View from the far side of the seesaw

A friend suggested that this would be a good name for a book. I didn't intend it that way; it's just the phrase that lept to mind when I took this picture, but I have to admit that I like it. It's got a very Shel Silverstein sound to it.

We continued our string of winning weekends.

On Friday, Jen and I wound up at seperate locations. Lily has a cousin almost exactly ten years older. Her party got moved from Saturday to Friday, and since we already had plans, Jen and I headed to different destinations. I went to the birthday party and Jen went to a haunted house with our friends.

The party was nice. The Karate Kid was on in the background. (So. much. feathered. hair.) My niece has a 100% average in all her classes except gym so go her! I remember her when she was Lily's age (and Lily is now half the age her cousin was when she was born) and it's weird to think that she can get her permit next year.

On Saturday we went to a local orchard. It was pretty fun. We went on a little hay ride, Lily found a turkey feather, and we picked a bunch of apples. We also found a couple groundhog holes that look like they were made by the Graboids from Tremors.

I'm growing a beard again and asked Lily what she thought of it.

Lily: "It's too black. It needs more grey."
Me: "Well, Lily, you're certainly doing your part to make that happen."

She also asked why I don't wear a monocle. I have one bad eye and one good eye. It's essential window glass in one lens of my glasses but the prescription for the other is very strong as I'm legally blind in it without assistance. I'm kind of amazed that she happened to remember something so trivial. Anyway, I told her that monocles are reserved for more elegant figures like Colonel Klink or Mister Peanut.

The evening before her birthday, we played the opposites game. We would come up with a word and Lily would provide the opposite. It's a fun enough way to pass the time, but more than that, it helps us get a better grasp on how she understands words. She does have a vast vocabulary with excellent grasp of the meanings, but for instance we learned that she thinks "spoiled" means much the same thing in people and in food, and that when people are spoiled, they get thrown in jail. It was kind of interesting, and not something we would have learned in the course of normal conversation, so I'm please we both learned something.

We were gearing up for Lily's birthday all weekend. I thought that the birthday would get its own post, and while it was pretty nice, it was uneventful. Look at Lily enjoying herself here.