Yet more Easter 2008

Tara and Eden in a photo op near the signage for the main view point in the park. Most people probably don't think there is such a thing as a scenic view in Alabama. Most people would be wrong.

More Easter 2008

Jim and Eden at the outlook point at Cheaha State Park. Eden is quite the adventurer, although not necessarily the same level of risk-taker as her younger sister, Tara.

February 2008

This post is out of sequence, but in February 2008, we went down to to Twisp, WA, to stay with Matt's dad, Harry, while his brother and sister-in-law went to the state wrestling tournament (an annual pilgrimage). On the way there, we stayed at our favorite stopping off point, the Hillcrest Resort, for the night. They're very pet friendly, and tolerate our three dogs, at least as long as the beagle doesn't start screaming for attention... which has only happened once. He really, really had to go. Matt decided that this was a good night to document his rocknroll persona, so we had a photo-shoot...

In March 2008, I celebrated my 48th birthday with all of my immediate family and my uncle Bud and aunt Liz (Dad's younger brother and his wife). Most people would think that my 50th birthday might be more of an event, but they wouldn't be members of my family. When I was 8 years old-- so 1968, for the arithmetically challenged-- my dad, who is a fully trained theologian (although this was before he earned his ThD), announced that my 48th birthday would fall on Easter. At age 8, this seemed a bit profound, and definitely not of any immediate import. Frankly, who knew if I would ever see my 48th birthday? Or cared?

Well, 40 years went by. Sometime during the Christmas break in 2007, when Matt and I were in Brazil, my dad mentioned the "Easter will be on your birthday probably for the only time in your lifetime" thing. The next occurrence would be in something like 2068, when Dad doesn't expect to be around to celebrate, and it seems a bit on the unlikely side that I will, given that no-one in our family that we know of has yet broken the 100 year barrier (although Grandma Magorian came close at 99 and 4 months or so). So we agreed-- definitely meet for birthday, celebrate it and Easter, get the family (or as much of it as cared to participate) together. We spent the required time discussing (some might say bickering, but again, these people don't understand the art of discourse a la Sales/Magorian) venues. I voted for the Alabama Gulf coast, having had some great pelican-in-the-morning beach experiences there in previous years, but my far too pragmatic brothers won out with the "but it'll be so crowded at the beach during Easter break" routine. Jim's recollections of 2 hour waits for dinner at beach restaurants was a compelling memory. So we agreed instead to meet at Cheaha State Park in northeast Alabama. If you haven't been there, think about it. It was great, and to say "uncrowded" doesn't begin to describe it...

in the meantime...

technology is a wonderful thing. However, learning how to use it effectively takes time, as well as trial and error. I'm currently undergoing the trial phase, and the error I've learned is that while I can easily "blog this" things from my Picasa album, my travel laptop, which is optimized for size and weight, but doesn't contain my archives, doesn't have the pictures I'd like to add. As a result, my progress through the "what did we do between January 2008 and September 2009"-- information the world desperately craves, even though it doesn't know it-- is going to be somewhat limited by the rate of either downloading the pictures onto my travel laptop, or waiting until we get home, which probably means waiting a lot longer because once I get home, there are dogs to walk, meetings to sit through, and other miscellany...

This is one of many very independent goats we encountered in Gaborone. When I was a kid (pun only partially intended), goats always had human accompaniment, usually a small boy dressed somewhat scantily, with a switch in his hand, chivvying the goats along. On this trip, almost 40 years later, the goats appear to have won out over the small boys, and they now chaperone themselves and each other. This probably leads to a greater degree of goat kill on the much more congested roads, but that may be a small price to pay for the independence from the switch...

catching up on things since my last post in January 2008

Let's see. We had several more trips between January 2008 and now, September 2009. One was to Twisp to stay with Harry in February 2008.