Race Relations and Inaugurations, SI2K Style

The little artist's WikkiStix creation: Daddy Opening a VolleyBall Present.
And us having a snack at the Science Museum: we were forced out into the freezing cold to eat our snack, since we insisted on bringing foreign food into the place in the face of a price monopoly which sought to take advantage of its advantage.

Suddenly I have blog amnesia. Where was I? Where was I going? What am I doing here at the computer in the "office" in the dark and why does it feel so late? Why does the refrigerator smell funny? Does it always smell funny? Why am I saying "funny" when I really mean nasty?

(And as a side note: I spent two days last week completely emptying the fridge and freezer and sopping the whole inside with citrus cleaner. This was punctuated by Boy getting his foot stuck under the fridge (How?!) so fully that I went running into the yard to find someone to help me as it swelled up and turned red from my "helping." It ended with a sobbing Girl pulling it out... and I am ignorant of the details.)

Today was sort of a big day. We started off with a snow day (something like 2 inches!). The kids were excited and Kevin got to stay home. Girl went off into the yard bedecked in her New York winter duds and then came back in to watch the presidential inauguration over hot maple chocolate. This, too, she had been waiting for and was excited. After petitions for McCain at only three-years-old, she now relates almost daily that she likes that Barack Obama, who she calls simply "Obama" with such a familiar tone and a broad smile. She says, "everybody likes Obama." I wish it were that simple.

Photos from the south of Raleigh show that my sister and her husband have gotten more snow than us, by far. But my aunt tells me that last week Alabama was colder than Alaska. This is why we have the word topsy-turvy. Because sometimes it is.

And then the whole family piled into the minivan because mom needed bread yeast and also a couple tubes of paint. (While working on a piece the night before, I ran out of orange, and decided I needed a pink.) We stopped to pick up Igor on the way home, another evening anticipated as snowed-in and popcorn-filled. (Don't bother with Igor. You didn't hear about it because it was not so good. And it was also awkwardly inappropriate for children, at times. Awkward, since it is a children's movie. Hmm.)

Yesterday was sort of a big day, too. Kevin had Martin Luther King Day off from work (after a triple-shift on the weekend). We had a breakfast of crepes (one of Kevin's random specialties) with fruit spread, cream cheese, and/or Nutella. It took me back to nights in Jerusalem. I am not being facetious. Then we piled into the van (again) and drove to the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. We go occasionally, since it is free fun, and has lots of animals; sculpted, taxidermized, and alive. Girl has always been a mini-Francis of Assissi, and Boy is turning out to be a little AquaMan. He spent ten minutes plopped in front of a fish tank full of Sheep's Head Fish, pointing his chubby hand and babbling with a most serious intonation (while Girl and daddy took in the octopus movie). After having an incident with a lost purse (Girl's, not mine), we returned home to the smell of rising bread dough and all participated in the making of the Flaherty Pizza... a thing of both precision and sloppiness which is evolving with time and is as of yet to be perfected (despite the purchase of three pizza stones, three (or four?) pizza wheels, a cookbook devoted solely to pizza, and various recipes). We ate on TV trays (whew!), watching a kid's movie that I choose not to name. It was terrible, and Girl hated it, so we switched to Chicken Little half-way through.

Whether Girl understood the importance or meaning of MLKJ Day, I am not totally sure. What I do know, is that the little girl who once looked at me completely blank when I referred to skin color, asked Kevin a couple weeks ago: "Dad, is Kika (who is half-Japanese, half-something darker) half Senya (who is African)?" We're not sure, Girl. We're not sure.

Good night and good riddance.