Jomo's Space

While I was driving Fiona to school the other morning the clouds broke for a minute and I could see Hurricane Ridge on the peninsula.

I said to Fiona, "Mountains out."

She said to me, "You have sharp eyes Mr. Mountain Watcher."

Fiona's school asked here a series of questions about her family. Here they are with her answers.

Mom and Dad's name: Kathleen and Jomo

Dad's age: 14

Mom's favorite food: Spaghetti

Dad's favorite drink: Coffee

Mom's job: She just works

Dad's scared of: Skunks

What does Mom do for fun: Plays games

What's Dad's favorite TV show: The radio

Mom's best friend: Me

Dad's favorite toy: My Gobi

Parent's bedtime: 10:40

What does mom and dad do when I'm sleeping: Watch grown up shows

Parents' favorite color: Pink and purple

How long does it take dad to drive to work: Not very long

How long does it take mom to get ready: She takes a long time

Mom and dad's favorite restaurant: Olive Garden

This is pretty much spot-on except we don't like the Olive Garden.

This is the class for 4 and 5 year olds and it's the last stop before kindergarten. Her teachers are Vicki and Jen. There's a large rug on the floor which is a map of the United States. The kids have assigned seating for lessons. Fiona's seat is on the "The" in "The United States of America". Kathleen and I have both noticed that Fiona is a lot more excited to get dropped off in the mornings. I think it might be that Vicki saves her a snack even when we're running late. Also, she has an older friend named Ari that she plays with.

Yeah, it's a little late. We had Fiona's party in August because so many kids in her school have birthdays in May and June. We wanted to spread it out a little.

There were about twenty people there--ten or so of Fiona's friends plus assorted parents. It was a cool, overcast day but it didn't rain. We all had fun playing on the playground, racing on the grassy lawn and goofing off on the concrete stage.

The party was at Anderson park. In the picture: Fiona, Gunnar and new friend Ian swinging on a tire swing. Maureen took the picture. Ian was a fast friend Fiona made at the park. They ran around on the playground while I chatted with his dad John.

Next year, let's bring frisbees and baseballs and gloves.

Sadly, Crabby Patty has died. We buried her at the landing on the hill next to Shirley the cat. Crabby was a fine hermit crab with purple legs and a painted shell. She enjoyed lying in the corner and trying to escape. Crabby is survived by Bread School (also a hermit crab) who will inherit her shell after we run it through the dishwasher.

The front of her grave marker is:

Crabby

Patty

Bread

born - ?

died - 8/3/2007

4

Fiona

35

Kathleen

38

Jomo

Fiona wanted us to put our names and ages on there because we didn't know how old Crabby Patty was. On the back:

I like

him. We

took her

to the

beach

house.

We like

to bring

my crab

to the

beach house.