Progress on the Novel

As you may know, I am writing a novel (in English), by the preliminary and rather misleading title of “The Potboiler”. I gave up my PhD studies in Philosophy – I had only the dissertation to go – and started writing an adventure novel! Sounds crazy, what? But (fiction) writing was something I had wanted to …

Amie Connects the Dots

I’ve uploaded a new video to YouTube, this one of Amie (at now 25 months) connecting the dots her Baba made on paper, unwittingly writing the letters A and M (guess why those). I was quite skeptical when I saw what Baba was up to: I didn’t think she could do it. But she did it …

I want to do Peter Says

 A little update to my Simon Says Peter Says entry. When Amie wants to play the game now, she says: “I want to do Peter Says”. Then she does what Peter says, yells “No!” and undoes it. “I want to do Peter Says” is a strange way of asking for the game, isn’t it, because she …

More about those Green Diapers, again

 Jean-Pierre, who has commented extensively on the green diaper issue, put me on to the website of Richer Consulting Services, a source for information about the disposable diaper industry. It is quite an extensive website, where you can find information about the history, economy, manufacturing process, and ingredients of disposable diapers. I plan at some point to …

Amie’s Painting of Walden Pond

I asked Amie to paint Walden Pond and this is the result. Again, Im not sure if this is a painting of the thing or a spelling of the word (she seems to conflate the two), but it sure is a nice work of art! Check out Rebecca’s kids’ artworks at Irish Sally Garden! Oh, and …

Peter says, Simon says

A couple of weeks ago  We had a long wait at the pizza place and Mama had forgotten to bring her bag of tricks – a folder with coloring sheets, crayons, puzzles, a couple of thin books, and a Manush (playmobil man). Amie became restless – no patience whatsoever. “I want pizza! I want pizza!” and then …

Marie-Louise Gay’s What are you doing, Sam?

The Sam and Stella Books We love Marie-Louise Gay’s Sam and Stella books. Amie loves the repeated “Stellaaaaaaa!” or “Saaaaaam!” exclamations, Stella’s red hair, and Sam’s funny dog, Fred. And, o yes, the stories – always surprising, uplifting and subtly wise – and the illustrations – delightful watercolors and pencil works of art (colorful, but easy on the …

Child Belonging

Thoreau’s gift to me  Walking around “Walrus Pond” the other day, I had that great feeling of belonging. I haven’t gone there often (this was my third or fourth visit in the ten years that I live here), and perhaps that is why it is each time so special. I’ve read Thoreau, of course, lots of …

At Walrus Pond (Walden Pond)

We were all set for a relaxed weekend, when at 10 in the morning our place was suddenly bombarded by a deafening noise: our upstairs neighbor was having her floors sanded – without warning to us. Well… It was still going on when time Amie’s naptime came around, so we had to flee, and after …