My right hand is behind my body holding a stick, at the end of which is a piece of card hand-painted by Laurel to cover 3 of the letters on the side of the cable car. We handed my phone to a Jehovah’s Witness and got him to snap it quick while we did a Banksy-style hit. You might call it a stick-and-move.
Family update letter:
Asher has been attending Dance-a-Vision twice weekly for a year and a quarter now, and he performed in recitals in February and December. The joyous way he lets the music move through him when he dances brings delight everywhere, including on BART, which he continues to adore and where he celebrated turning six. For his special “BARThday party,” station agents allowed him to make an announcement over the tannoy and all the passengers cheered.
Fenton began Coder School, D&D club, rock climbing, middle school, and swim lessons this year. He is an elite level punster and a top-notch board game rules explainer. He went to Cazadero Jump Start, a sleepaway camp in the redwoods, where he practiced his clarinet over a 3-day intensive and he performed in concerts in May and December. Fenton impresses us with his independence and his kindness.
Both children were recognized by their schools for outstanding citizenship and embodiment of school spirit. This is difficult to reconcile, because they are clearly dinguses, but they seem to have BUSD sufficiently buffaloed and we are resigned.
Laurel organized a garden collective this year (there’s room for more plant friends to join, if you like weeding!) and continued her volunteer work preserving and maintaining the Grizzly Peak area with Skyline Gardens Project. She nurtures her love of textile arts by attending workshops at Lacis and has enjoyed learning multiple ways to make lace.
Myles attended his second weekend long Iyengar yoga retreat and has selected “release” as the next word of the year. He debuted his special new keynote, “Play This Talk,” at a salon in Glendale and hopes to share it with many more audiences in 2024. Other year highlights include officiating a wedding in the North American Mammal Hall of LA’s Natural History Museum.
Together we visited dear friends in Nashville and in Nevada, and we also cuddled at home watching shows about masters, Lego and Task. We played goo-gobs of games: when Myles couldn’t join the family to go Camp Tuolomne, Fenton filled the front seat with a daddy-sized stack of board games to take his place, a pretty apt substitute. Some of our favorites this year were The Shivers, No Thanks!, Mantis, Shipwreck Arcana, and Sushi Go! Party. Possibly the only thing we did more than play games this year was listen to music: favorites include AJR and “Guys & Dolls”.
It seems to be getting harder to find peace, but we won’t give up looking, and we won’t give up asking: let the new year usher in a new era of peace for all. We send you good tidings and warm family love.
FLAM