Friendship

There are times when life goes by and it is difficult to remember one day from the next. Day after day, each blending into the next. Then there was June 12th when old friends from New Hampshire came to visit for the weekend and the day became very memorable. We ate great food, drank great wine and we laughed a lot. Our conversations turned to reminiscing of old times, our adult children, retirement, our medical issues and friends that we have lost.

As we have gotten older our age once again brings us together as did our youth. Our conversations may have changed but our friendship has not.

It was a glorious weekend except no one wanted to hear about my BM issues. I'll try again in a few years.

Time Flies. Pay Attention

I have been married to my sweetie for 38 years. Yes 38 short years. Freakishly short years, like where has the time gone short. It seems like only yesterday we were parking at the sand pit in Whitefield short. Like the last time I remember I was 175 lbs. Yes 175 lbs and I would pee as many times in one week as I pee now in one day. When did that happen?!!!! I need to start writing things down. I need to pay attention!

Like Father Like Daughter

As a grandparent I at times observe my granddaughter to see which parent she takes after. If I try, I can see my daughter. The way I remember my daughter talking and walking when she was that age. Looking at old pictures hoping to find that one picture that says “Hadley looks just like Christy.” But alas it is not meant to be.
Looking at pictures I took on my recent trip to Denver, I had a realization that Hadley does not look like my daughter, she looks just like her father. The roundness of her face, the way she smiles, the way her hair looks and the fact that she likes farting noises is a dead give away. There is no question she is her fathers daughter. I just hope she sings like her mother.


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Reflection

As a young boy I enjoyed springtime because I loved to play marbles. There was nothing like digging my heal into the ground, spinning my body around and making a hole to flick marbles into. We would all show our very best marbles but when we played, we would play our ugly marbles first. One day I was playing FJ and he lost all his ugly marbles and he would not play his pretty ones. So I got out the most beautiful bolder cats eye that anyone had ever seen. It was worth 15 regular marbles. It was spectacular and FJ went for the challenge. As I lined up and threw my precious bolder cats eye, FJ walked over picked it up and ran away. Yes the ass hole ran away. Away was a 1/4 mile down the street and into his house. For the next 2 years well into the 5th grade, whenever I saw him I would try to hit him. Because of his constant antisocial behavior pretty much everybody in the 5th grade was trying to hit him. I have heard that he became a stage director for a ballet company. I wonder if he still has my magnificent bolder cats eye marble.

A boys best friend

How does a man learn to be a good husband? At what point does he develop into a loving caring person. Where does it start? How does it develop? Is it nurture or nature or both?
As you watch the video you may ask why is his bed on the floor? Does he live in a trailer? Why does he have a champagne bottle filled with socks and water in his room? To answer these questions I suggest that you e-mail allbee88@yahoo.com and ask him. As for being a good husband I think he was helped along by Becky, a boys best friend.

Linguine Race

I am both excited and nervous. I have just found software that will convert any video format to what ever video format I want. I can take old VHS family video or DVD video and convert it to flash for my blog, 3GP for my phone, or just a window media file and store it on my hard drive. This is a huge leap because I have wanted to do this for years. I found the software at need4video.com . Some of it is free.

But with this new ability comes a feeling of nervousness. The nervousness comes from what my daughter will do if I post old video of her from the 80’s. Both Judy and I know that we looked better 20 years ago, but our daughter with hair that you read about does not think she looked better. I think she looks just fine, kind of a cross between Melanie Griffith in working girl meets Dolly Parton in 9 to 5. Do me a favor, after you watch the video below, go to her blog christyallbee.com and tell her she looks just fine. Please.

Home Alone

I knew the very first time I met my son in-law that I liked him. I could not tell you why, but I liked him. When he married my daughter I liked him more. Didn't know why, I just did. Now that he has been a big part of my life for over 2 years I can tell you why. He is a good person, a good friend, a great husband, and an involved loving dad. He can also play a mean guitar.

He was left Home Alone when my daughter and grand daughter came to visit in mid December. What does a man do when the wife and kid are gone? He does what comes natural for any man. He breaks out his favorite winter hat, the one with the ear flaps. Pounds down a few Baileys Irish Creme. Gets out the guitar, cranks up the amplifier and plays Christmas music until his ears bleed. As you will see from the video he is the coolest SIL that a FIL could have.

Why Not

When I was 10 years old I was walking past the TV one night when my parents were watching Lawrence Welk. Myron Floren was playing the accordion and my mother loved Myron so I stopped, lie down in front of the TV, put my chin on my hands and watched him play the accordion as only he could do. When he was done my mother said would you like to play the accordion? I said sure. Thinking why not. Well 4 days later I was sitting in a stranger’s house with an accordion strapped to my chest learning the song “Go Away”. I stayed with it for 2 years only because my mother liked the accordion and why not. When I quit at the age of 12, I could play like a really good 12 year old. Even at the age of 35 when I took it out the last time to play Christmas carols I still could play like a really good 12 year old. Now after 25 years I have taken it out again and I have found that I play like a really bad 10 year old.

Why have I waited 25 years to play the accordion again? Because my granddaughter really really LOVES the chicken dance and I really really love my granddaughter, and why not.

Bonding with my Grand Daughter

My Grand Daughter Hadley has come to visit and she brought her mother. Her mother is the one with the arms and legs in the pictures. In this picture we are having lunch with some christian bikers in Litchfied CT and she is wondering if we should say grace before we eat.

Here she is telling me that she has just had a diaper change. I am telling her that it was about time for all in the near vicinity.

Here she is telling me that she is having a bath in the sink and to bug off.
Here is a bonding moment. She said Granpa feed me.

It was a great day.

Highlights of my trip to Korea

Meeting the Cha Family
Spending time with my Son and new daughter in law
The Wedding (of course)
Traveling and sight seeing
Eating the food
Finding Western bath rooms
Eating more food

On looking back I found that I did not take enough pictures or video of the trip. Every experience seemed new or different and I guess I was more into experiencing the moment then in taking a picture of the moment. Korea is a beautiful country, with wonderful people and now I can better understand why my son enjoys living and making a home there.

My daughter, Christy Twitface , thinks I looked like the butler Mr. Belvedere in the wedding but I think I looked like THIS GUY You be the judge.

Proud Parent

As a parent there have been events in the lives of my children that have made me proud, and brought me great enjoyment. On August 10th 2008, one such event will be taking place in Daegu, South Korea. The wedding of my son Michael to Yoon Mi Cha. It makes me Proud as a father that he is getting married and happy that he has found such a wonderful partner as Yoon Mi.

Now all I need is chop sticks with little forks on the end.

"The Bear" of Canton Connecticut

Thanks to my wife who from this day forward I will call Hawk Eye, not the Hawk Eye from M.A.S.H the TV show but Hawk Eye from “Last of the Mohegans”. Thanks to her sharp eye we have documented proof of the invisible bear. Or as I can now call it, “The Bear”. It seems like a small bear, but a small bear that would rip your arm off and run up behind a tree and eat it.

How many is too many, how many is not enough.

As all who read my daughters blog know, christyallbee.com , my grand daughter became very ill with infant Botulism. During this time the only thing that mattered in my life was her recovery. I could not watch the news or read a news paper or concentrate on anything for a long period of time. The world did not matter any more, only the recovery of this little baby girl. Now that all is much better I have been going over all the pictures I have of Hadley which brings me to this question.

If we have deleted 7 out of 10 pictures that we have taken of my granddaughter, and we have 1000 pictures left, how many pictures have we taken. The answer is not enough. Click the play button and if you watch very closely because they go by fast, you will see 270 of them. God help me if I have more grandchildren. Where will I find the time.

Life in Canton Connecticut

Monday morning while sitting at the kitchen table, I saw what looked like a German Shepard loping through our back yard. It happened so fast my mind said dog, than wolf, no can’t be a wolf maybe it is a whadda you call it. As I was telling Judy what I had seen she noticed 2 more whadda ya call its loping at high sped through the back yard one with a limp. They made a U-turn one smelling the ground as they ran coming back through the yard up the mountain down the mountain circling in the back yard. The one with the limp finally stopped and waited for the other to make up its mind. Then the other picked up the scent again and they both loped off in the direction of the first one that I had seen. Thanks to Google we found that they were Coyotes. COOL!!! Judy got the camera out just in case they came back.


Fast forward to this morning, sitting at the kitchen table with a coffee and camera at the ready, Judy noticed this whadda you call it. I almost fell out of my chair getting the camera. I made such a loud noise that the whadda you call it stopped and look right at me. There is a little glare from the window but it’s a Bobcat. COOL!!!!! I would hate to clean that litter box.

swaddle :To restrict free will

While visiting our granddaughter this Christmas I have learned that when it comes to caring for a baby things have changed since 1971. Things have changed so much that I am surprised that either of our children made it into adulthood. Yet they did and our 1st born gave birth to the most beautiful grandbaby ever in the whole world, and I’m not just saying that.

Oh, and what the hell is swaddle. I got out the parenting dictionary from 1971, and it defines swaddle as, to bind an infant in cloth, to restrict movement and free will.

(Ok I added free will) It is kind of like you can’t do anything else so you might as well fall asleep.

Her joy is my joy

One of the joys for me in becoming a Grandparent was the process that my daughter went through during her pregnancy. Through our telephone calls I experienced her joy, concern, excitement and anticipation. 2 weeks prior to the birth of Hadley, She left a message on my cell phone. When you double click the video play Icon you can hear the message.

Her excitement was my excitement. Her joy was my joy.

The most beautiful Baby ever in the whole world

We recently purchased a Logitech QuickCam Video camera so that we could place a video call to our new Grand baby. “The most beautiful baby ever in the whole world”. I took a video of the computer screen as we were talking. I need to hold her before she loses that new baby smell.

The most beautiful baby ever

Hadley August Gannon.

Born

7:42 am, Denver Time

November 27th 2007

19 inches, 6 lbs 1 oz

Farmington River

This picture was taken from a bridge just west of where I live. If you go to the following link Farmington River you can see an arial view of the bridge (Route 44 crossing the Farmington River) and also an arial view of our house.

The Farmington River is a beautiful winding river that we have to cross 2 or 3 times to travel any where. All the leaves that you see will be in my backyard by Thanksgiving. Lucy, I gotta lotta raken ta do.

Damn That Invisible Bear

Every night no matter what time it is I bring my bird feeders into the house to protect them from the bear. Yup bear. Never seen the bear, never heard the bear, but ever once in a while there is a neighborhood story of a missing bird feeder.

There are some nights when it is late and I’m half asleep and forget to bring the feeders in. Last night was almost one of those nights, but I walked back from the bedroom onto the deck in my bare feet cursing the damn bear I have never seen. I have 3 feeders and it takes 2 trips, but I was lazy and only brought in the squirrel proof bird feeder center and the suet feeder left. I didn’t bring in the cheapo Wal-Mart thistle feeder, right. OOPS, What cheapo Wal-Mart thistle feeder? Exactly, It’s gone, history, tail lights. Not even one little piece of thistle left as evidence. Just one mega bent metal bird feeder post. Damn that invisible bear.