Mayday

Chapter One (in which Tua meets Tigger)
Sunday, Tua's fourth month birthday.
Two Step

Even the chair is boring..........

Anyone who has had the pleasure of raising childen is aware of the speed at which they grow and how if one is not careful, time will attempt to sneak past without notice turning what could have been rich tangible experience into the dust of memory. Not so with Tua. She refuses to allow time of any measure to creep by her un-checked. So far her sleeping patterns seem to be governed by the sun. She wakes upon its rise and begins her steady descent into sleep upon its disappearance over the horizon. Her wakeful personality takes in every moment and we are finding that whatever it is that we are doing at any given moment of the day, she is at attention. Last night, I peeled, washed and diced four pounds of potatoes and then set them to boil. To my audience, I might as well have been dancing barefooted on hot coals. She was completely transfixed. The downside to this is the end of the day. She approaches each seven o'clock hour with all the disappointment of a deal gone sour. I can't say I blame her. Who wouldn't want to stay up with mom and dad doing all the exciting things that grownups usually do after the kiddies are in bed? Now that I'm in that position, I'm the one who's disappointed. An hour or two after she'd asleep, I myself find my eyes getting to their heaviest and I know I'm not too long for this world.

where my dreams take me

Today marks the 3rd anniversary of the best journey I have ever found myself on. On the 26th of April 2004, Bug and I took two weeks and went to Scotland. Bug thinks I'm a bit nuts to be chaulking this up to National Holiday status, and she is probably right. In celebration of the event, I took out the film from that trip and have posted some of the pictures....this first one is a test for our friend Pam. Pam, if you can name the loaction of where I am standing in this picture, I owe you a dollar.
Bug and I on top of Ben Nevis
Beautiful Glen Nevis.

This shot was not staged. There really was a sheep grazing two feet from a Saint Andrews cross.
Our ride from Glasgow to Fort William. The best way is always by train.

On the list of recommended destinations on the left, you'll find a few of the fine places we hung our hats along the way.

Turtle

Today, Tua received one of her finest gifts.
The turtle quilt from her favorite Peace Core alums, Arlyce and Brian was delivered to her just before bed tonight.

Nice fit. The colors match, too.

This was Arlyce's first quilting venture. Tua was thrilled to be named sole benefactor of this fine piece.
What to name the Turtle.
Say Uncle.

Proof Of Life

We are, in fact, getting all of the snow you have seen forecast for the Northeast. When you see the blotch of white on the screen covering most of New England, think of us. On Friday of last week, my friend Brandon Bergey and I took advantage of the five feet of new snow on the slopes of Pico. The mountain has been closed since April first in the assumption that Spring was pending so we had the hill to ourselves. The visibility was minimal at best and the wind roared. However, the quality of the snow was unmatched and the conversation en route to the summit was engaging. We bantered about the topics of life, occupation, faith, and ski technique on the hours hike. The pictures below were taken at the top. Brandon took the one of the dogs and I as we approached the summit. The dogs did sleep well that night.
Footage of the desent can be found below as well.

Saturday Visit

Yesterday, we took a trip to Pittsfield to visit our friends Liz and Anthony. Their son Kingston was born in March but he's nearly the size of Tua. The following pictures sum up the afternoon's events. Kingston was napping for most of the time and we took these in between his nap and his mid noon lunch. This afternoon we are letting Tua catch up on ZZZZs and we are catching up on housekeeping we've put off. In light of the weather, we have elected to not refer to this as spring cleaning. Kingstons shirt by the way says "give peas a chance".

Under Watch

Ten inches of wet heavy snow fell outside our house on Thursday. The novelty of snow this late into spring is matched only by the eerie feeling that comes with the flat light of a wintry 5:30 dawn. Despite the current snow depth and the pending winter storm forecast for Sunday, spring is beginning to make an appearance on the face of the days events. The nights are certainly shorter and animals we haven't seen since October are beginning to appear. On my way to the car this morning, I crossed paths with a disoriented field mouse. I imagine it was trying to find its way into the warmth of the basement.
The topic of weather is usually one reserved for surface conversation or dinner tables at which only neutral speech is allowed, or in the instances of this blog, when weather events appear with such intensity and force, the lives of those living in their path are altered. I am making an exeption to this today in particular because it is very rare that New England observes a spring in which the snowfall total exceeds the total received in the winter months. This has not happened yet, but it appears that the storm on Sunday may yeild snow measured by the foot. In Boston, it is likely to be all rain. For this reason, the Boston Marathon authority announced this moring that it will not be postponing the event (an option it had entertained as late as last evening) and that racers are to prepare for cold, wet conditions. In Vermont however, we have put away our hopes for an early spring and are sharpening our shovels for the next event.

Firsts

Tua officially laughed for the first time today. Bug claimed to have heard her laugh on Monday but after hearing her tonight, Monday's offering was cast off as a chortle. The laugh came after a period of tickling her toes and probably was prompted less by my series of blonde jokes than by my imitation of a frog.

We arrived back to a snowy New England last night at 6pm. Tua slept for the whole trip, save for the twenty minute bus ride from the terminal to the parking deck.