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lydamorehouseIt's finally raining here in Saint Paul. It started early this morning and has been soaking us non-stop all day. We need it badly, though it meant that there was no "bouncy house" at the birtday party Mason attending this afternoon for a school friend. Mason, of course, asked after it in his very precocious way and informed me that, "it most assuredly will be here next year."
The party was a lot of fun, despite the fact that it was regulated to the indoors. The mom had crafts ready, and they have a relatively newer house with a finished basement for the kids to roam around in (as well as exciting toys, like marble puzzles, as well as board games of all sorts.) Mason had an awesome time. I only feel a bit bad because we got his friend a series of books he already had the first five of, and now I can't find the reciept for them to make an exchange.
Last night Shawn and I finally watched "Life Without People." I had no idea David Brin was one of the commenters in that! And, secondly, it's the kind of movie I've been thinking about a lot afterwards. I keep looking around thinking, "Huh, how long would it take for THAT to be overgrown." The movie did wonders for my sense of my own gardening skills, however. Clearly, the fact that my garden is recognizable as intentional at ALL is a major testimony to my abilities. And, when things get overgrown I'm just going to say, "Look, it's an experiement in 'Life without People.' I'm returning things to their natural state."
I do see how they could make a miniseries out of the idea though. I had a lot of unanswered questions, myself. They made the whole "and then the animals return and the entire ecosystem rebounds" idea seem like good grounds to promote genocide, yet, only in one instance, did they talk about invasive species and their effect. (In the movie it was some kind of foreign muscle that cogs the Hoover dams cooling pipes.) But, I was thinking: what about all the work the DNR does to keep native species healthy and not overrun by invasive aliens, as it were? I mean, it's great that the wolf and deer population would boom, but wouldn't the purple loosestrife boom too? And what of the one butterfly that lives only on wild lupine that tons of gardeners in the Upper Midwest intentionally plant (and cultivate, etc.) in their gardens? I think that the documentary director/writers focused way more on how much better earth would be without us (which I can agree with, for the most part,) but at the expense of full-picture-ness, I think.
Also, I'm totally craving the next disc for "The Closer" (a cable TV show starring Kyra Segwick a.ka. Mrs. Kevin Bacon, that's really just a jazzed up police procedural for a quirky priority homocide team in Los Angeles, but which is surprisingly addictive.)
Mason right now is reading, even though it's past his bedtime. He's getting one of those nights where he can stay up as long as he likes as long as he's reading. I stopped in at HalfPrice Books to get the present for his friend's birthday today, and they had a summer reading promotional called "Feed Your Brain." If kids log in at least fifteen minutes a day reading every day, they're eligible for a $3.00 coupon. Mason has decided this is a challenge to read as much as humanly possible.
Who am I to dissude him?
I'm going to log-off now and see what other Netflix we have around the house and try to convince Shawn it's time for popcorn and a movie.
The party was a lot of fun, despite the fact that it was regulated to the indoors. The mom had crafts ready, and they have a relatively newer house with a finished basement for the kids to roam around in (as well as exciting toys, like marble puzzles, as well as board games of all sorts.) Mason had an awesome time. I only feel a bit bad because we got his friend a series of books he already had the first five of, and now I can't find the reciept for them to make an exchange.
Last night Shawn and I finally watched "Life Without People." I had no idea David Brin was one of the commenters in that! And, secondly, it's the kind of movie I've been thinking about a lot afterwards. I keep looking around thinking, "Huh, how long would it take for THAT to be overgrown." The movie did wonders for my sense of my own gardening skills, however. Clearly, the fact that my garden is recognizable as intentional at ALL is a major testimony to my abilities. And, when things get overgrown I'm just going to say, "Look, it's an experiement in 'Life without People.' I'm returning things to their natural state."
I do see how they could make a miniseries out of the idea though. I had a lot of unanswered questions, myself. They made the whole "and then the animals return and the entire ecosystem rebounds" idea seem like good grounds to promote genocide, yet, only in one instance, did they talk about invasive species and their effect. (In the movie it was some kind of foreign muscle that cogs the Hoover dams cooling pipes.) But, I was thinking: what about all the work the DNR does to keep native species healthy and not overrun by invasive aliens, as it were? I mean, it's great that the wolf and deer population would boom, but wouldn't the purple loosestrife boom too? And what of the one butterfly that lives only on wild lupine that tons of gardeners in the Upper Midwest intentionally plant (and cultivate, etc.) in their gardens? I think that the documentary director/writers focused way more on how much better earth would be without us (which I can agree with, for the most part,) but at the expense of full-picture-ness, I think.
Also, I'm totally craving the next disc for "The Closer" (a cable TV show starring Kyra Segwick a.ka. Mrs. Kevin Bacon, that's really just a jazzed up police procedural for a quirky priority homocide team in Los Angeles, but which is surprisingly addictive.)
Mason right now is reading, even though it's past his bedtime. He's getting one of those nights where he can stay up as long as he likes as long as he's reading. I stopped in at HalfPrice Books to get the present for his friend's birthday today, and they had a summer reading promotional called "Feed Your Brain." If kids log in at least fifteen minutes a day reading every day, they're eligible for a $3.00 coupon. Mason has decided this is a challenge to read as much as humanly possible.
Who am I to dissude him?
I'm going to log-off now and see what other Netflix we have around the house and try to convince Shawn it's time for popcorn and a movie.
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Date: 2009-06-07 01:52 am (UTC)I'd recommend reading The world without us by Alan Weisman, instead, which is much more nuanced and better written in covering much the same subjects. The section on the amount of effort needed to sustain New York's subway & water supply is quite scary.
I completely agree re gardening skills. We actually let out back yard partially "naturalize" and it was scary how fast invasive plants took over. I don't recommend it BTW -- it's more work to keep vaguely neat and much less useful than a lawn.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-07 01:56 am (UTC)One summer when I was in elementary school, I spent hours at a used bookstore that was a near bike ride to our house. One of my most valued possessions at the time was my trade-in credit slip for that store.