15 April 2011

7 Quick Takes: Volume 28


This Friday, I am aware that "even children get older, and I'm getting older too..."

Let's see how quick I can make these takes. I usually experience an epic fail with the quick part, but I have very little time today and I really really want to get back into the 7 Quick Takes game, after a prolonged absence. Here goes.

~1~

The Fleetwood Mac song quoted above (Landslide) was playing on my car radio yesterday morning as I drove away from the BART station, where I had left my 12 year old son to catch a city bus to his guitar lesson. He has ridden buses before, but this was his first solo expedition. So this was my his first solo expedition. The stress and anxiety this produced for me came as a surprise; I thought I was a much cooler cucumber than I turned out to be.

The song was perfect for the occasion, and is responsible for the mistiness in my eyes that blurred the street in front of my car. I resisted the urge to follow the bus and make sure he knew where to get off and how to walk from there to his lesson. I did linger in the parking lot until I was sure he got on the right bus, which prompted him to send me a text after he spied my van still idling in the lot: "Why are you still here?"

We both survived. And a whole world of possibilities immediately opened up for him and for all of us. Three cheers for budding independence!

~2~

While I was doing laundry last night, my 10 year old son brought me an armload full of dirty clothes. He saw me add the detergent and said, with innocent curiosity: "What's that white powdery stuff?"

Another epic fail.

~3~

My newest fun Friday thing is to attempt the New Yorker's weekly news quiz. Today, I bombed with a 25%, which pretty much tells you how much time I was able to listen to NPR this week. Here's the link; bookmark it and play along each week!

~4~

Each year, our garden and gardens Rick has designed are featured on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour. The tour is in 16 days. We are officially freaking out. This was supposed to be a big week for me to accomplish many things in our garden but my kids decided it was instead going to be a big week for barfing. If you are the praying kind, get to work. If you're not, fake it this week, and say a prayer for us. We need help of all kinds, from all quarters.

Plus, if you aren't the praying kind, and you turn out to be wrong, well then helping us out will really help you out in the long run.

~5~

I hate pop music. I'm listening to my kids listen to depraved junk as I type. Is this just the way of parents and kids? I know my parents most of hated my music...and I'm pretty sure their parents hated theirs. And so it goes. I really do want to rip my ears off. Do your kids listen to music you despise?

Trust me, I am not liberal with allowing them to listen. I hardly ever let them, because we've got little tinies around here, and even at 10 and 12, the boys are too young for some of those lyrics. If anything really bad comes on, they know to turn it off, but ya' know, they don't comply every single time.

And then there's the fact that I really do fail to see the artistic value in 90% of what they are listening to. Most of it sounds utterly awful to me, and that's before I know what the lyrics are saying. How do other parents handle this?

~6~

My boys and my girls are switching rooms this weekend. The overhaul has begun. While working in the boys' room today, I found this hand-painted postcard, sent to Sam by my dad. Finding gems like this always makes cleaning the house more enjoyable. I love my dad!




What treasures have you found while cleaning the house?

~7~

What was your favorite band or musician when you were in high school? Did you have records? Tomorrow is Record Store Day! Kind of apropos of my post from yesterday, in which I reminisce about listening to an actual vinyl record, one with the record jacket that had all the lyrics printed right there on the back. I enjoyed this story on NPR today, and if I could find a way to squeeze in a visit to Down Home Music tomorrow, along with the multiple soccer games, rehearsals, and bowling dates, you know I would. It's probably not in the cards. Go in my place, OK?

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Go visit Conversion Diary for the original 7 Quick Takes; explore the links of other people playing along!

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That took me about 35 minutes. Was that quick??

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1 comment:

Kristin said...

I just heard "Landslide" this week too and the melody always makes me teary-eyed and remember seeing a Dall Sheep on a summit in AK; and it perfectly encapsulates the "feelings" of getting older, of which we are constantly reminded by watching our children grow up.

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