Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Book, French and more flowers

I've spent many (many) hours lately working on a book. Keith spent many hours too. Had it not been for my respect for tradition, I'd be long done. Seems to me, though, that each chapter (in this case, each essay) should start on a right-hand, odd-numbered page. Seems simple enough. Only thing is the essays keep coming out to three pages long. Or worse, two and a half. So they need filler. Photos of the kids seemed like good filler. Forty-eight essays. Some don't need photos. Some need more than one.

Luckily, Keith knew some good formatting tricks, and that's good.

And for more international credits, Sylvie Martin-Rodriguez has translated three of my essays into French and you can get there from here: SandraDodd.com/french

My moonflowers are going to bloom. They haven't yet, but when they do I'll bring a photo. And that's the news of August 31. Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Bush Morning Glories



When researching for my page on morning glories, I read about bush morning glories. I'd never heard of them, but one article said they grow in New Mexico and come from a bulb or tuber or something. I bought some seeds and they just looked like kinda pitiful little weeds and I was afraid they'd never come to anything, but TODAY! Today is the day.

I saw the little furled-umbrella looking thing early today, and 11:30 when I got back from errands it was open. There are five others ready to open in the next few days. Pretty exciting.

Friday, August 05, 2005

Lunch with Carol

My friend Carol Rice graduated with a degree in psychology and art, in May, and though I had intended to go to her graduation party, I missed it by a day and was sad and embarrassed.

I took her out to lunch earlier this week, though. To Garduño's on Montgomery. We talked some about art therapy (which she intends to study in Santa Fe soonishly to get an MA degree), and some about alternative psychology, and some about kids and some about just the little fluffy stuff old friends talk about.

Carol was one of the La Leche League leaders who made such a deep impression on me. When I met Carol she had three children and I had one. Now she has four and I have three, only none are "children," because they range in age from 13 to 23 now. Of those who weren't born yet when we met (Marty, Julie and Holly), they hang around together weekly or so, watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer in full-DVD sessions. Renee and Liam (twins; toddlers when I met them) are over here from time to time for parties or games.

When I met Carol, Kirby was an infant and school or not-school was far in the future. By the time Kirby was five, I had seen Carol and her co-leader in LLL, Lori Odhner, and their growing families and their unschooling lives for many years. That's helpful. That (and some other personal experiences and factors) made unschooling easier for me than it could have been, and easier than I know it is for many others, and I've been grateful to Carol and Lori always for the benefit to my family from my having seen theirs. (Kathy Hoag was helpful too, with the early-childhood parenting, but Kathy's kids all went to school and the wedge eventually made the separation too great for the kids to hang around comfortably. I still like Kathy lots when I see her, but can't claim the same lifelong relationship of kids-to-kids.)

Frequently when I've spoken or written I've named Carol and Lori as mothers to whom I'm indebted, who influenced me and gave me tricks and treasures to pass on to other moms, so here's another credit, homage and tribute to Carol Rice. I thank you again, and not for the last time.