Day 11.021: Work field trips...

...take me to all the best places these days:

Mmmm...coffee!  

Day 11.020: Lake view

I'm staying in a hotel called "Edgewater". The sunrise this morning revealed that it has every right to its name - although the water is rather solid right now.

Day 11.019: Detroit deice

Today, I deserted the rest of the family in various states of disrepair. Exile #3 was off school, E5N1 was at school (marginally), Exile #2 is under doctor's orders and only Exile #4 is (so far at least) well.

Meanwhile, I have arrived (eventually) in Madison, Wisconsin after a journey that was delayed by approximately three hours by a snow storm in Michigan. Here is a photo of them deicing the plane before we took off from Detroit this evening:

Day 11.018: Exile #2's Sunday Column #189

Exile #2 writes:

So, it all started a few days ago, when I felt like I had trapped a nerve in my shoulder. It was a little uncomfortable, not least because it made it difficult to take a full breath but after a day or so, it started to feel a little better. Not long after, however, my rib cage began to feel sore, again restricting my breathing. I could still do most of the things I needed to do, though, so I thought I would wait it out. Yesterday, however, Exile #1 and I decided to go for a walk on the beach. We didn’t get far before I realized I couldn’t continue. Even just shuffling along made my chest ache and made me feel quite breathless.

The urgent care center was on the way home, so we called in, and although they seemed fairly happy with my vitals, they suggested I go to the ER, and do so in an ambulance - slightly alarming!

Fortunately, the hospital wasn’t too busy and after a chest X-ray and a Cat Scan they decided I had some heart inflammation, probably caused by a virus. Although it was, and still is quite uncomfortable, I was very happy to be discharged with instructions to take ibuprofen for a few days and take it easy. All in all, not the afternoon we’d planned but it could have been a whole lot worse!

Day 11.017: Walk on the beach

After lunch, Exile #2 and I went for a walk on the beach:

We had a shorter than expected walk, but ended up not getting home for five hours or so - rather longer than expected. It's really Exile #2's story to tell (or not), so it will wait until tomorrow.

Day 11.016: Gurning graffiti

Happy weekend everyone!

Day 11.015: Throwback Thursday - Chinese goose

Another wonderful photo from the archives. Described by my father (who took it) as "Family and Chinese Goose". He chose not to mention the flamingos or the striking red clothes. I alone seem to have avoided the red, but I'm not sure I could carry off my outfit from that day any more either (even if I could find it in my size).

Day 11.014: Algorithm fail

I've shared a couple of excellent Google Photos algorithmically genererated movies, so I thought it was only fair to share one that went horribly wrong.

The middle part is a fairly nice selection of photos of wildlife which I suspect were mostly taken by my Dad, but it ends with one of us looking bemused at a Print-and-Play board game and starts with two disgusting photos of previously food items discovered after a long time hiding in one of the kids' bedrooms.

Enjoy!

Day 11.013: Icing penalty

The temperature stayed quite a bit lower than predicted today - so instead of warm-ish rain, we had a good coating of ice. It really is very pretty when all the trees get coated in a glass-like sheath of ice:

The downside is what happens to the roads:

Day 11.012: You can't save the world alone

It's amazing what you find looking through old(-ish) photos!

Day 11.011: Sunday columnist?

Your regular Sunday columnist is at church doing overnight hosting for our newest Greater Portland Family Promise guests. I suppose I'll let her off.

In the absence of her review of the week, here is a photo of a game of Dragoon that the two of us played with Exile #4 yesterday. It was excellent - with all three of us taking a turn in the lead and the right dragon winning in the end.

Day 11.010: Misfits again

When the dance school performed Land of the Misfit Toys in early December there was - sadly - a technical issue with the video recording. This meant that the money for DVD orders had to be refunded but, since this was the world premiere of this show that they plan to make an annual event, it also meant that there was no full recording to use as educational material next time.

This latter issue was addressed by an in-studio performance for the cameras today. Here are a few moments from it:

Day 11.009: Halfway

We are at approximately the mid-point of the school year. For the girls this means changes in their schedules. Exile #4 is saying goodbye to her "STEM" class - it will not be missed. Exile #3 meanwhile has had her final class with her favourite history teacher (who she had all of last year and this semester) and will be moving on to a new history class next week.

For E5N1 there are no major changes - here he is trudging off to the bus yesterday - but along with them he is happy that the weekend is here.

Day 11.008: Miracle Medicine Show

I had a lovely outing this evening to hear some true-life stories from people in the local recovery community including our friend Liz. It was packed - standing room only and then some had to be turned away.

The stories were varied - some about the process of recovery from addiction, some not. They were all beautifully and honestly told and completely captivating.

Day 11.007: Snow's return

Just when we thought we wouldn't see the ground again until spring, we had a major melt and large areas lost all their snow. Then, just when we were thinking that the rest of the snow would follow, instead we got another significant storm.

The kids were off school, I stayed home to work from here and shovel as required. Looks like the final tally was around six inches. Now, will it all melt again before more falls? I think I might just stop trying to guess.

Day 11.006: I don't like...

... the way this cake mixture is looking at me!

Day 11.005: Apparently I look 48

I jumped on the Google Arts & Culture bandwagon today and let it tell me where in its library of fine art my face can be found.

It came up with this top match:

The painting is from 1970 - making it 48 (or 47) years old. Considering the age of some of the artworks, I'll take it!

Day 11.004: Exile #2's Sunday Column #188

Exile #2 writes...

Tomorrow is Martin Luther King Day, so in honor of that, there was an arts celebration at HopeGateWay this morning. We participated in various ways. E5N1 and I spent some time working (inexpertly!) with clay, Exile #1 joined the scratch choir, and Exiles #3 and #4 helped paint a mural. There was a dance, songs, and the sharing of stories.

[Some photos are from the church Facebook page]

More than ever, I was left with the impression of how recent this history is. People gave first hand accounts of seeing segregated drinking fountains, or of witnessing protests when an African American family moved into their neighborhood. Of course, as we have seen once again this week, prejudice is still a problem. So, it was good to turn our attention to the life and words of a leader who helped a nation reconsider what its constitution really means.

Day 11.003: Snow surprises

After an above-freezing rainy day and night, it was not a surprise that a lot of snow had melted, but we were all surprised that large areas of the back yard where snow had neither been piled nor cleared were snow-free this morning.

We decided to take advantage of this mid-winter thaw to take down the outside Christmas lights but sure enough as I was doing that, it started to snow.

Then the snow got heavier and even started to settle.

It didn't come to anything, but it definitely caught us by surprise.

Day 11.002: Beer season

Since my birthday falls on January 8th, you might think that I would get Epiphany themed gifts every year, but it has not been so. Hang on - someone's telling me that no-one in their right mind would ever have thought that. Oh well, I'm going to go with it...

This year I received a four pack of this particular local beer - Foundation Brewing Company's Epiphany. I suppose that it's possible that its name was not the main point. In fact this beer has been a topic of discussion in our household for quite a while - partly because it is award-winning highly-regarded and sought-after and partly because as a result of all that it is rather difficult to come by.

When Exile #2 asked in my favourite local beer store they all but laughed and told her it never makes it this far from the brewery (we are 17 miles away). In fact, she ended up skipping the middle-men altogether and going to the brewery itself to buy these cans for my Epiphany birthday and I very much enjoyed the first one this evening. I could easily have opened a second, but at 8% and in a 16 oz can, I decided that one was probably enough.

Day 11.001: Good time for a look back!

I'm not quite sure why it's always E5N1 who features in these auto-generated "They Grow Up So Fast" videos but since his story is really the story of our time in the US and today marks the beginning of our twelfth year of Exile - it seemed appropriate to share with you this video (mostly of his goofy face-pulling) that Google shared with me this morning:

Day 10.365: New year's eve

As we commemorate the day we brought our family to the USA on a one-way ticket 11 years ago today, here are some Google Photos animations created from our dancing takes for our Christmas Eve video this year!

Day 10.364: Taper paper

So this was in the multi-pack of toilet paper:

No your eyes do not deceive you - I really am posting a picture of a loo-roll - it really is that shape.

But it got quite cool when we started to use it:

Crinkle-cut bathroom tissue.

Day 10.363: Birthday Monday

Well I won't pretend that Monday is my first choice for a birthday, but I had a pretty good day at work followed by a small birthday celebration including cake and cards and gifts - so all in all it went pretty well!