Un guazzabuglio

Un guazzabuglio is a mishmash. It's currently one of Bob's favorite Italian words, and it also describes our life lately:

• Math and physics classes are in full swing in our home two days a week. Everyone loves Mr. Tenney! Sometimes I sit and listen in with my knitting, and I overhear geometric series word problems in which fairies shoot down space aliens. No one blinks an eye.
• We're trying to implement block scheduling. This was CZ's idea. I see her point: Who's got the time to be switching subjects every hour? She's always liked to go slowly and have plenty of time for music practice. Some subjects don't have a day of their own, though, so we have to fit them in edgewise.
• As usual, we don't even quite follow our own homeschooling plans. Ancient history seems to be sliding towards medieval, and Italian...Yikes! Our tutor Paola got really busy and hasn't been coming, so CZ and I have been sitting down to work out direct and indirect object pronouns and the confusing things they do to past participles on our own. We don't have an answer book. Oh, and CZ ordered a Finnish textbook with her own money and is studying that.
• Never, ever poke a clogged moka pot.
• We are going to Milan for Thanksgiving. Go figure!
• I am going to be with my mom next week while she has cancer surgery. They're hoping they found it early. I just want to see my mom.
• CZ is concert mistress in her orchestra again. This is its own reward, because she gets cool solos ;-). She has two competitions in November and I've-forgotten-how-many recitals and practice performances leading up to those. And she gets to play in the Redeemer orchestra this Christmas!

So, if I don't post for a while, I'm probably doing one of the above (with the exception of poking the moka pot). I'll be back as soon as I can.

Meanwhile, here are some recent illustrations of our guazzabuglio life.

We made lunch yesterday from farfalle, parsley, and the last red pepper of the season. I include it here because we decided that it looked Christmas-y!

This is trig, written in Elvish script. I think the moral of the story is: If you have nerdish tendencies, run with them!

I'm trying to finish this scarf for Knit Together, a ministry of Hope for New York. It's the third thing I've ever knit in my life, and I'm finally learning how to correct my own mistakes. I like to work on this because it gives me an excuse to listen in on math, physics, and orchestra rehearsals.

"Our" tree is turning! I look forward to this event every fall.

A recent sunset from the Svalbard webcam. Because we live in a city, we supplement our diet with vicarious nature scenes.