Do You Know Your Geography?

A friend sent me this little diversion. It’s an online game that tests your geographic knowledge by calling out out various locations, and your job is to plant a flag where you think it is.

The game starts out easy and progresses to harder-to-identify locales. Lots of fun, and humbling too. At several points, the game needled me with sarcastic comments like “Hello, is anybody home?” and “This is Earth. You know that, right?” The cheek.

Anyway, give it a go here.

Sonshine

Porthos came down with a bad wheeze and cough in the middle of the night, threw up over the sofa this afternoon, and has been out of sorts most of the day. So let’s just say it hasn’t been a fun day for me.

But such is life that it is against grey skies that a ray of sunshine is most apparent. Here was a conversation that just happened at bedtime.

Athos: Porthos can open my Christmas presents.

Pilgrim Mom: OK. Why?

Athos: Because he is sick and that will cheer him up.

Bless his little heart.

Wii = Exercise? Think again.

The Pilgrim family does not own a Wii, and we have been sorely tempted on a few occasions to buy one. The kids played on their friends console and loved it. And hey, at least it gets them on their feet and moving about.

BUT, if you think that the Nintendo Wii works as a substitute for exercise, check this article out.

Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity?

There’s a conference that takes place annually in the US called TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design). Bringing together some of the best minds and achievers, TED is a forum to share and spread transformational ideas. It’s a pretty exclusive conference but earlier this year, TED began to make its talks available on the Internet for free, and under a Creative Commons license (i.e. they can be freely shared and reposted).

I cannot recommend the site more highly. The handful of presentations I have watched were stellar. Since this is a parenting blog, I wanted in particular to highlight Sir Ken Robinson’s talk titled “Do Schools Kill Creativity”. Watch it. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

 

Porthos Wises Up

Just minutes ago, Porthos walked up to me, the light of new discovery in his eyes, and uttered the following:

“I think I know why you must do the hard thing first then the easy thing. Because if you do the hard thing first, then you can play without worrying.”

My little boy grows older….

Of Garage Sales And Wondrous Treasures

Our 6th multi-family charity garage sale flew by on the blessed wings of gorgeous weather, generous donors, faithful helpers and bargain hunters. We had items of every category from 27 (!!) families, and a steady stream of customers, especially on the first day. And I am delighted to share that we raised almost $2,500 for missions work in the Philippines!

One of the things I love about garage sales is the serendipitous discovery. For me, this mostly happens in the books section. And this garage sale did not disappoint.

And God blessed the seventh day…

What Sundays are for.