A Midsummer Night's Day

This is the blog equivalent of posting a note on facebook to say what I just ate for lunch and what I think the cat is thinking.

I played baseball this afternoon.  Hit 100% going 5 for 5 but somehow only got home once.

Simon is having a rebellious day.  The cats both went to the Vet'$ today.  Turns out both are some degree of sick. Kidney problems likely. At least they seem a little happier to be home from the Vet.  I don't think they will be so happy to be on their own for a month.

A friend has a '63? blue Chev Impala.  We were talking about it the other night, tail lights and wheel covers and the like.  Thinking about it today I wasn't sure what year or model the Chev we had was.  Naturally first thought was to pick up the cell phone and give dad a call.  Second thought was how much he probably would have enjoyed that call.

I'm glad Simon likes cars.  He recognizes the logos of most the major manufacturers.  I wonder how many of them will be around when he gets his license.

I finally got most of the wedding photos posted on bradtanella.com.  We are both very happy about how it all went.  It was great that everyone came together for our day.  

Chloe seems to be changing daily now.  She finally has the 2 top front teeth almost in for a total of 4.  Her sign language is very clear with intent now.  Her vocab is now up to about about 10 words with CAT and AGAIN followed closely by mama and pama and alot of things that sound like either head or hat.  She started crawling this week, a week or so after managing to pull herself up and stand on her own.  She loves to cruise along furniture and walls.  The safety gates went back up this week.  

I was trying to feed her dinner earlier this week and she just kept her mouth closed apparently in a not hungry phase again.  Then Simon asked if he could feed her.  With him, she scarfed down that bowl of beans, rice and broccoli puré, then a second, then a yoghurt, then some cookies.  He seemed like such a big brother.

I've still got taxes and invoices and paperwork to do on top of all the rest before we go.  It doesn't look like we'll get the week 'honeymoon' we had hoped for.  Maybe a few days on our own at least.  

We went out for a family bike ride last night for the first time since Chloe's arrival.  She and Simon really enjoy the ride in their kid seats behind us.  It made for a pleasant midsummer evening.

Going out for a family bike ride reminded me of the once or twice Mom and Dad managed to heard us together for a ride though town.  I recall we ended up downtown at Dairy Queen and the bandshell before heading home.  I'm sure somebody had a hissy fit about something along the way, but I don't remember that.  I just remember it being a nice summer outing with a relatively large family.

Last week I took the kids to a local public pool.  Chloe is a fish, well more like a jelly-fish as she loves the water but isn't so mobile as yet.  Simon is still working on the swimming thing but loves to jump in off the edge or get thrown up in the air and land in the water.  Remember Dad taking the kids to Summerville pool?  I wouldn't be surprised if it only happened the once but the memory of playing around, getting launched into the air and chasing each other around still stands out.  

I guess it shows how some of the little things can make a difference.

Hey Dave, when and how will be organize content for Vol. II of the book?

Time to get dinner going.  Gas BBQ.  Simon may never know what it's like to pour out the charcoal briquets in a pile, and toss in a match after dousing them in enough lighter fluid to completely burn the paint off the bbq.  I suppose that's a good thing for him, and us.  

How did we all survive our childhood with all our limbs intact?

Hope you all had a good weekend.

~Me

Just a few from PSV

Here are just 3 of the best 150 pictures from our getaway week...and, no, the top one is NOT photoshopped! You can see ALL the photos in my album on Flickr, which is why I sent you an invitation to join this free photo-sharing site.

We had the best time ever. Just lovely.

j3

Lakehurst Summer '07

As Always, click the Picture for the bigger version.



A couple of this year's cousin pictures.

Compare to last year's cousin picture at the bottom...

news from J3...

Getting ready for our week at the beach, coming up. We'll miss you all at the farm, and hope you have a wonderful time together there. My climbing partner inadvertently gave me the push to get a new camera, when she accidentally dropped my previous one off a 25-foot cliff a couple weeks ago.

I bought a new Canon S-5 (see test self-portrait) bigger than the tiny things but has the flippy screen and the manual controls I wanted. Does impressive video that is instantly accessible (rather than hidden in a nest of menus, which is why I never used it in the Nikon) and has some very cool features I'm still learning about. Shutter lag is no longer a problem, the TTL feature is MUCH better, and the 0-0 super macro is amazing. It also has a nifty stitch-photo feature, that holds the image of the previous shot so y0u can line up the next one, as well as software to sew them together. Still learning how it works, but vacation should be good for that, and I will have figured it out by the time we head for Italy with Mom.

Today is my 20th anniversary as a pilot. That's fairly amazing, really. Thanks to each of you for your enthusiasm and interest at various points with my pursuit, and for being generally willing passengers (I remember taking

• Lorne and David in a very turbulent ride in a 172, and somehow they trusted I'd get them down; and
  
• the trip with Dad that is no longer available to general aviation pilots: up the Potomac river, across the middle of national airport, and then out to the east up the Anacostia River to College Park -- The DC Tour; and
  
• the day trip Mom did with me in the Lance with a bunch of people up to Gatineau and back from Gaithersburg...)
  

It's been a great adventure, and I'm glad that it's a continuing one. If mental activity is one of the hedges against Alzheimer's, I'll take flying over Sudoku any day.

Climbing also continues -- nothing spectacular to report. I did a couple of outdoor climbs at Great Falls (including my camera casualty trip), the hike I enjoy at Old Rag (love to do that with any of you who come to visit!!), and will be doing another skill-building course in August. The week after we get back from Italy, I will return to New River Gorge for a weekend of outdoor women's climbing ("Goddesses on the Rocks", hosted by Sterling Rope) in West Virginia. I will be climbing indoors with my friend Linda in a couple hours.

The only upcoming travel I know about right now will take me to Saskatoon for the Western Aerospace conference on 24-26 October.

While it's early, let us know about plans for Christmas...we are VERY tentatively thinking of coming up to southern Ontario after Christmas but before New Year's.

Love to all,
j3