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:

Canada Votes 2008. Not!

Upon our return from the hotel, Shelley and I exercised our franchise and voted in the federal election. Through VotePair.ca I had arranged to swap my vote with someone in London-Fanshawe. I'm still committed to the left-leaning socialistic side of the political spectrum; while my background in environmental biology might nudge me to the Green Party, the rest of their platform is not so inspiring.

Within our riding, the NDP had not put forth a strong showing or inclination in running a candidate (unnamed for the first few weeks of the campaign, apparently absent from local All-Candidates meeting - so was I, so who am I to judge?, and the campaign manager for another candidate in a neighbouring riding). So I was torn: if I voted NDP, it would be like the party was taking me for granted ... but did I want to strategically vote Liberal?

Moxywoman sent a link to VotePair and I saw this as a way that I could still support the NDP, vote Liberal if I had to (and not feel dirty about it) and feel as if my vote made a difference. So the upshot was that I was matched up with a voter in London-Fanshawe who re-elected the NDP incumbent and I voted Green (which I was prepared to do anyway, given that Stéphane Dion blew his chance at my vote with his comment about NDP coalitions with the Marijuana and Nudist parties).

In the green spirit (and of Ed Begley, Jr. on the Simpsons episode "Homer to the Max"), I rode my bike to the polling station to vote, powered by my own sense of self-satisfaction.

Thanksgiving Holiday 2008

Foregoing the standard apologies for being swamped and non-bloggy, here's the quick skip through October:

Thanksgiving Holiday
As a supplement to the double-barrelled turkey action (beginning with Christmas 2008, part 1 with Shelley's cousins followed the next day by family thanksgiving with my folks on the farm), we went to a hotel for an overnight holiday. Shelley had a 5-day weekend and we ventured to the Best Western Lamplighter Inn for some special occasion fun.


Kai did well in the pool until falling facefirst into the water. I caught him immediately, but he was done with aquatics after that. Reiko enjoyed herself immensely, so we may look into swimming lessons next summer. Continuing in a maritime theme, the kids tried some shrimp with supper at Red Lobster and enjoyed the experience.

The Rest of the Summer

I'm not exactly sure where the rest of September went ... mind you, there were a couple weekends where I was sick with this sinus cold-headache combo that did a number on me.

Life at the churches has been busy with everything that seems to happen all at once. Reinvigorating the Sunday Schools at the start of a new year, Cemetery Decoration Day services, a special worship for the Fall Fair in Glencoe, reminded me that getting back into the routine of work might not happen until November when all the special events and occasions have passed. Just in time to get wound up for Advent/Christmas.

At one point, I had 4 distinctly different worship services in 2 days. But enough about me.

Reiko's enjoying French Immersion, coming home with new words for her vocabulary and new friends for her peer network. The new skincare system seems to be working well with her eczema and ballet class has been a hit.

Kai has taken to shirking his clothes at every opportunity, preferring to strut around in his diaper (yes, still a diaper ... we're still waiting for that cognitive turning point in his potty training). He's discovered he likes eating raw mushrooms, and while he'll pick green peppers off the neighbour's plants (with her permission, thankfully), he won't actually eat them.

Shelley has also been busy with her work and the fresh start that September represents. She's currently away at a literacy conference in Niagara Falls. Coincidentally, she is there with the spouse of one of my ministry compadres; he and I often are away together for various church functions, this time it's their turn to have some time away.

So that's the latest from our end, maybe the change in season will allow for more blogtime ... maybe I should just stop saying that, but I am a person of hope.

Alternatorily

When the car began acting up this morning, I knew it wasn't the ignition coil or misfiring plugs. The battery light that flashed red and the wildly fluctuating gauges (could I really have been driving 260 km/h?) prompted me to proceed directly to the garage.

With no loaner car available, and the complimentary shuttle service not extending as far the church office, I had them drive me home where I would do my work. A call in the afternoon confirmed that we need a new alternator.

Shelley's dad often says its cheaper to fix an older car than to pay the depreciation on a new one. Lately, I think we're getting to the tipping point of this fine balance. But after 8 years and 246 000 km, things are bound to wear out.

Back to School 2008

The early morning fog delayed buses, but didn't dampen Reiko's enthusiasm for the first day of Senior Kindergarten, en français. Kai has another year of daycare before he can put his Spiderman lunchbag to proper use, but it's always good to practise.



Her return home was far more eventful: Reiko wasn't on the bus! I hurried to the school where we managed to figure out that the teacher sent her on the same bus as some boys that live on our street ... except those boys go to a babysitter in the afternoon in a different part of town. So Rei got a tour of Strath Vegas before being returned to the school.

Although she did knew that the bus she got on didn't have any kids (or bus driver) she recognized, she likely thought things were different now that she was in SK, French Immersion. (Not riding the bus in the morning because of the fog didn't help things any).

In the end, everything worked out. She and I went grocery shopping and got a special treat for her trouble and I made her requested spaghetti for supper.

Eczemania

After a recent visit to the after-hours clinic (not for an ear infection!) to see about a flare-up of Reiko's eczema, a referral was made to an allergist/specialist.

She had her appointment today and to narrow the definition of her skin ailment, she has atopic dermatitis. Thank goodness we're not in biblical times when leprosy would be have been the diagnosis.

By virtue of her heritage and the indigent climate, this condition of dry, itchy skin is common for North American Asians. There is a good chance she'll outgrow it; and while we don't wish to accelerate the passing of time, for her sake we hope that's the case.

In the meantime, we have a new regimen of moisturizers, unguents and creams for bath, bedtime and morning.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

The end of August is upon us and recounting the past couple weeks takes us to the water's edge.

We took a trip to Shelley's parents' new cottage home on the waters of Georgian Bay for a few days of family time and an increased adult:child ratio.

Just inland from the Muskoka Lakes is Santa's Village where the admission price caught us off-guard but made us all the more determined to milk the experience for its full value. The kids and I made an ornamental portrait; what you can't see is some random kid also behind the board between Reiko and I.


Our little elf enjoyed the Ferris Wheel, Boat Ride, Train Ride, Airplane Ride as well as the little dragon rocker at the playground.


Our bouncing, bubbly girl also had a rollicking good time.


After a brief turnaround time at home, we ventured to the shores of Loughborough Lake, north of Kingston to visit old friends at their new home. (While en route, we stopped at Colborne's Big Apple where Kai wondered aloud as we approached, "Will it be seedy inside?" His vocabulary is not extensive enough to appreciate the true brilliance of his question, but that doesn't mean we can't marvel at his insight).

I had to cut that visit short to attend Kairos 2008, a national young adult conference for The United Church of Canada, at the confluence of the Grand River and Whiteman's Creek. I worked as a chaplain there and was surprised by the degree that death, grief and loss formed an ongoing pastoral theme.

After many late nights and early mornings, Labour Day weekend offered some time to catch up on sleep and relax on the shores of Lake Huron for a beach day before it's back to school/work/church.

Train Ride

One fine Tuesday morning, we got up early so Shelley could put her husband and kids on a train to London. Anticipation was high at Strathroy's train platform:


As the scenery sped by, Kai had a little snack of Alpha-bits:


And Reiko sipped her apple juice:


We disembarked in London, waited for Shelley to meet us at the train station and we went for second breakfast. And that was our great train adventure.

Karma at the Pig Roast

I try not to comment or pass judgment on other parents, and especially not their kids. (With an intro like that, you know what's coming).

My parents, sister and her husband had a pig roast a couple of weekends ago for some friends, leading to a disparate grouping of young, working world 20-somethings, an older set of Polish family and friends and an older group of Japanese Canadian friends and acquaintances. The only other child that was there was a 5-year old boy who wheedled and ingratiated himself into everything Reiko and Kai were doing. That I could understand and appreciate, you're looking for peers and something fun to do. I get that.

But he continually jockeyed and manipulated others to get preferential treatment and attention. (Really? You're going to supplant my kids at their grandparents' place of dotage?) One example was the issue of seating for the meal. The rain that arrived altered the plan somewhat and seeing that there was going to be a conflict about the child-sized lawnchairs that were set out, I got Reiko and Kai's chairs that we had brought with us.

Naturally, the usurper wanted one of those newer chairs, despite his heated efforts to lay claim to the now-inferior seats. He sat and watched Reiko and Kai eat their meal, whined to his father and grandmother, telling them that Shelley said he could have one of the chairs (I didn't know if she did or not, but doubted it). When he pointed me out and asserted that I said he could have one, I had to disagree because I did not ever say that. At this point, Shelley had to point out the folly of arguing with a 5-year old. But still, I wasn't going to let him get away with an outright lie.

My sister's mother-in-law has always been very good to the kids, sending along little treats and gifts for them. She was there at the pig roast and had brought them each a Kinder chocolate bar. She happened to give out the chocolate in the presence of the other boy. Everyone could see what was about to happen next, so thinking quickly she sent my brother-in-law to get some other chocolate treats that she had brought.

Out came a large, bright, purple box of chocolate treats that she presented to the other boy. It was with great satisfaction that we saw him get his just desserts: chocolate-covered prunes. Smooth move.

Dishwasher Camping

As in, camping with access to a dishwasher. Our annual "camping" get-together with refugees from the long-defunct youth leadership cult called TOC ALPHA has evolved (or degenerated, depending on how hardcore a camper you are) to a weekend of hanging out in tents in someone's backyard.

We got the full benefit of pirate ship backyard equipment, fully stocked playroom and satellite TV for the kids, and for the adults - beer fridge, hot tub, and Guitar Hero. It did rain on our parade, but the festivities continued in the spacious farmhouse.

As part of our 4-places-at-once weekend, we ducked out for a pig roast at my parents' farm but got back to our campsite in time for some Settlers of Catan.

Lest you scorn our sissy camping, I will inform you that we did pack up camp in the rain.