A Curious Statistical Anomaly

Stick Man by Julia Donaldson. Illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Arthur A. Levine Books, AN Imprint of Scholastic Books. ISBN: 978-0-545-15761-2, hardcover. $16.99 US/$19.99 CAN.

Stick Man is a delightful story about a stick man who lives with his stick wife and children in a very nice tree house. He goes out to jog and spends nearly a year having one adventure after another trying to get back home to his wife and children. Stick man is mistaken as a throwing stick, a Pooh stick, nesting material, beach detritus, building material, and kindling among others. Each mistaken identity leaves him struggling to escape and find his way home.

The drawing are semi-realistic as you can tell from the cover image. The drawing adds visually to the journey, showing the changing seasons and the various plights in which Stick Man finds himself. The colors are bright and cheerful and the people and animals realistic.

The text is simple and mostly rhymes. It’s difficult to do a book in rhyme and Donaldson manages to do without being too cutsey or over-the-top. I’d imagine a young reader would get caught up in the tale and cheer on Stick Man to find his way home.

The book was published in September 2009. The ending is very Christmas oriented and leaves a nice feeling of completion to the story. I’d suggest that this would make a great book for children anytime of the year but the tie to Christmas at the end makes it an especially good Christmas book.

The only problem I had with the story is wondering about the message underlying the story. Stick Man goes off one morning and doesn’t come back for a year. He doesn’t, of course, call home and he just shows up expecting to be taken back into the bosom of his family as if nothing has changed at all. It worked for Job’s wayward son but I’m wondering about the subliminal impact the book would have on children whose fathers have abandoned the family. Would they see this story as a reason to believe that he’d return and everything would be as it was? I don’t know. It just occurred to me on a third reading that there was another way children might interpret the story so I thought I should put it out here for potential buyers of the book to be aware of the circumstances of the child to be gifted with the story. In some cases this might be just the underlying message you want to convey in other, well, maybe not.

I don’t like to use universal terms such as all women, or even most women. So, I’ll just say when I was growing up I had some problems with the fact that I wasn’t as “pretty” or “girly” as I was told I should be. At a fairly young age, I decided to just be me. It’s mostly worked, except for those days when the niggling doubts and insecurities raise their heads. But as I get older that doesn’t happen quite as often and I handle it better.

However, many young women and girls are still raised with certain expectations and I’m hoping this video will help you look at the word “pretty” in a new way. Hopefully, it will give you a new lease on life and since it’s the start of a new year maybe it’s a good time for Katie Makkai, a veteran poetry slammer, to give us a new definition of the word “pretty”, and to get you thinking about the really important things in life.

Think about and go out and be pretty amazing, pretty witty, pretty darn smart, and anything you want to be.

I saw this quote today:

“The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be.” – Marcel Pagnol

Well, I got thinking that really this is very close to the saying: You’re as happy as you make up your mind to be. Which is a paraphrase of a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln.

Anyway, both of them got me thinking about how our attitudes effect us and those around us. Thinking about how,  when I have a bad night and don’t sleep and I start my day grumpy, it tends to stay that way. However, if I somehow see something or meet someone that makes me smile, the day makes a change from that point on. There was a meme going about a while ago that said that you should smile at someone and make them happy for the rest of the day. People complained that that was just to simplistic.

Thinking back on the holiday season, and often during it, I notice that people are nicer to each other during this time of the year. They smile more and are far more courteous that normally when they’re wrapped up in their lives and their problems. So, I’m thinking I’m going to try harder this year to be happy and make those around me happy too.

I challenge each of you to be nice to one person a day during this coming year. That means giving someone a genuine, “Hello”. Or, just letting someone cut in front of you on the road or in a store line — with a smile and “that’s okay”. Take the time to notice the world and the people around you and appreciate the sunshine, the rain, the wind (which right now is howling outside my window), and the sunsets.

To get you in the mood to try this “be happy” attitude, here’s Bobby McFerrin’s YouTube video, Don’t Worry, Be Happy. I can’t embed that one so go and watch it, but here’s Bob Marley, with the same song:

Try to start every day, happy to be.

When a year changes, I find that I’m much more introspective than I am when my birthday comes around. Maybe it’s all the talk about new year resolutions and changes to be made and habits to be dropped. So, when the new year arrives I find myself looking over my shoulder at the past year and trying to see the highs and the lows. I look forward to what I hope to accomplish in the coming year.

I looked at a few blogs earlier this evening and the Yarn Harlot‘s really struck me with her talk of change. Change seems to be the only constant in life. We change every day. I’m not the same me tonight as I was this morning when I got up. I’m certainly not the same me that existed 365 days ago. I’ve changed, grown, learned new things, forgotten other things, gained some skills and hopefully didn’t make the world any worse for my living in it.

I’ve got some resolutions of my own for the coming year. I hope to exercise more — yeah, I did pretty good last year til the fibro kicked in big time. So, I start this year with a clean slate on that front. I’ve got some resolutions about my writing and we’ll see how that works out.

I’ve got some plans to set a schedule for knitting, spinning, writing, and reading that I hope will see me through what is already shaping up to be an interesting year — rather in the sense of that curse “May you live in interesting times.”

I’m chairing a convention in 2010, Capclave. I’m hoping I don’t disappoint the people who gave me this opportunity for living in an interesting year. Check out the website and if you think you’ll be in the area during the convention sign up. It’s always a good time for those who enjoy science fiction and fantasy.

So, I’m looking forward to more changes in my life and hoping that they are always changes for the better. I also hope that all of you have a great new year filled with your own opportunities for positive change.

The Christmas Magic by Lauren Thompson is a simple story of Santa Claus who lives alone in the woods. As the Christmas holiday approaches he can feel the magic and opens his workshop and prepares a bag of toys for the children listed in his book. He polishes the sleigh and the bells and gets ready for deer to come to fly him on his rounds on Christmas eve.

The illustrations are beautiful and simple in style with deep rich colors. Santa’s orange-colored wooden house has a bright and cheerful red door that makes it look very inviting. The snow is brilliantly white with a rich deep blue sky at night and lighter blue during the day. It’s a story of the season that sets out Santa Claus as a being who is used to the magical holiday traditions.

I can see the story’s appeal to young children as it slowly shows Santa preparing for his big night. However, I wonder just how many children can hear this story or read it to themselves and not ask questions based on what they know about Christmas. Where are the elves? Who made the gifts? How do the names of naughty and nice children get in his book? How can he just show up and pack the sleigh with presents? Where did they come from? How do the reindeer know to show up?

While it’s a wonderful story and very much in keeping with the season and the holiday spirit, this is so out of line with the accepted givens of the Santa story and myth — that it may take a lot of talking to get children to understand that some people may believe that things happen in ways other than what we’re used to hearing.

Not that this is a bad thing. It’s actually nice that children would get a chance to explore some new ideas about Santa and Christmas traditions.

Bear Update:
When last we left the little bear in a previous post, it was rather scary looking. Parts scattered all over the place. I’d managed to make a back, front, two arms, and two legs. However, I couldn’t find my buttons for joints or my needle. So, things got put away.

Finally, I managed to dig out the buttons and find a workable needle. I needed buttons big enough that a child can’t swallow them even though the buttons that make up the joints are inside the bear and a child can’t get to them without a severe desire to dismember said bear — shivery scary thought. The intended bear recipient is rapidly growing since she was born in Feb and I’m totally behind.

What’s needed now is the face– eyes, nose, mouth. Those are embroidered on so there are no pieces for a child to pull off and choke on. I just need some time — a good movie should do it. As soon as I find the thick velvety cord I use for this. It’s in the house somewhere.

Baby Fan Mitts:
I’d seen Patons Silk Bamboo yarn at A.C. Moore and fell in love with the sapphire color. It felt so soft and silky but I couldn’t think of any reason to get it — I just didn’t have a project in mind or planned.

Then as these things tend to happen, I was reading the Rainey Sisters blog and saw the Baby Fan Mitts. Perfect. One skein of the yarn would make the mitts (which is true if you don’t waste any in a long tail when you cast on the stitches. Of course by the time I picked up the yarn, I couldn’t remember how much I needed so I got four skeins.

The mitts came out beautifully and fit and feel great. Much closer fit making them a bit dressier than some others I have. But as I was making them for me and after making two cowls for the moms for Christmas. I got to thinking that a nice matching cowl would then make a nice dressy set. So, out came all the stitch dictionaries and I found a cable-fan that I thought would look like a close match but would also be warm and pretty. Here’s the bit I’ve got done after a bit of experimenting and changing the pattern a bit.

I think it’s going to come out just like I want. I made it a bit loose so that if I decide it will work I can make it longer to pull up over my head to cover my ears if it’s really, really cold (like it has been the last week or so).

Anyway, tomorrow is major last minute house cleaning. Pick my son up at the airport. Buy the Turkey and catch up on his life. Just what he wants: the mother interrogation. Naw, we’ll all have fun. We’re planning to go see the new Sherlock Holmes film. I may or may not be able to post for a while. So, everyone have a great holiday if I don’t get a post or two in.

Tonight we watched the Muppet Christmas Carol. I love that film and the music. Believe it or not, it’s closer to the original story than many of the serious versions (of which I own about 6). We read the book (A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens) a few years back and were surprised to find that some of the lines in the Muppet version that we thought was just Muppet humor was actual Dicken’s humor.

Anyway, found this Muppet version of the Ringing of the Bells, which is one of my favorite holiday songs, and well, words just can’t quite explain this one, so just enjoy this bit of Muppet holiday humor —

Today was another day of snow shoveling to clear our driveway. The road part of our driveway got plowed by someone early this morning. So, we’ve only got to do our 5-700 feet to allow the delivery trucks (FedEx and UPS) to get here. So, tomorrow will be even more shoveling…and more…and more. Maybe I should play this video a few more times to get my spirits up.

It started snowing last night.  We made it home from a WSFA meeting.  Of course the usual 45 minute ride took slightly over 2 hours and had its moments of sliding and slipping but nothing too bad.  We did meet a nice woman who couldn’t get her car up the hill because she didn’t have front wheel drive.  She warned us of the abandoned car at the crest.  We made it up with no problem and finally got home.  Slow and steady seems to help even non-turtles get where they’re going.

But, that experience last night on the way home was what fed our unbelievably silly actions today.  Pride goeth before a  fall and while we didn’t fall — well we did slip and slide and have lots of other adventurous stuff happen.  You see … we’d sold some books on Amazon and we thought we could mail them out on time if we did it today.  The snow didn’t look that deep.  Really, it didn’t– maybe a foot.

Well, dressed and packed and in the car, we started out.  We’d agreed if when we got to the real road and it was not looking good we’d turn around and come back. Those of you who have been reading for a while know our mailbox is about a quarter mile from the house and that’s where the real road is — the road that is our address. So off we started on our adventure.

We got about 1/2 way to the road when disaster struck. We hit ice beneath the snow and slide and fish-tailed and other fine movements of driving adrenaline surges. That stopped our slow and steady pace and we just never got it back. Hyperion walked back to the house for the garden shovel (we intended to buy two shovels while we were out, the one from last year had mysteriously vanished) and some gravel. He came back with the garden shovel and the stiff plastic broom and a bucket of gravel. He shoveled. I swept. We cleared out a large area around the car and under it.

Seems the snow was deeper here — maybe 15 inches and it was dragging on the undercarriage of the car. You can probably guess the rest. An hour and a half later we’ve shoveled a good percentage of the road/driveway maybe 30-40 feet (if added all together) and we haven’t really gotten enough stability and movement to turn around. I’m really dragging. We’re both soaked. So, we headed home — walking. Luckily only about 1/6th of a mile. In snow which is by now 18 inches deep. Even walking in our tire tracks didn’t make it much easier.

To shorten the story. We peel out of the wet clothes changed and got into dry things. Took a short break with hot chocolate and lots of hind-sight evaluations, head-shaking, sage but too late advice to each other, and the knowledge that we still had a car sitting out there in the driveway and not quite far enough over to let a snowplow (which we devotedly hope to engage tomorrow) to get by.

After several rousing games of rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock– I got to stay home and do the wash and get supper started and Hyperion went out with shovel and a heavy heart to see about moving the car either into the tire tracks and home or far enough off to the side for the wished-for snowplow (if it can be made to appear) to get by. He didn’t have much time, we were losing the light and it was still snowing.

He managed to move it over. Get home and once again dry off and dress warm. We made Shepherd’s Pie — can’t think of a better comfort food item for today. It’s still snowing and is expected to all night tonight. [Photos taken this evening.]

Tomorrow is another day. Maybe. More humbly, we’ll be able to retrieve the car. Find some real shovels and put this all behind us. Can’t believe we were this clueless. It must be the scent of Christmas just fogged our brains.