Circadian Doldrums

Reuben bright and cheery in the morning. He prefers to wake up at 5 but we won't get him out of bed til 6.

I'm still sick and its thrown my circadian rhythm on the fritz. If I lived in a wholly natural and wild state I would sleep 4-6pm or 5-7pm every afternoon then 2-7:30am. Since I live in a civilized state and enjoy seeing my loved ones I usually sleep 11-6 (Reuben is responsible for that 6am wake up. It used to be 7.)

BUT this bug has brought on another round of insomnia. I'm sleeping 3-6am. When I do fall asleep I have terrible nightmares. The rest of the day I'm a waking zombie. I'm exhausted, can't think straight but when I lie down all I can do is stare at the ceiling.

I have a hard and fast rule that I don't let myself do anything while I'm trying to fall asleep. No reading, no working, no drawing, no planning, no eating etc. This is because I am naturally nocturnal and will remain nocturnal until I reroute my malfunctioning CR. So I lay in bed, with the lights off and try to get sleepy.

To pass the time I've made up little games where I do math problems, think of an animal for each letter of the alphabet, think of an aquatic animal for each letter of the alphabet, think of historic battles for each letter of the alphabet, think of five books which contain a selected object. That last game I had so much fun with that it was completely counter productive. I even tried to wake Aaron up once to have him help me think of a work that had a rat in it. He refused.

We've started playing this game during the day and it's a good time. The rules have evolved so that we try to think of five examples. The person who picks the theme alternates. The person who gets 3 out of 5 wins but we still play til 5 for every topic. Here are two we did yesterday.

Egg

1. The Hobbit - An egg is the answer to the riddle in gollum's cave

2. Les Miserable - Marius is described as eating an egg for breakfast as a poor student

3. The Talking Eggs - American folk story which revolves around talking eggs

4. Higgity Piggity My Black Hen - "She Lays Eggs for gentlemen"

5. Gulliver's Travels - Lilliputians are divided by how to break an egg - big enders vs. little enders

Rose

1. Scarlet Letter - A rose grows outside the jail door

2. Dante's Paradisio - Levels of heaven are compared to a rose

3. In the Name of the Rose

4. Briar Rose

5. Romeo and Juliette - A rose by any other name...

The Laundress

The Laundress by Honore Daumier

This is one of my favorite paintings. The description below is from the Muse d'Orsay website. I think it must have been painted by Daumier on a good day. For an instant the darker world of toil that surrounds the mother and child falls away, and they enjoy the momentary triumph of ascending the stairs. 

I'm trying to find a biography of Daumier. I'd like to learn more about him. Another version of the laundress, called The Burden, is a painting that is brutally sad. The mother carries her burden of washing and her child clings to her skirt. The mother's body is weighed down, the force she is straining against is on the side her child clings to. It is a powerful painting.

There are three similar versions on the theme of the laundress, the first of which appeared in the Salon in 1861. At a time when Millet was turning his back on folklore and taking a fresh look at the peasant world in the 1850s, this painting offered a similar analysis of the plight of city workers. Stripped of the playful, gracious air that Boucher, Fragonard or Hubert Robert gave their washerwomen in the 18th century, Daumier's Laundress epitomises a social type characterised by gruelling repetitive toil.

The attention given to the figures reveals the toll it took on souls and bodies. There is a mixture of resignation and tenderness in the mother helping her child climb the high steps. Clutching a beater in her hand, the little girl seems destined to carry on her mother's task.

The houses along the quay in Paris in the background provide a luminous setting, no doubt precisely observed, but left unfinished to give the scene a powerful symbolic dimension.

Diseased

Aaron Reuben and I are diseased. We all caught a very nasty cold-flu and are attempting to survive it. Reuben seems to be recovering first, just in time to sprout his seventh tooth.  

True Story

Since Reuben was born, I've been making these little comics of our family adventures. I try to make one or two every day. It's fun to try to capture the daily events. In real life the sketches are only about two inches so kind of hard to see and I'm not sure if they're funny to anyone else but me and Aaron so I go back and forth on sharing them. Here's yesterday's. At the time I was upset and may have not reacted in a very calm way but looking back it was kind of funny.

Aaron is an Amazing Dad

and an amazing cook

The combination is terrifying

The Man Who Planted Trees

I watched the movie, The Man Who Planted Trees (1987) last night. In 30 minutes I regained hope in humanity, the world, life. It's that good. Here's a trailer. I found a place you can watch it all online  with Korean (?) subtitles. So if you are versed in either of those languages you are all set for something wonderful. (Netflix also has it)

Classics

Here are some of the covers I'm considering having made into a wallet (see post below). Any other suggestions?

Where English Teachers go on Vacation

Today Aaron Reuben and I got out early and wandered around the Eastern Market in DC. It was my first time and I enjoyed the mix of farmer's stands, street food, bakery, crafters and flea market. Aaron and I found some old wooden movie chair seats from the early century that we really wanted to buy but since they cost more than ten bucks we had to pass. Soo sad. They looked kind of like this.

I've been in sore need of a wallet so I was elated when I came across a lady who makes vinyl wallets from thrift store paperbacks. MOST awesome idea ever. I perused her selection and was having trouble deciding when she told me I could bring her any book and she could transform it. I have a deep and abiding love for 60 and 70s paperback cover illustration so I am giddy thinking of which book to have on my person at all times. And now each of you knows what I want to get you for your birthday for the next year. 

After the market we walked to the Folger's Shakespeare Library. We arrived just in time to take the tour. Aaron and the dozen middle school english teachers on the tour with us loved it, I liked it and loved the old manuscript on display, Reuben was mildly impressed.  Aaron and I had fun picking out the friezes of our favorite play on the way out.

The Merchant of Venice - Aaron can't get enough of legal dramas

Hamlet - I read an essay once that said we are all either Hamlets or Quixotes. I am a Hamlet. Aaron is a Quixote. 
King Lear
A close up of Reuben's expression at the Shakespeare Library - thrilled. 

On our way to the metro we walked past the spitting turtle fountain in front of the library of congress and through the botanical garden. I liked looking at the plants almost as much as I like looking at all the European tourists. Not so many American tourists seem to find their way to the herbarium. I noticed the pawpaw tree has two pawpaws on it. They're getting bigger. Then we went home for lunch. It was a fun morning. 

This picture is from earlier this week when Reuben and I met Aaron at the botanical gardens after work. About ten seconds later Reuben got one of these yellow flowers in his mouth. 

Seven Months

Reuben turned seven months yesterday. I sat him on the couch and took a few pictures. He's growing up so fast. He sits up, waves, giggles and babbles. He's working on the crawling and can scoot almost anywhere he wants to go. He also loves to walk around holding on to our hands. When given the opportunity he usually heads straight for the cat or the guitar. He's so wiggly and restless that we've been making more regular expeditions to the Smithsonian. Those museum halls have some great places for walking practice. 

You can see his new shoes in this picture. 

Cracker

Last week I gave Reuben a cracker. I figured with six teeth he could probably handle it. He gobbled it up so quickly that the picture I took of him eating it blurred. I think he was doing his best to scarf it down before I could take it away. 

Face to Face

Today my mom came to visit and we wandered through the Smithsonian in the rain. Accompanied by Reuben we visited the National Gallery, the American History Museum, the Build Museum, the American Art and Portrait gallery and the farmer's market. It was fun to have some time together. I saw this Painting (yes, painting) while I was at the National Portrait gallery. David Lenz does some amazing work. You can find out more about him here and here. 

Princesses

I saw this on Mike Laughead's blog and it made me laugh. He pointed out that Disney distributes Studio Gibli films but has failed to include Princess Mononoke in their Princess line up. Which I don't get. She's a princess!! and a lot more of one than Belle- Thankfully, Mike photoshopped her into place. 

And I'm not such a big fan but Pocahontas is a princess. Why is she left out? Her pesky anti-materialism schtick cause too much trouble? 

Learn Something New Every Day

Aaron Reuben and I went to the Smithsonian on Friday. I learned that Mastodon means nipple teeth in greek. Isn't that weird?

The World Without Us

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
Pretty good. Often fascinating. I loved how Weisman framed our current condition and practices in geologic time. Passages are beautiful and thoughtful.

BUT Occasionally it plods and repeats. Could have used some more editing

AND The last chapter was HORRIBLE. Lost it a full star. For being inventive and imaginative, the closing is a cruise control regurgitation of old-school 1970s pretension: Religion is ridiculous except Eastern religions which are kind of deep, the "intelligent solution" is to limit women to one child, zero population is the answer my friend, blah, blah, mind meld our thoughts to the universe - what?? LAME. Uninspired. Disappointing. Tasteless. Predictable. The worst closing I have EVER read. And I liked the book.

View all my reviews.