Sunday, November 18, 2007

The Sand Project: Exegesis


OK, I should probably give more context to this video that I posted not long ago...


We often need to, uh, sift through the sand in that area of our playground in order to rid it of cat poop (although when we successfully keep the cover on the sandbox as we have lately, we don't need to do that in the box, just in one corner of the actual fenced in playground).


Anyway, my best interpretation of what Anya is doing in this video is that she thinks what you're supposed to do at the sandbox is to take bits of sand with a shovel and throw them out over the fence and onto the hillside. Of course it is cute that the little shovelfuls that she collects fall to the ground way before she makes it to the fence, but she still goes through the motion, because of course that is what the big people do.


I'm sure every family has stories of this sort. In my toddlerhood, I was known to stand in front of the wall below a picture window (I was too short to see out) for a few seconds at a time each morning, and then walk away -- later interpreted as my version of looking at the outside thermometer, like my parents would do. Also I went through a period of whacking a yardstick at the walls and corners of rooms, which was after a bout of flies that had my parents vacuuming them up with the long arm of a vacuum up in the ceiling-corners.


I guess now it is Anya's turn...

Monday, November 12, 2007

Mid-November Update

What we're watching:

(and listening to...) Springsteen's 2001 MSG concert DVD

(and squirming, and hiding, and finally unable to finish...) Borat

30 Rock

(and feeling some guilt...) Beauty and the Geek (hey, it follows 30 Rock on our satellite TV)



What we're listening to:

Dylan's greatest hits, vol. 2, disc 2

REM's Murmur and Out of Time

Modest Mouse's We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank



What we're reading:

Intoasia.com's guide to Bangkok

Lonely Planet Seoul (thanks to my mom for leaving it here)

The Beer Lover's Rating Guide (the smallest people have the most unexpected reading tastes...)



What we're eating:

Cheese grits squares

Squashed pinto beans and pasta shells

More leftover improvised Mexican pork stew



Where we have the potential to view cats this weekend:

At home

At the Vladivostok cat show

At the visiting circus show "Lynxes and Wild Boars"

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Turning the November Leaves

We're back to regular old fall, after the snowmelt.



Last weekend we had a really great visit with our old friend Laura, from Berkeley grad school days, which included a little bit of exploring on the nearby peninsula "de Fries." This spit of land is a relatively prominent feature of the local map, but for whatever reason we hadn't driven there before. We were inspired in part by a meeting with a Washington State University historian who studies the cosmopolitan late nineteenth century Victorian world of Vladivostok, especially through the lens of letters written by a New Englander, Mrs. Eleonor Pray, who lived here with her family from 1894 until 1930. The Prays and the Smiths and apparently many other foreign traders and merchants in the city took their holidays on de Fries at a large complex that burned down in the early twentieth century. Our visit to the peninsula didn't really have a lot to do with the history, except that hearing about these old foreign families and seeing some old photographs led us to drive out there.



Now we're heading into a few weeks of work before heading to Thailand for Thansksgiving weekend! Hooray -- the vacation we have been waiting months for! We're meeting a friend from early DC days who is now stationed in Calcutta. Staying in Bangkok at the hotel this friend is fond of, and making at least one day trip to the beach. And hoping that all will go well with baby travel!



I'm going to try again to write more briefly and more often here -- we'll see how well I do. Maybe a little list of current likes and distractions will help in that...



what we're listening to

the latest Bruce, Magic

Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker Suite (featuring fun cannon shots in our Deutsche Grammaphone version)

a homemade mix Dilon Djindji's mellow Afropop, c/o Sir Landau (some may recall that this featured as the recessional music at our wedding...)



what we're munching on (you guess which describes the big people's menu and which describes the small person's...)

a yummy Mexican chipotle pork and potatoes stew

dried cherry scones (although beware of Bittman's recipe in How to Cook Everything; we are still in search of a better one)

well-cooked pasta shells with mushed kidney beans and melted cheese

stiff mashed potatoes with bits of ham

bite-sized broccoli