Happy weekend!

a good cookbook, a great movie, a splash in the river

A pickerel frog

Bea came home excited about a writing project she worked on at school this week (I got a preview on our walk this afternoon). She says her second grade teacher is “really into writing,” which of course makes me happy. They’re doing all the stages: brainstorming, drafting, editing, publication and celebration. Harriet is excited about the “beautiful work” she’s doing at her Montessori preschool.

We’re loving this new cookbook by Dinner: a Love Story’s Jenny Rosenstrach (she also features vegetarian recipes in her newsletter). Eating less meat is a big goal of Bea’s (I’m a Tidewater vegetarian, but the rest of the family is omnivorous). She already marked quite a few recipes she wants to try. I have a lot of vegetarian cookbooks, but I love that this one is so simple and kid-friendly. I also appreciate that one of Rosenstrach’s stated goals is to be more climate-friendly.

I’m auditing a class in sociolinguistics and public science, and for homework this week Bea and I watched a short, excellent film made by my colleagues at NC State’s Language and Life Project. It’s called Signing Black in America, and it’s about Black American Sign Language, the unique dialect of American Sign Language (ASL) that developed within historically segregated African American Deaf communities. This is a must-watch film, in our opinion: important, engrossing from start to finish, and at only thirty minutes long, we could pause to talk about it and learn some of the signs (we especially liked the ones for “boy bye” and for dancing).

(I also recommend Talking Black in America!)

This New York Times article about how the cat got its stripes is fascinating.

Next week we plan to focus on TREES, including a post on tree health.

And here’s a joke from Bea:

Q: What do you get when you cross a T-Rex and a cat?

A: A Purr-anosaurous Rex!

Hope you all have a great weekend! See you Sunday!