Last Day Of Kindergarten -- She's Off!

Glamour Rats!

Here's what you need to know about the Pine Grove performance of Rats: it was outstanding. I say this not because Darcy was in it, but because the teachers and volunteers did an amazing job of pulling together three classes of elementary school students and creating an evening of actually enjoyable theater.

But of course, Darcy was my favorite part. It was hard to get pictures, but here is our small rat in ensemble:

She is the small rat in the middle. Nice set, huh? There were similar houses on the other side. I think this is during the first big song about how wonderful Hamelin is. Here's one of Darcy's big scenes. She and a rat friend are following the librarian while reading and crying over Three Blind Mice (because of the tails, you know), which they had stolen:

It was impossible to get good images of the stage, so we did a photo shoot before she had to turn in her ears and tail:

Just A Tease

I'm building anticipation. For you. Darcy's class is performing a play with two other classes at her school. Today. The dress rehearsal is in less than an hour and the performance for parents is this evening. Darcy is extremely excited. The play is a version of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Darcy will be a rat. Not just any rat, mind you, but a glamorous rat. She explained this at 6:15 this morning when she arrived in our bed announcing, loudly, "Do you know what day today is???" She then described the glamour of her costume: her braided tail had a pink bow added to it yesterday. Ooh la la! So fancy!


We will attempt to get the very best pictures of our glamorat this evening. I'm told there's a scene where she and one of her fellow glamorats (only girls get the glamorous tails) cry as they read the tale of Three Blind Mice.


I can't wait.

Michael's Continuing Fame

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.

Things I've Learned From Darcy's Obsessions

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.

Mouth Of The Smith

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:

Darcy In Nature

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: