Once we were seated and given our menus I think both of us were a bit disappointed. The prices were anything but reasonable and the full menu was less than exciting. So, we stuck to ordering a few appetizers and a bowl of soup to share.

Whether because of the mediocre fare or some other factors, I'm not sure, but our conversation didn't start off too endearing either - and we soon began to squabble over little things.

Toni had picked up a copy of The Stranger, one of those artsy, belligerent, far-left-leaning Seattle newspapers that tends to be purely focused on politics, art and sex (what else is there?). She had found an interesting advertisement for an Indie film that was playing in the U-District. Being a self-proclaimed film-buff I snapped up the paper and found a review of the movie. I always like to go into a movie knowing as little as possible about it, so I tried to just scan the article for any keywords that might tip me off as to whether the reviewer liked it. I found plenty of hints that this was going to be a fantastic movie. Unfortunately, it wasn't playing until 9:30 (it was only 7:30 at this point).

We took our time finishing up dinner and trying to locate the theatre on our cell phones using Live Maps, and then headed for the car. After driving in circles a bit (we were lost, not really trying to kill time), we found that the theatre was in the heart of the U-district, which was fortunate since we'd have plenty to do before the theatre doors opened. The U-district (short for University District) is called so because of its proximity to the University of Washington. The area is typically crawling with college students scrounging for entertainment, food and other consumables. Tonight was no different, despite it being Sunday night. In fact, the street and shops were packed.

We walked around a bit and found a really nice news stand/shop (can't think of the word) to explore. They had all kinds of really interesting magazines on just about every topic you could imagine. After browsing through every genre it was finally time to catch our movie, at the Varsity Theatre.

The Varsity Theatre is in a small building, but it extends upwards three floors. So there's only a single theatre per floor, with little room for anything else (other than a tiny consession stand, ticket booth, and bathrooms). The ambience of the theatre is somewhat bleak, but it also feels well-used which gave a bit of warmth.

We were amongst the early arrivers that were already standing in line to see the movie. We gathered from the conversations that most were there to see the same movie we had picked. Soon enough, the doors opened and Toni entered the theatre to grab a couple seats. I ordered a couple concessions (the usual: Sprite and Jr. Mints). I knew this was a great theatre when the girl selling concessions asked me whether I wanted the frozen Jr. Mints or the regular ones. I went with the regular.

I found my seat next to Toni and we nestled in for what we hoped was going to be an incredible movie. The opening credits played with no music...only darkness slowly giving way to flurries of snow in the night air, and the title, "Let the Right One In". I won't give the movie away other than to say that it's Swedish, and that it's a Vampire story. But trust me, it's totally unique.

It was an absolutely incredible movie - one of those very rare events that you hold onto when you go to bed because its so great. In fact, when I returned home from work today Toni mentioned the same thing to me that I'd been thinking - that she kept thinking about the movie all day. The movie was so haunting, but in a different, not really frightening way. There was something about the pace, the setting, the actors, the director's style, the plot...everything just came together to become the perfect film.

I wouldn't expect to see this movie playing in major theatres. It was only playing in this one theatre in Seattle, and there for only a week. I thought about how lucky we were to have happened to gone out on that night, and happened upon that particular movie advertisement. We could have easily missed it, and we would have never gotten to see it probably.

A great movie is so much more than just a great movie. It's an experience that becomes part of life itself. I guess that's what we enjoy so much about the extremely rare movie that reaches this level of art. Crossing paths with these experiences is so uncommon. Wouldn't it be great with all the information available at our fingertips to have a way to be made aware of all of these things that each of us finds so amazing? There's so much information available to us now, but it's so difficult to find the really good stuff.

Of course, like most things, its the rarity that, in part, makes them so wonderful. I guess we shouldn't be so greedy and instead should be happy when events happen in our favor on such occasion.

While you're at Ectoplasmosis!, check out the article on the photography of Anders Petersen. Something about his photographs captures the same grotesque beauty(?) you find in much of HR Giger's artwork.

I'm not quite sure where they learned to be so excited about him. Neither Toni or I made too much of a big deal about him, despite the fact that both of us do feel pretty optimistic about the possibility of someone with a relatively unique perspective being elected.

Regardless, Porter and Fallon have been quite interested in the election. Fallon wanted to stay up and watch the polls, and was continually asking which states Obama had won and who had won the others (though I don't think she really grasps the concept of a state or an election).

Though in the months leading up to the election I was fairly confident that he would be the person I voted for, it wasn't until the last couple days that I became certain in my decision. I have to admit that the decision wasn't based (even remotely) on objective information. I do know that as I saw him more and more on television, and listened to him speak, that I developed the perception that he was different - charismatic and willing to take risks. I felt that people might just be willing to set aside their politcal differences and push together to make some big changes in our country. I felt that something big was about to happen.

I think we've all gotten a bit caught up in this feeling...this sense of hopefulness. To be honest, I don't think Obama's policies will help our family in the short term. They're likely to cause a reduction in my take-home pay. But I can't think of too much else that would really hurt us. In the long run, however, I do think that his presidency will be good for our family. In the meantime, I think we're willing to make some sacrifices and take some calculated risks for the potential to have a better future for our family line (oh, and everybody else's too). ;-)

We'll find out as the new year begins. The next four years should definitely be interesting, and I think it will be exciting to write about and look back at this small slice of our family history in this context, especially for Porter and Fallon and their children.

This realization has made Toni and I more aware of how important these days are with them. I guess that's why family photos become so important - they capture these events and stories in midstream, allowing us to revisit them more easily when years have passed and the kids have grown up.

We celebrated their birthday on two separate days: one with just us, on their actual birthday; and again the following weekend with all of their friends. This entry is only about the first celebration. I'll add another entry later to chronicle the weekend festivities.

Until then, we hope our family and friends enjoy this entry about the family's celebration of their fourth birthday.

Porter - A big pirate ship
Fallon - A stuffed horsey to that she can ride on

We hinted that they might get them on their birthday, which was upcoming in a few days. Of course, as their birthday approached throughout the week, we let them know that it was only a matter of days before the celebration and presents.

Meanwhile, Toni went to White House Toys to shop for their gifts. She was able to find exactly what they had wanted. However, Porter had changed his mind on the pirate ship a few days later after seeing a batman toy at another store. We knew we'd have to deal with some level of disappointment if his expectations didn't change before their birthday; but we didn't figure it would be too bad.

The night before their birthday they were visibly anxious for the big day. They both were incredibly excited as they went to bed, thinking about their presents and birthday sweets. Of course, when they awakened the next morning they wanted their presents immediately. They had to wait, however, until I returned from work that evening before they could open anything. I can only imagine the anticipation that had built up by this point.

When I finally got home they greeted me at the door with huge amounts of enthusiasm. Toni told me they had been asking about when I'd get home all day long. After getting settled, we brought their presents out and sat down on the dining room rug to open them. After giving them a hand with the ribbons, they were soon shredding the wrapping paper to bits, eagerly trying to get to the presents within.

Fallon's first present was a carousel with horses and trick riders, from a company called PlayMobil. They make high-quality plastic toys with lots of intricate pieces that fit together and can be interchanged. She was totally delighted but really wanted to open her other toy - the big one.

Porter only got one present, but it was quite large and detailed. He also received a toy from PlayMobil - a large pirate ship. At first he was quite upset that he didn't get the batman toy. But we opened the box together and began sorting through all of the parts (more than 100, with over 15 pages of instructions - ugghhh), and he had soon forgotten all about his other wish.

Fallon checked out all the little pieces for her carousel - feathers, riding and trick saddles, hats and other items for the riders. Soon, her attention was turning again to the large present, so we let her open it. It was a lare white, stuffed horse, named blizzard. She immediately began hugging it and laid down with it on the rug. She even snapped a few pictures of it with my camera.

I began what turned into a three hour task of assembling the pirate ship. Porter and I worked together to assemble many of the pieces. He was really excited to see the ship slowly taking shape as we added on the deck, canons, masts, ropes and pulleys, and finally the sails...and, yes, the pirates and their treasure.

Fallon also joined us in the later stages of the construction and helped find parts and put together the sails. She was excited to see it all come together too.

Before long we were all quite tired - not to mention that we'd all forgotten about dinner due to the excitement and focus on the toys. So, we decided to eat a quick bite and settle down to watch a couple episodes of Little Bear before bed.

Eventually they both got into bed, taking bits of their presents with them. Fallon took Blizzard and her music box, and Porter took parts from his pirate ship (canon's and such).

In part two I'll write about their weekend birthday celebration, where they were joined by lots of friends, Buckaroo Bob and a couple fiesty ponies.

I have to say that I've never slept better...but on the other hand, it was awfully quiet and a bit lonely in the house. It did give me some time to relax and organize my thoughts a bit.

For Fallon I purchased a nice book on unicorns. It included three or four well-made unicorn figurines and detailed descriptions of all of the various kinds of unicorns in the world. It also contained detailed sections on how to spot signs of unicorns.

I bought Porter a book on pirates, one of his favorite subjects lately. It contained everything needed to become a pirate, as well as lots of information describing the things that a pirate typically encounters and uses in his day-to-day life.

I managed to get a few pictures of them during a unicorn hunting expedition in our back yard (no pictures of pirate Porter yet). These are the first shots I've taken with my new 24mm f1.2 wide angle lens. It's incredibly fast and takes beautiful photos.

They posed with the unicorn book during our hunt. Here, they found a spot in our backyard where a unicorn had created a nice bed in the thick grass, similar to the one on the page they're holding up. We also found some blackberries that had been nibbled on, obviously by a unicorn, in the tall patch of Himalayan blackberry between our yard and our neighbor's. The thought of actual unicorns in our own backyard was incredibly exciting for them.

We hunted for a while and they soon began pointing out lots of other unicorn signs - signs not mentioned in the book. It was great to see their imaginations at work.

On the way back down the hill in our backyard, we ran across this brilliant, orange bannana slug. The contrast between the orange and the damp green grass was amazing. (The photo came out pretty good considering that the lens I used was not a macro lens.)

It was great to have Toni and the kids back home, and once again be able to catch glimpses of the world through our kid's eyes.

Families can register to walk in the parade with their pets. Every year someone brings their pet chicken, but mostly its all kinds of dogs. Maybe next year we'll walk in the parade.

Back to the 4th...

After the parade we walked over to Veteran's Memorial Field, where all of the 4th of July music, food, games and, most importantly, pony rides were located. We got in line for the rides immediately, but there were already about forty people ahead of us. As we got nearer to the rides Fallon's excitement couldn't be contained. Porter, on the other hand, was a bit upset that Toni had left to go buy some delicious curly fries at the vendor next to the pony ride.

When we finally got to the front of the line and it was our turn Fallon couldn't wait to get on the pony. She kept saying that she wanted to ride the Apaloosa. She was all smiles, and rode all the way around with just the horses handler. Porter decided he didn't want to go. He was still a bit upset that his mother wasn't their. Plus, I don't think he likes being the center of attention, just like his dad.

Afterwards we went over to the playground and played on the rides, ate, and eventually made our way to the huge blow-up bouncy house, slides, and obstacle course. They totally loved playing on all of them, and immediately ran back to the line after finishing each time.

We stayed until they shut down the festivities, which was around 2pm. Then we made our way back up Squak Mountain, where we all crashed for a little nap.

Fortunately, the kids took a long nap. We had to bribe them with going to see the fireworks to get them to cooperate. Since the fireworks don't start until after 10pm here (sunset), they had to get a good nap so that they wouldn't be too grumpy.

After their nap we ate a good dinner of grilled hot dogs, chicken sausages, yellow corn and watermelon. Our neighbor, Carol, also joined us for the meal. It was declicious, but the mosquitoes in the front yard got a bit annoying. We've had a ton of rain the last few days. In fact, it rained so hard earlier in the week that Toni and I both commented on how the weather reminded us of Florida...especially the rare thunderstorms we've been having. The roads even smelled like Florida a bit, with the hot steam rising off of them after the rain. It brought back that feeling of summer that you only get in Florida - hot and muggy, but nice in some ways.

We finally finished dinner and hurriedly jumped in the car to find our way up to the fireworks show on Sammamish plateau, about fifteen minutes from here. Traffic wasn't bad, but there didn't seem to be any parking within a mile or so of the park where the fireworks display was to take place. By luck, we turned down a neighborhood street and found a spot pretty close by.

The fireworks were scheduled to begin at 10:15pm, which was only minutes away. So we put the kids on our shoulders and hurried towards the park. Just as we arrived, the fireworks began with a volley of loud bangs. Fallon immediately began screaming. Fortunately it was out of happiness and excitement (the entire ride to the plateau she kept alternating between exclaiming that she couldn't wait because she was so excited, and that she was afraid). It was really great to see her so happy.

Porter was a little more reserved, but the wide-open mouth gave away the awe he was feeling as he craned his neck to see the first fireworks go off.

We eventually found a good spot for our blanket, on the side of a hill. We watched for the next thirty or minutes or so, each of us commenting on our favorites. Surprisingly, the noise didn't seem to bother them a single bit. It was one of those rare occasions when we were all in a good mood and everyone was having a great time just being together.

Soon, I could tell that the fireworks people were setting up for the finale. I kept telling the kids that the finale was coming up. You could see the anticipation building in their expressions.

The finale was fantastic...really well-timed...and probably one of the best displays I've seen to date. The kids totally loved seeing them and we had a great time experiencing their first fireworks display with them. It was wonderful.

The imagery that this photograph creates, fits the somewhat romanticized perception I have of Tokyo, Japan. I've always been fascinated by Japanese culture, especially food, film, history, and popular culture.

For film experiences that create similar imagery, check out the movies of two of my favorite modern Japanese directors:

Sion Sono (Jisatsu Saakuru, Noriko no shokutaku)

Takeshi Kitano (Hana-Bi, Ano natsu, ichiban shizukana umi)

Today, after we returned from a small outing, she spent about half an hour tearing individual pages out of the catalog and then asking me to tell here the name of each item on each page. This evening, she went to sleep in her bed with a handful of the torn-out pages snuggled close to her.

She's also enjoys propping a book open on her bed against the wall and then falling asleep. Books (especially her fish encyclopedia) and her horses are her favorites to curl up with.

It really nice to see them so happy with such small things; and somehow it warms the heart even more when these unusual items end up snuggled next to them in bed - and are the first thing they look for when they wake up the next morning.

Here are a couple quotes on the subject that I've found to be particularly thought provoking:

Vernor Vigne, 1993, The Coming Technological Singularity:

Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended.

Stephen Hawking, 1998:

Some people say that computers can never show true intelligence whatever that may be. But it seems to me that if very complicated chemical molecules can operate in humans to make them intelligent then equally complicated electronic circuits can also make computers act in an intelligent way. And if they are intelligent they can presumably design computers that have even greater complexity and intelligence.

Vinge still stands by his statement that he'd be surprised if the singularity hasn't happened by 2030. I think it's a possibility (yeah, I'm not putting a value on that probability), and the thought is attracitve in a macabre way - along the lines of any dystopic society fantasy.

Let's see...I'll be 62 years old in 2030...just about ready to retire. The world will be a very different place by then indeed. It'll be interesting to look back 22 years to 2008 and read this entry.

They pretended that an animal was in danger (inspired by Wonder Pets, undoubtedly) and would run off to rescue it. Then the play session would devolve into placing the walkie-talkies real close to each other so that they could experiment with the feedback - something mommy thoroughly enjoyed listening to as the tried to focus on her touch-painting in the living room. :-)

I spent some time working on cutting in and adding a new outlet inside one of the lower cabinets where we've placed our microwave. I was worried I end up having to rip out a bunch of dry wall, but fortunately I was able to just branch off of a nearby outlet and drop a foot or so of wire down through the wall to the spot I'd cut out for the new receptacle. It doesn't exactly look pretty, but nobody will see it.

That was about it for our solstice celebration. I'm upstairs relaxing and Toni's down stairs in the living room, probably doing some reading. We have the windows open, and the night air is slowing bringing the houses temperature down.

I'll probably head down stairs in a few minutes and put on a movie or something.

...hope everyone else had a good solstice! Good night.

Jaron is probably best known for coining the term "Virtual Reality" back in the early 80's. He's an extremely thought-provoking speaker and writer. In the past, his criticism's of Microsoft's products have been quite harsh.

By about the second or third slide in this presenation it was obvious that Jaron's brain works differently than most other people's. He's able to see metaphors, patterns, and connections in things you'd never imagine to be related. I guess that's why he's such a valuable resource to a company like Microsoft, where he can inspire employees to think about problems and solutions in incredibly bizarre and wonderful ways. His ability to look at what might seem like mundane problems at first, from totally original perspectives, is unequaled in my experience.

After the presentation Jaron took thirty minutes to answer questions and go into detail on certain topics. At times it was difficult to keep up with his train of thought. Often the originating question was completely forgotten by the end of the discussion.

Needless to say, having the opprotunity to witness first-hand such a unique personality and mind at work was inspiring and bewildering at the same time. It really made me appreciate the rarity of people with these combinations of skills and talents. Thinking this advanced (and I'm not exaggerating) shouldn't be taken for granted. :-)

Later that afternoon, after arriving home, we took a nice nap, woke up, and had a light snack. I let Alby out of his crate, he eagerly greeted me and then ran into the bedroom to visit Toni.
Toni had to run do a couple errands, so the kids and I worked in the kitchen, prepping for Sunday dinner. After getting everything ready, we headed outside to play, and instead ended up pulling weeds in our Japanese garden.

Soon Toni returned, came up to the garden to see our handy work and say hi, and then went into the house to put away her things. A couple minutes later, however, she came back out with a very concerned look on her face. She explained that Alby was laying on our bed and that he didn't look well, and that he couldn't stand up.

I went in to check him out and we noticed that his breathing was very shallow, his pupils dialated, and his gums were cold and white. His jaw was clenched tightly so I opened his mouth and noticed that his tongue was very purple. He was so lethargic, and I realized quite suddenly that he was almost dead.

Toni grabbed the phone number for the emergency vet and I called to let them know that I was bringing him in immediately. He lifted his head as I picked him up and carried him to my car where I laid him carefully in the back seat and comforted him.

As I drove away Toni asked me to call and let her know how it was going. I dreaded that call, because I knew almost for certain how this was going to end.

Porter and Fallon were very agitated and concerned about what was going on, and I did my best to explain that Alby was sick and that I would take him to the doctor to get checked out.

I talked to Alby on the way to the vet, and occassionally turned around to check on him. His breathing was still very shallow, and seemed to be getting even more laborious, with an occasional deep exhaling - each one sounding more and more like his last.

As I neared the intersection of I-90 and Hwy 900 I heard an exhale that sounded different then the others...very final, and I knew he had just died.

When I stopped at the intersection I turned around and shook him. He laid there motionless. Nor did I see his chest moving.

Traffic ahead of me pulled away, and I spoke his name a couple times, fully knowing that he wouldn't respond, and tears welled-up in my eyes. A few minutes later I arrived at the vet's office and parked. I got out and walked towards the door then back to the car. I looked at Alby laying there...totally lifeless. So weird and unlike his usual child-like self I thought. I wasn't sure what to do. But, in the off chance that he was still somehow alive, I walked in to the vet's and tried to say something to the receptionist but couldn't get anything out as I tried to hold back my tears.

She guessed that it was Alby and that he hadn't made it, so she got a technician to go out to the car and check. The technician examined him thoroughly and confirmed that he was no longer alive. He apologized and offered to get a box/coffin for him, which I accepted.

As I drove back home, I ran through the scenario in my head. Toni called me on the way, and asked how it was going. I numbly stated that he was dead. She immediately gasped in shock and began crying. I heard the kids (having undoubtedly seen Toni's reaction) in the background begin asking anxiously what had happened and what was wrong. Toni couldn't respond so they became even more agitated. I told her to take care of the kids, and that I'd be home in a few minutes.

As I drove home I decided that we should bury him together. I pulled up outside our house and took a deep breath, trying to compose myself for the sake of the kids. When I entered the house Fallon and Porter were clinging to Toni and everyone was crying. I joined them and tried to comfort the kids, but they kept exclaiming that they wanted Alby and that they didn't want him to die.

The sun had begun to set by this time so I stood up and asked them to get some of Alby's favorite things together and that we would bury them with him when we all said goodbye to him. I then left the house to begin digging his grave.

I chose a level spot about 30 yds up the mountain-side in our backyard. Alby would often run up to this spot to explore, any chance he got to escape the house. There I dug a small hole about two feet deep until I ran into rock. I returned to the house to get Toni and the kids. By now they had calmed down quite a bit and nobody but Toni and I were still crying.

We all walked up the mountain-side to the burial spot. Alby was still in his coffin. I explained to the kids that we would lay Alby in this hole and that we should say goodbye to him, tell him that he was a good dog, and place his toys with him.

I placed the top of his cardboard coffin in the hole and then placed a blanket on top of that. Then I laid Alby carefully on top of the blanket. We all knelt down and talked to Alby as we pet him one last time. Porter asked whether this was like what we did with Slippery, their pet salamander that had died a couple weeks ago.

We then laid a second blanket over his body and Fallon asked that I then place his green rubber (supposedly indestructible) ball on top of the blanket next to him, which I did.

I shovelled most of the dirt and rock back into the hole, over him, until he was completely covered. We said one final goodbye and then made our way slowly back down the mountain-side, through the Japanese garden and the shingled cedar gate, over the front patio, and into the now suddenly very quiet, empty-feeling house.

The picture in this entry is the last photo I took of Alby, in September of 2007, on the day we celebrated Porter's and Fallon's 3rd Birthday. This entry is only two entries after the entry I had made in April to celebrate his eighth birthday.

I don't think we had been away from the kids for that long since Toni's parents visited two summers ago and watched the kids overnight for us while we spent the night at a Bed & Breakfast on Orcas Island.

After working up an appetite we grabbed a quick snack of fish and chips, and a crab cocktail - keeping it light so that we didn't ruin our appetites for dinner that evening.

Rather than heading directly to the hotel we drove around Alki and West Seattle, looking at the homes and smaller neighborhoods, dreaming about what it would be like to live there.

We then made our way to the hotel - The Edgewater - located on the Puget Sound waterfront in Seattle. Interestingly enough, and though I didn't know it at the time, Led Zeppelin and the Beatles stayed at the hotel in the 60's. Anyway, the hotel was fantastic. The room was very cozy, with a nice fireplace and a great view of forklift sitting on the peir next to the hotel...oh and a great view of the rest of the Sound too. :-)

We decided not to eat at the hotel's restaruant after checking out it's menu and the atmoshphere. Instead we headed to Queen Anne and ate at a place Toni had recently read a really good review for: How to Cook a Wolf.

We got lucky and found a great seat at the bar in the otherwise small and completely packed restaraunt. The entire place only had about five dinner tables, with additional seating for about twelve at the bar. Our seat was at the far end of the bar, and gave us a perfect view into the kitchen in front of us where we could watch the chef cook our meal.

Toni and I hate eating at pretentious restaraunts, but we were very happy to find that though this place was very nice, it was also quite relaxing.

The food was absolutely incredible. The dishes were extremely simple. But all of the ingredients were paired perfectly. For appetizers we had the chick pea salad and baked polenta. Toni had the pappardelle and I had the spaghetti...all cooked perfectly - one of the best meals we've ever had.

Afterwards we walked around Queen Anne and did a little bit of window shopping. One of the stores we visited was a large game shop called Blue Highway Games. They sell board games and such made from around the world. The shop has a very large space and loft area for customers to play games. They also host nightly and weekly games of various types. Very cool. We spent a lot of time looking around.

We then returned to the hotel, ordered dessert from room service, and watched an incredibly bad-but-good horror movie, Shrooms, about some kids that travel to Ireland to camp out and trip on mushrooms.

That morning we ordered breakfast from room service (which was really tasty), then checked out.

We decided to make our way back to Queen Anne to check out Blue Highway Games again. The game store reminded a lot of this place back in Pensecola, FL, called Kolbe's (sp?). It was filled with all kinds of neat games and puzzles like this place. I remember visiting it with Hervey and my friends to check out their AD&D wares. I was totally infatuated with the huge selection of D&D dice they had.

This time Toni and I found an interesting two player game called Blue Moon to play. We sat down and worked our way through the instructions for about 20 minutes and ended up playing for an hour or so. It was a lot of fun.

Of course, by that time, we were ready for lunch, so we headed across the street to a nice pizza place where we had a delicious small pizza with gornonzola and prosciutto. Once we had finished we were missing the kids, a bit tired, and ready to head home...

...but we decided to drive around Queen Anne for a bit first and look at homes for sell - mostly just dreaming again about owning a cozy little home in a nice neighborhood in Seattle.

I have to say that it was the perfect 24 hour anniversary celebration. I'm looking forward to our next opportunity to get out.

When I was a child I remember many trips that we took to my grandmother's - all of them by car. I remember spending at least a couple trips crammed into the very back of a station wagon on what seemed at the time like forever.

I can recall very distinctly the smell of hay in the air as our car passed the many farms along the way, and as the geography slowly changed. The smell was especially sweet as the sun set and we drove along the highway with the windows rolled down, the temperature outside cooling and the air becoming balmy.

The tension that built along the route to her house was incredible. We'd pass much of the time in the car playing "beetle-bug", counting the number of Volkswagen Beetles that passed, and their color. On one trip I remember my brother Dave (a teenager at the time I think) pumping gas and the car's tank suddenly becoming full. Gas shot back all over him. My parents wiped him down the best they could, but he road in the car smelling like gas the rest of the way.

My grandmother's house was pretty large - an old white farmhouse. It had a cellar and an upstairs, a big fireplace, huge front porch, and the kind of kitchen you'd imagine an old farmhouse having.

The driveway was made of crushed gravel. I can remember the sound of our car rolling over the top of it as we'd approach her house upon arrival, and everyone would come out to greet us and help with the bags. Next to the driveway was a large "garage" - really a shed - large enough to hold three or so vehicles (one of which was an ancient tractor) and other equipment, and lots of wasps nests.

Of course, there would always be great leftovers (like chicken pie) and lots of sweets (sugar cake, pound cake, pecan pie) waiting for us.
Surrounding the front porch of the house (the driveway basically led to the kitchen entrance to the house), were a bunch of small green shrubs (like Ilex Shillings). I remember looking for spiders and locust shells in them. The shrubs always had a distinct smell, something between dark earth and coffee grounds.

There was a very large, old tree in the front yard, from which was a hung a thick, braided rope. It was an easy tree to climb but we were always wary of the monstrous, black ants that made it their home. A couple times we were bitten by their large mandibles. I don't think they ever stung us though.

The back side of the house (opposite the kitchen and driveway), led to a small backyard, some clotheslines (I think), an old, rusty 50 gallon barrel for burning garbage, and, around one corner near the front, the entrance to the cellar. I can remember the smell of garbage burning in the barrel. I think that that part of the yard butted up against a corn field, if I remember correctly.

The back yard (opposite the front porch) was quite shallow. I remember a large fuel (fuel oil, maybe) tank on that side...I think. This side of the yard butted up against a cow pasture, surrounded by a small electric fence. The cow pasture led down the hill to my uncle's property, to a small, muddy farm pond. My uncle kept honey bees, and there would always be lots of them buzzing about the edges of the lake, getting drinks of water. We'd spend lots of time throwing hand-sized rocks at them, squishing them into the orange-ish mud that surrounded the pond.

I remember all of our relatives eating watermelon one summer on the front porch and in the front yard. I remember catching fireflies as the sun went down, chasing them around the front yard.

Further down the street from my grandmother's house was a very large farm plot. I think it grew corn. I remember hunting for arrowheads in the clay-like soil, digging around, picking up and throwing back hundreds of little shards of rock, but never finding any arrowheads. I think there was a cherry tree (black cherry) that grew on one edge of the plot.

Back up the road from this farm plot lived a dog (maybe an Irish Setter) that would bark and chase after me and my little brother. We called it the "dog picker" for some reason...not sure why. We were very afraid of it.

Another relative lived down on that part of the road, on the opposite side from my grandmother's house. I can't remember who she was (she might have even just been a family friend). I think she was ill the time we visited her (recall her being bedridden), but I do remember that she had a very large, round tin full of hard candy, striped white and various colors.

My grandmother was always very kind to me when we visited. On a number of occasions I remember suffering from asthma attacks while visiting. My grandmother was always concerned for me. A couple times I remember getting stung by a bee (once on the nose) and bitten by some sort of insect while walking through some plants she had in a small garden (looking for lumps of coal). She was always very helpful and comforting when I suffered from injury or illness.

I remember trying to sleep in a guest room off of a room near the kitchen, opposite the bathroom.

Taking a bath in the bathroom seemed to always be very cold. She had an electric heater in the wall by which we'd warm ourselves.
The master bedroom was downstairs, near the bottom of the stairs, and the exit to the front porch, just off the living room, which always seemed to be dimly lit.

Throughout the house there were many old and interesing things. I remember spending lots of time looking at them and exploring around the house. Everything seemed so curious.

At the top of the stairs was an old book case. It contained some books that had belonged to my grandfather, Frederick Artenius, who had died in his late 50's. While admiring a very old, black bound chemistry book that he had owned, I happened to look between the cover of the book and spine. There I found a few small sheets of paper with some hand-written notes. On the notes were some formulas for household items that my grandfather had written - things like "belt dressing". We showed them to my gandmother, with lots of excitement. Because I was so enamored with chemistry as a child (especially the formulas) she gave me the book and the hand written notes, which I still have today in my own book case.

She also had given me my grandfathers own collection of rocks - all of which he had found around the Appalachians in various locations. I also still have these, hidden away somewhere in the house.

...more later...