New Year's Eve chess match

Playing chess with my best buddy Greg...

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Ambrosia

Fiona and I are in our own little corner of culinary paradise right now.  If you have never tried Explorateur, you don't know what heaven on a cracker is.

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Santa visits Pepperell

This is Deidre asking Santa for a portable mechanical bull.

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PIN-FREE AT LAST!

What's really amazing to me is how quickly the holes closed up, though I can't use the hot tub until Saturday.  But even after just a few hours of being pin-free, the difference is remarkable.

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Every which way

I took Emma with me last night to run some errands (picking up some skis and single-wall stovepipe (that sounds like a weird, mad-scientist, shopping list, doesn't it?)) and she started asking which stores we were going to go to. I decided to tease her a bit, so I replied, "We're going to three stores."

"Which ones? Does one of them start with a 'W'?"

"Honestly, except for Home Depot, I don't know; I just know where they are."

While I was serious about not knowing the names, I knew where the two ski shops were. However, Emma was hoping that I was taking her to a hair-cutting salon, and so kept asking me in little ways while we were out and about.

To her pleasant surprise, the first store we stopped at was where Fiona and I had dropped of her skis for adjustments, and then we headed to Home Depot. The third store was a different ski shop where Fiona and I had purchased skis for ourselves prior to our little road trip last week.

While we were checking out at Home Depot, Emma asked, "Is the third store within walking distance?"

"Given enough time, everything is in walking distance," I replied.

"Is it in this plaza?"

"No."

"How far is it by car?"

"About three minutes."

"Which direction?"

I pointed toward the front of the store, "That way."

She realized I wasn't going to tell her anything specific, so she stopped asking questions.

As we approached the car in the parking lot, a little pedantic part of my brain realized that I had pointed the wrong way while I was in the store. "By the way, the store is actually more in that direction; not that you know where anything is in relation to this parking lot..."

"Hey, I'm not completely stupid; I know my North from my left... I mean..."

"Do you now? Really?"

We laughed together.

It was a really cute moment.

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I need to give my wife a hand...

...because this turned out awesome!  More pics tomorrow when it is complete with mashed potatoes.

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Deep thoughts?

I just finished a great conversation with my friend Tina Rotondi where I've finally articulated something that I've known instinctually for years, but never really phrased it the right way:

People will always maximize their self-worth for their perception of the moment at hand.

Of course, defining "self-worth" and the limits to their "perception of the moment at hand" are the tricky parts.

Any thoughts?

Home again

We have arrived safely at home. We both had a great time. Back to reality.

Always check your sources...

Me: "You'll like this one, honey; man arrested for DWI while driving a motorized La-Z-Boy chair..."

Fee: "Was his last name Anderson?"

Me: "No." <scoffs> Maybe I should actually click on the link and check... "Holy Cow! It is!"

Fee: "A long-lost uncle perhaps?"

Me: "Shush."

We have arrived

The picturesque view from the 3rd floor of the hotel.  Fee is going to grab a quick hot-tub and then it's off to The Packing House for dinner.  I can't wait to have the salad bar again!

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Road trip

Fiona and I are off to Illinois for my 20th college reunion.  We're driving (yes; we're crazy)!

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Progress update

The scab has sloughed off, leaving healthy, fresh pink skin behind.  I'm making good progress in physical therapy, though the pins are still keeping me from really pushing forward on flexibility.

Physical therapy is almost as painful as the accident itself.

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20 years...

I've had one interview and one employer since graduating college.

Damn, I feel old.

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Progress is being made...

I actually spent the day today typing/coding after I got back from the doctor/PT. I'm now in a removeable splint (showers again!) and have a list of exercises to do while I'm sitting on the commuter train not riding my motorcycle to work. (No... I'm not bitter about this at all...)

The pins are a little freaky, just sticking out of the back of my hand like that, but in three weeks they'll be gone.  I have maybe 15° of movement in each joint of both affected fingers.  It's going to be months before I even approach normal hand usage.

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Ready for surgery

In the latest fashion.

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update

i'm scheduled for surgery monday morning to have a couple of pins put in the pinkie finger. otherwise, things are looking good.

thanks to all everywhere for the kind words and thoughts.

i've had better days

i'm typing this one-handed as my left arm is in a sling with a compound fracture and dislocation to the ring finger and a fracture and dislocation to the pinkie finger.

while on my morning commute today, a red car side-swiped me and drove off, leaving me sliding to stop in the middle of fresh pond parkway in cambridge, ma.

i was driving in the left lane at about 40 mph with at most two car-lengths between me and the car in front of me, when a red sedan, possibly a compact, in the right lane simultaneously flipped on his turn signal and made a boston-style jump to the left lane. he [assumption; i didn't get a glimpse of the driver] clipped my front tire and down i went on my left side. my head hit the pavement pretty hard, but the helmet did its job. i slid a good long way, but the kevlar jacket, leather gloves and steel toe boots did their job.

i think the injuries to my left hand were due to either me putting out my hand to break my fall, or the handle grip crushed it when the bike hit the pavement. but no road rash except for a bit on my knee where my insulated jeans were torn away. three cheers for wearing the right equipment!

when i came to a stop, i was lying on my stomach with my left foot was trapped under the bike, and traffic was screeching to a stop. luckily enough, there hadn't been any oncoming traffic when i went down, as i ended up over the yellow line. the red car was gone.

'are you okay?' i heard from multiple people.

'no', i replied.

i considered just lying there until help arrived, but i realized that i would cause a horrendous traffic back-up, so gave a great shove against the seat with my right foot and freed my left foot and clambered to my feet.

'you should really stay still until the ambulance gets here', i heard.

'i don't want to cause a traffic jam', i replied as i hauled the bike back up on its wheels. 'this needs to get out of the center of the street.' my left hand complained at this a fair amount, so i knew it wasn't uninjured.

'dude, i ride; i'll take care of it for you,' i heard.

'great; thanks', i said and turned and stumbled to the sidewalk and stretched out on the pavement. the next 15 minutes were the usual chaos of bystanders and first-responders. the emts were excellent and the police took a quick statement. when they realized that it was a hit-and run, i could see in their expressions that the driver of the red car would probably never be found. no one had seen the license plate.

i was strapped to a backboard with my helmet still on. they were asking me what hurt and i indicated my left hand hurt the most, followed by my left knee. the emt was trying to free my left glove from the sleeve to remove it, and wasn't being too gentle about it. i brushed his hands away and did it myself, and so got to see the ring finger first. not pretty, and neither it nor the pinkie finger were pointing in a natural direction.

the ride to mt. auburn was uneventful, aside from learning that the emt and i share birthdays.

the er staff were excellent and very professional. after cutting off my pants and removing most of my clothing, they informed me that they were going to have to cut off my wedding ring because of the swelling. they said it had to be done quickly, but i begged them to give me a local first, as a few bumps to the finger during the removal of my clothing had been quite painful. i think that because i had requested a local and not iv pain meds convinced them that i wasn't a hardcore narcotics seeker who had staged all this to get drugs. they had an iv and 2 mg of dilauded in me in about as many minutes. life was much better after that

the removal of the ring, however, was one of the more excruciating episodes of my life. i'll just leave it at that.

once that was done, i was taken to x-ray and pics were taken of hand, chest and knee. i was returned to the er while the er chair took a look at the films. this was a funny little episode. after scratching their heads for a little bit [the x-rays were being displayed at a computer workstation just outside my room], they came back in and asked if i had ever had any injury to my left hand that had left any foreign matter in the flesh. i hadn't. they were concerned about some shadows on the x-ray, thinking that some dense foreign matter had been ground into the wound, requiring opening up the wound more to get it all out. apparently resigned to doing so, the er chair told my doc to clean up the hand in preparation. he came over to take one last look at the wound before leaving to check on other patients.

'a-ha', he exclaimed. 'mystery solved; come here and take a look at this.' the gold dust from when they had removed my ring had fallen into some of the blood and stuck there. the er chair got a digital camera and took pictures to use as teaching materials.

my doc then gave me some locals to kill the fingers so she could clean the wound, suture it, and reduce the fractures. during all this, fiona showed up. we both felt better for this; she when she saw that i wasn't gravely injured; me for her being there.

the ring finger reduced with a painless pop, but the pinkie finger wouldn't stay reduced. i'll be seeing a hand surgeon tomorrow to discuss options.

once they finished with the hand, and were prepping me for discharge, i asked, 'are you going to put a dressing on the knee?' they had forgotten about it.

they took one look at it and said, 'we're going to have to scrub this to get all the dirt out.' out came the local anesthetics again.

finally they released me and fee brought me home.

i took a nap and got up for dinner and to write this post.

i'll post again after tomorrow's session with the surgeon. if i don't post; it'll probably be because he operated on my hand.

for now, however, it's back to bed.

And abrasive to boot...

A former lawyer friend (the friend part is the part that is no longer true) ended the friendship because he found me "arrogant and abrasive".

One of these days I'm going to get a T-shirt that says, "Lawyers find me arrogant and abrasive."

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We have arrived...

We're in the Admiral's Quarters on the 3rd floor with a private balcony overlooking Boothbay Harbor.  The sunsets are going to be great.

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Never forget...

Today is our 10th wedding anniversary. Because of the events of 9/11/01, this day will always be a bittersweet celebration for us. I had a friend on Flight 11, and Fiona had a friend in the North Tower. We can't imagine the pain and grief suffered by the families of those who were lost. We will always remember the bravery of the men and women who fought tirelessly to save their fellow citizens in the days that followed. We will always be thankful for the sacrifices of the troops who went to avenge us in the months and years to follow.

But we also feel strongly that those who were lost to us due to the events of that day would agree that we should not let this day be a day of mourning alone. Like us, other couples were wed on that day. Children were born on that day. To co-opt a phrase from those days, if we let them take our joys and triumphs from us, then the terrorists have won.

We are heading up to Maine for a relaxing weekend without the children. We hope to have a great time. We are very thankful for our friends watching after our children while we are away.

Fiona, you have made the last ten years of my life my happiest, and I can't wait to post about the next ten in 2019.

I love you more than you can know.

I'm getting old(er)

As a sort of joke, Fee bought me a pair of OTC reading glasses.

They are surprisingly seductive in the utility delivered.

The screen is so much easier to read.

It doesn't help my frame of mind that my birthday is in less than 2 months...

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Roaring 20's

Tommy Guns Vodka.

The bartender described it as really crappy vodka in a really cool bottle.

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Monopoly update

The tie-breaker has finished its third evening. We are roughly even for cash, but I have more properties.  She however has hotels on Old Kent Road and Whitechapel Road.

Oh, yes, that reminds me; we're playing the tie-breaker with a British version from 1961 that we picked up in yard sale. Her hoteled properties correspond to Mediterranean Ave and its pair (the name of which escapes me at the moment).

However, I own all of the utilities and railroads, and only need Park Lane (Park Place) to complete owning the whole of the most expensive side of the board. I'll post another update tomorrow.

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The Tie-Breaker is tonight!

Deidre is hoping the Monopoly-themed t-shirt improves her luck.

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Dad's 72nd Birthday Party

I was worried that Dad was going through a second childhood when we arrived for his party, but apparently it was rented for the grandkids...

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Monopoly update

Deidre did beat me a few trips around the board later when I landed on her Boardwalk with a hotel on it. But in our second game last night, she lost when she landed on a hoteled property of mine. We're both looking forward to the tie-breaker.

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The next Donald Trump?

Deidre had two houses on Park Place and I landed on it. $500 for rent. I had to mortgage 5 proprties to pay the rent.  She then spent $1200 to put hotels on Park Place and Boardwalk and is chanting "snake eyes" at me.

I've created a monster.

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Nice sunrise

This morning had a gorgeous sunrise over Boston. Unfortunately, I can't take pictures while riding my motorcycle. The eastern horizon had a ragged line of clouds, so the potential for a good sunrise was high. I was tempted to bring my good camera, but with a chance of rain in the afternoon, I decided against it. But when I exited Storrow Drive at Copley, this was a view of the Hancock building that I couldn't pass up. Too bad the camera on the G1 isn't better.

Speaking of riding in, I finally bought a riding jacket and gloves with Kevlar, along with raingear. Now I just need some saddlebags and windshield and I'll be set. I'm thinking about a road trip to either my 20th college reunion this year, or my 25th high school reunion next year. MA to IL and back. That could be fun.

Just for completeness sake here on the blog

Deidre is out of the hospital and is doing well. She and the rest of the family are up in Maine while I work to finish a project that is due this week at work.

Night #3

Tonight's activities were air hockey, painting and making a ton of Mr. Potato Heads. Now Deidre is snuggled up in her bed and we're waiting for Ratatouille to start on the Disney Channel. If she doesn't spike a fever tonight, we'll be going home tomorrow. I've got my fingers crossed.

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Not my first choice for fashion wear...

So Deidre wanted to take a shower, rather than face my "leet" Candyland skills again. Seeing as she has an IV in, the nurse wanted to wrap it in plastic to keep it dry. So she did. With a plastic grocery bag and some medical tape. Excellent solution!

After the shower when I needed to remove it to get Deidre dressed, however, the nurse was busy elsewhere, so I wandered down to the nurses' desk to ask for a pair of scissors.

As I round the corner to there, I see a young girl (16-18) walking toward me followed by two other girls of the same age range. The first girl is clearly a patient, as she is not only wearing a sweats/johnny-gown/bathrobe combo, but she is also pushing one of those rolling IV hanger stands to which she is attached.

"Sorry!", she calls out to me, as I stop and take a step back to make way for her and her entourage.

"No problem," I assure her. "Take your time."

She lets out a little giggle as she approaches me. "Well, it's not like I can walk very fast like this..." and she lifts her foot up behind her as she passes, revealing the fact that she hobbled by, well, foot cuffs very much like the picture accompanying this post.

I blink at them and at her as she let's out another giggle and heads down the hallway to her room. I glance at her companions, but they are avoiding making eye contact with me.

Very odd.

I wonder if she's under house arrest or something like that, or if she's got them on due to being a psych patient. In any case, regardless of if she's a criminal or a lunatic, why is she on a kid's floor (this floor is for toddlers thru teens) wearing leg-irons?

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The excitement never ends...

Our Candyland tournament is interrupted by the nurse taking Deidre's vitals.  Deidre won the first game and I won the second.  I was perfectly willing to go for the tie-breaker, but apparently it's shower time.

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Awesome waiting room picture

First of all, let me assure you that I am completely unharmed

Not even a bruise or any soreness.

I laid down the motorcycle this morning. A truck in front of me braked hard for a pedestrian and when I followed suit and swerved slightly to avoid hitting him, I hit a patch of gravel and the bike went right out from under me. I landed on a grass berm at the side of the road and slid about 15 feet on my right side. Lovely grass stains on my only decent pair of jeans. Now I need a new pair for casual Fridays.

The bike suffered relatively minor damage. A silver dollar sized scrape on the muffler, the plastic decoration on the gas tank ground away, the brake cables scraped a bit, both mirrors damaged, and the alignment of the front fork is off.

I drove it back home (3 miles) and took the train in.

Seriously, I have NO injuries, but it could have been much worse. Where I landed on the berm was two feet beyond the curb. Had I landed two feet earlier, I would have slammed my rib cage into the granite curb at about 25 mph.

Yes, I know I'm very lucky. Yes, I'm going to be much more cautious when driving near the side of the road.

My own private circle of hell

Now that we're home from the hospital, and I've caught up on all my personal email and have had a full night's sleep, I can properly relay the hell that was the last night at the hospital. But first, I'll need to set the scene.

Deidre was in "room" 508, which was really the bed without the window in the room that was split into 508/509. 509 was a decently sized "room". It had room for the bed, a side-table, the recliner/cot combo, a rocking chair and space by the bed to accommodate the IV stand. 508 however, barely had room for the bed and recliner/cot combo. The side-table was crammed behind the recliner/cot with no access to the drawers, and the IV stand was jammed between them and the bed, always in the way.

Both beds had two light fixtures available to them. A wall unit behind the bed and up high for indirect lighting and a ceiling unit for lighting up the whole room. I never did find the switch for our ceiling unit, but I did figure out the pull string for the wall unit.

The girl in 509 was afflicted with some abdominal malaise that manifested itself with a distended stomach and severe intestinal distress. Now, I don't want people to think that I was insensitive to what the little girl in 509 was going though. She was clearly suffering and I wouldn't wish that on any child. But the series of events that played out that night made me question the wisdom of the hospital putting anyone else in the room with her.

Across the hall in 510 was a child of unknown (to us) sex and age, but the rumour mill told us that the child was mentally disturbed and quite strong. During the day, the was little noise from the room, but the 24/7 rotating guard outside the door was fairly conspicuous. These guys could have been bouncers. There were a few incidents during the day of agitated yelling from within, but amid the daily hustle of the ward, I barely noticed them.

The last night of Deidre's stay started out much like the previous night. Deidre was watching TV while I read a book. Around 8:30, clearly worn out by her visitors (this is a good thing), Deidre turned off the TV and went to sleep. I continued to read for about 45 more minutes and then turned off the lights and rolled on to my side and closed my eyes.

Maybe 15 minutes later, 509 also turns out their lights and all is quiet.

For maybe 10 minutes.

The little girl starts to moan and cry aloud. I hear some rustling and the overhead light in 509 flashes to life. Blinking against this sudden assault to my eyes, I bury my face in the pillow to block it out. The little girl's cries get louder and suddenly there is the sound of explosive diarrhea filling a bed pan. Sustained, gassy diarrhea. And a stench. Wow, what a stench.

As I struggle not to cough and gag, the diarrhea runs it course and the grandmother takes the bedpan to the bathroom on the other side of the wall from me. After a brief muffled washing out of the bedpan, the industrial-strength toilet roars out as she flushes the mess away.

Using the toilet is completely understandable; you don't want to leave it in the bowl all night polluting the air. But the hysterical screaming fit that this instigates from the child in 510 is monumental.

A sustained "WAAAH, WAAAH, WAAAH, WAAAH" fills the hallways for about 10 minutes. This kid had some breath control. His screaming didn't waver or weaken the entire time. I was wide-awake and beginning to get a headache. Deidre, of course, slept through the whole thing.

Now, of course, this incident in and of itself would be worthy of a post, but alas, this wasn't all that I was to be subjected to that night. With little deviation from the original script, this little drama repeated itself through the night with about 45 minutes between performances.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

I slept quite well last night in my own bed.

Flintstone vitamins

My immediate family might recognize the significance of my buying Flintstone vitamins. The pharmacist and I decided that this would be good substitute for the iron supplement prescribed by Deidre's doctor.

Anyway, we're home now, and Deidre is parked on the couch watching a movie.

Many thanks to all for your kind words of support through all this.

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Settled in for the night...

Deidre is sleeping soundly and I'm "bedded" down for the night.  Hopefully the nurses won't wake me too many times during the night.

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Deidre's Surgery

The surgeon just came out to tell that Deidre's doing fine and the surgery went well.

More later...

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Evening Cookout

"Did you want me to cook all the 'dogs'"?

"Yes, you can cook all of them except Chewie."

Ha, ha; do you want me to cook all the hot dogs?"

"Well, it is 85 degrees out, so they're all hot."

"Ha, ha. I'm going to try this one more time, them I'm going to leave and go ride my bike again. Do you want me to cook both packages?"

Both women in the room glanced down below my belt and burst into laughter.

I knew I had been outclassed.

I'm starting out with one... container of cylindrical processed meat products and re-evaluating after the kids have eaten.

My Friday Afternoon Motorcycle Commute

I had been watching the radar all afternoon, and I had seemed to luck out. The worst of the storms were passing Boston just as my day was ending, and the next front seemed to be 2 hours away. So off I went.

All was well all the way out Route 2 to 495, where I saw that the traffic was slowing as traversed the on-ramp.

"Damn, if I could have seen this before I took the exit, I would have stayed on 2."

So, I merged into traffic and made my way into the middle lane. As I progressed up 495, it became apparent to me that traffic was slow, not due to an accident or anything like, but due to the sky was turning quite dark, quite quickly.

"I am definitely going to get wet before I get home."

The low-hanging dark clouds were fascinating to see from the back of the bike. Changing quickly due to the winds, it almost seemed as if I could reach up and swirl them with my own hands.

I reached 119 and headed towards home. Slowly, I came out from under the dark clouds.

"Maybe this is my lucky day. Maybe I've gotten past the rain line."

I could see into the distance, and the air was clear. No rain ahead. I was going to make it home dry.

Then I came to the intersection of 119 and 225. I ended up first in line in the right-hand lane, next to a JEEP in the left-hand lane. Both lanes could go straight. I was going to be first to the lane merge past the intersection.

The light turned green, and off I went. I quickly advanced up through the gears and was easily ahead of the JEEP by the time I got to the lane merge when it happened.

Judging from the amounts of standing water I ran through later down the road, Groton/Pepperell must have gotten about 2 inches of water dropped on them in the next 15 minutes. For about five of those minutes, I could barely see the road in front of me. People were pulled off to the side of the road to wait out the cloudburst. No one was moving faster than 10 MPH.

Needless to say, I got soaked.

When I got home, I looked at myself in the mirror. The only thing dry on me was my head because of the helmet. I was drenched.

At least now I know I can safely ride my motorcycle in the rain.

This one is for you, Emma

SuperDuck (left) has long been a denizen of my desk at work.  Emma bought it for me for Christmas many years ago.  More recently, maybe two years ago, TontoDuck (right) was also given to me for my birthday (I think; it may have been Christmas again).  Ever since, he's been living on the top of the refridgerator awaiting my taking him in to keep SuperDuck company.

Clearly I finally got around to doing so.

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The motorcycle experiment so far...

So I've been commuting on the bike for two weeks now.  Average time to work; 1:05 : average time to home; 1:20.  But because I leave the house at 5:45 and get home around 4:20, it's like I've gotten back an hour and forty minutes of my life!

Plus, it doesn't hurt that riding it is SO much fun!

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A budding scientist

Last Saturday Deidre picked up a chemistry set in a yard sale.  Tonight we started the experiments.

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Fireworks!

They look much better in real life.

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Happy 4th of July

The usual suspects are waiting for the town parade to start. Later will be the usual shenanigans in the backyard and the pool, followed by fireworks at dusk.

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War!

Deidre and I go at each other.

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Father's Day Present

Liz gave me one of my best Father's Day presents ever.

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Ouch...again.

Around 4:00 this afternoon, I squatted down and felt a 'pop' and my knee slowly started swelling.  Now, just 7 shorts hours later (4 after checking in at the ER), I'm told that I have a couple of tiny chips off my patella and possible ACL damage.  Oh joy.

Maybe someone is trying to tell me something about riding a motorcycle.

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Saturday Morning Snark

I was noticing that I couldn't fit all my vitamins, allergy pills and anti-inflammation pills in my daily pill dispenser and so I remarked to Fee...

"Honey, I think I'm going to have to get a bigger one."

"Oh really!?", she replied.  "I didn't know you could order those."

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Deidre's Last Blast

Deidre's last day of school has culminated in a mini-carnival and she's loving the jump room.

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Emma's favorite birthday present

Her's (an Asus EEE PC 900) is on the left being compared to my ThinkPad T60.

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85 Best Loved Songs

I know that Mom will appreciate this the most, but Deidre treats this little pamphlet as THE authority on what are the most popular songs in the world.

We just spent the last half-hour listening to Emma perform her favorite songs from Joseph & The Technicolor Dreamcoat while we were on our evening walk.

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Home and Happy

We're home and happy.  Deidre has a diverticulum on her bladder and the doctor wants to remove it.  But that's better than her having to catheterize herself daily for the rest of her life.

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Ready for surgery

Deidre is ready for her cystoscopy.

We'll let you know how it goes soon.

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Motorcycle Riding Practice - Day #1

Oops.

I laid it down on my first day.

I'm going to really feel it tomorrow.

But at least I was wearing my helmet.

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Next on my reading list... Robert M. Pirsig

I now own a 2003 Suzuki Intruder Volusia 805cc with 7600 original miles on it.

Now I just need to learn how to ride it.

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She is definitely my child

A conversation from five minutes ago:

Fiona: "So Meredith told me today that Deidre exited the house through the window with no screen. I was a little worried that she meant the one in Deidre's room (2nd floor), but she assured me it was the one in the Great Room (1st floor)."

Me: "DEIDRE!"

Deidre eventually appears.

Me: "Through what do we exit the house?"

Deidre: "Doors."

Me: "Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"

Deidre: "Yes."

Me: "No more going out the windows."

Deidre: "Yes Daddy."

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Memorial Day

We spent it at Fort Foster in Kittery, ME. A nice, quiet day at the beach.

I'm hoping we leave in time to beat the traffic.

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Wholesome TV shows

Fiona and I were being lazy this morning and just lying in bed and chatting while listening to the sounds of the kids as they entertained themselves.

Then we heard the theme to Little House on the Prarie coming up from the Great Room.

"Oh Lord," I said.

"There are worse things they could be watching," replied Fiona.

"Yeah, like Pride and Prejudice."

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Playing Hooky

Last Monday, Fiona, Emma, Deidre and I all played hooky and went to the New England Aquarium in Boston for a quick little getaway.

A good time was had by all.

A budding poet perhaps?

Emma treated us all to a poem she wrote at school today, and it was so good, I wanted to share it with my audience here.

Isabel Meets The One And Only

Isabel meets her one opponent.
Will she leave or will she own it?
Her little brother was filled with glee,
Until he ate those last three peas.
Isabel's mother called and said,
"Go change your brother on the bed."

Isabel, Isabel didn't worry.
Isabel, Isabel didn't scream or scurry.

Up in the room, the right place,
Isabel saw his ugly face,
Which hurt her eyes, wow, now that's a surprise.
Now listen to that baby's cries.
Now he smiles nice and big,
His teeth were sharp as a pig's.
The little baby stole the wipesters.
Wow! That is a stinky diaper.
Her nose was burning, her eyes were bare.
The baby gave her the evil glare.

Isabel, Isabel didn't worry,
Isabel, Isabel didn't scream or scurry.

Her hair was burning, every bit.
She turned around and he was eating it.
Isabel did die that night,
Isabel died from so much fright!

While she was reading it, it looked like she was reading from a printed booklet, but after she read it, I asked to see it and then realized that she had written it. Sure it's a little rough around the edges, but for 10 minutes of work, it does show a lot of potential.

I'm so proud of her.

My sweetie loves me

This year is our 10th anniversary (9/11), but she didn't want me to go through the summer without having access to this to capture the moments.

Wow!

I love her!

Sent from my G1...

I have mixed feelings about this...

Fiona was cleaning up the basement playroom this afternoon while I was working from home in my office. Just about quitting time, Deidre came to my office with a request from Fee.

"Mom wants you to get her a bin to... she needs a place to put..."

I looked at her with an 'out-with-it-already' look on my face.

"She wants..." Deidre was clearly struggling to come up with the right word for something.

"It's okay; I'm just about finished here. I'll ask her myself."

"She wants a bin to put those things that you can only play in the playroom or in your room."

I looked at her quizzically, then shrugged and stood up. "It's okay, I'll ask her myself." I said as I started for the door of my office.

"TAPES! Mom wants to store the tapes from the playroom."

Again, I looked at her; uncomprehending. Then I got it. And I laughed, all the way to the playroom.

"What did I say that was so funny?"

I told Fiona about the exchange, and as I described how Deidre was struggling for the word, she smirked as well, clearly understanding why I was so bemused.

I don't think I've ever felt as old as I did just then, knowing that my child was more familiar with CDs and DVDs than with VHS tapes, but I'm glad she's not overly-saddled with working knowledge of obsolete technology.

I'm betting this is how Grandpa felt when Dad was messing about with cars instead of horses.

Rail Trail Casualty

I took Emma and Deidre for a bike ride on the Rail Trail and we found this poor fellow at the end of the parking lot.

Sent from my G1...