We’ve a big Holly bush near our back yard. After the snow, every robin in the area was in our block to feed on that tree! I took some nice pictures of the event:
Also shot a short video so you can get an idea of the air traffic on Friday. It wasn’t nearly as nice a day, so please forgive the quality of the footage.
The last five days have been an interesting progression of interaction between the three of us. We’ve come to understand a few things about Roman, some of his likes and dislikes, just how sharp he is, and how independent he’s grown in his current environment.
We discovered pretty quickly that he loves music. If we hum a tune or make a sound, he’ll do his best to mimic it or he’ll start to dance. The room in which we’ve been spending time with him has an upright piano, and he will walk over to it, pull himself up on a chair, try to open the keys. We’ll help get it open and we will “play songs” together.
He enjoys physical play,when one of us is holding him and playing airplane or sitting together and playing the piano, or something like that. He’s starting to understand how to play together, but it’s difficult and he won’t do it for long. We can take a ball and throw it between the three of us, for instance, but anything much more involved will come later. He won’t sit on a lap for a story yet, for instance.
It’s amazing how quickly a 2.5 year old will absorb things. He’s already learned at least three words of English and has parroted many others. I would pick him up, and say “up!” and lift him over my head; the say “down!” and bring him down so we were face to face. This is the kind of physical play he’s enjoyed, but it didn’t take long and he pointed up, said “up!” and so forth. The real surprise came when I was wearing a sweater with a sipper front and holding him. He took the zipper in his had and was playing with it. I said ‘up” and he zipped the sweater up; I said “down” and he unzipped it. We all were stunned (and now understand completely how closely we will have to watch what we say).
For such a youngster, he’s incredibly independent. Or maybe that’s not so odd for a slightly developmentally delayed 2.5 year old. As he grew more comfortable with us over the five days so far, he’s pushed the boundaries a little further each day. We’re finding it a challenge to enforce boundaries in his environment – we don’ t know what the boundaries are, and he appears to have no fear. Many times he won’t take no for an answer (of course), but if he starts to get too rough, he does respond well when we ask him to be gentle.
We’ve looked at pictures of each of us with him and he recognizes himself and us. He identifies us as mama and papa. I am sure he can’t really knows what the words connote, but we are they. He’s asked his caregivers if we are coming, so we’re pretty sure he’s at least enjoying the time with us.
Today there were two other prospective familes in the playroom with us for the last 30 minutes we were there. By that time he was getting pretty tired and the commotion was bothering him a bit. He was quite content to be held, as long as he could watch what was going on. He almost fell asleep as he was being held. It was _this_ close. In any case, when we returned him to his caregivers today at the end of our time, it was pretty clear he was a little upset about it. We’re enjoying that while it lasts, because we know he’s going to be just, if not more, upset when he realizes he’s being taken from that environment.
It was confirmed to us today that our court hearing will be at aproximately 9:00am on Wednesday morning. By noon we should know the outcome and our parental status.
This is originally from Epicurious.com
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Wash raisins and set aside. In a large bowl combine the tomatoes, apples, lemon rind, lemon juice, and vinegar.
In a separate bowl, combine the salt, sugar, flour, cinnamon and ginger and mix well.
Roll out 1 of the pie crusts to fit a pie plate and place in the plate. Set aside.
Add dry ingredients into the wet ingredients [and raisins -ck] and stir just until combined. Pour into pie shell. Dot top with butter.
Add top crust and slit the top of pie. Bake 15 minutes, and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for another 45 minutes.
Once again, I’m headed off. This time, for roughly three weeks, to Pakistan and Bangladesh. I’ll be about a week in each place, with about a week for travel. At the moment, I’m not sure what to expect in either place, except a fair bit of work to be done. 
All this week, NPR was broadcasting a series on Muslims in America that tried to change the angle of light shed on this community.
The last two days they have interviewed a couple young women of Algerian descent who live in the Chicago area. Some of the questions they were asked by the interviewer were basic, but they were things that everyone thinks: Q – “How many scarves to you own?” A – “That’s like asking how many blouses do you own.”
Other days were good too, discussing the challenges Muslim actors face in trying to play non-terrorist roles. The challenge must be like that faced by a blind or deaf actor/actress – how do you get a role that is just playing a person, and one that doesn’t spotlight and emphasize your difference?
Equally interesting, and certainly more shocking, were some of the listener comments. Pam Festler, an NPR correspondent commented on this, too.
I just finished listening to a podcast from Rick Steves, where he interviewed Jeff Greenburg of Ethical Traveller. Like me, Jeff also had a transformative experience in Isfahan, Iran, although his was 20 years after mine. He realized, during his experience, that he was an ambassador to the people he met when he travelled. I can’t do his story justice here, so I encourage you to listen to the podcast linked above.
Out of Jeff’s experience have come 13 guidelines for ethical travel, to which I refer you here.
A friend of mine who is a teacher in Saudi has been prompting her kids to consider how Manifest Destiny (remember that from middle- and high-school?) is played out in the modern world. Sounds like they have interesting discussions.
I hadn’t quite thought of it in those terms, but yeah, I can see it. The period of manifest destiny was all about expansion and our god given right to take over the continent. Now that horizons have expanded physically, electronically and mentally, the US is set on “manifesting” the world. Interesting argument, history might bear (bare? I always confuse those two) it out to be true. It seems it is certainly true with the current hawkish administration.
Remember the uproar here and in Europe over The Last Temptation of Christ? Fanatics are everywhere. I don’t remember the protests over that being so widespread and so violent, but it was a long time ago and I know my memory has faded.
Last week the Washington Post ran an article about the infamous Danish cartoons and the protests they have sparked around the world. I wish I was a reasoned enough person to develop such as this.
Neither side is innocent. Neither side is completely wrong. Yes, in the West, freedom of expression and freedom of dissent is highly valued and fiercly protected (and yet too little exercised). At the same time, there are limits; you cannot stand up and yell “Fire!” in a crowded world.