A Squidly July 4th

For this year's 4th we put our own spin on patriotism. We rode our bikes and had a picnic breakfast at the Harlem Fairway ...
Mike and Little Squid continued learning how to play a symbol of American folk music ...

We all got excited at the prospect of a fire works barge visible from our apartment ...
Mama played her Little Sis in Wii tennis ... (finally, someone I can beat!)
We watched a lovely sunset as the barge floated in and out of view ...

And finally, we enjoyed a spectacular fireworks display on the Hudson River.

(There was also some shopping (Mama Squid, Little Sis, Squidette and Grandma Squid), some show-going (Grandpa Squid and Little Squid) and some computer repair (Papa Squid). All in all, a good day!

Start of Summer

For Mike and the kids, this weekend was the start of summer vacation. My summer officially starts on Wednesday, kind of, sort of.

To celebrate the start of vacation, I started the weekend by picking up my new BeBook from the FedEx drop off site.

(Shown with the road atlas for size.)

It came loaded with 150 classics and, after an hour or so of patient fiddling (during which came a point where I almost returned it), I figured out how to read library ebooks on it. That means that I can load trashy novels on it in addition to those mind expanding classics.

I also figured out how to format pattern PDFs and other pattern types so that I can load knitting patterns on it and be able to actually read them.

We did other things this weekend, besides play with my new toy. On saturday we found a geocache that had been eluding us (we have now found over 100 caches thanks to Little Squid and friend) and on Sunday we took an, unintentionally, long walk and then went kayaking in the Hudson River, right here in Manhattan.

No pictures of the kayaking because I did not bring my camera -- didn't want it to get wet.

The road atlas is out because we are trying to figure out our vacation route for this summer. With labor day being late, we get almost all of August for a change -- a full extra week! Possible destinations include: the ever popular Lancaster, PA, the newly popular but still unvisisted Pittsburgh, PA and possibly Toronto, Canada.

For now, however, it is time to put on some sunblock and pedal off to work. Mike will schlep the kids to camp later and we will all reconvene somewhere around dinner time.

Ahh summer!

Graduation Day

Need I say more?

Now on to high school.

Clueless

I had no clue. Fourteen years ago, when I held her in my arms for the first time, I had absolutely no clue of what was to come.

Of the smiles she would cause,

Of the tears -- of joy,

Of the laughter,

Of the pride.

It's true what teens say, adults are clueless!

Happy Birthday Batya!

The Price of Happiness

I left work at 6:00 today. And 6:30 yesterday. I get to work at 7:30 in the morning. And yet ... I am not upset. As a matter of fact, I am quite happy and very mellow about it all.

Compare this to last year when I was working my contractual day (7 hours and 50 minutes) and miserable. All day. Every day.

Boy, what a difference a year and a school makes.

(Oh, and I managed to hit my head on the bottom of a fire extinguisher today. Ouch!)

(Squidette thinks she did well on the Earth Science Regents. On to Algebra on Friday.)

Regents Week

Regents week has taken on a new flavor in the Squid household. In past years it has been a time of extreme stress for just me as I juggle the testing schedule of my school. Mike has it relatively easy -- he goes in, proctors and grades and comes home. Yes, he has a lot of grading to do, and he has to actually create the exam for his subject but it is a different kind of stress then his usual day-to-day teaching and he tends to relax a bit.

Squidette has just added Regents Week to her "times of stress." Tomorrow she takes her first Regents Exam -- Earth Science. Mike is helping her study by asking random question from her notes. He just finished the astronomy unit and had me in giggles and tears.

Mike: "Where is Mercury?"

Squidette: "It is the closest planet to the sun."

Mom's (silently): "In the plaza at Rockefeller Center."

Mike: "Where is Saturn?"

Squidette: "..." (something relevant ... I forget what)

Mom: Giggles hysterically since I know where this is going ...

Squidette: "Why are you laughing? ... Oh, I get it." (and silently, to self "my parents are idiots!")

Little Squid (emerging from room): "What's going on?"

We know what was coming next ... do you?

The High Line and other Blatherings

I fully intended to show you some nice pictures of the High Line today. As I prepared to load them from my camera chip onto my computer, however, I somehow managed to fling the chip into the vast unknown. And so, if you wish to see the High Line, I suggest you go here instead.

A short while ago I gave up the search for the chip and instead set out to do some actual work -- writing end of year letters and such. It is, however, difficult to concentrate when people keep interrupting my thoughts as they play Zombies or write valedictory speeches. Yes, you read that correctly. Squidette is the valedictorian of her junior high school. Can you see my grin from there?

That said, it has been a quiet weekend with no one up for a bike ride. Instead, on Saturday,we took the subway uptown and hit Zabar's and a crafts fair. Squidette and I got some neat hairclips and then we walked home, capturing a real and a virtual geocache on the way.

Today we walked the High Line and failed to find a cache that was just placed on it. Then Squidette and I went out and bought a new dress for her awards ceremony next week. The Little Squid and I went out and bought a birthday present for Squidette. Then I came home and did laundry and attempted to add pictures to my blog.

I've just gotten Squidette to write silently for a while so I think I will try those letters again ...

Rotating Children

I was chatting with the Principal of the Squidlings school the other day, thinking that she had no idea who I was (since I've only met her once or twice) and we were quipping about their rotten trip coordination - the sixth grade leaving the day the eighth grade returned. The timing, you see, does not give parents a child-free night. She sympathized and then I shared a story about Little Squid.

Seems that about 15 minutes after I dropped him off for his trip, he realized that he had forgotten his hat. This led to a typical Little Squid reaction and a cell phone call to me -- who could do absolutely nothing about the situation as the buses were leaving in 15 minutes and I was at work. And his hat was at home. He was not just upset. He was, to quote the Principal, inconsolable. Little Squid tends to go over the top on the rare occasions when he loses it.

Apparently the situation had come to the Principal's attention and she solved it much the way I think I would have done ... she gave him a school hat.

Had I not started randomly quipping about bad timing I would not have known that. Certainly not before Little Squid returned and possibly not ever. Makes me like their Principal more than I already did. And I really like her.

But enough about my younger child.

As the buses rolled up to the school ... and then down the block and around the corner ... I followed to try to catch sight of Squidette. I found her, and she found me, and I followed the correct bus to it's final resting place.

She was one of the last kids to disembark and, quickly, grabbing her bag (which had been unloaded from the bus by the Principal -- told you I liked that woman) came over to me. My comment? "Boy I missed you!" Where upon a teacher shouted at her to remember to tell me what happened today.

I made a quick assumption and said "Oh, I heard about it on the radio," referencing the shooting at the national Holocaust Museum. "No, not that," she replied, "I got dehydrated." Yeep!

Her teachers spotted it before it got too bad and got water in to her in sufficient quantities to stave of further problems. Phew!

Her class, by the way, had visited the museum in question the day before so they were nowhere near it when the shooting occurred. And, n the whole, she had a blast (on the trip -- the museum was somewhat depressing, as it is wont to be).

I try to be blase' whenever I send my kids out into the world but really, I am so very glad when they return home!

Pick up for Little Squid: 3:00 PM today.

Springtime for Squid

I know it's been a while since I posted. Let's just say that the Zombies ate my brains and let it be at that.

Unlike past springs, we have done very little biking. The reasons are simple and few -- too many other obligations, too little sleep (making for sloth-like squid) and too much rain. We are thinking, however of ways to extend the rides home from camp next month.

We have, however, done a fair amount of geocaching and managed to push our finds up from 65 to 92 in little more than a month of searching. Little Squid is going to try to capture a few more today with some friends. (NYC elementary and middle schools have a half day.)

Not only have we not been biking but very little shopping has been done. That said, we are now in an almost desperate state for several commodities that we tend to keep in large amounts. Tissues (purchased in 8 packs and down to half a box ... and I have a cold), dishwasher detergent (actually ran out of this one and had to send a squidling for more), laundry detergent (purchased in 5 gallon buckets, down to a few loads worth), chocolate covered raisins (purchased by the gallon and now gone) and most importantly, toilet paper.

We are down to the equivalent of three-quarters of a roll. Split between two bathrooms.

I won't even use it to blow my nose in any more.

Fortunately we are down one child right now and the one remaining child uses less of the stuff due to biological factors. And the other child is due back at ... 8:30 PM tomorrow night. Earliest. By which time I intend to have gone to Costco and restocked.

Got to do something to kill the hours between work and picking her up.

(I could work longer but keep in mind that I actually do not even intend to leave work until 5:00 or so. And I get to work at 7:30.)

The other child is also leaving us -- but we get no benefit from it as he is leaving Wednesday morning and she comes back Wednesday evening. He returns on Friday, a day on which I get to run to his school, pick him up, drive both of them home (silly to make one take the subway when the other is getting a lift), and then turn around and go back to work for the 8th grade prom. Which will come close to ending this spring's roller coaster. Which started 2 weeks ago with ...
a wedding (on Tuesday), a retirement dinner (on Wednesday), a Squidling (both) concert (on Thursday) and my school's senior Prom (on Thursday).

A week "off" followed. Kind of. It ended with both kids being inducted into Arista on Friday night and Little Squid playing a duet on Saturday.

This week we have ... Squidette Drop-off (6:30 am, Monday), Freshman orientation (my school, tonight), Squidette Pick-up and Costco run (tomorrow evening and night), dinner and a show with Little Sister Squid (Thursday -- can't wait!), Little Squid pick-up and 8th grade prom (my school) on Friday.

Next week ... a late meeting for me on Thursday and a possible awards ceremony for Squidette in the same evening and on Friday ... Squidette's 8th grade cruise. For which I have volunteered my home for female primping and shuttle service to and from the docks. (We live near by.)

Oh, and Squidette turns 14 that Sunday. And Mike is being honored the next evening. And Squidette graduates the day after that.

Eek! June 30th can't come too soon!

Experiments with Yogurt

A few weeks ago this article about yogurt appeared in the New York Times. It caught my eye and reminded me of the days when we used to make yogurt. Back in the days when I actually cooked.

Back then we had a yogurt maker like this one, the purpose of which is to keep the yogurt at the right temperature for a long time. It does not, however, heat, mix or chill the yogurt making it a one trick pony with expensive jars.

After mulling it over for a few days I decided to give the method in the Times article a shot. I heated a quart of milk, cooled it back down to the right temperature for the bacteria to do their thing, and added a few tablespoons of my favorite yogurt (Greek Goddess, non-fat).

I did as instructed and swaddled it in towels and left it for about 6 hours, chilled, and tasted. Yum! A bit loose, though, so I strained it in a Melita coffee filter until it was just right. Even better!

That batch yielded about 3 cups (maybe 2.5) for the quart and I gobbled it up in less than a week.

The following weekend I tried again with a gallon of milk. This took a long time to heat and, due to a longer fermentation time (I forgot about it and it went about 12 hours), it yielded a grainy, very thick yogurt (after a very brief straining), though still tasty. I still have some at work stuck in the bottom of a mason jar.

Last weekend was the third try and you know what they say about the third time. This time I used Stonyfield yogurt as the started and only let it ferment about 4-5 hours. Must I say it? This batch was the best! I strained it a little to thicken it somewhat but the texture was pudding like and just beguiling. I used my new, huge, strainer and had a fair amount of the yogurt escape with the whey, so I restrained the whey with the gold melita filter and used the really fine yogurt for our first experiment with frozen yogurt.

Little Squid and I took the fine yogart and combined it with some maple syrup and froze it.

Wrong move! It turned into a solid slab of icey mapley yogurt. I threw it in the food processor and ate it as a granita. Yummy but not scoopable and not what we were aiming for.

Yesterday we took 3 cups of the remaining yogurt and added about a cup of maple sugar granules that we acquired during our visit to Canada last summer. I ground it up a bit to get some of it really fine and left the rest in chunk form to add some texture. Then we tossed it into the ice cream maker which I had dug out of the recesses of several cabinets. (Its parts were scattered hither and yon.) The initial result, right out of the maker, was good but a bit sweet. It had, however, that great tang of real yogurt and was definetly a Pink Berry contender. There was a bit of a panic moment when, after several hours of freezing, it looked like it was a solid brick, but a bit of power on the ice cream scoop served to extract real, almost scoop like, portions. The general consensus is that it is good, but as previously determined, a little too sweet,

Last night I finally watched the episode of Good Eats on yogurt and, following Alton's recommendation, set more yogurt up to strain for yogurt cheese with which to make frozen yogurt. I was going to use corn syrup to sweeten it but with only dark syrup in the house we decided to go for plain.

There is a reason why frozen yogurt is sweetened.

Mike had some of it for dessert and agreed that even with fresh pineapple on top it needed sweetening.

All of that said, I am now almost out of yogurt and am now in the process of making another batch. We'll experiment some more with the frozen side of it next weekend. This batch is destined for breakfast.

Family Fun and Featured!

My post on Math and Crafts got picked up by a blog carnival. Cool! Given the lack of posts lately, this was certainly a pleasant surprise.

We've been rather busy Squid lately what with concerts,(the first time the kids have played together on stage).


And plays (Bye, Bye Birdie) of poodle skirt fame. (No pictures, sorry!)

And bi-weekly bouts of yogurt making which, today, morphed into maple frozen yogurt. Yum!

Tonight Little Squid is at a slumber party and I am about to settle in to some serious spinning.

Next week includes a science fair (Little Squid) and a high school information session (me at work). Which is nothing compared to the following week which includes a weekday wedding, a dinner with friends, a kids' concert and my school's prom. In 3 days.

A Plethora of Poodles

And here you go. 13 "poodle" skirts. 8 with actual poodles. And a pile of matching scarves.

They still haven't figured out the shoes.

Showtime: 7:00 PM Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Presenting ...

For the first time ...

On stage, at Carnegie Hall ...


Following a nice, filling dinner at Carnegie Deli ...


Performing with the New York Pops ... (and possibly the shortest instrumentalist on the stage) ...

Little Squid!!!

Can a mother be any prouder?

Oh, and he did great! He was one of only 6 flutists total -- and only three were pros. The other three, Little Squid included, were Junior High School kids. And one of the pieces the kids played in was flute heavy.

Of Caching and Good Deeds

On this last day of break Squidette decided that she wanted to get in on the caching fun. As Squidette, Little Squid and I had a commitment at the synagogue, mid-morning, we decided to subway uptown on the west side and walk across Central Park to our destination, detouring for a cache or two.We aimed for two and found one on the first leg of our journey, then hustled across town for a little bit of Good Deed doing.
On our way across town we stopped briefly to admire Cleopatra's Needle and the crabs holding it upright.

Two hours later, deeds done, we grabbed sandwiches from a local shop and headed back to Central Park via a street side cache (really quick grab by Not-So-Little Squid) and ate our lunch al fresco next to the Alice in Wonderland Statue (where the cache had gone missing).
Onwards, past some pretty flowers, we hustled to another Did-not-find where we were met by Mike on his bike. He stayed with us while we hunted out and found another cache and then he rode back home while the kids and I attempted three more caches and found two for a total of 8 attempted and 5 found for the day. That makes 11 in the last three days!

Very little crafting got done but I do intend to now put on my audio book and do some prep work for the next set of carding. As I prep this roving I'm realizing that the dye did not soak in as much as I would have liked so I may wind up redying this once it is spun. I won't try it again now for fear of felting it.

Of Bike Rides, Geocaching and Worm Leavings

Yesterday was the first breakfast ride of the year. We traversed the Brooklyn Bridge, rode along the Brooklyn waterfront and dined in full view of the Statue of Liberty.
The orange boat? The Staten Island Ferry, of course!

We enjoyed muffins, scones and croissants much to the childrens' dismay. (They were looking forward to apple fritters which were not to be had.)

Riding home we took a new path that allowed us to avoid a rather steep hill . That said, we still gained the elevation but were able to do so much more gradually and, for my part, without shifting gears.

We hit the Greenmarket and returned the tote bag to the Worm Compost Lady. Yes, our Greenmarket has a Worm Compost Lady. She sells 5, 10 and 20 pound bags of worm leavings. Last weekend Mike went to the Greenmarket while the children and I were doing something else (I forget what) and he asked about the compost. Since he did not have the shopping cart with him, he was reluctant to buy the 20 pounds I had asked for. The Worm Lady really wanted to make the sale so she offered him her sturdy tote bag to schlep it home in.

Needlesss to say, my balcony plants are now well composted. I mixed about 3/4 of the compost into my not-yet-planted pots (the peas having been enriched with the last of last years' worm poop) and now the soil is looking all nice and dark brown again.

(Worm leavings, by the way, unlike those of other animals, do NOT smell! I'd love to have a worm bin of my own but have not yet figured out how to keep Maria from cleaning it. )

Since then two tomato plants have been added to the pots and I still need to obtain two more for this years' "Squid Farm."

Riding home, we viewed the usual sites, including this homeless person lounging outside the church next to our home. (That's Not-So-Little Squid in the foreground.)
To be fair, the church houses a soup kitchen so it is actually unusual not to see down-on-their-luck folk outside of it.

Once home, I resumed my dying and then ventured forth once more with Little Squid to do some Geocaching. He and I had done some bike caching on Friday and decided to test our luck with some caches within walking distance. We scored 2 for 2 yesterday and 4 for 8 on Friday, bringing our total to 70 found caches. We might do some upper east side caches today, time permitting.

Home again, I carded up some of the dying from a few days earlier ...
Pretty! Now I'm prepping the next color for the carder while awaiting delivery of my Woolee Winder before I start spinning.

Catch Up Time

Spring Break started something like this ...

yes, that is a chicken bone ... they were out of lamb shanks.

The break continued with some finishing ...
and more finishing ...
As well as some nice beginnings ...

(Those are peas if you are confused.)

And then there was some dying ...

And a little bit of yogurt making ...
Only a little bike riding due to the weather. And, lots and lots of matzah.

And then there was the worm poop ... I dare you to ask!

Of Costumes and Concerts

The kids performed yesterday as part of their borowide band program. My camera work leaves much to be desired ...

Not Carnegie, rather the stage of JHS 99, but just as wonderful. They brought tears to my eyes!

Today was spent sewing poodle skirts ... 7 down, 6 to go. (One pink and two each of the other colors.)
Imagine the neck ribbing almost done on the vest, armholes yet to be started.

Math and Crafts

The children joined the school drama club and will be appearing in "Bye Bye Birdie" in early May. School plays require costumes.

For the Sweet Apple Teen, Debra Sue (aka Sqidette), it means a Poodle skirt.

This prompted the statements "fast, divided 28 by pi," and "32 X 4 divided by 36," the latter in an effort to figure out the real yardage needed versus what we purchased.
I blew it. Before we even got to this point. I really should have reread the instructions instead of assuming that I could wing it. This skirt is supposed to be about 4 inches longer. Oops!

No Knees allowed. That said, the kids tell me that one of the other girls is smaller then Little Squid. So, this will be hers if she wants it. At least it gave me an opportunity to figure out what has to be done.

As I've volunteered to make all of the skirts if needed, this is a good thing. The girls are supposed to make their own. I really do not see that happening.

Then there is Little Squid's costume. He plays Harvey Johnson, a geek who is trying to get a date to the prom.
Can you say "argyle vest?" The graph was charted by Little Squid, hence the statements "69 is and easily dividable number -- use it instead" and "2x +1 is always an odd number." The first statement was originally "69 is an evenly dividable number" which prompted Mike to tell me to go back to looking cute since my brain obviously was not working.
There are also sweater pieces blocking but that is another post. One to be written after the sweater is assembled.

On the Road Again

At 7:30 a.m. yesterday morning, the outside temperature registered 51 degrees and the forecast was for a high in the 60s. The kids and I donned our riding gear (o.k, I donned my riding gear, they ride in street clothes), loaded panniers and backpacks and set off for band practice and work.

We rode all of 2 blocks before Squidette proclaimed "we are definetely riding tomorrow." And then "I am so glad we didn't drive!"

Me too.

We had a lovely ride uptown and then Mike rode uptown to join us and we all rode home together, taking a detour to avoid all the "first nice day" recreation riders in Central Park.

This morning Squidette woke up feeling a bit under the weather but had chirped up enough by 10:00 to saddle up for a quick ride to the Manhattan Fairway Market.

I got to wait with the bikes while the kids and Mike went inside for provisions.

The greenway is now open from 125th Street to 135th (or so) making for a much nicer waiting spot then the parking lot.
The ride uptown was tough as we were fighting a serious headwind but the ride back was lovely. Until I went to put up Little Squid's bike.
Did I mention that I had to raise both their seats by at least an inch?

His is just barely fitting on the rack now. There is about 1 inch between the seat and the ceiling which does not bode well for the rest of the summer. The next time we raise his seat we will have to come up with other storage plans ... or have to lower the seat after every ride.

I think his legs must be longer then Squidette's were at this age. We never had this problem when she rode this bike.

Total weekend milage: 24.8 miles

YTD: 24.8 miles

Average: 12.4 over 2 rides.

Both kids are hoping for nice weather next weekend so we can do it again!

Not Mini-me but yes, Oh My!

Remember this post? I'll wait. Go all the way to the end, please.

May I please brag again?

Little Squid,

in concert,

on stage,

at Carnegie Hall,

with the New York Pops,

Monday, April 27!!!

(Playing the flute.)

Excuse me while I kvell a bit.

And a bit more ...

Yeah, I'm just really proud.