A Quiz for You – and the Answer

Darcy brought us all into the living room so we could see this.

Can you see it?

Know what you’re looking at?

Take your best guess!

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Oh, so many good guesses!

The one thing I couldn’t tell you (but I’ve now told Si in the comments) is that Darcy has a little sister named Alyssia. Ah-ha!

“Hey! Come see! It’s A-for-Alyssia!”

Congratulations to Kyra and Mama Grouch, (a new and evidently brilliant reader) who figured it out!

Light-hearted bullet dodging

Thought you would enjoy this. I received this email from Arthur’s mother yesterday morning:

Thought you’d like to know about this conversation we had this morning as I came into the kitchen for breakfast:

Dad: Good morning. There’s an egg on the table for you, and a bowl of fruit on the counter.

Arthur: And a glass of wine.

Me: Wine? No, not for breakfast…

Arthur: Why not?

Me, being slightly dogmatic: Because most people don’t drink wine during the day – because they have to work and think and be sharp. Wine is for dinner when you’re going to relax.

Arthur, after a significant pause: MARY drinks wine during the day.

(Does this mean that there might be a glass waiting for me at the door some afternoon?)
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Fun and cute, right? Except that I’ve had parents who have quizzed me on my drinking practices after a perfect innocuous accident involving some alcohol-free tonic water. Thankfully, Arthur’s parents are not of this ilk. (Which ilk would be “anal and suspicious”.) Still, I err on the side of caution in my doings with the parents: no joshing – and certainly not in writing! – about the amount of alcohol I might be sloshing back during the course of a working day. (Though lord knows some days I could use a stiff shot of something or other…)

My email to mom:

I’m thinking this is an example of authority one-upmanship. Just as I am regularly assured that YES, mummy and daddy DO allow all manner of activites and behaviours (you’d be amazed what goes on in your home), he’s trying the “MARY does…” with you. I guess I’m now officially an Authority Figure.

Mary

And mom to me:
Yes, that was exactly his intent and tone, no doubt in reaction to my dogmatic tone.

Cute, huh? In any other profession, you could have this exchange and you would have only one reaction: “that was fun”. My reaction is twofold: a grin at a fun exchange with a nice parent, and a sigh of relief at having dodged a potential bullet. Kids say the darnest things — and that can be a scary proposition!

Playdough Recipe

Ask and you shall receive…

In fact, my recipe comes from the More With Less Cookbook, our family’s primary cookbook, put out by the Mennonite Central Committee. (No, I’m not Mennonite, but I went to university in an area of the country jam-packed with them! To this day, when I find myself at an occasion where people have segregated themselves by gender – you know, all the men at one table, or down one side of the picnic table, all the women on the other side – I think of it as “sitting Mennonite”, a term used by the Mennonite students themselves in gentle self-deprecation.) I don’t follow the recipe exactly, though, so here’s my variation of the MWL recipe:

Mix together in a bowl:
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons alum

In a pot, heat to boiling:
2 cups water (cookbook says 1.5 cups)
1/2 cup salt
1 tablespoon oil
food colouring

Stir liquids into dry ingredients. Knead* until smooth. Store in airtight container.

*Kneading can be a treat, given that the stuff is boiling hot! Put on a pair of rubber gloves and rub a dot of oil onto the palms to prevent the dough from sticking. Knead lightly at first: it becomes less sticky as it cools. I sometimes put out a sheet of wax paper to knead on to prevent it sticking to the counter. (Sometimes. More often I forget…)