Dicken's Fair converts

Eva has been begging to go the Dicken's Fair for three years, I truly had no interest in taking two small children to the Cow Palace with 100's of people. This year the Dicken's fever is rampant amongst the first grade girls.  Many girls came back after Thanksgiving weekend with hairdos and Eva was ready to shed her short locks for the chance to get her hair done. so Eva's birthday became the the turning point of my bending. As posted before she got the vintage red cape, pantaloons, and a dress that never arrived. The day before the event, we found a red dress someone found at a thrift store last year for us and with a little crinoline it was perfect. Our house was a flutter before the event, Eva dressing before the rest of us were out of bed, Eli wetting down his hair drying his pants in the dryer, Art looking through various closets to find his wedding vest and I pulling out every item that may pass as Victorian.

All said and done we were there from 11:00 - 7 pm with a total of 5 families from school, we watched performances, played the lemon game, rode the carousel, ate fish 'n chips, and danced for hours. It was completely enchanting (if you could get over the crowds + hot buttered rum helped!), good wholesome fun for the family. the actors were polite, engaging and highly entertaining. I think we're going to get a season pass next year!  oh no, does that mean the Renaissance Fair is next????

highlights: Eva getting a telegram from friends announced at the big Fezziwigs party including a note and a rose in a porcelain holder, getting her hair done in braids with adornments, being free to dance with her friends and the actors. Eli was mostly an observer until the very end. A woman came up and asked if he's like to dance and off he went, she asked if he could skip and told them they were doing the Polka, most children are excorted to the center to dance away from the massive moving crowds. evidently Eli just took off skipping and swinging is partner all around the floor, avoiding hitting other dancers and keeping up the pace for the entire dance. she asked if I could send her photos I did and this is what she wrote back..."

Thank you so much for sending these.  He's a real sweetheart and was a 
highlight of the day with his energy.  He's gonna break some hearts in a 
few years...  ;-)
   -Suzi

garden of light

the childrens's school celebrates the garden of light ceremony today, a very reverent, festival that celebrates the inner light that we all carry within us through the darkest half of the year. the children all come in to the room in silence, they come up one by one, given an apple with a candle in it, walk through the spiral to the center where they light their candle and place it in the spiral. this is my third year and it was just as moving to see all the little ones find such pride as they take this walk in the dark. the even would have been almost sickeing sweet if it was not balanced by the accompaniment of the 8th grade orchestra, we were lulled by the screeching violens, the unharmonic wind instrument but nothing compared to the trumpets that should have stayed home that day. I have one word of advice PRACTICE! I sat through two different ceremonies, one for the kindergarteners and then the first/second grade. surprisingly enough the older children were way more wiggly than the little ones who just sat there spell bound for the 45 minutes it took to get through the group. the olde children on the other hand were talking and wiggilng in their chairs. i was so proud of Eva, she was so poised during her walk and as she sat in her seat, well most of the time, until she dug for at least 5 minutes for a booger, I sat their snickering to myself. p.s. this photo is contraband, we are not allowed to take photos/video of the ceremony but as soon they left I snapped a photo.

Eat-in a day of action

I was inspired by the Eat-in that was part of the Slow Food Nation last Labor Day weekend. I drove past Dolores park to see a 50 yard table spread with white table clothes with folks dining together. I made an attempt to gather a 15 + group for our own Eat-in at the urging of Slow Food to send a message to our Congress regarding the Child Nutrition Act which comes up for review every and only 5 years. It ended up being three families and I registered it with Slow Food as an official site. Here are a few images and check us out on the site. Ours was tiny but we got out there and ate in style. http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/campaign/time_for_lunch-detail/san_francisco_ca_crissy_field_eat_in/

Here are images from the national celebration: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/timeforlunch/