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Tough guys
In the mall
Bedtime
See and saw
Art project
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Week 1 in La Serena |
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Father's Day on Cerro Grande Nick, Gus and Jack are shooting arrows at orcs, while Rebecca pretends not to be with them. We went to mass at noon in the cathedral, and later had a one-hour walk in the foothills of the Andes above the Elqui Valley and the city of La Serena. Much to the disappointment of the kids, we did not run into any scary animals (or real orcs). |
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At the Mall What do you suppose this man tells people he does for a living? "I am a big wiener at the mall" doesn't sound right. Maybe it's better in Spanish. Gus is trying to get away, but it's too late for Jack...the stuff of nightmares. Someone spark up the grill, this guy is creepy. |
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Bedtime Stories Georgie is reading to Jack and Gus about St. Francis. They like the part about how he wanted to be a knight. We have a knight story every evening, except when we have a Legolas story. Tonight we ate grilled steak and chicken at a place with spurs, brands and chaps on the walls. Gus said, "when I grow up I'm gonna have those cowboy weapons."
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Home on the Recinto From these pictures you get the impression that life here is idyllic...well that's correct. We borrowed a television, but there are no stations. We have a phone, but I only heard it ring once this week, and that was a wrong number. "Esto no es el numero para Sr. Molina..."---my whole week on the phone. Today Rebecca was making a watercolor and one of her brothers was pestering her with questions... why? why? why? Finally she got exasperated and answered "its art, it doesn't have a reason." Doing things for no reason is important, like see-sawing with your wife at 11:00 p.m. in the front yard. Like everything else, this makes me think of God. Many fine scientists... I won't say great thinkers because the two are not the same... have found reason for doubt in the apparent aimlessness of aspects of creation. Odd that, at this moment, aimlessness seems to me like the ironic gift of a childlike God. |
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Lemons Continuing on the subject of teleology, here is Gus with 1000 pesos (about $1.50) worth of lemons. For what purpose, do you suppose, did we buy so many? The answer, of course, is lemonade. I squeezed about 40 with only my hands, and when you consider the labor costs for a PhD astronomer, the result is still expensive lemonade. But calculation of the value is pointless, and that's the point. |
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