The Joy of Children

This week I've been voluntarily exhausting myself by teaching a summer camp for 19 children, 17 of which are boys, ranging in age from 7 to 12. Um yeah, hopefully you can see a bad idea when you see one, because I sure couldn't. Oh, the majority of them are great kids and have gotten really into the projects we've done, but there's always a few spores who spark a mold invasion.

Did you know that boys love to throw things? Anything, anywhere, anytime. When I was a child, I don't remember ever picking up a marshmallow and thinking, "Hey, this would make a great projectile!" If they can't throw it, then it must be destroyed. If we are doing something with balloons, then I hear, "Can we pop them??" Or, "Are we going to blow anything up today?" Or, "Can we crush it when we're done?"

To rub it all in, there is also a preschool camp going on outside my room where adorable 4 year olds sit complaisantly around a parachute or go on fieldtrips to the library. (My kids made fun of them . . . "They're going on a field trip to the LIBRARY! Hahaha.") After my class, there is some sort of odd girly-girl camp where they teach girls how to do manicures and be good wives, probably. Oh, I made fun of it at first, but now I'm just jealous.

2 more days, and then Sarah's wine camp begins.

Summer

Ahh, the beginning of summer and time for the air-conditioning stand-off. This is my first summer in three years back on the east coast, and the fact that it isn't 105 degrees has me wondering why anyone has their air conditioning on at all. Wimps.

Not too much knitting has been going on, since I now have the time to tackle all those other projects I've been thinking up. I finally painted my ikea desk thing, which I've been meaning to do since September. There was also some experimental clothes sewing, but we're not going to talk about that disaster . . .

Next week I teach science camp (an art historian teaching science camp, what's going on??), but in the meantime I continue toiling away in the land of slides. Ahh, boringness, I love it.

Missed me?

After finishing my first year of grad school you didn't really expect me to hang around, did you? Two days later I set off on a 1100-mile tour of everyone I know on the east coast, from Alexandria to Williamsburg to North Carolina's outer banks to Charlottesville. Since I didn't make my usual 2,000 mile drive to the Southwest this year, I really needed some road time.

In North Carolina (Emerald Isle specifically) I frolicked on the beach with a park ranger friend and drank extremely large margaritas at a very tasty Mexican restaurant with a flirty waiter. I also got in some thrift store shopping, which involved a tense moment outside the fitting room with a transvestite. (The story is not as interesting as I'm making it seem, so let's just leave it at that.)


In Alexandria I saw my elementary/middle school/college friend who has just returned from two years in the Peace Corps in Mongolia. In addition to smelly sheep vests, she brought this with her:


That's mussik, still in her drugged-on-the-plane state. Right before she decided that my head was the best place to sleep.

I then had to visit my own kitty, who is much too furry for her own good.


I also visited my former college roommate, her husband, and their 8-month old boy, who I can tell was much appreciative of the sweater I knit him. Unfortunately (or fortunately), he has extremely tall parents who have passed their size onto him, and he'll probably outgrow the sweater before cold weather. (And that's why they should have more children!)


(Knitty stuff: Pattern is from Weekend Knitting, yarn is Scooter (some kind of cotton from the sale bin at the yarn store), on size 5s)