The Boys Are Illin'

Happy Valentine's Day. If you consider upset stomach and lack of appetite romantic, I'm your guy. So is Kai, he's got tummy issues as well.

Weekend Warrior

Reiko's weekend calendar is busier than ours. Yesterday was a birthday party for her BFF. While I was meeting with a family about a baptism, Shelley was running back and forth to Grand Bend with the party grrl.

Today while I was at a church Annual Congregational Meeting, Reiko was at a schoolfriend's house for a playdate. Shelley and Kai went for an ice cream sundae.

Maybe Rei's weekend calendar isn't busier than mine, but it sure is less work-related.

Not Quite Kimonos

Some months ago, my parents gave us some matching Japanese "housecoats" (in ignorance of the proper word) that I and my siblings wore. They've hung in Kai's closet until now, rejected and unworn.

Today, for an unknown reason, the kids decided they wanted to try them on. Captured digitally, for posterity's sake:

Here and Now

OK, so my weekend project didn't really meet its objective. I'll keep plugging away and those few of you that want to look back (over the last 3 months!) as they're posted (in non-chronological order) can do so.

As for what's happening now, I'm getting ready to go to London for a few days' as chaplain for a conference on (youth) ministry. Shelley spent the weekend working on an assignment for her college course that wasn't due for another week. Reiko's excited about her BFF's upcoming birthday party. Kai is finishing a cold and continues to resist clothing despite the freezing temperatures - although he will deign to wear soft, comfy clothes, i.e. fleece.

Journey through Time

Hey everyone ... assuming people check here once in a while to see if anything's changed ...

My weekend project is to finish the numerous blogposts that are half-finished (half-started?) and get back up-to-date. A benefit of maintaining a blog was the elimination of a Christmas letter (although we're well beyond that festive season - even for the Orthodox Church). So the events and insights of the past three months will appear in the next three days; so watch this cyberspace for new old developments.

Clean Cut Crew

The Boxing Day sale excursion yielded a shaving kit for Kai. Here we are in action:

Christmas 2008, Round 4

Christmas proper began with Kai's first words: "Did Santa eat his cookie?"

The smile on Reiko's face indicates that her eBay present was a hit:


After a morning of cinnamon buns and present opening, we headed to the farm for the festivities with my side of the family. The kids were appropriately doted upon by everyone, although my mom was feeling sick and spent much of the day resting in bed. On the up side, she didn't have to go to work.

The next few days shape up to beer-drinking, book-reading and wine-shopping if my gifts are any indication. Merry Christmas everyone. Again.

Party Tricks

I didn't encourage them to do this. But I didn't not un-discourage them either... (how's that for a George W.ism?)


You'll note that Kai has increased the degree of difficulty by standing on one leg.

Christmas 2008, Round 3

Our Christmas observances begin at Thanksgiving with Shelley's cousins, continue in November with her parents before their Floridian migration, and as the 25th creeps closer, with her sister and boyfriend.

Their gifts were on the mark. Princess Reiko loved Disney's Rapunzel Princess:


And Kai has a real-life guitar of his own:

Woody's Roundup

An ardent fan of the Toy Story franchise, Kai was the beneficiary of a pre-loved Woody toy. One of Shelley's co-workers passed along this doll (action figure?) to Kai's great delight.



And no, we don't have the heat turned up in the house; he just likes to dress as if it is. Mind over matter, perhaps. Merry early Christmas.

pre-Advent Preparations

So it's not officially Advent yet, but we've undertaken the decorative preparations for the coming Christmas blitz. My liturgical stricture has abated over the years, conceding that sometimes you need to take on tasks when you have the time and energy for them.

Reiko is perhaps contemplating the seriousness of our transgression, or pondering the true meaning of the season:


Kai, not so much:

Hallowe'en 2008: Firefighter and the Fairy

Speaking of Hallowe'en, Kai actually was excited to be trick or treating. Perhaps he felt the dignity of his costumed profession required a more solemn demeanour.



I think we tallied 120 visitors or so. It's hard to keep track when you're on the phone with your satellite TV provider (resolving technical troubles/advocating for financial reimbursement for our trouble) while answering the door.

First Dump of Winter

It looks like the weather is dressing up like winter for Hallowe'en this year.

Pop Go the Wiggles

Kai's first big-ticket concert experience came tonight, courtesy of Australia's richest entertainers: The Wiggles.

They indulged the Canadian crowd with a rendition of Raffi's "Baby Beluga" and all the usual gimmicks and characters. If we played a drinking game, taking a shot every time Anthony drew attention to himself, we'd be too wasted to walk back to the car. Although his Patrick Swayze impersonation was quite clever, in a desperate kind of way.

Kai's favourite Wiggle of late, Sam, came within high-fiving distance of us. I didn't have the camera ready in time to snap a photo in his face.

As a keepsake of the night, the kids are bedecked in concert finery:

Kai's First Photo

Our budding young photographer's first photo:

"Ducks on the Avon"

The fluidity of the subjects anticipated progress set against the textured water presents a feeling of poignant reflection amid autumn gloom. The muted tones of dark birds on cool grey shades seem dreary and forlorn, but it offers a statement of solidarity and persistence in the face of emptiness. A powerful, moving piece – I look forward to great things from this artist.

You can see his sister's first work here.

Pigs and Play

I took the kids into Stratford to visit my aunt and uncle, we stopped at a park where they climbed to new heights.





Back on the farm, my dad presented them with a piglet which they approached with guarded curiosity:

Life on the Farm

Upon my return, I headed home to my parents' farm with the kids to give Shelley a break.

They soon gravitated towards the machinery:


Especially Kai:


A ride in the combine was special treat, notwithstanding all the noise from the open door:

Free Lunch

Completing the culinary reunion tour (having already feasted on Darbar and Brew Pub), I stopped at The Wok-In on my way out of town.

It was pretty busy for the lunch hour, I grabbed a seat at a table as someone finished up. I'd ordered my standard #4 with extra spring roll, and another one as take-out for Shelley. While I waited, someone joined me at the table.

We got to talking and of course, ended up talking about church and faith, etc. where he shared his profound respect for my vocation and marvelled at my (apparent) youth. In the end, he insisted on paying for my lunch (and Shelley's supper) because the Lord has been good to him and his business this year. Thanks Andy. And thank the Lord too, I suppose.

Return to Kingston

It's a trip back to the Limestone City for the Annual Conference at Queen's Theological College. For the first time in 3 years, there were no Korean ladies at Inverary Golf Course for my pre-conference round. I was, however, able to take advantage of their 2-for-1 Mondays, getting together with a classmate of mine.

A cruise downtown showed a few changes: the once-heralded (albeit dubiously) Lino's has changed hands once again – this time LegendZ Italian restaurant, bar and grill hopes to establish itself on Princess and Division. I was sad to see that Café Max had closed and relieved that the creepy doll store on Brock Street is no longer there.

Stopping by some familiar haunts yielded some previously-used CDs completing my New Pornographers collection, beginning my Buck 65 one and procuring a pound of the Sleepless Goat Café's "Dr. Joe" coffee beans. Such are the sounds, sights and flavours of Kingston in the fall.

Fall Photos 2008

Leaf helmets (and we don't mean fan wear for that Toronto team that hogs all the area sports attention - says the bitter basketball fan):


Pumpkin Rider:


Treehugger: