old news

Eric: "Supper's ready, Evan."

Evan (behind a closed door): "I know."

Eric: "How do you know?"

Evan: "You just told me."

it's short for Maddie-Paddie

Sage: "Today was Maddie-Paddie's birthday. We got candy, and I ate all my Nerds."

Eric: "Maddie-Paddie? Is that Madison's nickname?"

Sage: "No, Maddie-Paddie is her real name."

Eric: "Oh."

Sage: "Madison is her nickname."

"You'll never see this scene, no matter where you live. So don't be disappointed."

A view of buildings from the skylines of both Seattle and Portland, along with the occasional Concorde.

pacifism defined

Evan: "What's a pacifist?"

Eric: "A pacifist is someone who doesn't really believe in fighting -- who believes you should always be peaceful."

Evan: "Allison must be a pacifist, because she wears peace signs all the time. She even had peace signs on her buttocks."

Eric: "Oh."

Evan: "I don't mean I saw her buttocks. I mean she had jeans on with peace signs on the butt. She has peace signs all over her. Peace signs and The North Face."

Eric: "Mmm."

Evan: "Which are two very different things. Peace signs and The North Face. One is like your fingers breaking off because of frostbite, and the other is peace."

everyone's a critic III

Today we went to the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City with Uncle Mark. Evan objected to a Rothko painting:

Evan: "That's not even a painting. That's just some black and then some other dark colors."

Sonja: "It's a painting, Evan. Paintings don't have to be representational to make you feel something. Look closely at that painting. What kind of feeling does it give you?"

Evan: "The feeling that it shouldn't be in a museum."

when Irish eyes aren't smiling...

Thanks to Evan for another assassination-free St. Patrick's Day parade.

"William Safire Orders Two Whoppers Junior"

Sage: "I hicked up."

i give up

Evan: "We're learning about subjects and predicates."

Eric: "Great!"

Evan: "Like in the sentence, 'Fred ran to school,' 'Fred' is the subject and 'ran to school' is the predicate."

Eric: "Outstanding! You know, I was just teaching my students about subject-verb agreement today."

Evan: "What's that?"

Eric: "That's just getting subjects and verbs to sound right together. Like you'd never say 'Fred run to school.'"

Evan: "Yes you would: 'Fred, run to school!'"

another obvious conclusion reached

Evan: "What are pigs in a blanket?"

Eric: "They're little sausages wrapped in pancakes."

Evan: "Sausage is made from pig hearts."

Eric: "Well, from pig parts, I think."

Evan: "So when you eat sausage, you're eating pig love."

Eric: "I suppose so."

Evan: "So if you eat a lot of sausage, you'll fall in love with a football."

[Silence]

Evan: "Are footballs made from pigskin?"

Eric: "Not anymore, I don't think."

Evan: "If you eat a lot of sausage, you'll try to give CPR to a historical football."

must be a record

Sage (watching Granddad pull an LP out of its sleeve): "Wow, that's a BIG CD!"

a last photo of Franklin

Taken by Mom when she visited a couple of weeks ago. We always took the crossed paws to be a sign of contentment.

DMZ

Evan (in a wagon, about to roll down a little incline in our back yard): "Do you like our new roller coaster?"

Eric: "Yes!"

Evan: "It's called Dangers of Mount Zucchini."

Franklin T. Cat, 199?–2010

I just threw out the unfinished food from his dish and unplugged his water fountain. His absence is even larger than he was.

we'll just be driving along in silence, and suddenly Evan will say...

"Instead of Rudolph, it could be Rude Elf."

Evan on Elmer Fudd

"Can't he just hunt a different rabbit?"