That picture, again…: the tensions. We are looking at them, intensely, but they have their backs to us, unaware, busy. They are public now, in all their nakedness, but their interaction is most private, hidden from us. The mother is washing the child (a foot), but no one (but the jet of water) is washing her. The water isn’t …
Author Archives: kaat
Cleaning?
Twice this week (already) I’ve apologized to visiting friends about the state of our place. I never used to do this. It’s even my policy not to do this: I’d rather play with Amie, read a chapter of a good book, or write a couple of lines, than obsess about the dust bunnies floating free under …
Who Remembers Ernestine Huckleby?
A photograph I was leafing through an old National Geographic compilation book called As We Live and Breathe, The Challenge of Our Environment, when I chanced upon a two-page spread devoted to the Huckleby family and a large photograph that took my breath away. I reproduce it here, not knowing who the photographer or copyright …
More about those diapers
I published a new and updated review of “green” diapers (Seventh Generation, Whole Foods 365 Private Label and gDiapers). There’s a lot of new information, much of it gained from very recent email exhanges with the companies involved, as well as some more thorough research on the net. The new review complements the old one with many …
Next installment in Drawing as It Develops
I just put up the fifth article in the series “Drawing as it Develops”: Amie discovers colors! Go check out her marvellous creations! Articles in the series (so far): First Drawings of a Very Young Child: Amie at 16 months Circles, and Coloring Books (a Mistake?): Amie at 18 months More Circles, Graphs, and post hoc naming: …
Continue reading “Next installment in Drawing as It Develops”
An All-Round Toy for an All-Round Child
David Holmgren, at the beginning of his book Permaculture, Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability (p.7), gives some examples of non-material well-being: When we enjoy a sunset rather than watching a movie, when we look after our health by walking rather than consuming medicine, when we spend time playing with a child rather than buying them …
Wise child, early a.m.
I know, my drawing sucks, but it could get better, with practice… no?
Wanting Another Child
Is one enough? We are asked quite often if we want a second child. It’s a tough question. As for myself, I always envisioned three: two of our own and one adopted. But I don’t have time on my side: I am already 35, and I don’t think Amie is ready for a younger sibling …
More about diapers
A while ago I published a review of gDiapers, Seventh Generation diapers and Whole Food 365 diapers. In the meantime I’ve received comments and questions from discerning and concerned readers, gained some more hands-on (hah!) experience with the gDiapers, and found some more questions on the net. These are additional questions that I am now investigating: What is the …
I planted…
… six kinds of basil! Six! They’re in clay pots perched on the ledge that surrounds our basement entrance. Sounds gloomy? No: they’re in the sun! They’re soaking up the sun and soon we will harvest some of that energy for ourselves. I plan to get more herbs (last year we successfully grew basil, cilantro, rosemary, …