Yoli often tells me about sisterly reading sessions between Ludi and Josie. Ludi pretends to read (or recites what she has memorized) and Josie follows along attentively. One morning Yoli caught one of these cute events on video for your viewing pleasure:
Swimming lessons at the Wabash
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This summer we enrolled Jadzia and Ludi in swimming lessons as January-Wabash Park in Ferguson.
Video: Jadzia the biker
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At home after her first ride on a bike trail, Jadzia was recovering from the scare of falling halfway through the ride. She asked me if we could ride again the next day, for the purpose of making a video.
Video: Joseph the boxer
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The other day the kids were playing outside. Three times Joseph came inside and began punching the baby wipes bag. When the bag deflated, he would open it and ask for help to re-close it. It was so funny I decided to make a video.
England: Nan’s birth home
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My Nan grew up in Wellingborough, England. Last week I got to see her childhood home, and today we went to her birth home in order to shoot a short little video.
(Nan’s brother, Uncle Raymond, jokingly claims she was found, not born.)
England: Visiting villages in Northamptonshire
Wow, what a day!
Andrew and Toni took Nan and me around to a number of villages in Northamptonshire with family connections.
The first stop was Brafield on the Green. At the church we found a lady who had just finished cleaning and was heading out. She graciously opened the church for us and directed us to the farm that formerly belonged to the Sargeant family. My great-great-grandmother Emily Elizabeth Barker worked there in service (more or less as a maid).
Continue reading “England: Visiting villages in Northamptonshire”
England: Trip to the coast
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Today Uncle Raymond drove us northwest from Finedon up to the seaside town of Hunstanton. I was excited to see the coast when he had offered to take us. The sea is a powerful image in Tolkien’s mythology, along with the calls of the gulls.
England: The Embankment
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I am visiting England for one week with my mother and grandmother. My grandmother, whom I call “Nan,” was born and raised in England before leaving as a young woman to marry an American (my “Papa”).
Poetic license
Ludi is learning to read, and she can read more than she lets on. But she also greatly enjoys pretending to read, that is, taking a book and reading aloud a completely different made-up story.
This is what I found her doing on the couch this morning with Josie.
Here’s a bit of the story.
Tornado reconstruction continues
Spring has come to St. Louis early, and things are moving again at our house. Among the projects we still need to have completed are:
- rebuilding the bottom of driveway where the tree’s root ball came up
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fixing our yard … Probably needs some grading in places and some sod
Well, today we got a surprise. The driveway guys arrived ready to do their work. (I guess that’s what happens when you don’t top up your cell phone account right away)
Check out this video of the action.