Fireballs and catfood....

Callum is very independent lately....he likes to cook, vacuum,, and do things for himself

This time, when we werent looking, he decided he wanted to feed Lupine.....
What a great kid, huh? He meant so well...wicked cute...he was so embarrassed...

This past Saturday night, Sally and I chaperoned prom. This was the second time we have gone together....the first time being 7 years ago...in my rookie year at WHS....

To celebrate our date, I made FIREBALLS on the Weber....basically meatloaf with an attitude. A cross between a spicy meatball and a meatloaf...all wrapped in a basket weave of bacon,, of course. I smoked them on the grill for about 2 hours. I love BBQing...
Also, on the BBQ, I made some handcut "fries" which came out well!
A man, charcoal, and a cast iron skillet: It is a beautiful thing....

Maiden Voyage, even

On Saturday, we went on our first canoe trip of the year, and Maira's first canoe trip EVER. We paddled a pretty section of the Belgrade Stream, which connects Great Pond to Messalonskee lake, even. Lots of good fishing I hear. Pike and such. But we were there to paddle.

First Callum packed his "canoe bag/" Let's see: An orange, his snoopy water bottle, his little paddle, an apple, his bald eagle, and...oh! Let's not forget two Russian dolls!! You need those!!

Getting ready to "shove off." Callum LOVES paddling, and he RESPECTS the boat, his seat, AND, most of all, the water. He embraces it, enjoys it, isnt afraid to put his hand in while we go...BUT he knows to sit in his seat, wear his life vest, etc. A VERY good boy. A beautiful day. Until the thunder storm moved in.
Callum, Maira, and my co-captain paddling "scamper-the camper" canoe! Pretty shallow water...we saw crayfish on the bottom...lots of rocks...beaver dams....many orioles once we got to the expansive march....good stuff
Asleep, soothed by the sounds of the water. Cute little life jacket. She did well for the most part. Needed to eat once, but otherwise enjoyed it. We were only out for about a half hour....
My little buddy. Over the right is the marsh expanse where we saw MANY orioles with their black bodies and orange wings, even.
Come with us next time!

700TH POST!!!!!!

In honor of the 700th post of Goldsmith5, I thought I would pay homage to a very special little girl who--unlike her brother--has not yet appeared in any blog videos. Grandparents, enjoy. This past Friday, I went up to the bowels of our garage attic, pored through boxes of decorations, dead bodies, and Amanda to-do lists in order to find the one, the only: the Jumparoo. This is a rite of passage for Goldsmith children. Callum spent MANY MANY hours of his life having a blast in this thing, and now it is Maira's turn. She is such a sweet little lady, and we just love her so much. Even if she has no idea what sleeping through the night is. And stuff.

Meanderings 65

1. My Ajax dish soap--the bottle on the sink-- has "45% more than its competitors" it is funny to think about dish soap fighting each other. Has America really become THAT competitive? Now we have to have cute bubbly sinky-soap getting all nasty and gangster with each other?

2. What about a restaurant that ONLY cooks things in cast iron skillets? Even the water is boiled in dutch ovens. It is a huge selling point. "Casting Like Crazy" could be the name. I'd go. I'd get eggs probably.

3.Do you hate it when you drink something with ice in it and suddenly you learn you are about to drink an ice cube by accident? Like it slipped by the goalie somehow. I hate that. Instantaneously I have a decision to make: Am I going to suck it up and swallow the cube, which will undoubtedly disrupt the whole "groovy flow" I have going on with my beverage du jour and shock my system? OR, do I put everything on hold, stop, shift into reverse, and try to backwash the cube back into the drink. This saves the ice cube from brainfreezing me...but now you are left with backwashed drink which could contain bits of food. What if i am not ready for that commitment yet? I am just DRINKING for crying out loud...

4.Windbreaker? Seriously? A thin layer of nylon is going to "break" one of mother nature's mightiest and most forceful weapons? pa-lease. humans. No wonder we are the same race of people who think Glenn Beck is smart. So stupid.

5. Individual letters, on their own, are called "characters" As if they have personality. No way. Individual letters are not "characters." Except maybe the colon. The colon is cool: He announcing crap to the masses. The colon is a "man of the people." He tell it like it is. Other than that, individual letters are not "characters." They are nothing without me. Or periods. Stupid humans. No wonder we are the same race of people who watch cosmetic-surgery-gone-wrong-as- entertainment. Silly....

oldie but goodie

Match this text up with the pics I posted this morning....fill in the blanks...yada yada...

Maira rolled over! This was a huge milestone for her--and about the only happy thing to report about the little girl--since she is most definitely teething and is MIS.ER.A.BLE lately....drooly face, red puffy cheeks, constant crying, etc. I hope she gets over all this crying stuff before she is an adolescent. Ha. But it was this past Saturday: Maira and I were hanging out in the living room while Amanda and Callum were outside, and she just did it...she got a kick out of herself!

Today is a "red letter" day in the annals of American history: Osama Bin Laden was killed by the Navy SEALS last night in a small hamlet of Pakistan. I wanted to include this in today's post since, someday, I hope to look back on all of these blog entries as sort of a "chronology" of sorts. After all--this IS the Complete Works of Goldsmith. Even.

These pictures were taken last week, but I havent been posting a lot. I concede that the kids have me utterly exhausted lately--Maira is an unhappy little chick who always needs to be held lately because of her teeth...and then, on the other hand, you have Mister Scabolious who canno be outside ENOUGH, and constantly wants you to play baseball, ride bikes, play frisbee, run, chalk, drink beer, funnel, and more. Add to that all the WORK that spring in Maine necessitates on the part of the house and the yard, and it certainly a very frustrating situation. It is VERY hard to get any landscaping/repairs/firewood/painting stuff done. I find myself going out at 730 or 830 just to work outside. Oh well.

Look at this kid's love for baseball! I took him to a Winslow game last week, and he LOVED it. He sat right down on the grass next to the bleachers, took out his bag of strawberries his mommy packed him, ate the strawberries, watched the game, and just loved life--he clapped and said GOOD JOB after just about everything that happened!

This is a T-ball set BaBa got Callum for Easter. We got Jackson one for his birthday--it is still in the back of our car, since we thought we were going to see him in Mass a few weeks ago.

The boots are essential....

Eager to learn.....although I dont know if I am the best one to teach him; I was never much of a hitter. I was more of a pitcher. That was my forte. Recently, I struck Ponticelli out in wiffleball. Even.

One thing I will say: The kid keeps his eye on the ball, huh? I bet Papa wishes I did the same when I was a boy....
I'm freakin' exhausted. The end.

Spring Fever

Okay. I went to post this last night, and ALLLL my text got deleted because our Internet sucks hard. But I will put the TEXT there later. For now enjoy the pictures