About a year and a half ago, the kids discovered a Calvin and Hobbes anthology of mine in the vast bookshelves at my parents' house. They quickly became ENAMORED of Calvin. We now have battered library copies and Half-Price books copies all over our house. They have read them all numerous times. I knew it wasn't really FOR kids, but decided to let it be a jumping off point. I have had to give them definitions of words like imbecile, lobotomy, wager, skin grafts, Ouji board, and hara-kiri (!). We have also had to have several discussions about how Calvin's Behavior is Never To Be Emulated. I think they get it, and it pleases me no end when they finally understand the subtle irony. Humor is a tricky business.
In other news, the transmission went out on our van and we had to get a new one. 95,000 plus miles of loyalty and then kerPLUNK. The new van has leather seats and the fancy doors that open by themselves. It makes me nervous. Also, the side windows open, (they didn't in the old van) and the kids find this SPECTACULAR. They are forced to find their own entertainment because, yet again, we opted out of the television in the car business. Here is a picture of the Old Faithful, just before she went away to the car dealership where old minivans go to die? Get a new transmission and live for another 200,000 miles? I hope it is the latter.
In 1997 I was teaching in Hungary, and my friend Melissa, who was teaching in Poland, called me and said she had some friends working in Israel and we should go visit them. So we did, and it was glorious. We did all sorts of magnificent things, but the most memorable was riding bikes around the Sea of Galilee. I don't remember the exact mileage, but it was far enough that I had trouble sitting down normally for a couple of days after. Anyway, I was reminded of it on Saturday. We took a family bike ride. What we intended to be a leisurely hour or so turned into a two and a half hour, FIFTEEN MILE adventure. Everyone held it together fairly well, though Helena cried through the last mile because she was flat exhausted. It was a beautiful day though, and we were never exactly LOST, just a little off target.
My friends Merry and Jane had their annual Christmas cookie party on Sunday night, which means I have been eating nothing but cookies for the past 48 hours.
Tomorrow Helena is going to be Queen Tiye for her history presentation. She was the Nubian wife of Amenhotep III, and grandmother of King Tut (but of course you knew that). We borrowed a Cleopatra costume (close enough) and she LOVES it.
