spring break recap, part 2

Monday

1. Went on a scooter ride down to Gram & Papa's neighborhood park.
2. In our old house, we rode bikes and scooters all the time. In our current house, we don't have as great of a place for lots of riding. Therefore, Pumpkin is still sorta rusty on her scooter. (lack of practice)
3. Today she was really "getting it"....we'll be sure to scooter again tomorrow to reinforce the progress she made today.
4. When the wind blows, you can see powdery, yellow clouds poofing out of the trees. (pollen)
5. My car is covered in pollen.
6. The hostas here in this zip code are already fully out. The ones in our yard are just starting to emerge. That surprises me. I would think the vegetation in our city would be a few steps ahead. Hmmm.
7. We went to Uncle Joe's (my brother who is about to graduate from high school) rehearsal for this year's school musical, Annie. It was impressive!
8. He plays the part of the butler. Best butler I've ever seen. Bravo, Joe.
9. "It's a Hard Knock Life" is one of Pumpkin's all-time favorite songs ever. It makes her want to get a bucket and a rag & get down on the floor to scrub/dance/sing.
10. I've been catching up on the magazines at my parents' house. Here's a heartbreaking article from The Economist that really caught my attention: Gendercide
11. Here's a quotation from that article. This selection is referring to the fact that China will be increasingly dealing with an inbalanced ratio of men to women: "China alone stands to have as many unmarried young men—“bare branches”, as they are known—as the entire population of young men in America. In any country rootless young males spell trouble; in Asian societies, where marriage and children are the recognised routes into society, single men are almost like outlaws."
12. I'm currently reading The Hobbit to Superboy.
13. I'm currently reading Anne of Green Gables to Pumpkin.
14. I've never read separate books to my children before. I kinda like it, but I kinda don't.
15. Here's a passage from Anne of GG that I adore. (context: Matthew Cuthbert just picked up Anne from the train station.)

The "Avenue," so called by the Newbridge people, was a stretch of road four or five hundred yards long, completely arched over with huge, wide-spreading apple-trees, planted years ago by an eccentric old farmer. Overhead was one long canopy of snowy fragrant bloom. Below the boughs the air was full of a purple twilight and far ahead a glimpse of painted sunset shone like a great rose window at the end of a cathedral aisle.