In 1995 Cuppa and I took a little holiday trip to Eastern Ontario and Ottawa, and onto Montreal. When we were in Ottawa, we had the great pleasure of spending an enjoyable evening with Marcia and Robin. It was the first time that we had visited with them in more than fifteen years. In fact, we had lost contact with them for quite a while.
Marcia and I had taught across the hall from each other for several years back in the seventies, and we all became friends: me, Marcia, Cuppa and her husband, Robin. But we eventually lost contact after Maria and Robin made several long distance moves. It was my fault really; I wasn't a very faithful keeper-upper and letter-writer back then. But I had heard that they were living in Ottawa, and when I knew that we'd be visiting the city, I was keen to renew acquaintances. Somehow, I found Robin's email address, and we've kept in fairly close contact ever since.
Fewer than three years after this reunion, our youngest needed to go to Ottawa for a co-op work placement from her university. When our oldest daughter decided to move with her, Marcia and Robin helped them to find an apartment, and our contacts and with them became more frequent. Often, when we made the long drive to Ottawa to visit the girls, we'd drop by and visit our old friends too. (Since then, as most of you know, Cuppa and I have ended up here in Ottawa too, and our friendship with Marcia continues.)
But about a year and a half after the girls moved here, Robin sought medical help for back pain and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. What a shock! Robin was an athletic and fit man who in his early fifties looked and moved like a much younger fellow. He tried valiantly to beat it and stay with Marcia and his three teenagers, but lost the war only about six months later, early in 2000.
When I received Marcia's initial email, I was in shock and wrote a brief reply expressing my concern, but I didn't want to intrude much into this trial of theirs. However, Cuppa, with her different personality, took it upon herself to write longer and frequent supportive letters to Marcia, who received them ever so gratefully. Because of the stress she was under, Marcia's replies were generally on the brief side, but she found Cuppa's letters to be very uplifting and appreciated them greatly.
Cuppa kept these letters on file and has recently begun to post them on Blogger in Letters to Marcia. I knew that she was planning to do this but didn't realize how far she had gotten until I checked in this morning. She already has eleven posts online, but before she gets too far with this and it becomes onerous to catch up, I thought you might like to get in on the whole series. It begins here with a Letter to Marcia on September 09, 1999. I think you'll find it well worth your while to follow along.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
Cute Little Dickens
The truth is that I am years behind in organizing my photo albums, so I'm trying to at least get the little grand up to date in the next few days. She just turned nine months old on the weekend, but these are from her sixth month. Cute little dickens, eh?
That's this morning's work. Now to vacuum, lunch, fiddle and shop in something approximating that order. Phew!
That's this morning's work. Now to vacuum, lunch, fiddle and shop in something approximating that order. Phew!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Walkies
Cuppa and went out for a walk today. With temperatures hovering around 0°F, it took a wee bit of self-talk, but we managed to haul ourselves out by the scruffs of our own necks. I knew that I would feel better for it, but it I still had to work up my determination.
Of course, it did feel good to get out and take the air as they say. When you bundle up enough, you can actually stay pretty warm. In point of fact, except for my face, I was probably warmer outside than I had been inside, for Cuppa and I tend to keep the house on the coolish side in winter: about 65°F during the day and 60°F at night. I find that wearing a sweat shirt over top keeps me comfy enough during the day, and I have seldom been cold at night. In fact, the opposite is often the case. The other night, I was so hot that I actually got up in the middle of the night to check if the heat hadn't been turned up. It hadn't, so it was just one of my internal switches that had been thrown on.
Anyway, back to the walk — briefly because I am losing track of what I thought I wanted to say when I began. Getting outside in winter can be invigorating. We can and do distract ourselves with indoor activities, but physically moving one's body about on a winter day can be ... well I don't know what exactly. Exhilarating and invigorating (although I used it above) aren't exactly the right words. They're too strong, but I think you understand what I'm driving at even though my thoughts aren't coming together tonight.
What with both of us experiencing ankle problems recently, Cuppa and I haven't done well with walkies this winter, but perhaps we'll be able improve our record over the next few months. One has to take advantage of whatever the local environment offers, for if Canadians waited for the warm weather to get out and move about, we'd all turn into butterballs.
Of course, it did feel good to get out and take the air as they say. When you bundle up enough, you can actually stay pretty warm. In point of fact, except for my face, I was probably warmer outside than I had been inside, for Cuppa and I tend to keep the house on the coolish side in winter: about 65°F during the day and 60°F at night. I find that wearing a sweat shirt over top keeps me comfy enough during the day, and I have seldom been cold at night. In fact, the opposite is often the case. The other night, I was so hot that I actually got up in the middle of the night to check if the heat hadn't been turned up. It hadn't, so it was just one of my internal switches that had been thrown on.
Anyway, back to the walk — briefly because I am losing track of what I thought I wanted to say when I began. Getting outside in winter can be invigorating. We can and do distract ourselves with indoor activities, but physically moving one's body about on a winter day can be ... well I don't know what exactly. Exhilarating and invigorating (although I used it above) aren't exactly the right words. They're too strong, but I think you understand what I'm driving at even though my thoughts aren't coming together tonight.
What with both of us experiencing ankle problems recently, Cuppa and I haven't done well with walkies this winter, but perhaps we'll be able improve our record over the next few months. One has to take advantage of whatever the local environment offers, for if Canadians waited for the warm weather to get out and move about, we'd all turn into butterballs.
My Attention Has Wandered
After laying blogging aside for seven months, Cuppa recommenced posting over a week ago and has been amazingly faithful ever since. Ironically, however, the formerly faithful AC seemed to stop just about the time Cuppa got back in the game. I haven't posted for more than a week, and that last post was simply a random video clip.
Sometimes there are things that I almost feel compelled to write, and I felt that way for awhile and was posting quite regularly. At other times, my attention wanders off in other directions. I guess I've been guilty of that a bit lately. For one thing, I resumed linedancing after a seven month hiatus, and I also picked up the fiddle again after a week of rest for my aching fingers. And, wonder of wonders, I have also been motivated to cast my eye to my old website.
Once upon a time, I had some journals that I wanted to post online. Well, actually I had a paper journal of our road trip out west in 2000, and I decided that I could use it as a means to learning a bit about making web pages and web sites. I put that journal (I called it Westward Ho — original I know) up on the space the my ISP afforded me. But after our next trip in 2001, the space that my ISP allowed me was insufficient to add Eastward Aye. That's when I purchased my own domain, anvilcloud.net.
When Thesha got married , I added Gettin Hitched. I have used anvilcloud.net now and then since but not very much, mostly to post homework for online courses. So, it's pretty well been sitting idle for most of the past few years. I mean to say, when I discovered that I could blog on Blogger and post countless photos on Flickr, I didn't seem to need my own website, and my use of it declined.
But I hated to give it up, and it has nagged me enough lately that I decided to at least update the home page. In the use it or lose it reality of life, I have lost most of my html skills, but I was able to revive enough knowledge to design a new entry page for anvilcloud.net. That's a screen capture of most of it below.
I was able to implement my ideas fairly well, but they didn't turn out as appealingly as I had hoped, but at least it's a change from the old home page. I don't know whether I will add more to the site or not. Perhaps I will host my own blog there someday, rather than on Blogger. Who knows?
Anyway, those are some of the things that have taken my attention lately and my rationale for abandoning you for the time being.
Sometimes there are things that I almost feel compelled to write, and I felt that way for awhile and was posting quite regularly. At other times, my attention wanders off in other directions. I guess I've been guilty of that a bit lately. For one thing, I resumed linedancing after a seven month hiatus, and I also picked up the fiddle again after a week of rest for my aching fingers. And, wonder of wonders, I have also been motivated to cast my eye to my old website.
Once upon a time, I had some journals that I wanted to post online. Well, actually I had a paper journal of our road trip out west in 2000, and I decided that I could use it as a means to learning a bit about making web pages and web sites. I put that journal (I called it Westward Ho — original I know) up on the space the my ISP afforded me. But after our next trip in 2001, the space that my ISP allowed me was insufficient to add Eastward Aye. That's when I purchased my own domain, anvilcloud.net.
When Thesha got married , I added Gettin Hitched. I have used anvilcloud.net now and then since but not very much, mostly to post homework for online courses. So, it's pretty well been sitting idle for most of the past few years. I mean to say, when I discovered that I could blog on Blogger and post countless photos on Flickr, I didn't seem to need my own website, and my use of it declined.
But I hated to give it up, and it has nagged me enough lately that I decided to at least update the home page. In the use it or lose it reality of life, I have lost most of my html skills, but I was able to revive enough knowledge to design a new entry page for anvilcloud.net. That's a screen capture of most of it below.
I was able to implement my ideas fairly well, but they didn't turn out as appealingly as I had hoped, but at least it's a change from the old home page. I don't know whether I will add more to the site or not. Perhaps I will host my own blog there someday, rather than on Blogger. Who knows?
Anyway, those are some of the things that have taken my attention lately and my rationale for abandoning you for the time being.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Definitely Not!
Regarding my previous baby pictures post, many of you noticed a similarity between Thesha and Smudge. Ginnie went on to ask if they are similar. Yes in cuteness and pleasant disposition but definitely not in terms if activity level. Definitely not! No way!
Thesha was a sedate baby. Plop her down, and she'd quietly amuse herself. I remember taking her out with us to visit with several other couples one Sunday night after church. We were the only couple who brought a child. Thesha sat quietly on the floor and continued to amuse herself as the clock hands rolled around a few times. The hostess remarked that she had never seen a baby like that. Neither have I come to think of it.
Smudge is the exact opposite. Her feet hardly ever stop moving and her head constantly swivels back and forth. She's forever twisting and turning and reaching and grabbing. Frankly, I've never seen anything like her before either. Althegal was much more active than Thesha but not to this degree. I guess Smudge is already lagging behind in the crawling department. She's in her eighth month and pushing nine, but doesn't seem likely to crawl soon. Part of the reason may be because she's too busy rolling this way and that. She can get pretty well anywhere she wishes by rolling.
We had thought that Smudge's activity level must come from Dad because he seems like the type who would have been a going concern. But his mother claims that isn't the case, that he wasn't all that active as a baby.
Go figure.
Thesha was a sedate baby. Plop her down, and she'd quietly amuse herself. I remember taking her out with us to visit with several other couples one Sunday night after church. We were the only couple who brought a child. Thesha sat quietly on the floor and continued to amuse herself as the clock hands rolled around a few times. The hostess remarked that she had never seen a baby like that. Neither have I come to think of it.
Smudge is the exact opposite. Her feet hardly ever stop moving and her head constantly swivels back and forth. She's forever twisting and turning and reaching and grabbing. Frankly, I've never seen anything like her before either. Althegal was much more active than Thesha but not to this degree. I guess Smudge is already lagging behind in the crawling department. She's in her eighth month and pushing nine, but doesn't seem likely to crawl soon. Part of the reason may be because she's too busy rolling this way and that. She can get pretty well anywhere she wishes by rolling.
We had thought that Smudge's activity level must come from Dad because he seems like the type who would have been a going concern. But his mother claims that isn't the case, that he wasn't all that active as a baby.
Go figure.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Cuppa Blogs and Babies are Pictured
Headline news: Cuppa has just posted her first blog in seven months. Hopefully, many more posts will follow. I love how she thinks and writes, and I know that those who recall her do too. Over the months I have received many notes inquiring about Cuppa, asking if and when she might blog again. Well, lo and behold, she has.
As for the picture, it's of my own little baby more than three decades past. Thesha had a print and asked if I could restore it a bit and make another copy. I did some repairs and touch-ups, and think it came out well.
As is plain to see, Thesha was one heckuva cute baby then as is her Smudge now (below). Every now and then, I catch a glimpse of Smudge, usually in profile, that reminds me very much of her mother, but for the greater part she favours Dad. The two photos in this post don't reveal much resemblance between mother and daughter, but I thought that I might as well go ahead post an old-fashioned style black & white of The Bonny Wee Smudge to go with the one above.
As for the picture, it's of my own little baby more than three decades past. Thesha had a print and asked if I could restore it a bit and make another copy. I did some repairs and touch-ups, and think it came out well.
I took the original over three decades ago, lo these many years, and enlarged it myself. I didn't have a very good situation for doing my own developing and enlarging, so I didn't stick with it for long, but I'm glad that I was able to practise a few darkroom basics while the opportunity existed. At the time digital cameras and Photoshop were beyond, well beyond, most people's comprehension. In fact, it was to be about another two decades before they came on the market, and I certainly had no clue whatsoever back in the early to mid-seventies about where technology was headed. Back then, I had yet to see my first pocket calculator and computers were huge and only read punch cards. I do remember when my school got its first digital camera much, much later. It only captured a 640x480 pixel image, but I was blown away.
As is plain to see, Thesha was one heckuva cute baby then as is her Smudge now (below). Every now and then, I catch a glimpse of Smudge, usually in profile, that reminds me very much of her mother, but for the greater part she favours Dad. The two photos in this post don't reveal much resemblance between mother and daughter, but I thought that I might as well go ahead post an old-fashioned style black & white of The Bonny Wee Smudge to go with the one above.
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