Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Today is my birthday, and I'm feeling completely spoiled. Paul is grilling me an excellent steak for late supper, and he gave me a most excellent cordless optical mouse as a present. I've had a couple of phone calls and a bunch of very funny e-cards (especially the one from Bill!), Mum is making me a well-equipped sewing kit with some really good sewing scissors, and to crown it all, my new laptop arrived early this afternoon, complete with all the bells and whistles and two full weeks ahead of their projected ship date! It's a beeyooootiful machine with a wide-aspect-ratio screen, and should be very very fast. Haven't had time to do much more than turn it on so far; I have to install a bunch of things before it will really feel as though it's mine. Oooo, oooo, oooo...a new computer for me!
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Paul and I climbed up another rung on the experienced-parent ladder last night. Jamie, exuberant after bath, went tearing across the living room and fell headlong into the edge of the sofa, and we had to take him to Emergency, where he received seven tightly-packed stitches across the bridge of his nose from a plastic surgeon called in specially to close up his bump. He was very brave. So was I!
He'll have the stitches out Friday morning, in time for our Friday evening flight to Bristol; we're going to visit Mamma Jane in Exeter for a week.
Other than the unorthodox ending, yesterday was really a pretty good day! We went out to Long Island and met Colin, Jessica and not-so-little Ian at White Post Farms, a petting farm with train rides, pony rides, a big sandbox and a huge grassy playing field with wooden truck, train and boat play structures as well as the usual overfed sheep, goats, llamas and cattle.
After a good play and a bite of lunch, we parted company and while the boys napped in the car, we drove up to Sunken Meadow State Park on the north shore of Long Island. There was a fine sandy beach with shells and stones (and very cold water!) and a playground with a variation on the speaking-tube arrangement that made such an impression on Jamie in a park in Toronto. So we had fun at that park too; AJ loved being let loose to crawl and sit, and liked even better to be walked by someone holding his hands. We took some of the Robert Moses parkways home and avoided the big LIE (Long Island Expressway), which tends to crawl, and were home in time for supper and - so we thought - normal bedtime routine.
Paul's off in the Hamptons today on a fishing expedition at the invitation of a colleague, so we're hanging around the neighbourhood. Had thought to try to take the boys to church, but with fresh stitches and no car, I think we'll just take it easy.
He'll have the stitches out Friday morning, in time for our Friday evening flight to Bristol; we're going to visit Mamma Jane in Exeter for a week.
Other than the unorthodox ending, yesterday was really a pretty good day! We went out to Long Island and met Colin, Jessica and not-so-little Ian at White Post Farms, a petting farm with train rides, pony rides, a big sandbox and a huge grassy playing field with wooden truck, train and boat play structures as well as the usual overfed sheep, goats, llamas and cattle.
After a good play and a bite of lunch, we parted company and while the boys napped in the car, we drove up to Sunken Meadow State Park on the north shore of Long Island. There was a fine sandy beach with shells and stones (and very cold water!) and a playground with a variation on the speaking-tube arrangement that made such an impression on Jamie in a park in Toronto. So we had fun at that park too; AJ loved being let loose to crawl and sit, and liked even better to be walked by someone holding his hands. We took some of the Robert Moses parkways home and avoided the big LIE (Long Island Expressway), which tends to crawl, and were home in time for supper and - so we thought - normal bedtime routine.
Paul's off in the Hamptons today on a fishing expedition at the invitation of a colleague, so we're hanging around the neighbourhood. Had thought to try to take the boys to church, but with fresh stitches and no car, I think we'll just take it easy.
