At first I thought it was wounded: it just sat there, next to the thyme, looking at me, letting me make a lot of movement and noise getting the stroller out of our front door, then after I spotted it, letting me run in to get the camera and take three pictures. Then it flew off, …
Author Archives: kaat
Ecological Manifest
The world outside Sometimes I wish I never had to leave the house – even though “the house” is a small and light-deficient, though blissfully cool, basement apartment. “Leaving” means going out into the din of air conditioners and leaf blowers (see yesterday’s post). It means walking past shop after shops selling plastic junk, $800 strollers. …
Summer Noise: A Rant Against Leaf Blowers
Ah, summer, you break my heart. After long months of snow and frost, a long stretch of grey, rainy weather, summer’s arrival is very welcome. The warmth, the sunlight on your skin, the summer hat, the smell of sunscreen… People smile, say hi, drivers find more courtesy and patience, kids come out to play. But …
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First Farmer’s Market, and Potted Herbs
This Thursday was our first Farmer’s Market of the new season. Though the weather was grey and rather freakishly cold, it was a great pleasure to say “welcome back” to the farmers. And what a bounty there was already! I got red chard, mustard greens, many bunches of spinach, and lots of herbs. All for …
Making Children Cry
I don’t know what to think of these (scroll down on the page to the 3 YouTube videos). They are trailers for a program on Belgian television called “Blocks,” a popular trivia and tretris combination game for adults. The message at the end translates to: “Life without blocks is not worth living”. The channel they were made …
A game for an almost-2-year-old
I am looking for a board game type of game: something that is fun (duh!) that is “conceptual” in that it requires concept-formation, forward-thinking, memorization, etc. that can be played in a group that is appropriate for a clever and patient 22-month-old. The social aspect is very important: I feel she needs and would welcome something interactive with …
Americans are Bad at Setting an Example
Oops! That’s quite a statement! Let me explain. “You’re setting a bad example.” Years ago, on a visit to Belgium, we went for a stroll in the city (Antwerp) with my mom and dad. At a corner, the walk sign was red, but there were no cars, so after stopping to make sure, I stepped …
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My apologies for the internet hiatusses – hiati – hiatii…? Potboiling I have been hard at work on The Potboiler – the adventure novel that will earn us enough money to move out of the suburbs onto a 1 acre piece of land… Ph.D. This sudden spurt of energy was released by my decision to quit my …
More in Drawing as it Develops
Amie’s painting of 15 May 2007 I wrote a review of some of the interesting theory about children’s drawings. It briefly considers pre-representational drawing, but the meat of it deals with representation: realistic representation versus symbolism representation the tadpole formula for human figures children’s body-images: do we look like tadpoles to them? the possible sources of …
Toby Hemenway’s book “Gaia’s Garden”
 Just published a review on Suite101.com of Gaia’s Garden, the book that led me to Holmgren’s Permaculture. I tremendously enjoyed reading Hemenway’s book and I hope the review does it justice. I also hope that, once we have some land, I can put the permaculture way of gardening into practice. I might have to revisit …