tempus fugit

How things must pass...Ruby graduates from Kindergarten tomorrow and I will try to hold back inevitable tears of pride and joy at seeing my little girl make another step in this world that is the life we share, not caring if we stay dry in a thunderstorm and getting soaked because it's fun, like the other Saturday afternoon by the Delaware River...

food for thought

This philosophical morning, Ruby said squirrels would eat me because I am a nut. I replied birds would eat her because she is a crumb. She answered, "No, birds eat worms."

the theater, the museum and the universe

Last weekend, Ruby, my wife and I went to the movies to see the latest version of Doctor Seuss' "Horton Hears A Who," a poignant story of questioning the dogmas of supposed authority and belief. It had Ruby dancing out of her seat as the credits rolled. We experienced the Please Touch Museum, which was fun to be involved in, art as tangible and transcendent, quite human. Also, we visited The Franklin Institute and witnessed those historical portraits of discovery and invention, the Planitarium showing us our universe, where we might lose ourselves, if not for our part in it. Breath-taking, really, the world as a stage.

Ruby and I Reprise

Culpadirect is my friend Kevin's blog. Recently, he posted a watercolor which is the cover illustration of our new musical collaboration, "hope you're satisfied vol. 1". This drawing was made by Ruby. Recently, Ruby and I talked about Magic. She said it wasn't real. I said it was. Maybe it has to do with what you don't see, which is still there, like the wind in the heart-shaped trees, or the train that whistles distant and lonely outside the window of her bedroom, how we are where we are not, in thoughts, in prayers, in things we make up, like a painting.

Culpa Direct

Culpa Direct

icky rainbows

Ruby and I were on Frankford Ave., crossing the damp street where she noted there were rainbows. I said the oils there make it seem so. She said, "Eww...but rainbows are pretty, not icky." I said some rainbows are icky. She replied, "No way!" She likes to walk on the curb of the sidewalk because she says a girl needs balance, boys don't. I have to wonder at that. Recently, she ran a fever and had a breakout around her lips, cold sores. When she went back to school, recovering, a couple of girls remarked, "Eww, what's that?" and so on. Topically, my wife said to her to tell the girls it would go away, don't worry about it, and ask them, "By the way, were you made in China?" That confused them, what happens to you coming from somewhere else, altering the appearance of things, making you aware of yourself, in another context. My daughter is as beautiful as ever.

spelling lesson

lately, Ruby is writing sounding out words, writing them down, drawing them, really. the other day, she asked, "Daddy, does this spell 'heart'?" It was h-u-r-t. I showed her how to spell it, but thought how much the two words relate and define one another, mirroring our humaness.