Our friend Christine has new poison dart frogs. They are shiny, and blue, and improbable; as an adult observed, they look rather like their fingers aren't even properly finished. Opal observed them closely, and then said "One moved!" "That's how you know they're real," I answered. She contemplated their container. "Well, that one is, anyway." We admired her skepticism. She watched ...

Opal: "I'm really tired." Me: "Good, then get ready for bed spit-spot." Opal, winsomely: "Sometimes when I'm really tired I don't have to brush my teeth." Me: "Those are times when you didn't just eat a dried apricot." Opal: "What difference does a dried apricot make?" Me: "They're yummy, but they stick to your teeth something terrible." Opal: "What?" Me: "The dried apricots." ...

Opal and I read some Maira Kalman, about Max, the dog poet, and she wrote this poem

I saw Miss Cat
Walking on Miss Catshair
Walking on Mr. Cat's feet
And I'll bet you who you're betted in
Little bed of twine

(Yes, there are three people here, Miss Cat, Miss Catshair, and Mr. Cat. I was taking dictation, and I checked.)

Read to and by Opal recently: I ...

It is raining here. Sometimes hailing. There was what the locals called a tornado warning, while all the midwestern transplants scoffed and called it a watch. The weather is, all told, nasty. This complicates school, since Opal needs a rain coat, and rain boots, and shoes. Normally the only thing she takes to school is her lunch, so she just carries it, but there's a high risk in ...

Tonight's dinner was without culinary interest, but yesterday I made semi-Indian lentils, because Opal liked the lentils best of Sunday's dinner, and when I said I could make some, she was totally enthusiastic. So I made some lentils, and she squealed in glee and hugged me. I was planning to gussy up the lentils, but in mid-afternoon she asked for a snack, and specifically wanted ...

After we had been talking about when Opal was in my tummy, she asked "Mommy, where did I come out?" We discussed anatomy for a while (She thinks it's a remarkably silly concept, and who can blame her? I've given birth and I still think the entire undertaking is physically improbable.) And then she asked again, "Where did I come out?" I was stumped. Didn't we just do this? "I ...

As we were driving back from San Francisco, we passed a car on fire (to the side of the opposite direction on the freeway, thankfully, and with fire crews already there). Opal commented on it, and I said it was a car on fire. "Do you think the people are dead?" she asked. "No. Usually if your car catches fire on the freeway like that, you notice and get out before it's a big ...

Contemplating a new GPS, I was struck by a comment about GPS apps on a phone being good enough for "occasional" use. The fact is, I'm not an occasional GPS user. I'm not totally convinced that occasional GPS users, in the sense of people who only need a GPS that's good enough for occasional use, exist. If you're not used to using a GPS, and you're thinking of it the way you'd think ...

• Me: It's Autumn.
• Opal: I thought it was fall....
• Me: Some people in the U.S. call it that.
• Opal: Well, I call it butter side up. (Turns toast to be sideways) Butter side sideways. (Turns toast to be butter side facing away from her) Butter side forwards!

Over the last few days I've been moving into the new house with Opal. Opal has, so far, found this mostly fun as she's gotten to choose a number of things: her room (pink walls, second factor being the flowers on the light ...

Here's some decent instructions for tethering your iphone

Hopefully, they'll get around to supporting it officially ...

A snippet from one of the conversations: Headmistress: We do positive discipline
Elizabeth: Bingo
Other parent: What do you mean by that?
Headmistress: We have a ...

Metric video competition page is here and the invitation video is below. ...

DirContext ctx = new InitialDirContext(env);
// create attribute objects
ctx.bind(name, object, attributes);

Unfortunately, this results in a Java serialized object like the ...