[Image at right: the Langbehn-Pond family, from Janice Langbehn's Twitter page. Lisa at left, Janice at right.]
I had a Banned Books Week / LGBT families in children’s lit post all queued up and ready for its final powdering, but have to set it aside after reading on Tuesday evening that the Langbehn v. Jackson Memorial [...]

Banned Books Week started on Saturday, and this year I’m celebrating it properly!  Every day this week I’m going to post something supporting the theme as it relates to books for and about our kids. “Our” here meaning LGBT families, immediate and extended, as well as our allies.
Today I’m reposting a list of LGBT-themed [...]

Giggly sister (floppy brother), Berkeley, CA.
Photo above Taken by ye olde Special Uncle (note shoe at 3 o’clock) during a delightful chance encounter with him and ye olde Special Aunt outside one of our town’s most venerable coffee emporiums. Emporia. Whatever.
We’re outside the flagship Peet’s, opened by Alfred Peet over 40 years ago.  He was [...]

* Now with fundraising thermometer, below.
If you’ve been watching the news, you know that Maine needs our help.
The same campaign of fear-mongering and misinformation that helped remove marriage equality in California is being waged in Maine. All the way down to the exact same ads promoting the exact same lies (see the Box Turtle Bulletin posts: [...]

What you see above  is a boy having a blast on a zoo train.  It’s just a blast with coping mechanism in place.
Some weeks back, his Gramma took him on a trip to the local park’s steam train (the Redwood Valley Railway, much beloved by generations of Bay Area miniature railroad enthusiasts: all aboard!), and [...]

Watching the carousel, Oakland Zoo, CA.
Happy New Year (5770!), those of you celebrating. Renewal: almost always welcome. (For the quasi-irreverent: here.)

Would that this much face paint could make her as happy in another five years.  But that’s what makes five years old (5!) so special. Because right now, this plus fairy dust is pretty much the cat’s meow. (My note to self: Don’t blink.)