Please tell me you know my beloved childhood companions, Buffy and Jody. Oh, I so, so loved them, even more than I loved Eddie's father (and Eddie, secondarily) on The Courtship of Eddie's Father. Except for the sadness of Buffy, Jody, and Cissy being orphans, their life was so fabulous in that high-rise in NYC. Come to think of it, didn't Eddie and his father live in a high-rise, too? And what exactly is a high-rise, anyway? Are we talking skyscrapers here or just tall apartment complexes? It all seemed logical back then, even though I personally lived in a house with a big front porch on a shady street, more like Ramona.

Anyway, while I was reading Om-Kas-Toe, the Blackfeet boy, to Laurel and Duncan today, Laurel got out her paper dolls. I loved paper dolls as a girl. I  played with them as much as I played with Barbies and baby dolls, so pretty much I spent my whole childhood playing with some kind of doll. Laurel has all of my paper dolls and a few of her own. I love to watch her play with my paper dolls, mostly because I remember each and every outfit so perfectly. But for some reason I've never given her my box with Buffy and Jody and their marvelous wardrobe. These were my absolute favorite paper dolls and the only ones to which I still have the box. They must be worth at least $600, 000, even if Buffy is missing a hand. I think this makes her even more precious.

Just look at these two. Are their outfits not amazing?






I thought you might want a close up of Buffy's adorable freckled face. (No comments about the hand, please. She is well aware of her condition.)


And if that's not enough, here's 2-minute clip of the fabulous Family Affair:




I could watch them all day. Oh, but I have my own kids to watch! And I'm getting to them and dinner and all that kind of thing in a minute, but first, a "where are they now" on Buffy and Jody: in case you somehow missed this in the 80s, Buffy died of a drug overdose. Sigh. But Jody is still acting and, appropriately, speaking out against drug abuse. Oh, and there are plenty more episode clips over on YouTube.

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Yesterday my third brother (the second one from the left, top row, in the picture) and his wife celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary. I remembered around midday that it was their anniversary, and of course I started thinking, then, about where we all are 27 years later. My grandmothers both died when I was in college. The baby in the picture, Esther, belongs to my second brother, John (the bearded guy) and his wife, Sharon (in pink). Esther is now a mama herself. And both of those brothers are now grandfathers, which means, of course, that my parents are now great-grandparents. My fourth brother, Stephen (the one closest to me in the picture) was married last summer in the most perfect wedding. My Uncle Max is the white-haired man in the photo, the bachelor uncle who took care of my grandmother until she died.

And then there's me. Don't I look rather grumpy in this photo? My brother Stephen does, too. Perhaps we were arguing. In this photo I was 15, nearing the end of my freshman year in  high school. I was  newly dating Bryan, my first boyfriend, as I would continue to do off-and-on for another two years or more. In just six years down the road, Bryan would die in a car accident, and I would begin growing up, swamped in reality and struggling hard to breathe.

Here, though, I'm probably thinking about how great my hair looked and how cute my brother's groomsman Greg was. I'm probably thinking about getting a tan and counting down the days until I could see Bryan again. If I could have known what was coming up in 6 years, then I would also know that, after that year of pain, my life became full of one blessing after another. I think I would have been smiling perpetually.

(Thanks for all of you who left a comment on my "who-are-you post" yesterday! I must say that nearly all of you were unknown readers to me. If you are reading this and didn't comment yesterday, please go here and just say, "I read your blog!" That would make me warm and happy.)

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You know, I was just thinking the other day that an average of 3150 people read my blog each month--somewhere around 100 each day. And yet, I don't think I've ever had more than 30 comments at a time, and most posts' comments are in the under 10 range. So what is up with that? It's kinda like 100 people pulling in my driveway and peeking in my window every day to see what's up, but only 5 or 6 knocking at the door. The weirdest thing to me is all the people I know in real life (i.e., locals) who say, "I read on your blog that...." and I'm like, "Huh? You read my blog? How do you know about my blog?"

OK, I wholeheartedly admit that I do not comment on all the blogs I read each day. Not even close, and so pot, kettle on me. But I am curious: who are you all? So how about this: leave me a simple comment after you read this. All you have to say is: I just read your blog.

(And, by the way, please don't pull in my driveway and peek in my windows. That would really creep me out and the dog would go crazy.)

At least on my blog, the dog doesn't bark.

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We're home! We've spent the past few days on a long-awaited trip to the Virginia historic triangle of Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown. We wanted to do this trip this year, as all three kids have been studying American History. This is one of those times when book-learning history meets hands-on history full force, and I am so thankful that we were able to make this trip as the culmination of our year!

Neither Dr. H. nor I had been to Williamsburg since were were 10 or 12, so we had very little memory of the town. Because we wanted to stick within our travel budget, we decided to do Williamsburg in just one day and Jamestown and Yorktown both on another day. Seems like most people I talked to beforehand spent at least a couple of days in Williamsburg, but we just didn't have the extra funds and decided we could still do it in one day.

We were right. For our kids, Williamsburg was not the highlight of the triangle. At 7 and 10, our youngest two are just too young to appreciate the historical magnitude of walking on the same streets as our founding fathers--and that's really what makes Williamsburg so special in my view. The best part of Williamsburg was the Revolutionary City reenactment, which takes place each day between 3 and 5 p.m. For two hours, you become a citizen of Williamsburg from 1775-1781 and witness various events: the reading of the Declaration of Independence, the British takeover of Williamsburg, and several other dramas played out by Williamsburg actors.

Jesse, Randy and I loved visiting the buildings and listening to each re-enactor talk about what went on  there, but this got old quickly for Duncan and Laurel. They really just wanted to know if I had any candy in my bag. For those two, Williamsburg was too much show-and-tell and not enough hands-on. Still, I'm very glad we went. Again, the Revolutionary City part was fantastic. Williamsburg tickets vary, and of course the price goes down per day the longer you stay. For us, we paid around $36/adults and $18/kids, but you can get slightly cheaper tickets than that online.


The next day we visited Jamestown for most of the day and finished our tour with Yorktown. Jamestown was hands-down our family's favorite. If we were to do this trip again, we'd spend a whole day at Jamestown and another whole day in Yorktown. Jamestown was absolutely packed with hands-on activities. First of all, the galleries inside are awesome, displaying artifacts and information from where English, African, and Powhatan Indian cultures meet. There is a 25-minute film that chronicles the convergence of cultures in Virginia, and we all loved it. Duncan could easily have watched it again.

Outside there is a re-created Powhaten Indian village that is loaded with things to touch and do. The guides encourage kids to lie on the furs, grind corn, scrape animal hide, shake gourds, etc. We could have spent an hour here, except that we managed to pick a day when about a dozen large school groups were also there, so we moved on to the ships. These are replicas of the colonial ships the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery. You can climb onto and around each ship, squeeze into a sailor's bunk, try steering, etc. Each ship has a couple of guides to explain the various parts of the ship and other details.

From there, we headed to the James Fort, which is a recreation of the 1610-14 fort, home to Jamestown's earliest colonists. Again, there were countless hands-on activities and great talks by the re-eanactors. In all, Jamestown was absolutely fantastic. I don't think Duncan or Laurel ever asked for candy or snacks; they were totally enthralled with all the activities and stuff to see.

We drove about 20 minutes to get to Yorktown when we finished in Jamestown, and we only had about two hours to spend in Yorktown before it closed. We could have used another hour or more, as we rushed through the last part and didn't even get to watch the film. Like Jamestown, Yorktown was full of hands-on activities, from hornbook practice to tobacco planting. We spent a lot of time at the Continental Army encampment. The guides told tales of meager rations and demonstrated a musket drill and cannon firing, among other things. We spent so long at the encampment that we only had a short time to visit the 1780s farm. Laurel especially enjoyed this, as she planted tobacco, swept out the house, and shelled peas. Jesse and Duncan preferred to chase the turkey.

You can get a combination ticket for Jamestown and Yorktown and even use them on different days if you want. The combo tickets are $19.95/adults and $9.25 kids 6-12 (under 6 is free for Williamsburg, too).

The town of Yorktown is definitely worth a visit, too. We spent at least an hour just hanging out on the beach of the York River. We had planned to have dinner at one of the riverfront restaurants there, but Duncan and Laurel couldn't resist getting soaking wet. And, of course, we didn't have extra clothes with us. That was a lovely way to end our trip, though--relaxing on the sand by the pier, watching the big boats come in.

All in all, this was a fantastic field trip. Our trip to Disney  last year was, admittedly, a whole lot more fun, (although certainly this one was more educational!) but not every year can be a Disney year here in SmallWorld.

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* Oh, wow. I haven't thought about the play Waiting for Godot in a long, long time. My senior year in high school, we were always making some kind of Godot references, and somehow that title just popped out today. Of course, if you didn't go to high school with me and didn't read that bizarre existential play sometime in your own life, you have no idea what I'm talking about.

* So moving right along, here I am in Williamsburg, Virginia, waiting for (everyone one else to get ready) to go. During the eight-hour car trip yesterday, I read John Grisham's The Appeal. You can read my review here. (There was no damage to the van when I threw the book upon finishing it.) I'm halfway through Celia Rivenbark's Stop Dressing Your Six-Year-Old Like a Skank, and it is hilarious.

* So the big question is: which backpack would be more stylish to wear to Williamsburg today: Barbie or Anakin Skywalker? Hmmph. I forgot my grown-up backpack, so those are my choices, unless we want to do without water, granola bars, the camera, and, most importantly, chapstick.

* I love our motel, the Rodeway Inn! Admittedly when we drove up last night I thought, uh-oh.  It looks like one of those places that  you would pass by thinking, "Who would stay there?" But much to our delight, our  "suite" actually has 2-bedrooms downstairs and a big living room with pull-out sofa and a little kitchen. If you are like us and must stick with the under-$100 range when traveling, I totally recommend the Rodeway Inn in Williamsburg. Bring water, though. The faucet water tastes truly repulsive. So repulsive, in fact, that even being made into coffee couldn't mask its disturbing taste.

* Fortunately, there's a Starbucks just down the road. If only these people would get moving...

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* CurrClick.com is running a Mother's Day Special until May 14. They have 21 free e-books to download! I'm downloading "Successfully Homeschooling the High School Student," "Main Ideas and Details," a solar system unit study, "Fun with Gene," and a couple others.

* I've got a few photos up from the last two weeks in my Project 52 blog.

* And speaking of other blogs, I figured out how to allow anyone to comment on my new SmallWorld Reads blog, so even hoodlums like Neal and Rick can comment. So far everything I have there has been posted here, except this week's Sunday Salon  posting. Having a new blog is fun! My mind feels clearer now.

* The Carnival of Homeschooling  is up at Mom is Teaching.
~I love the post by Janice Campbell about making connections. She says, "As you begin to plan for the next school year, remember the core curriculum, and for your children’s sake, erase the artificial boundaries that are often placed between the disciplines. Use real, living books, including classic literature, rather than dry textbooks, to bring knowledge to life. Education is far more than job training– it’s nourishment for the mind, and necessary for the whole person. Institutional education may have brushed aside those delicate webs of connection, but once you understand their power, I think you’ll be happy to preserve them." 
~ Tammy at "Just Enough and Nothing More" has great advice about starting each day new: "We all want our kids to grow. And in order to do that, we have to let go of their past, and our past. We can help our children grow by restarting our homeschool everyday, and meet our kids again and again as they mature."
~Looks like there are some more great posts, but I'm out of time...

* Because we are leaving for vacation in just a couple of hours! We are headed off to Colonial Williamsburg/Jamestown/Yorktown for a few days to top off our year of American History. I really must click into trip-activation mode!

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When Jesse was a Cub Scout, many years ago, Randy was our pack's Cubmaster. He resumed the Cubmaster job this year when Duncan entered Cub Scouts, and last week was the end-of-the-year pack meeting and crossing-over ceremony, during which the 5th-grade Cub Scouts cross-over into Boy Scouts. It's a beautiful ceremony, and it was one of those times when I'm acutely aware that my children are growing up. It's hard to fathom, really, but it was just four years ago that my lanky, curly-haired teenager was the sweet new Boy Scout in the photo above. So much changes in four years in the life of a child. From two-to-six: toddler to reader, three word sentences to a rich and varied vocabulary. From seven-to-11: Green Eggs and Ham to Lord of the Rings. From 11 to 15: eight inches of height, eight inches of hair, and an even more extensive vocabulary. Grapes of Wrath and the ACT.

But still the same kind, funny young man, with the gentle smile and green eyes. Moving now, closer to Eagle Scout. And now he's the one welcoming this new Boy Scout into the troop, putting on the new neckerchief and epaulettes.

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I've decided to do a little spring cleaning here at SmallWorld. I've felt lately that I'd like to keep my book reviews and book talk a bit more separate from my family life here in SmallWorld. I was nice and comfortable in my own little isolated world, but now that I'm participating in more book talk, somehow it feels better to have a different place for all that. I'll still post link to book reviews here and of course continue double posting on kids' books and curriculum reviews, but I'll be doing the majority of my own book reviews at SmallWorld Reads.

Come and say howdy to me there! I'm still in the getting organized and transferring phase, but I put out my welcome mat today. Be sure to find the subscribe button at SmallWorld Reads, too!

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This isn't something that happens to me very often: I was browsing the "new arrivals" shelves at the library a couple of weeks ago while the kids had a snack in the cafe, and I pulled out this book by Susan Breen. I almost stuck it back on the shelf, thinking about the stack of to-be-read books already by my bed, but I was intrigued.

And then I was so happy when I finished reading the mentally taxing Jayber Crow and started in with The Fiction Class. What an excellent book this turned out to be! The story centers on Arabella, a struggling writer who teaches an evening writing class to adults; the writing class itself; and on Arabella and her mother. Each chapter focuses on an aspect of writing: character, plot, theme, etc. and how this relates to Arabella, her class, and her mother. Breen's writing is concise and matter-of-fact, and I like that. The characters are well-rounded and somehow quite familiar, and I like that. Sometimes, being a small-town girl, I find it difficult to relate to novels that feature New York City-types; but Breen's characters could have been transported to anywhere and still made sense to me. (And here I need to clarify that, although I did indeed grow up in New York, I grew up in a small town upstate, which has little if no similarity to New York City except perhaps in the abundance of excellent pizza and wings.)

I loved that the actual writing assignments are included at the end of each chapter. For example, the writing assignment for point of view:

Think about a family gathering: a holiday, a birthday, a funeral. Write about that gathering in the first person from the point of view of a child.

I wished for chunks of time to do each assignment myself. Perhaps I will make that time soon. I did a little searching about the book because I wondered if somewhere in the blogosphere there might be a place where people are doing Breen's exercises on their blogs. I haven't found that yet, but I did find Susan Breen's blog and was inspired to see the tagline on her blog: "publishing a first novel after 25 years of marriage, 4 children, and hundreds of rejections." (Couldn't I at least turn out my poetry chapbook in the next 6 years?)

Turns out that Breen has a monthly contest at her website  where she asks for submissions on a certain topic. For the April/May contest, she asks: Write a story using this as the first sentence:  “Why are you wearing that?” The winner  receives a free autographed copy of her book. Will I submit an entry to this or any future contests on Breen's website? Perhaps. And if a book can pull me out of my writing stupor and inspire me to actually write more than a daily blog, well. That says a lot.

But the books isn't just for writers or writing teachers. This is just a great book, and I hope to see more by Susan Breen.

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Today's Heart of the Matter Meme asks for ways we socialize. That is hilarious. How do we not socialize? I love those quiet evenings at home, socializing with just our family. Those rare evenings are a nice respite from all the other activities that we choose to do. You know: Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, American Heritage Girls, church,  co-op classes, camps, sports, performing arts, and just hanging out with friends. That kind of stuff that people can do if they want to.

Or they can just stay at home and enjoy their flowers, or each other, or a good book. Some days are party days, some days aren't. What I seek: a well-balanced life.

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