Cookies, Tides and Stewpots

Lucia's godfather, Uncle Phil (a.k.a. Philip the Pun), brought homemade chocolate chip cookies to Bede's gaming session tonight. What makes this occurance blog-worthy is that I called him earlier and asked him to make the cookies. "I'm sure I would get well faster if only I had chocolate-chip cookies," I said. "Would you please make some?" And he did. Thank you, Phil, for the cookies.

Bede wins the husband award of the week month year for his unflagging perseverance in taking on the bulk of the household duties while I was sick. Neither of us has ever shared chores 50/50-- it often seems as if we're either 100/100 or 0/0. That is, our house is very, very clean, or very, very much the opposite. Thank you, Bede, for everything you do.

Lucia was impatient with me during my illness. "Mommy get up! Mommy wake up!" she ordered, to no avail. I have learned how to feign deep sleep where I appear to be impervious to whining, but am up and alert in a second when I sense real distress. However, I have Lucia to thank this week, too, for helping me to stay brushed up on my stories even when I was too hoarse to speak for very long. Lucia's favorite story of the moment is Why the Tides Ebb and Flow, retold by Joan Chase Bowden, and illustrated by Marc Brown. She actually requested to take a bath today (complete with hair-washing) so that she could pretend her dollies were Stubborn Old Woman, Little Dog, Young Maiden, and Strong Young Man. A rubber bath-toy that vaguely looked like a seal was the rock in the hole in the sea. The highlight of the bath was when I unplugged the drain and she could watch the waters go "down, down, down into the hole in the sea."

"Why the Tides Ebb and Flow" is one of my favorite stories to tell. I'm a big fan of pourquoi or "just-so" stories. What are some of your favorite stories of how things came to be the way they are? Please let me know in the comments, and if there is enough feedback, I'll compile a list to share. While I could simply publish a list of my favorite tales, I'd like to know what stories specifically resonate with you.

P.S. Today, I recieved my new copy of Storytelling: Art and Technique, 3rd Edition. The copy I had in library school is still in a barn on the East Coast. If you are at all interested in storytelling, this book is for you. You definitely want the 3rd edition and not any of the earlier editions. At the end of the book is a "Baker's dozen" stories for the telling in honor of the great Augusta Baker. According to Wikipedia, Baker was a lioness of children's literature. Lovely!