Kids, Origami Butterflies, and Dinosaurs

Well, okay, I wasn't going to do much detailed blogging, but visiting Kid's Community with Tina this morning was so much fun I've got to put in a bit about it. Tina helps run the class of about 10 or so K-1st graders, and I got to be a visitor, about midway between a kid and a volunteer. (As in: I'm sure I acted quite mature for a six-year-old. :-) There's something really nice about being able to play with kids, and to be sort of accepted as one of their own, to a certain extent. You can really tell when a kid doesn't like you, or doesn't want to play with you, or whatever. They let you know -- none of this "tolerating" or "being polite" stuff that grown-ups learn how to do. But also, when they do like you and play with you, it has a very special, genuine feeling to it, and that's what I really love. Plus, it's just fun to goof off sometimes. :-) Anyway, there were some highly amusing moments during the morning, so I'll leave you with a couple of them, in case they're even half as amusing to read....

I had folded a couple origami butterflies during craft time and I gave one to Charlotte. She liked it so much that she unfolded it and ripped it in half. Hmm. Unfortunately, she still wanted a butterfly, so later on I gave her the other one. A few minutes later I saw that it was still intact, but she cheerfully informed me that "If I decide I don't want a butterfly anymore, I can just kill this one, too!" I told her it really wouldn't be nice to unfold this one, and she must have taken it to heart. The next time I saw the butterfly, it had every one of its folds stapled shut. Ouch. For a sweet little kid, she can be awfully vicious with origami.

Another kid quote, from Melissa I think, on going through various toys in a box: "Look! A giraffe, right here with all the dinosaurs! Who would have imagined it?"

I suppose I could also tell about Matthew's thousands of magazines, Brooks' thumb-eating beans, or the kid who wanted to give somebody "a swimming frog that actually vomits," but that's probably enough for now. :-)

This weekend is much too full

I really just have too much to do sometimes, even for three day weekends. My current project, which I haven't had a chance to do much with yet, is working up some new possible blog designs. Aside from that, I have my usual large amounts of reading and fair amounts of writing that I like to keep up with, plus fragments of music time whenever I can squeeze them in. This particular weekend has also seen a quadruple-birthday/dance party, movie watching (The Red Violin, with Tina and Justin), a contra dance (I got to teach the beginner's lesson), visiting Tina's church (The River) and Kid's Community (fun with little kids!), and several hours of being choreography helper for the T-K-J team (I don't know if I was really all that helpful, but I could at least be a fourth body for testing things out). Tomorrow will be full, too. It can get a tad frustrating for me sometimes, because I can't do everything I want to and because I need a certain amount of down-time in between stuff, but oh well. Certainly better than being bored to death all the time.

Back from Ireland by way of Italy

Interesting night of music tonight. The session was at somebody's house in Mountain View, and it sort of sprawled across her large back porch. It was the sort of thing where you could see how the circle started with just a few people, and then more and more just sort of glommed on, without expanding the original circle. So it wasn't a very good setup for things like communication between musicians, or being sociable, and there were just a few too many people for my idea of a good session. Makes me appreciate Patrick's session a lot more. But it was still pretty fun, and I played banjo for a while so I could hear myself over everybody. The really nice parts of the evening were later on, though. The session had started fairly early, so people were drifting away by around 10:00 or so. Eventually it got down to just me and Art playing, with various people still around just hanging out. I got out my mandolin since I could be quieter then, and we had a number of fun tunes together. I really like just doing some one-on-one playing, in contrast to a large session. After a bit of that I was going to head home but found Gary, Jenna and Peter playing waltzes inside. I love hearing Gary play neat Italian tunes on his accordian. It makes me want to start playing that again. He even learned that beautiful, chromatic waltz from Bread and Tulips that I sent him (I had to re-learn it on the spot, though). So we did some more waltzes and a couple O'Carolan tunes before I finally went home for real. Very nice way to end the evening.

De España a Irlanda

Someone decided that today at lunch we should all speak in Spanish. That was kind of cool, though as usual I did far better at understanding than speaking. Good practice, though. We should do that more often.

I'm heading off to an Irish session now. Patrick's was cancelled but there's another one I've never been to, so we'll see what it's like.

Moo

Happy Birthday, Justin!