New Orleans
Summer has officially begun and tomorrow is the first day of Hurricane Season. OH JOY! I really mean it. Hurricane evacuations mean a trip to Disneyworld to visit Mickey and all of his pals for us – always a very exciting time in the Dagwood household!
Tink participated in his first dance competition this Saturday. He did well for his first time. He danced with the instructor’s daughter in a two-hand reel and they placed 3rd. He placed 1st in another one of his dances. The competition was held at the Hilton hotel in New Orleans, LA. Driving through the east side brought back many disturbing memories of Hurricane Andrew in 1992. There were countless miles of destroyed homes, apartments, and businesses. My heart goes out to the families who have lost their dwellings and loved ones. I wish them all the best for their future.
After the competition, we went into town to visit some sites – of course, I had more on my list than we could’ve accomplished, plus I left the stroller at home, so I had to put PigPen in the backpack and lug his 40 pounds around!
I asked for directions to Mardi Gras World before we left the hotel, and the bellman told me to take the ferry and then a shuttle bus would be waiting to pick us up once we came off the ferry – I thought, “Wow!” A shuttle would be there for US – how special!
We took the ferry over to an island and there just as the bellman said, was a shuttle waiting for us to board! Nate was the driver and he was quite an interesting character. He told us stories and sang to the passengers old jazz and blues tunes. Mardi Gras World is where they construct all the floats for the parades to be used around Fat Tuesday.
It was a great experience. The boys were able to try on various costumes and then we watched 2 films about Mardi Gras and the founder of Mardi Gras World. A tour throughout one of the hangars followed and ended with Mardi Gras cake and water. We were tired after the tour, so we headed back to the hotel.
On Sunday, again armed with my long list of sites to see, we headed out. The boys wanted to go to the aquarium and outside the aquarium, Home Depot had a kids’ workshop. So the boys detoured and made a wooden boat. The aquarium had only re-opened the day before after suffering extensive damage from Hurricane Katrina. I thought is was a beautiful aquarium – supposedly one of the Top 5 in the nation.
The boys have been swimming everyday – although this seems like a no-brainer for kids, it is very important that my boys become strong and competent swimmers. There are too many variables here at the ocean: an unfortunate caveat to all the sun & fun.
Lucky me – the kids were tired and wanted to head home. So we began our 6 hour journey eastbound. I’ll just keep this list of sites to see and things to do. I was so enchanted with the city, it’s culture and surrounding mysteries, that I feel certain a return trip is imminent.
The Talented Son
I have been doing a lot of soul searching over the past few weeks and I have concluded that each member of The Family has his own idea of what me, The Mommy should do for him. We are a very active family – we visit many places. Still they complain about being BORED. The oldest son complains that I am unfair in not allowing sleepovers. Well, The Mommy is tired of entertaining the 13-year-old son and his friends. I would very much like them to come to the house – I just do not want to hear about how BORED they are — NOT The Mommy’s problem!
If this sounds like a rant, then you are absolutely correct! It is just that – a rant! Or maybe it’s a pout or perhaps it is an adult-sized tantrum. In any case, it’s all here for the world to see.
This oldest and talented son of mine – he is infinitesimally brilliant in the arts. He can dance, play the drums, guitar, as well as draw, paint, and sculpt. I have no earthly idea where he gets the talent. I possess no such gifts!
The problem resides in the fact that he does not know what to do with these gifts and when it becomes challenging, his guises the challenges as boredom.
So here it is! A picture of The Talented Son –
January 12, 2006
It has been a pretty productive two weeks in January. We have accomplished tons despite the varying illnesses wreaking havoc on our lives.
Tink continues to dance and Ms. T. is very excited to begin private training in order to better prepare Tink for competition. (I’ll post a pic later)…
And, drum roll please … he received 2 A’s, 2 B’s and 1 C on his report card! I saw that and the tears wouldn’t stop flowing! We have been praying for a miracle – and I think it’s happened. He is doing well at EBA, an alternative school.
Daffy is playing basketball. Although his skills are not as polished as many boys his age, we keep encouraging him to enjoy the game and do his best. Our counsel to our children in this regard is to do what you love, even if you are not good at what you love doing.
Dennis lost his first tooth on the 12th. He was so upset that he began to cry. He kept insisting that he had broken his tooth on his pizza and that all his teeth were supposed to remain firmly planted inside his mouth. I’d venture to guess that it took more than half of a day to convince him otherwise and to soothe his fears. I found the whole episode to be quite comical, which probably did not aid in relieving his fears. But I just couldn’t get the pictures out of my head from a very funny book called “Parts.”
RocketBoy, well … he’s going through an emotional period right now – he’s just a passionate child, and so he hasn’t accomplished much other than perfecting his temper tantrums!
PigPen has decided that he’s going back to using a bottle and wants to also use the potty. He doing pretty well at it – in fact, he’s the first child that actually understands the concept of a “Pull-Up”.
As for me and our plans at home, I am currently updating what I want to accomplish and how I want to go about it. I have many plans for the upcoming months. I’m not a textbook mom. They are boring and like death to a child. And so the process is slow and sometimes painful.
Shakespeare Sonnet I
Analysis
As the opening sonnet of the sequence, this one obviously holds a special importance. It appears to look both before and after, into the future and into the past … It sets the tone for the following group of so called ‘procreation’ sonnets 1-17. In addition, many of the compelling ideas of the later sonnets are first sketched out here – the youth’s beauty, his vulnerability in the face of time’s cruel processes, his potential for harm, to the world, and to himself, (perhaps also to his lovers), nature’s beauty, which is dull in comparison to his, the threat of disease and cankers, the folly of being miserly, the need to see the world in a larger sense than through one’s own restricted vision.
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