12 days to go: artsy edition

Dear Jesse,

We hope you're safely in Santo Domingo by the time you read this, soaking up the wonderful DR warmth that goes so far beyond climate!

Thouars today was dark, wet, and chilly. I joined in on William's field trip this morning to the art installation at la Chapelle Jean D'Arc. Walking in the gray rain with a dozen French preschoolers down narrow streets and through ancient stone passageways definitely triggered one of those "how did I get here?" moments. The exhibit was insanely minimal yet very cool. I hope to write more about it later since I'd like to go back with Josiah in tow before it closes on October 12th.

The after-school part of the day with the boys was good. At one point they decided to create "surprises" for one another with random bits and pieces, which of course is to say they went through massive amounts of Scotch tape. Josiah fashioned a kazoo-type instrument for William out of a cardboard tube and some wax paper. William made, I quote, "a flappy thing for scaring people" by attaching two sheets of paper to a yellow balloon. (Somehow this took an entire 15 minutes and at least two feet of tape.) Personally, I used the time fiddling about trying to construct a miniature/hand-held camera obscura out of an OJ container from the recycling bin, inspired by a box at the aforementioned art exhibit. I should have been working on dinner...

Oh, and I almost posted before including this! After school I was giving prompts and sentence-starters to the boys so we could come up with a story together. The first story was a total fail as their fill-in words and plot turns all involved extensive potty humor and overall rudeness, which of course they found hilarious to the point of tears. But then William said he'd tell a "nice story," which he asked me to type for you:

 William's Nice Story for Daddy

Once there was a giraffe and he was taking a walk. He saw a cowboy rider go by. Then a fox was behind him and it was chasing a chicken! So then the chicken got away, and the fox was chasing a turtle. Then the turtle got away and it was chasing the giraffe!! But then the giraffe got away so the fox chased an elephant, and it got away. Then it chased a bird that got away, and a duck that got away. So then the giraffe finished his walk and went all the way back to his friends and played tag with them. The end.