The Aunts Go Marching: Hurrah!

What better way to spend a weekend than introducing Franklin to one more aunt? And Merrica's timing was perfect: we enjoyed some beautiful fall weather. Picnic weather even!

As you probably remember, our previous hike to Heybrook Lookout was great, except for clouds obscuring the view from the top.

But not this time! After some snacks at the above table (at the end of the trail), we ascended the lookout to, as they say, see what we could see:

Not bad at all! (Thanks for the photos, Merrica!)

We also took Merrica out for some ramen... Franklin seemed to like it too:

Love that noodle hanging out of his mouth... which he swallowed moments after the pic was snapped :)

Speaking of eating, how about the swanky bib his aunt brought him?


Come back soon!


Bonus content: because the little guy's growing and changing so much, I might just post these now before they're old news...

So, first, Franklin and Theo on their way to visit some of the elderly residents at the Mount St. Vincent Intergenerational Learning Center:


And boy is this kid ready to crawl!

Okay, I should probably run—better get back to babyproofing!

Local Fun

I have no idea what I did with my time before Franklin came around, or how I managed to teach while keeping up on chores, etc.... Now I've barely got time to blog! Sheesh!

In any case, here's a cute shirt from our KU friend Dan:


And here we are enjoying local sights (within an hour is local, right?) on the way to Twin Falls:


Finally, I saw this on someone's Facebook feed. Wild:


Okay, more soon, I hope!

Weekly Activity Chart, 17-21 Sept.

Franklin's been enjoying daycare, and I love reading his teachers' write-ups.

Thursday 20 September

• ate chili & beans w/ground turkey, carrots, cornbread, and apple sauce
• did a good job today; fed himself lunch; good job Franklin!
• Franklin had a great day. He sat on the small matt and played with a soft stuffed animal and rattles. He likes shaking and looking and smiles. Seemed so happy :)

Tuesday 18 September

• tried a few bites of mac & cheese, mixed veggies, and cherries
• Franklin had a good day. He sat on the floor, and played with musical toys and piano with his friend Theo. They were talking and smiling and sharing toys. Seemed to be having so much fun!

And of course he and I have been enjoying our time together at home:


Dad's current favorite shirt:


Finding restaurant highchairs are usually a bit big for our little guy, but he seemed into it for a little while on our last lunch outing with Pete:

All right reader, have a great week!

Reading Materials

Well, Merrica was wondering how the Workshop went, and that's inspired me to post a few bits of text for your reading pleasure today.

First, I've posted my handout from last week, containing a few juicy quotes that I think together suggest that Aristotle might view large systems and patterns (my particular concern in this project is with climate) as operating not at random or even as byproducts of individual things pursuing certain purposes, but for a purpose of their own:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/106467305/NWAPW-2012-Handout

I got some tough questions, but that's for the best in the long run. Fun, friendly group... and the prof. who hosted things invited us all to his house to try his homemade wine: very Oregon :)

My interest in this project stemmed from my fascination with Aristotle's brief but mind-blowing discussion of natural selection (note: Aristotle died thousands of years before Darwin was born). Just so happened that that brief discussion was mentioned in the issue of the New Yorker that I was reading on the train to Oregon.

Great article/book review (by Anthony Gottlieb, former editor of the Economist, speaking of Merrica) about new research (or should that be "research"?) in evolutionary psychology, and I highly recommend it.

Which makes me feel funny about quoting the ending, but it's just too clever to leave unquoted:
Barash muses, at the end of his book, on the fact that our minds have a stubborn fondness for simple-sounding explanations that may be false. That’s true enough, and not only at bedtime. It complements a fondness for thinking that one has found the key to everything. Perhaps there’s an evolutionary explanation for such proclivities.
Full article here.

My other train reading was, of course, the Times, where I read a fascinating review of the new FDR Four Freedoms Park in New York City:

Space sounds super cool, and it's a fascinating story, since the park was built so long after the designer's death. And that Four Freedoms speech isn't too shabby either!

Huzzah for people named Franklin!

Speaking of, in our unexpected but seemingly unstoppable drive to fill his shelves with 80-year-old books, we recently picked up a copy of one of my very favorite books from my younger years:

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

Okay, well, you've been very patient, so how about a quick look at some of the fun had back home in Seattle while I was away at the Workshop: