Spring Training

Beautiful spring weather lately; great time for getting outside.

In town, Franklin has been enjoying t-ball lately:


Alas, I'm in class during his practices, but thankfully Emily's been great about photos and videos:

Baseball practice!

A photo posted by Emily Hughes Dominick (@emily.dominick) on May 4, 2015 at 5:04pm PDT

Tagging out at 1st

A video posted by Emily Hughes Dominick (@emily.dominick) on May 11, 2015 at 5:37pm PDT

Yesterday, we extended our outside fun to include a hike to Barclay Lake. About four miles round trip, and Franklin must have hiked nearly half of it. Few things make me happier than watching him walk eagerly down a trail :)



Found a pretty nice lunch spot at the lake too:


Hey, not to get too distracted, but do you like having a planet with stuff like this? Are you worried that all the money spent on fossil fuels might not be such a great investment? Me too! I didn't have a lot to do with the letter they're asking about, but I was happy to be interviewed on the subject for the Seattle U student paper: take a look, and let me know what you think.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, right—lunch by the lake!

Yum!

Okay, we're off down the trail...

Until next time, reader.

It covered everything as far as he could see

Thanks to Emily B. and Pete for a great weekend in a snow-covered cabin!

(And a belated thanks to Ezra Jack Keats for the amazing book that I'm quoting in the title of this post.)

I was glad that Franklin's snowsuit (which was pretty roomy last year) fits perfectly this year. He was pretty happy too:


What? A river, with rocks for throwing? Yes, someone had a fun weekend.

In the Teanaway River Valley. Read about it here: friendsoftheteanaway.org.




Pete, Emily, Franklin, and Emily, looking for ice to crunch through.



And just like magic (just like a picture book?), it was snowing when we woke up Saturday morning:




Of course, the only thing he liked wearing more than the snowsuit was the KU jersey he got in his stocking on Christmas morning.

In his stocking Christmas morning, and on him for the next four days straight :)

The only time he wasn't having fun at the cabin was when he remembered that we didn't bring the dinosaur puzzle that he got for Christmas. This is within five minutes of returning home:

Thanks Magen, Dave, Braxton, Amelia, and Evan!

Oh, and if you want to brush up on dinosaur names, here's the online Picture Legend.

Speaking of Christmas presents and whatnot, here's a quick look back at the holiday:


Working on gingerbread cookies, mostly as a gift for Franklin's teachers at daycare:








Mostly:


And then it was Christmas morning:



One of his favorite presents, a forklift from Nana & Papa.



And for dinner, eye round roast, Moroccan Sweet Potatoes, deviled eggs, and more!


Hey, so did anyone happen to read that New York Times piece about Religion Without God? It hit almost exactly how I had been feeling, especially this bit:

... two anthropologists, Caroline Humphrey and James Laidlaw, go so far as to argue that ritual isn’t about expressing religious commitment at all, but about doing something in a way that marks the moment as different from the everyday and forces you to see it as important. Their point is that performing a ritual focuses your attention on some moment and deems it worthy of respect.

I had in fact been considering asking Emily to bring us to mass on Christmas, but couldn't quite get there. And the logistics were tricky...

Anyway, we settled on singing some carols together, just to make the point a little clearer:


I hope you won't mind one more quote from that article:

Atheists trust in human relations, not supernatural ones, and humans are not so good at delivering the world as it should be. Perhaps that is why we are moved by Christmas carols, which conjure up the world as it can be and not the world we know.

May the spirit of Christmas be with you, however you understand what that means.

A Cheery Grin Will Get You In

I think Franklin is basically guaranteed admission to Santa Claus' party, at least according to these lyrics:

For whatever reason, that seems to be Franklin's favorite Christmas song... He heard it on one of our CD's, but it's not one I know very well, so I'm happy to have that video to help out!

Meanwhile our holiday festivities will take place under some great new decorations:

Santa & reindeer from Grandma Christine, plus super cool painting of Grandma Christine (third from right) with the rest of the Kuta family:

Franklin's Great Aunt Pauline, Great Uncle Al, Grandma C., Great Grandpa & Great Grandma Kuta, Great Aunt Dorothy in her Sisters of the Resurrection habit, and cousins (once removed) Alex and Louis in front.

Great painting, and great idea to hang it there, Emily!

And in front of that painting, we will toast and celebrate and listen to even more Christmas music. A little incongruous but here are a couple of my current favorites:




Also heard some nice music last week on Alki Beach during the Christmas Ship Festival. No sound, but here are a couple of photos:




And now, at last, I'm on holiday break. So, let's see... how about story time at the downtown library?


Franklin was really into the puzzles afterward:



I'm pretty sure he did this by himself. But can't be positive: he was really in the zone, and when I came over to see he said, "no, you go away!" :)

Also time to do some complicated cooking! Like this delicious Winter Vegetable Curry from the Times:

Photo: Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Even time, as you probably heard, to join Franklin's class from the Intergenerational Learning Center on their first field trip!


Bus ride!


To a park!

Myrtle Reservoir Park. Definitely have to go back there soon!




All right, I'd better go wrap presents! Have a great holiday, reader!

Under the Trees

Cherry trees at UW were at 100% last weekend, so we called up Grandma and hopped on a bus to join the huge crowds and take a look:

Wasn't the best timing for an outing, but Franklin and I put on brave faces after Stanford (their unofficial mascot is a tree--get it?) eliminated our Jayhawks from the NCAA tournament.

And of course we put on our Jayhawk hats!


And by sheer coincidence, the Seattle Times ran a letter I wrote the other day, accompanied by this cool drawing:

I just hope they run it in the print edition. I mean, given the subject matter, don't they almost have to??

Okay, well, how about more photos with the cherry trees:

Tough to get a good shot in such bright sun and such a big crowd.

Also tough to get Franklin to smile sometimes:

But for the record that look on his face makes me smile, so...

All right reader, I have one day left of spring "break," so I'd better go finish my syllabus for next quarter!

Things Are Getting Weird... Or, Go Hawks!

You know things are getting weird when someone like me comes home from his favorite natural foods co-op with these items in his bag:


And by "someone like me" I mean someone who's pretty sure that at the end of the day the answer to the question in this headline is Yes:


Anyway, what choice do I have? As I'm sure you know, our house is now in the hands of a thoroughly committed fan:

And so, ahem, Go Hawks!