Sounds delicious! We've been using some local lamb bacon, but it's expensive so it's occasional. If you like lamb, it's delicious, and it generates a lot of fat to be used for cooking eggs and veggies.

We've been in the UK for a couple of weeks and had a grand time. We are tired, though, after walking ~8-10 miles/day and being jet lagged. We did so many things (and were in London for the Brexit vote, which was...something else) but narrowing it down to book-related items: We took Jane's advice and headed to Lyme Regis for the fossil hunting, but I was also interested in its reputation as a place for literary types to hang out a bit, and I enjoyed the Jane Austen garden, although I admit I didn't get to read Persuasion before going. We also went to Oxford and visited the main Bodleian Library, but were unable to take a tour because DD did not meet the minimum age of 11. We were able to visit the Weston Library and see the Bodleian Treasures and the kids really loved the Shakespeare's Dead exhibit, especially the kiosk in which you could sort all of the characters' deaths by method, which led them to new plays they would like to read simply because the character's manner of death was interesting! It was a sort of interactive version of this. We also saw Shakespeare's Globe, visited Foyle's Bookshop on Charing Cross Road discovered vintage Ladybird books. Unfortunately we were unable to make it to the one book-related thing DH was really looking forward to, a Charles Stross book singing at Forbidden Planet. Lightning had struck some train equipment and they were bringing in limited trains to Paddington by consolidating riders outside the city, and we ended up coming back from Lyme Regis too late. All in all, a wonderful trip. One of my favorites! I've re-read it a couple of times, and each time I am more impressed by how such sparse writing can convey so much emotion. :grouphug: I'm sorry you received such news and am sending good thoughts. I was also inspired to read this because of the movie coming out, but unlike you, I didn't actually get it done. What inspired me was not even the actual movie, but the posters! They have a very retro feel and interesting design. For anyone reading this besides Rose, the posters contain what I think to be a spoiler so you may not want to click, but the posters can be seen in the slideshow at the bottom of this page.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ketorecipes It's one of a million forums on reddit, so the web site is obviously not just for keto, but I get good ideas here. Like me you'll have to work around the numerous bacon-based recipes. :D

Stacia, I am really enjoying Sergio Y. I can see how you read it all in one day! It well-written, with a very clean and measured aesthetic, plus suspense. I'm only halfway through, though, so I'm not up for a discussion, but I hope to finish soon. We have a lot too for our small area, and we've actually started sorting them by what we want. There's one nearby we go to if we want children's books, and another has more mysteries and spy fiction. We hit one we usually don't go to to get "airplane fiction" for our upcoming trip. That LL usually has lots of Clancy, Grisham, King, Child, and Robb. I can only read so deeply when traveling for hours with an 8 yo. I'll back you up by saying I've never read Jane Eyre, so you're not at the "bottom of the heap" so to speak. Even worse, there's a copy of it somewhere around here so I have no excuse. I think when I was younger I had a more vivid imagination when reading books. But the life experience I have added since then has made almost all books more multi-dimensional and poignant, which more than makes up for it, at least to me. I feel just as transported, but in a different way.

Also hoping for an update. :grouphug:

We're all waiting with you. :grouphug:

I'm so sorry. :grouphug: I would definitely contact the organizers and let them know what happened, and use their reaction as a gauge about whether to stay in the group. Personally, if I'm understanding the reason correctly based on other comments in this thread, I would leave a group for doing this to another member, not just to me!

Cork?

I would recommend Elizabeth Sandiver's course on classical mythology. As for reading, I'm still plugging away at the extended version of The Stand, Theo Jansen's The Great Pretender. I have been reading aloud Romeo and Juliet, Tolkein's The Two Towers to the children, but I'm going to count them for myself, especially after having to read all those Tolkien languages aloud. :D

Our family knew him personally; we were members of the same organization. He was quite an amazing person, very patient with kids and all the strangers who would ask for photos or autographs, or even punch him in the shoulders or chest, out of the blue. I would sit on his lap and eat lunch when I was a kid! He did have some crazy ideas, but he was blustery so it was hard to tell sometimes what he really believed. His athletic skill was beyond compare. His shuffle was one of my favorite things and he would do it over and over ("Do it again! Again!") for the kids and adults alike.

I ordered it and hopefully it will arrive soon. I know we like a lot of the same books and themes, and you certainly sold me on it!

I wish I could get DS to enjoy these. They just don't resonate for him. He was laughing that we'll have to turn in our "homeschooling card."

I need to read this again.

Pomona College has the Sagehens. And it's not just any run-of-the-mill banana slug, either! He's got a banner that reads "Fiat Slug" and is reading Plato.

I can imagine buying one that expensive if you're a professional and your time using it adds up to hours/day, because the dryer would be made of higher quality parts and drying each client's hair faster allows you to fit in another client for that day, which pays for the dryer. But for a short-haired man and a toddler, no. I remember in the 1990s when my hairdresser told me she had ruined a pair of ~$100 scissors that morning, and I was gobsmacked they cost that much. Must be even more now.

Thanks, I'll check it out!

One of my kids' best-loved books is a mermaid book. I picked it up at one of my favorite places, Owl and Company in Oakland, CA. They have a small space and an even smaller selection of children's books (1-2 bookcases) but the gentleman who curates the books does a phenomenal job of winnowing down to a collection of lovely books. (He also found another book that's one of our favorites: My Summer in Caillebotte's Garden.) Anyway, the mermaid book is The Mermaid and the Major: The True Story of the Invention of the Submarine. It's rather obscure, a 1991 translation of a 1989 Spanish children's book by Francisco Melendez. It's the kind of thing I would not have come across except for that wonderful bookshop. We love the story and the art, but it's not for everyone. It is a bit peculiar and macabre, and the mermaid is depicted as anatomically correct with full breasts and nipples, which may not work for work for some families.

I'm sorry your family is going through this and I'm sending good thoughts your way. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

I've decided to simplify and just stick with two easy books for now. The first one I'm reading the extended edition of Stephen King's The Stand. It includes the 400 pages the editor cut when it was first published. From King's introduction: For the second book, I am reading something by Theo Jansen, titled The Great Pretender. I'll back up a bit. In 2014, Nan posted this thread, and I fell in love with Jansen's work and his way of thinking. Friday night the Exploratorium in SF hosted the opening of his work, which will be touring the U.S. and we were able to get s sneak preview at the members' party. I got to meet him and chat a bit, plus he signed my copy of the book. The book itself is amazing, as it outlines the thought process behind a simple idea to create animals (strandbeests, "beach animals") to move sand around in local beaches in the Netherlands, and how Jansen used animals made from plastic conduit tubing to create a new "life form" and used evolutionary principles to refine them. What was initially a one-year project has become one lasting decades. and h It's almost an hour, but worth a watch. I owe Nan a debt of gratitude for turning me in this direction. I love the melding of art and science. Robin, I hope the little guy is okay. My brother went missing for a couple of hours without us knowing when he was about 3. He used to take long naps in the afternoon so my mom thought he was sleeping, but he had actually gone out the window, down to the rural highway, and was found by a trucker. Luckily our neighborhood was isolated from town so the trucker figured out my brother must live nearby and he went to a house and they pointed him to the correct home. So, a couple of hours can go by even with great parents, and I hope it's something like this. Jane, I love the owl photos and am glad you were spared by Bonnie. I watched on the radar! Same problem here on the West coast, lots of sneaker waves and riptides at places like Ocean Beach in SF, where tourists love to go.

Our non-chain school is well-known locally, almost a right of passage for many of the local kids. They hold classes every day and you can show up for the class you want. They probably have a FB page, but I've never checked. They email only when the school will be closed for a holiday, as a reminder. All of their marketing is done by flyers in the studio, or they post to a local parents list for our town, which allows ads once/month. I enjoy the way they run things and would not join a studio if it required me to join their FB group for vital info I couldn't get some other way. It just wouldn't work for me. I do have a FB acct, but I only check it 2-3 times/year and that's enough for me.

We enjoyed Mr. Lincoln's High Tech War. One of the reviewers said it's written at a high school level, another said it's their 7 yo's favorite book! My son enjoyed listening when he was 8, but he read the book as well about a year later. You can check the sample audio to see if you like the level.

There's a trick to getting rid of temporary files you no longer need. Go to iTunes and try to rent a long movie. (War and Peace works well.) When you try to watch/download it, it will tell you there is not enough room. If you do this a few times, the iPad will get rid of lots of unnecessary files trying to make room. As long as you don't have enough room at the end, you won't be changed for the movie. If you do get charged, I've heard its pretty good and much cheaper than other disk cleaning options. :tongue_smilie:

Keep hitting the multiquote button on each post you wish to reply to (it will turn green) and then when you're ready click "Reply to ___ posts" (blank = number of posts you've selected) and they'll all be quoted. It's extremely handy once you get the hang of it.

It sounds like this school was really good for him for a year, but it's time to pivot to the next thing, whatever that may turn out to be. I think you should take him to the local school district for an evaluation. It will be free, and after you get the information, you are not required to enroll him, but you'll have another viewpoint and some data. The lateness in reading, the frustration mentioned in the email, difficulty following directions and staying on task, the uneven development between math and reading, etc. add up to a picture of someone who needs an eval. I would see what I could do to keep him home, I think, unless he really needed services I could not provide. I like other people's suggestions for using some of the money you've been spending on his school to make that happen. Being behind in areas and being advanced in others is a great reason to home educate. ETA: Like Southern Ivy, I am also concerned a small school is holding back multiple kids. I think that could point to a problem with their instruction and/or expectations. That's why it's good to get the input of a third party.