Monday's Child

Imogen is pictured walking on the far right.

"After 'Paste Paper Painting,' Barbara Slavik, interim director

of the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, encouraged students

to wash their hands in the center's fountain located just

outside the main gallery. The Monday series ended with

a guided walk through Webster Woods Art Park."

Photo by Jennifer Veneklasen
For Peninsula Family, Produced by the Peninsula Daily News

What I See

"Easter Egg" by Imogen, Age 6

The Ordinary Instant

Lake Crescent

Expanse Of The World

Hurricane Hill

Kids In The Marketplace

At Seattle Center for

King Tut: The Exhibition

Like No One Else

Round Rock Beach

Today Is Your Day

My Love

Imogen as Cupid

via www.photofunia.com

Keeper Of A Family

Hindus, most of all, perhaps, take into account the "ages" of development. Hinduism, in fact, has long taught that there are four stages of life.

The first stage, the Hindus teach, is the age of childhood, however long it takes to acquire the maturity necessary to begin to function beyond the control of the family.

The second stage is the age of the student. During this preparatory period, students concentrate for years on learning the skill or profession that will enable them to function independently in society in order to give back to the larger world -- for the sake of its own development -- what they have been trained to do.

The third stage of life, the Hindus tell us, is the age of the householder, the keeper of a family, whose concentration on others develops the next generation to carry on the values and ideals of this one.

Finally, Hinduism teaches, a person reaches the age of the sanyasi, the truth-seekers, who give themselves over in this last stage of life to the pursuit of spiritual development. These people -- educated, experienced, responsible -- take these final years to bring perspective to their own lives and wisdom to others. It's the period of reflection. For some, it is the period of monastic reflection. The period when, relieved of the burden of social responsibility, they become the standard-bearers of the soul.

Joan Chittister | "Change in age for new vocations nothing to fear" | National Catholic Reporter

Plumpuppets

Tooth Fairy Money

My Small Cookie

Her Secret Is Patience

Born Of Imagination

Imogen as Meowth
Culminating Performance
Juan de Fuca Festival Discovery Arts Camp

Mimi

Crazy Busy

You can't be too busy to read "The 'Busy' Trap."

“Lebenslauf,” Handcolored etching by Adi Holzer, 1997

A Study Of Inequality

Jason DeParle's New York Times article "Two Classes in America, Divided by 'I Do'" highlights some of the changes for children and families in my lifetime:

"Four decades ago, households with children at the 90th percentile of incomes received five times as much as those at the 10th percentile, according to Bruce Western and Tracey Shollenberger of the Harvard sociology department. Now they have 10 times as much. The gaps have widened even more higher up the income scale."

"Forty years ago, the top and middle income thirds had virtually identical family patterns: more than 95 percent of households with children in either tier had two parents in the home. Since then the groups have diverged, according to Mr. Western and Ms. Shollenberger: 88 percent at the top have two parents, but just 71 percent do in the middle."

"Four decades ago, families in the top income fifth spent about four times as much as those at the bottom fifth on things like sports, music and private schools, according to research by Greg J. Duncan of the University of California, Irvine, and Richard J. Murnane of Harvard. Now affluent families spend seven times as much."

Jitterbug Perfume

Sequim Lavender Festival