Cold Spaghetti

The Louisiana Children’s Museum celebrated it’s 20th birthday on Saturday. Totally by accident, we were there.
We decided to go to the museum for our morning outing with the kids. When we checked in, we noted 4 birthday party sign-ins (members use party rooms and have free admission for guests.) Still, it was early and we enjoyed a few of the exhibits without much of crowd. Will and Paul gave the nightly news report on local TV (above).
And Will went shopping in the Little Save-A-Center. His purchases: laundry detergent, a lobster, a crab, hamburger, sausage, crackers, and shrimp pot pie. Definitely our NOLA kid!
Kate watched it all, sitting cool in Will’s Superman shades.Will and Paul had a fun time in the bubble maker — it was early enough in the morning that the juice was big-bubble-worthy.
It was around the bubble makers that I noticed a staff member giving a press photographer a tour of the center (the photographer took some pictures of Will with the bubbles.) Then I remembered … today was full of special events at the Museum! No wonder it seemed to be filling up (fast) with kids and adults! A few minutes later, the announcement came through regarding live music in the little theatre. Live music?! We were THERE.No other than Theresa Anderson was performing! Live music is good anywhere. But this is New Orleans. And this was Theresa Anderson. It was FANTASTIC.
The kids had a blast and the adults jammed for all we were worth. Too cool! LCM had live music lined up all day, plus ice cream, give-aways, and even a Second Line.
After Theresa’s performance, we headed to the door to get home for naptime. We just barely missed the huge crowd gathering to get into the museum — whew! (Will needed to nap in order to be ready for Aya’s birthday party in the afternoon, so we had to leave before noon.) We scored 20th anniversary t-shirts for Will and Paul along with free books for the kids before leaving LCM.

Our neightbors Walt and Linda, givers of Will’s 2 pirate t-shirts, do-rag, and band-aids, scored again! This incredible lunchbox is the newest to Will’s pirate collection. Argh, matey!

The kids have been seriously getting their party on lately. Friday night, faculty hosted a party for the doctoral students (aka: meet the fresh meat night). Wednesday, car trouble lead to a fun impromptu party for Aya (Will’s amor). And last night, Eva hosted doctoral students again for a dinner party (Happy Guatemalan Independence Day!)
Celebrating Aya’s birthday on Wednesday gave us an opportunity to give her the birthday present we had for her (harmonica and recorder sets). I was nervous that Will would get confused and think it was for him. Was I wrong! He saw the package and before anyone could say a word, grabbed it and brought it to Aya saying, “Surprise, Aya! Happy Birthday! Present for YOU!” Even more impressive, once open, they happily shared the harmonica and recorder with no fighting whatsoever. The rest of the night they marched around playing in a “parade.” What totally awesome kids. Kate was enthralled.

Those may have been the words to “Steppin’ Time” if Mary Poppins and the Chimney Sweeps had had a Jumper-roo!Craigslist pulled through for us again and we scored a Jumper for Kate. She LOVES being upright on her feet and Will loves to play with her while she’s in it. The seat has a lot of spring; we’re trying to impress on Will the importance of not sending his sister flying into orbit.
What’s that blue blur running behind Kate in this picture? It’s Will. Be afraid. 2-year olds can really move that fast.

This weekend was a big one for Clare, daughter of my friend, Gwen, who celebrated her very first birthday on Sunday. I remember that when Will turned one it held a lot of special meaning for me, so I’d been thinking for a long time on a way to make it special for Gwen. The idea came a few months ago while I was organizing some of my art stuff… I found a sketch that our friend Dave Brenner drew from a photograph of Paul holding Will when he was only a few days old. Even though it’s been years since I made a serious drawing, I decided then to draw a picture of Clare.

I began downloading copies of the photos Gwen posted to e-clare and printing them in black and white until I found one that gave the kind of facial detail I needed. In the process, I tried practice sketches from various photos using assorted techniques. I was very anxious. Finally, I began to remember that while I am not that great in making the perfect line, I can work with shade. Tools in hand, I used a charcoal imprint for shape and made a grid on overhead paper to make sure I was keeping in proper porportion. I used both charcoal and lead pencils, with lots of erasing with my favorite gum erasers. It was difficult to decide when to stop. I picked at it for several days before forcing myself to frame it (I shudder at the number of times I’ve gone to far with a piece!) Then I had to work on keeping quiet until it arrived at Gwen’s house and she’d opened it. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out (although the picture above isn’t the greatest) and had fun doing it. I’d love to do one of my kids… just waiting for that perfect photo!

We’re 100 days into Ray Nagin’s re-election and we’ve finally been given the 100 days plan! Considering the many committees Mayor Nagin formed upon election to study all sorts of city-wide problems, certainly The Plan will be comprehensive! Something to give New Orleanians an idea of what to expect for the future for our city.

*drum roll*
The Plan is to…

…”establish a department for dealing with the recovery from Hurricane Katrina and post weekly Web updates on the rebuilding.” (as quoted from ABC news)

The Times-Picayune writes:

“While committees on topics ranging from health care to repopulation met during the past few months, neither Nagin nor any of his advisers hinted Tuesday at any major change in direction for the city. Much of the progress they touted sounded more like the return of a hobbled government to some level of functionality than the realization of a bold new vision.“

What is that sound? Could it be the last shread of hope for this government ripping itself out of the recesses of my soul? Not to be dramatic or anything.

Abeona House asked me to come and play photographer du jour for our “first day” last Friday. It was great fun! I used the highest ISO setting (1600) and a general “nonflash” setting for almost all of the photos. It was a challenge to try and capture all that was going on — kids, teachers, tons of fast movement, low light, etc. A great learning experience.

A board member posted a few of the preview shots I sent on the Abeona home page with a link to several others. (The ones posted are low resolution versions I sent through email; I haven’t given the full-sized via CD yet.)

So started yesterday morning: sneezes from Will and Kate. Both seemed fine until the afternoon, when sneezes turned into icky runny noses. The evening ended with both medicated, sniffling and wheezing through their binkies.

Moms don’t get much sleep on nights like these.

Kate is still a bit fussy, but not as congested as her brother. Will has that full-up, slow-sounding voice and a nose “with lots of bogeys.” However, it has not stopped him from being a total maniac all morning. Both were running low grade temps this morning. My watchful eye is on alert; the doctor call is on hold until tomorrow.

First day of Abeona is suppose to be Wednesday. Murphy’s Law, anyone??

What was going to be a photo-shoot for the kids under the live oaks turned into a feed-the-ducks-only morning. Will seemed to forget the system of throwing bread into the water and instead turned the entire bag upside-down on the grass and called out, “come on, ducks!”
Unbelievable amounts of green algae cover the water in Audubon Park. Paul swears a small crocodile arose from the murk to munch on some bread.

Home from the park, with rain outside, and Will napping, Kate humored my desire to capture her four-month cuteness.
New Album is up!

Hat tip to lyricist, TPM

To the tune of Billy Idol’s Dancing with Myself…

In the ninth ward of New Orleans
Where the water flowed like an ocean
In the recent election
Made an errant selection
And we’re dancing with Ray Nagin

In his mind he’s gone to play
In his own Rue de la Paix
Cause we’re eating his cake
And cleaning up his mistakes
And we’re dancing with Ray Nagin

Dancing with Ray Nagin
Dancing with Ray Nagin
Cause he’s leaving New Orleans
With his lousy performance
And we’re dancing with Ray Nagin

“Chopsley moves faster than FEMA”
And “Fix Everything My Ass”
If the mayor is talking
Then the mayor is lying
And we’re dancing with Ray Nagin

So let’s sink a Coke and Jack
And buy us back, Chirac
Cause the levees are frayin’
And the governor’s prayin’
And we’re dancing with Ray Nagin

Dancing with Ray Nagin
Dancing with Ray Nagin
Cause he’s leaving New Orleans
With his lousy performance
And we’re dancing with Ray Nagin

Dancing with Ray Nagin
Dancing with Ray Nagin
Cause he’s leaving New Orleans
With his lousy performance
And we’re dancing with Ray Nagin …