books on site were for younger folk, CJ managed to find an old school video game tie in (Cookie Monster in a Pac-Man style game), which made him very happy.

HOMEWARD BOUND: It was a gorgeous afternoon, and driving back to Magnolia from downtown, I couldn't help but revel in it. Driving on the Viaduct, the views were stunning. (Yes, I know using a cell phone while driving is against the law, but I haven't seen anything about taking photos while driving ...)

And once we were down on Western, I couldn't help but think how lucky we are that we get to drive through a museum (specifically, Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park) a few times a week. (See the silver tree in the foreground and the typewriter eraser in the background?)

ACCIDENTAL TOURISTS: This evening we were going to use a half off coupon we had for El Puerco Lloron (the crying pig) to have dinner out.

The restaurant is off the staircase leading from waterfront Alaskan Way to Pike Place Market.

We walked in and were studying the menu (on a white board near the door) when a woman told us, in broken English, that the restaurant was closing at 7. Wow. Seems kind of stupid for a place smack dab in the tourist district smack dab in the middle of summer. But what do I know? ...

So suddenly we found ourselves accidental tourists - plodding along the streets around Pike Place Market, wondering where we could get dinner. For whatever reason, every place we seemed to come across was very French (not what the kids were interested in) and/or very expensive (not what the parents were interested in).

We were circling back toward the car when we noticed the Hard Rock Cafe across the street. Not in a million billion years would I have pictured us setting out for that place, but that's where we wound up.

Right inside the door there was a wicked awesome interactive display that CJ took to like a moth to a light. It was a highly sensitive touch screen featuring photos of all sorts of rock memorabilia on display in the restaurant. You could move the snapshots around, expand them or discard them as you chose.

At our table was a smaller version of the screen.

While we did not set out for the place, I have to admit, once inside it felt very right. Being surrounded by high tech gadgets and iconic musical memorabilia coupled with a steady stream of Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix blaring through the sound system made for a memorable experience indeed. I also have to give them props for having the best kids' menu I've ever seen (not in regards to the food items on it, but in regards to its educational content). We did crosswords, decoding puzzles, discerned differences in pictures, solved mazes and talked about different types of rock formations, all thanks to the kids' menu.
All in all, I'm glad the taco stand closed early. ;)
GOING OLD SCHOOL: After dinner, I suggested the kids watch one of the many library videos that we need to return tomorrow. CJ suggested they watch "old school Mickey Mouse" (yes, his words).

He was referencing a "Vintage Mickey" DVD featuring "Steamboat Willie" (1928) and other classics.

It was all black and white, of course, and though Steamboat Willie is from 1928 - more than eighty years old! - Bee and CJ LOVED it and the other cartoons on the disc. There were many belly laughs and they were talking back to the TV, offering the characters advice as though they could hear it.

When the show was over, I told the kids that Walt Disney once said, "I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse." I told them that they had just seen that very mouse that started it all and without it, there would have been no Disney World which we all enjoyed oh-so-much this past May.

Berry Busy Day

BERRY GOOD: Our streak of several sunny 80-degree plus days has pushed berries to the point of ripening.

I love that we can grab a bowl, wander down to the alley and pick a strawberry (or maybe even two!) and lots of blackberries, all organic and definitely locally grown.

I'm also glad that the kids consider a bowl of blackberries and strawberries as tasty a dessert as ice cream.

PIRATES AT THE PORT: This morning, while still horizontal and before I had even one eye open, I was being peppered with questions by Mr. CeeJ.

"What's 'a pirate'?" he asked.

I moan something along the lines of "you know what a pirate is." Peg leg, eye patch, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum - and all that pirate-y crap.

"No, a pirate - like a game you copy and do something to," he clarified. "Oh, software piracy," I say, now semi-awake. So CJ and I had a conversation about stealing other programmers' work and infringing on copyrights before 7 this morning.

We came downstairs and as he's awaiting a Pop Tart for breakfast (yes, I know, I know, they're bad, but they're oh-so-good) CJ asked me about "porting."

I was immediately back on the high seas, thinking about pirate ships porting at a dock in a place they were going to pillage. CJ said, "No, porting. With computers."

Silly me. I should have known it would be about computers. At first I thought it was connecting one computer to another via a cord plugged into the computers' ports. Seems reasonable, right? But I wanted to make sure I had a correct definition for CJ, so I hopped online. Good thing I did. Thanks to the All-Knowing Wikipedia, I learned that porting "is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed. ... The term is also used in a general way to refer to the changing of software/hardware to make them usable in different environments."

Ah, no wonder CJ wanted to talk about 'porting.' He spends some time online every day studying videos of how people have "ported" games, adapting them to work on different gaming systems.

Fascinating stuff.

MORNING MALLETS: When she rolled out of the rack around 7:30, Annabelle staggered straight to the couch and upon sitting down she immediately began hammering out some songs using her glockenspeil mallets and a "Xylo-fun" book.

The neat-o book has a built in xylophone and "sheet" music - its notes are on a staff, but they're also color coded, corresponding to the correct note on the xylophone. We got it at Goodwill for $2.99 awhile back. Damn good deal.

Bee plunked out "Happy Birthday," "Old MacDonald" and several more songs throughout the day.

I'll be glad when their Musikgarten classes start back up come September.

SCRIBES: I wanted to make sure the kids did some writing today. It had been way too long. ... We turned to a sure-fire winner - Scholastic's story starter "machine."

CJ spun the wheels and was tasked with writing a newspaper story about going camping with a lion who liked to play in water.

Interestingly, when Annabelle spun the wheels, she, too, was supposed to write to about a water loving lion. She chose to accompany her writing with a picture - I'm told it's a heart/Valentine with comic effects.

DYEING TO CRAFT: As I mowed our cliffside - er, yard - today, I contemplated a craft project I could do with the kids this afternoon.

My mind drifted to coffee filters (naturally), and I began to think about things we could do with that. Making flowers seemed like an easy, obvious choice.

So, when I came in, I got out the coffee filters, some bottlecaps, some rubber bands and some bowls filled with water. I let the kids choose two colors each they wanted to use as dye (we used my hardcore cake and cookie food coloring).

We put two coffee filters together, one atop the other. Then we put a bottlecap in the middle, and cinched that with a rubber band. At that point, our "flowers" looked a bit like ghosts.

We did two dyeing sessions - first the flowers' centers. After those dried, the kids dipped them again.Here's what they looked like after the second color bath. The colors kind of flowed together, but that was an expected and good thing.

Tomorrow, we'll fluff 'em a little bit and add stems. Annabelle was very pleased with the project so far.

GO-TA YOGA: After 5 days of 3-hour long yoga classes last week, the kids both thought today's 45-minute yoga class seemed very short!

Their teacher will be going away on a month-long trip to New York, so the kids will have a sub for the next few weeks. That should be interesting. ...

BIRTHDAY WISHES: Today we (virtually) signed a birthday card for President Barack Obama. In doing so, we were also reminded that Obama's b-day is on Aug. 4, the same day as Grampa R.

The Long Road Home

ROUGHING IT: This morning about 8:30 Christian called to tell me he and the kids were going to have breakfast and then hit I-5 northbound for the long (6 hour or so) drive north.

The three of them had spent the last three nights camping at Baker Bay Campground on Dorena Lake in Lane County, Oregon (Google Earth photo below).

Christian took a few photos of their adventures. From all accounts, it sounds like they spent a fair amount of time in and around the water.

Annabelle rode an orca, and one day they all took turns being pulled on an innertube behind a boat.

In typical CJ fashion, CJ spent a lot of his time contemplating things (no doubt having to do with bits and bytes). And once in awhile he snuck away to get a fix (via his Nintendo DS).
Annabelle even spent a little time "babysitting" Christian's cousin's little twins. I'll bet she was good at it. As our trio headed north in the good ol' '78 VW camper van, we kept in contact via text message and a couple of phone calls as they made their way. Finally, around 5:30 this evening they arrived. It was very good to see them. :)

So tomorrow we'll do some more unpacking and then it's back to business as usual.

"OUR" ASTRONAUTS IN THE OVAL OFFICE: Today, the crew of STS-132 Atlantis (the guys we watched blast off into space!) met with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office of the White House.

I sure hope the astronauts urged the president to do everything in his power to keep the Space Shuttle program going until NASA has a proven substitute in place.

From left, STS-132 Commander Ken Ham; Expedition 22/23 Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer; STS-132 Mission Specialists Piers Sellers, Garret Reisman, and Steve Bowen; President Obama; STS-132 Mission Specialist Michael Good; and STS-132 Pilot Tony Antonelli. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

And They're Off!

THE CIRCUS COMES TO TOWN: Today marked the last day of the week long yoga camp.

CJ and Annabelle have enjoyed it thoroughly. They looked forward to going each day and had lots of positive things to say about it after each session.

Today's theme was the circus, and the kids were supposed to wear red. CJ wore his Heinz Ketchup shirt (an old favorite - that reminds me of his kindergarten year). Annabelle wore her cute "The Grouchy Ladybug" shirt. (Note to self - when looking for a link to that book, I found a great resource - on author Eric Carle's official Web site, there are all sorts of ideas for using that book in the classroom.)

While waiting for other students to arrive, yoga teacher Nicole came over to me to tell me that if she ever needs a substitute teacher, she would just call Annabelle. ;) I laughed and said, "Yeah, she likes to be the leader and doesn't have any self confidence issues!"

Nicole agreed and told me that earlier this week while she was leading the class in a move, Annabelle suggested, "Why don't we try it this way?"

At that, Nicole asked where Annabelle had seen her variation - perhaps on the Internet or TV? - and Annabelle told her, "No, from you!" :)

THE LION KINGS: Dozens of times the kids and I have driven by the Columbia City Sound Transit station. It has lots of great public art, most notably a number of lion statues. Each one has a distinct look, and it's fun thinking about the elements that influence the styles.

Today, I finally took the time to take pictures of some of our favorites.

There's a green one that almost looks as if it's made from jade (it's not). I love its expression - it definitely looks like it's staring off into the distance.

And then there's a grand granite one grasping what I always assumed from afar was globe in its paws. Today, upon closer examination, it looks very much like a soccer ball. Hmm. ...

Then there's this copper-patina colored one that's highly stylized.

I was able to find out a little bit about the sculptures on Sound Transit's Web site. Specifically, that "stone lions guard the entrance of the station's south plaza, ensuring and a safe, welcoming journey for patrons. Each lion is customized to reflect the diversity of the Rainier Valley and Columbia City, creating 'conversations' between the lions evocative of the conversations between various cultures."

Perhaps the most unique lion is the one carved from brick. It appears to have an orange in its mouth. Why? I don't know ... the answer must be out there somewhere.

What I do know, from Sound Transit, is that it is hand-carved, made in collaboration with master-carver Mara Smith. I found an article that says artist Norie Sato carved them all. If that's true, that's pretty damn impressive - the statue's styles are so different.

OH BOY!: Shortly after 6 a.m. through a low-fi "baby" monitor speaker, I hear a little rustling followed by the words, "Oh, boy!" followed by the sound of Annabelle beating feet up to our bedroom.

As she climbed into our bed she trumpeted, "Today's the day we go camping!"

Oh boy, indeed!

This weekend Christian is taking the kids to Baker Bay campground - a site his family has been camping at every summer for years and years and years. So the last couple of days we've been in Camp Readiness Mode (lists and trips to the store and packing and lists and trips to the store and packing). Christian got Mogwai (our 1978 VW camper van) in prime running shape, and we all worked together to clean it up and get its interior road ready.

Christian picked the kids up from yoga camp and from there they made the supposed-to-be-6-but-due-to-traffic actually-was-a-7-1/2-hour (UGH) drive down.

Meanwhile, I'm holding down the fort - limping around on a bum hip and getting things in better order around here. This afternoon/evening, I spent 8 hours in the basement sorting and cleaning (and have the allergy attack to prove it, darn it). The Honda's stuffed to the gills for a Goodwill run, and there's lots more where that came from, I'm afraid.

I found some real treasure troves during my sorting today. So many of Rick and Ken's keepsakes from their high school years. Not just photos but award after award after award. Music, sports, scholarship, citizenship ... Honestly, at the time it seemed just pretty normal. Isn't that what all teenage boys do - rack up accolades? ;)

But tonight, as I was looking back over all of it, it seemed pretty darn remarkable. :)

Chin Music

BEACH BOYS AND GIRLS: Today's theme at yoga/music camp was "The Beach."

Annabelle reports that she got to play a violin during music time, when the class was singing, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Starfish."

CJ says his favorite part of the class today was when they did "the airplane" (it's move where you lie on your stomach and hold your arms and legs up).

At the end of class they were back out to playing with the parachute (which kind of looks like a flat beach ball, now that I think about it).

CONSUMERISM: While CeeJ and Bee were in yoga today, I actually went shopping to (gasp) a mall. Factoria in Bellevue, to be specific, and boy was it deserted. I swear, I felt like I was helping my country/being patriotic by being there.

Of course, I don't know how much I stimulated the economy by buying Annabelle a $3 Woodsy the Owl t-shirt and CJ an Atari logo t-shirt (which he loved, of course) for $6. ...

Oh, and I also scored some cheap back to school supplies at Target (.30 cents for spiral notebooks) and $1 for a calculator, which the kids had fun playing with. ...

DUMP AND RUN: Today was library day, but not in the traditional sense. Usually library day means finding all sorts of awesome books and DVDs. But we already have stacks and stacks of awesome library stuff "in stock" at MPA. What we need to do is work our way through those piles before checking more out.

The kids were a little taken about that we weren't going to get more More MORE today, but I explained to them that taking more of something than you need/can use is actually selfish. They seemed to understand that, which is good.

REMEMBER WHEN: We took CJ's awful cheeseburger leftovers from the Crab Pot and put it in a Ziploc to try a mold growing experiment? Well today, Annabelle remembered our experiment and retrieved the bag.

Finally, the cheeseburger looked as bad as it tasted!

Needless to say, I told the kids not to open the bag under any circumstances. After we peered and prodded at it a bit, it went straight into the garbage (unfortunately, we dare not even open it for the purposes of composting it).

JAM SESSION: At some point this afternoon, I heard "music" coming from the kids' room. I walked in and discovered Bee on the recorder and CJ on the guitar. CJ said they were playing some boss battle theme music (video game related, of course).

Surprisingly, Kirby didn't seem to mind the noise too much.

TAKING ONE ON THE CHIN: Poor CeeJ. This afternoon he was spazzing around the house and somehow took a tumble and his face damn near went through the fish tank. That would have been really really bad.

I guess the better news is that he "only" took a nasty gash on the chin. I really thought he was going to need stitches, but because he's young and healthy and resilient, he quit bleeding after about a half hour. He is definitely going to have a scar, though. :(

Fun and Games

DINO DAY: It was Day 3 of Yoga/Music camp in Columbia City. Today's theme was dinosaurs.

When I asked them about dinosaur related activities, they both raved about a book the group read, "When Dinosaurs Came with Everything."

When I went to pick them up, they were all outside playing with a parachute, having a ball. They were taking turns being in the center of the parachute, and the classmates would walk toward the center, where one student was sitting on the parachute, and then they'd walk backward quickly, lifting the parachute sitter. In the photo below, it's Annabelle's shadow you see in the center.

Of course, CJ got a turn, too. But being the biggest (by far) in the class, he didn't catch as much air as the rest of 'em. (You can barely see a shoe of his in the photo below.)

WHERE THERE'S A (GOOD)WILL: While the kids did the yoga thing, I headed up Rainier to Dearborn, where a Really Big Goodwill store awaits. The kids love going "treasure hunting" at Goodwill with me, but about 20 minutes of it is enough for them. Today, I was able to spend darn near two HOURS in the place (and I could have spent more, and this is coming from someone who doesn't like to shop).

At one point I found myself standing in the electronics aisle - near stacks of old, used gaming equipment. There were no original Nintendo NES units to be had, but I did spy a first generation Sega Genesis. I picked it up and found one controller for it. I was deciding whether to take my chances and spend $15 to get it and the controller when I heard a male voice say, "Here's another controller for that." The voice belonged to a 20-something guy. It soon became apparent he is a huge game hardware geek. He pointed me toward a version 2.0 of the Sega system, but I told him my 7-year-old son is an old school purist and would want the first version. Then the guy found the appropriate RF cable for me and he began making suggestions about where I might find a power supply cord for the Sega. Oh, and he told me to go over and look in the aisle with the audio tapes, because for whatever reason, there are a few Sega games for sale there.

And so I did go over there and score, for $1, Madden '94. What a flashback those team rosters provide!

Christian took the unit apart when he got home and did some electrical testing, so the kids got to see its inner workings, which was a good learning experience for them. (It's not just a "magic box" - it's capacitors and connectors and chips and a processor and a motherboard and switches and plugs). Christian got the Sega working by MacGyvering a power cord (it involved reversing polarity or something). Then, he and the kids played some Madden. He and Annabelle went head to head for two full quarters and Annabelle beat his pants off!

STOP THE CAR!: On our way back to the MPA campus, we couldn't help but notice the sprinklers at our neighborhood park were going full blast. You know what that means!

Funny story - walking to and fro the sprinklers, Annabelle was going, "Eww ... eww ... eww!" all the way. Why? Well, she thought the park grounds were covered in dog poo.

I can see why she thought that - the ground had been heavily aerated and the resultant plugs looked, well, exactly like dog crap. I will admit that even though I knew exactly what it was (just good ol' dirt), I, too was thinking, "Ew, ew," as I walked over them and felt them smoosh beneath my feet.

CAMEO BY CJ: I got a nice note this morning from a woman who used a photo of CJ to accompany a blog post with tips about about submitting a synopsis to editors. You can see it here: http://www.susanuhlig.com/2010/07/the-synopsis-shrink.html

INSIDE INFORMATION: There's something CJ wants you to know. He asked me to write down what he says, exactly, so I did.

"In Super Mario 64 there's a Secret Room. Make sure you aim for the top castle window. Use the cannon when you have all stars. Get the wing cap and return to the cannon. Aim for the window - but don't get stuck at the 1 percent lower place or else you'll have to start over. It's how you get inside without using the door."

You're welcome. :)