Blue Skies

Spirals on the Ice

What other athletes leave as much of a trail as figure skaters, who carve their path into the ice? Spiraling nautilus shells, tight spirals like telephone cords, and parallel sine waves mark their passage. A short program lasts less than three minutes, but the skaters' graceful curves remain behind.



That is, until the next zamboni smoothes the ice.

Our Olympic Experience

What we saw:
--no-parking signs posted on all Vancouver's side streets
--several people asking the city bus driver for free rides (and getting them)
--skyscrapers decorated with Olympic logos
--First Nations men and women hand-carving a $60,000 totem pole (good thing we stood in the unmarked line to go in the mysterious wooden cabin)
--acrobats leaping through Olympic-colored rings
--a line of people stretching all the way out the door and around the block of the official Olympic merchandise store (they didn’t know they could buy the mittens online for $10)
--a passing glimpse of a Women’s Issues protest which caused bus rerouting (too bad nobody told the people waiting at the nearby bus stop)

Who we talked to:
--An Olympic organizer on the bus who told us about Opening Ceremony glitches like the bear coming up in the wrong place
--Two blue-jacketed people in the totem pole line who had been working on ceremony props since November: asked if the Closing Ceremonies were going to be good, the woman would only say “We’ve been told not to talk about it!”
--The figure skating fan sitting next to us in the Coliseum, who was better than a network announcer
--The Pennsylvania resident behind us in the Coliseum (“And where are you from?” “Seattle.” “Where?” “Seattle.” “Did you have to travel far?” “They’re from SEATTLE, honey!”)

What surprised me:
--that nobody at the Coliseum could tell us where to park, not even the police (everyone had been told to suggest bus travel)
--having my apple slices confiscated by Security, joining contraband Cliff bars and water bottles (because the Olympics are all about healthy food like the hamburgers, fried potatoes, sodas, and beer they sell you inside)
--seeing gymnasts in skating leotards and tan tights do lifts in the lobby
--that fans who paid so much for their tickets would arrive late and leave early
--that teddy bears get tossed on the ice (do flowers shed too much litter?)
--that ice-resurfacing skating girls scoop crushed ice into holes and tamp them down with long-handled soup ladles
--the sound effects like cowbells rung with indiscriminate exuberance, a Russian fan's blat-blat trumpet

Questions we brought home:
--who gets to be teddy bear girls? Are they students at the Coliseum? Contest winners? Canada's next generation of medal winners, in training?
--what happens to all the teddy bears?
--Where ARE spectators supposed to park?

Level 6 Bicycle Rider

This morning Katherine advanced to a Level 5 Bicycle rider, and is working on Level 6.

"What is a Level 6 bicycle rider?", you might ask. Let me help you out.

Bicycle Skills Per Level

0. Hold the bicycle upright, balances, and pushes with feet without falling over.
1. Basic riding skill. Can sit upright and pedal without falling off, in a flat parking lot (Dad usually runs alongside).
2. Can ride in circles and turn left or right.
3. Can start from a stopping position without a push.
4. Avoids obstacles. Such as curbs. And younger siblings that cannot move out of the way.
5. Undefined.
6. Can also ride along sidewalks without falling into the ditch or grass.
7. Rides uphill and downhill.

According to "The Rules", for Level 1 and above you cannot (A) Put your feet on the ground, and (B) fall over too frequently.


Katherine, still working on Level 1.


Alex.

Sleepover

Alex's final bedtime-delay tactic at Grandma's:

"Grandma, can you turn off our clock? It's two minutes different than the clock at our house."

Snowshoes

On Sugar Heart Cookies vs Chocolate Cookies

Alex (holding up a chocolate bakery cookie): "I don't like this one as much as the heart cookie. The heart cookie is super."

Me: "Well, if you don't like the chocolate cookie, you can give it back."

Katherine: "Or give it to me!"

Alex (chomping down on chocolate): "I love this one. It's great."

Alex Stumps his Mother

In one conversation:
1. "Why is Northwest Aerials called Northwest Aerials?"
Mommy suggests it's because we live in the Northwest, while Aerials, meaning in the air, evokes gymnastics.

2. "What does it mean to fall in love?"
Mommy stumbles around an answer, explaining that it's when people start to love each other. Holds breath waiting for the next bombshell, but instead gets...

3. "I just don't understand--how was the Titanic constructed?"
We start the day's 6th iteration of this exchange. Luckily, Katherine jumps in with information about the double hull.

4. "How is a long bus built?"

And the questions keep coming.

Bird Watching

Yumquats

Been loving kumquats this week, biting into a squirt of sour juice and chewing it into the candy-sweet skin. We were introduced to kumquats when we visited my uncle in San Diego, who has a kumquat tree. We filled a bag and snacked on them for the rest of the trip, wishing we could carry them across state lines and fly them home.

It's been about a year since our California trip. We aren't traveling this week, showing our children illuminated manuscripts or riding ferris wheels or watching a herd of giraffes wander across the San Diego Wild Animal Park, but at least we can still munch on kumquats!

Lucky, I Guess...

...that the reason I stayed awake well past 12:30 last night was because Katherine was rasping and coughing (not to mention my sleeping Rebecca squirming so much that her crib kept banging against the wall) and not just because I couldn't put down my Meg Cabot book.