My sweet husband has appeared so many times in our local paper, and has shared his time in the paper so much, that my SILs have been asking him, "Are you the only person in Crescent City???" But between Willy Wonka and Michael's starring role in the recent solar eclipse (get it -- "star"ring?), he is pretty much the man about town. When he was Willy Wonka, many people tried on his hat for size, none cuter than Darcy:
But, just like Darcy, almost no-one else could fill that hat quite right.
For the eclipse, Michael was at Point St. George with two of his co-workers interpreting the event for visitors from near and far. We started out there with my cousin and her friends from Portland, but just as it was starting, the fog moved in and blocked the view. We drove inland. Not much -- just to the high school parking lot and got a good show all the way though the "ring of fire". We're only about 20 miles from THE place to view this particular eclipse, so we had about four or five minutes of the ring. Poor Michael didn't get to see it because of the fog, but he did get his picture on the front cover of the newspaper. Again.
As if this is not enough fame for one person to handle, Michael also has a radio show these days. Our local community station hands out radio shows like candy, apparently, because Michael walked in to get information about how to get a show and walked out with the 8 to 10 slot on Wednesday nights. His show is called Death to Classical and features themed collections of classical music. Last night was "For the birds". The signal goes out to the downtown Crescent City neighborhood only -- and we're talking radius of three or four blocks, pretty much. But you can listen online. I don't think they're recorded, so you easterners will have to stay up extra late to listen. Or you can just check out his show's page.
Most people probably don't know that Wilbur Wright didn't go to college because of a hockey accident that knocked out his front teeth. Or that Orville Wright almost died from typhoid after drinking contaminated water at his printing business. Or maybe you didn't even know that Orv and Wil even HAD a printing business. Or that Orv built his first printing press from parts that included a piece of their younger sister's baby buggy.
I know all these things because of Darcy's very first obsession, her eight-month love affair with the Wright Brothers.
Now, Darcy is obsessed with all things ocean, but most particularly with sharks:
So, just like with the Wright Brothers, I've been learning a lot about sharks. I thought I'd share some of the highlights. The largest shark is, of course, the beautiful whale shark, one of a few filter-feeding sharks. The smallest is the dwarf shark.
One of my favorite (?) new-to-me sharks is the cookie cutter shark. We kept seeing it listed when authors were talking about sharks named after special features. What kind of feature could lead to the cookie cutter moniker? It required some Google research. It turns out that the cookie cutter shark eats "cookies" of flesh that it cuts out of sea mammals and large fish. Here's its jaw, with many rows of bottom teeth just waiting their turn:
The cookie cutter is small -- only a couple feet long -- but it has suction-y lips that hold onto the victim while the shark twists itself around like a drill, neatly cutting out a perfect circle of said victim for its dining pleasure:
It's unclear to me if these are generally fatal. I've seen some pictures of large (seal, dolphin) critters with healed-over cookie cutter bites. It's a bit gruesome, but also extremely fascinating that such a creature exists. Those teeth are just crazy.
I'm also fond of the wobbegong shark, partly just because the name is cute. The shark is also cute and sometimes called a carpet shark. They are bottom dwellers who blend in with the sea floor due to their flatness, coloring, and fringe around the front:
Darcy is sitting next to me as I write this and I asked her what picture she would like you all to see. We've been very impressed by the "flying" great white sharks, mostly off the coast of South Africa. They breach, flip, and fly through the air when trying to catch poor, unsuspecting sea lions. Here's an example, although watching video of them is much more impressive than a still image:
And there you are: a Memorial Day Weekend lesson in the joys of shark obsessions. Hope you enjoyed this shark moment! We try very hard to continue to enjoy our shark months and months. We're running out of shark books at the library, but I don't think that gets us off the hook any time soon.
A few weekends ago, we were at a friend's house on the Smith River and Darcy was heartbroken because we wouldn't let her go down to the water. The river was certainly not at flood stage, but it was still high and dangerous. The next day she was still sad about not being able to "get her feet in water", so I took her to the mouth of the Smith River. She just barely kept her shorts dry while having a great time playing in the water and on the rocks:
If you look to the left, you can see what looks a bit like driftwood on the spit that forms the other riverbank at the mouth. It is not driftwood, it is a very large bunch of lazy seals, sunning themselves on a beautiful day:
We skipped rocks, looked for copepods, one of Darcy's favorite ocean creatures, and Darcy pushed the limits of how deep she could go without getting her clothes wet. Most of the deepest stuff, unfortunately, is on video, not stills:
We are incredibly lucky to live in a place with many outdoor play opportunities. Our weekends have been beautiful for several weeks, so we've been out and about. Here's our girl in a few different environments:
Two weeks ago, we hiked near Lake Earl and spied ospreys around their nest and other cool stuff. Darcy asked to be able to run a head twice and spent time out of our sight on the trail for (I think) the first time. She was never out of sight for more than a couple minutes, but it's an exciting step for her to be capable of being "alone" in wild spaces.
We spent a sunny day in the interior parts of our territory recently. This is the Rough and Ready River and it's neighboring botanical area. There were amazing wildflowers, but I haven't uploaded those photos yet. The Rough and Ready is dry most of the summer, but was practically raging this day. Even though it was warm enough for the beloved halter-top dress, we could see snow on the mountains nearby.
You may recall a beautiful picture of our girl lying in the sand dunes a couple months ago. If you don't recall it, you can revisit it. The way in was full of mud. On the way out, we tried a different path, only to find it covered with (luckily warm) water. I assumed Darcy would insist on a carry-out on this one, but no! She just waded right in and did it herself:
So my last day of work at Community Assistance Network was Friday. I worked 11 hours trying to cross off my transition to-do list. I almost, but not quite made it.
Today is my first work day that I don't have to go to work! It's exciting, but there's also SO many things I want to accomplish while I'm unemployed and Darcy is still in school. It's hard to know where to start. I made a list. We'll see how far I get. One of my plans is to blog regularly. I don't think I'll be writing long posts, but I will get some photos up every couple days. For those of you who read this blog, but don't follow Facebook, I owe you an apology. I didn't share this wonderful photo:
This is Michael during the "brush-up" rehearsal in between the first and second weekends of performances. The cast typically add a little humor to the evening and this was Michael's contribution. It might not be obvious, but there are some dollar bills tucked into the neck of his shirt.
Last week, Michael took Darcy out to see a dead grey whale that had washed up on a beach a little north of Crescent City. It was almost a mile hike on the beach, but Darcy is currently obsessed with all things ocean, so it seemed like a good chance for her to see a whale up close.
It is maybe a little morbid, for a five year old, but she wanted to go. She got to see baleen up close and get a sense of just how big a whale really is (although this is apparently a sub-adult, so not full sized). She took the pictures of her and the whale to school the next day for show and tell. That's our small scientist!
Darcy, as regular readers of this blog know, goes through phases. And they seem to be cyclical. She started her obsessive loves with the Wright Brothers, moved onto fish, then fairies, then back to the Wright Brothers. We went through another fairy-phase and we are now firmly in the grasp of the ocean again.
We read book after book about sharks, whales, dolphins, and the ocean. She could probably recite The Blue Planet -- a documentary series narrated by Richard Attenborough. One of her shark books rates sharks according to their dangerousness on a scale of zero to five jaws. Darcy likes this concept. Before we headed off to the Aquarium of the Pacific, Darcy made a shark chart so we could all be aware:
Although not to scale (the smallest shark, seen almost riding the great white in the top right, is actually a whale shark -- zero jaws of dangerousness and the largest shark in the world) and with perhaps slightly exaggerated lower jaws, this is a great tool if you ever encounter a tiger shark, blue shart, basking shark, whale shark, or great white.
Darcy's other great love is, apparently, sun bathing. Michael was gone for a week at Lava Beds National Monument (Darcy's principal asked her if he took his lava pillow with him). While he was gone, Darcy's after-school teachers told me that she was really tired one day when I picked her up. So tired, they said, that she had lain down on the pavement in the playground. I was surprised, because I knew she had had two great nights of sleep. When we got home, Michael called to say hi. What was your favorite part of the day, he asked. Darcy said, "Oh, Dad. I lay down on the ground in the sun!" So much for being so tired. And it's not a one-time thing. Here she is lying on our driveway in the sun:
It's a little hard to see her, but she's just across the shade/sun line to the left of the truck. It's a hobby.
On the last weekday of spring break, Darcy and I drove past the beach. It was a beautiful day and there were lots of people there. Darcy asked, "Why are so many people at the beach today?" I guessed out loud that it was because it was so nice and the last weekday of spring break. She said, "Last day of spring break?!! You mean, on Monday I have to go to school?" Yes, I said. "But I thought spring break lasted ALL spring!"
A minute of silence. Then, "Does summer break only last for a week, too??" Only when you're an adult, my small child.
Here are some highlights of Darcy's spring so far:
We visited Grandmother and Aunt Jo (Darcy's great-grandmother and great-auntie) at their new digs and Darcy explored the trees in their backyard.
Darcy and Hank shared a blue bath on April Fool's Day. They had a great time and probably got at least a little clean, too. Our spring break trip to Simi Valley gave Darcy and Hank a whole lot of cousin-time. They had a sleep-over, a trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific, and a bunch of play dates. And, obviously, a bath.
Easter brought a good egg hunt for Darcy. She had already followed her rhyming clues to the basket that E. Bunny brought. This egg hunt involved sock-filled eggs and a leap-frog game in an egg. Very, very fancy. Just like Darcy in her new halter-top dress!
Darcy has also started t-ball! She's on the Storm -- named for a minor league team somewhere in San Bernadino County, maybe? Somewhere in that direction, anyway. You can just barely see that Darcy's hair is now long enough for pig-tails. More or less, anyway, and she wants them for every game. There have just been two so far (the one we were going to when this picture was taken was cancelled), but we'll have games every Friday and Saturday from now until June! All very weather-dependent, of course.
