Canning beans - good news/bad news

Well, with Carolyn's faithful work and oversight of the garden, we have a large enough crop that she was able to can 13 pints of green beans this morning. Our family likes canned beans better than any other way except maybe fresh off the vine.





Thirteen jars begins to rival what we used to do in Long Beach. Unfortunately we had given away our large canning pressure cooker so we had to borrow one from a friend in the church.

The good news is that if picked properly beans will keep producing for quite a while. Here you see that even though Carolyn has picked the vines clean, there are still blossoms and tiny beans as well as some more mature beans that were hiding.




The bad news is that every year we've gotten a good crop, we leave on vacation the week the crop matures. By the time we get back the harvest will be over. Same thing is happening this year.

Interesting business model

We get so many magazines that it is surprising that our subscriptions aren't lapsing all the time. Well, actually they are because we have so many "airline miles subscriptions" that we get for a year for free. We seldom, if ever, renew those.

But there are a couple of magazines that we have subscribed to for years; yes, years. It just wouldn't feel right not to have a recent issue on the table in our family room. One of these is Newsweek.

So it was with some surprise when I noted we did not get a recent issue, or at least I couldn't find it. But I did find the following issues (all 2009):
Feb 23
Apr 6
Apr 13
May 18

My first thought was that someone was tampering with our mail. But we've had no other items seemingly missing. The only decipherable date on the mailing label is 02Feb09. If that was a renewal day, they're not doing well sending me the current issues. If that is a termination date, why have I received at least 4 issues since then?

As it turns out, I did have an Internet account with Newsweek so I checked my subscription account Through that. Sure enough, my subscription had expired on Feb 2, 2009. Why the issues had continue to come in drips and dribbles is anybody's guess. They are so good at notifying us to renew GIFT subscriptions I guess I just didn't pay enough attention to their reminders to renew our own subscription. Or they don't send a reminder -- just cut off the subscription a l..i..t..t..l..e......a..t.....a......t....i....m....e.

Handymen on Wheels

When you're an experienced man making regular house calls to vulnerable women, it's bound to happen sooner or later.... he's going to be asked to fix something!

Last week I had Don as a ride-along (he would make such a good driver for Meals on Wheels). We were about half-way through delivering the meals when the woman said, after taking the meal from us, "Do you two know anything about lamps?" Now I've fixed dozens of lamps in my lifetime and I"m sure Don has, too. He was faster asking , "Which lamp?" Linda showed us and demonstrated the problem.
The switch was worn soo that sometimes it made contact and the bulb lit up but most of the time it would just slide on by.

Since we were sure this was going to require a part, we didn't want to take up any more time at Linda's place. Instead we just took the lamp with us.

For the next couple of stops, I drove while Don used theLeatherman toolkit in my car to disassemble the lamp switch so that after we were through delivering the meals and turning in our paperwork we could visit Orchard hardware and pick up a new switch. Don was a little surprised when I suggested we test it before taking it back to Linda. But since I had the 110 power inverter in my car, it was a snap to test the lamp.

Ten minutes later Linda was so happy with a lamp that worked and we had had fun fixing it.

Annual Parkinson's Disease Event

Carolyn and I spent the better part of today attending this "Educational Seminar and Resource Fair". Actually, we're very lucky that it is held so close to us - about 5 miles driving distance from our home. We attended last year's event and really enjoyed it but we felt that we understood so much more this year.

It's an interesting event partially because almost all the attendees come in couples - one who has PD and the other a care giver or care partner. As you meet with and talk with each vendor, you can see them sizing up which one of us is the person who they will likely be serving and which one will likely need their service.

Probably the most useful thing we got out of the seminar was suggestions on exercising for practical activities of daily living so that actions are intentional, graceful, and complete. The speaker John Argue explained that People with Parkinsons have simply "forgotten" how to do things that come automatic to the rest of the world. So we have to "re-learn"all these things while we still can. And then we relearn them again and again and again.

RIP Kodachrome 1936 - 2009

Another household name passed into history this past Monday, June 22, 2009. Kodachrome film was once one of the common items to have around the house. I would guess that from the time I got my first 35mm camera (fall of 1963 to several years into our marriage, virtually all of our pictures were taken on Kodachrome slides. Processing costs being what they were, we reasoned that we could shoot a whole role of slides then make paper pictures out of 25% of the slides and still come out better than to shoot a whole role of Kodacolor film. Of course, we rarely did make paper pictures from the slides and so we drifted more and more to Kodacolor. Still, we probably have more Kodachrome slides than Kodacolor pictures.

Then in 1996 the company I worked for got a digital camera. It was so new that we really didn't know how to use it and when it made more sense than film. So one of my tasks was to become an expert with this new technology in my spare time. I took several pictures of family events and company events. The technology for downloading digital pictures was still in its infant stages so I thought film still had a place. And it was difficult to match Kodachrome's equivalent of 25 MEGAPIXELS per slide.

With my ow purchase of a digital camera two years later, my use of Kodachrome stopped. I think the rest of the world followed so that Kodak determined that there was no longer any market.

Interesting Trivia
Kodachrome slides (or at least the film they came from) can be dated to a year and quarter the film media was produced. Special codes were used in the non-picture area of the film. If you're interested check out the Kodachrome Slide Dating Guide.

Any more stealth blogs out there?

My wife discovered quite by chance that a nephew-in-law of ours has been publishing a blog for some months now. And I didn't KNOW it! I guess I should have known to inquire simply because several others in the family publish a blog and he has great writing skills.

I'm not sure what the reason is in this case but I am surprised that some people want to write but don't want people to read their work. It's almost like sit would be prideful to call attention to your own work but if someone stumbles upon it, it is okay. We certainly don't treat visual or performance art that way.

So if you didn't know he had a blog already, visit The Swamp hosted by Shrek (an aptly chosen handle).

Puff the Plastic Dragon

There's probably nothing better to do on Father's Day than visit with your kids. At least that's a worthy goal. I'm lucky in that one of my sons lives only 5 miles away and we have a chance to visit with him and his family close to weekly. Another son lives in Santa Cruz and we fortunately see him and his wife about monthly.

Riding at about the same pleasure level is to viist with the grandkids at their home so they have lots of toys to play with, know the rules of the house, and when they get tired you can help put them to bed or leave becasue you need to go to your own bed.

Our currently youngest grandson Camdan is geting more and more mobile and developing quite a personality beside. Although he isn't standing or walking yet, he will sit in the saddle of this 4 wheeled scooter and even let someone push him.

Like the fabled Puff, this plastic dragon makes funny noises and opens his mouth in mock nastiness. I missed the best shot where Camdan has his head on the floor looking into the dragon's mouth like a veterinarian might do today checking out a dragon's tooth.

Father's Day gifts

Once again my family has surprised me on Father's Day. I assure everyone that I have everything a guy could want including a wonderful family. Even though I try to not say anything about something in an ad or newspaper article that I might like but still I'm surprised.

Like Steven and Lisa found this clock that melds two of my interests - clocks and math. It's a normal sort of clock except that where the numbers would normally be, there are mathematical symbols.
Here's a better look at the face of the clock. If you didn't already know the numbers on a clock's face, how many of these could you solve?

But my big surprise for the weekend (not counting Philip & Jenny's news) was a soda pop maker that Carolyn gave me. I've been jealous of Woody for such a long time as he would brew up a quick batch of cola or orange or lemon-lime soda pop and I couldn't find anything like it in California.

Then recently Carolyn saw an ad in a Kohl's flyer for SodaStream. This is a yuppy-looking company that appears to be marking this soda maker as green (environment friendly) and the resultant product fresher than soda bought in a bottle or can. Anyway, I sort of forgot the ad, although I did intend to check it out.

The device requires specially designed bottles and CO2 tanks rather than generic supplies. And it only makes 1 liter at a time. It does it fast enough that I estimate you could serve 10 people a liter of soda each in five minutes. So far we've been happy with the taste of the diet cola and one of the fruity kind. I'll report back after we use it for a couple of weeks.

Budding Young Artist

This attractive young girl is an up and coming artist. I had her pose beside some of her works although now I wish I had taken pictures of the rest of her display. Her art is eerie - a mix of realism and abstract. From Carolyn and my experience in drawing we discovered that abstract can often be the most difficult.


I believe that even abstract art has a beginning, an inspiration point. But Kelsey couldn't explain to me how she developed her pictures or what inspired her.

Still, I'm glad we went to see the exhibit which was one of about a dozen. When she becomes famous, I'll be able to say, "I knew her when."

New Shopping Center

They say that we are in an economic depression and will be for several more months if not years. So it is with some degree of pleasure when I see a deal come through. There was a corner close to us that has been a vacant lot since we first saw it. And it wasn't a good looking vacant lot either. A Michaels adjoining the lot moved a mile away leaving more blight. Month after month, year after year, we watched the weeds grow.

Then, suddenly, movement onto the lots. Everything was cleared and a sign went up. TShen two buildings. The first proclaimed that Rite Aid was coming.

While the second looked like it could hold 7 small businesses. Panda Express was the first business in the newer building. Of course we thought it only proper to visit the Panda as a show of appreciation and support:

I suspect we'll be coming back here relatively soon. The food was good and reasonable and the service couldn't have been better.

Pimp my ride

Some kind soul (no name came attached to the package) sent me some lovely silver flames. Since they came after the blog entry describing my new walker I thought maybe they are from Jessica and are for that walker. So, with the help of Mom and Steven I decorated my walker as shown here.

Unfortunately, the blue is almost all textured plastic and the silver is aluminum covered with a plastic protective film. The sillver flam decals literally disappear when place on the silver areas.Two hours after putting these on, they were beginning to peal off.

Then Mom thought maybe the flames were for her van. Her van is so plain that I often call it "the Marshmallow". Well, look at it now:


Can you see the detail work? No one will call this a marshmallow again.

Summer arrived early

Three days early to be more specific. Of course that differs depending on where you are and whether the local weather patterns are distinct or reliable or whether you are just reacting to the vagaries of normal weather.

In any case we have seen 90 degree weather this past couple of days and the forecast is that we will continue to see that for the next few days. I am glad that we have changed the time of my book binding lessons. It would just not be possible during the heat of the day.

Ethics, Etiquette, or ???

Different societies have different standards, of course, and mostly people do not consider the standards to have the absoluteness of commandments such as DO NOT COMMIT MURDER. We might roll our eyes at what would be totally proper in Mexico but could get you jail time in the states. We think nothing of tipping wait staff 10 to 20% of the bill But try tipping a cop who has just stopped you for speeding. On the other hand, the Mexican Policeman may have to report his tipping earnings just like an American waiter.

Where the "tip" or compensation is an actual "quid pro quo" or "this for that" American's feel most comfortable when the practice is minimal and well established. We aren't comfortable with "new" practices, no matter how trivial. Tipping a waiter is considered good etiquette with the amount of the tip some indication of the service received. If no tip were given it is unlikely that the waiter would chasea customer down for the tip (except perhaps in New York). And it is unlikely that service would be refused the next time the customer comes into the restaurant.

So when a non-profit agency such as Meals on Wheels or the Alta California Regional Center receives a small gift, why do we go ballistic. A woman on my Meals on Wheels route gave me a card today with a nice thank you in it as well as $5. The card I have no trouble with although it represents a $3 donation (cost of the card). But do I also accept the $5 cash. She told me flat out that she would be insulted if I refused the money. Our agency policy is to refuse all gifts of any size.

Comments? Advice?

Manhunting - book review

If radio were still a popular source of "program" entertainment and this book had been a program on radio, this would probably be the closest thing possible to the audio equivalent of "chick flick". However, I know of no such alliterative nick name for audio books.

Jennifer Crusie in her book "Manhunting" has given us a delightful, if thoroughly predictable, story line. Girl meets man, girl underestimates man, man undervalues girl, man and girl thrown together time and again until the scales fall from their eyes and they partake of the forbidden fruit (figuratively). But change requires more than just knowledge. Do they have what it takes?

The setting is a resort in the hills of Kentucky and although Crusie is parsimonious with her descriptions, they're enough to do the job. You really do feel you're enjoying the boat, the horses, the western bar just like the book's characters are.

For being a love story there is surprisingly little physical contact - just enough to remind you from time to time that this is a love story. And the story is so predictable you can relax and just enjoy the light banter between the leading lady and her nemesis. The end is somewhat anti-climactic, sort of like an editor said, "You can't end the book that way! Wrap it up for goodness sakes."

A Family Visit

The call was about 30 hours before their ETA (estimated time of arrival). It was our niece who has often called before and is a good visitor. They were on the road and would be checking into a motel on Saturday that was within a day's travel of our home. Usually that elicits an immediate invitation from Carolyn and/or Tiffany. This time we waited a couple of beats and, sure enough, Tammy asked if she and the family could spend Sunday afternoon visiting us. Carolyn suggested that our hours should straddle dinnertime so we could get twice the effectiveness for our having them with us.

The first thing we did after hearing from Tammy was to call up Edward and ask him and his family to dinner the next day. When he said yes, mom asked him whether it was more practical at his home or over at our house (the correct answer was "their place").



We got another call when Tammy and Dwayne were about an hour away. That gave us enough time to set the tables up then set the tables. It did work out beautifully as their kids ages sort of "interlace" with those of Ed and Tiff's.

Three hours later, well fed and well visited, Tammy and family were on their way and we were close to back to normal.

Thanks, Tammy, for visiting us. We enjoyed your kids. They were very courteous and well behaved. Please come by again.

Thank God for Evolution - book review

Well, folks, the war is over. Those who are lined up one of the two sides: [(1) fundamental Christian "young earth" proponents and (2) atheist/agnostic scientists evolution proponents] should lay down their notebooks and put away their pulpits because the war is over.

According to Michael Dowd in his "Thank God for Evolution" 98% plus of reputable scientists in fields where it definitely matters agree that evolution is a fact, the earth is billions of years old, and there are several plausible mechanisms for driving evolution, the most popular of which are natural selection and sexual selection, neither of which requires the intervention of God. Dowd a man of god, an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ has, in tried and true fashion followed, the admonition "if you can't lick 'em, join 'em" - sort of. By clever redefinitions, Reverent Dowd elevates God from creator of the universe to "the universe" greater than which there is nothing. The Theory of Evolution, he conflates with The Good News or today's Gospel.

I like his definition of God's words to single persons such as Moses, Abraham, Peter, Paul (and dare I add Joseph Smith, Brigham Young) as "private revelation" as it cannot be duplicated no matter how you try to recreate the conditions which brought about the revelation. "Public revelations" on the other hand are facts (not speculations or assumptions) observed by many people over time and space which can be duplicated when the conditions are recreated. With such definitions Dowd points out that public revelation has grown apace and seems to be heading for greater information than we had ever dreamed possible. Private revelation, on the other hand, has all but ceased with only one major church still claiming it. And that which was given has become frozen into scripture where it can become all but useless unless reinterpreted in light of public revelation.

By clumping together both camps and changing definitions, Reverend Dowd will probably not make many friends except in the liberal Christian community who really do want to get along with those scientists who can still believe in the spirit if not the letter of scripture. And there are probably some of these scientists who really want to remain religious. But Dowd is not really worried about conversions or building up a great congregation which believes as he does. He's more interested in the insights that we can gain (and that he can explain in his seminars) as to why people act the way they do (evolution answers many of the questions) and what we can do to grow past these problems (again evolution suggests the answers).

The book is not a difficult read and even if you never get past the part which encourages reinterpretation of private revelation in light of modern public revelation, you will still have gained a great return for your efforts.

She doesn't stop at flowers

A couple of days ago we gave someone detailed instruction on how to find our house. When he arrived, he said, "You should have just told me to go down the street until you see all the flowers." Carolyn does do a wonderful job with the flowers in our yard. But that's not all.

This year Carolyn has taken over the raised beds and planted them full of vegetables. There are green beans, onions, basil, cucumbers, tomatoes, and who know what else. It is just reaching maturity with the green beans coming on first. Notice Carolyn's harvest in her left hand:






Here she is pointing out the tomatoes on the vine and beginning to be visible from a few feet away.
These next two pictures show how Carolyn gets the most of her small space.

Here we have basil growing under the shade of the bean vines.

And here the rhubarb and chard are planted between the flowers along our back fence. They seem to work well together.

You never know

...who's going to be reading your blog.

It's probably an ego thing but I have a little meter on my computer desktop that registers the number of visitors and page views of my blog throughout the day. There's absolutely nothing I can do about it short of running through the streets asking people to sign onto my blog. Well, I guess there is the little matter of talent and writing about interesting stuff.


So, anyway I look at this meter from time to time and if it's in the 20's at evening time, I feel it's been a good day. I don't stay up until midnight to see what the count is since I know that from time to time I can print out a summary for the previous 7 days, 30 days, 12 months, etc.

Well, one recent evening the count was over 70 and when I dumped the summary of the previous 30 days I found that on two days my blog had been visited 100 and 80 times respectively. The average count is around 30 per day. On about 50% of the visits I can tell which web site referred people to my blog, that is they clicked a link to get to my blog. In this case the link was located on a blog called Roanoke.com and he was referring people to my blog to read a book review I had done 2 years ago and could barely remember.


The fact that the page view chart isn't nearly as dramatically high on those two days indicates that people came, read the review, and departed without looking at other entries.
So, thanks to all of you who are regular visitors as well as those of you who visited us from Roanoke.com. Here's the return link to the Roanoke.com article just in case you want to pay a return visit to that blog. And here's a link to my review of The Big Book of Irony which is the cause of this blog entry.

Hot summer nights - not yet

Although we're having one of the mildest springs that we can remember in Sacramento this year, it's still too hot to work in Pat's bookbinding shed during the day. That means I'll either have to take a summer vacation from working with him or move to an evening schedule. I'm not really tickled about either choice. However, I am having trouble working in our garage during the day for the same reason so it probably is worth a try. It really isn't any worse than having two sessions of a class at the local community college.

Helping the missionaries

I've volunteered more than a couple of times to help our church's men's group to sweep, mow, trim, lop, or otherwise clean up someone's yard either as a welfare project or just to help someone catch up with yardwork that's gotten the lead on them. But I'm having more and more difficulty doing my own yard any more except for the lawnmower which I can push like a walker.

So it was with pleasure that I could answer "Yes" to the missionaries when they called this afternoon for help with a yard project. They didn't want me, just our equipment - mower, trimmer, lopper, weed eater, electric cord. And I know that they'll either return everything in good condition or give me a great excuse never to loan stuff to the missionaries again.

Follow-up: The missionaries returned our equipment in apparent good order and an hour earlier than they had promised. And they brought a new gas container with 2 gallons of gas. That's class!

Where are the good ideas when you need them?

I got into a couple of good political discussions today which is not hard to do when I spend several hours at the Regional Center where I used to work full time. But for a fluke of politics Regional Centers would be state agencies and regional center employees would be state employees. But they aren't and they aren't. Still, everyone wants them to act like state agencies but without the political power and budget protection.

But my comment today is not about Regional Centers but about ideas, specifically ideas in solving problems. In my discussions with people about the California budget, for example, there are a lot of people who are quick to criticize and even say what shouldn't be done but when I turn the problem around and ask, "Well, then, what would YOU do?" there is often a big silence. To fill the silence, they'll often respond by repeating, "I wouldn't do THAT" or "I don't know but it isn't my responsibility, is it?" If they do venture an idea, it is easy enough to follow that idea to one or two of its conclusions and find that things aren't so simple, after all. Anything can be solved in general. It's the details that mess you up.

Now if I could just come up with an idea about how to get people to come up with ideas.

Is it a holiday?

9:00 I arrived at the Library this morning ready to put in my two hours of volunteering. I was hurrying a little because I wanted to be on time. The parking lot was empty.

9:05 A couple more volunteers show up and two staff members (non-management so they aren't allowed to open the building)

9:10 Is that....? No. Just someone dropping off books.

9:12 Yeah, a manager who explains that she's actually early but isn't the manager in charge.

Is there a law of inverse timeliness - the more you make, the later you are???

Congratulations, Dallas!

It was a beautiful evening for an Eagle Court of Honor. The location was a bird sanctuary just a couple hundred yards away from where Dallas completed his Eagle project. The backdrop is a memorial to the sons of Carmichael who died in the Vietnam conflict.

The color guards were struggling behind the bush there to fasten the U.S. and troop flags onto the pole line while the "captain" of the guard was struggling to look dignified in his "non-regulation" shorts and t-shirt.

At first it looked like the family would be the only ones in the audience but eventually it turned into a reasonable crowd.

Off to the side in a section of honor, these six men and older boys had already received their Eagle rank in scouting. Their function is to lend weight and respect to the procedures this day.

There was a minimum number of speakers, certificates, and congratulatory awards and many of those on the program were by family members.

Mom was there with a sash full of "Mom's" badges, the little replica badges that they give to the moms when a boy earns a rank. There is a row for each son. Not each child has completed his eagle rank requirements, a fact which Karen accepts with tolerance and love. But you can also tell that she is especially proud of those rows ending with an Eagle .

Scoutmaster Braun awards Dallas his Eagle badge, parents' badges, and new Eagle neckerchief and slide.

After the closing flag ceremony, the closing prayer, and the closing word from the Scoutmaster, the crowd dismissed to the refreshment table to help make the cookies and punch disappear.

From here some of us walked to the chain and steel fence that represents the fence that Dalla completed as part of his Eagle project.

The Soul of Medicine - book review

Another Canterbury Tale

Having read Dr. Sherwin B. Nuland's outstanding book "How We Die" I was naturally interested when I heard that he had published another book related to his medical interests. I have spent the better part of my life in medical related careers where it is common practice to discuss the unusual events of the day precisely to keep them unusual. Now in "The Soul of Medicine," Dr. Nuland is simply including us in the "surgical grand rounds" and sharing with us some of what has made his life exciting.

For some unknown reason, Nuland has fashioned his book roughly on the model of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales so that the 20 plus tales that are told have 20 "different" tale tellers. You'll read the Surgeon's Tale, the Urologist's Tale, the Caridologist's Tale, etc. I was unable to discern any order based on the tellers specialty nor for that matter was every tale related to its teller. Hence the puzzlement over the Chaucer analogy. I was also somewhat confused as to whether he was telling each story in the actual words of the specialist from who he heard the story or whether he had put his story in the mouth of a specialist who might have had reason to hear or participate in the creation of the story.

The stories themselves are delightful. You'll find yourself turning pages way too quickly so that the 20 tales and the 207 pages are soon behind you. You find yourself wishing there were 5 or 10 more stories or wondering why the author stopped so soon.

There is nothing in the book that requires the reader to have a medical
education. Just the normal brush with medical and nursing care. Nuland's stories remind me a little of the gynocologist who worked in my hospital. He carried around with him a standard vaginal speculum somewhat like other doctors carry a stethescope. The shock is supposed to amuse you. So Nuland's stories have a little shock value to remind us that we're not dealing with normal people in normal jobs.

For example in the first tale a patient is discovered to have a chest cavity filled with feces. Normal people would find that only mildly alarming given that there's intestines & all in that general area so Nuland has to explain why that is not an expected condition.

Some stories are heart warming, some are inane, some are just quirky. It is the package of the whole that makes it "The Soul of Medicine."

Lastly, one minor complaint on the parchment-like jacket cover - it doesn't hold up well and it isn't transparent enough to show the illustration on the hard cover.

What do you say to a naked lady...

When you're delivering Meals on Wheels?

I know what you're thinking. And, yes, all of my customers are "older" women (it's actually unusual not to have at least one man on the route) who, like me, "have seen better days". But older women still have an appeal to older men and Ms. XX is definitely one that still appeals. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Like I've done hundreds of times, I rang Ms. XX's doorbell and waited for some indication that someone was home. She lives alone without any pets that I know of so she's either home or she's not. As I was about to press the doorbell button again, I thought I heard "Just a minute". I waited some more.

I heard rattling noises and saw the doorknob turning. I raised the green cloth reusable grocery bag that I carry the meals in. I reached in and removed the hot meal container as the door opened. "Oh, this is awkward," I heard her say. When I looked up there Ms. XX was, one hand on the doorknob and the other desperately holding a towel around herself, a towel that was barely up to the task. "I won't look," I lied, handing her the hot meal box. She released the doorknob and took the box. "I wasn't expecting you this early." I looked at my watch -- maybe 10 minutes earlier than my usual time. Then I remembered that I was subbing for another driver. "Got my meals earlier than usual," I replied and handed her the cool meal accessories box. She ducked behind the door to set the hot meal box down so she could grab the cool box. "And a nice large banana," I said as I handed her the last of the meal.

"I'm so embarrassed," she said with a smile that said the same thing. Then, her hands both occupied, she said, "Could you please pull the door hard so that it will lock." I walked back to the car shaking my head. That was definitely one for the records, I thought.

Carnival Time

My, how times have changed! When our kids were attending the local elementary school in Long Beach, I thought the carnival was pretty sophisticated because many of the booths were built to last year after year so things didn't have to be built from scratch each year. True, the school has now added a couple of grades changing its title from an Elementary School to a Preparatory School in the process. The older kids would want something more than they were getting in the old carnival.

So a commercial enterprise brought in 4 rides, a blow up slip and slide that would even let a grown person enjoy the slide, and laser tag. Ben and Perry pretty much did everything they wanted to except for the ride that kept breaking down.

They seemed to especially like the "parachute" ride and one that used centripedal force to hold you up against a wall.


Michael and Tim were a little intimidated by the fast, circular ride. Tim carefully picked the games he played so he could get enough to turn in for 3 stuffed toys.


The line for face painting was long and slow moving. But the woman doing the paining was doing such a careful job that no one wanted to aggravate her any more.

Before

After

All in all we'd have to say the kids had a good, if not great afternoon.

Ben at the Piano

We noticed this time around that Ben has made remarkable progress on his piano playing even in addition to his starting to learn the bass fiddle. I can't help but feel a little proud since those were the two instruments that I studied the most and spent the most time playing. In fact it made me a versatile dance band member. I'd normally play bass but if the piano player couldn't make one of our gigs, we'd drop the bass and move me to piano.

Anyway, one of the reasons for Ben's increased progress appears to me a performance rewarded system whereby he earns computer time in direct relationship to practice time.

A puzzling family

Quite often when our family gets together someone will break out a jigsaw puzzle and most of us will then crowd around the table to assist in putting it together. This time it was a puzzle created especially for our Long Beach ancestral home. One site where these are available is here . They are definitely one of a kind. I neglected to get a picture of the final product but here is a sample of what they look like:

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While the adults were putting together this medium difficulty puzzle (400 pieces 18 x 12) Jill was showing us how quickly she could put her Solar System puzzle.

Jilly putting space together

Completed Solar System

You'll notice that Jill doesn't always have this unusual makeup on but it does kind of go with the puzzle.