Rain

It poured all Friday afternoon and then dripped into Saturday morning. Though Vivian was still on antibiotics for her strep infection, by Saturday morning the puddles were calling out to her. She and Eleanor played bare-feet in puddles and the little streams that ran down the curbs like children in India in the monsoons. Here she's holding up a leaf that she made a face out of. 

When she was done she took a bubble bath and then as the rain had finally stopped we biked down to Epicerie and enjoyed a hot chocolate with frothed milk and the best chocolate chip cookies in town and a nice glass of wine.

Garden Party

The other day Grace Garden celebrated their annual garden picnic. Because it had rained four to five inches in the previous twenty four hours the garden was the fellowship hall. Which didn't stop families from laying out their blankets and towels on the nice carpeted floor.

Look carefully in the photo below and you'll notice Evan doing a handstand with his feet up in the air. He was a late entrant, preferring to sit out he first several songs on Jo or my lap while he put away a fair amount of sugar-based foods. But once he has ready he sure did cut loose.

The rest of the afternoon looked like a multicultural photo shoot though the multi portion of that was provided my our neighbors and us. 

Reading

Jo had signed up to read at Vivian's English class. Then Jo ended up being in Arizona that day so I took her place instead. I got there a few minutes early to find my daughter and the rest of the class finishing up their reading stations. Very nice and focused and well behaved. Then just as I was to have center stage one of the boys produced a bloody tooth on his palm and it took their teacher a few extra moments to get things settled down.

I read "The Amazing Bone" with the class sprawled out on the carpet in front of me and Vivian sitting in a special chair beside me. Cara had given Vivian this book. It's a great story and is quirky and has grown up phrases like spitting tobacco juice and held a pistol to her head. It took about 15 minutes and everyone listened and politely asked questions and appeared interested in the answers. Like Pearl the little pig in the story I was amazed.

Evan on his Balance Bike

Vivian started riding her hot pink balance bike (no pedals) pretty early and she got very good at it. When she got a bike with pedals she never needed training wheels and took off riding on her first attempt. She was three years and ten months old. Here's that post.

Evan is now three years and a month old. He's getting good with the old hot pink balance bike which is now a dull black with orange flames. I wonder if he'll be ready for Santa to bring him a real bike for Christmas.

Here's a  link to a video on youtube. The video is appears below but some OS/browser combinations may have trouble viewing it here.

Chase

I saw a good bit less of the kids this week than I normally do. Evan was with Jo visiting her Aunt Jo in Arizona till Saturday and then Vivian and Evan went with Jo to Nicolle's for Memorial Day. So I read The Great Gatsby and caught up with a friend who I hadn't seen in the last couple of years.

Many of my friends' kids are in college. I often wonder that one morning I'll wake up and Evan and Vivian will be off to college and how quickly time will have passed.

Soon after we started Neonyoyo in 1999, I made a pitch at one the the labs at the engineering school at the university with the hope of attracting bright young research talent. After I had finished and we were into questions and answers another student joined us with an apology for running late - his long hair still dripping wet from an obviously very recent shower. About thirty minutes later I had hired this young lad on a hunch.

He worked at Neonyoyo and then after being bought out, for Interwoven. Later he returned back to graduate school and finished his Masters (I think I was associated in some official capacity with his Master's report). I recall thinking at that time that there was at least an even chance that he would leave graduate school without his PhD and lose himself and his soul deep in a corporate dungeon. But he finished his PhD and then surprised a lot of people by going off to medical school. Last year he moved back to Austin for his internship and in a couple of weeks he's off to  Indianapolis for his residency in radiology, following his dad's footsteps.

I had dinner with Chase yesterday. Dr. K has matured into, well - a doctor. I have always regarded him as one of the brightest people I have worked with, but it felt like he wasn't in the right place. That he was looking for where he needed to be. I'm glad he kept searching. I think he's found it. Congratulations and good luck, my friend.

Silence

Nobody has accused Vivian or me of being laconic or reserved or introverted or tight with words. But with Evan gone the house seems so quiet. Vivian says what she wants to and then shuts up to listen to what I have to say or till she is ready to speak again. Not so with Evan who can keep a constant stream of sound emanating from his mouth. If the conversation were to ever dry up he can always throw in a "why?" or two in a clutch.

Jo sent me a photo of Evan playing with trains at Aunt Jo's in Arizona. It's only been a day and a half since they left. And it's quite obvious that Vivian and I miss the noisy brat.

Magellan Miles

Last year in October Vivian's school started yet another fundraising program targeted towards raising money for a technology lab by encouraging students to run or walk. Vivian and I made a video and she started asking for funds. On December 31 on a rainy cool morning Vivian finished her piecemeal marathon walk.

In about two and half months she had walked an average of 2.5 miles each Saturday. She kept track of her miles and contributions in a chart on the kitchen wall. She learned to "close the deal" and get her money, and to put on her shoes and walk the distance.

The school decided to extend the fundraising period and the money is finally due tomorrow. Tonight she hit up her last pledge for a check and collected it about 30 minutes after bed time.

It's been a great experience for Vivian at so many levels and in so many ways. Thank you for your contributions and for supporting her.

Haircut

When my dad requested his monthly haircut I did what I have been doing for the last eight months. After he was done and had a shampoo and inspected himself in the bathroom mirror he asked "Where did you get this barber?" I asked why and he said that he liked his haircut and we should call him again next month. I told him I knew where the barber lived so I could always call him when needed.

And that's when I realized that my dad wasn't joking. He didn't know or remember that I'm his barber. Next time I'm going to ask for a big fat tip.

Home Sick

Could Jo possibly plan it this way? I don't think so but she has left me with a sick child and skipped town before. Last year she and Vivian went to Houston for Brandon's birthday and I got to stay back with a barfing Evan.

This time the night before the morning she and Evan were to leave for Arizona to visit Aunt Jo Vivian woke up with a fever. Next morning she threw up her Tylenol. So after we waved them good bye we went to see the good Dr. Griggs who confirmed that it was a strep infection and prescribed a 10-day dose of amoxicillin. He said that by the second dose she should be much better and by tomorrow morning she could go back to school.

Instead we played hooky. Went to see the Croods. Ate movie theater pop corn. Breakfast at the Shack. Then we got serious and she's cleaned her play room and finished her Spanish homework. Soon she is going to take a book to read while I play mid-day pick-up soccer. So much to do. And no school to get in the way. She'll have to go to school tomorrow though. I am filling in for Jo who volunteered to read a book in Vivian's English class.

Weekend At Lariat Ridge

It's suddenly hot. We've had a few hot days this spring but they have been surprisingly few and far in between. But that's over and we are heading into the humid hot part of summer. We went back to Carol's and the kids went back to the pool and stayed there all day.

This morning I needed to trim the branches of a huge oak tree that split in three and toppled. While I was sweating it out I had to stop and admire the beauty of prickly pear blossoms and thistle blooms. Even the flowers know it's summer now.

Beware of Boys

Beautiful and happy Olivia brought her parents over for dinner. While we were putting the finishing touches on salad and scallops Evan and Vivian and Olivia were playing. After a short while Evan got so loud and boisterous that Olivia decided to avoid him. When he noticed that he started pursuing her enthusiastically. She in turn took to running when she saw him approach.

Her dad encouraged Olivia's behavior and used the occasion to continue to warn her about boys. And hoped that his advice would stick with her till she was 30.

Alas it's too late to take this approach with Vivian. The other day after school she announced that so-and-so was her boy friend. When Jo glared at her, she said "you know, he's a boy and he's my friend". "So Sam is a boy and Sam is your friend. Is Sam your boy friend too?", Jo inquired. "Oh - he's just a friend" replied Vivian.

Gymkhana

On Thursday Vivian had her "Gymkhana".  About 50 kids her age and a little bit older showed off what they had learned and got a trophy for participating. Vivian had loads of fun and did reasonably well. Her best move -  flashing her arms up towards the sky like Olympic gymnasts do at the end of each routine. She's already picked gymnastics next season over dancing. 

SA Country Saloon

Yesterday we left the children and my dad in Carol's care again (it's easy to make a habit out of it) and spent a fun evening at a gay country club in San Antonio. I haven't been to such an establishment in ages, not since the demise of the old Rainbow Cattle Company right here in Austin where I was pretty close to being a regular. Last night Jo had more to drink than me and she hijacked my camera.

It Could Have Been Worse

Back when Vivian went to Grace Garden she used to return on Wednesdays after chapel and spout  righteousness like a preacher. Or so I thought. Till we saw this worksheet from my friend's daughter's religious pre-school program. Wow.

An interesting thing is that Evan has been subjected to the same or similar indoctrination as Vivian but it has rolled off his back without the slightest outward effect so far. Not once has he mentioned God or Christ or heaven. I shouldn't get too smug - Evan's probably going to end up a baptist preacher.

The Competitive Landscape

On Thursday we blew date night to have dinner with a couple Jo hardly knew. They have twins Evan's age and had visited Magellan and they wanted to get our thoughts on sending their kids to school there.

I plunged into what we don't like about the school first. We aren't happy with Vivian's teacher though she was highly recommended. The parents association is disorganized in it's communication and fundraising. Parent volunteer positions attract alpha stay-at-home moms who aren't always fun to work with. And then I ran out of steam. Jo too.

So on the balance we ended up saying that we liked things there. Which surprised the heck out of me. Vivian is beginning to speak Spanish. She seems happy. She likes her friends. She's learning globs of interesting stuff. She reads the Economist in the back seat of the car on the way to school.

The jury is still out. We have decided to leave things the way they are for another year. If all goes well Evan will join her there next year. Because the promise of a rigorous interesting bilingual education with a global perspective is still as attractive and important as it ever was.

My friend from school in Hyderabad lives in Singapore. His 17 year old son was in the US last week for the finals of the Intel Science and Engineering Fair. About seven million students the world over compete every year and 1500 are invited to the finals. At the finals he won the American Chemical Society's first place award. His research project was "Nanostructured Co304, CoO and CoN as High Capacity and Long Life Anodes for Li-Ion Batteries". He wants to pursue particle physics in college. He will be busy unlocking the secrets of the stars or finding a cure for cancer. While we bicker about socialized healthcare and gun control and whether to teach evolution and our schools prepare our children to ask him if he wants fries with it.

Beach Behavior

Vivian and Evan love being on the beach. But they have two completely different ways of enjoying it. Vivian is usually in the water for hours. On Hapuna Beach she swam in the breakers by herself all morning. Then Jen showed her how to use the boogie board and she boggie-boarded for another couple of hours. When she is not doing either she covers herself or someone else in sand, making wet dripping globs with handfuls of the stuff.

Evan on the other hand runs like a lunatic. In and out of the shallow surf. Up and down the beach. Arms out like he's an airplane. Sometimes he participates in Vivian's sand activities but that usually ends badly because he stomps over everything.

The kids and even I do agree that there's one good way to end a morning on the beach. A nice long snooze on the sand like beached whales. Apparently we were snoring up a storm.

St Edwards Again

Last Friday night it rained in Austin. A good nice long shower. Our back deck informal rain gauge devices seemed to indicate somewhere between two and three inches. So when we arrived for a Saturday morning jaunt at St. Edwards we should not have been surprised to find it muddy. After a few minutes of walking the kids were thrilled because they had two inches of mud caked under their shoes and felt like they were wearing extremely heavy unevenly built platform heeled shoes.

The flowers were blooming. The creek was flowing. Vivian and Evan spent an hour very easily. Then we hurried them back for a birthday party for Evan's classmate and breakfast for my dad.

Yesterday I looked in the trunk and it was still full of muddy shoes. I quickly shut the trunk and resolved to check again a week later.

Mothers

Whether she is alive or dead. You talk to her or you don't. She's biological or adopted. Everyone's got a mother. Sometimes two. We should wake up every morning and thank them for our existence. Lest we forget, restaurants and flower shops bring us Mother's Day in a convenient one-serving-a-year one-size-fit's-all package.

I woke up to a glorious sunrise in the hill country. God Herself had teamed up with Hallmark to bring forth a beautiful day. And then carefully so as to let sleeping mothers lie, I set off to the nearest grocery store. After hurriedly selecting the meats and fishes and spending the rest of the morning picking three good bottles of wines (two to drink while cooking and one to share with Nicolle over lunch) I was told by a feelingless woman who was obviously not a mother and wasn't born of one that it was Sunday and Mother's Day notwithstanding I could not buy wine before noon in Texas.

Crestfallen but laden with groceries and chocolate dipped strawberries I returned to Carols and started cooking. Then Vivian and Evan woke up and we gave Jo her Mother's Day cards and nick nacks. For some years I have favored giving Jo a large picture frame with photos of her with the rugrats. Vivian is getting old enough to start making her own cards so we had spent an afternoon in Austin picking twelve photos of Jo and the kids. We stuck them to poster stock and Vivian wrote in her lovely cursive hand and we made Jo a card.

The kids played. We ate. Then Evan and I and my dad napped in the most un-Mother's Day fashion while four mothers cleaned up. I love my mother and the mother of my children. Happy Mother's Day, Ma's.

Happy Birthday Nicolle

Carol said that she would sit the kids so we could go out and celebrate Nicolle's birthday last weekend. So on a beautiful Saturday evening we left eight children and my dad in Carol's care and left for town. We stopped and picked up Nicolle and Michelle and you could tell this group doesn't get out much when we needed to work out how to fit four adults into two cars pre-filled with a large number of child car seats.

We had a great evening and so did the kids and I dare say my dad. We are ready to do it again as soon as we can convince Carol.

Love Thy Neighbor

Jo and I were enjoying a quiet lunch last Friday at Austin Cake Ball when Jo got a strange call from Karen. I could only hear Jo's end of the conversation which made no sense to me. Because this is what was transpiring: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/crime-law/police-driver-struck-bicyclist-spat-on-officer/nXqTq/

Posted: 7:23 p.m. Monday, May 13, 2013

Police: Driver struck bicyclist, spat on officer

By Julie Chang

American-Statesman Staff

A man was arrested Friday after police say he hit a bicyclist and then spit on an officer, according to an arrest affidavit.

Landon Blayne Hutchins, 34, has been charged with failure to stop and render aid and harassment of a public servant.

A bicyclist told police, who responded at 12:39 p.m., that he was stopped at a stop sign at 45th Street and Shoal Creek Boulevard when he was hit from behind, causing him to be thrown off his bicycle, the affidavit said. He said that he saw a black SUV over him and had to roll away to avoid being run over by the back wheels. The bicyclist said he saw the vehicle, which had a smashed windshield, drive west on 45th Street, according to the affidavit.

Other 911 calls were made about a black SUV driving into oncoming lanes and striking trash cans until it stopped less than two miles away in the 5000 block of Highland Court, it said.

While being held in the booking area at the Travis County Jail, Hutchins spit on an Austin police officer, the affidavit said.

Hutchins was in jail on Monday with bail set at $40,000.

Karen and Tim and Ava's new neighbor was the gentleman in the black SUV. A month before  that Jo had her first glimpse of him when he ran down the street in his boxers yelling after the garbage truck "with one hand holding his penis from flapping around".

But this is just the tip of the story. May be we can get a guest post from famous author and reporter Ms. V.

Nastics

Yesterday was the last day of the season for Evan's gymnastics class at Crenshaw's. He excelled in most areas but the bear crawl on the parallel bars and the toes-to-rings on the rings were his two favorites.

Evan speaks like someone a  lot older. "Daddy, Vivi - who is my sister Vivian but I call her Vivi - did that". 

But he still has some interesting speech patterns. He says many words by replacing the first syllable with "me". So "volcano" is "me-cano" and "chrysalis" is "me-salis" and so on. A year ago he used to only say the first part of most words. "Foo" for food, "do" for "dog", etc. And he still calls gymnastics "nastics". By the time he returns to Crenshaw's in fall, that strange but loveable way of saying things will probably be gone.

Sweet Evan

I love Evan's parent-teacher conference. His teachers just can't say anything but the nicest things about him. He gets the best possible scores and remarks on his performance. When Jo and I ask if they have any concerns they say "He's like having a third adult in the class. He helps us. The other kids look up to him and ask him for advice".

What advice, I wonder. "I really dig that chick but she doesn't even notice when I drool on her". Or, "How can I get prime shipping when my mom buys me stuff from Amazon?"

When we ask his teachers how they deal with him when he's a turd they look surprised and hurt.

 "What?"

They can't bring themselves to say "turd".

"He's never like that. Not our Sweet Evan".

Here he's doing something for mother's day. I'm not sure why washing disgusting semi-realistic plastic babies would qualify.

Nuts

Me: How was school?
V: Good. Why do boys say "Don't kick me in the nuts"?
Me: Because it would hurt
V: But boys have a penis, not nuts.
Me: They have both
V: Uh? Where?
Me: Recall Evan's anatomy. Is there anything else besides his penis?
V: Oh yeah - that big thing under it
Me: That thing holds two nuts
V: What?!
Me: Not real nuts. But we call them nuts or balls or testicles
V: You know, daddy, boys are really different from girls. Can I have a snack?

National Day of Prayer

Damn! I missed it again. For other poor ignorant souls out there, it's on the first Thursday in May. It's the law of the land. Here's the last part of the Ob's proclamation on that day (and here's the rest):

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 2, 2013, as a National Day of Prayer. I join the citizens of our Nation in giving thanks, in accordance with our own faiths and consciences, for our many freedoms and blessings, and in asking for God's continued guidance, mercy, and protection.

Here is an excerpt of what Nicolle and Michelle's pastor had to say about it in response to a story in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung (taken without permission from the Faith UCC website):

Mr. Bornschein states the National Day of Prayer is a very important day for this nation because, “The moral values of the sanctity of human life, preservation of marriage, defense of Israel and religious freedoms became the focus of attack while many remained unaware of the new aggressive, socialistic agenda sweeping across the land.” Every one of these is a controversial issue individual Christians and Christian denominations hold diverging views over. This reflects the diverging views held in the general population and within political parties.

There is no one “Christian” view on these matters, so if one of the goals of the National Day of Prayer is to bring people together across denominational and political lines, these issues will not do it.

Some Christians are pro-choice and some are totally anti-abortion; some churches bless gay marriage and others condemn it. Some churches support Israel right or wrong and others support Israel but also lift up the rights of Palestinians. Some see a socialist agenda in this nation and others see the 1 percent rigging the system for their own selfish ends at the expense of the 99 percent.

These are obviously important issues that need to be debated and some resolution reached, but they are not appropriate for an event like the National Day of Prayer.

 Let me do more than take issue with Bornschein reason’s for the National Day of Prayer. Here are some things I suspect all of us can join together and pray for:

• The individuals and families affected by the bombing in Boston and the explosion in West. May God sustain them and heal them in a time of great tragedy and loss.
• For the unemployed in our community from the recent losses at the Scooter Store to nationwide as many still seek to recover from the economic nightmare from four years ago.
• Peace in our land and around the world and for our troops who sacrifice much to carry out our national policies — and often return home in need of both physical and spiritual healing.
• In the best tradition of the Bible, let us pray for the widow, the orphan, the stranger, the poor in our midst and rededicate ourselves to finding ways of helping them.
• Finally, let us pray for humility in our spiritual lives, that we would remove any logs from our own spiritual eyes and not get too carried away with removing the splinters from our neighbor’s eyes.

...

The Rev. Scott B. Martin is pastor of Faith United Church of Christ.

The post on the UCC website contains the original NB H-Z story as well as the full version of the one excerpted above which was also in the NB H-Z.

Vivian and Evan - what will you be thinking about on May 6, 2027? Religion has endured time better than most other institutions. So it's likely that on that day religion will be a strong force for both good and evil as it is today. It is something that we inherit from our parents like almost nothing else. I hope you don't do that. Think about it. Perhaps there's a rare God out there who is just right for you. Or perhaps there aren't any and you too will wonder why the whole country is praying even if they do find common ground.

Happy Birthday Jo

We started the morning with a trip to Hapuna Beach. We got their early and it was almost deserted. We played around and took a picnic lunch with us (Big Jake's pulled pork and rice bowls) and then played some more. Vivian is a beach hound and even after all that she pouted when it was time to go. Then we stopped at Waikoloa because there's a certain store there of which there aren't any others anywhere else on the Big Island. They almost turned us away when they saw a minivan full of people and kids in beachwear but happily took our money when Jo found something she liked. Then we had a nice lunch at the Three Fat Pigs (where they thought our credit cards didn't work - I tried two of them - till we determined that it was their terminals) and drove back to our Choice Mart grocery store at Captain Cook. I stocked up on wine and fresh butterfish while Carol and Jo and Vivian bought the ingredients for a gluten-free strawberry shortcake. Jen bought a dozen malasadas from Tex's in Honokaa. Carol and the kids baked while I cooked. We had a decent dinner followed by wonderful dessert.

Jo said on facebook that it was one of her best birthdays ever. We missed celebrating Jo's last round-numbered birthday with any fanfare because her friend got married that day in Falls City Nebraska and Jo was in the wedding. Five years later I'm glad we pulled it off.

In the photo above if Jo looks pinkinsh it isn't because of trickery with the lighting. Somewhere back there on Hapuna beach water and time must have rubbed her SPF50 off. We think Hapuna means lobster in Hawaiian.

Solomon the Great

You probably know not to call me when you are on Who Wants to be a Millionaire and are stuck with a question from the Old Testament and you have one  lifeline left. Good. Because I'm talking about Solomon, my dad's caretaker while we were in Hawaii. Between him and the Shah's in general and Gunaraj in particular my dad made it through the week with just one minor mishap (a fall in the bathroom that could have been serious but wasn't). I cooked his favorite dinners and froze them before I left and the Shah's sent fresh lunches for him everyday. Here's what the kitchen looked like the night before we left town.

And when we returned my dad's first question was "How was Hawaii?" He remembered us and where we'd been!

Evan's Fourth Third Birthday Party

Evan's celebrated his third birthday for the fourth time the night before we left for Hawaii. The Shah's showered him with gifts including a signed copy of "Grandma and the Great Gourd" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. And the ladies of China Cafe (sounds racy) pampered him and fed him cheesecake.

Grace Garden has an option for a birthday student to donate a book to the school library on his or her birthday. As we had bought a copy of Chitra's book from Amazon, Evan gave that to the school. One of his teachers sent Jo a photo.

Big Jake's

Ask Vivian and Evan and Travis what they ate on the Big Island and they've probably forgotten all about the grilled butterfish but they'll tell you about the bowls of pulled pork and rice at Big Jake's Island bbq. We ate so much over there we were embarrassed. Even the geckos got to know us - one jumped on Jo's arm. And the roosters and the mother hens and the gaggle of little chicks. This ain't yelp but if you like bbq and you are in that part of the world we recommend it.

One culinary disappointment this time around was Kalama's. Not the snow cones themselves but the owners when they thoughtlessly closed the place down and went away on a vacation. Last year one of their snow cones was Evan's birthday cake and we were hoping to repeat that for Jo this time. When Vivian found out she said she was ready to call up the owners and tell them that they had disappointed her mother and that they should come back.

Road Trip

We'd driven all over the Big Island before. But in honor of Carol we did it again this time. Under Jo's watchful eye (so what if it's a vacation) we left Captain Cook at 8:30am and returned after 9pm. We started up the Kona coast to Waimea and the Waipio Valley. From there to Hilo and Rainbow Falls where Jo and Vivian scrambled around on the rocks above the falls followed by a stroll through the farmer's market and Evan bought a pineapple. Then to Volcanoes National Park where we took a short walk along the rim of the Kilauea Iki crater and then drove to the Jagger Museum after dark to witness the glow at Haleamuamu crater - the legendary home of Pele.

If you need a tour guide for the Big Island Vivian or I could do it.