Beauty And The Droop

A certain leading magazine has a list of 25 of the top Things! I! Must! Have! for 2009! If I run out and buy these things right now, I will

*Look Younger From The Neck Down

* Stimulate Nail Growth

* Figure Out What "Stratospherically" Means

* Say Buh-bye To Brown Spots

* Save Myself The Salon Expense

* Take My Hair To The Next Level

* Extend My Blowout (is this something to do with sex?)

* Let My Vibrating Mascara Do The Wiggle Work For Me

And all this, ladies, for a total cost of only (wait, there has to be a calculator here somewhere...) $747.77 !!!! That's US dollars, baby. Of course, some of those products can last up to a year, so there's good value for your last few shekels!

Sometimes, I almost go for it. Could it be that my living in the scorching tropics, which has yes, given be naturally sun-kissed hair, but has also given me skin which appears ten years older than it really is, is cheating me of love, friends, and all things wonderful? Is the time I spend wiggling my mascara robbing me of a better quality of life?

Can reading these magazines really be any good for me? It is so easy to come away from a glossy magazine feeling that I MUST do something about the wrinkles and droops, the spots of various hues, the faults. THE FAULTS! A former Miss Universe contestant who I know and love (hi sweetie!) says that I absolutely must wear a little makeup every day. I would like to! I would! And maybe someday I will! There's a diva in me somewhere, one who loves eyeliner and plans on wearing it. But the days go by and somehow, every day, unless there's a gala event to attend, I shake my wet hair out, slap on some sunscreen and carry on. And somehow, I am happy.

But still the magazine thoughts nag. AM I getting the best out of my moisturizer? DOES my mascara really lengthen? SHOULD I toss my hair products?

Fortunately, I am heading to the beach house this weekend. My girlfriends can talk me down from this ledge over a glass of wine. I love them no matter what they look like, which is a good thing cuz at the beach, we are alllll about comfort and relaxation. If you're looking for hot beach babes, don't head our way. You'll find a gaggle of moms deep in a scrabble game, wearing their oldest comfy t-shirts and shorts and wondering if anyone remembered a razor.

The Weekend In Brief

* Sam is sporting four stitches in his big toe, and I am feeling like World's Worst Mother for having to take my bleeding children to A&E so often. Although once again, the injured child was playing in a safe place, not doing anything dangerous. Running with his buddies on a well-manicured lawn, while the yoga mamas yogued peacefully.

* A day later, he was ATVing up and down the beach at top speed, and got the bandages wet so we removed them and re-dressed the wound with a piece of a sanitary napkin and some green electrical tape because naturally, the first aid kit was not with us. No injuries were sustained while ATVing.

* Chas surfed some mega-awesome gnarly waves, dude. They pounded him. He learned:

a) to keep out of the way of the big dude surfers
b) that he must learn to duck-dive properly
c) to always ensure that his trunks are tightly tied on

* We have decided to be very organized, and to keep a bag in the trunk of the car with first aid kit, changes of clothes, toothbrushes, etc. For sudden changes of plan. Since we started homeschooling, we have had so many sudden changes of plan. We need to be READY FOR ANYTHING! Because you never know when you might start the day at dawn meditating on a hilltop, and then decide to go to the beach for the day (via A&E), and then be invited to spend the night with friends in their beach house.

* Hooray for friends with Gameboys or whatever you call them. Sam spent most of his weekend lying about with his foot up, engrossed in ninja-pokemon-raptor-omnideath. Or something. He was happy as a clam.

I hope everyone else's weekend was injury-free!

Quote Of The Day: Notes To Self

"Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent."

- C. G. Jung



"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

-Albert Einstein

I Have Earrings That Do Nothing

Today, we did not leap off of cliffs or get sucked by leeches. We did not even get mud in our ears. We ate normal food that wasn't damp. We vacuumed. Some of us played computer games, (furtively!) and others of us read our books. We had a bush fire, but the wind was blowing gently in a friendly direction and our fire trace held it back, so there were no roaring infernos or sudden deadly fireballs and all we had to do was back-burn slightly and whack half-heartedly with rakes. Then we had a shower and went back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I even trimmed my toenails. I considered taking a picture of my flip-flops and feet, post-fire, covered with soot, chipped polish and dirt and looking really disgraceful, but I decided to spare you.

Recent Book List:

"The House Of The Spirits" by Isabel Allende was excellent, probably my favorite one by her. Though "Ines Of My Soul" comes close.

Sean is reading Terry Pratchett's "Sourcery" which is hilarious judging by his cackling. We have many of the "Discworld" series, and they are SO funny! And deep. And wise. Terry Pratchett is a genius.

"Natural Acts" by David Quammen is a collection of essays on Nature: the Octopus, the Bat, the Mosquito observed from a reverent and humorous perspective.

"Snow Flower And The Secret Fan" by Lisa See, about the lives of two girls in China. It begins "I am what they call in our village 'One who has not yet died' - a widow, eighty years old." I loved this story.

"Half Of A Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This is the story of the Biafra/Nigeria conflict, from the perspectives of two families. Sad but a must read. It hops forward in time, then back, which is tricky so beware.

Sean says to tell you that he doesn't ONLY read Terry Pratchett, in fact, he read "Half Of A Yellow Sun" FIRST and brought it for me and he reads lots of really cerebral stuff so there. Mostly these days Sean likes to read over my shoulder while I am blogging. Which makes concentration difficult. Not to mention the mobility of one's right arm. Ahem.

I just love it most when Sean reads hilarious stuff, because his giggling makes ME giggle and I look up from my book and say "What? What?" and make him read me all the funniest bits.

Yesterday when the boys and I were in a bookstore looking for homeschooly stuff, I made an impulse purchase. I NEVER buy on impulse! But this, I couldn't resist. A set of magnets with words for writing love poems. I took it home and wrote a haiku on the fridge with words like "kiss" and "eternity". Sean wrote a very long response which somehow managed to be pornographic and 'Finnegan's Wake'-esque, which I am sure wasn't the manufacturer's intention when they made the magnets. He refers to me in his poem as "amorous white thing" which cracked me up.

The boys have been reading the "Inkheart" books, and loving them until book three which they say isn't as good as the first two. Chas says that it seems as though the author forgot where she had meant the story to go, and it rambles. I haven't finished reading it yet either, so I can't say. Chas is reading Robert Graves' "I, Claudius", a brilliant and witty classic about the mad Romans in their declining days. He is also reading anything by Gerald Durrell and James Herriott that he can get his hands on.

Sam asked me to get "Beowulf" so I did. He likes olde English. We all read a book together called "Word Origins", an Oxford textbook for primary schools, and it really explained a lot. Why we have such ridiculous spellings in our language, for instance. Why "sausage" and "sauce" sound the same. Language is more exciting than we had realised. On that note, if you are interested in this, read "Mother Tongue" by Bill Bryson. Word origins for grownups.

Does anyone else out there (besides Greengirl!) read several books at the same time? I seem to have passed this dubious habit on to my sons.

And now, I think I will think about dinner, and a glass of wine, while the day cools down and the sun sets into the smoke.

My legs are strong things
Unlike earrings that do nothing
But they are pretty

Extreme Adventurers, Last Day

So what happened to the middle day, Nan?

You will have to scroll down a few days. I posted about the middle day (Tuesday) first, on Saturday, because it was the COOLEST, and as we didn't take the camera down those gorges so there were no pictures anyway. Then yesterday I posted about Monday, and the day before yesterday I posted about Sunday.

Understand? Good.

On Wednesday, being LAST Wednesday and not today, the plan was to head out of Brasso Seco early and get some chores done and go to taekwondo. But we all said "NOOOOOO!" and Kelly and her kids said "NOOOOOOO!" So we planned another hike instead. "YAAAAY!"

Double River Falls is a long hike, if you are seven years old. Max did really well though, compared to last time! when he was the whiner extraordinaire and I almost fed him to the jungle beasts! We started early and had sunshiny weather and many snacks. The forest was beautiful. I lay on a log and looked up into the butterflies. I wonder how many butterflies there are in the rainforest canopy? There were gajillions, at least: blue, yellow, orange... flashing in the sun.

The river was COLD. Max gets blue lips and shivers when he's been cold, so I warmed him up every time he came out of the water. Then he would go back in again, to climb the waterfall and leap off, and then he'd bring his icy body to press into me again. That boy needs a wetsuit. Chas and Sam never get cold. Someone once told me to give Max cod liver oil to help him stay warm, but I haven't noticed a difference!

Kamala continued to be fascinated with Chas' head.
And Max and Khalil continued to show off their muscles. They are the skinniest muscle-men I have ever seen, but they make up for it with confidence and aplomb. Max and Khalil are great friends, talking non-stop and out-adventuring each other bravely. Khalil is a great hiker, and he and Chas leave us in their dust. Or mud. We enjoyed our last hike so much, and staggered home with a carload of horribly muddy hiking stuff. Much of it is still lying around in smelly heaps, waiting for rain to fill our water-tanks a bit. Come on rain! You know you wanna! Stop hanging there looking cloudy and FALL already! Otherwise, all is well at home. We read our way through Kelly and Carl's bookshelves while we were there, and brought home four "Magic Schoolbus" books which happen to be related to stuff we are doing this term. We also hiked on actual Amerindian trails and peered into the microscope and talked about different types of plants. So school did happen last week! Chas and I actually met his class (we crashed their hike!) for their school-outing hike on Friday, which was excellent for Chas. He had missed his school buddies!

So far this week, we've been catching up with math and other subjects. The "Fits and Starts" method of working seems to be best at the moment! We are learning every day, and the boys continue to take their learning very seriously. They are asking questions non-stop, looking things up, and filling up with information. Every activity, every outing, has taken on a new purpose. I am sure we will end up continuing to homeschool through the holidays, just for the heck of it. I've been trying not to go ahead in the UK syllabus, since I don't want anyone to be bored next term when they go back to school. We're just going in-depth in a big way, and covering Caribbean and Amerindian topics while working through the syllabus for the term with some semblance of structure.

Chas left this morning to go to Tobago with my Mum for three days. Dad is working there recently, so Chas is off, armed with goggles, snorkels and flippers, to look at the reef. He took surfboard wax too, hoping to borrow a board and surf in Mount Irvine. Lucky him!

Sam wrote a post for their blog this morning, so you can check it out. He is very impressed with his own typing and computer skills!

I feel that I am beginning to catch up on the schoolwork, the muddy clothes, and the housework that languished all of last week. And the rain is threatening to fall....

Intrepid Explorers With Big Muscles: First Day

The intrepid explorers show off their muscles! The grownup in the shot is Dave, a researcher. He likes to wrestle and count bugs. The boys are deeply impressed. I think that Kamala has the BEST muscle pose of all! Sam has the backpack, which is almost waterproof and floats beautifully. We use it for floating downriver!


We crossed the river and walked in among the cocoa trees and anthuriums.We didn't eat the cocoa pods, as one of Brasso Seco's best products is cocoa for drinking.

We met the Marianne River after a short hike through the cocoa, and headed downstream. Kelly knew about a waterfall further down, but we didn't know just how difficult it would be to get there. It turned out impossible for Max and Khalil, so Chas and Sam and I planned to return the next day.

That didn't stop us from having a marvellous time anyway! Max never goes anywhere without his "Survival Pouch" that Santa brought for him. It's got everything a small adventurer needs: Excellent knife, torch... the big boys scoffed and said "A TORCH? It's daytime! And we'll be in the river! It will be destroyed! Boy Max, are you going to learn a LESSON. And how much did that torch cost, huh? It's not waterproof y'know. You'll only lose it or drop it or something."
Max wisely (stubbornly)ignored them. And wouldn't you know it, we found CAVES! Suddenly, everyone wanted to borrow the torch, which did indeed fall into the river and turned out to be reasonably floaty AND quite waterproof. We opened it up later on an dried it out, and it works still. Max was magnanimous and knowing throughout.


After a few exciting climbs down small falls, we reached the point of no return for the small boys. Chas and Sam scouted ahead to see what lay beyond, and had an adventure getting back! The current was strong, and the falls slippery with leeches. We had fun picking them off each other, and put a few into a snack packet for later examination.


So eventually, we meandered back to the car, discussing what we would need for our serious downriver trek. Our almost-waterproof bag was full of water and weighed as much as a BUCKET of water, and the first aid kit was completely soaked, along with everything else. For the next day's adventure, we used a real waterproof pack inside of our almost waterproof one, and it was much better. We spread everything out to dry a bit before heading back to Kelly's house for further discussions and to look at our leeches under a microscope.

The rest of the evening was spent recuperating, eating, planning, reading, and in Kamala's absolute fascination with Chas' spiky hairstyle. Brasso Seco, and especially Kelly and Carl's house, is one of my favorite places in the world. See you again soon, guys, and thank you so much! We love you!

The Saga Continues...

Or, as Chas put it as we drove up the driveway, "Gosh, we've hardly been home at all for WEEKS!"

We just got home, again. And I'm going "Dudes, we gotta do some more math. Starting today." If homeschooling were all about science, literature and mechanics we would be fine and dandy and never have to come home at all. We could stay Down de Islands and snorkel around the cave-y island of Gasparee and tweak the RC Boat engine with Daddy and read stories and discuss why you feel water pressure behind your hand when you swoosh it through the sea.

I have MORE stories to tell about our hikes earlier this week, (no wait... last week!) and some photos to post, and Down de Islands news and I intend to do it all nicely, in chronological order, remembering all of the interesting bits and taking notice of my spelling and composition. Thus, you will probably not hear from me at all for some time! I wrote the last post in a huge hurry while dripping blood from my thumb and I just know I left out some interesting stuff about the leeches. And I KNOW you want to hear more about leeches! Stay tuned!


Edited: For a really good laugh and some serious upside-down boob action, see "why moms can't do yoga" on myspace. I looked for it on youtube too, but it has been flagged as an evil breastfeeding liberalist video with A BREAST! Goodness gracious! So to see it on youtube you have to be a member. As if we'd want to. Anti-breast eunuchs. Pah!

LOSSSST In An Underground Cave Filled With Leeches In The Jungle!!!!

Well hello and hi, internetties!

We have had an extremely eventful week. (Tell us all about it, Nan!) Well okay I will. Because I was just washing the dishes and cut my thumb on a glass, so now I can't do ANYTHING but type. Luckily I have already given the dog her pedicure for the morning. She has a manky foot with MAGGOTS in. She also has a cough again. The vet says that what's wrong is that she's fourteen years old, so to just give her expensive food and pills and lots of attention. So she's had a pedicure and I have removed the cat from the computer chair and the cat's looking at me saying "Geddoff My Chair, Slave." I am thinking of running away North.

On Saturday I took the boys to the Rally Club Meet in Preysal where Sean and his brother Scott raced "The Time Machine", a Ford Escort with Frankenstein-like qualities. They broke down, sadly. There were other mishaps and crashes and the boys had a wonderful time peering into engines, picking up bits of fender, trying on helmets and making knowledgeable comments.

On Sunday, we had a Mothers' Day lunch with Sean's Mum's family. It was delicious, and the political and social discussion and commentary were astute and entertaining. When the boys and I had eaten and digested (twice), we abandoned Sean and headed up the windy road to Brasso Seco! Yay! Carl and Kelly's house was packed with researchers: Julian and his two assistants, studying hummingbird dialects; and Dave, counting bugs. Chas was as happy as a pig in mud! On Monday the boys and I, with Kelly and kids, walked down Marianne Trace and hung out in the river. Chas and Sam scouted downriver and got swept dramatically down the gorge and had to be helped back up, and it was SO exciting we decided to do it all over again the next day! So on Tuesday we left Max playing with Khalil, and Chas and Sam and I packed some sandwiches in a waterproof bag along with other bare essentials, and went adventuring. We knew that if we followed the river down we would get to a beautiful waterfall and then eventually reach another trail which we could walk back up to Marianne Trace. So off we went, the fearless explorers!

It was AMAZING! We slid down the first gorge, which was like a water park but with leeches, into a jacuzzi infinitely deep. The rock rose up on either side, arms' width apart, for forty sheer feet. We rounded a corner (me thinking "Hmmm, we can't swim BACK against this current.") and the rock opened out on either side into enormous dark caves, almost touching at the top. We were underground! It was so exhilarating! We whooped and our echoes whooped back. We floated along on our waterproof bag, wondering what came next. Next was more sudden drops, which we had to climb down like Ninjas, bracing against the two sides, because we did not know how deep the water was at the bottom. It was infinitely deep and churning, of course, but you don't want to leap off a ten-foot waterfall onto a log just under the bubbles! We were into being safe, what with No Way Back. After more gorges the rock opened out and the river widened, and we found the waterfall, a huge blue pool, absolutely clear and stunning. The only way down, JUMP! The boys jumped and whooped and then called me a wuss while they floated on the bag. I psyched myself up and jumped too. It wasn't that high, I was just enjoying the sunshine! After the waterfall we hung out on the "beach" for a while, eating our sandwiches and feeling the sun. It was so warm after those dark cold wet adventures!

There were more gorges to climb down then, and one was difficult. It was very deep, with wedged logs and slippery sides that sloped in at the top, cave-like, so we had to use teamwork and brainy skillz to get down. Chas said we should bring a rope next time.

Finally, the terrain opened out again and our party of explorers found the bend in the river where we knew we could walk back up the trail. We collapsed in the sunshine and dried out again, and skipped stones, and snacked. We walked back home with our bag, up the steep trail feeling very proud of ourselves, listening to the river roaring not too far away but DEEP and left a piece of ourselves underground, looking up at a chink of light, floating on a bag of sandwiches.

Oh Boy! Mother's Day!

Or as we said over a glass of wine last night:

Me- "Life's a funny old thing."
Sharon- "Mmmm. HEEE. Larious."

So to all you Mothers out there, whether you get chocolate or not, whether your family remembers or not, whether you have fun plans or not, whatever ages your kids are, whether there is poop smeared on the toilet seat or not, whatever your spouse has been up to, remember: Our kids have made us what we are today. Exhausted and crabby maybe, but also wise, special and loved.

Happy Mother's Day to us.

Wow, It's Friday Already!

How's THAT for a title, huh? My titles rock.

I can't believe how quickly the weeks are zipping past. We seem to be so busy, having such FUN! Mostly. We also have middle-child angst, eldest-child superiority and youngest-child clinginess: New Improved Models now that we are all stuck at home together. I have been trying to let it all run it's course. But mostly, it's been fun. We are thinking of going into the bush from Sunday till Wednesday (But you LIVE in the bush Nan) (I mean really Rainforest Type Bush) and we will take an assortment of nets, microscopes, jars, pencils, drawing books, and the like. No doubt Chas and Sam will have some cool stuff to post on their site when they are all done.

The best thing about Brasso Seco (where we are going) is that Khalil lives there, and he is Max's buddy. They are going to have a blast! And the other best thing is that Kelly lives there and she's MY buddy so I'm going to have a blast too. AND! there is a researcher there with two assistants from the States, so Chas and Sam are going to have a blast getting into Julian's research and wringing information out of them. That's a best thing too. Brasso Seco is the Best.

And that's all I have to say for myself this morning. Not much, I know, but you'll have to make do! I will endeavour to write something sensible later on or Sunday morning when my thoughts are collected. I don't seem to have much time to sit in peace and write these days. Now why would that be??

Hairdos For Adventurous Boys, And Other Images Of Note

WHO's your daddy? Talk about father-son lookalikes! And now they have matching hair.


The baby hummingbirds have finally flown, to much applause. Sean took these bird shots. The feathers are edged with gold, and you lose that in the picture, unfortunately.


Today the boys and I are going to the museum to look at Amerindian artifacts, among other things. I might be getting a new phone too, fingers crossed. One that will actually work down here in the Bush. Please God let there be a Nokia!

I hope to go to Yoga class while the boys are at Taekwondo, and we might hang out with buddies later. Max especially misses his friends. I have a list of things to do as long as my arm, but if I don't get it all done today I suppose I can always go BACK to town another day?

Never Say That You Have Nothing To Write About.

Having mentioned yesterday (was it only yesterday?) that there was nothing blogworthy going on...

Yesterday was THE HOTTEST DAY OF THE CENTURY. No, we didn't measure it, but everybody said so. Ev. ry. body. Thunder rolled in the distance, ashes fell down and Chas climbed the ladder onto the water tanks and said "one foot of water left!" and we got depressed and wished we could have showers and do laundry and flush for wee wee.

Last night was my father-in-law's birthday party. We took him some homemade fudge (recipe to come, Karly, I haven't forgotten you), and armloads of heliconias and bromeliads, and went to hang out with the 729,000 family members who were there. All was well until Chas came out of the house POURING WITH BLOOD. Pouring. Out of his head, down the back of his shirt and into his trousers.

Dear readers, was the world's most rambunctious boy swinging from the ceiling? Ramping his bike? Doing a triple flip with a twist on the bed? Climbing the trees? Up a ladder? No. He was playing quietly inside with two very small girls and slipped on the tile floor. This is Sod's law at it's best, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Now I am usually completely collected and in control in these situations. I deal with it, and then later when everything is fine I fall apart and shake and cry. So I was in full Nurse Mode, pressing to stop the bleeding and calmly asking, "Nats, could you give me a hand here? Turn that chair around." calming the child, kissing him, telling him that it didn't look too bad. Of course, he had no idea he was POURING WITH BLOOD.

But. Sean was there, and he too was completely in control, knowing the right things to do and calmly helping me and giving sensible instructions to various cousins. So, dear readers, my brain announced that "All is well now: You may fall apart in the time-honoured fashion." I tried to keep it together, but when Chas asked me why my hands were shaking so much I had to excuse myself and go breathe.

Sharon was there, so she slipped right into Surrogate Mommy Mode until I got my act temporarily together. Thank God for Surrogate Mommies!

Chas is now sporting three stitches in the back of his head, and all his hair has been shaved off. He loves the bald, and I love seeing the shape of his beautiful head.

Once again, the staff at Mount Hope Hospital's Paediatric Emergency Unit were kind, professional and prompt. Chas chatted with the nurses and was very brave while he was being stitched up. Sean talked to him under the surgical covering and I sat in a corner and didn't pass out.

It was a long night.

This morning, we had breakfast and then went over to my Mum and Dad's house (a distant next-door) where a family of Rufus-Breasted Hermit hummingbirds was putting on a pageant. The nest was made hanging like a hammock on the end of a palm frond, and the fat babies had climbed out to exercise their wings and voices. The Mama was back and forth with yummy bugs and fiercely chasing away other birds and would-be photographers. Sean risked attack and got some beautiful photos, which I will post later in the week when I am not so lazy.

More thunder rolled. We discussed the possibility of rain. With "Climate Change" or whatever they want to call it, our dry season has changed so much. It's not as long or as severe as previous years, when we have had to fight fires that threatened our homes, and we have managed to make our water last right through the dry season without having to hire a water truck. (TT$600 per load) So climate change has been good to us, so far. We still have to deal with fire, and keep watching out for our wooden houses, but luck has been good to us in the past two years. So we talked about whether the full moon next week might bring the rainy season.

Suddenly we all inhaled. We smelled rain. And then, we heard it. A roar in the distance approaching fast, and we then were out under the eaves soaking while the hot rain poured brownly off of the roof. Chas and Mum danced in the rain and rushed out to clear pipes, I ran home and swooshed leaves on my back porch in a river while an inch and a half of rain fell out of the sky and washed the dust and soot from the garden, making everything suddenly green and red and yellower.

It has rained. Mother Nature is kind. The water tanks are half full of brownish water with bits of leaves, and I am going to do some laundry tomorrow. How amazing to be able to wash sheets without wondering where our next water is coming from! I will save the whites until the murk settles, though. The next time rain falls, it will be on a clean roof.

All of the frogs in the neighbourhood are getting it on tonight in the tilapia pond. They are singing "Pong-mih-nuh, pong-mih-nuh" loudly. Sometimes one with a really deep voice sings "EEH-xtra-pong" and I know he's the one getting all the action! I wonder where Kermit is?

Coming Up For A Breath

Thank you for your advice in Tuesday's comments, my loves. No, I would not like to borrow a teenage girl OR twin toddlers thankyouverymuch for your kind offers. And yes, having a huge backyard with many trees is a boon.

My life has been FULL! of STUFF! but not much is Blogworthy. I went on Wednesday and had my Aura Straightened and Chakras Redecorated and Magnetic Field Thingied, and am now on a strict detox diet and have been given a stern lecture on the evils of Bottling Up My Emotions. Apparently I should yell more and throw tantrums, but y'know, I am not REALLY the tantrum-yeller type. Except when I am pregnant or exhausted by sleep-deprived baby-rearing.

Maybe I should get pregnant?

Har har.

So I need to practice some visualization-meditation-type stuff for releasing vexation and sorrow in a non-tantrum way. Otherwise I will make myself sick. So that's my self-help project for the month of May.

In homeschooling news, all is well. The boys have been ramping their bikes and getting injured. They look like battered children, all leg-bruises and suspicious burn-type scars from the jellyfish stings, and they refuse to have a haircut. They are ridiculously happy though. They aren't sick of each other yet, and even more strangely, I am not sick of them! Our days pass in (mostly) joyful harmony.

I have been getting their math up to the internet homeschooling level: many homeschooling sites do times tables up to 15, and use negative numbers, in really cool games. So they are learning the extra times tables and stuff in order to play the games. Blowing up aliens and whatnot. There are word problems and so on online as well, all set up in a fun way which really makes Sam want to do math all day. Max has been learning fractions, cutting stuff up into equal pieces and putting them back together again. Also learning "half past" and "quarter to" and "quarter past". Chas has been doing the exercises in his school math test book, to keep his brain working and so that he doesn't forget all of the PxRxT=SI and whatnot.

Max is reading for me every day, sometimes twice a day, since that is his weak spot. He still reverses letters, but is improving steadily. He has been practicing his cursive handwriting every day too. He has Sam's great memory for numbers and love of math, which is a good thing.

We are learning Caribbean History, which is really high school stuff, but since they will be in England at school next, they might as well learn Caribbean History now. It's fun!

We have English covered, as I am a nerd like that. We like to recite poetry.

Sam has planted tomatoes. Chas is learning to cook. There is MUCH playing of guitars.

I think that Max is missing his school friends. I am arranging for him to spend more time with them.

Next week, we will start going to Taekwondo once again, and make an effort to hang out with friends of all boys AND ME! I had a terrible pining for my friends on Friday afternoon, but when I called them they were all too busy out having FUN and I cried "O WOE IS ME!" I nearly abandoned my children with a grandparent but I have become too lazy to make the 2-hour trek into town. The trek I used to make every single day. I do not miss it.

My other plan is to check with School and make sure that I am not missing out anything important in the syllabus, and I will check the UK syllabus as well. We may well continue "school" over part of the summer holidays, since we are enjoying it, though I am a firm believer in the nothingness of the long holidays. This way, we do not have to panic to cram everything in before the end of term. I had also promised my Primary 5 art students that I would do a ceramics class with them last term, and I would like to go back and do that.

The future looks busy!

Meanwhile, PRAY that all of our UK paperwork comes through so that ALL our family can move to England together: Sean and me, Chas, Sam and Max. The UK Visa people for our area are now based in New York, so I am nervous.