Month: December 2008

Tonight there is snow on the ground. One of the few times, in my memory, when snow preceded Christmas. It is supposed to be VERY cold in the coming days at least relative to the typical northwest weather that we get; in fact they say it will be colder than it has been here in 50 years.

The girls are REALLY excited for some playtime in the snow. Emma said it this way on the phone with BopOp earlier.

It weally is nowing!
Weah gonna mayka NO-MAN!
I am so ecthiting!

This is a far cry from where she was mentally last week when we had pictures taken with Santa.

In the attempt to get Emma on his lap she lost her right shoe and the other shoe came away with Santa fuzz stuck to the toe. Once she was successfully deposited onto his lap she dove for the nearest comfort, Abby.

The poor teenaged, “holiday helper” grabbed the squeaky toy and squeezed it’s plaintive wheeze, hoping for attention. It was not even an also-ran with Emma’s caterwallin. It was also no match for our terse and simultaneous instructions,

Take the picture!

As inneffectual as they were with the squeezy toy a snappy trigger finger caught the action for both posterity and as evidence for future therapists.

It also shows just how good a big sister Abby is to Emma.

“I am not much of a joiner”
Kent Peterson over at Kent’s bike blog

I am not much of a joiner either BUT I have been reading FatCyclist for a while now and Fatty’s wife Susan is fighting cancer. I have never commented and I don’t know him personally but I read about him and his wife a lot, so now I feel like I do. Fatty has a lot of friends in his Internet neighborhood and he has formed (is forming) a team for the Livestrong challenge and well, I am in…just because.

And because I also know JohnnyDeep, a friend of a friend who is fighting cancer with a vengeance.
Johnny, I have a hard time following your progress but I do check in and I invariably wonder what I could say or do. Nothing seems right. I don’t know what to do or say and the answer just circles back to “nothing seems appropriate”; I don’t know why.

• I don’t know you enough
• I am not good at “this”
• it is too hard to read your blog
• but everything helps
• and I only met you a few times so just let him have his space
• but he always welcomed me into his house despite all that…

So enough is enough, and I don’t know if this is appropriate really either; is 100 miles of riding my bike enough? Not really, but it is what it is and I can do this.

So June 21, 2009 I will ride my yellow recumbent 100 miles in honor of JohnnyDeep and for Fatty’s wife Susan.
If you feel like contributing you may do so on my Livestrong Challenge fund-raising page here.

I guess now I’m a joiner.