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Jan
31
The Coffee Castle
Filed Under Politics | 9 Comments
If you’ve ever attended a parent-teacher conference or had someone recount the experience to you – either because you’re a friend, a relative or the child in question, then you probably know that every child has “strengths” and “areas that need improvement.”
One area in which my kids have never needed improvement is Imagination. They people worlds with governments, good guys, bad guys and pie. Don’t ask – they won’t tell me. But pie plays a very important role in at least one of the imaginary fiefdoms ruled by my twelve year old son. My nine year old daughter was Mayor of Shtookieville for a few years, but then she got mobile and could talk so the twelve year old affected a coup.
(Digression here: A few nights ago, my oldest found some web application that would allow you to type in whatever you wanted and then you could select different voices to say those words. We had him type in, Hello and Welcome to Shtookieville. I couldn’t breathe because I was laughing so hard.)
Sometimes I have to ask my kids to turn down the volume in their imagination (does anyone create quiet, silent imaginary friends anymore?), but as a general rule, I encourage their fantasy play. My oldest and youngest (both boys), were early readers and writers (the oldest is in sixth grade and the youngest is in Kindergarten) and populate their stories – oral and written – with characters named Mrs. Fitzgerald, Funky, Yobbie and The Young Yob. I can barely type for giggling.
My daughter, who is a girl in between two boys, as I was, possesses visual talents. She sees music once and memorizes it, then she practices piano. She has near perfect pitch. And her artwork comes from a set of genes that skipped past me, the same ones that gave her red hair and a peaches and cream complexion.
So yesterday, she came home from school not feeling well (I’d sent her off in the morning, bad mother that I am, with half a dose of Benedryl in her to keep the drippiness at bay), dropped her jacket and backpack and shoes in the laundry room, and proceeded to rest until I declared that it was time to do homework, at which time, I went into the laundry room to retrieve her backpack and that’s when I saw what’s shown at the top of this post: The Coffee Castle.
First: She got an “O” for Outstanding.
Second: No amount of questioning by me elicited a satisfactory response as to why she created a coffee castle, as opposed to a princess’s castle, a sorceror’s castle or White Castle.
However, if you read this post, you will see that fate is, well, fate. And genetic.
And so, I present to you: THE COFFEE CASTLE.
In this view, we see the main castle flanked by two towers. Zelda lives in the tower on the left and Linc (Link?) lives in the tower on the right. I don’t know much about the Zelda games or characters, but I do believe they gave life to the characters held captive in these coffee silos.
NB: My daughter says that this piece of artwork is Busproof. That means that, according to the art teacher, you can hold the base upsidedown and nothing will fall off of it. (I tried; it worked.)
In the main tower lives my daughter. On either side of the front entrance you can see bins that say Coffee on them. I asked my daughter if the bins contain whole beans, ground beans or percolated coffee. She screwed up her face. Which I think means, wtf are you asking me, Mom? So we’re going with already percolated coffee to be dispensed to visitors.
Inside the castle, on the wall which you can view through the door, we see my daughter, holding a staff which, she says, is a swizzle stick for stirring. She, herself, is not holding a cup of coffee. She just rules over everyone who does.
Also inside the castle, which you can’t see, is a frame with a drawing that is a picture of my daughter – her portrait. Every castle purveyor must have a portrait hanging in their castle you know.
On the wall opposite the wall with her portrait, there stands a table with a coffee maker on it and, just above it, a red plaque with yellow bulbs blinking around it. The sign says, “COFFEE MAKER.”
To the left of the coffee maker is the largest of several Coffee Gards, complete with pink feet and blue lids. You can see the outside Coffee Gard that protects the castle from its rear in the picture below, saying, “Hello world” and a pile of coffee underneath the thought bubble.
Frankly, I find the Coffee Gards a little scary, not just because they’re there to guard the coffee, but their lack of arms and faces freak me out.
Who does my daughter think is going to take the coffee? And why is my daughter the resident of the castle?
Is there an art therapist in the blogosphere?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:13 pm January 31st, 2006 in Politics | 9 Comments
Print This Post
Jan
31
The Coffee Castle
Filed Under Politics | 9 Comments
If you’ve ever attended a parent-teacher conference or had someone recount the experience to you – either because you’re a friend, a relative or the child in question, then you probably know that every child has “strengths” and “areas that need improvement.”
One area in which my kids have never needed improvement is Imagination. They people worlds with governments, good guys, bad guys and pie. Don’t ask – they won’t tell me. But pie plays a very important role in at least one of the imaginary fiefdoms ruled by my twelve year old son. My nine year old daughter was Mayor of Shtookieville for a few years, but then she got mobile and could talk so the twelve year old affected a coup.
(Digression here: A few nights ago, my oldest found some web application that would allow you to type in whatever you wanted and then you could select different voices to say those words. We had him type in, Hello and Welcome to Shtookieville. I couldn’t breathe because I was laughing so hard.)
Sometimes I have to ask my kids to turn down the volume in their imagination (does anyone create quiet, silent imaginary friends anymore?), but as a general rule, I encourage their fantasy play. My oldest and youngest (both boys), were early readers and writers (the oldest is in sixth grade and the youngest is in Kindergarten) and populate their stories – oral and written – with characters named Mrs. Fitzgerald, Funky, Yobbie and The Young Yob. I can barely type for giggling.
My daughter, who is a girl in between two boys, as I was, possesses visual talents. She sees music once and memorizes it, then she practices piano. She has near perfect pitch. And her artwork comes from a set of genes that skipped past me, the same ones that gave her red hair and a peaches and cream complexion.
So yesterday, she came home from school not feeling well (I’d sent her off in the morning, bad mother that I am, with half a dose of Benedryl in her to keep the drippiness at bay), dropped her jacket and backpack and shoes in the laundry room, and proceeded to rest until I declared that it was time to do homework, at which time, I went into the laundry room to retrieve her backpack and that’s when I saw what’s shown at the top of this post: The Coffee Castle.
First: She got an “O” for Outstanding.
Second: No amount of questioning by me elicited a satisfactory response as to why she created a coffee castle, as opposed to a princess’s castle, a sorceror’s castle or White Castle.
However, if you read this post, you will see that fate is, well, fate. And genetic.
And so, I present to you: THE COFFEE CASTLE.
In this view, we see the main castle flanked by two towers. Zelda lives in the tower on the left and Linc (Link?) lives in the tower on the right. I don’t know much about the Zelda games or characters, but I do believe they gave life to the characters held captive in these coffee silos.
NB: My daughter says that this piece of artwork is Busproof. That means that, according to the art teacher, you can hold the base upsidedown and nothing will fall off of it. (I tried; it worked.)
In the main tower lives my daughter. On either side of the front entrance you can see bins that say Coffee on them. I asked my daughter if the bins contain whole beans, ground beans or percolated coffee. She screwed up her face. Which I think means, wtf are you asking me, Mom? So we’re going with already percolated coffee to be dispensed to visitors.
Inside the castle, on the wall which you can view through the door, we see my daughter, holding a staff which, she says, is a swizzle stick for stirring. She, herself, is not holding a cup of coffee. She just rules over everyone who does.
Also inside the castle, which you can’t see, is a frame with a drawing that is a picture of my daughter – her portrait. Every castle purveyor must have a portrait hanging in their castle you know.
On the wall opposite the wall with her portrait, there stands a table with a coffee maker on it and, just above it, a red plaque with yellow bulbs blinking around it. The sign says, “COFFEE MAKER.”
To the left of the coffee maker is the largest of several Coffee Gards, complete with pink feet and blue lids. You can see the outside Coffee Gard that protects the castle from its rear in the picture below, saying, “Hello world” and a pile of coffee underneath the thought bubble.
Frankly, I find the Coffee Gards a little scary, not just because they’re there to guard the coffee, but their lack of arms and faces freak me out.
Who does my daughter think is going to take the coffee? And why is my daughter the resident of the castle?
Is there an art therapist in the blogosphere?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:13 pm January 31st, 2006 in Politics | 9 Comments
Print This Post
Jan
31
The Coffee Castle
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
If you’ve ever attended a parent-teacher conference or had someone recount the experience to you – either because you’re a friend, a relative or the child in question, then you probably know that every child has “strengths” and “areas that need improvement.”
One area in which my kids have never needed improvement is Imagination. They people worlds with governments, good guys, bad guys and pie. Don’t ask – they won’t tell me. But pie plays a very important role in at least one of the imaginary fiefdoms ruled by my twelve year old son. My nine year old daughter was Mayor of Shtookieville for a few years, but then she got mobile and could talk so the twelve year old affected a coup.
(Digression here: A few nights ago, my oldest found some web application that would allow you to type in whatever you wanted and then you could select different voices to say those words. We had him type in, Hello and Welcome to Shtookieville. I couldn’t breathe because I was laughing so hard.)
Sometimes I have to ask my kids to turn down the volume in their imagination (does anyone create quiet, silent imaginary friends anymore?), but as a general rule, I encourage their fantasy play. My oldest and youngest (both boys), were early readers and writers (the oldest is in sixth grade and the youngest is in Kindergarten) and populate their stories – oral and written – with characters named Mrs. Fitzgerald, Funky, Yobbie and The Young Yob. I can barely type for giggling.
My daughter, who is a girl in between two boys, as I was, possesses visual talents. She sees music once and memorizes it, then she practices piano. She has near perfect pitch. And her artwork comes from a set of genes that skipped past me, the same ones that gave her red hair and a peaches and cream complexion.
So yesterday, she came home from school not feeling well (I’d sent her off in the morning, bad mother that I am, with half a dose of Benedryl in her to keep the drippiness at bay), dropped her jacket and backpack and shoes in the laundry room, and proceeded to rest until I declared that it was time to do homework, at which time, I went into the laundry room to retrieve her backpack and that’s when I saw what’s shown at the top of this post: The Coffee Castle.
First: She got an “O” for Outstanding.
Second: No amount of questioning by me elicited a satisfactory response as to why she created a coffee castle, as opposed to a princess’s castle, a sorceror’s castle or White Castle.
However, if you read this post, you will see that fate is, well, fate. And genetic.
And so, I present to you: THE COFFEE CASTLE.
In this view, we see the main castle flanked by two towers. Zelda lives in the tower on the left and Linc (Link?) lives in the tower on the right. I don’t know much about the Zelda games or characters, but I do believe they gave life to the characters held captive in these coffee silos.
NB: My daughter says that this piece of artwork is Busproof. That means that, according to the art teacher, you can hold the base upsidedown and nothing will fall off of it. (I tried; it worked.)
In the main tower lives my daughter. On either side of the front entrance you can see bins that say Coffee on them. I asked my daughter if the bins contain whole beans, ground beans or percolated coffee. She screwed up her face. Which I think means, wtf are you asking me, Mom? So we’re going with already percolated coffee to be dispensed to visitors.
Inside the castle, on the wall which you can view through the door, we see my daughter, holding a staff which, she says, is a swizzle stick for stirring. She, herself, is not holding a cup of coffee. She just rules over everyone who does.
Also inside the castle, which you can’t see, is a frame with a drawing that is a picture of my daughter – her portrait. Every castle purveyor must have a portrait hanging in their castle you know.
On the wall opposite the wall with her portrait, there stands a table with a coffee maker on it and, just above it, a red plaque with yellow bulbs blinking around it. The sign says, “COFFEE MAKER.”
To the left of the coffee maker is the largest of several Coffee Gards, complete with pink feet and blue lids. You can see the outside Coffee Gard that protects the castle from its rear in the picture below, saying, “Hello world” and a pile of coffee underneath the thought bubble.
Frankly, I find the Coffee Gards a little scary, not just because they’re there to guard the coffee, but their lack of arms and faces freak me out.
Who does my daughter think is going to take the coffee? And why is my daughter the resident of the castle?
Is there an art therapist in the blogosphere?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:13 pm January 31st, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
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Jan
31
Those of you in the know probably already knew, but seeing this for the first time woke me up. Just seems like an odd combo. What do I know. Provocative, at least? Hattip to donkey o.d.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:45 pm January 31st, 2006 in Politics | 2 Comments
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Jan
31
Those of you in the know probably already knew, but seeing this for the first time woke me up. Just seems like an odd combo. What do I know. Provocative, at least? Hattip to donkey o.d.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:45 am January 31st, 2006 in Politics | 2 Comments
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Jan
31
Jerry Springer and Chris Redfern in Hamilton County
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
Those of you in the know probably already knew, but seeing this for the first time woke me up. Just seems like an odd combo. What do I know. Provocative, at least? Hattip to donkey o.d.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:45 am January 31st, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
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Jan
31
Caffeine and a cuddle beat parents any day
Filed Under Politics | 6 Comments
From the father of a friend of mine, in Montreal.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:21 am January 31st, 2006 in Politics | 6 Comments
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