Esquire Coffinberry's Great-Grand-Niece

Daffodils are blooming... and so is one of the crab-apple trees down the street. With all the rain we had over the weekend, suddenly everything is green all over. It is insanely busy. CSAPs occupy the younger two. (In case you hadn't noticed, St. Vrain School District is not on the same spring break schedule as CU... so I'm out of school for the week, but they're in. We'll trade places next week.) Son Two had a concert last night, and it was quite nice, but very long (2 and a quarter hours, beginning with "Ode To Joy" from the 6th grade orchestra). Yesterday, I studied Evidence, and laid out my preparations for the last few weeks and for final study. I had hoped to work on my Education Law outline, but the Sony repair guy called and said the part came in early (yes, my computer fan, like the fans on so many of the other laptops bought by the class of '08 in the summer of '05, decided to quit working last week... I've been keeping it on ice all wee...

Son-Three all morning has been greeting anyone who will listen: "Happy Pi Day!" And in celebration of the big event, wore this shirt to school today. He wanted to do something special at 3:o9 this afternoon to celebrate, in addition to having pie for dinner. Alas, he is headed to the dentist to have his braces tightened. It is sometimes a bummer to be 13. Edited tonight to add: Son-Two stood up in the middle of class at 1:59 PM and announced "Happy Pi Day." Fortunately for him, it was pre-calculus, and the teacher was so delighted that he awarded Son-Two extra credit. Of course, the other high school juniors just rolled their eyes.

At least, not for me. For the first time ever, I stayed late at the law building last night. I just needed to get my mind in an uninterrupted groove so I could get a moderate-sized albatross off my neck. And to my relief, that bird has flown. On tap today: son-two is competing in solo-and-ensemble contest, some time in the middle of his symphony rehearsal. He went out the door dressed to the nines; and came back 10 minutes later to fetch something really important , his viola. Oops. Later today, he's digging post-holes and setting fence with a youth group from church. Daughter-one-and-only has just run outside to play with the little girl down the street. And son-three has a report on Denmark he's finishing up. Mr. Coffinberry is holed up with a digital-signal-processing project for our small business, but he'll eventually surface, and we'll probably make time to go out together someplace. Meanwhile, I've got about eight loads of laundry to fold and a house to tidy ...

There are days when the list of things to do is just too long, you know? I am going to be so amazed when May gets here, and all this is behind me. It's sort of like hiking up a mountain -- when you first start out you think "I've got to climb that???" Then when you're at the top, "Wow! that wasn't so bad. And look at that view!" Until you turn around and see there's another mountain yet to climb. Went to a church ladies' auxiliary group meeting t'other night. Won a silent auction bid, one hand-made girl's dress from materials and pattern of my choice. I knew daughter-one-and-only would like an Easter dress (and I just would not have time this year to make one). So last night, instead of studying, we went shopping for pattern, fabric, and notions. The pattern was quickly selected, but we spent an hour and a half walking circles around the brightly colored woven goods. At last she made up her mind. It will be a dress unlike any other, ...

My brother and his wife welcomed a new little one into their family yesterday afternoon. He is big (9 lbs 15 oz, 22 1/2" tall) and healthy, and received with much joy. Here the baby is with his big brother (notice the matching red hair). New nephew also has three older sisters. In one of those strange "Circle of Life" things, it's but five weeks since saying good-bye to their oldest son, here now it is time to say hello to their youngest. Not a replacement, but someone new to love.

It was a day-off from school for my young'uns yesterday, so we went to the movies in the afternoon. We chose Bridge to Terabithia . Warned by Son-Two that it was a sad movie (he had taken a date to see it last week), we went anyway. It was a good movie, excellent really. But maybe we weren't ready for it yet. I'm telling you, seventh graders aren't supposed to die. And when they do, the tears just flow like crazy, and it feels like there is nothing that can ever make sense of it. Here's another thing on my mind: http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=26758 . I'm not sure what I think about it. I guess in the calculus any person engages in to make sense of their day and the people they meet, many little things factor in and add up: a plus here, a minus there. And when you're talking about an amorphous group of people you don't know, all you have are snippets of vague understandings to attach to them. So I suppose its not such a surprise. Maybe the informat...