We celebrated Earth Day with Marcel at a library in San Jose, California. He gets quite excited on the subject of Geography, and has since he was 2 years-old. It started with a fascination for maps and globes, and grew to include flags, culture, music, and regional elements. He was invited by the library to set up a Geography booth at an event showcasing an African theater group called Oriki.

As you can see, he really enjoyed the drumming (he’s listening closely to the instructor). He learned techniques of drumming with roots in Ghana and Mali; Mali, in West Africa, is credited as the place where the blues originated. The teacher was wonderful, teaching them African words and dance steps. Many of the performers are from Nigeria and told us that the younger generation in their homeland aren’t interested in their own folk culture anymore; that they have western leaning values. He expressed sadness over this, as some of that culture – like the drumming – has so much significance in terms of real human interaction. I would surmise: if you don’t interact with humans, on a very basic humane level, then you can’t be expected to have much mercy for the earth either.

Marcel also had some great interaction at his booth; sharing geographical wisdom and handing out flags to children and adults. It was a sweet and inspiring day.

You may be interested to learn about how much energy is used by our home electronics when we think that they are "off". Check out this article from the BBC: Energy Cost of PCs On Standby.

"Grimm connected the ‘Osterhase’ (Easter Bunny) and Easter Eggs to the goddess Ostara/Eostre."

"According to Bede (c. 672 – 735), writing in De Tempore Ratione ("On the Reckoning of Time"), Ch. xv, "The English months", the word easter is derived from Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, to whom the month of Eostremonat, corresponding to our April, was dedicated:

"Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated "Paschal month", and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance."

What is secure in Bede’s passage is that the lunar month around the month of April in the Julian Calendar was called the Eostre-monath. And as the Christian tradition of Easter, which has also fallen in April, arrived in some Germanic-speaking regions, the people named the then-unnamed Christian day after the festival, that is, in English as Easter, and in German as Ostern. It is alleged that remnants of Eostre’s characteristics can also be found in the Easter Bunny celebrations, based on Jacob Grimm’s research into connections between the ‘Ostern Hare’ and the Germanic Ostara, which he believed to be another name for the same goddess." — above text from Wikipedia

My tiny bunny, playing hide-and-seek in the living room.

I haven't gotten my menstrual migraine, yet. I'm walking on eggshells, counting my blessings, and crossing my fingers. While I've been in the red, so to speak, I missed being able to post my red colors for Saturday. Here they are…

Marcel in San Francisco, Chinese New Year 2006

 

Jesse (8yrs.), Musée D'orsay Restaurant, Paris 1992

 

Richard & Marcel (8mos. old); Toulouse, France 2000

 

Elevator Wheels; Eiffel Tower, Paris

 

I'm finishing up a home design project that will be posted in the next few days (fingers crossed, still). I'll be looking for feedback on it, so check back with me, s'il vous plait.

Yesterday, Marcel and I finished building his rocket ship…

And…Friday’s Splash of Orange…

Car in Cuba…