Younger offspring: I drew this picture of the Earth!
Dr. Free-Ride: Wow, that's quite a picture. Will you tell me what's going on in it?
Younger offspring: Yes, but first scan it in.
Dr. Free-Ride: Hmm. Is it maybe not a coincidence that you're bringing home a picture like this on a Thursday night?
Younger offspring: That's a really tall volcano. And over there is a smaller volcano -- for grilling stuff. [1]
Dr. Free-Ride: I see. What else is there?
Younger offspring: On the other side of the tall volcano is a meteor coming toward the Earth, and right under that is a meteor-catcher.
Dr. Free-Ride: That's very convenient. What are those between the meteor-catcher and the tree?
Younger offspring: That's the Moon.
Dr. Free-Ride: Are there lots of moons here?
Younger offspring: No, that's the same Moon in different places at different times. The one right next to the meteor-catcher is the Blue Moon. [2]
Dr. Free-Ride: Interesting.
Younger offspring: And this is the ozone. It has some big holes in it.
Dr. Free-Ride: Do you know what the ozone does?
Younger offspring: (Pauses for a moment with furrowed brow) It gives the Sun ultraviolet radiation.
Dr. Free-Ride: Really?
Younger offspring: Ultraviolet radiation is what gives you sunburns.
Dr. Free-Ride: That's right.
Younger offspring: The Earth doesn't give us sunburns, only the Sun does, and the Earth has to get the ultraviolet radiation from somewhere.
Dr. Free-Ride: I think it's more complicated than that. The ozone layer is almost like ... a sunshade. If you're under part of the sunshade with a hole, more of the ultraviolet radiation gets through.
Younger offspring: So we need to wear sunscreen.
Dr. Free-Ride: Sounds good to me.
Younger offspring: The ozone is holey like Swiss cheese.
Dr. Free-Ride: But probably not quite as melty.
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[1] The sprogs have been reading The Little Prince lately. Apparently, the title character of that book does some grilling with volcanoes.
[2] The "Blue Moon" is the second full moon in a calendar month. Usually, it isn't actually blue in color.
And, you can take an online Ozone Hole Tour, which will give you information about what the ozone layer really does.
I love this post. Lucky kid. Lucky mom.
That tree looks like a palm tree at about 50 S latitude. Since most palm trees are tropical, and the most southerly palm tree only reaches 44 S, I think your sprog is forecasting some global warming.
I knew there was Little Prince involved there as soon as I saw the "grilling" volcano. But, Blue Moon is an excellent Belgian white beer!
There really is a volcano grill over a volcanic vent in Lanzarote.
I saw it in 2001, but did not trust the cooking.
There's a photo at
www.lanzarotetourist.com/attractions/pictures/Timanfaya/grill.cfm
I have this feeling that your sprogs will have their own blogs well within the next 10 years.... They clearly like this idea of a 'fridge the whole world can see! ;-)
PS: The Little Prince is way cool... they hardly write them like that anymore.