Two anecdotes about creatures popping up in the house where I do not expect them to be: I got out of bed on Saturday morning to feed Camus, only to discover that he had had several “accidents” in various places on the living room floor. I gather my cleaning supplies (would that such accidents were a rare occurrence) …

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Is it ever? Lately, though, Sammy’s bedtime has been a joy because she now really reads her bedtime book to us, with just minimal help. Usually AC reads her a story or two– whatever the current Sam obsession is– and then the final book is always Mem Fox’s Time for Bed. A couple of months ago, Sam would “read” her own …

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People often ask me if Sam speaks French. She does not. We’re an English-language household, with some French peppered in. I plan to formally teach Sam French when she’s a little older, but right now her main exposure is through songs and books. So she has some French in her lexicon, like “doudou” (best translation I …

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(The day after we moved to CA) Today marks one year that Sam, Camus, and I have lived in California. Sammy has spent more time in California than in Pennsylvania, her birth state. It’s still dream-like. It’s still weird (we wear jackets– in August!) and it still feels like we’re visitors. But this little house by the …

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Pictures from our 10-day stint in San Diego are now posted here in the Gallery. 10 days. What were we thinking?

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Sammy and I have started to visit our local library every couple of weeks. She’s in this phase where she wants to read a particular book over and over until her mother would rather rip her eyebrows out rather than read it one more time and then suddenly– obsession over! No more of that book ever ever again, please. So …

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A few months ago, Grand-mère gave Sam a signed copy of Pamela George’s The North Carolina Alphabet. The illustrations and letters are gorgeous, though AC and I laugh every time we read “T is for Tobacco Farm.” Why not just “Tobacco?” Apparently the book was not adopted for official use in NC state elementary schools, …

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Well, it’s not really raining, much less pouring, but there is a definite sprinkle over my head in the scholarly realm. I came home from San Diego to a letter from the MLA telling me that they are going to publish an article I wrote for the new collection Approaches to Teaching Claire de Duras’s Ourika. The editors of …

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I haven’t written at all on this blog about my scholarly projects. That’s because I have an academic’s habit of keeping those sorts of thing close to the vest. But as I am no longer officially affiliated with the academy, perhaps it’s time to loosen up. I’ve added a new category for my posts, called “Scholarly.” And …

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That’s where we’ve been for the past week– at SIGGRAPH in sunny San Diego (or “Sam Diego” as the little she calls it). AC has been helping out with the Guerilla Studio, directed by our dear friend Rebecca, I’ve been enjoying the geek vibe, and little Sammy has been having a ball playing with the tech toys. Here she is …

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