Essays · and · Book · Reviews · by · Mitodoteira

And I read two books witch are not part of the "His Dark Materials" trilogy but related to it.
 "Lyra's Oxford": Lyra sees a witch's daemon and saves it from the birds attacking him;  later she hardly avoids being killed by enemy witch.
"Once Upon A Time North": An aeronaut called Lee Scorsby lands in a small town in the North -and has some adventures.

I also read a Terry Pratchett's trilogy called "The Tiffany Books"

Book I "Wee Free Men"  Tiffany is a 9 year old shepherd's daughter who wants to be a witch.  She rescues her little brother from and evil fairy queen armed with a frying-pan and a book "Sheep diseases".  Wee Free Men - little fierce drunk blue-skinned sheep-stealing warriors -- help her.
 

And I read a history book called "The Story Of The World" by Susan Wise.   Now I am at the story of the son of  Eric the viking who discovered Canada.

I take archery classes on wednesdays 2:30-3:30.  We had bull's-eye targets which were  labeled 1-5.  We shot 4 arrows at a time at 10, 20 and 30 yards.  My  hits: 10 yards: 2, 2, 1, 0 and 4, 3, 2, 0. 20 yards: 4, 0, 0, 0 and 3, 0, 0, 0. 30 yards: 0, 0, 0, 0. That is, 20 total and I earned the "15" badge! There is no "20" badge and "15" is the smallest.  I had to iron it to a T-shirt, but I lost it and I will probably have to ask for another one. 

Elli and me made an arch out of the hanging parts of willow branches at "art group meeting". ReChang (she is an artist) just said "lets have an art class".  That time we met at "Lake Temescal" we all swung on the willow branches sometimes we took little enough for them to rip and then we used them in what we were making.   We tried to make Goldsworthy-like something.

I made a bowl out of clay on a kick wheel. The wheel was like a wooden table connected to a bench, with 2 metal projections pointing to the horizontal middle of the structure, that have sturdy short tubes at their ends.  The wheel itself a metal disc about 1 foot in diameter and 1" in thickness.  There is a metal tube connecting the top disc to the bottom disc.  The bottom disc is wooden, 3 feet in diameter and 1 foot  thick.  To spin the wheel you have to kick the lower disk with your feet.  If one uses it they put wet clay on the top disc and spin the bottom weal with their feet so that they can make beter circles and smother spirals.   The larger wheel  is like lever in some way.

Went to co-op 3 times. We had a Russian tea party: everybody had to ask for tea and candy in Russia.   
Pendulum Experiment: We hung washers on the end of strings and changed the length of the string until we got a period of 1 sec. Clem and I worked together on one, one of us would use an watch ad the other counted the periods if by the time 10 s. had passed the counter had counted 10 p. then the task was accomplished.  Turned out the period didn't depend on how far you pull the weight aside and on the weight you use.  Only the string length mattered.  Paperclips had too much air resistance, we used washers.  Turned out, the longer you measure, the more alike your measurements get.

See-saw experiment:  we measured our weights and the distance we were sitting from the middle of the see-saw.  We had to find how we shell sit on a see-saw to balance it.  My weigh  (pounds) times distance (inches) equals Clem's [lesser] weight (pounds) times her [larger] distance (inches).  I cannot find my worksheet with actual numbers .

I skipped co-op one time to go to "Sailing Into Science" class.

Had a class called "Sailing Into Science" about Ecology Physics Mechanics and Sailing,
witch included rowing a "Wale Boat" (in team, two kids per oar, 12 oars), measuring how salty water was, bumping in "Paddle Boats", lifting my friend up on a pulley, capsizing a kayak.  I was  very wet and salty.  They have special words for everything: the back of the boat is stern,  the front is a  bow, but the part that cuts the water is a prow, and all other parts and sides have their own names.  The thing there you put an oar is a rowlock, and if you don't use a rowlock, it's not an oar, it's a paddle.

My two grandmothers and granfather visited us (not all at the same time).  I couldn't go to my grandmother's birthday in LA because of STAR test.  We went to Exploratorium with my grandfather.   I was reading "Physics in cartoons" after that and made my Optical Illusions.  

We went to Rock City to climb and watch.  We caught (and released) lizards.  They have blue tummies.  The bluer the tummy, the more heroic is the male lizard.  Also we sa tremites dropping thir wings and going in pairs like trains, and two sort of ants attacking them.  The rock there is so soft wind and little soft sticks can cut it.  We tried to open ant holes further to see ants better.  We cought a stinky bug and hid in wind caves.

On ballet, we are practicing for the performance.  Also, I camped with my friend's family in Salomon P. Teylor park in Devils Gulch.  There was a wartefall and a great bay tree fallen across it.  We played it was the pirate ship. There was some poison oak, not too bad.