Catching up

[Murfreesboro]

I expect she was just processing what you'd shown her. She may also be visually sensitive. My daughter is like that. When she was three, and the boys were older, we showed the kids some 1960s Easter movies about Jesus, which of course included very sanitized versions of the crucifixion. She freaked out, which I hadn't expected, since I'm so used to that story, and I'd seen those movies in my childhood (though older than she was). When she was nine, we took her to an Egyptian mummy exhibit at Nashville's Frist art museum. That freaked her out, too, and I asked her why on the ride home. She said it was their gods. I said, "But, Lydia, you knew the ancient Egyptians were polytheists." Turns out what bothered her wasn't polytheism, but the grotesque way the Egyptians imagined human/animal hybrids. Very different from the Greeks.

Circe is a terrific name for a cat. What color is she?

There is a modern novel named Circe which is a retelling and amplified story about the Greek myth. I'll have to look up the author, but I read it at Lydia's recommendation, and it's very good.

Just looked it up. Madeline Miller is the author's name. She made her reputation with her first novel, The Song of Achilles. I've read both of them, but I liked Circe better. Perhaps your wife would like to read them--if she ever has time to read!

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

The kids had seen footage of the attacks before, but it was only the initial plane strikes and the collapses because that's the only footage that they really show any more, at least in the cleansed modern media. I can understand why Sam reacted that way to the graphic footage of the people jumping, and the result of their decision that the whole world unfortunately had to witness on that day. I was 20 when it happened and watching the people jump was horrific to watch even at that age, and Sam crying is a perfectly normal reaction for a young person that's watching it for the first time. She hasn't said anything about it in a few days, so hopefully she is already past it.

In a lot of ways Sam reminds me of my mother, she's a very kind hearted, and sensitive person that's always concerned for others. I think that's why she wants to be a doctor, because she's very caring toward people and animals, and she wants to help them.

You're right, my wife doesn't have the time to read anymore, but maybe when she retires. That is, if she ever retires, she's a compulsive workaholic like me, and retirement is something that I have no interest in, but I don't know what she wants to do.

Circe is a terrific name for a cat. What color is she?

She started out with a velvety black coat, but now because she's older it's more of a faded tone. Like I said, she's older and slower now, but she's still faster than the dog, he's the slowest, laziest dog I've ever seen, but he's very friendly and affectionate. When I'm up late at night he's always curling up to me, and I really do love him, even if he has the stupidest name for a dog in the history of dog names.

On a unrelated side note, I shaved the other day, and after I grow some stubble Phoebe always likes to rub her hands across it, I'm not sure why, but it's something that she's liked doing since she was little. Anyway, she did it again this morning, and man, that kid has some rough hands. Her hands are as rough as a 40 year old factory worker's hands, not that I'm saying anything against any 40 year old factory workers, but it's a reasonable comparison. The reason her hands are so rough is because of her martial arts and gymnastics training, and her hands always have to be covered in that powder so that she can grip the bars when she does gymnastics, she also walks around on her hands a lot, I guess because she can. Yeah, sometimes that kid is weird.

By the way, Phoebe will be competing in her first martial arts tournament of the season this weekend. It's going to be the last 2 weekends of every month, so that's 8 weeks of competition until Dec. Her coaches don't have any doubt that she will place first again.

[Murfreesboro]

Sadly, very few adults have the leisure to read, unless of course their profession requires it, as mine (English prof) once did. Even in those days I was mostly reading the things I had to teach, though, rarely the current best sellers.

If people enjoy their work, and especially if they own their own business, as you all do, I see no reason to retire.

I'm not at all surprised that Phoebe's hands are as strong and "rough" as you say. The girl is using them in every way imaginable. I'm sure you'd see the same with Olympic gymnasts. She certainly has a full slate of competitions coming up! Best wishes to her. I hope she has fun.

It sounds like Sam is adjusting beautifully to her new school. Her compassionate nature should serve her well in whatever profession she chooses.

Circe is a terrific name for a black cat. About 20 years ago there was a lady in this neighborhood with a black cat she called Voodoo. I thought that was a great name for a black ccat, too.

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

Thanks Murf.

Yes, Sam has only been there for a week and she comes home every day praising the school, she loves her new friends, teachers, and classes, and she told us that she loves the uniform because it makes her feel important like when she wears the uniform at the restaurant.

On the other side of that, Phoebe comes home every day complaining about the school, she says that she hates her teachers, and that the kids there are fat and stupid ... her words, not mine. We told her to give it some time, and she will like it here. By the way, did I mention that she HATES her uniform? I mean, she's only told us about 1000 times.

On a positive note, she's already blowing away her teachers in her gymnastics class, and because of her level of experience she's already outperforming everybody there. Of course, they were already well aware of her because some of their students perform in the same competitions. She's also doing very well at swimming even though she hasn't had much experience at it, but I guess that kid can do anything that involves endurance and speed.

[Murfreesboro]

So, gymnastics and swimming? I wouldn't necessariy have seen the connection there. But I do know that competitive swimmers always have strong, powerful shoulders, even the girls, and I expect Phoebe has developed lots of shoulder strength through her gymnastics.

I was never the least bit athletic, but I took to swimming pretty fast and have always thought of it as the one area where I could hold my own in a group. I never competed, though, and would not have made much of a racer. My shoulders are pretty slight. They slope. I've never been able to keep a shoulder bag up easily. I think if I'd known about it when I was young, I could have done synchronized swimming. I was always into the surface dives and liked to imitate the moves I saw Esther Williams do in her movies when they were shown on tv. I just felt at home in the water.

Speaking of water, omg is it hot here! Degrees at 100 day after day, and projected to last all through the weekend. The end of the summer has been the hottest part. We're supposed to get storms on Monday, then descend to normal fall temps, highs in the 70s. Boy, are we ready for it. Just hanging on by our eyelashes.

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

I think the reason that both of them chose swimming is because they love to swim, but the only time that they ever get to swim was when we brought them to theme parks because we don't have a pool, and their previous school didn't either. They loved it at the theme park so much that sometimes we had to yell at them to get out of the water so we could leave, but they still didn't want to.

Another reason that I think that Phoebe picked swimming is because they have diving boards of different heights there, and that kid is fearless and she loves her heights. She's been on diving boards before at the theme parks, and we would anxiously watch her climb up there and jump from scary heights as if it was nothing to her. I know that she wanted to pick tennis as well because she had expressed interest in it, even though she hasn't ever played it before, but they only allow students to pick 2 activities for the year.

Sam had until today to choose a second activity, and to our surprise, she picked music, specifically the piano. She hasn't ever previously played, or expressed any interest in learning music before, so my wife and I think that she only chose it because she didn't like the other options available, either way, we hope that she enjoys it.

Man, the temperatures in your area are nuts! I sure hope that you guys have AC, or fans, or something to give you some relief from the heat. The temperatures here have already dropped to their standard numbers for the season, the mornings are chilly, and the days and nights are nice with gentle winds.