May 31, 2012

Today I learned that my fruitless plum tree does, in fact, grow fruit. According to the great people of the internet, it grows "ornamental" fruit which can also be eaten or turned into jam - just like real fruit.

Silly me, I thought that the fruitless in the name described a tree that was without fruit. I now know this is incorrect.

But why is this fruit deemed less then the others? Too small? Imperfect? Does it not adhere to the traditional standards of fruit? I dream of a world in which all fruit are treated like fruit and none are fruit less.

May 30, 2012

Today I learned that I really just want to be Arya Stark when I never grow up.

May 29, 2012

Today I learned that 5 people can play one guitar (Gotye covered by Walk Off the Earth) and that 7 people can play one piano - all at the same time. (JayZ covered by CDZA)

The moral of the story is that working together can create fabulous results. (and the internet is full of fun things)

May 28, 2012

Today I learned that dear Ginger Chicken just may be a woman now. 

I am relatively certain that this is her first tiny egg. (It is a little hard to promise because my frizzle Nugget also lays a similar egg but this one looks distinct enough that I believe it may be an original!)

Congrats either way Ginger. You are a delightful chicken.

A little diversity is so much more fun.

May 27, 2012

Today I learned that our newest friend, Tandoori Chicken, has successfully mastered coop life. Today was her first day out free in the yard with her new frienemies. Jerk is just too mean and if things to do not improve she will be in a new home shortly.

I also learned that these birds have no respect for me or my fences.

May 26, 2012

Today I learned what it is like to care for a seven-year-old for an entire day. It is strangely both extremely hard and very easy to imagine doing this every day.

May 25, 2012

Today I learned how to make a friendship bracelet. Yes, this is my first one - I must have missed that day of girl scouts. Sadly enough, despite how easy the young girl in the video made it look, it worked my brain a little.

Someday when I retire and buy goats I perhaps I will need a loom.

May 24, 2012

Today I learned the art of finding sea glass - a delicate process of dedication that I can now safely say is passed from generation to generation. 

Treasure hunting is as much about the adventure and that little heart-flutter of discovery as it is about the used coffee cup full of bounty.

I also learned that getting up at dawn to spend the morning just my mother and I is totally worth breaking my sleeping-in during vacation rules.

May 23, 2012

Today I learned

and

.

May 22, 2012

Today I learned that the Costco Business Warehouse is an even more amazing sort of bulk buying extravaganza that it's standard cousin.

I also learned that cottages at Crystal Cove State Beach are delightfully charming.

May 21, 2012

Today I learned that when you attempt to concentrate on too many things, they are turn out a bit shitty.

May 20, 2012

Today I learned that England is experiencing a bit of an owl problem now that the Harry Potter books and films have reached their end.

Evidently parents thought that getting a nocturnal predatory bird as a pet was a great idea but have since decided that the reality of an owl is a bit less magical than anticipated. They do not deliver the mail or offer solace to small orphaned heroes. They are unfortunately, just birds, who like all living things require a great deal of thought and care to properly thrive.

One owl sanctuary has gone from 6 owls to a record 100. Most are simply being abandoned in the countryside - where they tend to starve - as domesticated animals to not fair well when suddenly dumped alone in the wild.

Perhaps it is best that while we always use our imaginations and dream magical dreams, we refrain from following every whim and teach our children the same editing. They should also be taught that agreeing to care for something is a great honor, responsibility and promise.

May 19, 2012

Today I learned that a wet chicken looks a bit like the world's tiniest dinosaur.

I also learned that perhaps naming my chicken Jerk was a bad idea, as she has taken the moniker a bit too literally. Nugget is being bullied and bloodied and kept from food and water. The chickens are now separated until Nugget is healed-up and well, and the situation is resolved.

Let us all learn to be kind to everyone, even those smaller than us. Or, better yet, learn to think of no one as smaller at all.

May 18, 2012

Today I learned, thanks to my little sister (who I guess is really not-so-little now), exactly what an MBA graduation hood looks like up close.

I also learned the warm feeling of having your family close, both in proximity and otherwise.

May 15, 2012

Today I learned that my mealworm beetles - who live in an open container in my living room because I have been assured repeatedly that they can not fly - can fly. The great mealworm people of the internet say they have been breeding "darkling" beetles for 10 plus years and have never seen this happen. But, I observed the magical feat with my own eyes and have a witness to uphold the accusation.


Either I am doing something very wrong or very right. (Or they were too thirsty and not liking their provided carrot.)


I also learned what it is like to be scolded sternly by your baby sister. I think this means we are really actually truly friends. I am learning that it is quite enjoyable to be friends with your sister.

May 14, 2012

Today I learned that perhaps I have taken on too many things without the proper planning needed to do so in a calm, effect, stress-free manor.

Here's a toast to early mornings and late nights.

May 13, 2012

Today I learned how to draw an astronaut, Jupiter and a llama that looks like a cloud. (or a cloud that looks like a llama? Who decides these things really?)

I also learned that getting older has it's advantages when you have someone right there growing with you.

I would also say that I learned how much I love my mother - but I already knew that.

May 12, 2012

Today I learned about the surinam toad who gives birth to live baby frogs from holes in her back. Seriously - holes in her back. The little fertilized frog eggs stay in pockets in the skin of the mother toads back until the frogs hatch and leave her body.

It is amazing all of the beautiful variety in nature.

You can watch the little frogs be born in this video.

May 11, 2012

Today I learned that personal progress is extremely hard to measure. How can you tell how far you has come when your only judge and your only competition is yourself?

May 10, 2012

Today I learned that warm feeling of a day full of calls and texts and cards and words of love to celebrate that you are here and you are you.

I also learned that - yes - the roast duck at Sam Woo really is as good as I remembered.

May 9, 2012

Today I learned that some words are very hard to put into pictures. How do you illustrate live or life or I or ourselves. What one image can capture those sorts of things. (add in that seven-year-olds with diverse cultural backgrounds who are learning English for the first time are the little brains evaluating said pictures.) Art is a tricky business.

I also learned that the President of the United States has publicly stated his support for gay marriage.

Thank you.

Truly.

"...when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it's also the Golden Rule, you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated." - President Obama

May 8, 2012

Today I learned that one of my personal heroes, Maurice Sendak, has died. We will have to continue the wild rumpus without him.

I also learned that North Carolina passed a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships. They already had a law in place banning gay marriage but figured they needed to double down with an amendment as well.

There is no need for all the repetition NC, I am already well aware of how threatening I must seem.

May 7, 2012

Today I learned about the assassin bug. I love a good villain perhaps even more than a good hero. A perfect villain is hard to come by but this little bug from Malaysia puts forward a pretty good campaign. These insects attack their prey and liquefy the insides with venom then suck out all the gooey; leaving an empty bug shell. This is not that uncommon in insects, but the assassin bug goes the extra mile and wears all of his meals like corpse armor on his back. Truly the stuff of nightmares.

You can see what he looks like here.

I also learned that my sister has sent me a pre-birthday surprise. The fact that it came early made it all the more unexpected and unbirthday-festive.

May 6, 2012

Today I learned about David Wing-Kovarik who started a Seattle based organization called Families Like Ours. David is being honored as a CNN Hero (you can watch the video and read all about him here. Please do.)

David and his partner Conrad are champions of LGBT adoption and advocates for children in foster care - trying hard to find every child a good home. As a gay family trying to adopt from the foster case system (in which over 100,000 children are currently without families), David was sadden and frustrated by the difficulties they faced. As a result he started Families Like Ours which offers completely free classes and services to anyone who wants to help change a child's life.

Families Like Ours has a 75% successful placement rate which is the highest of any agency.

I would really like to give him a big hug.

"It's unacceptable that families are faced with barriers that are put in their way because of a myth, a misunderstanding, miscommunication ... preventing a child from having a family just because (other people) just don't like what that family looks like."

"That child sitting in foster care year after year after year is not going to their social worker and saying, 'I only want a mom-and-dad home."

May 5, 2012

Today I learned that Jerk Chicken just might live. Everything seems to be healing up shockingly well with no swelling or redness and our visiting people-doctor friend has confirm that the heat we feel around the wound probably is not anything to worry about. She has even laid an egg and is acting very mean (Jerk, not the doctor). All great progress.

Foghorn seems to miss her and comes to visit her in quarantine.

I also learned that the limoncello tort at Cheesecake Factory is quite a beautiful thing. Go get a slice.

May 4, 2012

Today I learned that you can now see the dark side of the moon in full color!

 SPL/Barcroft Media has created a series of geological maps of various planetary bodies surfaces mapped out with a brilliant color code. They look like a wild space-comic complete with a classic battle between science and art. Much more fun than the standard blank and white composite maps I am used to seeing.

You can view the gallery here.

May 3, 2012

Today I learned about The Moth, which is a non-profit organization in New York dedicated to the art of story telling. They welcome everyone from novice to professional to stand up and tell a story, out aloud, at performances held all around the city. You can watch some of them here. All of the stories must be true.

They also have a public radio show that won a Peabody Award - one of the highest honors in journalism - last year. (Stephen Colbert won one this year.)

For someone whose education and work is so extremely visual it is interesting to ponder a different kind of story teller. It also makes me think quite a bit about about what stories I have to tell.

I have not watched all of them but here are the ones I bothered to watch twice: Stephanie Summerville, Dan Savage, Tricia Rose.

Related to storytelling, today I also learned from C.S. Lewis:

"When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."

May 2, 2012

Our friend Ginger Chicken is now 5 months old. The other chickens are no longer mean to her and let her eat all she wants. She is probably about full size now. The most exciting part is that I am now certain that she is a she. After a string of roosters that had to say goodbye, this is very pleasing to discover.

Today I learned there really is nothing to be afraid of.

May 1, 2012

Today I learned how to perform an emergency backyard chicken surgery. Turns out all you need is a sanitized exacto, super glue, a self-sticking dog bandage and a friend to help. (This continues this weeks theme of somewhat depressing animal posts).

Above you can see poor Jerk Chicken standing next to the horrible that we removed from her crop. I also learned that Jerk is either very tough or possibly does not have a ton of nerve endings in her crop.

It all seems a bit barbaric but we had reached the point where she was guaranteed to die if we did nothing. Hopefully this gives her a chance to keep making pretty eggs and spitefully escaping the chicken yard.

Good luck my dear.

I also learned that I am now too fat for most of my fancy clothes. lovely. I need more fresh air and less stress.