Wednesday, April 30, 2008

A Swimmingly Good Time

Evelyn is such a good baby and is showing signs that she is going to be one to be reckoned with. She is developing her sense of humor by doing the opposite of what she is told to do and watching your reaction.

Steph and the twins in the pool............Paige shows her tumbling skills


Here's a video of mostly Graham. I missed a shot a few seconds earlier when his plumber's crack was showing and tried to get him to repeat. Almost worked.

Here are a couple of pics too.


Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Runcorn-on-the-Mersey

Growing up I was sometimes a little vexed at being a Runcorn kid. There were so many beautiful villages and farming communities and nicer places close to our town that appeared to me to have an air of abundance and well-being that I never felt.......not only that, there were nice little neighbourhoods within 1/4 mile from my downtown street with houses that were 'posher' than our 2 up and 2 down. It was a case of 'you're alright, I'm not alright'.

As Lyndon Johnson once said, I told you that story so I could tell you this story..........

We will be cruising down the River Avon in June the week before we go to Wales to celebrate my older brother's birthday. (Wales was one of those places that was close to Runcorn that was attractive to me as a youngster)

Looking at maps of the Avon river I saw that almost all the towns are Summat-on-the-Avon. Stratford, Bidford, Welford, Weston etc and 100 more. Then I looked at the River Severn and saw the same thing -Upton on Severn, Worcester on Severn etc. In my youth it seemed to me that Runcorn could never aspire to the heights of Stratford. However there is one town on the Avon called Wyre Piddle. I wouldn't care to be from there but I read they have a nice pub where we may have lunch!

A few days later I was looking at some old maps of Runcorn that were made before the Manchester Ship Canal was dug and the gantry wall separated Runcorn from the Mersey.
I saw on the old map that- Runcorn-on-the-Mersey- was how my little home town was known in the 18th century. Can you imagine.

It was a town with spring baths and was renowned as a spa with health qualities gotten from the water. It had a river that sported salmon, hake, fluke and all kinds of fish before the industry polluted the river and buggered the fishing. There were sailing ships galore and at times even whales would somehow get disoriented and wander down from the Liverpool sand banks (where they were usually beached) to RUNCORN-ON-THE-MERSEY.

This is from a middle of the 19th century map.


Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Picking Up.

We had Evie for half an hour this morning. She decided to clean the already clean floor a little more. Here's video of her efforts and a still shot that shows her 'Antie Emily' style eyes. Big.




Monday, April 21, 2008

No post this week

No post this week.
Too busy working.
I found the perfect P/T job for me. Selling wine.



At Anthony's suggestion I contacted Cameron Hughes Wines to see if they needed a Little Old Wine drinker to promote their product. They immediately recognized the potential and seized upon the opportunity to have an experienced raconteur-cum-slosher pushing their plonk.

I've worked 3 weeks and made a bunch a bucks. (Bev says she doesn't need the money but she likes me outa the house once in a while)

I work Friday and Saturday at Costco.

We plan on using my earnings to take more cruises. It takes 6 weeks to make enough for a 7 to 10 day cruise.

We are looking for one in August after we get back from Wales and Ken's B'day.
Let's see.......where shall we go? Alaska? Caribbean? Panama? Maybe The Med?
Hawaii again 'cos we enjoyed it so much last year. There are some that go around British Isles..........Liverpool on a cruise ship???

I'll keep you posted on the decision.

Oh by the way. You get free wine as well. Now, how bad is that?

Monday, April 14, 2008

Graham............

Graham, Paige and Evelyn went to a wedding in Scottsdale yesterday. We were able to get a preview of Graham's Penguin Suit. He loves it 'cos..." it's just like Dad's."
In the second video, you get to see Graham practicing to be a Chippendale dancer.



Thursday, April 10, 2008

The Day Before....

These videos were made the day before the ones on the previous post. I had them posted on that post but for some reason only known to Blogger, they wouldn't play. So I uploaded them at another site and linked them here on Blogger. They are worth reloading don't ya think?

Click here

And Here

And here

And here

Evie

Here's a few videos starring EBW...........




Throw the Bums Out!




Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Owl Update with link to Steph's Original posts.

Last year two owls took up residence for a while in Steph's yard. We installed an owl house but they did not use it. They were gone for several months through the winter and recently returned. They always perch in the same tree where the box is and this last month they began to occupy it.




You can see Steph's posts on these birds in July last year here. They appear to be fledglings in Steph's pics.

Emergency Landing

Beverly flew to Waco Monday to take Sudie to the doctor. She returned home Tuesday and her plane was met in Houston by fire engines and emergency vehicles. They had blown a tire on takeoff. The pilot got out after landing and said "Holy crap!".
After that to add to the exciting day we went to watch the twins tennis lesson and then had a snack afterwards. I got a nice vid of Evie in my lap and another of Paige skipping.
The snack is of 'two layer' King Oscar sardines and prosciutto.........