May 22 update

First off, Connor took these photo of Jack last week -- pretty good, aren't they?

Now that I'm back at work, I find that there is more than enough to keep me busy -- both at work and at home.

It's fun, but kinda cuts into my blogging time. A mixed blessing, I guess. I love to blog -- or any kind of writing, really -- but when life is quiet it's hard to find anything to say. When there's lots to say, I don't always have time to say it. Oh well. Name a blogger who doesn't have that complaint, right?

Lessee.

Karate has come to dominate our lives since Jack's birthday, but not in a bad way. Oddly enough, while I have never been all that enthralled with the martial arts, and the kata don't interest me much, I am not minding the major focus on Jack's new passion.

I think it's because in these days of the Internet, I am able to look into the aspects of it that do interest me -- and Jack is moderately interested, too.

We found a web site that helped us learn to count to 10 in Japanese, which Jack needs for class anyway. We found another web site that has all kinds of Okinawan Japanese words (Jack is studying Isshinryu Karate) that are useful in the dojo setting. Again, he needs many of them in class, and all are useful.

I have been researching the history of Isshinryu and the meaning behind the patch they use.

All interesting stuff.

But even better, I am watching my little boy transform before my eyes in some pretty cool ways!

I won't say much more on that line, but once again, Jack has had what he needed (or wanted very badly) turn up on cue. (My son is uncanny that way.)

We enrolled him in the "easy" class (across the street from home and cheap) while we researched the right dojo for him. We were determined to find a dojo and a sensei who focused on the spiritual, traditional, and self improvement aspects of martial arts at least as much as on the sport and the physical forms.

My research suggests that, in this area, he is already in the best school from that perspective, and his teacher is absolutely amazing with the kids. The dojo is 25 minutes or so from here, so we'll stick with the community center classes for now, but we do go there every other weekend for extra practice and i think eventually we may enroll him there if his interest continues.

In other news, we ate out last night and again I was "poisoned". *sigh*

Not food poisoning, just corn. Since I have come to know just how ubique (opposite of unique) corn is, I have come to suspect that I may be able to eat some grains after all. Rice had become suspect because every time we had a "plain" rice bread, I got sick. Except...oops. That plain rice bread, as it turns out, contains xanthan gum. Xanthan gum isn't corn, but it is grown on corn and it still makes me sick. (Thanks for pointing that one out, Valerie!) I tried rice again when I knew we'd be staying home for a few days, and sure enough, rice is fine. Just not rice bread. Or rather, not *that* rice bread.

It's been the case with an amazing array of foods that seem safe at first glance that they have turned out to be "contaminated" with one form of corn or another. Lots of places are beginning to grok "gluten free", but when I ask about corn I get a lot of very funny looks. Last night's culprit? I had a plain hamburger with no bread and no ketchup, french fries from a separate fryer, and water. At the last minute, and without thinking it through, I made them "cheese fries". The cheese is gluten free...but it' not just cheese. It has corn starch. Oops. (Not up to gardening today, after all.)

As I have cut back on my card making, I have found my interest in scrapbooking returning. I still don't have a lot of photos of my grandchildren, but my interest has expanded to other sorts of pages. Not sure when I'll find time (that project I mentioned a while back is taking on a life of its own!) but it's interesting to finally have real ideas.

Jack has decided that I am the teacher for many of his subjects. That's going to slow us way down ... but it also seems to have a bright side. We have begun to notice that spending months and months on an era makes that era a part of our every day lives in a way that simply reading the stories and moving on wouldn't have done. But I do have to buckle down and make time, if we;re going to do it this way. Less socializing for me, clearly.

Now, I'm going to take my ache-y, angst-y self into the other room and try to convince my boy that it's time to read some Emily Dickinson. Luckily, she writes poetry I *really* like, so it should be easy.