I haven’t had a close look at the chicks. The robins were smart enough to build the nest where twigs and leaves would sprout over it. And, as I keep telling my 6yo daughter, we don’t want to frighten the baby robins.

Another reason for mentioning Frightened Rabbit is that they have a new album out. The Winter of Mixed Drinks came out earlier this month, when it was still winter.

I don’t think that The Winter of Mixed Drinks will be my favorite of 2010: it’s not my favorite of the winter that just finished. But I like it, particularly this track.

Not Miserable, by Frightened Rabbit

But Monday morning without coffee was tough… until I remember that I have backup, in the form of a French press. I’d actually prefer to grind beans and then use the French press, but amidst family life, it’s usually ground coffee and filter machine.

So the day just got as bright as… well, as the sunny day itself. Or rather, it would, if I could get to tasks such as finding preschool. Tasks like that would be easier to accomplish without a three and a half year old boy at home…

So I’d better get to them. If you can recommend a good preschool near Silver Spring with current of imminent openings for Max – who really is lovely, by the way – then please let me know via comment or email (andrew at changingway dot org).

You’ll also be able to see what has recently gone off-stream there due to being released. At the time of this typing, that includes albums by Joanna Newsom, Local Natives, Shearwater,…

When I first heard of the Mouse/Mercer musical marriage, I thought they seemed an odd couple. Hearing the music itself, they sound like a perfect pair. You can hear it at the BB website.

Me, I’m back to NPR to listen to the forthcoming Frightened Rabbit album.

We have a white afternoon, though. The snow has started to fall yet again. It seems like a good afternoon to play with the things the kids bought for themselves, and with the dominoes I bought. Maddie (6) and I will play Draw Dominoes, while Max (3) seeks more kinetic uses for the bones.

I made Fast French Bread using Mark Bittman’s recipe. I found it in How to Cook Everything, so did Heather, a fellow blogger who was kind enough to key in the recipe, and you can find Mark’s blog at the NYT.

For something that took only flour, yeast, salt, and water – and the power I shouldn’t take for granted – the bread was great. By the way, the power was for the oven. I didn’t use a bread machine or food processor, and can’t imagine myself ever using either to make bread. The Zen of Dough is almost as important as the finished product, and the enthusiasm with which my family consumed said product.

That said, I continue to like the county. Max and I went to one of its libraries yesterday for a storytime, and so we are even better stocked with books than usual.

Nate the Great is a favorite in our house. The publisher lists 26 Nate books. We’ve read 4 of them so far.

My favorite, and the most appropriate for today, is the one in which Nate has to follow a snowy trail in order to find his own birthday present. I love the note that Nate leaves for his mother as he embarks on the case.

I am going out
into the cold world to find
something strange. Love.

Nate doesn’t set out to write haiku, but this note trims down nicely to a haiku.

I’m posting this in a new category: Home Entertainment. We will go the Wheaton Mall today, but I can’t bring myself to categorize a trip to a mall about a mile away as DC-area wandering. Not that I feel at home in the mall, but one of the kids needs shoes, we’re almost out of milk – and we’re right out of chips!

The theater opened with a screening of Kung Fu Panda , a family favorite that we’d only previously seen on the small (i.e. computer) screen. It looked great.

If I had to upgrade any part of the system, it would be the sound. We have some little Sony bookshelf speakers. The sound gets to them through an amplifier and a Creative Labs Xmod Wireless System.

If I were getting a projector today for such a setup, it would be something like the Vivitek D825MS, although I haven’t done much research: there’s no need to replace the projector we have.

By adding a few hundred bucks of equipment to the PC and audio stuff we already have, we have a home theater that projects as large as TVs that go for well over a thousand bucks. The screen has the added advantage that it retracts into its wall-mounted case when not in use, rather than taking up floor and/or wall space all the time.