Reading: Continuing with Cordwainer Smith. I finished "The Lady who Sailed the Soul" today and began "When The People Fell." I used to devour nearly a book in a day; now it takes me a day or two to get through a short story. Reading Smith slowly is not a bad idea, though. His future history is so complex and his weaving of science fiction and myth so intricate that his work merits the extra time.

Green Scene

Conversation in the car this morning:

"Mama? Mama!" Matthew wailed.

"Yes?"

"I calling you!"

"Well, what do you want?"

"Guess what, Mama? Reno took the tire off my Beetle car!"

"Well, that's too bad"

Tab commented, "He also put it back on for you, Matthew."

I prompted, "That was nice, wasn't it?"

"Thank you, Reno," said Matthew.

"You're welcome," said Stephen.

"Don't take my tire again," he warned.

"OK."

Happy St. Patrick's Day. I made green jello for Daniel's class, and Daniel dressed in a green shirt and green pants. I saved my green sweater to wear today, but it so warm I ended up changing out of it by late morning. At the library storytime today, the boys heard a story about an Irish lad named Sean and then colored in pictures of shamrocks. And that was the extent of our St. Patrick's day celebration.

Tab's boss, Colum, is from Ireland and has only lived here for the past two years. He is bemused by the St. Patrick's Day festivities here in the U.S. At home, he told us, the holiday is not really celebrated. This year he decided to have an American St. Patrick's Day. He and his brother, who is visiting from Ireland, have gone to NYC to see the parade and in the evening they will be partying at Sweeney's, one of our local Irish pubs, with some people from the department.

Tab and I were talking about that strange American veneration of St. Patrick's Day and Ireland in general. It's not really that surprising, considering how many Americans claim Irish descent. So much of what we think of as "Irish," though, is more accurately described as "Irish-American," for instance, the girl's names Erin, Colleen, Shannon, and songs such as "When Irish Eyes are Smiling." Where do these misplaced feelings of nostalgia come from?

Yesterday, Lorraine gave me her old Mustek scanner since she just replaced it with a scanner-fax-photocopier combo. The only problem is that the AC adapter cord has been chewed down to bare wire in a few places by her dogs, and Tab doesn't want me to use the scanner until I replace it. Tab took this afternoon off, and on our way back from his office we tried to find another adapter. We stopped at CompUSA, Radio Shack, and Staples, along with two local places, Highland Computers and Lareco Electronics, and none of them carried 15V adapters. I guess I'll have to call Mustek and order one. It is so frustrating to have a scanner and not be able to use it. I feel like Moses staring down into the Promised Land.

When I finally get the scanner running, I want to add some images to this site. I'd like to put up pix of the boys, and maybe even one of me. Maybe. I love the way Al of Nova Notes includes a sketch along with each entry. I wish I could do that, but I can't draw. I'd like to learn, though. While we were at the library today, I picked up Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. The author, Betty Edwards, believes anyone can learn to draw. She claims that drawing is just a matter of learning to see and letting our spatial, visually-oriented, wordless right brain take over from the logical, linear, left brain. I don't know, though I must say that differences in the before and after drawings by her students are astounding.

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