Back by demand of our big boys I bring you…..

which are never all that quick but whatever….

1.

Ok here is a cool thing I learned recently.  Bokeh is a photography term which refers to the circles of light in the blurred background of images shot with a short depth of field.  In that sort of image, the subject is in clear focus and the background is softly blurred out.  If you have a light source in your background – like Christmas lights or window blinds or car lights – they will become a series of circles.

Now here is the neat thing about that.  If your aperature is set 'wide open' (small fstop number) you will get circles.  If you aperature was set to any other setting you will get hexagonal bokeh.  I had to go check for myself and found one of each in the archives. Now we know why. If you look at the chart you see the aperature is a series of 6 overlapping flaps which open at their widest into  a full circle.  So there you have it.  Just a fun fact.  And we love our fun facts around here. 

2.

Saw this article about a Mom who was suspended from her job and fined for running a 30 minute errand while her 14yo stayed home with his younger brother.  Apparently in the UK the legal babysitting age has been raised to 16, although there was supposed to be an exception when they are your own children. Interestingly enough, this is the same or higher than the age for legal consent in many western countries. (which is as low as 14 in Germany) One would think perhaps it might be good if people had a bit of personal experience with children before they are in a position to produce some.  But I digress….

 Over the years we have really scoured the internet and  each military base we have lived on for local regulations. Some of those are here, and here and here.  The most noteworthy thing about those guidelines?  They are all different. Ditto the state by state guidelines. Moral of the story? Check your local regulations, especially if you homeschool or have a large family. And be nice to your neighbors.  You have no idea how much time they may have on their hands. I am betting the British mum guessed they had better things to think about than her half hour grocery run. 

 3.

More fun facts.  In Europe, many kitchens are BYOB – bring your own baseboards… and cabinets and appliances to go with. A 'built in" kitchen is often provided in rentals to Americans who would otherwise go "Huh??" 

Our kitchen was built in.  Yet while cleaning the baseboards some time back I noticed they were actually clipped on. They are repositionable so you can pull them off to clean both them and under the cabinetry which isn't built in the way American cabinets are but rather are standing on these legs.  Just thought you might like to check that out.  And admittedly felt more than a bit virtuous cleaning not only my baseboards but UNDER my cabinets.  I felt sufficiently smug right until someone dropped the big whopper bottle of soy sauce the next day and it spilled where?  Yup. Under the baseboards.  But hey.  That baseboard popped right back off.  This is how God keeps me humble ; D

4.

I don't know why I thought it so funny but the other day I asked Abbie if she wanted something and she says, "ummm, sure."   Sure is appearing regularly now in place of Yes and I think its hysterical.  She is also using Actually.  As in, "Do you want some oatmeal Abbie?"  "Yes.  Um… no, actually I want g'nola Mom." 

5.

 I am not a weather person fwiw.  I don't much care if it rains or snows or sun shines or whatever.  It's weather, you know? It changes.  It should.  So why do I know our temperature has been lately?  Because the heat is off. Why is that you ask?  Well, funny you should bring that up. I asked the landlord the same thing.  His response?  "ist too varme outside".   Turns out the boiler is on a sensor and when the outdoor temp hits a certain level the furnace kicks off.  I think perhaps a polar bear set up the sensor.  The landlord is sending someone out to warm up the house for the wimpy Americans. 

6. 

24 hrs

That is the answer to this week's most frequently asked question.  How long does it take to have an appendix problem unfold?  The answer is that she started to have a stomach ache late the night before surgery.  She woke up ill in the middle of that night and was up and down all that morning.  I was pretty suspicious because the pain had begun to migrate to the side so we went in.  And sure enough it was appendix.  It was removed pronto before rupture and recovery is much speedier this way. Teeny incision. No Madeline scar.  Just a sore belly. But I have been quoting Miss Clavel in my head anyway. Once a homeschooler, always a homeschooler lol!

and fwiw – our insurance company sent out this book years ago.  I have used this and its family edition as well to quickly assess symptoms in the kids over the years. 

7.

"Heavy Duty.  Well, we are a heavy duty family."  This is what my husband said in the ironing board row of the store choosing one to replace the one we wore out.  It made me think of our conversation earlier tonight. A friend had commented about our crazy roller coaster life.  We talked about that.  "Do you feel that way?" he asked me.  Well, no.  I don't.   It may seem crazy to say but neither of us does. I always say there is a lot of life happening but it is just that. It is just life, exactly the way it was meant to unfold, and right now there is an abundance of grace not letting us forget that. 

I know now what Jesus meant when He promised peace – but not the kind the world brings. The only peace found in the world is totally based on circumstances which never fail to disappoint sooner or later. This peace can only happen when the stars align and all is well. This other kind is the sort you get when you refuse to "be troubled or afraid."  Easier said than done, especially for me. And there hasn't always been this. Not by a long shot. But when I remember and grab ahold of that truth, there is peace.  

Heavy duty peace.