Seed Update and More

No sprouting yet and the remaining floating radish seeds are now resting on the bottom of the water bath. I can't really blame them, they had a pretty good run on the surface. They floated for almost 20 days. I am going to keep planting for at least five more days and after that we will just sit back and watch. There have been a number of sunny days and the sun room, where the experiment is happening. It has been just perfect for starting seeds. You know the old saying a watched pot never boils? Well, I am going to be at a writing conference this weekend and have high hopes that when I return on Sunday the seeds will be showing some sign of growth!

With me well at the conference. I am really looking forward to it.

My oldest stated "those radish seeds stink."

We have been planting seeds for six days now and so far nothing has sprouted. In case you are late in the planting story, our radish and cabbage seeds have been floating in salt water for over 10 days and each day after the first 10 days I have been planting a few floating radish seeds, a few radish seeds from the bottom of the water bath and some of the cabbage seeds (they all sank). We are now waiting to see which ones will grow. If we are able to get any of them to grow we can then determine that those seeds could have traveled in the ocean for that many days and then could have made it to shore (some how) and could have started to grow, building a new plant. With an estimate of 30 miles a day on the ocean current, the seeds will have traveled at least 300 miles.

Here is another picture of the planting team. My oldest stated "those radish seeds stink." So it is now confirmed, they do indeed stink.

And Your a Writer?

So how do you know you are a writer? I guess for some it is easy. They have a love for books. They read in their free time and feel content in the thoughts of other's stories. Maybe they get up every morning and write, there ideas connect with words on the paper and others can relate to what they have to say. Maybe they even have a talent for spelling or grammar. Well, my journey is different.

I would say I am a late bloomer. I was never confident with my grasp of the English language despite getting through UC Berkeley, as an undergraduate in Psychology. I remember taking German in my freshman and sophomore year for my foreign language requirement and realizing I was really learning the basic of English for the first time. Thankfully I was able to get through the requirements and graduate with my BA in psychology 1990.

After my BA, I started teaching preschool and taking classes in creative writing through UC Berkeley's extension. I loved working with two year old's and knew I wanted to be involved with children in my work. Balancing teaching and writing, I was fortunate to work with Adrienne McDonnell a short story and novelist coming out with her first novel this July, The Doctor and the Diva. I remember she was teaching basic creative writing and even then I was thinking I wanted to write for children. I was invited to join a writing group that Adrienne McDonnell hosted in her home. I wasn't able to continue with the group for long but I remember feeling very inspired by the creative process this kind of group provided.

I continued teaching preschool until I was accepted into a masters program in Developmental Psychology at San Francisco State University. After Graduation I considered continuing in research but felt I still wanted to work directly with children. I developed a board story that I still use in my clinical practice helping children with their anger. Then was accepted into JOhn F. Kennedy's Psyd Program, in Orinda California, specializing in clinical psychology. My training emphasized ethnography, writing and clinical skills, all of which have been invaluable in my current career as a Child Psychologist and in my desire to write for children and parents. Where I struggle with spelling and grammar, I make up for it with concepts and flexibility to accept editorial help.

My most recent efforts have been in joining a critique group that we loving call Lula's Bunch. We use to meet in a small cafe (Lula's) on the side of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend Indiana. Due to lots of students and many distractions, we have since retreated to a circle of rocking chairs we found outside a large book store. We now meet every three weeks to exchange our critiques of each other work and to support the writing process we are all sharing. I also attended a writing workshop with a local writer April Pulley Sayre (very inspiring) and am attending my SCBWI conferences offered in driving distance.

So when I ask myself, are you a writer I am certainly coming in to this identity now. I wasn't a confident writer in college and graduate school taught me how to practice writing on topics of many different kinds. I now write for pleasure and for the hope to pass a few stories and thoughts along to parents and my true love, children.

My Planting Team

Here we are on day three of the planting. So far so good. Can't wait for the plants to start to sprout.

Planting and Making Roots

Today is day three of moving seeds from the salt water bath to the earth. My oldest son thinks this experiment is pretty cool although I am not sure he fully understands what we have embarked on. Part of the reason I wanted to do this experiment was to see how the the long project would fair with children. So far, so good although think he just has experiments in his soul. Perhaps it is because his father is not only from England but from Kent the area which Charles Darwin called home. Or maybe it is(me) because I grew up in the same town the well known famous psychologist Eric Ericson retired. He is well known for theories in developmental psychology. I remember meeting him in our church in Tiburon California when I was very young and although I was years from knowing I has a passion for psychology I knew I was meeting an important man. He was quite old, gray and slow moving but carried himself with great confidence. I knew there was something wonderful about this man.

Maybe this research bug I have stems from all the training I was given in my education despite choosing a path of clinical work. Maybe it is just a good way to stimulate stories. Either way, the research and the planting must go on.

And the Winner is...

The first poll of my blog asked what you want to read a bit more about, Children's books I like to recommend in therapy, more about Charles Darwin or my approach towards my work as a child psychologist... and the winner is.... Well it is not Charles, and I can't really say I am surprised. So instead of telling you the winner I better update you on the research that inspired the blog to begin with. I will get the the winner but in reverse order.

So the second runner up is Charles...and here is the update.


The radish seeds still stink and are covered in a slight slimy coat the color of mustard. They were sort of that color to begin so at this point, not as dramatic as I thought it might be. Lets see what 10 more days bring. We are actually at day 12 so that is when the planting will begin. The boys helped me with the seeds and picture will soon follow.

Too Proud Parent

OK, so it is not my news but part of the excitement of being a part of a writing group is that we are all supporting and following what the rest of us are doing. Our group formed around September and I am thankful to say I was the last member to join. We meet monthly (soon to be every three weeks) and we read each others work before each meetings helping each other clarify and tighten our work. We stop what we are doing to read a blog or edit a bit of extra writing because the other has something burring they need some help with. So it is with great pleasure that I heard that one of my group members is close to landing an agent. OK, so it is not official yet and I can't tell who he/she is or who the agent might be but I am just plain excited!

Reading this, I feel very ashamed of the pride I am executing over another writer in my group. I guess writing group members are like supportive parents. I can't tell you how many times I talk to parents about the subtle difference between being proud of what your child had done and letting the child feel proud of their own achievement. (OK, what is this psychologist talking about now.....I know you are thinking it.)

Lets not analyse this to much but once someone gets past the age of, lets say, seven, eight, OK, may be 10, their achievements are really theirs, even if you are the one taking them to practice every day or paying the bill. So despite the fact I am personally connected to this event, rather than saying "Oh, I am so proud" the message to him/her is "oh, you must be so proud of yourself"!

And with this said just think, if I can get this excited about one of my writing group members, what is it going to be like if it is me. Keep posted to hear how things unfold. Oh, this is getting so good!

Blogging my New Writing Yoga

I was in my Yoga class Monday evening and for the third week in a row two fellow yoga goers got up and left at the best part. If you have ever taken a yoga class you know that, come the end of the stretching, contorting and holding poses that send burning sensations thought muscles you didn't even know you had, the instructor sends you to the floor to lie flat on your back. It is a real pose with a very fancy name but the westerners call it 'the dead man pose'. After all the hard work you get to lie there flat on your back feeling your body settle down and absorb all the goodness you have just given it. Often in those few minutes extreme calm comes over you and a clarity that allows feelings and ideas to flow through. I love these few minutes and I don't know why anyone would leave at the moment of the best part.

I started thinking that my blogging is like my writing yoga. I get a tidbits of an ideas and I practice writing a few paragraph. It's like pushing my hands closer to the ground, flatting them and looking at the people behind me doing the same thing but in their own style. The blog gives me accountability and a shared experience that keeps me pushing myself even when I am tired and wanting to stop. Then the teacher or in this case the followers comes by to offer some comments or adjustments or some acknowledgement that your pose or post is just right. After the class is over you leave with a feeling of accomplishment, knowing you have met your goal. In yoga, like writing you are never really done, the practice goes on but each time you do it you get a little stronger, a bit more confident and moments of pure clarity.

It is Not Just Me, Even Julia Child Didn't Like It

For years I have had to kindly apologize when a friend served me a dish with the dreaded cilantro. "I have an allergy" I have tried or "It tastes like soap to me". Cilantro lovers, just look at you like you are high maintenance or just a pain in the ass. But in this weeks New York Times, Harold McGee reports that Julia Child had two foods she hated, arugula and yes that's right, cilantro.

I feel so much better knowing the great Julia has this same problem. In fact, it got me wondering, maybe this is even why she became a chef. I mean, what better way to make sure the disgusting stuff never gets near your plate. I think she had the right idea, stick with French food that never included cilantro even if there were no herbs left on the planet.

What about you? Does it taste like soap or a gift from the gods?

How to Put Your Mommy to Bed: A Guide for Children

I had a burst of energy this early AM. Did some more editing on my newest children's book How to Put Your Mommy to Bed: A Guide for Children. All parents should be able to relate to the struggle to stay awake when it is time to put your kids to bed. Wouldn't it be funny if this was our kids plan all along. Well in this story it is just what they are trying to do.

Hope you all got lots of sleep last night and enjoy your sunday.

Radish Seeds Stink

As we are now in day seven of the seed soak, I can say with confidence and with sorrow that radish seeds stink. Their water doesn't look so good either. It is cloudy and has a yellow tint to it. The seeds are mostly bunched together seemingly going along for the ride. If I were to use my seed psychology, which I have yet to try, I would go as far as to say they are as happy as a bed of clam at the bottom of the sea. I am saving the slime test for day ten when I start to plant them. Because some have stayed on the surface and others have sunk I am going to plant all seeds, high and low, to see if there is a difference in their ability to grow.

Now for the Cabbage seed update, well, there are only two floaters left. They just don't have the bouyance they need to hold to the surface. My guess is that if this was a plant that Darwin has some sucess with, he floated the whole plant with seeds still attached. Now that would truly stink. I will still give them a shot at germination. Who knows, maybe the seed journey is in the water or at the bottom of the sea. Either way they need to grow to make my story work.

You Know You're a Parent When...

You know you're a parent when you don't bother to close the bathroom door during a dinner party. How about you. How do you know your a parent?

Look at Those Seeds

I was hoping to post a video of the seeds but the import option does not seem to be working (or the user is not sure what she is doing). I was able to make some still shots so here are the seeds, floating and resting on the bottom of their salt bath.
Picture one Radish Seeds, Picture two Cabbage Seeds, Picture three Side view of both salt baths.

Observations/Actions: I added a little water to keep the water level the same and to maintain the salt/water ratio. When I did this for the cabbage seeds even more dropped to the bottom. I am not so sure how these seeds would fair on the ocean surface. They would need to be held up by sea foam or kelp. As for the radish seeds, they mostly stayed on the surface when water was added. I also noticed that the radish seeds look slightly enlarged, perhaps taking on a slight film or slime coat. (Just as predicted.) This is a detail in the story so I am glad to see it happening in the experiment. No odor yet, at least that I can smell.

"What ever you do... and I mean it... DON'T KISS ME!" Reverse Psychology: Fact or Fiction

You have heard the saying "just use reverse psychology" haven't you? It is something just evil psychologists use or does it really work? And the answer is it works. At least for children from the age of about two and a half to about six.

So how do I know this? The experiment I used is easy. Simply ask your child in this age range to NOT kiss you and you will see that they just cant resist. They will run to you as fast as their half size legs will carry and give you more kisses than you thought possible. It helps to yell as softly as possible, as if in pain, "No No don't kiss me" and to fall to the floor as if they have caused great pain to you in the process. And what is most entertaining, once you have tried this on them and they have experienced the affect they have on you it takes even less prompting the next time you exclaim, "What ever you do... and I mean it... DON'T KISS ME!"

Try this experiment and let me know what happens.

Sunday and Monday's Float

The seeds are floating again, well, not the same seeds but a new batch. I have picked cabbage and radish seeds because both types were referenced by Darwin in his research and for no other reason. At the moment they hit the water most of the cabbage seeds went stright for the bottom of the container. So now I know this is not just an error of the first experiment. (Good to know.)

As for the radish seeds, more of them like the surface of the water over the bottom, but not that many more. So if I learn nothing else from this experiment, radish may be my seed of choise for this silly story. They have been floating since sunday the 11th and no other detail of note at this time. We will start removeing seeds from the water after 10 days of floating and plant three seeds a day to see which ones will grow.

New topic for the blog.......Reverse Pyschology, fact or fiction. I say fact!

Take Two of the Floating Seeds

In case you just tuned in, I am trying to replicate a seed study done by Charles Darwin to help me with a story I am writing about seeds. Darwin was trying to determine how long seeds could float in salt water and still grow into a healthy plant. The results of his work helped him build evidence that supported his theory of evolution. In other words seeds could travel on their own and adapt to new environments.

Travel and adapt to a new environment? Hold on, isn't this what we have done moving to South Bend? Anyway back to the project.

I had to made my salt water (because we don't have any here). In case you want to try your own seed project you need to use approximately 1/2 cup salt to a gallon of water to get to the levels of sea water. Then you need to pick the seeds you want to use for your experiment. Pour them into the water and your experiment is on it's way. Now you need to collect your observations. Are the seeds floating, sinking or falling to pieces? As they soak for a few days are there any changes, odors, slimy coats? And then finally, after 10 days in the water will they grow after you plant them? What about after 15 days or more? In theory, the longer they can soak and then germinate, the further they could travel. Darwin gathered they could travel near 30 miles a day by ocean currents.

TO ALL MY WEST COAST FOLLOWERS How about giving this experiment a try with real ocean water? I would love to see your results. You can email me your results or write them in the comments so they can be featured in the blog. The more data the better my professors always said. Although I don't think they thought I would be studying seeds.

My seeds are floating now and I am planning to video them for all to see for the next post.

Another Response From an Agent

I sent out a copy of my 'green' story Granny Greenfield Has a Farm to an agency back in September. Just received an email back this am (that's right, 7 months later). Again I am getting positive feedback but they didn't think it was right for them to represent. Something similar happened in November when a publishing house picked the book in their top 20 for the year. Even so they didn't publish it. OH...I hope I am getting closer. Both of these places were reading an earlier version of the story and I believe it is stronger now so I just need to keep getting it out there to the right people.

I am set to go to a SCBSI writing conference in May and this story will be reviewed by an editor (one of the speakers) so I hope she can help guide the book in the right direction. I will keep you posted.


Need to stary those seeds soaking. I know today will be the day.

Neologism Galore

In my field of psychology when an adult makes their own words with their own meaning it is not a good sign. But when a five year old decided to make their own it is not only amusing it is creative.

As my family story goes when I was about five I was resting under an apricot tree when along came a helicopter. So it is no stretch that I called it an 'apricopter'. This one I think falls along the amusing line but I don't see a future for this word. 'Lasternight' however, also one of my five year old creations, could be useful. I mean we do say yesterday, so why not 'lasternight'.

My five year old has started to make some of his own and here I see real potential. He is quite fond of big words and started to use gigantic. It soon became 'gigantical' which still means big but magical too. Pretty good isn't it? And the best part of neologisms, the spelling is all up to the maker! I love that.

Would love to here about any neologisms you or your kids have come up with. I could see a story coming out if this.

AS FOR THE SEEDS... we will be starting the soak today and will get back to data collection tomorrow.

The first road block

I am not sure this would have happened to Charles Darwin but with out a dedicated lab to keep my floating seeds, this project has been disrupted by some "unknown event" were they ended up on the floor. I thought of picking them up and just putting them back but that didn't seem to be following a proper protocol. I am not pointing fingers, but in this house anything could happen. So instead of getting discouraged I am off to Wal-mart to get more seeds.

The pots I was using may have been a bit small anyway and I want to double check I used the right about of salt to begin with. This is of concern of course so that the water is like salt water and because if you recall, the cabbage seeds were happier on the bottom of the pot than floating on the surface. So if you are interested at all, tune in soon for Cabbage seed project: Take two.

Day two and three

To my surprise and my pleasure some of the cabbage seeds have come back to the surface of the water to float with the others. This gives me lots of new possibilities to the original story. For example the seeds could land at the bottom of the sea and then eventually make it back up to the surface. Perhaps caught up by an underwater current or taking a ride back up on the back of a turtle. Just two days of observations and the ideas are flowing.

As for the radish seeds, no changes so far. There remain many more of them on the surface, neither falling or rising....so far.

The Cabbage Research Begins

Ok, so maybe the order of things isn't right but I my Cabbage seed story is stalled so I am finally getting to the research I should have done from the start.

Story? Seeds?

I have written a story about seeds floating from one body of land to another and how they managed to get there despite, despite, despite. This story was inspired by some of the research of Charles Darwin. Darwin soaked seeds and plants with their seeds to see how long they could float in salt water and still germinate and grow into a healthy plant. These soaking seed studies were just some of the things Darwin did prior to publishing his theory of evolution.

So back to my home version of the study. My son and I have picked out two of the plastic pots we previously used to dye Easter Eggs and have put home make salt water in both. We then put the cabbage seeds in the green pot and radish seeds in the pink one. And the project is on. Will they float, will they hold together, will they start to smell funny and grow strange slimie coats? We will find out soon.

April 4

The seeds were dropped in the water around 12 noon and the first quite upsetting observation was that most of the cabbage seeds fell to the bottom of the pot. This is not exactly what I thought would happen. This detail would change my story for sure. The radish seeds were much better. More of them stayed on the water surface. There isn't much more to report at this time. So tune in to find out what will happen to the seeds.