Tuesday, October 27, 2009

A nonsequiter

Sometimes something happens that catches me by surprise and causes me to exclaim out loud.

Yesterday was a cold, rainy day. At times the rain was so heavy that it was almost impossible to see the road when driving. Flood watch centers opened to monitor flood levels of the local rivers, and last night we had a rare thunderstorm. It was cool overnight, in the '40s, and this morning the chill in the air was pronounced with the lingering dampness.

I was driving my 4th grader to school this morning when I saw patches of snow along the side of the road. For a split second I thought nothing of it, then I exclaimed out loud. A few yards from the first one, another one, and then another. They all looked like the last, sad remnants of a snowy winter, those last stubborn, icy patches.

But this is November, and the snow levels were barely low enough to provide a dusting in the passes, much less near sea level. As I drove on, no more snow patches were evident, and I waited to catch sight of Mount Si, a small mountain not part of a range that looms over the Snoqualmie Valley. Even Mount Si (file image right) had no snow on it.

Where did that snow come from? I can only assume that a truck of some sort came out of one of the passes with snow on it, and lost it along that little stretch of highway. Or the snow fairy came and left it there to surprise people on their morning commute.

However it got there, it was a nonsequiter.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

What a Week!

I have been busily sewing costumes for my children for the past three weeks, for a costume party last night.

Next time, I need two months' notice.

One went as the Meta Knight from the Kirby Nintendo game; the other as Princess Peach from Mario. I made the most complicated costume dress in the history of patterns, plus a cape with several panels and a standup collar, and a karate-type tunic. Of course all there patterns had to be altered. It's a good thing I can kind of do that.

The party itself was fun, as always. This year the host family dressed as characters from Alice In Wonderland, with the toddler as Alice instead of the blonde 10-year-old who, along with her 12-year-old brother, was a Joker without the cards.

We went as a Ghostbuster and a ghost (me). I wore the Martha Stewart yards of tulle "Glamorous Ghost" costume, except I put on scary makeup (I made my 9-year-old cry) and almost won the Scariest Costume contest. Unfortunately I tied with a 12-year-old and the 10-year-olds gave it to him so he "wouldn't have a temper tantrum." I didn't have one, so it was probably a good choice.

My older one did, though, because the Meta Knight costume was awesome and should have won for either best costume or most original. Instead, one person won three of the six categories...

In spite of that, the food and the company were great, and we even saw a little of "Rocky Horror Picture Show."
In past years they have run it through the whole party, but now there are so many toddlers that "Casper, The Friendly Ghost" ran for the first three hours of the party. Yes, the original series, not the movie. It is fun to see how priorities change when there is a baby in the mix.

Also this weekend, Purdue beat Ohio State!! #8 ranked Ohio State! and the Vikings won! A good weekend for football.

Nutcracker rehearsals are back on again, and once again wreaking havoc (although we don't mind!) with our schedule. It is such a great experience for the kids, and fun that #2 is in the same role as #1 was at the same level.

So it was quite a week. Now I just have to clean up the remains of the sewing tornado in the dining room so we can be civilized again.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Progress

The last health care bill has made it out of committee today. Thank you, Sen. Olympia Snowe, for being willing to publicly support the idea, even if the details aren't all you would prefer.

Lots of work ahead, of course, for the different bills to all compromise and become one. And there will be hell to pay if we end up with the "co-ops" instead of a public option. But overall it is very encouraging. I am cautiously beginning to hope that we might actually achieve meaningful health care reform this year.

And not a moment too soon. Every day the Congress negotiates, debates, postpones, it delays the day when a bill will take effect. Any bill will take a few years to completely take effect, so the sooner we get started, the better.

Get to work, you people in Congress!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Supreme Court Week on C-SPAN

For the next week C-SPAN has programming that illuminates the Supreme Court of the United States and how it works.

Included are interviews with all nine justices, including Sonia Sotomayor. If there is any question as to why President Obama nominated her to the court, watch the interview she did with C-SPAN.