oh baby!!

(Please note: I'll be out of town and offline for a few days.)


A hearty welcome to Alexander Matthew Allcock, who made his debut this morning!


Phil posted the following message in the Blatherchat message board:




Just a brief message as it's 10 past 3 in the morning... but Lissa gave birth today at 00:34 (by C-section after ineffective labour after her waters broke (2 weeks early) on Friday). Mother and baby are fine, his name will be Alexander Matthew Allcock and he's 8lb, 1oz. Lissa will be in hospital for 4-5 days, but if you send congrats to Lissa@oreos.org then I'll print them off and take them in for her.


World - live in dread! We have spawned!


Phil




Many congrats to Lissa and Phil!!









Lacking a current photo of young Alexander, I combed my photo files for any earlier pictures in which he makes an appearance. In most cases, Lissa is also in the photo. :-)









Here is Alexander enjoying truffles and a hot tub in Toronto in March:









Can't wait to meet Alexander! I'll have to keep an eye open for seat sales to the UK next year...

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll:

Are you comfortable enough with babies to be able to change the diaper of a newborn for the first time without guidance?

Watergun Fun 2001

The thunderstorm would have thwarted any ordinary outdoor bbq but had little effect on "Watergun Fun 2001" since we were all planning to get wet anyway. :-) Everyone had at least one watergun of some sort, and Reid and Luisa stocked extras.


Everyone admired my umbrella-shield set-up (or at least I like to imagine they did)...Jeff had cut two panels out of the open umbrella and covered with a clear plastic. We thus had one for shooting through, and one for peering through. It worked pretty well, especially when it began raining! Pumping up was a bit awkward, but well worth it for the overall effect.





'Twas interesting to compare the different strategies of watergun attacks. Some chose to unload all their water/ammunition at once, with the goal of drenching the opponent as fast as possible. Some chose strategic sniping locations, or ganged up with others to launch an attack. "Safe" zones were the children's tent in the corner of the backyard, the covered deck, and the hose area where people were reloading.









After the watergun fight, we all went swimming. Some brought swimsuits (Bryan's was especially festive), some jumped in with all their clothes, still with their waterguns. Luisa and Reid had cranked up the heat in the pool. From time to time we'd create a whirlpool (see above photo, taken through a screen window) by swimming/wading quickly around and around in one direction. Everyone should try this sometime; it's way fun. Done correctly, the resulting whirlpool action actually creates a dip in the center of the pool (those who prefer quieter waters stay here). The force of the water motion is surprising...I tried grabbing hold of the pool ladder as I was swept past to see if I could, for example, was pulled away despite my best efforts.









A ton of yummy food...barbecued chicken, sausages, hamburgers, hot dogs, fruit, vegetables, cookies, pie, more. After pigging out, I snuck away and took a brief nap in Ronnie's room before going back for another swim. Reid and Luisa turned on the pool lights when it got dark; the steam rising from the water created a wonderfully other-worldly effect, especially Luisa brought out a big air mattress and the smaller kids piled on top the improvised raft and Jeff Kesner pushed them around the pool.









Great party, great group of people, and the kind of event which appealed equally to adults and children alike..mainly because all the adults there were kids at heart themselves. :-) One of the things I enjoyed most about the party was wandering around the house and yard, checking out what the various clusters of partygoers were up to. Some spent the entire time outdoors with waterguns and in the pool; others went downstairs to play computer games. There were pockets of interesting conversation going on all over the house. No smalltalk. :-) This is my favourite kind of social party, with nuggets of good memories to take away and savour for years after. I've never been much for the formal "mix and mingle and smalltalk with people you'll likely never see again" type of gathering.


Many hearty thanks to Reid and Luisa for hosting this event!









Today's Blatherpics:


Photos from Reid and Luisa's "Watergun Fun 2001" party. For more pictures, see this photo gallery.

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll:

Do you own a watergun?

Gwyneth Paltrow and me

Allison and Jodi came over last night. We worked on two new songs I wrote at the cottage..."Obsession" (Harry Potter song) and "Dot Com Survivor". It's -very- cool for me to see a song come together in the group. They even learned all the counterpoint melody and harmony bits, and we put a rough version on tape. Not sure when we're going to be able to perform these songs, though, since it's possible that the three of us may not be able to attend the same convention until FilKONtario next year. :-(





I've been doing a lot more harp playing lately, some improvisational stuff. I'm also starting to compose some vocal and instrumental pieces. I still owe Diana Huey a children's song but have gone a bit nuts and am writing several for her instead (mainly because I feel so guilty that it's so late!), at least one with the aid of GP. It is -such- a pleasure noodling about on the harp.









My harp's name is Gwyneth Paltrow, by the way (hence "GP"). For those of you who didn't read that Blathering, this name came about after conversations with several harpers who told me that my instrument would eventually tell me its name. So I waited for my harp to suggest something lovely and Celtic-sounding, like Morganna or Rowan...but instead it gave me "Gwyneth Paltrow". Allison even made a cross-stitch in GP's honour.


Sure wish some of you UK harpers would move to Toronto, at least long enough for us to do some jamming together and so I could pick your brains.









Today's Blatherpics:


More photos from the archives, this time of some of my filk/music friends. The photo at the top is of Jodi, Allison and me back in 1993, near Sound Techniques studio during the recording of our first album.

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll:

Are any of your close friendships at least twenty years old?

longterm friendships

Interesting...Jeff just ran the stats on electricpenguin.com, and in June, I got about half the traffic that Inkspot was getting at its peak. Pretty bizarre, considering that most stuff on electricpenguin.com has only been around for a few months and Inkspot was almost six years old.


For those of you who haven't already seen it, here's the newspaper article in the Sunday Herald Sun (Australia) about my Lord of the Rings project. Many thanks to Julie for mailing it!


We booked our flights to Vancouver and Japan yesterday, all but one leg of the flight for one person booked on points. I also booked my flight to California on points yesterday. Jeff and I calculated that between now and October, we'll only be spending about ten days in Toronto. In addition to the trips mentioned above, we're also going away on trips with my sister and her family, with Reid and Luisa, the hiking trip with Alison and Jeff and Parki, cottage trips.


We're both pretty hyped about our trip to Japan; neither of us have ever been. I've been frantically listening to language tapes and reading language books to try to absorb as much as I can between now and August. :-) Last night, Jeff and I had dinner at Takesushi on Front Street. I've never been, but had heard Jeff and Bryan raving about it before. We had the chef's choice special, and it was amazing. There were about 7 or 8 courses (there may have been more; I lost count), each very small and exquisitely presented, and absolutely delicious. The waitstaff saw Jeff and me poring over our Japan books, and we got a lot of useful advice in terms of places to visit in and around Tokyo.


Anyway, Takesushi gets a big thumbs up from both of us, but because of the hefty prices, we'll probably only have dinner there on special occasions.





We also went to Toys'R'Us last night in preparation for the Waterfight Party at Reid and Luisa's place this weekend. Last time I attended, I was sorely underprepared. But no longer! We are now owners of a Super Soaker CPS 2700!! For those interested, here's an explanation of how these mega-waterguns work.


Many of the people in the photo at the top of this page will be attending the party. I came across the photo during my ongoing attempt to reorganize my office, and couldn't help but notice that despite the fact that this photo was taken about ten years ago, Jeff and I are still friends with many of the same crowd. Several of the people in this photo have posted in Blatherchat, including: Jeff Kesner ("jok"), Andy ("aiabx"), Michelle, Jeff, Reid, Luisa, and Kaarel. The guy with his arm around me is Kaarel (my brother-in-law). The guy at the far right is Andrew, whom I'm visiting in California this fall. The guy immediately to the right of my Jeff is our friend Scott Dixon, now a history professor at the University of Belfast, and who is coming to visit later this summer.


There is something highly comforting about longterm friendships. You've worked out most of the kinks and second-guessing so prevalent in new friendships (similar to romantic relationships, now that I think of it). You're each familiar with the other's weaknesses and idiosyncrasies but are willing to accept them. But most importantly, you know that even if you're not in frequent contact, there's someone out there you can rely on in times of trouble. This is not to say that shorter term friendships can't do the same, but again, it's similar to having a romantic relationship. There's a difference between a couple who have just met and are in the passionate whirlwind of blossoming romance, and a couple who have been together for twenty years.


Not sure why I'm getting all sentimental these days. Perhaps my time in Philadelphia has helped me better appreciate good friendships (not just those in the photo, of course) and the value of pursuing the same. And in answer to a poll question I posed a while back, I -do- think it's possible to be good friends with someone you don't see all that often, especially if there's a history behind the friendship, and a mutual desire to stay in contact, whether through getting together in person at least once in a while, phonecalls, e-mails.


I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on this topic, especially from those who said they thought it was possible to be close friends with someone they've never met.









Today's Blatherpic:


- Photo of a New Year's gathering at our place in Orangeville, about ten years ago. Ruth took the photo, which is why she's not in it. :-)


- Watergun we bought last night.


- Jeff and I with Sara and Annie at Andy's and Christine's bbq a while back.


- Parki's driver's license photo (below).

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll:

Are any of your close friendships at least ten years old?

Independence Day

Happy Independence Day to all you Americans! And happy birthday to Paul Kwinn!

Why I Sometimes Wish I Lived In The U.S.

- Sidewalk magazine stands.


- Philly cheesesteaks, more interesting selection of chocolate bars than Canada.


- Mail service on Saturdays.


- They tend to get cool movie trailers sooner.


- They don't have to pay all kinds of customs duty tax on mail order items.


- Their money is worth more.


- More filk conventions. :-)




By the way, is there any special national holidays in the England? Australia? Other countries?




Today's Blatherpic:


- A childhood picture of my friend Luisa.

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll:

Did you do anything special to celebrate U.S. Independence Day?