Daddy, what if...

Daddy, what if your plane crashes and you die? she asked him just as he was leaving.

Traditionally, this is considered very ashubh. She would have been chastised and it would have been impressed upon her never to ask such questions again, her fears given no consideration.

These are real fears. Address them.

We did. She felt somewhat relieved. Her mood changed radically when she saw the light change outside. We grabbed our cameras and rushed to take pictures and watched the colorful display disappear in less than few minutes. We came back indoors marveling at the beauty of nature, all her fears forgotten.

A Colorado sunset, November 18, 2007

Just two places to set for dinner. We miss him but we know he'll be back soon.

Shower for Hallowe'en

Make sure you shower before you get into those Hallowe'en costumes. Or be like Medha. Be the Shower!

She couldn't stop laughing and so the picture is blurry. But we still like it a lot!

Medha borrowed this idea from her National Geographic Kids magazine. We adapted it to make it from materials we had at home.

• A hula hoop
• A shower curtain
• Shower curtain rings
• Clear packing tape and duct tape
• String
• Cardboard tube from a paper towel roll
• A styrofoam cup
• A bow made of clear shiny plastic
• A shower cap
• A shower poof

1. Put the shower curtain rings on the hula hoop and hook the shower curtain on.
2. Tie two pieces of string of adequate length from one side to the other of the hula hoop, so that these can be used to hold the hula hoop on the child's shoulders, one on each side. Use duct tape to hold these in place.
3. Cut the shower curtain to an appropriate length so that the child will not trip and fall while trick-or-treating.
4. Tie the first and last shower curtain rings together with a piece of string so that the shower curtain does not slide all over the place. The shower will be 'open' where the two ends come together and we preferred to keep this towards the back.
5. Cut a notch on one end of the cardboard tube so that the base of the styrofoam cup can rest on it with its mouth at a downward angle. Use packing tape to hold the cup on the tube. Cover the whole contraption with aluminum foil. This is the shower-head.
6. Stick the clear plastic bow on the inside of the cup. This is the water.
7. Cut the cardboard tube at the bottom and hook it securely onto the hula hoop using duct tape. We put this on one side, as you can see. If it looks more like a table-lamp, you really need to fire up that imagination of yours!
8. Put the shower cap on the trickster, hand her the shower-poof, wrap a towel around her shoulders so that the string does not hurt her and send her off!

She was in heaven when I used some of my mousse on her face as foam. But it quickly lost its oomph so I am still looking for an alternative to soapy foam. If you have any ideas, please let me know! Their school parade is sometime in the afternoon, followed by their Hallowe'en party.

Happy Hallowe'en to you all!

New business? Not!

Medha decided that her new business is going to be raking leaves in other people's yards. She has been looking at the yard across the street rather longingly, seeing $$ in the ever increasing litter of leaves. I have had my misgivings from the start; knowing her, I will have to finish the jobs she starts but she was rather adamant about it. Since our yard was the focus of our day yesterday, I decided to get rid of this banshee forever.

Unlike Gini, all I ever get from my neighbor's trees and yards is leaves, leaves and more leaves, far more than my own trees ever shed. I told Medha that if she is serious about her business, she needs to practice first and the best place to start would be in our own yard. Two birds with one stone! Jai and Bee whip up delicious smoothies to do that. I get my yard cleared of leaves and put to rest any visions of a raking business.

Call me wicked or anything else, but I had no choice! Within 5 minutes, she was done. Not with the yard but with the idea of the business. It's hard work and m'lady is not exactly built for menial labor nor is it her idea of fun. Especially when she has to go at it by herself. I explained to her that she could still do it but sub-contract the labor to the agile young man next door, who I borrow from time to time as a son-on-loan. She liked the idea of marketing his services for a commission but she thought that he would probably not appreciate it. And I agreed. I don't want to upset him in any way. You see, he is my lawn maintenance guy and in fall, he shifts his focus to leaf raking and by late fall, it's snow shoveling.

With that, she flounced off and went to join in the squeals and screams that were coming from the backyard that is kitty-corner to ours. There are 4 rambunctious kids in that household. All of them rake leaves. I wish I'd known that they came in handy for chores like this. I would have risked my life to have a few more. They were piling all the leaves onto the trampoline for the 'rise from the dead' game. One person had to go under the pile with their eyes closed and emerge as the rest chanted 'rise from the dead', and then that person had to try to catch one of the 'living' and identify that person. Lots more fun than what she was doing in our yard!

Leaf raking business? History!