The Having of Wonderful Ideas

 Brain cancer is...

 ...watching another person have wonderful ideas.

Nova and parents spent the night and woke up to our family tradition, panks, for breakfast (request by Tiana).  Panks are thin Swedish pancakes, like crepes.  

 

Above you see Nova preparing for her first bite of pank.  She is the fifth generation through my side of the family to enjoy them. 

 

(Fifth that I know of.  I'll ask LuAnn and Roene for possible further past generations.)

 

Tiana and Alex gave us the pleasure of hanging out with Nova while they took care of family business. 

An inspirational science educator, Eleanor Duckworth, wrote about the having of wonderful ideas (here). Duckworth counted "having wonderful ideas" as making connections among new experiences and among things we already know.  She wrote:

 

“The nature of creative intellectual acts remains the same whether it is an infant who for the first time makes the connection between seeing things and reaching for them…or an astronomer who develops a new theory of the creation of the universe.”

 

Today we reveled in the joy of witnessing Nova have wonderful ideas. 

 

We can watch her think.  See?

We watched her have lots of wonderful ideas about two kinds of phenomena in particular.  The first was different kinds of leaves.  

Ideas about grass blades and tree leaves

Ideas about ficus leaves

The second set of ideas was about devices with buttons.

Continuing ideas about the orange blue-tooth speaker buttons

New ideas about the black blue-tooth speaker buttons

Ideas about a device with buttons that behaves oddly:  the computer mouse. Nothing like the TV remote control.

What an extraordinary gift to have an entire day to watch so many wonderful ideas be had!

Hope your ideas felt wonderful today too!

 

Today's Bloom

Summer sent Colorado leaves more beautifully yellow than a blossom today.

 

Girls Play Trucks, Dress in Jedi Gear, and Other Cool Things.

 Brain cancer is...

 ...celebrating with Tiana and her people.

Tiana, Alex, and Nova came to celebrate Tiana's birthday today.  Party all Thursday!

Here are some of the cool things girls do.  

Girls look pensive while they chew on Ray Bans. (Pigtails by G'Mama)

Girls play trucks together. For her birthday, Tiana got matching medical vehicles for the Monster Truck track.  

Girls cheese it up for the camera at dinner.

Girls put on their Jedi gear and trust the force.

Wonder what cool things girls will do tomorrow.

Let us know, Team D.

Today's Bloom

Gail's first "Spin the Bottle" hibiscus of the the season.

Terrific!  Keep 'em coming, Spin the Bottle!

All Science, All the Time

Brain cancer is... 

...a good science sport.

We used break time for a walk at Yorba with Christine today.  (Darrell and Christine are in the shot, above). 

We were all science, all the time.

I had fun greeting this white praying mantis while Christine got the pic.

Christine—not a bird dork—got the correct ID on this lovely:

"Congratulations New Lifer," Christine! 

We also discussed important science match ups like: Grizzly Bear v Polar Bear: Who Would Win?

You know it's a good Wednesday when these are the pressing issues.

Happy Wednesday, Friends!

Today's Bloom

Tradesies

Brain cancer is...

...great at trading treats.

At Surf and Sand, we had table side lobster bisque.  This morning Darrell treated me to desk side whipped cream during office hours (above).  

 

His starting the day with a treat for me dramatically increased his chances of him getting a treat for dinner:

Recognize one of his old time favorites?  Hungry Bear. 

 

(Orange County restaurants are now open for indoor dining because of decreasing COVID numbers.  Restaurants still seat at low capacity, and everyone wears masks except to eat or sip their chardonnay.)

Hope your Tuesday had a treat...or two for tradesies!

Today’s Blooms

Parking lot lily

"Yes, but you're MY bird dork!"

 Brain cancer is...

 ...satisfied with being married to a bird dork.

 We took break time for a walk at the park today.  When I ID'ed a bird on my Merlin app, I got a new screen:

"New"?  Who were they calling "new"?  I took offense!  

And then I immediately began ID'ing all the birds that my app apparently didn't know I had sighted for all those years...Call ME new!!  

As part of this effort, Darrell and I heard the "pew pew" of our familiar red tailed hawks.  A nice stranger walked by just in time to hear me frantically asking Darrell, "Yes, but can you SEE them?"  

The stranger said, "I believe they're red tail hawks." 

My emotional response? "I only get credit if I can see them!!"

Fortunately, the hawks flew by in plain sight just then and the stranger walked away, apparently relieved.

When he passed, I told Darrell, "I just sounded like a total bird dork."  

Darrell reassured me with words of comfort, "Yes, but you're MY bird dork."

So I have that going for me. If nothing else,  I will always be Big D's bird dork.

Today's Bloom

Also at Craig Park we spotted this little beauty, which Denise and I first saw at Peter's Canyon last month (here).

 

Mr. Football is back.

 Brain cancer is...

 ...all football, all the time. Again.

It took him two devices today, but Darrell won both games of interest.  Above, at Computer Station #2, he helped our Packers beat the Lions (as per usual). 

 

And on television, he helped the Rams beat Philadelphia.

Well done, Big D!

Funny but true:  We both said, "Oh, we have missed the sound of football!" Then I looked it up and saw that there were no fans at Lambeau field; it's one of the fields where the crowd sounds are all piped in thus far this season.

Apparently lots of fans are complaining about the poor match between the plays and the crowd sounds.  Not us.  It's not football without some noise...any noise.  We're not particular.

Happy Sunday, Friends!

 

Today's Bloom

Sometimes the bloom is just an excuse.

Tiny bug on geranium

Notorious RBG

 Brain cancer is...

...heartbroken by the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

"So often in life, things that you regard as an impediment turn out to be great, good fortune."

                                                                                                           --RBG

Today's Blooms 

 

Roene, Melanie, and we all had pleasant surprises in finding blooms today when we expected none.