Today is the shortest day of the year and tonight is the longest night. It is an important time for those of us who live in northern lattitudes because it marks a very real and very important occasion, the switch from loss of light every day to the slow return of light, precious seconds every day. I dont get SAD (seasonal affective disorder) so much as just sensitivity to light length and quality. On this day we celebrate the Sun and light candles at night in anticipation for the new year and rememberance for the past year.

If you would like to learn more about the winter solstice and traditions around it (ancient and new) try these links:

Winter Solstice wiki entry
Stonehenge wiki entry
Maps and layouts
Amazing Stonehenge photo gallery
Stonehenge clones and morphisims
Party at the henge
Modern Stonehenge Solstice Ritual
Modern Druids and the Stonehenge
Information on Druids and the Stonehenge
List of Solstice websites that may interest you

To mark the occasion, we made our own stonehenge cake! We printed out some layouts and photos.

Then we set to work!

We gathered the various materials we would need to build our stonehenge and sat down to the hard work of nibbling on ladyfingers and sneaking bites of frosting.

We trimmed off the ends of the ladyfingers and cut a few in half lengthwize (for the capstones).

Q spread frosting on her plate as a foundation.

KD did the same. Baby O worked on his nap.

The frosting had to be put all over the plate. Here Q is using an off-set spatula.

She had to be sure to get a deep enough layer of “snow” so that the ladyfinger stones would stand upright.

Q studied the photos and layouts of the Stonehenge and then set to work constructing hers. If you look carefully, you will see that she stuck very closely to the actual layout.

Almost done.

The henge takes shape!

KD’s henge is coming together beautifully. It did not last long tho. Alas, cake and frosting are too tempting for a 3 year old.

And voila, CakeHenge 2006!

Wow, its been quite a few days since my last post and look whats happened!

We continue to homeschool and adjust to baby-ness as part of the management of homeschool. Baby O is 5.5 weeks old now and very used to the chaos. He takes it better than I do most of the time. Heck, if I could lie down in a cozy bassinet and shut my eyes, I would be able to cope with the chaos too.

I got KD a cabbage patch newborn some weeks before Baby O was born. Since the birth she has gotten a bit more into the nurture thing (as much as she needs to). Today I found the following scene!

Cute huh?

Well, when KD saw me shooting this, she decided she didnt want all that attention on some cheesy doll and smelly newborn so she did this:

Cant blame here! She is too cute to not shoot too .

Q has been proceeding with EPGY Writing and is starting a 7 week project on writing an essay relating to something that is controversial. We/she chose EVOLUTION and the whole misguided “controversy” around it. It will be an excellent introduction to the politics of absurdity that America wades through on a daily basis. She will learn about queer perversions like Creationism and “Intelligent Design” (sic).

We had an election. America decided that its ALL about the corruption (thats my take home message). America decided its time to actually take its vote seriously and vote the BUMS out. Thankfully, thats what happened! The amount of angst and focus and anger that got us as a nation to the message we were able to send on Nov. 7 may translate into an electorate that will ride the new pols like the donkeys they are so that we get GOOD government. A government that is of and for the PEOPLE and not of and for Halliburton.

So with that in mind, we took this picture.

Right now we are doing two classes with Stanford EPGY, Writing and Math. The writing class has a real-time didactic component once a week where Q sits down to a web served class. An instructor at Stanford speaks over the internet and also serves up various screen-based content as kids from all over the world listen in and also speak with their microphones. There are kids connecting from Europe and Alaska and I am not sure where else. About 15 or so kids are part of this course.

This photo shows Q writing up a book review to be posted to the class discussion board and also commenting on some of the other kid’s posts. The level of writing and critique is set quite high, Q is having to work to reach up to the level needed.

Its great stuff, not always easy by any means. One thing that keeps her interested is the interactions with the instructor and the other kids.

Right now we are doing two classes with Stanford EPGY, Writing and Math. The writing class has a real-time didactic component once a week where Q sits down to a web served class. An instructor at Stanford speaks over the internet and also serves up various screen-based content as kids from all over the world listen in and also speak with their microphones. There are kids connecting from Europe and Alaska and I am not sure where else. About 15 or so kids are part of this course.

This photo shows Q writing up a book review to be posted to the class discussion board and also commenting on some of the other kid’s posts. The level of writing and critique is set quite high, Q is having to work to reach up to the level needed.

Its great stuff, not always easy by any means. One thing that keeps her interested is the interactions with the instructor and the other kids.

I am trying this new widget and deploying it in this post. If it turns out interesting, it might be integrated into the site design.

News Bubbles

Newzbubble gathers most of the major news feeds (depending on the edition you select) renders them as bubbles and allows you to see which stories are the most popular.

About the author
Vincent Maher is the director of the New Media Lab at the Rhodes University School of Journalism & Media Studies. Feel free to email him if you have suggestions, or visit his blog.

I am trying this new widget and deploying it in this post. If it turns out interesting, it might be integrated into the site design.

News Bubbles

Newzbubble gathers most of the major news feeds (depending on the edition you select) renders them as bubbles and allows you to see which stories are the most popular.

About the author
Vincent Maher is the director of the New Media Lab at the Rhodes University School of Journalism & Media Studies. Feel free to email him if you have suggestions, or visit his blog.

Its hard to get online these days so here is a quikie update.

Our little boy, Baby O, was born 10/7/06 at 7:20 pm (EST).

8 lbs 8 oz. 22 inches long 15 inches head circumference.

We went in on Saturday because I thought my water had broken (had not). They could not get a good heart tracing in the usual spots, only up high on the tummy.

Turns out that our little guy was frank breech. Sitting yoga style, like a little zen master, full lotus.

I knew it was time but the cervix wasnt filling the medical criteria.. they were going to send me home to do a c-section later next week.

As I am a hypnobirthing mom.. I concentrated on the cervix and then before we knew it we fit the criteria (dilation). So I was being prepped for a c-section.. all the lovely needles and scary ideas.

I continued to lay there with more and more labor, doing my hypnobirthing, thinking about how I had seen a video of a mom who turned her breech baby by hypnosis..

Docs came to check and, against all odds, the baby had flipped and we avoided a c-section! The docs were blown away.. I was in labor so I didnt care if they were impressed, I wanted pain relief at this point.

NEVER got it!

I had two epidurals and neither worked at all.. so it was a “natural” birth for me and it was hard-fought I tell you. Delivery was fine for the little one, I was thanking dieties it was over, the doc’s ears were burning from my indelicate language that came out of no where! (I never expected to do that, ever, but I survived!)

All apgars were 9s, he is a professional eater, very calm. All that interuterine zazen helped make him my second meditative hypnobirthed baby. So glad its the last labor!

Its hard to get online these days so here is a quikie update.

Our little boy, Baby O, was born 10/7/06 at 7:20 pm (EST).

8 lbs 8 oz. 22 inches long 15 inches head circumference.

We went in on Saturday because I thought my water had broken (had not). They could not get a good heart tracing in the usual spots, only up high on the tummy.

Turns out that our little guy was frank breech. Sitting yoga style, like a little zen master, full lotus.

I knew it was time but the cervix wasnt filling the medical criteria.. they were going to send me home to do a c-section later next week.

As I am a hypnobirthing mom.. I concentrated on the cervix and then before we knew it we fit the criteria (dilation). So I was being prepped for a c-section.. all the lovely needles and scary ideas.

I continued to lay there with more and more labor, doing my hypnobirthing, thinking about how I had seen a video of a mom who turned her breech baby by hypnosis..

Docs came to check and, against all odds, the baby had flipped and we avoided a c-section! The docs were blown away.. I was in labor so I didnt care if they were impressed, I wanted pain relief at this point.

NEVER got it!

I had two epidurals and neither worked at all.. so it was a “natural” birth for me and it was hard-fought I tell you. Delivery was fine for the little one, I was thanking dieties it was over, the doc’s ears were burning from my indelicate language that came out of no where! (I never expected to do that, ever, but I survived!)

All apgars were 9s, he is a professional eater, very calm. All that interuterine zazen helped make him my second meditative hypnobirthed baby. So glad its the last labor!

That time is almost nigh, the baby is almost done, his appearance is just around the corner. I may not be able to keep up on this blog as much as I have in recent times but its not because I bored with this, its just tiring to just sit at the keyboard! Photo shoots are also a bit more tiring than usual so its harder to get those going as well.

I am hoping to pace myself through the next few weeks to a couple of postings a week on both my blogs.

Dont go away! I know you wont.

Eggs hold great potential and they hide special treasures.

Early gestation is a quiet hopefully calm thing.

Sometimes gestation can make you batty

If you open yourself to it, it can be a transcendant inward spiraling journey

Or it can make you feel like we are in the End Times (sic)

All of a sudden, its all over and then other types of fun start!

Hopefully one ends up with a well cooked outcome

And not scrambled brains!

That time is almost nigh, the baby is almost done, his appearance is just around the corner. I may not be able to keep up on this blog as much as I have in recent times but its not because I bored with this, its just tiring to just sit at the keyboard! Photo shoots are also a bit more tiring than usual so its harder to get those going as well.

I am hoping to pace myself through the next few weeks to a couple of postings a week on both my blogs.

Dont go away! I know you wont.

Eggs hold great potential and they hide special treasures.

Early gestation is a quiet hopefully calm thing.

Sometimes gestation can make you batty

If you open yourself to it, it can be a transcendant inward spiraling journey

Or it can make you feel like we are in the End Times (sic)

All of a sudden, its all over and then other types of fun start!

Hopefully one ends up with a well cooked outcome

And not scrambled brains!