Loudan Wainwright's 'Daughter' makes me get all teary.
In other not so quintessential news, Kimya Dawsom (<3) has a livejournal!
check it at http://users.livejournal.com/kimya_dawson_ (at least I hope that's the correct link!)

Last Sunday, Rasa accompanied me to the monthly reading group hosted by Norah and we had a lovely time discussing: 'Pedagogy Of The Oppressed', with Rasa rounding out the discussion with much food for thought. She's a Freire fan, I tell ya.

Update on the "Abi is a vegetarian" situation:
A couple days ago, he was playing a game where he cooked up a breakfast for all of us, it was a fish he caught!
"MMM-yummy, Abi! This fish tastes delicious!"

A-"Nope, fish stay in the ocean. No eating!"

What's up with that? In other Abi news, he has apparently developed a tragic and irrational fear of insects. He freaked out the other day, upon seeing a tiny ant scamper across the kitchen floor. His bloodcurdling cries made me suspect a crime had just taken place, nope-just a tiny bug. He requested Gabo or myself carry him across the kitchen for the remainder of the evening. Poor kid.

He's also keen on space and astronomy these days. He has a couple books on the subject and we spend many hours going through them and enjoying 'planet talk'. He's a "space boy, Mommy!" dont'ch ya know...

So far he's mad into the science area of learning. He loves nature programs, space, animal and human anatomy and long walks in the Mill Creek, inspecting rocks and leaves and collecting pine cones in his pocket. I'd love to have a kid interested in Science. I'd be so in awe. I was never very skilled in the math or science departments, myself.

___________
I created a muffin recipe and they turned out really well, since then I've made them a couple more times, fine tuning the gentle process, so to speak. Here is the refined recipe, if you would like to test them out. (For a veganized version, substitute the egg for an extra banana or a cup of apple sauce and use vanilla non dairy milk in place of cow's.)

Molasses-Oat-Banana-Walnut-Flax Muffins
whew-what a mouthful!

1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup of non refined sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1/2 cup of milk
1 mashed banana
1/2 cup molasses
1 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup safflower oil
handful of flax and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts added to the wet ingredients

mix dry ingredients separate from wet. add wet to the dry, careful not to over stir, you may want to add extra almond extract-I do anyhow.

scoop into bread pan and cook at 375 for 30 minutes or so, for a tasty loaf, or drop into muffin tins, bake at the same for around 20 mins.
Eat and be merry :)