We received bad news this afternoon about an unexpected hiccup in the sale of our house (outside of our control). Closing has been bumped from Thursday to Monday (the 21st). This caused a cascade of issues, not least that Sarah was supposed to be up north for her new job on Monday but she has to sign the documents in person at the closing.
In any event, it’s been a stressful afternoon, but we think everything is ironed out and we’re on track to move on Monday. Fingers crossed!
Oliver showed me some scratches on his leg. I responded, logically, with, “Were you bitten by a basilisk?”
Oliver responds, “No! They’re not real.”
“Oh, how do you know?”
Oliver rolls his eyes and says, “Daddy, I know a LOT about the world.”
Griffin is off on a two week backpacking adventure at Camp Widjiwagan. Sarah drove up with him yesterday to drop him off. He’ll spend a few days in a cabin before heading off with a small group to Isle Royale in Lake Superior.
It a whirlwind start to the summer. The last day of school was Friday. Saturday he went to camp. When he returns, we’ll be living in a new house!
Just found this while packing:
Addendum: I found a photo of meeting Peter Jackson at the screening. My costume doesn’t exactly fit the Braveheart look—I should have been sporting leather and body paint.
One of my students is an ardent fan of Les Misérables. For the past few weeks, she has repeatedly asked if we can celebrate Barricade Day by building a barricade in our classroom. I laughed. But she was serious. I had never heard of Barricade Day. She was happy to fill me in. I hemmed and hawed. Finally, at our last class, it became apparent that this particular group would finish their video projects early. (They’re a pretty sharp, dedicated bunch.) I told my student that if she came up with a lesson plan that would teach the class about Barricade Day, I would give her 45 minutes to run the show today.
Sure enough, last night she emailed me a lesson plan with a 350-word mini-lecture about the June Rebellion of 1832, including images to share with the class and a short video. I honored my end of the bargain. at 1:45 sharp, we ended our regular social studies class and went to Paris to learn about the unrest there. At 2:00, filled with revolutionary zeal, we tore apart the classroom and built a barricade. (I did have two recommendations: don’t break anything and don’t get hurt.)
Here are the pictures my student shared followed by a picture of our 8th-grade version.
Oliver, how’d you make Maggie so mad?
No! Maggie made me mad! … then I made her mad.
Life was a whirlwind in April with spring break, the long-awaited start of in-person school for Griffin and Maggie, three birthdays (plus Piper’s), a cabin visit, and much that I’m forgetting. Lacking the time to write everything up in detail, here’s a selection of photos to remind us of these many events.
Bonus! Two videos.
In the late 1970s and early ’80s, maps for Dungeons and Dragons adventures were often printed in blue ink, ostensibly to prevent easy photocopying. (Photocopier technology has evolved since then.) A cartographer that I follow on social media, Tim Hartin, sometimes produces “old school blue” maps, hearkening back to the early days of the hobby.
I follow a thread where Tim posts a free map every week. It’s called Turgenev’s Friday Freebie Maps. I’ve been following it for years, enjoying his retro map style. (Tim Hartin, incidentally, is a big name in the industry, often producing maps for D&D adventures, such as CandleKeep Mysteries, published this past March.) A few months ago, Oliver saw me looking at one of these maps on my phone. He asked me about it, so I started explaining the symbols and whatnot. We got in the habit of looking at one or more of these maps every night as part of our bedtime ritual. We would read a book and then look at a map together. Oliver became very good at reading the maps, pointing out secret rooms, traps, statues, and even the occasional sarcophagus or other exotic, multisyllabic feature.
I recently saw that Tim posted a map that he was also offering as a print on mugs, t-shirts, and the like. I thought it was fun, so I bought a version printed on a tote bag. (We can’t have too many totes in this house.) Here’s the original post:
After receiving the bag, Oliver was astounded that one of the maps from my phone had appeared on something in real life. Maggie, nearby, didn’t immediately understand how to read the map, so Oliver excitedly sat down on the kitchen floor and gave her a lesson on old-school D&D cartographic symbols. I snapped a photo and posted it back on Tim’s thread. Here’s the shot:
Tim then sent me a direct message telling me that the post made his day and asking if he could produce a custom map as a “thank you” to Oliver. Um… Yes, of course! I mentioned that Oliver especially loved secret rooms. A few hours later, I received this fantastic map, replete with numerous secret chambers (the “S” symbols are secret doors):
This brought a lot of joy to our family, and I know that Tim Hartin was also warmed by the experience. The internet, for all its ills, is definitely capable of adding some light to our lives.
