The Hand Turkeys 2019

The Hand Turkey Armada sailed off, waiting to take up the fight for causes big and small.  Important and/or some may say irrelevant.

Husbandman --- Equality
Leeway --- Free time
Eve --- Welcoming Country
Bill --- Expand the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (Write your senator).
20 Something ---- Creative Expression
Kyle --- Epstein?
Laura --- Youth Voices
Jay --- Making Meaning
Eli --- Transgender Non Binary Awareness
#1 Son --- Keanu Reeves should be cast in all Ben Affleck roles

The Course

This is ALITTLELEEWAY reporting from a cold AirBnB in the great city of Oakland.  I'm wearing my jammies and my winter coat as I write this blog.
We believe we have figured out the thermostat and will soon have warmth, along with coffee, which is presently a brewin'.

The whole crew is now together.  Many have traveled from distant lands.  We walked the streets of North Beach yesterday, learned more about the Beats, checked out the awesomest book store in the land.  I bought a picture book by Elise Gravel called What Is a Refugee?

Today we do Thanksgiving. It's already getting started.  People are going for jogs.  Foods have been peeled. Here I am a bloggin'.  It's freaking bedlam over here and it's not even 9am.  I need to develop a plan.  Next right thought, next right action.  Keep the course steady.

The Purse Hooks

This is ALittleLeeway reporting from an Airbnb somewhere in the great city of Oakland.  #1 Son has arrived, but I've not seen him yet.  We arrived to bedlam at Oakland Airport last night, where a power outage stranded thousands of passengers in darkened terminals, standing in long lines that never moved. TV cameras were there, recording the misery of the holiday travelers who weren't going anywhere.  #1 posted a screenshot of his plane route, which was nearly to Oakland, u-turning to Las Vegas.  We left and headed out for pizza with 20 Something.  Later, Husbandman returned to OAK and got him.  He's in another room sleeping.  I'm re-experiencing that little kid xmas morning feeling when you have to wait to open the presents.  So close, and yet, so far.

Here's something I learned yesterday.  We met 20Something and College Chums at a bar in Berkeley before our Airport Debacle. This place had small hooks installed below the bar where purses, umbrellas and coats could be hung, close by yet out of the way.  College Chums report that all bars have these purse hooks. I wonder why no one thought to tell me about this convenience.  Happy for the new information.  Yet somewhat dolorous about the years of comfort lost.  I plan to pass the word to everyone I know and I suggest you do the same. Let's help others.

Signing off from rainy California.

The Coast Live Oak

This is ALITTLELEEWAY, reporting from the western coast of the great state of California.  Here's what's going on.  20 Something and KHL? We saw them and they were delightful as all get out.  We're going to see them more, in the future.  Quinn?  Arriving tonight.  Seattle kin?  They're at the top of their game. Laura, Jay, Eli?  Update on the Terrific Trio tomorrow.  So far, this first day of break can be marked as one of the Glory Days of 2019.

The weather here is now rainy and chilly, but we smartly scheduled our hike to Sibley Volcanic Preserve for the morning hours. The Sibley Volcanic Preserve is one of the best places you can visit.  Every time you turn around, you're learning something new up at Sibley.  Case in point:

 Ten million years ago, there was a volcano over in this neck of the woods.  Volcanic debris surrounds you on this hike, including knobs and rubbly tuffs.  Wooly mammoths walked around long ago, and also camels. Come to find out, camels actually originated in North America, about 45 million years ago.  Then about 4 million years ago, camels up and left our land.  Walked over the Bering Straight and headed south to the Middle East and Africa.  CRAZY!

I'm dedicated to learning new things this week, and sharing my findings here on ALittleLeeway. We have no theme for the Hand Turkeys yet.  I'm thinking Turkey Armada might have potential.

This is ALITTLELEEWAY signing off from California.  Concentrate, friends, on doing your best and forgetting the rest.

The Measuring

You've all heard of miles, kilometers and of course furlongs, but what about nails, chains and links?  Nails, chains and links are types of measurements, too.  Nail is a term used to measure cloth. A nail is a little over 2 inches long. A chain is 66 feet long and was used for surveying land.  A link, about 8 inches, was also used in surveying. I was helping my favorite 7th grader with some math homework today and we had to use proportions to compare miles with nails, chains and links.  My favorite 7th grader kept her eyes on the prize, but I was intrigued, and somewhat distracted, by the terms and their origins.  As I scanned the internets, I'd share comments like, "Let me tell you why it's called a nail.  Super interesting," or, "Did you know a link can also be called a Gunter's Link?"  My favorite 7th grader has a truly unique blank stare that really gets you back on track after you've strayed from the task at hand. We got the assignment done and we were able to play mancala and make some cool bookmarks.
     And by the way did you know that "jiffy" was originally a measurement used to indicate the time it takes light to travel one centimeter in a vacuum?  When you say, "Be back in a jiffy," you're basically saying you'll return in approximately 33 picoseconds.  And think about this, my friends.  A picosecond is one trillionth of a second.

The Walnuts

Kay Sage

There are a few Thirdlanders who don't play with a posse of others at recess time.  I grouped three outliers together this week for a walnut game I'm developing.  It has no name yet.  Basically, we have 20 seconds to pick up all the walnuts we can find.  Then we fling the walnuts through a chain link backstop.  This is how the scoring works.

SCORING

• One point for getting the walnut through the chains.  
• Two points for making NO SOUND as it goes through.  Nothing but net, so to speak.
• Three points for hitting the tree on the other side of the backstop.  

One of the Thirdlanders is obsessed with the Ice Age. Ice Ages to be precise, because we've learned there were more than one.  He wasn't in to the walnut game at all until I introduced the concept of beaning saber tooth tigers with the walnuts.  No additional points for this, but it really adds to the drama.

Creativity Thursday: Minor Dramas & Other Catastrophes

I was thrilled to receive the ARC of Word Savvy's new book.  ARC stands for Advanced Reader Copy.  It's a special copy that special people can read before a book is published and available to the other readers.

You know those times where you sit down to read for 15 minutes and then don't look up for four hours?  That's what happens with this book.  It's happened to me twice.  Once when I read a much earlier draft awhile back. Then again last Saturday.

I love this book.  Kirkus Reviews also loves this book.  KIRKUS REVIEWS!!!!!!!

I think you should read this book if you want to, but you'll probably have to wait until February or if you want my ARC, I can pass it to you after Nancy and Judy are done with it, but you have to give it back to me because KC wrote something nice inside Minor Dramas and also added a unicorn sticker.  Like I said, a special copy for special people. KUDOS, KC!

The Oceans

We've been reading about a device built by The Ocean Cleanup group to collect some of the trillion plus pieces of plastic floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Dump.  It seems like a fine device, but so far it hasn't been super successful collecting the plastic.  The group has gotten some criticism.  It's hard to tell if they're on the up and up.  I'm still reading articles.

The Thirdlanders want to know why people litter in the first place.  One gal offered, "I think it's basically because people don't make good choices about where to put their trash."

Another retorted, "But why?  Why don't they make good choices?"

It was hard not to point at the debris all over our classroom floor---- the wasted glue sticks drying up with no caps in sight, the snack wrappers, the slips of paper from our pictograph project that were scissored, dropped and forgotten. Left behind as it were.  I'm not much better.  My desk is always a disaster and if the recycling bin's full, my paper trash goes right in the trash bin.

Going to work on slowing down the agenda this week, building in some tidying time.  I need it.  They need it.  The planet needs it.  We can do better in Thirdland.

Mind Beach

Have you listened to Mind Beach yet?  Every song is fantastic.  I should know because I listen to Mind Beach many times every day.  The Thirdlanders love Mind Beach as well.  Sometimes, though, they get a little too hyper while it's playing --- dancing when they should be writing. Still, the point is, we love it. 

 FYI:  When #1 Son was in second grade, his piano teacher had him compose a piece of music.  She entered his composition into a competition.  His song, The Giant Flib Monster, was a winner. He's been music making ever since.

Now #1 has released his second album. Mind Beach is delightful. Every song pulls me in and then surprises me and every song feels like it's part of a story.  I'm not great at writing about music, but geez louise, I love Mind Beach and I'm so proud of #1 Son, Quinn Sternberg.   I'm inspired by his creative cast of characters as well.  Until we can all make it to New Orleans together to hear these songs live, I'm highly recommending you get your hands, and ears, on Mind Beach for some jazzy fall listening. 

Creativity Thursday

I'm bringing back Creativity Thursday.

Today I looked at some images of pottery from the Mound Builder people.  The pottery is functional, but also creative, containing carved images of birds and people.  Tomorrow we'll learn about the Mound Builders in Indiana and try our hand at some play dough pottery in honor of the Mound Builders.

I also read more about the poem In Flanders Fields. It was written by a Canadian doctor who tended to some wounded soldiers in World War One.  The land where the battles took place was decimated, but poppies continued to grow there so he wrote a poem about that.  People seemed to like the poem and now 100 years later, we're still reciting it across the land.  People wear poppies on Memorial Day.  And sometimes on Veterans Day.  My mom used to recite this poem.  She knew a lot of poems by heart.  I don't know any poems by heart, but I like to read poems and that's good too.

The Question

Why haven't I blogged lately? It's the question on everyone's mind right now.  Life got busy with parent teacher conferences and report cards and finishing up a paper and having a gum tissue graft. And I started wondering... do I really have anything to say that's readable?  So in addition to all the busy tasks, I've been a bit plagued by self doubt to tell you the honest truth.  But now things are slowing down and I'm pulling my act together.  I have today off to recover from the aforesaid gum tissue graft. Not exactly feeling up to snuff, but so far I haven't experienced what friends have endured with this procedure, which involved days of staunching blood flows with gauze and wet teabags. So please everyone cross their fingers that the blood stays in my veins where it belongs and my gums continue to mend.

I'm happy today because a Democrat won the governor gig in Kentucky.  I love when DT comes into town to rally the base and people say, No thanks. It brings me a lot of glee, to tell you the truth.  

I also want to tell you about a movie we saw called Honeyland.  It's about the last beekeeper in Macedonia.  It's sad because she lives with her dying mom in a deserted village.  Then a family moves in and causes chaos, disrespecting the land and the bees.  So I won't tell you how it ends, but I will tell you I wept silently all the way to the parking lot and throughout the drive home. Husbandman didn't cry at all and was somewhat surprised by my reaction, but did find the movie, "desolate" so in a way he agreed with me.  If you feel like seeing it you should. Especially if you care about the earth and elderly people.