...With Two Cats in the Yard: April, Come She Will

I have been lagging in my blogging. Our lives have been a series of routines and everyday doings, nothing that has seemed notable. But Spring has blown in this week with the coming of April, and now even the everyday seems festive, or is at least tinged with the excitement particular to Spring.

So here are a few things which have been occupying us.

First, I've managed to get Miles into a swim class, something I've been meaning to do for a long time. Having grown up making regular trips to Lake Ontario, with a pool in our backyard at first and then a community pool to which I always had access, I am not used to having to go out of my way for swimming opportunities. But Miles' experience has been different, and I found I was going to have to enroll him in a class if I wanted to make sure he could swim.

I remember being astounded as a child that my Grandma had never learned to swim. I'm a little better able to understand how easy it would be to avoid learning! But I am determined they will both be water babies, as I was.

Miles is in a regular Saturday "minnows" class. Don't be fooled by his solemnity here; he's loved both sessions from start to finish. He gets this big silly grin as soon as he gets his body in the shallow end.

Practicing blowing bubbles

He's been so proud of himself!

Bad luck for Adele; the class for her age group is full. She will have to content herself with ruling over an army of sea creatures (a souvenir from our National Aquarium trip) in the bath. She knows ALL of their names by sight (from Right Whale to Beluga, from Whale Shark to Sting Ray).


"That's Marine Queen to you, soldier!!"

In other news, I had perhaps the greatest Tuesday at my job to date last week, when an interpreter colleague got me into Emmanuel Jal's performance AND sneaked me backstage to meet him after the show!

You guys, I was overcome at shaking this man's hand. Jal's message is so inspirational. He was a child soldier in South Sudan, has lost most of his family to that war, and has seen some of the worst things a person can see on this planet, yet he has so much joy and purpose. He told the roomful of listening middle school students that they, too, could be peace soldiers if they educated themselves and learned to love and forgive. I really recommend his music and his ted talk, and that you all see him if he's ever in your town! Emmanuel had some questions for Marcy about American Sign Language (he could see her pretty well), He's really into yoga, and supports and promotes the non-profit, Africa Yoga Project. So he and I got to chat about the benefits of yoga. Then he found out each of us had multiple children and were working full time too and he said, "Wow. Respect. Women are so strong. They are goddesses, really."

I made sure to remark that I'd find life a good deal harder without my equal partner husband.

It snowed about 4 inches the day that Emmanuel Jal came to Blacksburg, that 25th of March. Winter held on ferociously. It made one last offensive on Sunday and gave us a dusting of snow.