What I Did on my Summer Vacation:

High Park ! ...a big thanks to Severin Wille (Ariana's Dad) who took these pictures of one of the funnest Circles in town. We're all done this year but I look forward to the next and thank you, all who came out, for the memories:

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First New Post

So, I decided to revamp the blog, obviously - and move it to something people can spell more readily circlesing.blogspot.com...

And, as I was doing that I added Fun&Games to the headline...since its so late but I'm excited to post something I'll tell y'all about Gamershood:This is a pretty huge site that I like to visit with my daughter...that's right - I'm not a "no computer" Mom. I like to think that its good practice: sitting down at the computer and then getting up from it in a reasonable amount of time. I know *I* could sure use the practice! Sometimes she prefers to watch while I play harder games, and she really likes to get involved where she can with those too...

It's a site that needs to be visited together as there is some inappropriate content (sadly, aimed at teenage boys)...I always monitor pretty actively when Allegra's on the net...nanny or not. And anyway, there's lots of reading involved. I'd keep her computer time pretty short generally, and when I'm, at least, half-available (she's older now and I'll confess, sometimes I lie down; but I still have very good hearing:).

I like Room Escapes (harder), Point and Clicks and Arcade games come in lower levels for younger kids..."Puzzles" is a deceiving category - these are mostly knowledge puzzles that are hard even for me! Other kinds of puzzles are found under "Arcade". Like I said, its pretty huge - I usually search by rating.

At Allegra's age, the main appeal of these games (for both of us) is the strategy involved. I really like to see Allegra working to solve puzzles and logic problems, and even understand physics. There are math exercises and word games and then there are games where you just decorate a room or a car (great for mouse handling skills). She's so motivated to figure it out.

The harder ones are good for us Big People too. It's kinda like a workout for your brain - there are huge variety of brain-teasers, depending on the type of game you play; helping to stretch your creative mind and offering lots of opportunities to work practical math and language skills....It's relaxing, too, if you have trouble sleeping - you can play something visually stimulating and repetitive - it's like a natural sedative:)

I guess Allegra's first was a Blue's Clues game - find the three clues and other fun stuff...our computer was in the kitchen and she'd play while I puttered around her answering questions as they arose. And the Lion King game - she really liked playing Memory...

At any rate - these kinds of games, along with real-time Snakes and Ladders, Connect 4, Go Fish and, more recently, Chess have been traditional cold-weather-too-groggy-stayin'-in fare for us for a while now and finding Gamershood was a boon (mostly for me, prolly, if just for the variety)!

Its just fun for both of us - really - she gets to see how smart her Mama is and I get to watch my girlie strive to keep up (and often manage to) in a relaxed and happy environment (and see how smart she is too!).

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My Message on World Car Free Day!

First - the petition(there is a paper version of it but this signed Trans Am NOT is sure to get more attention than that):

(click to enlarge)

This is what my parking space looked like:To which I later added: DRIVE RESPONSIBLY and Do you REALLY need to drive today?And THIS is my friend Galen (only 15!) who's helping me with our Free Hugs Campaign, as much his idea as my own - and launched at World Car Free Day! on Queen Street.

PS KENSINGTON is this Sunday the 30th (should be interesting after Nuit Blanche) and this fabulous festival began as a Parking Meter Party a couple of years ago - Now its one of the biggest events in Kensington Market.

I'll be there in my Storytime Tent between 2 and 5pm (a great place for tired tots to chill out and caregivers to chat uninterrupted) and prolly giving out more FREE HUGS - Maybe I'll see YOU there too!

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