An Excuse to Post Videos

why yes, that's the moro reflex when infants throw out their arms as if to catch hold of something when they feel as if their falling. a pediatrician at the hospital here calls it the monkey reflex.

I'm shattered. I thought I had invented something. A maneuver, maybe. And that reminds me ...

I continue to work in the garden. I bought new stakes to which I lashed tomato plants. I also picked squash and peppers. The squashes are quite huge, and I don't know how that happened. Also, the pepper plants are twice the height of last year's. I don't think I changed the fertilizer or compost ratios that much.

The success isn't universal in my patch; there is one lone lettuce sprout out there, and the carrots could be nuggets as far as I can tell. I worked the garden while listening to Gogol Bordello. Some friends of mine love them, and I downloaded an NPR Tiny Desk Concert of them, and I liked it. They're a "gypsy punk band."

Much pruning ensued.

The evenings have settled into a definite routine. We eat supper and snack before Your Sister soaks in the tub. Years of advocacy have finally convinced her to read in the bath, and I encourage her to vanish for as long she wants. The deputy wakes up around 10, and I feed him a grande bottle of mama water while watching cooking shows.

Food Network recently spun off a channel devoted to actual cooking; the original channel is focused on game-show programming -- who can launch a restaurant overnight, who will get their own show, who can make a theme cake in eight hours -- and I just want to watch people talk and chop. Thankfully, the new channel also has the original Iron Chef. Yes, it's a game show, but it's an awesome game show in Japanese and French. I feed and watch, and Your Sister reemerges from her own soup to pump milk before we go to bed.

I'm very eager for her to go hang out with people Saturday night. I am also starting to get anxious about the derby logo. I've heard nothing. It looks like they'll tell no one beforehand what to expect before they unveil the winning entry next Saturday. This weekend is Bele Chere, and I will happily avoid all that fuss.