Welcome to the jungle …

Last night we went to Andrew’s Jr. High (yes, our district has Jr. High, not middle school) orientation and open house. Guess how long we were there. No. Go on. Guess.
Three hours. Ach, Mein Gott, as Andrew would say (he’s practicing for German class).
Actually, though, it went really well. I was impressed with all his [...]

Writing practice ~ Write on Wednesday

From Becca’s Write on Wednesday:
How about you? Do you have a writing practice? What’s it like? How has it helped you become a better writer? If you’re thinking about starting a writing practice, how do you envision it? What would work for you?
Over on the Write on Wednesday site, Becca has a great summary of [...]

Getting here

Some people take the roundabout way of getting here. I don’t get search terms as much as search phrases. For instance:
we are losing the art of fine cooking
Oh, no, I’d say it’s already been lost, at least here, and for a very long time.
what can moms wear to jonas brothers concert
Anything that doesn’t embarrass your [...]

All We Know of Love

On Tuesday, August 26, Nora Raleigh Baskin’s YA novel All We Know of Love comes out.
I was fortunate enough to have Nora as a teacher for two children’s book writing classes last summer. Nora teaches at Gotham Writers’ Workshop and if you’re inclined to write children’s fiction (from picture book to YA), look into taking [...]

Wednesday, Friday … just write

I discovered Write on Wednesday via Anno. And yes, I know it’s Friday.
1. Do you write fiction or non-fiction?  Or both?
I work as a technical writer, so depending where we are in the development process, I’m either writing fiction or non-fiction. Trust me on that.
I also write the (very) occasional article and the sometimes [...]

Synchro and San Fran

If you ask my kids what they loved best about our San Francisco trip, they’ll both say: swimming and the beach. Seriously, I think they could have spent the entire time in the pool at my sister’s place and been completely satisfied.
True, Andrew’s a little unclear on the pointed toes concept:

This might be my favorite picture from [...]

The science class on our window

She’s been on the back porch window since last night. Thanks to the Internet, we know she’s a common garden spider and not aggressive or dangerous. And today, she had lunch when we did. Kyra called her beautiful and decided to name her Caitlin.

I don’t know art …

This statue is in the Yerba Buena Gardens, which is right next to the Metreon. The kids spent several minutes inspecting it, much to the amusement of passersby.
I’m sure this statue contains much symbolism about our post-modern life. I’m pretty sure the way Andrew and Miss B reacted was not what the artist anticipated. I [...]

It’s like a train wreck. You can’t look away.

Found this via Esri Rose. Who knew cake was so funny?
Cake Wrecks

Behold, the published author!

No, not me, but Andrew:

We sent his “Funny in the Blank” into MadKids back in June and it now appears in the September issue. His is the one on the left hand side just below the dialogue bubble and it says:
I’d like to give a special shout out to Yogi Bear!
(Click on the image if [...]