St Baldricks

A college acquaintance of mine is shaving her head to raise money to support research for childhood cancers. I am so impressed. She has beautiful, long blond hair.

 She was a good friend of Rosie's. Here is a link to her fundraising page if you care to donate.

organizing your bookcase via apartment therapy...

Inspiring me...

Wowza....

Crowns and Beauty...

My cousin recently won the title of Miss Boston which will allow her to compete for Miss Massachusetts. I am not a fan of pageants really but I am a fan of my cousin and I think it is cute and quirky that she notes the following about herself- "I have fostered and rehabilitated almost 50 animals in the past three years ranging from bottle-baby kittens, to opossums, to baby rabbits. I can also pull a 40-foot rig, drive a tractor, and make delicious frosting."

She has for years been involved in animal rescue and humane education in college and through her non profit organization Shelter Me and I suppose this title will help her organization gain recognition andhelp her to make an even bigger difference. Ezra just thinks it's great that Aunt Sara is a real princess now. 

My dad  sent the following email around to family members about the beauty gene in our family... it gave me a chuckle...  

Dear Cousins,

When one shoots at a target, and if one is good, the bullet strikes on the paper are close together.  But nearly always, if enough shots are fired, there is bullet strike that removed from the main group.  These aberrational shots are called fliers, for one reason or another, known only to god, they are off target.  Coming from a family that on the one side included Julie Newmar and uncle Bob, whose 20 foot high portrait in a Marine Corps recruiting poster graced Grand Central Station, and on the other side included my beautiful Aunt Delores, and her wonderfully, bilaterally, symmetrical siblings,  I have always considered myself a flier, aesthetically at least, and was worried that my appearance on the scene foreshadowed a decline in the aesthetic qualities of our genome.  Not to worry, your relative and mine, Sara Carlisle is the new Miss Boston, as our genome continues into the next century as beautiful as ever.  Except there will be a flier now and then.

Steve

P.S My dad is actually quite cute. 

My First Born

Henry just turned 9. I am in awe of Henry. His kindness warmth and sensitivity. His creativity and zest for life. I can't believe how lucky I am to have been blessed with him. From the depths of my heart.

For his birthday dinner he requested: sushi, miso soup and dumplings. And cake. He wanted to know all of the kinds of cake that exist. I told him we did not have time for that kind of research but after a few choices he chose the cake I made for Molly's last birthday- Paula Deen's 3 layer coconut cake with my own adaptation- lemon curd. And because it turned out sort of seuss-like, read lopsided/ugly, I covered it with vanilla buttercream and sandwitched lemon curd between the layers.  And we had a MAD dance party in our living room with Laurie and Noni and even Papa and dad dancing....

And all weekend he, his bro and his bff noni played peacefully and joyfully. And laurie and I drank coffee and wine and ate lots of food in between.   

My humble Doris tribute aka "Lookie here it's a different strumming method"...

Happy Late Valentines Day!!

So I have been practicing a number of Doris Day songs including "Black Hills of Dakota", apropos because I have been watching the hbo series (from a few years back) Deadwood, a gritty Western taking place in the Black Hills.

Nothing can ever be perfect, you'll have to excuse the noise. And also I have a rocking tic when I play.  I don't know how to get rid of either of those things...But  I wanted to share my progress. I still want to look at the notes constantly. But that's ok since my usual audience is two boys who are sword fighting during my concerts (except for when Ezra makes requests (Rufus Wainright's version of Halleluja and Long Black Veil)

Sinead sings an amazing cover of this but I can't find it on youtube with just her singing...

Art Costa's Habits of mind...

1. Persisting – Do stick to it.
2. Communicating with clarity and precision – Be clear.
3. Managing impulsivity – Take your time.
4. Gathering data through all senses – Use your natural pathways.
5. Listening with understanding and empathy – Understand others.
6. Creating, imagining, innovating – Try a different way.                                                                                     
7. Thinking flexibly – Look at it another way.
8. Responding with wonderment and awe – have fun figuring it out.
9. Thinking about your thinking (metacognition) – Know your knowing.
10. Taking responsible risks – Venture out.
11. Striving for accuracy and precision – Find the best possible solution.
12. Finding humour – Laugh a little.
13. Questioning and problem posing – How do you know.
14. Thinking interdependently – Learning with others.
15. Applying past knowledge to new situations – Use what you learn.
16. Remaining open to continuous learning – Learn from experiences. 
17. Image from The Way Things Work, David Macauley,1988

Ernst Heackel

 I recently discovered Ernst Heackel's amazing scientific drawings. I 

have long been a fan of botanical/scientific drawings but hadn't heard of Heackel. Now I have to get my hands on his book, Art Forms in Nature. Yikes. All of the above images are from that book, I believe. I ran into his name while working on a science lesson plan for one of my classes. He is the author of the term," Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny. Which informed much of our beliefs about evolution but not in the literal sense that he intended it. Basically it's modern iteration is that many developments take place during ontogeny (a species' development) that repeat or parallel it's species evolutionary development 

( phylogeny). Okay I am no scientist. That is my wild stab at understanding this... Anyway, his artwork is gorgeous.