Delicious Minutiae

Here it is, Friday again…  I can’t decide if I’m giving or accepting apologies today.

I’ll start with giving an apology to my dear children for stealing another slice of their childlike innocence away from them.

It’s their own fault, though, for having questions.

We listened to John Prine on the ride to Co-op this morning.  We have this charming habit of playing a song until even the car won’t drive anymore unless we promise to quit hitting replay.  This morning we couldn’t make it out of the Js on the iPod.  All three of us wanted to listen to Paradise…over and over and over again.

E asked about a particular lyric, which launched another carschooling discussion about everything going to hell in a handbasket.  In hindsight, I think he misheard the lyric and was simply looking for clarification.  Then I stole a little piece of his squeaky innocence and crushed it beneath the sole of my shoe.

“Then the coal company came with the world’s largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.”

We discussed amongst ourselves.

E, shocked:  “That’s terrible!!”

N, horrified: “Is this a true story?”*

It still doesn’t top the best car ride quiz show when N wanted to get inside Bob Dylan’s head, but close.  The rest of the answers may be Blowin’ in the Wind, but we now also know Mr Peabody’s coal train runs on the tears of babies, kitten whiskers, and fond childhood memories.

Thankfully “Jimi” also starts with J, so we managed to switch gears, get to where we were going, and all was swell again.  Until…

E has the first Block free, so he hangs out with some friends, doodles, builds, chats up the adults, etc.

This morning was a doodling morning.  Lucky me, he made a very geometric design and wanted me to color it in with a rainbow of colors.

Exhibit A: Completed

I was trying to get Nathaniel’s Debate papers ordered and 3-hole punched, so asked for a minute.  Then it was 5 minutes, then 10.  E really wanted me to color in his design and was very impatient.  I was doing the best I could.

E: “Get your work done, woman!”

WTH?

This is where I am open to *receiving* apologies.  Anything to add here, Jeff??  Apparently the discussions between mother and son are a bit different than father and son?  Are we raising *two* Archie Bunkers?

Even though I started coloring, he started coloring too.  I think he didn’t trust my abilities.

I asked him if we could leave some areas white because I liked the effect, and he said no.  I asked if I could color some squares white with a white crayaon.  A compromise!  He looked at me as if I was speaking in tongues.

That would be a no.

E: Self Portrait? Is that his brain exploding from his head, or maybe an arc of electricity?

And:

E: Karate Puncher Guy

The day progressed, as days often do, and then…

N: “Blackjack is so much more fun when you bet!  Can we get some poker chips?” N said.  “Everything is better when you bet!”  and “I want to go to Vegas!”

Well duh.  Probability was another successful week.

While E did his 3rd Block I snuck away to get a huge bin of Lincoln Logs for the Block 4 crowd.  I bent down to lift the bin and proceeded to break my head.  I dented my brain box (thank you, Adam and Jamie, for teaching me new phrases and stuff).  I stabbed the top of my head into the sharp edge of a cabinet and now it’s dented.  How embarrassing.

A few hours later I dropped the boys off at Jeff’s office so they could go camping for the weekend with 5000 other Scouts at Camporall.  I distributed hugs and love and told the kids to have a great time.  Then N wrapped things up brilliantly.

“See you Sunday, unless we get attacked by bears!!”

Indeed.

As much Man vs. Wild as they watch, I’m thinking they’d end the weekend with a protein rich stew and a bear skin rug.

As I was walking away either I made a comment or Jeff did…don’t recall…and all I heard was N snorting, “the progress of man.”

* From Wikipedia, so it must be true:  “A song about Paradise, Kentucky, called “Paradise”, was written and made famous by singer/songwriter John Prine. The lyrics attribute the destruction of Paradise to the Peabody company, and allude to the fact that the town was a site for strip mining. In reality, the town remained in partial form after the Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Company stripped the coal around it. The Paradise Fossil Plant was erected with only two units initially and after that, the residents that were left in the village were bought out by the Tennessee Valley Authority after ash fall from the newly opened plant brought health concerns to the area. It was shortly after the Tennessee Valley Authority bought the town out, they tore down all the structures and at the same time constructed the largest Cyclonic Fired Boiler in the world at the new “Paradise Unit 3”. The only thing that remains of the original town is a small cemetery at the top of a hill close to the plant. Contrary to popular belief, the town was not abandoned by any flooding of the Green River. Even though the town did endure numerous floods during its lifespan, it survived all the floods of its history.”