Circles and more

“What is this?”, I asked the three-year-old, pointing to a slightly misshapen circle.

I couldn’t get what he said, so repeated, “What is this? A circle?”

“Igloo!”, he replied matter of factly.

If I was surprised at the answer, I tried not to show it. “And who lives in an igloo?”, I asked.

“Polar bear”, said he. Not entirely accurate, but near enough.

“And who told you about igloos?”, I asked expecting to hear he learnt it at school.

“My brother”, he replied, his tone adding the “who else” his words left out.


Oh to have a brother like that.

Luncheon of the Boating Party

I always loved the Impressionists, and though Renoir was never my favourite painter, I’ve always loved his ‘Luncheon of the Boating Party’.

So, when ‘The Burrow’ decided to pick a painting where each of us could pick a detail to write a story to, this was the first painting I thought of.

Outwardly, an idyllic scene with, happy people, if you look closely, you can almost sense the tension between the various characters.

Almost none of the people are looking directly at each other – every single one of them has a story to tell.

This month, we tell them all.

And what does one do?

And now, a genuine crisis.

My older one is learning about the Solar System in school, and the younger one has always been fascinated by heavenly bodies, so these days, most story sessions revolve around making up stories about planets and stars.
But today, when I was telling the kids about the small plants and the large ones, the older one wanted to talk instead about Venus, and her pretty rings.

“Venus doesn’t have rings, sweetie”, said I. “Saturn does.”
“No, Venus has rings”, he insisted.
“Venus doesn’t.” I said. “Only Saturn and Uranus do.”
“No, Venus has rings. Teacher said so.”
This time I had to put my foot down. “I am sure you misheard your teacher. But if she did tell you that Venus has rings, she is mistaken. Venus doesn’t have rings and I am prepared to tell your teacher that, and back it up with photographs.”

The exchange ended in a stalemate. He is now going to ask his father to adjudicate.
I’ll pre-warn the father, and make sure he gives the right answers.

BUT, just because a situation is controllable, doesn't mean I have to like it.

The Bangle Seller

Wonder if he takes any of his bangles home to his wife?

Time out Joint

Vile Parle station at 9:38 am, or is it 9:32 am?

One and a half degrees of longitude must run between the two sides of the platform!

What music would they play?

Got tagged on this forward -
This is my album cover! If you have a spare 15mins...
1 - Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random... Read More”
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2 - Go to "Random quotations"
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3 - Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4 - Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

Never thought it would work, but this album cover does seem rather professional, doesn't it? Is that how random music has actually becomes?

And any thoughts on the kind of music they play?

Commie Spiderman

Spiderman, the pizza delivery guy, dropping into Mc Donalds for a quick burger, I can understand. But what is harder to imagine is Spidey at a Communist rally - was he just observing, or had he come expecting trouble?