Into the trees (A Forest)

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It's been over a week since the last post, and so there is a lot to catch up on. What I want to talk about in this post are cultural variation—those Japanese-English contrasts that have amazed or repelled me recently—in particular, in what is regarded as acceptable driving style and desirable living, and this is what I shall do, presently. But I know that what most people who read this want to hear about are the children—it is a family blog after all (in fact, for those interested in less domestic concerns, there are a few new posts on the Inishmacsaint blog).
So, the first news is that the children are all fine. Everything is as dyfunctionally normal and ridiculously noisy, raucous and untidy as a family with three boys—one not yet even crawling—can be: despite the impression of cozy fraternal affection that may be suggested by certain photographs on this blog, Sean and Julian have now moved sibling rivalry and gratuitous bickering up to a level familiar only to skilled mediaeval torturers, in which mere gesturing is sufficient to provoke pain and start conflict all over again. I'm sure they love each other really, but it's sad to watch sometimes, and worse still to have to intervene. As for Justin, he continues to grow well, and has started on 'more solid' food. His vocalizations are sometimes unsettling—being more corvine than cooing, gurgling or babbling—but he seems to be happy enough in himself, if smiles and kicking count as reliable evidence. His sleep patterns too are a cause of stress to me—what used to be the 4:30 am alarm caw has now moved back/forward (Lera Boroditsky has been dining out on this perspective problem for years now) to 3:00 am; since I only went to bed at 1:30 am last night, this was a rude awakening. But all of this is comparatively minor, and will—must!—pass; otherwise, such disorder is as good as one can expect. Voltaire had it right here:

Ceux qui ont avancé que tout est bien ont dit une sottise: il fallait dire que tout est au mieux.

[And here too: 'Un instant de bonheur vaut mille ans dans l’histoire.' Something to hold on to, in moments of domestic purgatory]

With luck, I'll get to the main text tonight...!

Postscript: I didn't get to it, and it won't be today, either. In the meantime, you can find some recent pictures of the children here.

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