Thoughts from the weekend

1. We finally showed our kids The Sound of Music. You know how some movies are set in a place and then are filmed somewhere else? Well, this one really was filmed in Salzburg--we walked in some of those very places! (The big geographic blunder, however, is to assume you can somehow cross the Alps in Salzburg and end up in Switzerland. Um. When you cross the Alps on foot in Salzburg, you actually end up in Berechtesgaden, where Hitler had a camp. Map, anyone?)

2. I got a chance to dip my head back in Spanish mode this weekend. I'm relieved to say that I can still understand, even if my speaking skills are German-distorted.

3. Often people who are supposedly in direct opposition to each other often really aren't. They may have strong feelings about one element of an issue that is important to them, and think that by default, their opponent is against that, when really, the opponent is concerned about a different element altogether. As a result, feelings run high and misunderstanding is rampant. I'm sure this is something important to understand when writing convincing antagonists. Ie, not only are they the star of their own story, but they also feel they have a good, maybe even moral reason, for doing what they do. And more importantly (because books, while an expression of truth, aren't living, breathing people), it's important to remember that just because someone's opinion is different from ours doesn't make them an automatic stupidhead.

4. Now I've got to go clean artwork off the wall, because even if I understand the drive for self-expression and the fact that my child may feel it's her moral right to be able to draw wherever she likes, I'm still the mom, and if we all drew on the walls all the time, they wouldn't look very pretty. (Would anyone else rather be drawing on the walls with the child instead of having to be the authority figure? Or is that just me?)

Have a great day!