Remembering Now

I painted a self portrait last night. I posted it on my sadly neglected "art" blog. You can see it here.

When it's 102

I heard on the news today that the temp hit a new record high at 102. With the help of his dad, Reuben found some relief in a local stream. Here's how things happened.

Hurray water!

What's the biggest stick I can find? I'll throw it in the water.

Hmm, those sticks look like they're having fun in the water.

I'll just get my feet wet...

and maybe my arms too...

No point in leaving the rest of me dry. There are rocks in here that need to be moved! Splashes to be made!

No. Mama!

After dinner most evenings we've taken to enjoying the evening air on our back porch. Tonight we were up to our usual activities. Reuben was shooting baskets and Aaron and I were catching up when all of a sudden Reuben stopped shooting, dropped the ball and ran quickly in my direction. We both assumed he wanted to be picked up. Chivalrous Aaron attempted to divert his attention. He said, Here Reuben, come to Dada. Dada will pick you up. Reuben lithely dodged him and exclaimed No. Mama! When he reached my side he promptly leaned over my lap and threw up on me. I'm not sure if I should feel flattered or a little hurt that I'm the parent Reuben feels most comfortable throwing up on.

This picture isn't our back porch. It's the most recent picture I have of Reuben. He's playing in the plants at the botanical garden by our house. I love botanical gardens.

Crying Wolf

The last couple days I've been having contractions on and off. Not braxton hicks contractions but the-drop-what-I'm-doing-I-can-barely-breath-it-hurts-so-much REAL contractions that make me think this is it! Then they stop. Then they start again. Then they stop. I keep putting family on alert only to have to sheepishly admit everything has fizzled out, AGAIN.

I'd prefer not to mention anything but when the contractions do start they are crazy powerful and coming one on top of the other. Reuben was 24+ hours of labor so I figured I would have time but I keep hearing cautionary tales of the first being 20 hours of labor and the next being born after 2 hours or being accidently born at home or in the car or in the hospital parking lot. I really don't want to have this baby at home. I wouldn't mind not having to pay the hospital bill but I'd really like to have some AC during labor especially since the temp is hovering around 100 in DC right now.

Farewell Friberg

Arnold Friberg passed away this week. I wish him a fond farewell. As a kid, Friberg's paintings of the Book of Mormon were my favorite. I loved the action, the costumes, the absence of frilly flowers and cutesy kids hugging one another. They made it clear that The Book of Mormon was exciting and there was a lot of blood and drama to be enjoyed if you could find the right Primary teacher.

Elena Kagan on Cameras in the Court

I LOVE this youtube clip. It illustrates why I Adore C-span. It's my favorite channel.

Why, in the middle of Kagan's answer, does the camera cut to two random audience members who both look bored to death? No reason.

And lets all savor the C-span's mediators discomfort (masked as boredom and some glasses cleaning) as Kagan describes C-spans habit of leaving the cameras working long after the politicians have called it quits. I'm not sure why Kagan thinks that doesn't happen anymore. I don't think she's watched recently.

Wonder Woman Update

I mentioned a few weeks back how much I hated Wonder Woman's lame costume. It seems the universe or at least DC comics heard my complaint and just introduced an "updated" Wonder Woman costume. At last! I don't know how they forgot her red boots. That was the one good thing she had going for her the last eight decades. But I'm glad she no longer has that bad perm trying to eat her head or that Awful Awful Awful star spangled miniskirt. I'm glad she got some pants. Still, I wouldn't mind her looking mightier.

What do you think?

One of my favorite things about comics, especially when I was younger, was the super strong female characters. I was reading an article about WW's new update and was depressed to learn:

New statistics from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media pertaining to female role models for young girls [show] in G rated movies, just one in three speaking roles is female and in PG and R rated films, about 73 percent of the characters are male. While there are notable exceptions, like Dora the Explorer and the girl superheroes in The Invincibles, young women are still hard pressed to find pop culture role models that look and sound like themselves.

So I wish Wonder Woman and her few surviving Amazonian sisters the best luck.