The Summer Program

Other than a week of camp in August, I have full daily care of Lucia this summer. I will need to be particularly mindful to make sure that she gets regular social contact with others children. I am fine when other children come over to play and they can entertain themselves fairly well without grownup interference. I took a tip from a friend to tell children that they need to work things out so that everyone is satisfied, rather than stepping into conflicts to propose solutions.

Lucia started weaving with her new peg loom yesterday. At school, she discovered how much she loved weaving, and would come home to exclaim about the new colors on her loom. Yesterday, after she wove three colors, I read aloud the Grimms' Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle. There are multiple variations of the rhymes that the maiden calls out, and when I studied the fairy tale for my library school storytelling class, I looked for the most satisfying rhymes:


Spindle, spindle, speed away,
Bring my suitor home today.

Shuttle, shuttle, weave and glide,
Bring my suitor to my side.

Needle, needle, sharp and fine,
Come adorn this house of mine.

Other activities planned for the summer are library programs (though they are quite sparse this year), storytimes at bookstores, weekly park days and daily walks. There will be some piano and swim lessons, too. Quite possibly I will dig out the paving stone kit she received as a birthday present years ago.

Through all of this, I need to work on my manuscript, practice guitar, and sew dolls for the shop. Some days all I want to do is read. When I cook dinner, I try to find recipes that don't require a lot of attention other than occasional stirring. That way, I have no choice but to sit near the stove and read.

Mennonite Artist Project Interview

I was recently interviewed by the Mennonite Artist Project. You may read the featured artist interview here.

Update: I didn't realize that you needed a Ning account and password to sign in to read the interview. My apologies. If you don't want to create a free Ning account but want to read the interview, send me an email (see profile).

Fifth Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge

MotherReader is hosting the Fifth Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge from June 4-6. I'm not officially taking part in it this year, but I may be able to find rationalize some tasks this weekend that require taking 10 minute breaks here and there. Anyting that involves tending to the stove, for example, is best served by me staying nearby with a book. I'm in the middle of a number of books right now:

Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, by Carl Sagan

Life as We Do Not Know It: The NASA Search for (and Synthesis of) Alien Life, by Peter Ward

Darwin's Universe: Evolution from A to Z, by Richard Milner (I'm really just browsing it at this point.)

LoneStarMa recommended Endymion Spring, which just came in, so I'll take a look at that too, plus a friend of mine just lent me The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: And Other Clinical Tales, by Oliver Sachs. I am particularly interested in the first essay, which deals with prosopagnosia, a condition in which there is an impaired ability to recognize faces.