Francesca Forrest's Blog, page 33

rain!

So yesterday I created the driveway advent calendar and filled in days 1–5. Last night it rained, of course! So today I did what I'd resolved to do in that event: touch up the frame (all the squares), and then just continue going forward.

So here's what the frame looks like now--you can see how the images I drew yesterday have blurred:



And here's December 6's offering: a candy cane




... Even though I promised myself I wouldn't touch up the others, I just might, depending on how work and other oblig...

Driveway Advent calendar

I had this idea last year, but only too late in the season to do it. This year I promised myself I'd do it... and then again forgot until today! But it's not too late to start.

First I drew the blank calendar:



And then I filled in days one through five!

December 1: hot chocolate with whipped cream on top:



December 2: candle



December 3: knitted mittens



December 4: snowflake



December 5: black-capped chickadee



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La Rana Sabanera: Dendropsophus molitor

When we visited Bogotá in 2018, Wakanomori noticed that the manhole covers had frogs on them:



I always meant to find out the story behind the frog--was it a particular frog? Why a frog? But I never did.

Then the other day, Juegasiempre (also known as DjLu), one of the graffiti artists/muralistas whose work we became acquainted with on that trip, posted this beautiful frog on Twitter: la rana sabenera, Dendropsophus molitor. (Wikipedia tells me in English it's called the green dotted tree frog.) H...

world language; your story my story; guanacos

In order to be a volunteer tutor for refugees and immigrants learning English, I had to do some minimal training (I'm not teaching; I'm only supplemental help), and part of that involved watching some videos on language acquisition. The video below on world languages was something extra you could watch. I knew most of the stuff in it already, but I liked the presentation, the varying examples used, and the inclusion of information about signing languages. Take a look if you feel like it--it's 11...

"Who Is the Best Hero?" --new little book by the ninja girl

You'll remember that the ninja girl did a book on glass footwear. That was purely for her own fun. This one, "Who Is the Best Hero?" was to help the Japanese elementary school students she teaches learn adjectives in English.

It is hijōni kawaii, or as we say in English, exceptionally cute. And she gave me permission to share. Behold!

The cover page, with four little animal friends contemplating the important question, Who is the best hero?



The first spread: the little mouse votes for Turbo Tiger,...

The iceberg model of culture, or: taking a metaphor to extremes

No posts for nigh on two weeks and then two of them come in one day. NOT GOOD BLOG MANAGEMENT.

I'm training to do tutoring with an organization that helps immigrants and refugees, and part of the training was watching this one-minute video on the iceberg model of culture . Spoiler: Culture is like an iceberg, with only a small portion visible.

I was telling the ninja girl about this, and the conversation unfolded like this:

Me: Culture is like an iceberg: only a small portion is visible.

Her (sagel...

Halloween 2021

Our neighborhood is a magnet at Halloween, and the residents go all in to make it fun. It was great to be back to doing it this year--I really loved seeing all the kids, parents, and teens, and some of the costumes were just fabulous. My favorite was a chicken: a homemade comb-and-wattle of red felt, attached to a white felt cap, and the kid was wearing a white hoodie. I didn't get a picture, but one of the neighbors caught it in a slideshow they posted on FB--apologies for the graininess:



I carv...

popping maze corn (aka, popping maze maize!)

Last week mallorys_camera and I visited Mike's Maze , and I purloined an ear of corn from the walls of the maze. This corn is obviously not sweet corn for eating boiled or grilled--it's long in the tooth and deep yellow and gives the impression of being the sort of corn you might grow for milling into cornflour, or some other use like that. I don't have a picture of it still on the cob, but here it is as kernels in a bowl:



I was wondering what it would be like to try to pop it. I know that nowaday...

forms and starlings

I went for an annual physical the other day. The place I go, they make you fill out this form where you rate how you're feeling mentally/emotionally ("I think the world would be better off without me (a) never (b) sometimes (c) often (d) always"--that type of thing). I tend toward the melancholic, and these haven't been the most cheerful few years--I mean, it's been a Five Year Plan's worth at least of not-greatness--but basically I'm good. I checked "never" for all of them except one, "Have you...

Hartford Marathon

Today Wakanomori ran the Hartford Marathon. With this marathon, he's run a marathon in every New England state (not to mention several in New York). But two people running in today's marathon were using it as a capstone for running a marathon in every state, so there are always new goals to achieve.

I kept myself entertained by limping around Bushnell Park, which is not named after a corporation, as I darkly suspected (there is a Bushnell Corporation, but it's headquartered in Kansas), but after ...