Breakfast Chatter

Miles began to tell a riddle as we ate pancakes this morning.
~"There are 13 white socks and 13 black socks..."

Sarah, "I don't wear matched socks."

Miles, "That's not the riddle ... listen!. There are 13 white socks and 13 black socks in a drawer.  The room is in complete darkness.."

Duncan, "You can still sort of see white ones in the dark."

Me, "I can never remember.  Darkness is the absence of light.  Is it like colours.  Black is the absence of all colours or it's all colours together... Dang, why can't I ever remember?  I know if I was using paint, all the colours mixed would be black, not white, so white must be the absence of colour. But maybe colours and darkness are not universally...."

Miles, "This is COMPLETE darkness.  You can't see the white socks!"

Duncan, "But don't white socks sort of glow?  Remember at the skating place when all the lights were out?"

Me, "It's true.  In complete darkness you can't even see your own hand in front of your face.  I remember once at the ranch waking up in the night and realizing how utter and complete the darkness was.  It must have been a cloudy winter night without a moon even.  At the skating place they had a black light and that's how the white things glowed."

Miles, "It doesn't matter what colour the socks are as long as there are two different colours.  Black, white, blue, red."

Duncan, "Red Sox are a baseball team."

Miles, "Back. to. my. riddle!  Socks.  Drawer.  Darkness. COMPLETE darkness!  You reach..."

Cooper, "I am familiar with complete darkness, as it surrounds my heart and soul."  

Sarah, "Good thing you recently felt the warmth of God's embrace then!"

Miles, "Does anyone even care how many times you have to pull out a sock until you have a pair?"

Sarah, "That's the riddle?  Only 2.  I told you.  I don't care if they match."

Duncan, "Aren't they matched when they come back from the laundry?"

Whittaker, "I have white socks in my laundry."

Emerson, "socks and shoes."

Me, "I'll tell you after I do the laundry."

Miles, "It's not that difficult.  Just think!"

Oh, breakfast conversation....

Bloody Mess

Probably should have included Whittaker in the Blood moon celebrations...

Now we're having a nightly 3am celebration of our own!!  We've had 4 middle of the night bloody noses since the Lunar Eclipse...

What a bloody mess.  Not sure if it's the stuff of Halloween Horror films... but the bloody hand on the wall and that face in the middle of the night with his little voice standing next to my bed saying... "Mummy I need a tissue.".... it gives me chills!  He didn't have a clue what he looked like.

Expect the Unexpected!

A very cold morning.... 

...the furnace didn't turn on... 

... the house was at 62. 

After changing the batteries in the thermostat, and having the heat kick in we were dancing to help warm up.  

Cooper, exhausted, sat down at his desk and then suddenly he hopped up and while holding a book in the air he porclaimed,

"I've found a holy book (?? fox in socks??) on the heat vent!!!  It's warm.... like God's embrace."

Acceptance

He is embracing his Canadian side on this Canadian Thanksgiving Day.  Even though Canada won't accept him just yet.  (small paperwork glitch says that his Citizenship is effective Aug. 12, 2099... Instead of Aug. 12, 2009)  But hey, I see it as the Canadian government being very optimistic about his lifespan, because even if we can't get it fixed, he'll officially be a citizen on his 100th birthday.

Tank you Dram ma ma ma

Emerson is so good to keep himself hydrated.  He helps himself to everyone's water bottles. Grandma's is his favourite though.  So when she left it behind, we told him she gave it to him. Every time he reaches for it now, he says, "Tank you, Dram ma ma ma."

Drink up!

Blood Shot Moon

I haven't been getting nearly enough sleep lately.  Lots of late nights in a row with regularly scheduled early mornings led to Monday night with only 4 hours of sleep.

Soooo,  I turned off the phone and tucked the kids in at 8pm and determined that I would head to bed as well, for a much needed and deserved restful sleep.

Then as I lay there, I remembered the date.  Tonight was the Lunar eclipse known as a rare Blood Moon.  I asked the kids who were completely still awake at 8:15 if they cared to see it or not.  They were unanimous in their desire to be awakened for it.

I set the alarm for 3:45am and then lay back in bed.  However, it was with a tablet to read up on the eclipse details.  By midnight I had learned a substantial amount of information about the eclipse and the phases of the moons and the meaning of Blood moons.  I had also lost my opportunity to be well rested.

Our binoculars which were recommended for viewing the moon were in the room with Emerson, whom I was not about to waken at 3:45am.

We would watch it with the naked eye.

The alarm went off at 3:45 AM.  I hit the snooze.  It went off again at 3:55 AM.  I hit snooze AGAIN, in case I dozed off again.  I went to the toilet, took a peek outside to see if it was worth all this fuss and then went downstairs to call the budding astronomers.  Those who go to sleep at 8:20pm have an increased ability to waken at 3:45AM.  They bound out of bed and grabbed their blankets and headed outside.  It had already begun.

We snuggled together on the porch swing... five freezing astronomers wrapped in blankets to see.... the moon....

I began to share all of my new found knowledge and insight from my crash course in moons from the night before.  Sarah began to doze and gave up and went back to bed.  By now it was 4:30AM.  Not a lot of change had happened but we were definitely witnessing a red moon lunar eclipse.

By 5AM I decided that almost 2 hours more sleep would be better than being able to claim first hand witnessing of the phenomenon of the Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse... besides I'd been watching for an hour... that should count... right?

I took some photos.

I learned that taking photos of a lunar eclipse isn't best achieved with a cell phone camera.  Perhaps I'll be better prepared next time...

Oh and I'll aim at the moon... instead of the street lamp.

Apparently around 5:20 the moment worth being awake for occurred.  The boys filled me in hours later.  The moon completely turned red and there was this glow around it that was sooo bright and HUGE.   I did get a chance to see how HUGE and bright it was at 7am when I drove for carpool.  It was rather incredible looking, but it was no longer red with an extra ring of glowing awesomeness. The amazing moment the boys witnessed is apparently called the Japanese lantern effect.

After the adrenaline rush of witnessing the astonomical phenomenon, the boys weren't the least bit tired, so they came in a started their day.  By 11am they had completed all their school and while I was fighting my eyelids they were still chipper and full of energy.  I have decided that Blood Moon Lunar Eclipses affect the young with increased energy that is directly stolen  zapped from the oldest member of the household.

Blood Moons = Blood shot eyes

Until the next astronomical phenomenon.... with more notice and rest before hand I hope.