Yearly Archives: 2005

Purple Stains

This week I made grapejuice. While this may not seem like very big news to many of you, it was less simple than you might think. First I had to pick about a bushel of Concord grapes from the vines in our back yard. (I’ve been steadily cutting them back as they’re killing our birch trees.) Next I had to mash them with a potato masher in several pots – splashing very stainable purple grape juice on everything in site including my shoes, jeans and counter top. This was following by bringing the mash to a boil and simmering for half an hour and then straining the mixture through several layers of cheese cloth into more pots and letting strain overnight. (You really had to see our kitchen to believe the number of pots involved in the operation.) Finally, the resulting juice was put into bottles and placed in the fridge to chill …. Mmmm … Heidi isn’t one for grape juice so I got to stain my mouth, teeth and tongue purple for the last week. It truly was better than Welch’s grape juice. It’s not that I believe money was saved in the process (in fact, counting the costs of stains and messes …), but the process was most delightful. It remains to be seen whether I go for a second round or not but there is plenty of grapes left for anyone else wanting to try.

Little “slap-slap” has been constantly growing. From crawling, to standing on his own, to cruising, to walking with his walker, he continues to leave a path of mess and destruction in his wake. Going up the stairs? No problems there. It’s not the typical knee, knee, foot, foot on each step. It’s 10 – 9 – 8 – 7 – 6 … Take off. It’s knee, foot, to the next step. He’s also learned that the great outdoors holds so much dirt and fun, that he spends his days standing at the front door hoping for escape.

Oh yes, Jake has his own design for this site. You can check it out under the “Home” menu link. Purple smiles.

Slap-slap

Lindsay tells me that it has been too many Mondays and Heidi tells me the same thing. I have this feeling they’re trying to say something, but I don’t always get the full understanding of their statements.

On the Jake front, little “Slap-Slap” is zooming along quite well. In one day, he clapped his hands, climbed the stairs and got his first tooth (of a current two). Full of energy, he rarely sits still for longer than a tenth of a second – causing destruction and mayhem in his wake …

On the travel front, we really have not been doing much. Heidi was home to Nova Scotia with Jake for a week, while I have not travelled for work in almost two months. In fact, I’m sure we’ve travelled less this summer than any other. Its not that our time has been quiet, but more just visitors coming through and lots of short day trips to the coast where Jake has learned that he loves the beach.

I also got to do some diving which has been a lot of fun. Last week I was able to dive the Chester Poling in 100′ of water – a phenomenal tanker wreck off Cape Ann with lots of fish and life. “These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.” (Psalms 107:24) Smile!

Off to the Races

Zoom. Zoom. Look out folks, the Jakester is coming through! Yes, he is finally crawling. It took him about a week to master but he’s all over the house now, following you into every room or chasing after anything he can get his little hands on. Unfortunately with the hundreds of new things to explore, Jake believes that sleep is a waste of time. Thus his parents are suffering somewhat from mental retardation. NO! I meant sleep deprivation.

Danny’s travel has slowed down but the work pace has not. From special projects to papers to security research Danny never seems to stop. The lights burn long into the night while he sits at the kitchen table and clicks away.

Interestingly enough, to celebrate living here for one whole year, we decided to lock ourselves out of the house. Actually, there was no “we” involved. It was all me. I won’t tell you how it happened but I will tell you that we were left to hang out in our backyard for 5 1/2 hours while waiting for the return of our neighbors to retrieve the key. Danny was probably the most content of the three of us because of a little thing called “wireless access”. It was not the most ideal way to spend a day together but with Jake crawling and the Lord blessing us with a beautiful home for a year, it is reason to Smile 🙂