Month: October 2007

L has some English words to add to his verbal repertoire these days, I don’t think it is just a mom’s wishful imaging. Since Dad is such a fun guy (as seen in the pictures below) it is no wonder that “Dad” is on the list. “Book” (sounding like gook), “Dog”, “Sock” and a very breathy “Pooh” (as in Winnie-the-Pooh). He is currently practicing Car, Cat, Cup, Up, Duck and Drop, but he is not using these words consistently enough to add to the list just yet. Lowell asked L this morning if he ever said “Mom”. He doesn’t. Why would he have to know me, I am always around, nothing exciting about that.

Here Dad has L laughing so hard that he can’t even pull himself up on the coffee table.

Just good old fun with dad.

Over the course of our married life, Pam and I have been relatively frequent visitors to the movie theater. We’re not movie snobs, but we are fairly selective when it comes to Hollywood productions and we don’t shy away from watching “obscure” or independent films when they catch our eye. L’s arrival has, of course, kept us away from the theater, so when we want to watch a movie, it involves renting a movie online or in-store.

I’ve become somewhat of a pessimist when it comes to movies. Even after being fairly picky in the selection process, some movies make you regret that you took the time to watch them. Others amount to little more than an agreeable means of passing the time. Only a few leave enough of a positive impression on you for you to recommend them to friends. I’ve learned to keep my expectations low. What you want from a movie is a memorable experience, but only a few ever deliver.

Well, Pam and I lucked out on a movie this weekend. We were looking for something to do on Saturday evening, so we went to Blockbuster. As happens fairly often these days, we walked around the entire store looking at all the newest releases and, having finished the walk, were left wondering if there was anything that had caught our attention enough bother renting. With the we’re-here-so-we-may-as-well-get-one attitude, we decided to rent Away From Her. It’s a Canadian-made movie about a late-middle-aged couple living through the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

I don’t know if I’ve ever been as emotionally impacted by a movie as I was with this one. (I’m not sure if it’s okay for a man to endorse a movie for this reason, but I’ll do it anyway: I may have cried more than Pam did.) Few things are as genuinely good and meaningful as long-lasting, intimate relationships between human beings. And only a few things are as genuinely evil as the things that bring those relationships to an end. This movie will remain with me for a long time.

So I tried something new. I was in the grocery store the other day and pomegranates were on display. Now I have never tried pomegranates and actually never even seen the inside of one: but I like fruit, so I gave it a try. Turns out that eating a pomegranate is a little bit of work. They are actually not bad, Lowell even liked them. Not something that you can eat all the time; taste is rich, texture is like chewing on grape seeds.

And now to keep some of my readers happy, here is a picture of L. Daddy has become L’s favourite person, especially when Daddy plays ball with him.

but don’t ask him to be happy about it. ” Some days are good days and some are not, this is true for everyone, today is not a good day for L. For that matter neither was yesterday. Overall he is very busy exploring his world, either walking along furniture or crawling when he is wanting to travel further afield. He can pull himself up, sit back down and reach for things that are on the floor.

L is weaned now which is one of the issues he is in opposition to. Mom’s arms have the bruising to show for it; L has no teeth yet, but those little gums are hard. The other issue L is in opposition to is sleeping. Sleeping is fiercely objected to 5 times a day (2 naps, bedtime and twice overnight), today and yesterday he refused to take one of his naps, hence not very happy days.

Well if he is not always cheerful at home at least we can take him anywhere. L loves people, it doesn’t matter who. If they will look his way he is sure to give them his big toothless grin.

Lowell has joined the choir at Grace Episcopal Church, they practice Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings before the service. Grace is in Amherst and we drive there Sunday mornings, so L and I have to entertain ourselves while Daddy practices. Last Sunday we enjoyed lattes with Aunty I, the Sunday before we roamed the grounds of the Emily Dickinson Museum. This morning was an absolutely beautiful autumn day and we checked out Amherst College and enjoyed the fall foliage. Just a piece of trivia for you, Robert Frost (The Road Not Taken) was part of the faculty of Amherst College for 40 years.

L has really enjoyed spending time with his aunt I.

Today we decided to do some hiking. We drove to Chester and hiked into the woods to see some old bridges. The bridges were built in the 1830s and were built without the use of any mortar. All of the stones in the bridges were handcut. They are pretty impressive structures, towering 70 to 80 ft above the river.

While Canadians are celebrating Thanksgiving, Americans observe Columbus Day. In what is becoming a bit of a Columbus Day tradition, we are again hosting family from Calgary. Yesterday, we took in King Richard’s Faire. This is basically an excuse to spend a lot of money in the company of people dressed in Robin-Hood-era costumes. We had fun and will remember one of the jugglers for a long time; he had us laughing till the tears were flowing.

Today, we drove to Gloucester to see some whales.

After we enjoyed the whales, we did some sightseeing in the area. Below you see Pam and L standing in the garden of a replica of a medieval castle. The last picture was taken in Rockport, MA.

L would rather be walking along furniture then crawling. He does move around slowly now, but he would rather do it on his feet even when there isn’t anything or anybody to hold on to.

I have been working at my sewing machine lately, but I have not been quilting. When I was in the fabric store looking for ribbon for the remote control home I came across this beautiful fabric. I loved it, so, I did an uncharacteristic impulse buy and came home with enough material for a skirt. It actually came together fairly easily; I was amazed when I got the zipper in nicely on the first try. I still like the material in the form of a skirt, and I like the skirt after some minor fitting alterations. Now I need to find something to wear with it, which I find is the problem with skirts. I guess this means that I need to spend some time in a shopping mall, oh well!