Yesterday was Mother’s Day here in the US, and I had a lovely day. Mr. Brillig and K2 had an 11:30am soccer match in NH, a stone’s throw from VT so they headed out fairly early for a Sunday. [side note: WHO schedules a high-school club soccer match on Mother’s Day?? Mr. Brillig said not a SINGLE mother was there… hmmm. Maybe that’s why?] Anywhooo… I went to church for the first time in a few weeks because the sermon was on Afro-futurism in fiction (monthly theme is Pluralism, and our minister is using fiction genres to explore the topic), then went to the store because I was picking out my Mother’s Day dinner (swordfish and green beans, with grilled potatoes/daikon radishes depending on your carb-eating status). I got to work on a Lego project for a bit, do some yardwork, and then K2 and Mr. Brillig arrived home followed shortly by K1 and her partner.
We’re not huge Hallmark Holiday celebraters here, so had dinner with my family been THE present, it would have been fantastic and enough. But my kids are awesome, and each gave me meaningful presents. Like those flowers, above. Saturday afternoon I noticed he was out and assumed at the field working on new material for his soccer Insta page. But no! He was of his own volition without being reminded, with his own money from the job he’s held at the Y all year, came home with a lovely bouquet of flowers for me (the ones on the right in the photo). Since he didn’t let his sister know what he’d given me, K1 and K1P also gave me flowers, an entirely different mix and both unique and complimentary to my other bouquet (the ones on the left). I’m thrilled because it means fresh flowers in TWO rooms!!
K1 and K1P also gave me some of my favorite low-carb chocolates, separate cards that both made me cry, then said “there’s one more gift in the bag”. Inside was the bracelet you see, from this company. As I opened it, the kids told me it was representative of a penguin that the included code would let me track! I scanned the QR code, downloaded the app, and all of a sudden my bracelet had a name… Maxar!!
From the Fahlo website:
We partner with non-profit organizations to create bracelets that come with a real animal to track. We started this mission in 2018, and since have been fortunate to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to save wildlife. By combining a tangible bracelet and interactive tracking experience, our goal is to educate customers about wildlife and excite them about conservation.
Maxar the penguin (I’m not sure which species he is, I’ll put his tracking page at the end of this diary) has been tracked since March 31 and has been traveling along the Argentinean coast ever since. His tracker should stay on for about a year, possibly longer, and his location updates every day or two. I’m hoping that none of the sharks ALSO available to track are on in the vicinity!!
I don’t know if K1 intentionally chose a penguin rather than another animal because of her early academic interest, but I certainly made the connection and it was a beautiful way to round out Mother’s Day. It’s always been a complicated day for me, because my own mom died back in 2001, when K1 was only three. I’ve always felt it as a day of loss rather than a day of joy, but yesterday was most definitely joyful.
It certainly made returning to the weekday real world of TFG trials, horror in Gaza and Ukraine, and other items in the news a little easier to take, because the first thing I did this morning was check on Maxar. Swim safely, little penguin!!
This is Senior Week for K2, culminating with his Commencement on Saturday. He and his dad just returned from the Father-Son BBQ, and on Wednesday we’ll attend the Mother-Son Brunch. I hope your week is starting well, and please share in the comments!
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From belinda ridgewood:
At Tom Tomorrow's alarming This Modern World cartoon today, OvejaNegra asked a nominally innocent question, and Gardening Toad helped out with a possibly-not-reassuring answer.
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As promised, here’s Maxar’s journey since March 31st, when he was released on the coast. He’s been a VERY busy penguin, traveling about 7 miles a day!