ICICLES, EDUCATION

Kaya came over to visit the other afternoon and ran toward the house with more than her usual supernova of excitement, not because she was about to run inside to play video games, because there aren't any in there, or to do puzzles or draw pictures or write letters which she loves and can do for hours; she was overjoyed at spotting some big icicles dangling from the high eave that she couldn't reach, and then on the rim of one of the rain barrels she found a gleaming, straight, clear and thick icicle that she could get hold of and break off and lift up and look at from all angles - icicles held up high are filled with blue sky, as she demonstrated to all - then she had to find a worthy place for the shining crown jewel of the vicinity, she couldn't just throw it away or take it into the house and admire it by the woodstove, but where could she put it that would do justice to its beauty?

She searched and found the perfect spot on the front of our car, where the long diamond would fit snugly yet stand upright, pointing to the sky like an icicle should, to a child's way of thinking, like a diamondy thing from a story, and lo and behold, there stood the soul of fantasy, right on the front of our formerly just plain car, now turning into diamond. Clear and real was the magical ice, and the light it carried, so valuable and desirable, but shortlived, so all the more lookable at. When at last we went inside we could still see it from a window: a diamond full of sky, shining there in the dusk.

Almost goes without saying that Kaya is bored with school...