Free Play for kids

A friend passed this article along. Since we are about the only kid-free couple we know, maybe a few of you would like it. :-) I notice a coorelation between t.v. watching/wii playing/video game addiction and a decline in imaginative activities with the kids I teach.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19212514

Sayings from the Fridge

While visiting friends of ours this week we found a quote on their fridge. When asked what it was, the mom replied that these are things she cannot believe she has had to say to her son.

"You play the piano with your fingers not your bottom."

Ryan and I can still giggle about this as we are not yet in need of making such statements. Our day will come.

In Sickness "or" In Health

Ryan said he wished he knew when we got married that our vows said "and." He's had a wife who has been out of commission for most of the past three weeks and he's been my knight.
Ryan has been travelling with his new job. Getting to see a bit more of the world than the President George Bush Turnpike every day. He's been to to Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show. And to Florida and Atlanta. His job is challenging him, which for him makes it interesting.
This year has already started off fast. Hard to believe it is already February. Anyone with resolutions they have stuck out this far?

One more day...

For Kari: Tomorrow is that day that teachers all over the world both eagerly look forward to and dread: the day before a major break. Yes, at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow, I will be a free teacher. For two whole weeks.
For Ryan: He is leaving his job of the last 9 years. Tomorrow is the last day of that job. Very bittersweet for him.

We Miss Connor!

Ryan and I did the first rake of our yard yesterday. We sure missed our nephew, Connor. He helped us a lot last year.

Bigfoot marries Elvis

What you are looking at is Ryan drinking....(suspenseful silence)....a cappuccino. We found a place in Greenwich Village that says it brought the cappuccino to the United States.
And my coffee-hatin' hubby, good sport that he is, ordered AND DRANK the whole thing.


He'll be an addict before I know it!

An UnWicked New York

Ryan and I are back from New York and Connecticut. I was up for an NCTE (National Conference of Teachers of English) conference. The conference was good. Amy Tan was the opening speaker, and I was able to hear a few gurus in education.
Ryan came up on Sunday. We did walking tours of Greenwich Village, SoHo and the Financial District.

We loved the MoMA--This might be my favorite art museum thus far. It is the museum that your modern art history class textbook authors came to to write their textbooks.

I always thought the soup cans were all together. The spacing was interesting. My favorite Warhol by far.

Starry Night


I am in the picture to give a little perspective. I had no idea this Jackson Pollock was so HUGE!

This was Ryan's favorite picture. It is actually an ariel photograph of junk. The "man" and his reflection are the floor space. The junk is full-sized junk. Old chairs, coke cans, tires, etc.

We saw the Radio City Spectacular with the Rockettes. That was an amazing show.

Walking around the Times Square area, we saw many many people holding signs and drinking coffee. What impressed us about these people (mostly men) was that they weren't working. Which meant our Wicked tickets were only good for the refund. We are two for two for vacations and strikes.

.

This was a sculpture that stood between the Twin Towers.

They have moved it to Battery Park. They have added the flame at the base.

Ryan took this video of the Merchant Marine sculpture. The effect of it varies with the tides.