This morning I took the girls on a death march waaaay up north to get oyster shells for the eggbags and library books and other odds and ends. Speaking of eggbags, mine seem to be not laying at the moment, which is a major bummer, since otherwise their major exports are poop and bocks, neither of which are in short supply. I think they are having that first molt that young chickens get around 18 months. Their combs look all deflated and sad, and they look a little patchy, feathers-wise.

On Thursday night I podcasted, which I thought was a terrible idea at first, and I went into on a trial basis to see what it was like. I realized I have some sort of block against artistic pursuits that take more than a given amount of effort to complete, and I am quick to destroy things once they are finished, and loathe to revisit old projects. Why? It can’t be just that I am that boner about the process. I am thinking about it. Now that I am on podcast #8 I enjoy it greatly and am very glad I was talked into it. Certainly there are overlapping themes between here and the podcast, but I feel like it’s become a different aspect of my personality or whatever this self-expression thing is I need to be doing.

How is Franny doing? Franny is adjusting to the terrors and delights of public school reasonably well. Now that she is out of the shadow of her old rival in her small private school she is back to wanting her hair pink and seems more like what I think of as herself. Her rival was one of the most unpleasant children I have ever met in my life and to Franny’s horror insisted on copying Franny and having purple hair, which never looked as nice as Franny’s. Franny seemed slightly defeated in her last year in private school and I think this move was good and necessary.

I am sad that Franny’s spelling and math facts mastery at this point are atrocious, which is what I had come to anticipate from the school, based on the experience of parents there with older children. I think fourth grade was a good leap to make because we are not quite knocking on the door of middle school yet and there is time to catch up. A major challenge has been homework Mondays through Thursdays. Franny does not know what to do with most of her dittos, and seems to have the most trouble with math or with any questions that ask her to think or exercise reading comprehension. I see a lot of myself in her; at her age I completely lacked patience for analysis or math. That said, she still needs to learn how to do it, and she is.

Pictures up later–I am busted tired with a nasty head cold and walked too far today. Hope your Saturday is treating you right.