Winter Fun

I was reading today when the image of the lady and her child blowing bubbles in the snow brought me down memory lane.

Many years ago at a backyard bbq (Summer in Southern Cal - hot and dry), I sat around blowing bubbles with the kids. The ambient air was so hot and dry that the water evaporated from the bubbles before they had floated ten feet. The remnants were a soap bubble with no water. It was the strangest thing. We marveled at it and were amazed by it. End of story.

I was reading this week about the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. One of my favorite writers (Jay Nordlinger, National Review Online) was over there and he remarked that he was taking a walk and noticed a Swiss mom and her child blowing bubbles in the snow. It reminded me of my times with my own children. And then I pondered what would happen if you blew bubbles in sub-freezing temperatures? Would the moisture freeze and would you have these thin balls of ice? Forgive my ignorance, but this southern California boy doesn't get to the sub-freezing temps very often. But next time I do, I will bring some bubbles with me, just to see what happens.

A friend of mine at work (a Wisconsin native and transplant to So. Cal) has promised to take the challenge to ask her sister to have her children try this experiment. She seems to think the same thing will happen because of the dry weather in winter. We shall see. She also suggested that I ask my son to take the experiment to his science teacher and that maybe they could set up a web cast with some school in Wisconsin. They could do the experiment and his class could watch from Sunny California. I will plant the seed and see what happens.

(NOTE: I remember hearing a story about if you drink coffee in a real cold climate sometimes, depending on the temperature, you can take the coffee and throw it in the air and it will freeze before it hits the ground. I think it would have to be pretty cold.)

D.

Practical Jokes - Don't try this at home.

I know it has been a while since I last posted and I am working on an essay at the moment. But I wanted to post a little story about a family get together. I have two brothers and four sisters. We are all married with children of our own and we get together rather infrequently now. About five years ago, I think it was around Thanksgiving time, we all managed to get together at my parents house. The night before Thanksgiving is always a crazy time. We are prepping food in the kitchen for the big feast and everyone is running around my parents house socializing or hanging around the fire pit.

My wife, kids and I arrived after dinner on that particular Wednesday evening and all of the festivities had already begun. Now not all of my family drinks but there is usually a blender going for margaritas. We came in the front door and my wife went one way, the kids went another, so I dropped our contribution for the next day's meal in the kitchen.

In the kitchen, there was a lot of prep work going on. I offered to help. My sister, the one taking the trip with us next summer, was busy doing something for the meal; my older brother was in charge of margaritas. He offered me one. I was drinking at the time. I gladly took it. He poured me a nice blended margarita in a salt rimmed glass. It tasted great.

We started talking, catching up really, and I noticed that my sister had left the room. She had been pealing onions for the stuffing. She asked me to put the onions in a food processor before she left the room. I obliged. I remarked to my brother that the pureed onions looked alot like the blended margaritas that he was preparing. The idea just popped into my head. I yelled to my sister, who was now sitting around the fire pit, and asked if she wanted a margarita. She said that she would love one. I neatly poured the pureed onions in a salt rimmed glass and my brother and I went to socialize around the fire pit.

I gave my sister her "margarita" and we all sat around and joked and talked. It must have been about 5 minutes before my sister tasted her margarita. It was hilarious. She screamed at me and my brother and we had the greatest laugh. She will never forget. She doesn't take drinks from us anymore.

Eternity - The Story of Arthur Stace

Where do memories come from? Where do we get our thoughts? Does providence rule our progress through this life? Sometimes I think there are forces guiding my brain. This weekend I was reminded of a story I heard around the change of the millennium. I was surfing the web and came across the story of Mr. Eternity (http://www.greenplanet.com.au/eternity/eternity.htm). I should state that I consider myself spiritual not necessarily religious. I just never had much use for organized religion. But I think about eternity. I guess I write because I do. I want to leave something behind. I want my life to count for something. I want to know that I have touched someone's life. I just want my time on this planet to count for something. I want to leave the place a little better than I found it.

Someday I hope to organize all of my thoughts and, hopefully, we shall all be better off for it. Or at least then I could get some sleep.

D.




http://www.greenplanet.com.au/eternity/eternity.htm

Parades

My sister called me tonight. I told her about my trip to Alturas and Canby back in 1984. We went to the Modoc Indians stronghold of the Lava Beds, my brother and I. I only mention this because this is the sister that I always give a hard time to. I was telling her about General E. R. S. Canby who was killed during the Modoc Indian wars in 1873. She was getting annoyed at the details which I remembered from my trip in 1984. I was standing in the living room and my wife was in the kitchen laughing at the worthless information I was feeding my sister. My sister was looking for constructive things to keep her children busy during such a trip and I was feeding her historical information that would just bore her kids. I was trying to be helpful. Fine.

If she didn't want the historical data, then how about Geography. Did you know that the Pit River is a great place to go fishing on this trip. (Her husband is a great fisherman and is always ready to go.) The Pit River is the largest river in the Shasta Lake drainage area. It flows out of Goose Lake (which has traces of manganese in it), flows across two hundred miles of rolling California hills and provides most of the water for Shasta Lake and Dam.

I also told her about the birds at the Tule Lake Wildlife Preserve. Lots of birds.

My sister has a great laugh. I will always remember - sometime in 1988? - I was at my parents house. This was prior to me knowing my wife. I was at home for a visit. I was sitting at the kitchen table - finishing dinner? reading the paper? it doesn't really matter - when my 5 year old niece came through the room, followed by my youngest sister and then my other sister (the star of this post). I don't know why but it struck me as funny. I immediately stood up and joined the march, proclaiming rather loudly that "Oh boy, I love a parade". This one I did too.

My sister stops in her tracks, turns around and laughs at me asking "How do you do that?" Be funny, I guess. I just like to be happy so I find things that amuse me. This was a fun night.

The year may have been 1990 or maybe even 1991. I am getting old and my memory cells don't always help on this. But I did love that parade.
D.

Monday - Don't read this.

Nothing of any interest happened to me today. I did update my Netflix queue. But that was about it. Got up early, went to work, worked, came home tried to take a nap. Fixed dinner watched TV and then did this. Such is life. Momma said there would be days like this. But as God is my witness, tomorrow is another day.

Now don't you feel cheated.

coffee

Tonight, while setting up my coffee for tomorrow morning I looked at the grounds in the can. I thought (pondered) how many coffee beans went into a two pound can of coffee grinds? For that matter, how many beans grow on a coffee tree (bush?)? Who picks them, who grows them? I know this opens up a lot of questions on imperialism and colonialism but the price is paid. I know sometimes the prices go up and sometimes they go down.

These were just questions I had about coffee. And I just read that caffeine might be good for you, too. I shall keep drinking it.

I started drinking coffee when I was 17. I started working in a coffee shop/restaurant and we drank coffee. At one point there I realized that I was drinking four or five cups a day. I used to sweeten my coffee with sugar - one or two teaspoons. I realized that over a year that was a lot of sugar. I just stopped putting sugar in my coffee. It still didn't keep me from getting diabetes.

Comments

Hi all. I know that some people are checking my blog almost every day. I know the rest of the world doesn't. I am ok with that. I know those that check don't leave comments. That is ok, too. But if you want to leave a comment or just comment on any submittal my e-mail address is listed in my profile. Just click on the e-mail note and drop me a line. Thanks. I need help on grammar, punctuation and syntax, as well as context and structure. Any comments are welcome. Thanks.

New Year's Leap Year Tradition

This year my wife and I decided to take the kids to Disneyland after the new year. We have done this several times in the past to celebrate my daughter's birthday. This year was different. We have been trying to motivate my son to pay a little more attention to his studies and the trip was to be a reward (for trying at least). This year my daughter also turned 18 so this might be the last time we go to Disneyland as a family. That is ok with me.

I know it is the happiest place on earth. I know my wife grew up in Southern California and loves Disney (more than an adult woman should). I know the kids love it. But geesh. I have to pay for the admission and it seems that the dollar amount keeps going through my mind as we wait 45-60 minutes to ride the Indiana Jones ride or "Pirates of the Carribean". As we wait in line I try to figure out to the minute how much it is costing me just to anticipate the two minutes of enjoyment that I might get from the ride itself.

But still, my wife loves it. She loves the enjoyment that our kids received from watching the videos. I remember it too. My daughter was a year old when "Beauty and the Beast" came out. I remember her singing all of the songs - I think she learned to sing the songs before she learned to talk. I remember her watching the video over and over again. I cannot complain about Disney in that respect. It taught her to use her imagination. I believe it also taught her the true enjoyment that can come from reading. Belle, in the story, was an avid reader. Maybe my daughter learned from that. Whatever the reason she, my daughter, was never without a book. I am happy about that.

I think my son was about two years old when "Toy Story" came out. Yes, we took a trip to Disneyland that next year. He got his picture taken with Woody and dressed up as Woody for Halloween. Disney played a big part in my children's childhood. Why then do I dislike Disneyland so much?

Maybe because I have been there too much. Maybe because of the arrogance of the employees. I get yelled at from employees for walking in the street when their "parade" is about to start. Geesh, it is just a silly parade. Give me a break.

Still, I have to look at my wife. She gets excited because she has a Disney sweat shirt. She loves all the characters. She loves Sleeping Beauty's Castle. This year it was exceptional beautiful because it still had the Christmas lights that made it look fantastic. She loves walking up to the entrance. She loves the excitement of anticipation. She loves Main Street. She loves seeing all of the little kids, the smiles, the laughs, and yes, even the mid after noon temper tantrums. She loves those because she remembers that our kids used to do that and they are grown now, whew! Yet she remembers when they were young.

She remembers the sleeping babies in the baby carriages. She remember our daughter singing along to the songs at the Beauty and the Beast show. She remembers our daughter on Mr. Toad's wild ride. She remembers my son running to meet Woody. She remembers...

This year was fun too. We rode all of the rides, we shopped, we walked... and we walked. We shopped. We waited. I sat down with my wife while our kids went to ride an attraction that neither my wife nor myself had any interest in. We sat in one of the little cafes and sipped our drinks and just enjoyed each other's company. It was strangely quiet and we both shared how lonely it was. How our children were growing and soon would have lives of their own. It was a happy and sad day. This may be the last trip for awhile.

It was a bittersweet day for us. Kind of happy, kind of melancholy. My wife remembers the fun. I remember how much money it cost me.

And I remember how happy my children were when we went.

D.