Author: Lowell

Memory Lane

I’d been back to MA since we moved, but not Pam and the kids, so we planned on spending a bit of time down memory lane.  Here we are in front of Bartlett Hall, the home of the philosophy department.

 
L and K couldn’t quite get enough of our hotel room.  It was only after they had bounced off the walls (and beds) for a while that we put two and two together: they’ve never (at least in their memories) spent a night in a hotel room.
The next morning we decided to do breakfast at one of our favourite breakfast/brunch places in Hadley: the Esselon Cafe.  The have excellent coffee and tea and some very good breakfast menu options.  The fact that they have a nice patio doesn’t hurt either.  After breakfast, we headed to the Chesterfield Gorge, one of the picnic spots we frequented when we lived here.

The kids had a great time jumping from rock to rock on the river.  As was bound to happen, both of the kids eventually fell in and got wet.  They were good sports and didn’t complain too much about spending the rest of the afternoon with wet shoes and pants.
After some lunch, we headed back to Northampton.  Pam and the kids spent some time at the library.  Pam and I were curious about how much of the town L would remember.  He was 3 1/2 when we moved.  He kept saying he didn’t remember anything, but when we got to the library, L said to K, “This is a fun library.”  We asked him how he knew that.  He said he didn’t know.  Though he kept on professing ignorance, it was clear that somewhere deep in his subconscious he was travelling down some familiar paths.

Cousin L’s Birthday

Cousin L turned 1 recently and we were all at Grandpa and Grandma L’s to celebrate it.  The winter has blown some big drifts onto the yard and L, K, and cousin T spent some time enjoying them.

Grandpa traded off the snowmobile on a 4-wheeler, so of course everyone had to enjoy it.  K and L both took a number of rounds on Uncle B and Uncle M’s modified GT Racer.  There’s too much snow to go off the beaten path, but there are enough paths to make for an enjoyable time.

Uncle B and Grandpa also hitched the horses to the sleigh.  The sleigh isn’t big enough for everyone, so some have to ride in the calf-sled pulled behind it.  It was the afternoon of the second day and so everyone was operating on less than a full night’s sleep and had a really hard time staying awake.

Grandma F didn’t accompany Grandpa F on his annual mission trip to Mexico this year.  We had the pleasure of hosting her for a few days.  She brought her rainbow-bracelet loom with her and it was a hit.  L and K are very proud of their bracelets and are always asking to make more.

Catching Up

L has the misfortune of having his birthday fall during the winter break.  His Mom, who looks after him (and the rest of us) so well, planned a birthday party for him in the new year.  He was allowed to invite a few school friends over and they all enjoyed his lego-inspired cakes.

We decided to do something slightly different for Christmas this year.  Instead of giving Grandma and Grandpa a traditional gift, we gave them a complimentary weekend at the “Ingersoll Elms” bed and breakfast.  We went to see a Wesmen volleyball game on Friday evening.

On Saturday morning, Grandma gave L a drawing lesson.  This was part of L’s Christmas gift from her.

In the afternoon, we all went to the Manitoba Museum.  We got to see how the ancient Egyptians mummified bodies and were able to see the iconic ship, The Nonsuch.

The weekend was such a hit that we will probably do it again.  The month also involved a hit of a different kind.  We became an MPI statistic.  Pam and the kids were on the way to drop L off at school when this happened.

It was cold, we weren’t driving winter tires, and there were some deep ruts. Nobody was hurt, though the event seems to have been permanently etched into the minds of all the passengers.  We are hoping to get our car back this week.

It’s now published

My dissertation is now published online.  There’s no going back.  All the false and crazy things I said in it can forever be attributed to me.  If you are a reader of this blog, I probably say something about you, directly or indirectly, in the acknowledgements section.  Contrary to what I say in the rest of the document, what I say in the acknowledgements I know to be both true and sincere.  Have a look.

A Celebratory Meal

There have been a number of things that have happened in our household recently that have been deserving of a celebration: 2 birthdays, an anniversary, and a completed degree.  So on Tuesday we decided to try something.  We went to the supermarket and bought some sea creatures to eat.

I’m not sure that a trip to the supermarket has ever been as much fun, for me or for L and K, as this one was.  On the way home, I asked L and K what the names of the lucky lobsters were.  K had a ready response: Sophie and Louie. 

Pam and I have had a few lobster meals in our lives and I dare say that Tuesday’s supper was as good as any lobster dinner I’ve had in a restaurant.  We started with some mussels and then enjoyed the lobster with corn, baked potato, and a nice bottle wine from Mission Hill.  L and K were also big fans, though they had to enjoy their meal without the grape juice.
 

I think that part of what made the meal so enjoyable for L and K was watching Mom and Dad get the meat out of the lobsters.  We didn’t have fancy tools, so we just used knives and scissors.

We’ll definitely do this again.  Anyone want to join us?

The Announcement

I found this email in my inbox the other day.

The Final Oral Examination for the PhD for Lowell Friesen is scheduled for Tuesday, August 20, 2013 at 3:00pm in Bartlett 374. The title of Lowell’s dissertation is “The Structure of Consciousness” and his dissertation chair is Joe Levine.

A copy of the dissertation is available in the Main Office.

All members of the UMass philosophical community are invited to attend the oral exam.

I’ve seen many other names appear in broadcast emails like this.  It’s good to finally see one with my name on it.  Hard to believe it’s now less than two weeks away.  Yikes!  If only I had the time to study.