Avoiding the bills

Since I should be working on paying bills right now, it seems much more fun and interesting to write a blog post instead. (Actually just about anything at this moment sounds more fun and interesting.) Now, if only I had something to write about. I'm afraid odds and ends is all you get today.

First, I know that I've told you that A. is very interested in photography. She saw that our local library was running a photo contest and decided to enter. Well, out of over 100 entries in her age group, one of her photos was chosen as a semi-finalist. If you click the link, you can see the picture that was chosen. She is in the under 18 category and her photo is the one of P. reading on the roof of the van. I will note that this is not normally a place that P. reads, but did so to humor A. in her quest for interesting reading photos. (Please don't think this is a ploy for votes, though you're welcome to vote for whichever photo you like best. I really just wanted to share her photograph.)

Next, the results of my day spent with apples last weekend was 8 pie's worth of apples in the freezer, 20 quarts of applesauce, and several cups of dried apples. I still have some more apples and I think we're going to dry most of them as well. I accidentally forgot about them and they dried a little longer than I had planned. It was one of those happy accidents where the final product turned out better than they would have otherwise. Instead of being chewy like the dried apples from the store, these are pretty crisp and are much more like apple chips. Everyone loves them and I've had to hide them in the freezer so that they will still be around in the winter.

Finally, in book news, we have finished reading two chapter books. The first was Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfield. It was our lunch time read aloud and it was a hit. It had a good story combined with giving a sense of what ancient Rome was like without being too didactic. I think we will have to hunt up the sequel. The older boys and I also finished reading The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. I loved this book as a girl because it satisfied my need to read anything and everything about horses. Thus, I had classified it in my head a book appropriate for horse-crazy children. Well, if you had also thought about it that way, you need to reclassify it because it is also a really great book for boys, whether they are interested in horses or not. (Though they might become interested as a result.) It had both my boys completely engaged and clamoring for more. I know finding compelling books that appeal to boys can sometimes be tricky and I'm always happy to find one to add to the list.

Comments

Lucy said…
Love the black stallion. I read it over and over as a kid, Walter Farley was a master story teller. In fact I'm reading it aloud to my kids right now.

If your boys liked it, Farley wrote like 20 books in the same group. Most of them really good.

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