Rural Dreams

Mirror Project Pulpectomy

The Mirror Project rejected my photo, apparently it has to be a self portrait. I didn't think they'd buy that that's MY reflection in the bowl.

Been too busy to blog: making sauce and salsa with 70 pounds of ripe tomatoes that the farmers left unexpectedly at our back door, going apple picking, excavating the cement walkway to our front door, buying a new (old) front door at a salvage/antique place that was like Monsters Inc. with all the freakin' doors, installing a new external hard drive, laundry, cooking, dishes etc.

I'm reading Protecting the Gift and I highly recommend it to all parents. I got it from the library, you probably can too.

I had to take Aidan to the dentist today for a pulpectomy - a root canal for kids. We have had one visit already with this pediatric dentist, who looks just like Willem DaFoe. He didn't want me in the room with them, so I sat fuming in the waiting room. I did some assertiveness personal training in the meanwhile and went in today insisting that I be in the room with Aidan. Dr. Dafoe said that it tends to make kids nervous and if that's happening I will need to leave. I told him I would be the judge of that. It went great and I feel so good. I have a really hard time standing my ground like that. I've been talking to a lot of parents about this and apparently it is very common for dentists to do this, even with kids younger than Aidan. I find it mindblowing that these dentists expect parents to leave a young child alone with strangers for a long, uncomfortable and possibly painful procedure.

Especially with Willem Dafoe.

That's all for now.

Pray For My Friend

My friend Jes came over today with her two kids. We went to an apple farm and picked apples and fed bottles to baby goats. It was raining, so we came back here and the kids played for a couple of hours while Jes and I hung out and rearranged my living room. It was a great day.

As they were getting ready to leave, I went upstairs and looked in Aidan's room. This is what I saw. Jes told me that everytime her daughters' cousin comes over and the three of them play, this is exactly what they do to their rooms. Their cousin lives next door and comes over almost every day.

Please say a prayer for my friend Jes.

First Day of School

I've been planning on home schooling since I first read about unschooling on HipMama. I've kept myself open to all kinds of possibilities in the meanwhile, but I've always come back to the feeling that sending kids to school institutionalizes them and I don't want to institutionalize my kids.

So today is the day! I thought it was yesterday, but all of the kids on the streets of town cooled my feeling that I was doing something deviant. The county fair ended Monday evening in our town and I guess that the schools thought it wise to give themselves an extra day after the revelry.

Two coincidences have comforted me in my decision today. One was that I vote on sites for Soul of the Web and one of the sites that I looked at today is a Flash labyrinth that, on my visit, led me to a poem called "I am the Student". (Click on the red thing in the lower right corner, then the center of the map/vagina thing, then the book.) It uses words like "leash", and "puppet". The other thing is that Aidan woke up with a fever this morning. He couldn't have gone to school anyway.

Guantanamo on the Hudson

I hope folks will read this account about what when on in NYC last week.