Lisa n Tom (n James n Joseph)

Lisa writes: After three years of weekly tutoring, Tom's tutee , Fiacre , graduated from high school today. Fiacre and his family came to Virginia from the Central African Republic through a refugee program in 2006. At the same time, Tom had volunteered with a local program to tutor a high school student once a week. We went out to his school for the graduation ceremony today. It was the usual: excited teenagers and their families, trapped in a gymnasium with slightly long-winded speakers, and the occasional rogue beach ball bouncing through the crowd. Fiacre is the oldest of four, soon to be five, kids. His mom is expecting a baby boy in August. I think Fiacre will be a good example to his little siblings. Tom writes: I was really surprised at how moving it was when all the graduating seniors starting filing in. There was a palpable sense of excitement in the air, a mix of joy and tears. Or maybe that was just me. As I watched the "kids" animated expressions, I...

Lisa writes: Something bad happened. Saturday, three eggs. Today, none. Not a shell, not a sign of them. A crow? A blue jay? A magpie? Could have been any one of them -- they are all in our neighborhood every day. They are all known to eat other birds' eggs. Where did the momma bird go? I think she flew off to another place to recover and rest and wait for another summer.

Lisa writes: I started to write an entry titled "Thing I Hate" and it would have looked like this: mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes mosquitoes But then I decided to be more positive and write about stuff I find absolutely charming. Charming Things This girl's dress made of an old men's dress shirt Rockin' baby onesies out of an old heavy metal t-shirt Portugal's entry for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest (click on the "more info" link to the right for the lyrics in English) This picture my brother sent me This very short story This other story about perspective Everything you need to know about three-year-olds

Lisa writes: Egg Three!

Lisa writes: Egg Two!

Lisa writes: Egg One!

Lisa writes: The other day, my mom emailed and said, "Copy and paste that story from your blog into an email and send it to your dad to read. He doesn't 'do' blogs." I'd been wondering what to write about next... Things You Should Know About Lisa's Dad (That Are Perfectly Safe to Post Here Because He Won't Read Them) * Lisa's dad has given her a hard time her whole life because she hates and avoids catsup. It was with wonder and surprise -- and not a little righteous indignation -- that Lisa learned only last year that her dad hates and avoids chunks of cooked tomato. You know: in chunky spaghetti sauce, chili, salsa. We were eating dinner with my parents -- a dinner I had cooked, by the way -- and I watched him carefully separate the tomato chunks out of the pasta, one by one. I asked my mom, "How have I never known this before?" and she said, "I never made him anything with tomato chunks." * Lisa's dad's first love was...

Lisa writes: The robins are back! We're not sure if this is the same pair or not. It was supposed to be Tom's job to draw the Sharpie mohawk on their heads.* After the first batch of babies flew away last month, we just left the nest in the hanging plant. It was a conversation piece. But this morning, Tom looked out the bathroom window and saw an adult sitting in the nest, turning around and around like she was sizing it up. I checked the nest after she left and there was new grass lining the bottom. It looks like we're going to have another batch of babies! But, wait, do robins have more than one litter clutch a year? Quick, Robin! To the Internet! Mating season from April to September. Will often choose the same mate year after year. Robins will reuse nests from the previous year, sometimes building another nest on top of the old one. The female makes the nest in 2-6 days. First clutch is laid in April or May, between 2 to occasionally 7 eggs. Incubation is 12 days. Nest...

Tom writes: We have some big squirrels on the roof today! Lisa writes: It's a toss up as to which is going to take us out first: the evil squirrels or that monsterous oak tree. Tom writes: The good thing is that we can take the oak tree on and win an absolute victory. But squirrels, that's another story. Lisa writes: We've proven we can take 'em out one at a time with the Havaheart trap ... But they'll just keep coming back in greater numbers, like that fight scene in The Matrix where the Agent Smiths just keep coming and coming. Watch that, and then imagine it with squirrels. That would be us. Tom writes: Yup. But perhaps even more tedious! Lisa writes: We're doomed.