Miss E was carrying around these things in her purse today: 

12 Hi, Ho! Cherry-O cherries

5 wooden animal dominoes

1 Little Red Riding Hood tin cup (probably for holding the cherries)

1 pair of her sister’s dirty underwear

1 tiny baby doll

1 jack

1 small board book

While eating a snowcone at the Recreation Station swimming pool snack bar, Miss M made some keen observations about birds.

 Miss M: I think that I would like to be a bird because they get to eat things off of the ground.

Mom: You think you would like to eat things off of the ground.

Miss M: Birds also don't have to take showers or baths.

Mom: Actually, birds really like to take baths in puddles and bird baths.  That's why people sometimes put bird baths in their gardens.

Miss M: Well, they don't take showers.

Mom: That's true.  What else do birds do?

Miss M: They fly.

Mom: Would you like to be able to fly like a bird?

Miss M: I already can because I'm a witch.  I really am.  I fly on a broom. 

Mom: Yes, but birds don't need a broom.  They just flap their wings.

Miss M: But birds actually have shorter lives than we do.  So, I think I don't want to be a bird.

With that, Miss M shoo-ed the birds away from our table because they were bothering her sister, and started chasing after a "lizard" that turned out to be a chipmunk.  

On the day of the big interview, Miss M was a little nervous.

Miss M: "I don't remember all of the questions I wanted to ask."

Mom: "That's okay, honey.  I can print them out from the blog."

Miss M: "But I can't read."

Mom: "Don't worry, I can read them to you."

Miss M: (With a trace of whine creeping in) "But I'm supposed to be asking the questions!"

Mom: "I'll whisper them in your ear."

At Funky's house, his owner/creator greeted us at the door and introduced herself as Miss Nancy (with no prompting from me on the cutesy courtesy title).  I think she had intended to walk us around the side of the house to visit the tree man, but Miss M sort of pushed her way in (she's one of those reporters). 

Miss M noticed right away that there were two–possibly antique–teddy bears sitting on a bench in the foyer.  "Do children live here?" she asked eagerly.

"No," said Miss Nancy.  "But my niece and nephew come to visit sometimes."

We made our way out to the backyard, where Miss M spotted more evidence pointing to the presence of children: two plastic balls on the lawn.  "Who plays with these?" she asked, hoping to find out that there were actually some children living there that Miss Nancy had forgotten about before.  Again, Miss Nancy said her neice and nephew often play in the yard when they visit. 

But Miss M didn't seem satisfied that she had fully explored this angle.  She asked if she could look around inside the house some more.  I gently reminded her of the reason we were there: to find out more about Funky Tree Man.  It took Miss M a few seconds to realize that, from where we stood on the deck, we were looking not at the tree man but the tree woman.

"Mommy, look!  It's the girl!" she shouted.

Tickled by Miss M's enthusiasm, Miss Nancy started a discussion about what was female about this side of the tree: fuller lips, longer eyelashes, the flower boa she was wearing that day.  Miss M remembered to ask about the nail polish.  Miss Nancy thought that would be a good idea. 

Miss M was thrilled to learn that Miss Nancy's family had started referring to their tree man as "Funky Tree Man" after they found out she was calling him that.  It is now his official name!! 

And then Miss Nancy asked Miss M to name the girl. 

Without hestitation, she said "Marissa." 

 "Marissa or Melissa?" asked Miss Nancy. 

"Melissa," said Miss M.  I was just so proud that she didn't say something like "Mrs. Funky Tree Man." 

I am, however, ashamed to admit that this interview took place on the day before Easter (and I'm not going to bore you with excuses for not posting it sooner).  So, there was a lot of discussion about the Easter Bunny and his baby and why they might want to hide inside of Funky/Marissa/Melissa. 

You will also notice (once I post a picure) that Funky was holding an Easter basket filled with eggs.  Miss Nancy says she plans to dress him up for holidays as often as possible.  The red turban and white gloves he currently sports are left over from Christmas.  Seems it is more difficult to undress him.

There will be periodic updates on Funky–and what he is wearing–in the future.  And, coming soon: The True Story of Funky Tree Man and his Friend Marissa/Melissa.

We said good-bye to Dale on Saturday.  At the funeral, Nan Sweet and I read Romantic Period Literary Basketball together, which was so perfect since it had been inspired by her class. Two people asked me for my autogragh.  Dale would have loved that!

The minister did a great job of summing up Dale’s life.  It was one of the few times I’ve been to a funeral where I felt the minister was right on.  He really got Dale.

My sister says that I must have been channeling Dale’s spirit when I found myself making up alternative lyrics to the hymns that were sung during the service.  I honestly thought I heard the soloist sing the words “We’ll Play Candyland” instead of “We Shall Overcome” at one point.  And now I can’t get it out of my head. When I was alone in the car this morning, I actually sang it out loud.

We’ll play Can-dy-la-a-and
We’ll play Can-dy-la-a-and
We’ll play Can-dy-land
One day-ay-ay

O, deep in my heart,
I do believe
We’ll play Can-dy-land
One day….”

I’m not certain that Heaven exists. But I think that’s where Dale was heading when he left us on Tuesday. And I have to admit that I’ve wondered whether Dale was looking down on his funeral and orchestrating a few things: bringing Nan & I together for that reading, getting people to ask for my autograph, and whispering that silly, silly song in my ear. If there is a Heaven, and I get to go there, I do hope that Dale and I will play Candyland one day.

I just couldn't resist posting more thoughts about my friend Dale, since he's so much on my mind today.

The top ten things I loved about Dale:

10. He was curious.

9. He was playful.

8. He was humble.

7. He cracked himself up (and me, too).

6. He coined the term "mini-day" to describe that period of time when you wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall back asleep so you decide to do something productive before you go back to sleep for a few hours.

5. He stayed up all night with me, my mother, and my future husband waiting for my nephew to be born–and writing a song for the occasion.

4. He was excited to share his birthday with Mr. J (the big payoff for staying up all night at the hospital)!

3. He was one of the few people to visit me when I lived in New York.  That really meant a lot to me.

2. That when we visited NYC tourist attractions together, he brought along a friend's stuffed animal to photograph at each place because she was compiling such photographs of her stuffed animal for some reason.

1. Dale was someone I could talk to about anything, with no judgements. He was a good listener. He was a good friend.

My friend Dale Denny died yesterday after a long illness.  He spent the last couple of years in a nursing home, not quite connected to the world.  But if he had been his regular self and had heard about blogging, he would have had one of the funniest, most creative blogs around.

Dale was always writing.  I think that's why he stayed with the graduate school job at UMSL's Writing Lab for so long, and eventually became the director of it.  When he was not helping students find their inner writer, he was sitting at one of the computers snickering and writing short stories about quirky people and their odd lives.

His blog definitely would have focused on people–real and ficticious, or some combination of the two.  Dale had a talent for discovering what was interesting about a person.  And I think flaws were what interested him most.  But he had a real appreciation of all kinds of people.  If he would poke fun at someone, it was always with affection.  

Dale's incredibly fertile mind was always coming up with fun ideas and crazy notions.  It was such a blast to work with him in the writing lab because during slow times he would get whoever was there to collaborate with him on a story, a silly song, or making up an elaborate game. 

Here's a game we made up over the course of about a week, inspired by a summer session of Nan Sweet's Romantic Period Literature class (it's long–and elaborate):  http://www.umsl.edu/~sweet/swetball.htm

If Dale Denny were a blogger, there might have been a lot of silly posts on his blog.  But he probably would have come out with some pretty profound observations as well.  He probably would have posted several entries a day.  He would have given his dedicated following of readers goofy writing assignments to post in the comments. 

He would have made a lot of people laugh.  I'm still laughing, even through the tears.

This morning over breakfast, Miss M shared some ideas about things we could give up for a week instead of TV:

Baths. Miss M really likes the idea of Bath-Free week. BTW, you could go swimming during Bath-Free week, but you just couldn't rinse off. 

Apples.  This one is in honor of her sister, Miss E, who hates apples (but loves applesauce).  Miss M does not hate apples but she is more willing to not eat apples for a week than not watch TV.  Uncle Daddy (Dad's twin brother) was wondering whether Apple-Free week would extend to Apple computers and iPods.  Good question. 

Miss M also offered a way around the fact that we cannot turn on the TV.  What if we watch a DVD on the computer?  It's not a TV, right?

BTW, this conversation took place during the time slot usually spent watching "Arthur".

Day Zero of TV Turnoff Week:

Last night, our family geared up for TV Turnoff Week in a most inappropriate way: Dad watched the first "Harry Potter" movie with Miss M and Miss E.  

He has read the first two books with Miss M, and they are currently reading "The Prisoner of Azkaban".  She is really into the books, although I'm sure most of it goes over her head.  But halfway through the movie, she was begging him to turn it off.  I think she slept with one eye open last night.

Nevermind that this movie was not such a great choice for a five-year-old and two-year-old to watch (I hate to say "I told you so," Dad.  Oops, I just did.).  But watching it on the eve of TV Turnoff Week also got the kids primed for a week of deprivation instead of the TV-Free Adventure Week I was planning. 

It also didn't help that when Miss M excitedly told her uncle, who happens to be visiting, that we were going to unplug the TV this week, his response was "that won't last long." 

The afternoon we spent at the Earth Day celebration in Forest Park was more what I'd had in mind.  The kids made toad houses, helped save a demonstration stream from erosion, and boogied to zydeco.  And then–after playing frisbee, practicing cartwheels, and lazing in the grass for quite a while–Dad came up with the idea of playing Duck, Duck, Goose.  There is nothing a two-year-old loves more than squeeling while being chased by her father.  I bet, if you asked her, she'd trade in five episodes of Sesame Street for that.  

Guess Dad's not such a bad influence after all….

Bet you thought we forgot about the blog.  Or we stopped being curious.  Or we've had no adventures in the past couple of weeks.  Well, you're wrong. 

We have been busy with taxes, kindergarten registration, potty training and other things that have gotten in the way of posting.  We have also been dealing with some weird and wild weather here in the Midwest.  So, we haven't been back to the Funky Tree Man's house for Miss M's big interview either. 

Actually, we were quite worried about Funky Tree Man after a bad storm had hit.  Every time we saw another downed tree (and there were lots of them near us), Miss M would express concern about him.  So, we were all very relieved when we saw him–still standing, and wearing all of his clothes–on our way to tutoring last week.  There was never an opportunity to visit him, though, because it kept raining at the most inopportune times.

We've stayed pretty close to home for the past couple of weeks.  But this has given Miss M and her tag-along sister, Miss E, more time for bunny watching. 

For a few weeks now, there have been bunny sightings in our backyard.  And last week, for the first time, also in the front yard.  Miss M insists that this bunny–and we're pretty sure it is always the same bunny–is the Easter Bunny's baby.

You see, the Easter Bunny is very busy working the Mall circuit.  So, the responsibility of hiding eggs in people's yards has now fallen to his son.  Miss M is certain that every place the bunny hops in our yard, he leaves an egg.  Now, I always thought he was dropping something else.  But maybe that explains why the eggs he is supposedly leaving around our yard are not visible.   Perhaps, by some kind of bunny magic, on Easter morning the tiny turds change into colorful, plastic eggs filled with candy (at least this is what he leaves at our house since Miss E is allergic to eggs of the hard-boiled variety).

At any rate, Miss M has been recording every place she has seen him hop on a hand-drawn map of our yard.  Her plan, of course, is to find ALL of the eggs and eat ALL of the candy herself.  Little does she know that Mom has Baby Bunny's ear and, together, we have devised a different plan–a plan for a fair and equitable Easter for all cousins and little sisters. 

We'll let you know how that goes….

 Twice a week, we pass this curious sight on our way to Miss M's session at Tutoring with Montessori Insights.  We have always wondered about "The Funky Tree Man," as Miss M calls him. 

With our new commitment to following our curiousity wherever it takes us (within reason), we decided we should try to find out more about this "man."  So, we made a list of our questions and drove to the tree man's house intent on speaking to his creator.  Unfortunately, Miss M and Miss E fell asleep on the way there. 

I went to the door anyway to ask if we could publish a picture and arranged to meet another time.  I did find out an interesting tidbit that I shared with Miss M later: The tree man is also a woman–on the side of the tree that faces the house.  There was more I learned, but I am going to wait until Miss M has had a chance to conduct her interview to reveal that information.

Here are the questions she intends to ask:

1. How did you make that tree like that?

2. How did you make the clothes?

3. How did you make the mustache and the eyes?

4. Does the tree man have a name?

5. And what about the girl?

6. Does she wear nail polish?

7. What does the girl look like?

8. Why was the man wearing a cape?  And why did he take it off?

9. Does the Easter Bunny ever come and hide in the tree?

10. Does the Easter Bunny's baby ever hide there?

11. Do you have any pets?

Stay tuned for more on The Funky Tree Man….