The summer doldrums have officially begun.\u00a0 Until Labor Day the only interesting news will consist of Donald Trump being prosecuted, persecuted or whatever the Left wants to call their absurd gestapo action in multiple jurisdictions.\u00a0 So, we\u2019ll have to interest ourselves in \u201cother things\u201d until then.<\/p>\n
And that is what I\u2019m scratching my head over.\u00a0 Book reviews, movies, television, plays.\u00a0 Science, music, religion.\u00a0 I\u2019ll have to widen my net to capture things that normal humans interest themselves in.\u00a0 And that\u2019s all to the good.<\/p>\n
This weekend we will be hosting some of the Minions.\u00a0 Their parents will pull up to the top of the driveway, toss them out of the vehicle in duffel bags, hit the horn and speed away into the night hoping for the best.\u00a0 Camera Girl has cooked mass quantities of pasta sauce, meatballs and sausage and thereafter imperial tons of spaghetti will be cooked and consumed.<\/p>\n
She has procured from various local libraries DVD\u2019s featuring questionable cartoon characters from a selection of eras ranging all the way back to the 1970s.\u00a0 I have begged for a boycott on any further screenings of Scooby Doo and his associates.\u00a0 The answer I received was noncommittal.<\/p>\n
The pool will be \u201copened\u201d this weekend but I expect that for the first week or two the water will be suboptimal.\u00a0 Specifically, it will be opaque and green.\u00a0 I tried to sell Camera Girl on a trip to the regional zoo.\u00a0 She shot this idea down claiming kids don\u2019t like zoos.\u00a0 Hmmm.\u00a0 Maybe she\u2019s right.\u00a0 Maybe we\u2019ll go the reptile zoo instead.\u00a0 I know kids like reptiles.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll probably have a baseball catch one of the days but I\u2019m hoping we can get in some time at the pool table.\u00a0 I think a good sense of geometry and dynamics is useful for any growing boy.\u00a0 Plus, it\u2019s been pretty warm for the last few days and the basement tends to be cooler.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s time to find out if the Minions are already slaves to their electronic devices.\u00a0 As far as I know these younger descendants aren\u2019t yet tethered to smartphone entertainment devices.\u00a0 But I\u2019d also like to cut back on the television time too.\u00a0 I\u2019ll make it the long weekend objective to try and bridge the multigenerational gap using non-electronic media.\u00a0 I might even introduce them to the concept of human speech as a means of communication and entertainment.\u00a0 I might even (shudder!) bring down a book from the shelf and read aloud.\u00a0 Hopefully it won\u2019t have the local constabulary at my doorstep demanding equal time for whatever woke PBS kid\u2019s series is currently topical; Gender Fluid Jenny or Fern Affirmed or whoever.<\/p>\n
I think I\u2019ll start the weekend with a seminar on geographic and demographic topics in Middle Earth.\u00a0 I\u2019ll skip Beleriand at this time.\u00a0 The Silmarillion is too depressing for the young ones. I\u2019ll highlight various topics with video presentations from Peter Jackson\u2019s motion pictures.\u00a0 I\u2019ll start with the Numenorean kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor and use this as a jumping off point on the branches of the royal family.\u00a0 Of course, there could be extra points for anyone who can specifically identify how many generations separate Elrond and his multi-great nephew Aragorn.<\/p>\n
Well, let\u2019s see if I can freehand a map of Middle Earth.\u00a0 As me old gaffer always said, \u201cYou’re nowt but a ninnyhammer, photog!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The summer doldrums have officially begun.\u00a0 Until Labor Day the only interesting news will consist of Donald Trump being prosecuted, persecuted or whatever the Left<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3366,1263],"tags":[2093,4491],"class_list":["post-28975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-life-in-dunwich","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","tag-reclaiming-the-family","tag-the-compound"],"yoast_head":"\n