father's day visit

BELATED HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY to Scott Snyder! (his birthday was on Sunday). You can reach Scott at Cosmo@musician.org.


Many thanks to those of you who e-mailed me or posted about additional anti-itch and insect repellent treatments. These included:


- Calamine lotion. Or hanging out with someone who is more attractive to mosquitoes than you are. (Alison George)


- Liquid soap. "When mosquitoes bite, they insert an acid into your skin. Take a bit of liquid soap and dot it on the bite. The alkali in the soap neutralizes the acid in the bite and should help ease the itching. Don't wash it off immediately." (Pam Upper)


- Take a hot sauna and then jump in the coldest part of the lake. (Dave Clement)


- Eating garlic is supposed to have some insect-repellent properties, as well as including brewer's yeast in one's diet. (D'Glenn)


- Anti-itching: Caldryl, Gold Bond powder or cream. Insect repellent: anything that is 100% DEET. (Jim Poltrone)


- Hot water. (Jeff Kesner)


- Epson salt and water paste. (Gail Kesner)


- Benadryl. (Sharman Dorn)


- Extremely hot water. (Jeff Bohnhoff)


Jeff and I went back briefly to Toronto for Father's Day; we took my Dad out to the Mandarin for dinner, hung out at my sister's afterwards. Great Chinese buffet...much better than the usual limp noodles and soggy chicken ball fare so common in buffets. What kind of buffet person are you? Do you:

Fill up mainly on your favourite ingredient?

Try to get as many samplings of as many dishes on your plate as possible?

Pick a few choice dishes that you like and then lust after the ones everyone else chose?

Skip the salad, go light on the main course, load up on yummy desserts?


We had brunch with Parki and his sister Kate. Parki's place looks great...he's been gradually renovating and painting over the past few months. We browsed antique shops after brunch, and I found a wonderful manual Smith Corona typewriter. I've been looking for one to replace the Underwood (now deceased) at the cottage. It's been a long search...I wanted a typewriter that was functional yet had character. This one definitely has acres of the latter, with slightly crooked letters and finicky spacing. I love it. I'll need to find a new ribbon for it, though; I'm hoping there are some still available.


I have a thing for old typewriters, despite their relative clunkiness and impracticality compared to word processing programs and computer keyboards. There's something inherently appealing about the clackity-clack of the keys, the rhythmic sound of the carriage return, a sheet of white paper gradually filling up with ideas and stories, right there before your eyes. My first typewriter was an Underwood, and then I graduated to an electric typewriter (can't recall what brand) that I won in a Canada-wide high school writing contest. I remember having to use those crumbly slips of eraser paper, laboriously pausing each time I made a typo. That's something I -don't- miss. My favourite key on my computer keyboard is the "delete" key, which I use as often as possible.


Also went out for dinner at Golden Thai with Helen and Alec, who are visiting from the UK. Checked out the PalmTopShop and drooled over the new iBook. Jeff and I are thinking about trading in our current laptops (I want an iBook; he wants a G4).


I'm starting to experiment with CafePress.com, which I found out about from Jodi. A few people have asked me about Waiting For Frodo t-shirts, so I've created a Waiting For Frodo t-shirt design, for those interested. I posted the design yesterday and have sold two t-shirts. Pretty cool service. I think I'd like to create a Dandelion Report shirt as well (all profits will go to Interfilk) and perhaps some others.


I'll be out of touch later this week; Jeff's mom is taking us to Niagara-on-the-Lake for a few days. To Andrea - good luck with your concert at Contraption this weekend! Sorry I couldn't be there. :-(







Today's Blatherpic:


- Me snoozing with Annie and Sara. Annie is clutching Flatmouse, Jeff's childhood toy.


- Drawing of Shakespeare by Sara, for a school project. Not bad for a 6-year-old, eh? I'm also impressed that they're studying Shakespeare in first grade at all!

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll:

Are you happier now than you were ten years ago?

itching

32 bug bites. Jeff has 2, his parents have none. Somehow this doesn't seem fair, especially since I'm the only one with insect repellent on pretty much all the time. I've been experimenting with different anti-itch remedies in anticipation of our hiking trip, and would be interested in hearing advice from any of you with experience. Here's how I rate the ones I've tried so far:


AfterBite: This stings, which makes me think it's working. Seems to work ok, but only if I apply it immediately after I get the bite (which doesn't happen very often).


Anti-Itch Gel: (from the Band-Aid people): Seems useless in terms of stopping my bug bites from itching, but the camphor does have a pleasant cooling effect. I spread some all over my arms and legs last night since I was so hot in the sleeping cabin. Didn't help my itching, but did cool me off enough to let me sleep.


Cortate: I'm sure the hydrocortisone ingredient must do something, but probably right away. My problem is that the itching drives me mad before it takes effect and I start scratching again. I'm so bad.


I haven't heard the cottage mouse lately, and strongly suspect that she is now an ex-mouse. :-(


When Jeff and I went back up, we noticed a Very Bad smell in the vicinity of one of the cupboards. Jeff investigated and found a nest of four dead baby mice. :-( Brittany was very sad (but fascinated at the same time). She told us that when she and her mom were at the cottage (Jeff and I had gone back to Toronto), one of their dogs killed a mouse that was running across the floor, and the mouse must have been the mother. I think she was right.


Fortunately my mom-in-law's dog isn't fast enough to catch anything, though he does put on a pretty good show. Jamie is one of those small yappy terrier dogs who acts like a much bigger dog than he really is. He's pretty cute, though, and when I scratch him behind the ears he tends to roll over on his back so I can scratch his tummy as well.


I bet Jamie doesn't get any bug bites.


Today's Blatherpic:


- Self-portrait.

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll:

If you saw a mouse run across the floor of your house, would your first reaction be one of fear?

humid

I've updated My Life In A Nutshell.


It's been the kind of day when the air is so humid and hot that everything is damp, and the minute I step outside into the furnace I immediately feel like lying down and have someone pour ice cubes all over my body. The cottage freezer isn't that big, however, so instead I usually wander about in a half-doze, looking for a breeze.


Or I jump in the lake. There's nothing quite like it; I strongly advise everyone to jump in lakes on days like this (lacking a conveniently located lake, an unheated swimming pool or town fountain will probably do). One minute you're light-headed and crabby with the heat, clothes damp and sticking to your equally-damp skin...the next minute you're leaping off the dock, sun beating down on your head, cold water glittering below, an inner voice screaming, "No! Wait! I change my mind!" And then you're plunging in, gasping with the shock of the change in temperature, senses screaming awake. It feels even better if you've been in the sauna just before (not for the weak-hearted).


My mom-in-law got here yesterday with her dog Jamie. She brought swordfish, which we barbecued for dinner, yum. I'm a HUGE swordfish fan. I took a photo of dinner last night, but am too lazy to download it right now (the heat and all that, you know). Jamie hates swimming.


I'm not sure how many of you have checked out Jeff's personal homepage over the years, but those of you who have will know how dull it is. Despite its dullness (or perhaps because of it), people have written to Jeff commenting on his page. He gets very excited about this "fan mail" and almost always posts it online. He was highly amused to recently get the following:




Hey Jeff,


I know I haven't written to you in a long time, but I have just been so busy... you know how it is.


Heh.


I was doing some ego surfing (you know, running my name through a search engine) and a link to your page popped up. It seems that you kept my long-since-submitted comment on your "minimalist" web page. That was over 5 and a half years ago!


Well, your page has evolved (a bit) and it's about time for an update, an in-depth review of your progress over the past five years:


Your page has left the realm of minimalism and entered into a Zen-like existence. That is, presenting something exactly as it is, rather than through the filter of ideas, opinions, etc. Zen masters practice this by asking themselves a Big Question, such as "What am I?" If they ask such a question strongly and sincerely, the answer they receive is "Don't Know." This is exactly what I was left with as I revisited your page after all these years. As a result, I now carry with me with a deep feeling of awe and spiritual awakening.


Zen ia also a deliberately inscrutable teaching, made even more enigmatic by its interpreters, who spend many years writing innumerable books to explain what they insist is utterly inexplicable. In the words of Lao Tzu, "they who tell do not know; they who know do not tell." In not telling me anything when I visit your site, I come to realize that you must know everything. I celebrate your enlightenment.


Though, in this light, I found the addition of colour and Javascript rollovers to be disturbing.


Have a nice day! I'll check back in another 5 years.


Patrick Doelle

Domino/Web Developer/Consultant

Toronto




Today's Blatherpics:


- Chipmunk swimming across the lake. Photo by Jeff.

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll:

Have you been swimming in a public area (lake, pool, etc.) within the past 12 months?

ant farms

News/Updates/Links Allison wrote about Lloyd Landa's memorial service, for those interested. Waiting For Frodo is being updated pretty regularly, so I'm not longer going to mention each time. If you'd like to be informed about when a new strip is posted, you can sign up here. Thanks to all those who have been sending in suggestions! I've added your names to the credits list, and am gradually integrating your ideas into the storyline.

Our cottage visit is not quite as relaxing as last time, but it's still wonderful up here. Our 5-year-old niece Brittany came to visit over the weekend...it was her first time staying overnight just with Jeff and me. Jeff fixed up a cozy bed for her in the bay window nook of our sleeping cabin, and she slept there for two nights before her mom (Larkin, Jeff's sister) came to bring her back home.


Activities included swimming, saunas, feeding the chipmunks, drawing, making chocolate cake, crafts, hiking, motorboat rides, storytelling, songs (she wanted me to sing "The Hockey Monkey Song" over and over again), bonfires and toasted marshmallows. My favourite part of the weekend was one morning when Brittany snuggled between Jeff and me in bed, her hair still sleep-tousled, cuddling up to us in her pajamas. Mmmmmmm. I wanted to doze off again, but of course Brittany was too excited to want to go back to sleep. There were so many exciting things to do at the cottage, after all!


She had a bad cold, which she generously shared with me before departing with her mother on Monday. I slept most of Monday and Tuesday. How is it that kid colds are so effective on adults?


Jeff and I gave Brittany an ant farm for her birthday, much to her mother's horror, I'm sure. I love being an aunt. Anyway, they brought the ant farm up to the cottage (still in its original packaging) for us to put together. Jeff and I ran around catching ants. We caught them from different places until we remembered our 6-year-old niece Sara telling us that it was important to catch them all from the same colony, or they would end up fighting each other.


The ant farm actually seemed to turn out ok, at least for the first day. The next morning, however, most of the ants seemed to be hiding in the cheerfully-coloured little plastic houses in the "ant town". Jeff thought that the cheerfully-coloured little houses were actually full of ant corpses, but he did not share this theory with Brittany.


I think Larkin had actually planned to leave to leave the ant farm at the cottage, but Brittany insisted on bringing the whole thing home with them. We told Larkin to make sure the plastic tubes were on firmly so the ants wouldn't escape during the drive home.


I am thinking of getting ant farms for my other nieces and nephews.





Wood Day today! Our order of two cords of wood came in today, so we spent the morning unloading the wood and carrying it up to the piles up the hill. I jumped in the lake afterward to cool off and wash away the grime and bits of wood. The lake is still a bit chilly, but very refreshing. My arms and legs still felt wobbly/achy from the flu, so I didn't stay in too long.


Hey, I've decided to try to learn some Japanese before our trip to Japan in the fall! Yikes, it's been a while. Our current plan is to combine our 10th wedding anniversary trip to the Canadian west coast with a trip to Japan immediately after. I'm pretty excited about this, mainly because I've never been to Japan before. That 3-week combined trip will be a fitting end to our sabbatical, I think.


Getting online time is a bit tricky at the cottage when other people are around, so apologies if my e-mail is erratic. There's only one phone line for several cabins, and if anyone picks up the phone while I'm online, it kills my connection (and can badly mess up what I'm doing online, depending on what I'm working on).


Partly as a result of this, I'm start to devote more time to my own creative writing rather than online pursuits right now. No, this is not work!! I'm just playing around with some prep for my next novel. Ideas keep popping into my head these days re: my book, and I feel compelled to write them down. I've been playing around with Filemaker Pro, developing some simple databases for character sheets, background info, plot outlines.





Warm, muggy weather lately. The breeze from the lake helps keep things from getting too steamy, and we can always jump in the water. Lots of "no-see-ums" in the early evening, and they're still small enough to get through the screens. Not sure what their real name is...midges? Sandflies? I've had about two dozen bites since we arrived six days ago.


I'm the only one who wears insect repellent around here, and the bugs still prefer me over Jeff and his Dad. I think it must be their hairy legs (Jeff's and his dad's, not the bugs). I should take a razor to Jeff's legs one of these nights and see if it makes a difference, don't you think?


Today's Blatherpics:


- Jeff and Brittany at the cottage.


- Me helping unload wood.


- Yesterday morning.

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll:

Did you ever own an ant farm?

hiatus

News/Updates/Links Waiting For Frodo updated. JOURNALS: Josh writes a letter to his younger self. Andrea writes about a typical morning. Kate commutes. Annie spins.

Short blather today since I have to finish packing.


It looks like I'll be offline most of the time we're out of town, so there may not be many Blatherings over the next few weeks. I may ask someone to continue to link up Waiting For Frodo strips while I'm away since I have a few already lined up to go (so do check that page from time to time), but we'll see.


Everyone seems to be okay with the new Blatherchat discussion forum, so I'll be making the full switch-over once I get back. If you haven't already, do give it a try. You can edit/delete your own messages, hotlink URLs and use text styles, and also customize your own profile so people can check out your Web site if they're curious. Or you can stay a relatively anonymous user, if that's what you'd prefer.


This Thursday will mark the one-year anniversary of when I sold Inkspot. Wow, can't believe it's been a YEAR already. I have mixed feelings...overall, feeling somewhat down because of that and the fact that I got a phonecall yesterday from the tax lawyer I recently hired. It turns out there may be tax problems resulting from the sale...problems which I had been repeatedly reassured would be taken care of at the time. Sigh. Reminder to self: never EVER sell a company/Web site again!


Anyway, all the more reason I'm glad we're going away for a little while. I'm taking a pile of good books, some chocolate, Andrea's Georgia peach tea.


And I promise to be in a better mood next time I Blather.


:-)


Today's Blatherpic:


- This photo was taken on a rainy day at the cottage last month.

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll:

During the past year, has there been any occasion where you have been *completely* offline (no e-mail, no Web) for more than seven days in a row?