Censorship

Our hotel room in Clare had a hot tub. Read the first and third lines of the directions carefully.

I'm no expert on education but literacy in this country gets worse and worse. Mrs. C and I are deputies of the Language Police and this sort of thing make us crazy. The worst and most common problem is using an apostrophe to form a plural, like "two apple's for a dollar."  You see it everywhere and it's not just the US. It is as common in the UK and Canada.     

You Say It's Your Birthday

Today's theme song.

Ellie turns four on August 20. Audrey turns two on August 30. We had an early joint party for both of them. The cake was simple but the girls didn't care. Nothing better than kids and birthday cake.  

Home tonight. Our flight out of Lansing, Michigan, isn't until mid afternoon. We hear that there is a small but pleasant zoo in the state's capital city. More little person entertainment.

Water Sports

It was a bit of a surprise but Ellie turned out to be the more contemplative of the girls this weekend, while her younger cousin Audrey was the crazy-happy kid. After a dip in our hotel pool this morning and nap time, we went to Sanford Lake Park near Midland, MI. Son Andy, Audrey's father, brought along his paddle board. The stunt below was deliberate, not accidental.           

Read This

Found in the Discovery Museum in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. (Find the mountain. Just go and try. Report back.) It's the big town in the region, 16 miles from Clare, 26,000 people plus a peak of 20,000 students at Central Michigan University. This is a book that should be in every home. 

The museum is an educational playground for younger children. We were impressed. Ellie and Audrey were delighted.  Son Andy's feet do stick out.    

Rat Race

Some filler until we get to central Michigan late this afternoon. We took Madeleine to the zoo last Saturday. The St. Louis Zoo might be the best in the country, although San Diego has its fans.

So what did we find? A dinky show in the children's area featuring a mouse walking along a meter of rope, through a little box with an inexplicable dollar sign. A depressed macaw (pardon the anthropomorphization). A loitering sea lion. And Ellie herself, emerging from a fake hollow log, clutching her old, tattered lambie. (Thanks again, Auntie Virginia!)        

If You Don't Like The Act, The Bar Is Open

I've got more pix from Act Your Pants Off but they are mostly of individual performers on stage. I'll edit them for the STL Fringe's use but they are probably of more interest to them than you. 

The venue was interesting, though, It's called Off-Broadway, on the city's far south side. Appropriate enough since it is just off that street that runs almost the entire length of the city proper from north to south. My office is on Broadway downtown. If any given act was not to your liking the bar was open, well-stocked and ready to serve you.

Need to scramble for material for the next couple of days. We leave on Thursday for a long weekend in central Michigan to see our son and his family. Once we get to Clare I can always post pictures of Cops & Doughnuts or my other granddaughter, Audrey.       

City Daily Photo August Theme Day: Young At Heart

I didn't have anything prepared for theme day so I had to hunt through the archives. Found this of my granddaughter, Madeleine, blowing through a kazoo as hard as she could. But backwards.  There are days I'd like to let down my adult guard and do something like this, let the child back out and make rude noises at the world. Most of us probably have those days.