Yes, the sun finally came out. After months, the boat started. Beautiful day on sparkling water. Lost in wonder I just motored down to the far end of the lake. Naturally, that is where the engine died. Apparently, the battery isn’t holding a charge or something. But even being towed back wasn’t enough to dampen the joy in just being on the water and in the sun.
Yesterday was Moku’s birthday. I can’t believe my little puppy has grown up to be, well, a little dog. Still cute and playful, he is so loveable (unless, of course, you happen to be a stuffed toy).
Video after the break. Read more…
Yes, I am quite sentimental about Christmas. Countless memories roll together to buoy my expectations each year. So many of my family and friends have stuffed me so full of love I just can’t can’t help myself. So, of course, when Christmas comes I’m bound to be disappointed right? No. Once again we gathered together. Ruth was nice enough to stop over from Tanzania and Alex from California, but Will? Well, Will wasn’t willing to fly in from Nevada and risk losing his job, so we had to do without him. At least we saw him at Thanksgiving.
Can’t wait until we can all be together again for a holiday. Now, it’s time for us old farts to fold a little love into the next generation’s Christmas expectations and I want to be part of laying it on thick with all of them. Joy and I hope you each had the joy and love you deserve over the holidays. If not, why not figure out how you can make that vision come true for someone next year – it can’t help but bless you at the same time.
Thanksgiving was, as usual, a time of overeating. It started on Thursday. Not the offical family celebration day, but we had to eat, right? Joy prepared a turducken (turkey-duck-chicken). We loved it, but next year maybe we’ll skip the duck part. Definitely, a yummy meal. Friday we left the Morgantown crowd and headed north to Cranberry Township in PA. Joy roasted a Trader Joe’s turkey at the Hellman’s. Good, but she says it wasn’t worth the extra cost so I think I see a Butterball turkey flying my way next year.
Saturday. Oh, how I loved Saturday. One of the few places on earth that I truly love that doesn’t have palm trees is “the Strip” in Pittsburgh. I have a poster of it on the wall in the exercise room. But never, ever in my whole life had I eaten at Deluca’s. C’mon it can’t be worth waiting in that long line in the cold can it? But Mary was held up and we (as in Joy and Lindsay) decided that the frigid Deluca’s line was as good a place to wait as any. Read more…
I like to think of myself as a strong man. I have to admit that in my youth this was not so much the case. But even a grown man can be weakened by temptations as enticing as some left lying about my childhood home. Louis L’Amour, Agathie Christie, Rex Stout, and, most dangerously, John D. MacDonald. But as I attained manhood I seldom succumbed to more than the mildest of geeky debauchery as I obsessively pursued some technological project or another.
I certainly was not tempted by, indeed felt pity for the less stout who, like my mother, could not resist the Brit-coms. I did not feel the least pull though my Mum repeatedly and carelessly exposed me to them. So I was of this cocky mindset when Mother very irresponsibly exposed me to Doc Martin. Oh, I know what you’re thinking. What can be so dangerous about a misanthropic G.P. played by Martin “Dumbo” Clunes and a head mistress played by Caroline “Bucky the Beaver” Catz?
Oktoberfest! Ja, das ist das, was ich spreche. Joy and I greatly enjoyed our time at the Raleigh Oktoberfest hosted by St. Raphael’s Catholic Church here in Raleigh, North Carolina. There was an oom-pa band, Bavarian dancers, Bavarian child dancers, and a bunch of other folks from the area with a dash or more of German blood (or at least spirit). I enjoyed a dark ale that may have been the best I ever tasted. The potato salad did not measure up to Mom’s standards or Gram’s standards but the food was hearty. It was a fun ethnic celebration and a nice diversion from our normal routine.
Read more…
Thanks to Wired Science, I learned of a 14 year old boy in a remote African village who should be an inspiration for all of us. William Kamkwamba noted the wind in Malawi and thought he could rig something up to power a light to read by. This boy, who had been forced to drop out of school for lack of the $80 tuition, went to the public library and checked out some books on windmills. What happened after that will surely give everyone a lift. Watch this video and share it. What a great young man.
This story has ties into so many of my values: overcoming adversity, ingenuity, generosity, bootstrap economics, and, of course, environmentalism. (Not to mention my love of the public library system.) Go William!
You can buy his book from Amazon, which also posts some related videos.
Retirement may be a decade out, but I’ve been planning for it since I was in college. Lately, our discussions had been rotating between a summer home in Pittsburgh and a primary residence in southern California, North Carolina, Virginia, or (a remote possibility) Florida. But as long as our family is centered on the east coast, Pittsburgh will continue to be part of the formula.
So, house, condo, or houseboat? A house is high maintenance and it has never been easy to find good yard or maintenance help – and we are talking about retirement not shifting careers to home upkeep. Condo? monthly fees are high, but it is a possibility. Houseboat? water view? Check. maintenance? Unless Steve is no longer on the scene, check. Friendly neighbors who keep an eye on things when we’re not home? Check.
It was quite nice having Mary down for the weekend. She caught this picture of her Rottweiler enjoying the lake in her own inimitable fashion. This is exactly how I feel when I play in the water, too!
The VandenBosches had their usual big Fourth of July bash. I’m sure it was a hit as always. I’m also certain that the Pittsburgh fireworks were again the best in the nation this year. I would love to have been at my uncle’s dad’s 100th Birthday with most of my family. But this was our first year at our new place on the lake, so we went out on our pontoon boat with a few friends (and Sherry for our own Friends and Family Plan). The fireworks over the lake were pleasant but not spectacular. About what one would expect for a little community like ours. What really made it special was Brady and Ashlyn (8 and 7 respectively) making comments like, “Isn’t this wonderful?” “What could be more wonderful than this?” “Maybe riding in a hot air balloon.” “I don’t like to be too high.” “Maybe five thousand ice cream cones.” May we all keep our sense of wonder. I found it easier to do by sharing the experience with children. Happy Independence Day. (Thanks again to Sherry for providing the pictures.)
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