Blowing & Drifting

Carleton has a lot of good traditions, but those centered on “New Student Week” are especially good. The best one: upperclass students line up at the formal campus entrance and cheer – loudly and energetically – for the first-year students as they roll onto campus. The noise is joyous and wonderful. Another good, if more [...]

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Julia’s first day of first grade went pretty well, I think. Witness:

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Our first-ever family trip to the Minnesota Zoo was quite an outing. Many many animals seen, three and a half hours on our feet, five or six miles walked, four snacks and four lunches consumed, scores of other families dodged, dozens of prairie dogs oohed and ahhed over, several big felines gaped at, one terrifying shark [...]

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One of our wonderful neighbors – someone who runs Swag, a great (web-invisible) shop in downtown Northfield – bought some oversized adirondack chairs for her backyard. Before wheeling them out of sight, she invited us to come over and sit in them, which we promptly did, being suckers for a cheap fun time. Julia predictably [...]

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This is a video camera: This is a video camera in the hands of a four-year-old. Genevieve calls this “My Laughter Box is Full.” My Laughter Box is Full from Christopher Tassava on Vimeo.

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There really are twin ruts in this road, but this is a funny sign anyhow.

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After dinner tonight, the girls and I went outside to play catch and have a few more minutes of active fun. As Julia and I were tossing a ball back and forth, Vivi – wearing a nightgown for no good reason at all – transformed herself into “Ball Fief” and proceeded to try to steal [...]

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Monday night, the girls decided we were going to play freeze tag. So we did, and it was both lung-burning and hilarious. They understand the basic idea, of course, but their physical limitations and personal idiosyncrasies make for a zany sort of activity – not quite a game, but not quite not a game, either. [...]

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A classic sign at the wonderfully-named “Middle Spunk Lake” rest area on I-94 north of the Cities.

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Notwithstanding the fact that the girls have never been and are still not particularly good travelers, today’s trip up to Moorhead was by far the easiest, smoothest trip we’re ever had. Nobody (adult or child) cried, the (adult and child) complaining was kept to a minimum, no untimely urination or vomiting occurred, and on the whole, [...]

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Today was beyond hot – for southern Minnesota. The air temperature was up over 90°F for a good part of the day and the heat index was up over a 100°F for even more of it, while the relative humidity was in the upper 70% range and the dew point was well over 80°F for [...]

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That’s the famous demand that Jens Voigt, a superlatively tough pro cyclist, makes during especially hard rides. My ride today was hardly a Tour de France stage, but it was both the longest ride and the longest workout I’ve ever done. The ride took me further away from Northfield than any ride I’ve done, into [...]

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Something about Thursday called for haiku. Morning Days without meetings Are easy to get up for Time to get stuff done Noon A baby swallow Grounded on the hot sidewalk Parents swoop madly Afternoon The roofing tar stench Displeases, causes sneezes, And inspires queases Evening The girls think “Heigh Ho” By the silly Seven Dwarfs [...]

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This evening Vivi and I were  drawing when she looked over at me with big sad eyes and asked, “Is amorrow a weekend day?” I shook my head. “No, honey, tomorrow is just Tuesday. It’s a few more days until the weekend.” Whereupon she burst into tears – heavy, gasping, wailing tears – and leapt [...]

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I know I already posted another version of this photo on my blog and on Flickr, but I like it so much I have tweaked it a bit so I can put it up again. It’s pretty much worth any 10,000 words you might use to describe high summer on the prairie.

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