La Petite Millionaire

Today is Millionaire Day at Gilly's school.

As if you couldn't guess.

from "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" by T. S. Eliot

     The Naming of Cats

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
  It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
  Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, or George or Bill Bailey -
  All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
  Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter -
  But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
  A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
  Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
  Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum -
  Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
  And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover -
  But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
  The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
  Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
    His ineffable effable
    Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

The Actors Ide

While Harry was in Texas with Bobo (that's the name he came up with for my mom -- grandmas don't get to pick their own names) visiting with with my brother and his family, he put on a little play with his cousins James and Katelyn.

I'm not sure why the pirates captured Minnie Mouse, but I'm told everything came out fine in the end.

Scissors -- Addendum

More from Gretchen:

Addendum...the fix! Not too bad...Of course, Gilly wanted to have the
scissors and try herself...Right! Mommy had to get mean and got the
boo-boo lip for it--just for a minute, though...all smiles now!

Scissors

Guest blogger, Gretchen:

So, Gilly has been getting up anywhere from 2-5am (since the time
change) to come into bed with us or tell me about her trip to the
potty. I've been trying to get her back to her bed so that the habit
doesn't form, if you know what I mean (visions of Gilly at 15 trying
to cuddle in our bed...yikes!).

Well, some nights, like last night, I am just too tired to get my butt
out of bed. So I try to convince myself that it's close to 6am (the
alarm time) and I let her in. Last night, she wouldn't settle down and
ended up roaming the house for a bit before finally coming back and
dropping into a deep snore.

A few weeks ago, Nicky picked up the hobby of jewelry making. Last
night, he lovingly made Harry(this is rare) a necklace, which Harry
was thrilled about. Unfortunately, Nicky left the scissors out on the
table, even though I reminded him to put them away.

So it seems, Gilly came up closer to 2am than 6am and in her
subsequent ramblings, found the scissors on the kitchen table, cut
some advertisement, a corrected piece of Nicky's homework (wasn't his
best mark, anyway) and moved on to her bangs.


It's not too bad, just that Aunti Edie and Binnie were planning Santa
pictures this weekend.

I will try to fix her "look" today, but I just wanted everyone
(including our wonderful hairdresser and best friend) to see what I
had to work with...including the attitude--yes, that is her 'tude
towards me right now.

Oh yeah, her occupational therapist says she doing wonderfully with
scissors and that I should let her practice at home. Right!

Buddy

Columnist Paul Krugman wins Nobel economics prize
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — Paul Krugman, the Princeton University scholar, New York Times columnist and unabashed liberal, won the Nobel prize in economics Monday for his analysis of how economies of scale can affect international trade patterns.

Dear Mr. Krugmen,

I heared you wonned the Noble Peace Prize. I myself was once
nominated for the Noble Peace Prize, too. We are so much alike,
aren't we?

I don't know if you have any plans yet for all that money. I know, if
I had all that money, I would have a tuff time figgering out what to
do with it all.

Wait!!! I have an idea! There are lots of hard working people who
are in trubbel rite now on Wall St! You and I could help them with
that money!

What do you think, Mr. Krugmen? We could be heros if we help them.
You waant to be a hero, rite? I know I do. And you and me are alot
alike!!!

You're Pal,
George "W" Bush, President

PS. You can call me "W", buddy.

Vacation photos!

So this August we rented a beach house in Rhode Island for a week.  It was great!  Everyone enjoyed it.  Especially Gilly.

It was an easy walk from the house to the beach -- Gretchen's favorite, I might add.

We lucked out on the week that we picked for our vacation:  both of my brothers could spare some time to come to visit!  That meant that Scott and Julia came to visit with Sage and new, cute, and somewhat pneumatic baby Jura (despite Scott's new job at Harvard) and that Seth and Lana flew in from Texas with Katelyn and James (despite their hectic work schedules and Lana's night school classes).  Here's a pictures of all of Grammy Donna's (Did I mention she came, too?  So did Gretchen's mom) grandkids on the couch:

I don't want to start another "sea monster" craze, but what is this thing? Mom took the picture and says it's a big bird of prey taking a sizable fish out of the water for its dinner.  I have my doubts, though...
Especially since I think that this could be one of the monster's partially decomposed feet, washed up on the shore (which would explain the stink at certain points along the beach, come to think of it).

Anyway.  The kids had a lot of fun even if, come bedtime, they were all parked on the floor of one room like SUVs on the Block Island ferry.

They're still working on that bike path to Block Island, by the way.  So if you're planning on biking there, make sure you bring a towel in a Ziploc bag to wipe the salt water off your frame afterwards.

Lots of fun.

Maybe too much fun.

James and Harry played with Star Wars toys and Legos much of the time they were there.  Mom took this picture and originally captioned it "James and Harry or Seth and Ben?"  I still like Lego, and I know Seth still digs Star Wars.  Oh, and if you happen to be the people who rented the house after we did, I'm so sorry for the Lego bits you probably stepped on in the middle of the night.

Well, that's about it.  Except for one strange bit of deja vu.  When I first walked into this rental, I thought to myself, "I've been here before."  See, I had some friends who went to URI for college and these beach houses get rented out to college students in off season.  But there are lots of beach houses, probably all built at or about the same time.  Probably all look similar, right?

Maybe.  But when I banged my elbow on the corner of the sink while using the bathroom in the middle of the first night there?  That clinched it.  I've definitely been there before.