Lucky Leprachaun 5k-2012 (Part I)

I just wrote a TON of text for this post....and I hit some random button....and it ALLLL got deleted. I am so frustrated right now. I am NOT typing it again. But here are some pictures from yesterday's race. Maybe when I get cooled off, I will write more. MAN sometimes I hate this computer.

The Winter Beard......

well, it wasnt really much of a winter, was it? PATHETIC. But, since I spend so much time outside in the winter--wood, running, etc--I usually grow a beard. I do this for three reasons: a) something to do b) I HATE shaving and I am lazy c) it keeps me warm when I am outside. Despite what people will say, this WAS a cold winter. And if you didnt think so, then you didnt spend a lot of time outside. But here is the beard. It was getting a bit redonkulous, and people were, quite honestly, starting to get rude about it. In fact, one lady at church told me straight up that I looked "ridiculous" and "disgusting," to name a few descriptors. Very nice thing to say to someone at church, huh? But, anyway, I decided to do this:

Shave it off. When I did, Callum told me I looked scary and that I should get a new beard real quick. My students told me I look twelve. And Maira kept shooting funny glances at me. I guess I really didnt realize how much different (and younger) the beard makes me look. But look at Maira....isnt she a beautiful little girl? We are just blessed with two children who have REMARKABLE personalities. Maira's favorite words of late are APP-ULL (apple) and MOOB (moon....as in her favorite book GOOD NIGHT MOON) She also loves giving kisses, as Papa can attest to from skyping with her, saying BYE MAIRA and then having Maira pucker up and lean in towards the computer....

The Goldsmiths all love to read, which is why the only (and ONLY) reason I miss cable is for the Bruins. Everything else on TV is crap--Ice-road-hoarder-shore-storage, for example. We love to read, and we hope the kids really do too. I think Callum is a shoe in to be a big reader. He can sit and look at books for a while, and he is VERY focused when we read. Maira is **starting** to come around. She will sit for minutes (MINUTES is a big deal for her!) on end and look through her SPOT books and stuff....but she isnt like her brother in that she doesnt enjoy sitting on laps for twenty minutes digesting a good story.

She likes to read books on her terms. She is a VERRRRRRY busy young lady. She is, quite honestly, exhausting. She never ever sits still. Even I sit still SOMETIMES.

Tonight, as I write this, Sally is out with her girlfriends from church at Craparitas. The NJ people would get a huge kick out that if they ever read the blog and didnt spend their time going to big- fat- bully- dont -confuse -me- with- the- facts Chris Christy rallies or whatever they do. But while Maira went to sleep, Callum and I got to hang out for a bit and work on letters and numbers....when WHAT TO MY WANDERING EYES SHOULD APPEAR but Dana from next door bringing:

He had asked to borrow our pot/steamer because I knew he was making some steamers. I guess he bought forty (yes, FORTY) pounds of clams. He brought over a little sample for us....they were OTHERWORLDLY. #whereisjaywhenyouneedhim Callum, even though he won't eat chicken tenders from Red Barn, WILL go ga-ga over clams and mussels, and he was THRILLED to have a big bucket of clams. In fact, he is sleeping upstairs with one of the shells right now (I washed it off...dont worry....but he REALLY wanted to sleep with one of his clams, he said).

The Brethren of Real Evangelical Witnesses

In case you havent looked close enough, this stands for BREW, which is entirely what this "club" is dedicated towards...haha. Our Pastor always talks about how brewing beer is a very important part of our Lutheran history, and we (all the people you'll see pictured here) are happy to honor this history....and then some. Disclaimer: This is not a "get wasted" kind of meeting. Not at all. Rather, we all really love craft beers--microbrew, local, exotic, homebrew, etc. Occasionally we get together for a tasting, some great food, and some FANTASTIC conversation. You cannot have a bad time at one of these things! And the resulting "dead soldiers" can be seen below.....(some of them, anyway....)

A really fantastic group of guys--the two sitting by the windows were friends of our friend Mark (and the guy in the denim shirt is one of those guy's dad....a retired mill worker from Millinocket, down for the weekend to stay with his son and see his grandkids....a HOOT of a guy...a man who, in his own words, thinks Narragansett is the most exotic beer he's ever had....classic!) The two friends of Mark are SEVERE home brewers, ready to possibly take it to the next level and perhaps offer growler filling opportunities, etc. I believe their company is called BREWSTRONG, and, if, unlike me, you have facebook, you can find them. Their stuff was just simply marvelous, and my favorite had to be an "all grain" lager that tasted like a light hefenweisen (an unfiltered wheat beer) that would be perfect with a wedge of lemon and a sunny day! They also did some marvelous cream stouts, which are stouts brewed with actual lactose sugar (lactose is the sugar in milk, if you didnt know). A wonderfully creamy flavor. I need a beer right now. I am really lucky to have such great friends from simply so many walks of life....all interested in different stuff....Pastor, pictured in the tan sweatshirt on the right, brews some of my favorite stuff, and, sticking to his "roots," it is usually of the German or Belgian nature. He more specifically shared a Belgian "Dubel," which is wonderfully rich and provocative (Tim will make fun) tasting beer. I wont even try to pretend I am wordy and creative enough to assign adjectival monikers like "earthy undertones" or "essence of the number six" or "left rear palate cleansing" or anything of the like. It was just GOOD and you should taste it for yo'self!

Good friend Fred, pictured above, is a very talented and creative chef at a great restaurant in town (Waterville) called The Last Unicorn. In fact, I took Amanda there Saturday night for a date (beer night was Friday). Fred put together a spread of appetizers that we were almost too afraid to eat, since it was so beautiful....haha.

This would have made my father in law drool, since George is always putting together cheese trays like this. You've got some fresh mozzarella mixed with tomato and basil...you have some gouda, swiss, and some type of "costello" blue cheese (I hope I have that right!). He's also got a couple of really gorgeous (can you call a sausage gorgeous??!!) sausages--some chorizo and andouille, etc. And even though you cant see it, some homemade ciabatta bread which was delightful.

I love food.

I love beer.

I love seeing friends.

PS: Sorry for all the words I probably butchered as far as spelling goes!

A quick trip to Sadie's

Last week or so I was going over my friend Eric's place to supposedly watch the Celtics for a bit....to my everlasting joy, we spent the entire time discussing The Count of Monte Cristo, since he just picked it up at the library to read, and he knows it is one of my all time favorites. Before I went over his house, I stopped by the high school, since the Sadie Hawkins dance was going on. Obviously, I was dressed for the occasion. But I wanted to see some of my students--this year's senior class is comprised of some of the finest young people I have ever had the pleasure to teach. I will really miss them when they are gone, and, now that we are in mid March almost, that time is nearer than one might think!

Here is Christine, one of our babysitters. Also, she and Amanda share an intense love of Birki's and other cool sandal stuff....

Elizabeth, whom I had the pleasure of teaching as a freshman too. She is taking an independent study with me this year on teaching English. Next to her in Conner, who will either go to Wheaton, Stonehill, or St Mike's. If Wheaton or Stonehill are it, then he can hang out with Annie at the clubhouse. Next to her is Sydney, and next to her is Sarah.
The "cool kids." Obviously.

Dont you sometimes wish the simplicity and fun of high school? These are some fantastic kids for sure

Like I said, I was dressed for the occasion. The Sadie's dance also ends the official "Winter Carnival" week at the school. Winter Carnival has been written about before on Goldsmith5. It is a crazy week of inter-class competitions and games, all culminated by a crazy assembly I host for the whole school--eating contest, tug of war, basketball, etc.

Now come the doldrums of March. Worst winter EVER as far as snow. Yesterday was daylights savings time. "Nicer" weather is coming. Longer days. This all, for me, equals SEVERE depression. How long is it til next NOvember???

Maira the Bully (???)

This is what Maira does: She follows Lupine around. She gives her things (see the treats??) She also gives the kitty goldfish, cookies, milk, the phone, and SPOT books. She also likes to sit in Lupine's bed. Is she a bully? Judge for yourself by these pics taken in chronological order....

Yup. She's a bully. Who does she take after??

Meanderings 70

1. Used weights: In our school classified email directory, there was a woman selling used weights "like new" for virtually the same price as she paid at Dick's. Her exact writing was "two 30 pound hex dumbells....only used a couple of times....like new....paid 30 bucks, would sell for 25 bucks." Why do weights lose their monetary value at all? Why would used weights be a "bad" thing? What could possibly happen to weights to make them lose their effectiveness? Why would it matter that they were "like new?" All a weight needs to do to be effective is be heavy. This woman is stupid.

2. When you are a kid, you get an "operation." Then, from the ages of roughly 15 to 40, you have "surgery." After 40 though, when you go under anesthesia, what was previously called an operation or a surgery is now a "procedure." Old people always have "procedures." Funny.

3. In Maine we make a big deal of low income heating assistance. This is where we give money to financially struggling people so they can pay for oil for their furnaces. This is totally the wrong thing to do--I dont mean "helping" people....I mean giving them money for oil. Fundamentally wrong. By giving them money for oil, all we are doing is fuding dirka dirka nations and their ridiculous price gouging of fossil fules. Here's what the gov't should do: give FIREWOOD allowances to people. This makes way more sense. We are, essentially, putting money back iinto the economy in Maine. Since it is my money going to these programs, shouldnt I have a say in this? And what I say is that we should, instead of sending the money to dirkadirkastan, give it to hardworking Maine loggers and wood people so they can get some cash. Now some people would say "what if these people dont have wood stoves??" SImple. That can be paid for too. Get them wood stoves. I would be willing to bet that if you did the math, it would be cheaper to install a basic wood stove and chimney pipe ANNND give them a few cord of wood rather than pay for oil. This makes perfect sense to me. The next thing people will complain about is how they dont want to be bothered with stacking/carrying wood....they dont want to clean up from the mess....they dont want to have to, essentially, DO anything (feed the stove, empty ashes, etc). Okay. Fine. But dont expect free handouts then. I burn wood. It is a lot of work. I do it because it is better heat and cheaper. Yes, oil heat is more convenient. Definitely. We continue to entitle the people of society.

4. Only in America do we have web sites with "INTERACTIVE" weather. Seriously people? How arrogant, American, and dominating do we need to be now that we want to/think we have the right to INTERACT with weather?? WEATHER??? It is the most powerful force on the planet....and, somehow, just because we can watch a cute little doppler of a rainstorm we somehow think we are "interacting" with this? You are NOT interacting with weather. Weather doesnt give a crap about you. And you cant control it. YOu cant hang with weather. Now go out and stack some wood.

Trippy does his thing

My Nana Courtney used to have an old friend named "Trippy." I think that was his nickname. Anyway, for years and years and years she had this newspaper clipping of this guy named Trippy, and the clipping was taped to the mirror over her bedroom bureau; it is one of the things I simply "remember" about my Nana's room---that, and all the pictures of Jesus and Mary. I dont know if Trippy was a boyfriend or not. If my mom read this blog, perhaps she could enlighten us with the answer. But, alas, she does not.

The picture of Trippy reminds me of all three of these pictures of Callum. Thank you (seriously) Fred and Amy--this drum set belongs to "Little Fred," and when we were over their house last week for dinner and playtime and beer, Amy and Fred were lovely enough to let Callum "borrow" this until one year old Fred can, well, use it. Suffice to say our little young man was ENTRANCED by this drum set--he really loves playing the drums, and he actually can keep a beat....it is awesome to watch. Even awesomer (although she was napping at the time so I couldnt get a picture) is the way Maira is starting to copy EVERYTHING Callum does....he is indeed her big-brother-role-model. She, too, will pick up sticks and bang the cymbals, snare, etc.

The set has a little pedal for the bass drum....it is all electronic so the little plastic plates make the drum noises. ALSO, you can play drums along to some pre recorded pieces offered by the "set." Callum's favorite song by which to play along is a tie between Gavin DeGraw's "Still not over you," and Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain." We even have a little family band going; yesterday, in fact, for the snow day where we were all home together, Amanda got out her oboe,, I played keyboard, Callum did drums, and Maira walked around withe a tambourine, and we played the Gavin DeGraw song. Callum thinks we are in a real rock and roll band....

One more funny thing--Callum (although not in this picture) usually needs to stop what he is doing in order to get his "rock and roll outfit," which consists of his blacksmithed ring from Santa's Village (he puts it on his pinky) and his green sunglasses. Then, he says, he is all rock and roll.....