Bree decides which high school she’s going to in the fall. She’s torn between choosing the school that Anya and Liya attended and another school she didn’t even originally have on her list. That second school is Catholic all-girls school. It’s a little further away (1.5 miles from our house), but is about twice the size of first school, which appeals to Bree. It seems like they have a strong math program and drama program. (Bree’s become interested in theater work behind the scenes, like making costumes.)
She eventually rolls actual dice to make her decision — basing her decision on how she feels about the result, not the result itself. Given her her interest in Dungeons & Dragons, she answers the question by playing “Rollies”: she rolls two 20-sided dice, each one representing one of the schools. The first school gets a 3, and the second school gets a 4. Since the Catholic school got the higher roll, it wins. Bree’s happy about that result.
Sabriya and her friends are playing Dungeons & Dragons in the dining room when they spot a coyote in our backyard. The commotion brings Jan running, but by the time he arrives, the coyote has slipped into the backyard of the Hausers to our north. A short while later the coyote pops back into our yard. Jan steps outside onto the deck, and the coyote nimbly leaps over the chest-high fence to our south and runs off.
The coyote makes more appearances on our block over the next week, prompting some concern about the safety of letting our cats outside. Thankfully, the coyote eventually disappears, hopefully having found easier meals elsewhere.
Bree registers for classes at her new high school. She’s visited the school before, but it’s the first time Angela and Jan get to see inside the school. She’s happy with the classes she’s been placed in.
Angela flies to Florida for the 50th birthday of her good friend Fiona. Fiona’s gathered a group of her friends to celebrate the occasion with her for the better part of a week in the Florida Keys. Angela enjoys hanging out and getting to know the group of interesting women. She goes scuba diving for the first time in years, and has fun seeing wildlife from iguanas to manatees.
Liya comes back from Yale for a week of spring break.
Mojo “contributes” to our work on a big jigsaw puzzle.
Jan and Liya visit the University of Washington campus to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom.
Bree’s renewed her interest in board games like Tak and Go. She asks Jan to teach her how to play Go, so after dinner they sit down for a handicap game on a small practice board.
Jan hasn’t played regularly for more than a decade, so he’s pretty rusty. For her part, Bree shows some very good Go instincts from the beginning. She keeps her stones loosely connected instead of doggedly making solid lines, a common beginner mistake, and she makes good use of diagonal connections. She’s also not intimidated by the prospect of invading her opponent’s territory, a fear that most people take a long time to overcome.
(In the photo, Bree’s also rocking a t-shirt on which she has hand-printed the Japanese word for “t-shirt”. She claims that next she plans to make an even more puzzling t-shirt that has the Japanese word for “pants”.)