School, Candy, and Rock and Roll

The most recent theme in Daphne's kindergarten class is "turkeys."  They've been talking about turkeys for the last couple of weeks, and Daphne has decided that she loves turkeys.  So much so, that she isn't going to eat one for Thanksgiving.  We had a long discussion in the car the other day about killing animals and eating meat and so forth.  It went something like this:

D:  Mom, it isn't fair to kill the turkeys!  I'm never eating turkey again!

Me:  Well, we need the protein that we get from meat to be healthy.

D:  Why can't they just make meat at a factory instead of killing animals?

Me:  You can't MAKE meat.  It comes from animals.

D.  Well, I don't want to kill any animals.  I'm not eating meat anymore.

Me:  Then you will have to get protein some other way, like by eating lots of eggs.  (She doesn't like eggs)  And that means no more hot dogs, hamburgers, bacon, ham, chicken...

D:  That will be hard.  (Long silence)

She ate some beef at dinner last night without mentioning anything.  I'm not sure how much she understands, but  I know that she feels pretty strongly about the turkeys.  I told her she could just have ham on Thanksgiving if she wants.  She said she was going to demand that nobody else eats turkey either.  I told her she can't do that, but if it would help, I'd skip the turkey too, and just have ham with her.  This seemed to help, and to be honest, I'm not that crazy about turkey anyway.  I feel an inevitable vegetarian phase coming on at some point with this kid. It's only a matter of time.

Yesterday, I got to go to Daphne's school for American Education Week.  The parents were invited into the  classroom to see the typical goings-on, which was good, because it has been hard to get a clear picture of a school day just from Daphne's descriptions.  While I was there, she did an art project  and worked on the computers:

Then, the parents were herded into the cafeteria for a special treat.  The kids all appeared on stage to perform the Turkey Tango  (click picture to enlarge.  Daphne is left of center in green.)   :

There is nothing like a bunch of five-year-olds singing and dancing.  I loved it.  And the kids had a great time.

How could I possibly think of eating a turkey after that?

In Daisy news, the girls in my troop each brought some leftover Halloween candy to be donated to soldiers.  They made some cards to go with it.  Yesterday, I took the candy to a local dentist's office, which was participating in a candy buy-back program, so it could be shipped overseas.  It turns out that they were paying a dollar per pound of candy donated!  I figured we might get some toothbrushes or something, but didn't know there would be cash!  Anyway, we collected 17 pounds of candy, so we earned $17 for our troop.  Maybe we'll have an ice cream party or something with the money to make up for the Halloween candy they gave away.

Last night, I went to Jammin Java in Vienna with Jeff to see the great John Wesley Harding:

He appeared with his latest band, which was made up of him, some Decemberists, a guy named Scott McCaughey from various bands like the Young Fresh Fellows, and Peter Buck, from a little band you may have heard of called REM.  It was a weird show.  I have seen JWH probably more times than any other musical act, several times since the very beginning of his career in the late 80s.  He usually plays alone or with a couple other people in an unplugged setting, so it was strange to see him with a whole big loud band.  He did do an acoustic solo set in the middle of the show, but it was all new songs that no one had ever heard.  In fact, during the whole show, I had only ever heard two of the songs, and that was just because I happened to see them on youtube. Normally, I would be very upset seeing a whole show of songs I don't know, but the band was so great that it didn't matter.

It was weird to be 20 or 30 feet from Peter Buck.  He appeared to be very disinterested in the whole thing, and stood off by himself for most of the show, very still and expressionless.  Every now and then, he'd lean into a chord a little, and there would be a slight hint of stink-face as if he was about to get into it, but then, he'd quickly return to being stoic, as if he suddenly remembered he was playing for about 150 people at a coffee shop in suburban Virginia instead of a stadium full of superfans.  Maybe that's just the way he is, though.  I don't think he'd be doing the tour if he wasn't enjoying it.  He certainly doesn't need the money.  He played mandolin on a couple songs, which was really cool.   And he was wearing a fabulous shirt.

After the show, I got the new JWH release on vinyl, and he signed it for me.  He has aged.  That means I have aged as well.  In fact, the whole crowd was made up of a bunch of really old looking people, who were probably actually about the same age as me.  (Shudder).  I got home at 11:30, and was exhausted.  No more rock shows for a while.

The Christmas train is rolling along at my house.  I feel pretty on top of things at the moment.  It's nice to have my act together for once.  I better get off the computer, though, and do something productive so as not to throw off the groove.

Save the Turkeys!