Camera Obscura

Our latest science project was pretty interesting:  Madison made a camera obscura!  We had the kit for a while now, and thought this would be a fun thing to try this afternoon.  We built this, and even took a few pictures through it:

We also put projected some images through it, shining a picture up on the bathroom wall.  That was the darkest room in the house.  There are some pieces of transparent paper in the kit too - we're hoping to do some tracing of images next.  We tried to see some in the house, but weren't so successful inside the house because of the lighting.  Perhaps outside, and maybe when the temperature is a bit cooler.  It was pretty hot outside today, but the temperature is supposed to drop down this next week, and maybe feel a little more like fall.

Speaking of the weather, a devastating hurricane is hitting Texas this weekend, bringing record rain - they're saying about fifty inches in some places.  This is awful.  Texas has been on our minds this weekend.

Meanwhile, dry here.  No rain for a while, which was okay of course on Monday.  It could be there's a lot coming to us because of this hurricane.  We'll see what happens.

In the meantime, we were out for a bit today, shopping for the main church service upstairs tomorrow.  Also, we stopped for Blizzards before coming home, which is always a plus.

We did piano today for a bit, and we also studied for the upcoming Civil War test.  Madison knows all the answers pretty well:  11 states in the South, and 19 in the north.  Virginia and West Virginia split in 1863.  Emancipation Proclamation was January 1, 1863.  William T. Sherman led the March to the Sea.  Ulysses S. Grant's first two initials were also known as "unconditional surrender."  The hardest thing is pronouncing "Appomattox."  Seriously, weren't they thinking before they made these arrangements?  Couldn't they just have signed the agreement at a place that was easier for kids to pronounce?  How about the "Jones" Court House, or the "Smith" Court House?

Anyway, tonight we continued our Miyazaki fest with the movie "Castle in the Sky."  Which was awesome, of course.  Madison hasn't seen it yet, although Mommy and Daddy did a while ago.  It was a nice movie night, with popcorn and all the works.

At bedtime, we're still in China, still reading about the Starry River of Sky, about giant toads swallowing the moon.  It's been a fun read - we'll be reading more of this author's longer books.

We said our prayers tonight, certainly for Texas.