I’ve mentioned Griffin’s interest in musical composition in a previous post, but I haven’t shared many examples of his other creative outlet: art. He spends much of his free time creating pixel art and composing music for various video game projects. (Indeed, he has just confirmed his first paid commission!) Here’s a sampling of some things he has been working on recently.
And here are a few of his recent compositions:
To round out this trio of cabin posts, I took a few other random pictures of the sorts of things we did at the cabin this weekend: deflating and stowing the dock, touching up some trim paint, adding some non-stick strips to the wooden dock, role-playing games, other dice games, and a marvelous jigsaw puzzle (a gift from Grummy who passed along her love of puzzles to Andrew). We also prepped the well and pump for winter and put the snow shovels up on the covered porch lest they be irretrievable if anyone visits after the place is buried in snow. (We’ve learned that the hard way.)
Lest one think that we live an irredeemably charmed life, I should also mention that we did face a few challenges. For example, although the cool weather meant that there were few bugs outside, the black flies love to hibernate under the cabin roof. When the place warms up, they emerge in droves. Herds of droves. Hordes of herds of droves. We swatted and cursed at them, but our only moderately effective solution was to vacuum them up multiple times per day.
The kids got very excited to build a “tree-ish house.” They started by extending a small treehouse that the built last year. This was cool, but took up a lot of prime real estate and interfered with the view from the cabin. After some discussion, they chose a new plot in heretofore unexplored territory. (It’s only about 30 feet west of the prior spot, but it’s screened by trees.) They enlisted Sarah’s professional help, removed the old structure and built a new, improved one. The sounds of hammers and saws filled the woods today.
The first picture below shows them beginning to deconstruct the first draft house. The rest show the new one. (And Piper, of course!)
We made it up to the cabin for a long weekend. The weather is perfect: highs near 70 and lows just below 50. It’s dog heaven for Piper. The kids are engaged in a construction project. We saw the comet from the dock last night. A jigsaw puzzle is underway and we played a shockingly close game of Farkle. Not a bad way to recharge in the midst of a very busy autumn.
Note that while “GO MOM HQ” sounds like a worthy homage to Sarah, it actually stands for “Griffin, Oliver, Maggie, Olive, and Murray.” (Olive and Murray are two of the kids’ best friends who regularly come up to the cabin with us.)
Maggie is taking her first computer science class this year. The seventh grade course meets every other day for half a block (45 minutes) during the first trimester. This isn’t a lot of time for learning and practice, but students usually dive in with gusto and Maggie is no exception. Although I do teach a section of the class, I don’t have Maggie. She’s with my brilliant colleague, Chris Collins.
At the mid point of the first trimester, we ask students to create a short project using the code that they’ve learned thus far. They are using the Python programming language. Here’s what Maggie created:
To create this scene, Maggie wrote 170 lines of code using Python’s default text editor (known as IDLE). If you’re curious, the code is appended below.
#project1
import turtle
t = turtle.Pen()
t.speed(0)
t.screen.bgcolor("midnight blue")
#ground
t.width(10)
t.color("brown")
t.pu()
t.goto(-200, -161)
t.pd()
t.goto(200, -161)
#tree 1
t.pu()
t.width(7)
t.color("maroon")
t.goto(-190, -160)
t.pd()
t.goto(-190, -60)
t.color("forest green")
t.goto(-210, -90)
t.pu()
t.goto(-190, -60)
t.pd()
t.goto(-170, -90)
t.pu()
t.goto(-190, -80)
t.pd()
t.goto(-210, -110)
t.pu()
t.goto(-190, -80)
t.pd()
t.goto(-170, -110)
t.pu()
t.goto(-190, -100)
t.pd()
t.goto(-210, -130)
t.pu()
t.goto(-190, -100)
t.pd()
t.goto(-170, -130)
t.pu()
#tree 2
t.setheading(270)
t.pu()
t.fillcolor("green")
t.pencolor("darkgreen")
t.goto(100, -90)
t.pd()
t.begin_fill()
t.circle(30)
t.end_fill()
t.pu()
t.goto(120, -120)
t.pd()
t.pencolor("chocolate1")
t.fillcolor("burlywood1")
t.begin_fill()
t.forward(40)
t.left(90)
t.forward(20)
t.left(90)
t.forward(40)
t.end_fill()
#tent
t.fillcolor("purple1")
t.pu()
t.goto(-50, -160)
t.pd()
t.begin_fill()
t.color("purple1")
t.goto(40, -160)
t.goto(20, -110)
t.goto(-30, -110)
t.goto(-10, -160)
t.end_fill()
t.pu()
t.fillcolor("purple3")
t.begin_fill()
t.goto(-30, -110)
t.goto(-50, -160)
t.end_fill()
t.pu()
t.color("purple1")
t.goto(-33, -110)
t.pd()
t.goto(-53, -160)
#moon
t.pu()
t.goto(110, 50)
t.pd()
t.begin_fill()
t.color("old lace")
t.circle(50)
t.end_fill()
#stars
t.pu()
t.goto(220, 40)
t.pd()
t.color("lemon chiffon")
t.circle(2)
t.pu()
t.goto(220, 90)
t.pd()
t.circle(2)
t.pu()
t.goto(160, 90)
t.pd()
t.circle(2)
t.pu()
t.goto(40, 20)
t.pd()
t.circle(1)
t.pu()
t.goto(20, 20)
t.pd()
t.circle(2)
t.pu()
t.goto(0, 20)
t.pd()
t.circle(3)
t.pu()
t.goto(-130, 30)
t.pd()
t.circle(2)
t.pu()
t.goto(-40, 30)
t.pd()
t.circle(1)
t.pu()
t.goto(-40, 150)
t.pd()
t.circle(2)
t.pu()
t.goto(0, 150)
t.pd()
t.circle(1)
t.pu()
t.goto(0, 190)
t.pd()
t.circle(3)
t.pu()
t.goto(140, 190)
t.pd()
t.circle(2)
t.pu()
t.goto(-160, 130)
t.pd()
t.circle(1)
t.pu()
t.goto(220, 164)
t.pd()
t.circle(2)
t.pu()
t.goto(-220, 100)
t.pd()
t.circle(2)
t.pu()
t.goto(-80, -70)
t.pd()
t.circle(1)
t.hideturtle()It is Oliver’s first day of second grade at Cornerstone, and the first time that he won’t have any siblings on campus. Still, he’s a veteran of the place after something like six years (preschool + K-1) and has no qualms.
It’s the first day of school at SPA. This is Griffin’s fourth year on campus, and his second year in the upper school. It’s Maggie’s first time, joining the seventh grade. (This is Andrew’s 15th year.)
Sarah has regularly completed the YWCA Women’s Triathlon around Lake Nokomis since her first outing in 2018. This year, however, Maggie decided to join her! They did the “Super Sprint” rather than the full Triathlon because Maggie’s not old enough for the full version yet (you have to be 14+). The Super Sprint consists of a 200-yard swim in Lake Nokomis, a 7.3-mile bike loop, and a 1-mile run to the finish line. Maggie had some trepidation going into it, but handled herself like a champ. She crossed the finish line at a full-on sprint.
Video clip of Sarah and Maggie as they head from the lake to their bikes:
Griffin has spent the last three weeks on a canoe trip managed by Camp Widjiwagan in northern Minnesota. This year his crew traveled up to the Quetico area in Canada.
Griffin went with his good friend Murray. We pick them up tomorrow but just received this group photo from camp. Looks like a great crew!
This weekend we joined our friends Ellie and Kelsey and two of their kids at Wild River State Park about an hour from Saint Paul. It was our first time tent camping in years and Piper’s first trip. She was amazingly well-behaved—nervous when we bumped into some horses on the trail, but she never barked.
