Yesterday, when we all got in the car to take Camus to the vet, I insisted that his carrier sit on my lap in the passenger seat. Just as when I first laid eyes on him about 12 and half years ago. It was a rainy day, just like yesterday. AC had driven me to a strange house on the other side of town. I stayed in the car …

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Sam (drawing on paper with magic markers): I’m drawing a picture of Mommy. Me: Oh yeah? What am I doing in the picture? Sam: You’re in the crib. Me: Really? I don’t think I’ve ever been in your crib… although I’ve thought about it. Sam: I’ve thought about it too.

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Chiasmus is probably my favorite rhetorical device. JFK’s “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” is a well-known one. I also like “Never let a fool kiss you, or a kiss fool you,” which is also the title of Mardy Grothe’s book on chiasmus. A chiasmus is “a reversal in the order …

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Yesterday, Sam, Grand-mère, and I went into the city to have lunch with AC. We rode BART as usual, starting out on the Fremont line and then changing at MacArthur to a train heading into the city. We got off at the Embarcadero stop and before we exited, I wanted to see what time it was. I haven’t worn a watch since …

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This is how Mommy sets the table for dinner: This is how Sammy sets the table for dinner: This is typical conversation over the dinner table:

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Sam is really big into making connections between her life and the books we read, as well as between books. It’s really exciting. For example, this morning, Grand-mère was reading Choo Choo (by Virginia Lee Burton) to Sam, and when they got to the part where the train escapes, Sam exclaimed: “Just like Camus does!” I …

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Sam: “The wheels on the bus go up and down, up and down, up and down…” Mom: [mock indignation] “Up and down?! No they don’t. They go round and round.” Sam: [hysterical laughter]. ***** Sam: “Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high. Like a diamond in the … ceiling!” ***** …

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It’s an amazing thing when your two-year old tells you, completely unprompted, that she loves you. Last Sunday, outside during a picnic lunch… Sam: “I love you, Daddy!” Dad and Mom: “Aw!” Dad: “I love you, Sammy.” Sam: “I love you, Mommy!” Mom tears up. Sam: “And somebody else.” Mom and Dad: “Who?!” Sam grins. Two …

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I’m a sucker for the retrospective photo series: Halloween 2005 Halloween 2006 Halloween 2007 This year was Sam’s first time participating in the ritualized banditry known as “trick-or-treat.” She also got to have her first taste of candy. Here she is, pondering her plunder. AC tells me that cherry won out over grape. …

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Who went to war with Iraq? Rothbard quotes Parker Thomas Moon, a historian writing in the 30s, on the way that collective nouns like “nation” or “society” mislead us into thinking that these are actual entities who think and choose and act. When one uses the simple monosyllable “France” one thinks of France as a unit, …

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