Mash-ups
The news from Haiti runs through everything else, an undercurrent of grief. Facebook is subdued. I’m taking in news in careful doses, not too much at a time. But life with our kids goes on.
Zag’s growing mind is doing the busy and important work of forging connections, and now and then the wires get interestingly crossed. Today he came home from school and asked me with great earnestness whether we had any books by Jan Luther Brett. He had read a book of hers at school and really liked it – something about a mitten. Tilt got on Google and confirmed that there is a children’s author named Jan Brett. We didn’t really think anything of the “Luther” part until an hour or so later, when Zag asked us about the upcoming church service for “John Luther King.” Or somebody like that. He was trying so hard to remember two new names, and that “Luther” just migrated between them…
My parents gave him a big Lego set of a dwarven mine for Christmas. It comes equipped with several orcs as well, which is very confusing for someone who doesn’t yet have his orcs and dwarves straight. He kept calling it his “dork droven mine.” He’s finally sort of got the dwarves and orcs straightened out, but then Egypt got involved. A couple of weeks ago, we made a partial set of stamps of hieroglyphics and other Egyptian symbols. A few days ago he asked me, “What do you call that Egyptian thing that looks like a head with arms and a body? The one that means life? An orc?”
But the mash-up that will really stick with me comes of our reading Treasure Island together as a family. You may recall that when Stevenson’s pirates condemn one of their own to death, they give him “the black spot.” Two days ago, during the drive to school (which takes all of four minutes), Zag and I somehow got talking about Ash Wednesday. I described to him the way the priest marks a cross in ashes on each person’s head, as a reminder that we all come from dust and will go back to dust. Zag pulled a scary face and intoned, “The Black Spot.” I’m never going to look at Ash Wednesday quite the same way again…
January 14th, 2010 at 11:35 pm
That Luther, always showing up where you least expect him . . .
January 15th, 2010 at 4:20 am
Hi, I’ve been reading your blog for a while and just want to say I enjoy the accounts of your family. Zag sounds so smart, funny, creative, and imaginative! Also, I loved The Mitten by Jan Brett when I was a kid. I especially remember the bright, Scandinavian illustrations.
January 15th, 2010 at 8:33 am
Love it.
We have Jan Brett’s “The Hat” (about a hedgehog who gets stuck in a stocking) and Peter looooooves it. Gorgeous artwork.
January 15th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Too bad it’s the wrong time of year to show him rose bushes with the fungus disease Black Spot. It’s very dramatic, as I imagine you know.
January 15th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
Jan Brett’s illustrations rock! So much to look at on each page. Lots of fun. I like The Hat, too. She’s also local, so that’s nice.
January 16th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
We’re fans of the Gingerbread Baby here.
January 19th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
“Dork Droven Mine,” huh?
Is that like an archaeology dig site?