Grief in July

This is a photo of my Uncle Paul and my Dad, Bill in October 1970.

Twelve years ago this past Monday (July 18th, 2004), my dad died as a result of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).  I wrote a little bit about that a few years ago.

Yesterday, July 22nd, 2016, my Uncle Paul died.  

We are having a rough week here.  

Beyond just being a great guy and Uncle, for the past twelve years, my Uncle Paul has stood in for my father, who I know would have done anything to be here for milestones.  He came to my PhD graduation, met us at the hospital when Lucy was born, and joined us for all sorts of celebrations. 

Here he is with Lucy when she came home first (I know she doesn't look too happy here, but I assure you, she came around to him):

 Here he is with his wonderful wife, my Aunt Kathy, at Lucy's Baptism:
 

He and Lucy had a lot of fun together (although in this picture, she is protesting):

But he loved getting down on the floor and playing with kids -- getting to their level, talking with them, and learning about them.  I was amazed by what he could do with kids.


He played catch with Lucy:




He loved children so much (he is wearing a sticker on his forehead that Lucy put there):

Here he is with Kathy and their daughter, Elizabeth, when she graduated from Westfield State:

He was very, very proud of her.  

The last photo above is a scanned one from an album; I will go through and try to get some more soon.  For now, I wanted to share the ones that I had digitally, to at least briefly start to remember and share some of the very joyful moments we all had together.

Kathy is still in North Carolina, and Elizabeth is in New Zealand.  We are thinking of them and sending our love.

We are so sorry.

We are so sad.

Tully Trip 2015

We've returned from our annual trip to Tully Lake, where we had a fabulous weekend of camping with Ian and Elizabeth.

Here's Lucy's take on it:

Here's the whole gang at the end of the weekend (we probably should have taken one at the start):

We've been doing this since 2012, when we looked like this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jakeb/8016683159  or this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jakeb/8016674708

And here's the whole gang in 2013: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jakeb/10010118613

And here's the 2014 version: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jakeb/15397401305

We've refined ourselves a bit over the years, improving our gear and our food. This year, cast iron skillet yielded delicious bacon as well as dough deep-fried in that very bacon's grease.  It was amazingly delicious.

Sadly, due to an algae bloom, we were not allowed to go swimming or wading, which also meant that we couldn't bring Alice (because there's no way to keep that dog out of the water).  So Alice had a lovely time at Camp Furvana (Paula's house) and we spent our time on long hikes and just hanging out.  We went on a beaver hunt (in the canoe) but sadly did not see any beavers.  But we did talk a lot with a ranger, who is a wildlife rehabilitation specialist.  She is raising a baby beaver who got separated from her mother.  In related news, Lucy now wants to grow up to be a wildlife rehabilitation specialist (previous plan was zookeeper).

Can't wait til next year.

 

The times, they are a'changin'

We have several important updates for our readers:

1) Lucy is now in Second Grade! 

This is shocking.  Here's what she thinks:

2) Lucy is taking piano lessons!  

Also, we now have a piano!

Here's a visual demonstration of both of those things:

And here is Lucy's illustration of the new situation:

3) Lucy is playing soccer for the Dracut Flash!  

Here she is in her uniform:

This is our first foray into the world of competitive sports.  So far, so good.  We started this past Sunday, and it looks like we're going back for week 2.  Go Flash!

Here's Lucy's story about it from school:

She really likes it.  Even the oranges.
4) The above are all awesome things.  But we also have a Very Bad Thing we have to report.  Our very favorite Beacon Street family has moved.   To Maine.  Which is Far.  Not That Far, but still, not here.  We are very excited for Matt and Mary and Ruth and Woody to start their new adventure in Maine, but we are very sad that they are no longer our neighbors.  They will still retain honorary status as members of the Christian Hill Cocktail Society (CHCS).  We all go way back:

We raise a glass to Matt and Mary and Ruth and Woody, and we will all visit soon!!!!

Second Grade

Summer is officially (unofficially?) over, as today my school and Lucy's school commenced the academic year.  Lucy is off to second grade. I find this shocking.  She had a great day and is happy with her teacher and classmates.  I asked her if all the kids talked about what they did last summer, and how they introduced themselves.  She said a there was a lot of talk about Canobie Lake (a theme park not far from here) and such summer things.  Here's where it went from there:

Me: Well, what did you tell them about yourself?

Lucy: I told them I have a dog, and her name is Alice and that my dog has a doppelganger named Remy.

Me: Oh.  Did the other kids know what a doppelganger is?

Lucy: No, so I explained that.

So I can only imagine what Lucy's teacher and classmates now think of her.

I couldn't be more proud.

Also, Alice DOES have a doppelganger named Remy and they are mortal enemies.  It's almost hilarious, if it weren't sometimes scary the way they seem to want to destroy each other.

Happy New School Year!  I hope to have updates soon.

Meet the newest member of the family!

This is Flame:

He's a Betta fish, like his predecessor, Norbert. 

Lucy received her Aquafarm for Christmas from Santa, but we only got around to putting the whole thing together recently.  Flame is a farmer:

He provides nutrients to some plants up above (at the moment, wheatgrass and radish sprouts) and they, in turn, clean the water for him.  Impressive work, little fish-farmer!

Lucy wrote a nice piece about him for school:

We are pleased to have Flame as a member of the 83 Durant Family!

Happy Father's Day

Here's what Lucy wrote in school about her Dad:

Nice, eh?

Happy Father's day!

HubBub!

We just spent an amazing day at the HubBub in Boston.  It was the first (and we hope not last!) Boston Book Festival for Children!  Our main motivator was that we wanted to see one of our very favorite authors, Mo Willems!

And we did! He started out his reading (to a packed house!) by telling everyone that they should take their photos, and he posed in appropriate ways:

And then he insisted that EVERYONE put away cameras and have their hands free. It was awesome.  He said we were all there to experience the event, not document it.  It was delightful!  He read from Pigeon Needs a Bath, answers questions from the audience, read from I will Take a Nap (the latest in the Elephant & Piggie series) and was entirely delightful and wonderful the whole time.

And then, he ran to the back of the room and signed books!!!!

Here we are, having Mo Willems sign our copy of Hooray for Amanda her Alligator.

And yes, by the way, we DID dig deep into the Mo Willems catalog to get that one.  While all the other kids had their Pigeon and Elephant & Piggie books, I believe we impressed as being very committed Willems fans. He was lovely and excellent.  And now we have his signature and a doodle in our copy!

BUT WAIT -- that's not all!  The day continued with an all-day fest at Copley Place, featuring various literary characters, children's book publishers, workshops, puppet presentations, musical acts, storytelling, and just all around awesome-ness.  There were crafts, including those inspired by Willems:

We even found out the answer to life's age-old question: Where's Waldo?

Answer: OMG, he's RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!!!

We did the treasure hunt, which included getting stamps from various tents/groups that had exhibits and activities. So Lucy made a lightsaber at Einstein's Workshop, and even more exciting, she participated in the Build-a-Lair workshop at 826 Boston. Yes, she built a lair. 

Lucy took part in a photography contest (we'll keep you posted on the results!), made a parachute that she tested in a wind tunnel, and got to listen to the School of Rock band.  It was all incredibly awesome, and we can't wait to do it again next year!