Love song to a ballerina

For all the fathers of daughters out there. Or anyone who has a "little girl," whether that little girl is THREE or THIRTY-THREE.....this piece is for you. Take the three minutes, stop what you are doing, listen to this music, and just think about your little "ballerina."

I love you Maira Elizabeth.

Even though all you do is take the phone and throw it on the floor and make the battery come out and roll across the floor.

Even though.

PILTDOGS REDUX: The Den

First, here is Mister Puppy having a snyack--some cookies made by Amanda. Yesterday, we went bowling with Dave and Muriel; this group of "elderly" folks just LOVED Maira and Callum....they went into the arcade with a fistfull of ones and tried to play the machine with the cute little crane/grabber thing until they could win a stuffed animal for each kid. We didnt know they were doing this until they came over and gave both Callum and Maira each a new animal. Callum named his purple dog "Amanda." Just saying. .....

I've written in PILTDOGS (Places I Love That Dont Often Get Seen) before about the basement/den. But we have made some changes, and I think it is a much cozier spot in which to hang out (English Dept meeting anyone??) Callum, for one, absolutely loves it down there now, and he calls it "the cave" because it reminds him of a cave.

We usually dont use the heat down in the basement....but the new "stove" has made it a lot warmer and a lot cozier downstairs....

The fish now live downstairs too. For a long time the tank lay dormant in the kids' room. Now that it is down in the den, it has NEW life, with the arrival of Finn and Annie, Callum and Maira's fish. Callum has put a chair in front of the tank so he and Maira can relax and watch the fish....

FINALLY.....a snowman!

First, a delightful picture of Maira (even though it looks like she is being tortured, she is actually in the middle of saying CHEESE!!! for me!)

All winter (if you can call this despicable stretch of months since November WINTER) Callum has been DYING to build a snowman--part of this is imbue from his love of Christmas, and the other part is directly derived from his immense love of Raymond Briggs' THE SNOWMAN book. This winter has absolutely sucked for snow. But, finally, last night, we got a hefty amount (even though the forecasters got is WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY wrong. Again. The timing. The amount. The start and stop. Basically everything.). It was a VERY wet and heavy snow, which wreaked havoc on the ATV and plow today...but was the best type of snow for building a snowman. I havent seen the kid this happy in weeks. It was the best hour of my whole week. Minus the hour I grinded with Marylin at the louncchhge.......

So proud. So happy. You have no idea how much this kid loves this snowman.

Hub Glass hat cuz that is where Papa worked. Two rosehips from our wintering Rugosa Rose bush for eyes. An orange for a nose (just like in the Briggs book). A wool scarf. Arms made from the tree that fell in our yard due to the snowstorm we just had.

Even though it is a snowMAN, Callum wanted me to make it very clear that it is, in fact, a "mumma" snowman. So it is a female snowman who has given birth at one time or another....or something....

Yeay America, says the mumma snowman.....

Drums and Forts and Nannie Packages and such

Well, I am on February vacation, and I am enjoying being home with Callum and Maira....I get to see sides of them I dont often get to see. Callum, as seen above, is really into "drumming" lately. And, if I do say so myself, he is a legit drummer. Kid can keep a beat. The two stools are his "drums," the white cooking spoons are his sticks, and the pot lid is his cymbal. He enjoys drumming to either Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain" or O.A.R.'s "The Town." Also, he uses the white spoons as batons so he can conduct to the score of "The Snowman."

Amanda got the really creative idea to build Callum a combination fort/dog house by using the couch, Callum's sleeping bag, a few blankets, and a yard stick. HUGE points for creativity, Sally! Callum is HELL BENT on sleeping the night in his "doghouse," but we just havent let him yet. He likes to go there to hang out, look at books, or hide from Maira and then beckon Maira to get him (Maira and Callum have a neverending game of CHASE going on between each other...it is hilarious). Oh, and Callum also goes there to hide from me when I "yell" at him (trust me....he hasnt heard me "yell" at him.....)

This is the dog house/fort from the outside. Thing is freakin' impregnable....Nannie had sent Callum and Maira a combination Valentine's/St Patrick's Day/Easter package with all kinds of fun treats. Both kids have been enjoying playing dressup with the bunny ears, shamrock glasses, etc.....

Callum claimed the pink ones for himself. Not that there's anything wrong with that.....

In other news, Maira is starting to put a couple of words together at a time, as in "Hi Kitty" or "Hi Baby" and stuff like that. Also, her favorite thing as of late seems to be climbing up onto Callum's bed (all by herself) and lying down/looking at books/etc. Only trouble is she cant get down on her own....high comedy....

DW 12: Winter Edition

THE BASTILLE OF BOP!!

This past weekend was "Dirty Weekend" winter edition....we usually do DW up here in the summer (except last summer), but in the wintertime,for the past three years now anyway, I make a little sojourn down to Mass to hang out with Tim and Jay, buddies I have had since kindergarten (and then 5th grade, when Tim came over on a dory from Greece). We heavily miss our beloved Rev. Johnny Francis, but we make sure to Skype him into our nights. One would think that we all just get together and party hard like rockstars. Nothing could be farther from the truth: All we do is eat and make fun of each other.....and some of those things hyappen simultaneously while we sit in Jay's hot tub.

This DWWE was no different--Friday night was spent at Tim's, where we hit up a great Mexican restaurant in my hometown of Easton. On Saturday morning, Timmy and I went running around some neighborhoods of Brockton "the City of Champions" while Jay went to JJ's TBall ESPY awards. What always gets me about these visits is how much stuff changes in my old "stomping grounds;" things and places I once viewed as so familiar and stationary in my life as a kid and adolescent are so different now. Even the house in which I grew up looks NOTHING like the house in which I grew up. There are developments everywhere. Places that were all woods are not sprawling plazas, etc. It is amazing.

On Saturday night, after our traditional gluttonous pilgrimage to Imperial Garden Buffet, we enjoyed an amazing evening of dancing. Yes, dancing. Fifties Lounge, baby!! Jay, who usually hypes up the white pages (zing!) was right on target with this place: FIFTIES LOUNGE!!! It is what the name suggests: a 50's lounge. I guess you could call it a bar....but to me it was more like a dance club that ALSO sold drinks. DJs spin records and discs in the back of a modified 57 Chevy. I danced my socks off. In the interest of full disclosure, I need to come clean about something (I told Amanda this too): I met an AMAZING woman named Marylin. She swept me off my feet--literally--and we danced all night. Conversation was great. Amazing dancer.

Also, she was 79.

FIFTIES LOUNGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A happy little girl/jokes

Is there a certain etiquette with jokes? Do you know what I mean? I hear lots of jokes each day at school....Youtube videos have, in many ways, replaced modern "jokes:" Everyone is excited to share what they've heard/found....and, in many cases, you (or me) have seen it or heard it before. How are we to react?

Some people I know are very intelligent people with good inferential skills and strong common sense. They even have great memories and are very accountable. Yet, when it comes to jokes, they have no "joke memory." I am sometimes guilty of this. People dont remember that they JUST told you this same joke, like, YESTERDAY. Sometimes I have heard the same joke in the same DAY from the same person; a few times, I have told someone a joke in the morning, and they have told ME the SAME JOKE in the afternoon. Why do our brains turn to mush when it comes to jokes?

If you are in a situation where you have HEARD the joke before, what do you do? Do you stop the person? I dont. I always let the people tell the joke (although, as far as youtube is concerned, I always tell the person if I have seen it...this way I am not committed to watching a 3 or 4 minute video....jokes usually only take a minute at most). People who say "I've heard this already" are kind of rude. Just humor the person, ya know. What's the big deal, really.

Although, there is an adverse effect to doing this--you become a "joke hostage." I hate being held a joke hostage. A joke hostage exists when the person absolutely has you CAPTIVE while they tell the joke. You already know the punchline. You have heard it before. But you are prisoner while they enjoy themselves. And, as you know, sometimes folks streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeettch out an otherwise simple and short joke, adding so many un-needed details (So a guy walks into a bar....the floor is a persian stucco kind of tile...the kind of tile you would see on sale at Home Depot....and, anyway, he walks over to the stool....he's limping a little cuz he was running the other day when he stepped in a pot hole...cuz ya know, the city doesnt keep care of those......) JUST TELL THE JOKE

The last thing is this: At one point do we know that the "joke can" has been opened? Sometimes, it is good to just hear ONE joke. But then there's always that "guy" who needs to one up you or something (well wait....how bout this one....?) One person tells the joke. Another person tells another joke. Cant we just stop there? You know as well as I do that at SOME POINT the "floodgates" are open and we are in a full onslaught of jokedom. Right? When does that point exist? How many jokes need to be told before the scales are tipped and we are "live" and engaged in joke tete-a-tete? Jokes are an interesting study in psychology.

Speaking of which.......A Buddhist monk walks into a pizza shop and says to the guy behind the counter, "can you make me one with everything?"

Good stuff.

Here's some other good stuff: A happy little girl and her stuffed kitty....

Callum can roll his tongue, and he wants everyone to know this. So now you know.

Luv Me 5K

I really needed a race. There's nothing like a good race to get motivated, get the rust out, and see where your fitness is. There's a group on the coast called 'The Malawi Runners' and they sponsor a series of races in the Camden/Rockport area; they are affiliated with FreePress.org and, frankly, I want to find out more about them. They seem like a cool group of people. At any rate, they are great, simple races, and the 15 dollar entrance fee (pretty cheap for a race!) goes to help orphans in the African country of Malawi. Our friend Emily, the girl above in the purple vest, ran it with me. Emily and her husband--who is a professor at Colby--just moved here from Illinois this past summer. Emily is a three time over marathoner!

Callum is getting old hat at these races, but this was the first one for which Maira was cognizant and not asleep...haha. She was happy to be there on this raw, snowy day on the coast of Maine (especially when she had her girly pink Carhartt hat on!).

I ran so/so. I will now make excuses: a bit icy on the surface in some places, although the pictures dont emphasize that. It was snowing the whole time, and the course was 50% climbing what were DESCRIBED as "rolling hills," but were, in my opinion, a little more than rolling! I dont know if it was the nerves I usually get because I am such an easily intimidated person....orrrrr the caffeinated coffee (combined with my shot blocks, which also contain caffeine) I drank in the car on the way to the race....but LITERALLY 150 yards from the finish line I stopped cold. I could feel the vomit in my mouth and I felt nauseous and I knew I was going to throw up. I didnt, somehow, and I just jogged through the gate. I ran a 23 flat. I went out too fast though....my first mile split was a 6:36....I think the adrenaline got the best of me!

Here I am with vomit in my mouth, comin round the bend....

The race left from the Penobscot Bay YMCA, which is literally 1.2 miles away from downtown Camden, a place the Goldsmiths (Amanda, Jared, Callum, Maira, AND Henry and Babs) know and love well. I changed in the locker room of the Y, and then we went for lunch at Marriners Grill, which is a classic, 50's style lunch counter kind of place with simple food. Our kind of place. We love Camden.

It was a ghost town today though. Callum was a bit disappointed that most of the boats were away for the winter, but he still was enamored with the place--there were some shrinkwrapped windjammers out there, as well as some in-use lobstering and scalloping boats. Maira, too, is fascinated with boats lately....as she now is with SHOES....and really enjoyed telling us about all the "booooooooots." We met an interesting guy who is a guide for wilderness photographers, and he was "doing recon," as he called it, on some migratory birds for a client of his. He pointed out a couple of "Arctic Loons," which, until today, I didnt even know existed.

All in all a great day.

Remember last winter?

Or at least winter from a couple of years ago? These two pictures were taken in Feb of 2009. The year of a REAL Maine winter. This winter just absolutely sucks. Totally. It isnt even cold. I cant even go out and run in subzero temps just so I can come in and FB about how hardcore I am about running in subzero temps. How am I supposed to be affirmed, dammit!?? Ha Ha. But seriously, look at the snow banks behind Callum and Sally....they are INSANE. I think the biggest storm we've gotten this winter is about 7 inches or so. My plow is lonely. My snowshoes are lonely.. Callum's lack of a snowman is sad. It just sucks. What is going on?

And here is a picture of Callum from 09. Just kidding. This is Maira-Beth from the other night. She has only five teeth....kind of funny....shouldnt she have more by now? Yes. But, also, she should probably be sleeping through the night by now too. Maira, why dont you sleep like a normal human? Will you? Please? I'll buy you a pony....

Superbowl hangover: Callum style. He actually woke up on Monday morning and asked me if the Giants won. I had to tell him that the mighty Pats lost the Superbowl. No matter. Aint no thang. Football is still alive and well in this little guy's mind. No more football to watch? Season over? No Ponticelli style cable to DVR past Superbowls? No problem. No big deal at all. I'll just put in some C.Brown and rock out with my helmet.....

The other big event of the past week was the resurrection of the Goldsmith Fish Tank. We moved it down to the den in the basement. I will need to do a PILTDOGS soon, since the basement has changed so much (funny....all my creative writing students know about PILTDOGS. Funny). Callum is ENAMORED with these fish AND the fish tank. He got one (he named it Finn) and he picked one out for Maira (he named it Quincy....and hours later changed it to Annie). Finn is black and white and orange mottled, and Annie is straight up goldfish, Brooklyn style. The tank really brings out Callum's nurturing side, since he wants to feed them and check to make sure they arent sick. Also, he constantly asks if he can "hold" and "cuddle with" Finn. Funny. I guess on the ride home, he held the bag containing the fish, in his lap, and talked constantly to the little swimmers, telling them how he would take care of them, and how they will love our house, and how we have a nice cat named Lupine, etc.

Callum did his superstitious "pants off" dance for the superbowl. It didnt work. But at least we got a cute picture....

What do you meme?

Meanderings 69

A nod to all the posers.....you know who you are......


J ust a few things the crossed my mind while I was running this evening....

1. Stupid America: "Tebowing" is nothing new. Stop acting like it is some type of "fad" or some new way that Christians are "offending" you or something. Dont get me wrong: I love Tebow. Nothing to dislike about the guy. But isnt Tebowing known as "genuflecting?" Why does he get his own term? I want my own terms. "Goldsmithing," from now on, will mean "consuming egg rolls ad nauseum"

2. When you and your friends get together to talk about ideas, you probably call it a "get-together" or a "party." When adults with PhDs or M.Eds or MBAs get together to talk about the same thing, but bring photocopies, it is suddenly called a "symposium."

3. If you are person with passions, and these passions dont offend anyone, you are simply called "passionate." If your passions become offensive, you are suddenly called a "fundamentalist."

4. If "Kindles" and "Nooks" and e-readers are so much better than real books, then why do the "instructions' exist on "paper?" Score one for the old-schoolers.....

5. The only time you see the word "bout" being used in our language is with" depression" or "boxing. " Think about that.

BOWLING!

Bowling is the lamest activity on the planet, but since my wife and son both absolutely LOVE it, I will make a good faith effort to be a good sport, be all white trash, have bad hygiene, have bad family values, swear a lot, eat a lot of manufactured carbs, and carry myself as a good bowler should.

We all had a blast at Rylan's second birthday party--Rylan is Jesse and Ciara's little guy and he turned two. It was Callum's first bowling party. How much did he love it? He wouldnt stop for ANYTHING--bribes of pizza, soda, and cake all fell on deaf ears if it meant he had to abandon his lane. He LOVED it (good...now he can hang out with wikijaydia and hardworkin tim). His favorite part, naturally, were the shoes he got to wear. And he selected a green ball that he used (and ONLY used the green ball...even if he had to wait five minutes for it to return, even)

Jesse set up this chair and a half pipe of corrugated #jandjcorrugated so the kids could get the hang of what they were supposed to do. This only took about ten minutes, and then the pipe was removed, they. Look at the shoez.

Bowling is, actually, a good activity for teaching kids how to wait their turn and be patient. Maybe more adults should bowl. No, they shouldnt.

Even Maira got into the mix. She enjoyed picking up the balls and walking around with them. She's a strong Irish lass--I was surprised she could carry one of the candlepin balls with her and walk around the lanes. Naturally, she only wanted to go into the lane that wasnt ours....

Bowling.