fossilfreak

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 1 p. 558
170.5 miles

cold in the mornings, sunny and breezy

361 recordings of 30 types, 58 old SVU. 20% clear.

I decided to stay home in the morning, because I was going to be gone a long time. So I went over to Renaissance about 11:30 and succeeded in finding a parking place. The time travel movie was "Il Mare", a Korean film dubbed in Chinese and subtitled in English. It's a romance between a guy who is 2 years behind the girl. Another mind-blower. And in parts, a tear-jerker. I really enjoy this class!

I then went directly to Elk Grove, a bit early for the school festival. I tried with Gareth to finish the da Vinci model, but it's next-to-impossible to put together. I wish I'd read the Amazon reviews before I bought it. We can see how it's supposed to work, but you can't get the wheels on well enough to engage the gears. I'm very disappointed.

Finally Rob came home and we could go to the festival. I drove over so I could get a parking place but they walked. Joanna was dressed up, Gareth not. I enjoyed some of the kids' costumes: a Ghillie, a Minecraft character, the usual mad scientists and Frozen characters, a couple of dinosaurs, but my absolute favorite was Little BoPeep, complete down to the frilly leggings (ending in the light-up sneakers!) I started off to tell her mother how much I loved the costume when I saw the sheep... in the baby front pack!

Bernadette had been working on the candy dish she made out of the gourd, and also making the basket for the 2nd grade. (We'd heard someone else was doing the 4th grade, but it didn't come.) She was justly proud of the result. We both put a lot of tickets into this bag and a few in other places. Neither of us won it, but the family that did was so delighted with the candy dish they hadn't even noticed the basket! In the end, Bernadette won two: dinner and a movie (in a nifty popcorn bowl) which she gave me, and the State Fair basket, 4 tickets, monorail rides, ride bracelets, and concession $$ as well as a few other goodies including a HUGE stuffed Poppy. Gareth was delighted! He spent most of the festival walking around, or eating. Joanna went through the Haunted House (with her mother) and ate and played most of the games.

I ate, walked around, and finally sat down and finished my Nero Wolfe book (Too Many Cooks.)

Now reading: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (yeah, right); Pepys' Diary; American Fiction; Embarrassments by PJ Nel; Shattered, Jonathan Allen & Amie Parnes; The Little World of Don Camillo, Giovanni Guareschi; The Beans of Egypt Maine, Carolyn Chute; and Some Murdered Caesar by Rex Stout.

I came home to a pleasant surprise, a check from the reunion committee who were so fiscally prudent that they only needed the seed money I sent to start off, but broke even! This means I can make a donation to Safari West to help in the recovery from the fires.

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 1 p. 558
169.1 miles

WINDY! (Sunday) hotter but calmer yesterday.

356 recordings of 30 types, 67 old SVU. I've completed seasons 10 and 12 now. 20% clear.

I went to the first Saturday breakfast and got my birthday card from WPAC. There were 4 October birthdays there. Then on the way down to Elk Grove I actually did some geocaching, found two but for the third the only parking place I could find was next to the "No stopping any time" sign, so I thought I'd try a different approach another time.

When I got to the house, the menfolk were all asleep, with Bernadette and Joanna gone camping. It seems that Gareth got up about midnight and played on his iPad the next 6 hours. So when Bernadette got up she sent him to bed with Robert, so they were all dozing away when I arrived at 10.

Gareth packed for himself... with a bit of reminders from me and his dad. Rob made him some breakfast. (Toast and jelly.) He made eggs for Padreic who had said that was what he wanted but then, of course, wanted a banana instead.

Gareth and I went over to the Fall Festival at Green Acres nursery. They changed the date from the third Saturday to the first Saturday, which competes with the Elk Grove Harvest Pumpkin Festival. (Where they had a giant pumpkin weighing more than a ton, setting the record this year!) So it didn't seem to be as busy as usual. Gareth hurt his knee last week and was limping, so wasn't really interested in this anyway, and he never was one for the pumpkin decorating or the balloon animals so after we did the pie walk (and didn't win) we left.

I drove up Watt so I could get a car wash, and not before time. July or maybe even June was the last one, and I drove to Laramie and had a week in smoky Ashland and another couple of weeks in smoky Sacramento. First Saturday breakfast, driving into the rising sun, is always a good way to tell that the car needs washing, anyway. Then I drove thru the nearby McDonald's and got him a hamburger, and so home.

I'd taken one of the STEM kits from Grandma, as well as the da Vinci model I gave him for his birthday. Bernadette and Robert never actually get around to doing this stuff with the kids. The boy had his 30 minutes with the iPad, which is when I finally got Bernadette's message that he shouldn't take it here. Oops. So later when he said he didn't get his after breakfast time, I said "oh yes you did, all last night!" The boy is definitely addicted.

We did the bubble kit. You experiment to see what makes strong bubbles, catch them and bounce them (Gareth needed to be reminded which way to put his hand... sometimes I wonder what's going on in his head) and the best thing was making square bubbles. There was a lot of manaical laughter. I think he enjoyed it.

Later he FaceTimed Grandma, and they've made plans to do this together when she's here. I suggested she lock Joanna in a closet. Joanna is so bubble crazy that we had to hide this kit because she wouldn't be able to help herself. Also, she tends to take over and Gareth tends to let her. Grandma can also do Joanna's kits with her (without interference from Gareth.)

We had trouble with the model. It's easy enough, but we didn't have the hand strength to put some struts in.

We played Blokus. The boy for some reason dumped the thing when I went to the door at one point. I won both games, though I'm still not sure what the best approach is. However, I have to stop thinking it's like Go, because the way to win is totally different.

In between all this, he played with the giant Lego. I would think it's too babyish, but he had a good time experimenting with different building techniques and making a big tower.

At bedtime, I read him the last chapter of the Great Brain. It turned out to be 35 pages, what a surprise, and he was tired but stayed awake to the very end, laughing at the final words.

Sunday we went to Church, then I was distributing Communion at the nursing home and he was good in the corner with his iPad, and so down to Elk Grove. Daddy was interested in helping with the model, so I hope he did.

I came home and just collapsed. I completely forgot I had a ticket to Rising Stars of Opera in Davis, even though there it was in my purse calendar which I consult frequently. Oh, well, at least it was a free ticket.

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