Well, it's Halloween already, which means the Christmas decorations are up in stores!  Ah, the end of the year holidays, when you can't get the glitter and tinsel out of your eyeballs fast enough.

So, tonight I'm going to be a little more creative.  We have little IKEA lanterns for tea candles, and I'm going to try to figure out how to string those up in our porch, and drape a blanket before the porch so the kids have to enter the "Candy Dungeon."  (bwahaha)  And I'll be sitting just inside the hallway staring at kids with the bowl of candy in front of me, so they have to be brave enough to get it :)  I had neighbors who scared the piss out of me every stinking year.  I will never be that good...but I can try :)  My brother and I were brainstorming great ideas this morning, and next year we're going to have a fully loaded experience for the kids.  Hanging blankets, a pedastal with the candy on it, an Airzooka Air Gun (compliments of thinkgeek), and a polaroid flash for just as the kids get hit by the air :)  Man that'll be awesome.  And something for the parents!  

On another note...if there is anyone who knows anything about birds...could you let me know???  There are two birds that have been frequenting my backyard for a week, and they're so beautiful but I completely suck at defining birds.  I've been all over my Audubon book for birds, and I'm clueless.  It's about the size of a quail, with scaled breast (the male has a large black band on the top of the breast), and orange/red all on the underside of their wings and tail.  The beak is long and narrow, and curved.  It's so pretty.  I'm so frustrated with it.  It mocks my pain!!!!  Oh, and I saw a falcon the other day standing over a pigeon (well, a rock dove).  But I think it might have been a merlin...still trying to figure that one out.  Either a merlin or a peregrine falcon.  

Anyway, fun stuff :)  

This is pretty silly, but you just gotta see it.

It is a model of San Francisco.  In Jell-O.  It sounds corny, but you gotta see it!  I mean, the City Hall is worth every box of Jell-O used!  It's just incredible.  I don't know who has that amount of time on their hands, seriously.  I get frustrated having to wait 4 hours for a little bowl of Jell-O to set!  I can't imagine how much patience this woman has.  

Anyway, it might be the silliest, yet coolest, piece of art I've seen all year.  

I was reading the news the other day and came across this very interesting article:

"...After 25 novels in 25 years, Rice, 64, hasn't published a book since 2003's "Blood Chronicle," the tenth volume of her best-selling vampire series. They may have heard she came close to death last year, when she had surgery for an intestinal blockage, and also back in 1998, when she went into a sudden diabetic coma; that same year she returned to the Roman Catholic Church, which she'd left at 18. They surely knew that Stan Rice, her husband of 41 years, died of a brain tumor in 2002. And though she'd moved out of their longtime home in New Orleans more than a year before Hurricane Katrina, she still has property there—and the deep emotional connection that led her to make the city the setting for such novels as "Interview With the Vampire." What's up with her? "For the last six months," she says, "people have been sending e-mails saying, 'What are you doing next?' And I've told them, 'You may not want what I'm doing next'." We'll know soon. In two weeks, Anne Rice, the chronicler of vampires, witches and—under the pseudonym A. N. Roquelaure—of soft-core S&M encounters, will publish "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt," a novel about the 7-year-old Jesus, narrated by Christ himself. "I promised," she says, "that from now on I would write only for the Lord." It's the most startling public turnaround since Bob Dylan's "Slow Train Coming" announced that he'd been born again..."

I was so thrilled to hear this, because it is a new chapter in Mrs. Rice's life which will open so many new doors for her as an artist.  I've always seen humanity as a race of explorers, in that we explore our world, our universe, our minds and our origins.  Grasping the spiritual nature of ourselves has always seemed like second nature to me, and it has always seemed that when a person crosses the threshold into this realm they are really opening a part of their mortality to something bigger than their own mentality, than their own comprehension.  There are many who refuse to let their understandings of themselves radiate beyond their own skin (e.g.,atheists), and believe in only tangible philosophies.  Although there must be this opposing side to spirituality in order for balance to exist, I have always felt it and enormously clausterphobic belief, personally.  And, with Mrs. Rice being such an insightful and prolific writer, I am overjoyed to see her immerse herself into something so vast, as is God :)

After reading the news this morning, I felt I needed some poetry to round everything out.  

A sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness:
A lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distraction --
An erring lace, which here and there
Enthrals the crimson stomacher --
A cuff neglectful, and thereby
Ribbands to flow confusedly --
A winning wave, deserving note,
In the tempestuous petticoat --
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie
I see a wild civility --
Do more bewitch me than when art
Is too precise in every part.

Okay, I was planning on doing better at keeping this updated during the week, but I've been battling a cold, some girl stuff, and some other sundry things, and now it's Friday. :) Oh well.  

Today was a good day for Nova.  She has always been just a little difficult to feed...not difficult, and not picky...just, almost difficult (which means she's a normal kid).  So sometimes it's a little struggle to get her into her chair (it hangs off the side of the table), and sometimes it's a little hassle to get her to take a bite, but she always eats in the end.  So, for the past few days it's just been impossible to get her to eat at the table, so I've had to feed her breakfast while she watches Sesame Street.  I try to get her to eat before Sesame Street, but some days it just doesn't work, and this is the last resort.  I'm not big on TV, in general.  I think we can be more productive with it off during the day, but educational programs like Sesame Street have a few benefits (gives mom a chance to enjoy a cup of coffee uninterrupted, Nova a chance to rest a little during the morning, it's educational, etc).  And I know that you can't force a kid to eat...they'll eat more when they're hungry (something I have to keep reminding myself), and she did!  So yesterday for breakfast she had yogurt and cheerios (as opposed to milk and cheerios...yogurt doesn't slosh.  Ben discovered this).  This morning I got her to eat a bowl of baby cereal and applesauce, which I was happy about; but about half an hour after that she went to the fridge and said and signed for "food," so I gave her a slice of cheese, a bowl of milk/cheerios, and a scrambled egg and she ate it all!  

Moral of the story: Patience!!!!   

I thought I'd shake things up and just do a journal entry this morning.  We had a long weekend watching a friend's kids (which was actually easier than I anticipated...they really entertained themselves until mom got back from work) and visiting my mom yesterday.  I wanted to talk with some of the kids who are in my play to tell them what I was thinking of when I made their character.  A lot of the kids I didn't have to talk with because they were doing great, but I'm glad I could direct some of them.  Like, I have a bit where the two main characters are ordering coffee and they order incredibly long-named drinks, and I wanted the barista to be able to be really snappy, so that made a big difference.  And in another character, an old lady, I wanted her to keep muttering as she walked offstage, and I was really happy how much of a difference that made.  So, anyway...that was fun.  There are two little girls who are supposed to be ballerinas, but they're both tomboys (how they got this role..?), so one of the funny things they say is " tutu!  I mean, tata!"  But they don't know what a tutu is, so they didn't have the association to get the line right, so they'd say "tu! I mean ta!"  which defeats the purpose of the line.  But, they'll get it :)  And I was at the end of my rope creating roles, so I just made a girl a poet (which is a little personal for me, since she's reading my poetry!), so I went over how to read a poem with her.  But I'm actually not worried about her.  She did great.  Not the way I would have read it, but no poet reads the same :)  And the funny thing is that she's going to be memorizing more of my poetry than I have, myself (hehe).  Anyway, I'm really happy with this play.  I think it is much better than the one I wrote last year.  Everyone is just happy they don't have to do (yet another) manger scene :) I figured they had enough after doing it for the past few years (I certainly was).   

The history of the English flag is really interesting.  Flags, in general, are really interesting just due to the history and bold symbolism they imbibe.  

"The Flag of England is the cross of Saint George. The legend of Saint George slaying thedragon dates from the 12th century and Saint George became the patron saint of England in the 13th century. The flag consists of a red cross on a white field with the cross having a width of 1/5 of the height of the flag. The flag proportion is 5:3.

When the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland were united in a personal union under James VI of Scots and James I of England and Ireland, the Cross of Saint George was combined with the Cross of St. Andrew(representing Scotland) to form the original Union Flag (or "Union Jack"). This flag later became the national flag of the Kingdom of Great Britain, and was combined with Flag of St. Patrick (representing Ireland) in 1801, producing the current Union Flag of the United Kingdom. The proportions of the Union Flag are 2:1."

I had a professor once talk about King James I and how he really didn't add anything to the country...but I knew my flags, and I knew he gave England their flag!  (yay me!)  So, anyway...that' spretty interesting.  The American flag...well, if you went to American public education you learned the history of the flag every year until 6th grade.  It's moving and sentimental and bold: "The colours of the pales are those used in the flag of the United States of America. White signifies purity and innocence. Red hardiness and valour and Blue the colour of the Chief signifies vigilance perseverance and justice. [ContCong 22:339]"   Furthermore: "Originally, both the number of stripes and the number of stars were supposed to represent the number of states. However, this became unwieldy as states were added to the union. During the debate that eventually resulted in the Flag Act of 1818, U.S. Naval Captain Samuel C. Reid suggested that the number of stripes be set at thirteen to represent the original 13 colonies and that only the number of stars be set to the number of states. [USGov 4]

A book about the flag published by the Congress in 1977 gives further symbolism for the flag:

The star is a symbol of the heavens and the divine goal to which man has aspired from time immemorial; the stripe is symbolic of the rays of light emanating from the sun. [USFlag.org]

I'm kind of split on flag burning, because I do see how it is a freedom of speech, but I also enjoy my country and in the same way that I wouldn't burn my marriage vows if I was mad, I, in a like manner, would not burn my country's flag.  But, that's just my opinion, and I'm not militant about opinions :)   Anyway, interesting stuff.  

The history of the English flag is really interesting.  Flags, in general, are really interesting just due to the history and bold symbolism they imbibe.  

"The Flag of England is the cross of Saint George. The legend of Saint George slaying thedragon dates from the 12th century and Saint George became the patron saint of England in the 13th century. The flag consists of a red cross on a white field with the cross having a width of 1/5 of the height of the flag. The flag proportion is 5:3.

When the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland were united in a personal union under James VI of Scots and James I of England and Ireland, the Cross of Saint George was combined with the Cross of St. Andrew(representing Scotland) to form the original Union Flag (or "Union Jack"). This flag later became the national flag of the Kingdom of Great Britain, and was combined with Flag of St. Patrick (representing Ireland) in 1801, producing the current Union Flag of the United Kingdom. The proportions of the Union Flag are 2:1."

I had a professor once talk about King James I and how he really didn't add anything to the country...but I knew my flags, and I knew he gave England their flag!  (yay me!)  So, anyway...that' spretty interesting.  The American flag...well, if you went to American public education you learned the history of the flag every year until 6th grade.  It's moving and sentimental and bold: "The colours of the pales are those used in the flag of the United States of America. White signifies purity and innocence. Red hardiness and valour and Blue the colour of the Chief signifies vigilance perseverance and justice. [ContCong 22:339]"   Furthermore: "Originally, both the number of stripes and the number of stars were supposed to represent the number of states. However, this became unwieldy as states were added to the union. During the debate that eventually resulted in the Flag Act of 1818, U.S. Naval Captain Samuel C. Reid suggested that the number of stripes be set at thirteen to represent the original 13 colonies and that only the number of stars be set to the number of states. [USGov 4]

A book about the flag published by the Congress in 1977 gives further symbolism for the flag:

The star is a symbol of the heavens and the divine goal to which man has aspired from time immemorial; the stripe is symbolic of the rays of light emanating from the sun. [USFlag.org]

I'm kind of split on flag burning, because I do see how it is a freedom of speech, but I also enjoy my country and in the same way that I wouldn't burn my marriage vows if I was mad, I, in a like manner, would not burn my country's flag.  But, that's just my opinion, and I'm not militant about opinions :)   Anyway, interesting stuff.