At this moment

It’s 3:51 pm on Sunday. My weather app tells me that it’s 86 degrees but that it feels like 91 degrees. Humidity is 62% and it is mostly cloudy. There’s a 40% chance of scattered thunderstorms tomorrow.

The girls are downstairs watching Pat the Postman, a new series they’ve discovered. B is reading. I’m futzing around with nothing particular to do. I would read, but I know if I jump back into the book I’m reading (A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki) I won’t want to stop to make dinner. I had to force myself to stop reading last night and go to sleep. The basic premise is that a woman finds a Hello Kitty lunchbox washed up on the shore (wrapped carefully in plastic so it won’t get ruined) near her home. Inside is the journal of a Tokyo teenager who is planning to commit suicide but wants to record the life story of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun, first. Nao (the teenage girl) is written amazingly- her voice is absolutely realistic and enthralling. It’s a book I just want to lock myself away for a day and read.

Earlier today we were all outside in the backyard, and while I was attempting to get a picture of a little lizard friend (I failed), I did manage to get pictures of a butterfly. B introduced me to the snappycam app, which takes a ton of pictures really fast. I need to work on focus, but I was just so excited that the butterfly was staying still for a minute that I didn’t wait. 🙂

I’m pretty sure this is a Blue Triangle. The blue on their wings is almost electric- they’re so pretty.

IMG_3065

IMG_3133

 

I am missing my sewing machine today, I feel the need to make something- anything. I’m tempted to get some yarn and a crochet hook, but it’s hot and crocheting and knitting are definitely cold weather activities to me. The boat that our stuff is on is supposed to get here tomorrow, so here’s hoping it gets through customs super fast. 🙂 Then I can be reunited with my lovely sewing machines of doom. Someone around here has got to need a stuffed animal, yeah? 🙂

I had a drink today called Spiral Grape; it’s carbonated, and is a mix of grape and black licorice. It’s a decidedly odd taste, but I think I like it. It took me a couple of sips to figure out the licorice- it’s not bitter like straight black licorice can be. (I don’t like straight black licorice. It’s of the devil.) Anyway, just thought I’d mention it. 🙂

This coming week we’ll probably make another trip out to Ueno Park; the National Museum of Science and Nature has a deep sea exhibit, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum has an exhibit of selections from the Louvre, and  the Tokyo National Museum has a calligraphy exhibit. We may have to take a couple trips. 🙂 For school we’ll be learning about the death of Ceasar and the rise of Christianity. (Those being two different topics.)  Zoe is learning about reading gauges and practicing multi-digit subtraction (she’d rather focus on the gauges), and Tiny is working on adding and writing her numbers properly. She loves adding. She’d do adding all day if I’d let her. She does not enjoy writing her numbers. But she’s getting better at getting them to face the proper directions.  She’s also making leaps and bounds forward in reading- recognizing whole words without having to sound them out.  She read 40 pages of an Elephant and Piggie book the other night before we had to stop so she could go to bed.

I don’t really have much else to say. Gonna go make some dinner. But I will leave you with what is now my background for my computer- my inspiration for the month. (Click on it if you want to see it bigger.)

2013-08-02

 

I just noticed that Steve Zissou is pointing at the squid, and that makes me happy.  Just remember, beware of airship pirates.

Leave a Reply