Exiles in New York

Day 2.303: Fork hats

2009-11-09T22:57:00.002-05:00

You know - 'ats for forks. Well, no actually - four cats. I'm sure Ronnie Barker would be proud.

The real reason for posting this today was that I as I drove up the drive this evening, I thought our Halloween cats looked particularly attractive - and I thought we should really take them down soon.

I arrived home just in time to hear Exile #2 get to the end of the second Harry Potter book - only to be thanked by a chorus of requests for number three. I'm sure they are eventually going to get too scary to continue with at this stage, but for now they are lapping it up. Which reminds me of the real nightmare of my recovery from H1N1, but I'm happy to report that today was probably my healthiest day since last Wednesday when it all began. Now, I must get to bed before I undo all my good work by getting over-tired again.

Day 2.302: Cherry pie!

2009-11-08T22:38:00.003-05:00

After helping me put up a shelf and then fix something with some duct tape, E5N1 was keen to go outside. I enlisted Exile #3 to supervise him and soon they were all outside involved in something together. Eventually my curiosity got the better of me and I found them working together to harvest the cherries from the tree in the front yard.

I don't think they had any real plan for the cherries at the time. We don't know if they are edible or not, but I was reasonably sure they wouldn't try. Later I found them making a mud pie. 'Cherry pie!' they corrected me - sure enough the pie was filled with the cherries they had harvested.

My cough has been worse today and combined with a hard-to-shake headache. Hopefully it was just a blip in my recovery and not anything worse - I'm ready to be back to full strength now.

Day 2.301: Raking it in

2009-11-07T21:45:00.005-05:00

Exile #2 was out for most of the morning at a committee meeting for her MOPS group. Since the sun was shining, albeit rather coolly, I decided it was time to do another shift of leaf raking which has been somewhat delayed this year by ill-health and ill-weather. Not that we (mainly Exile #2) haven't already had a good number of leaves collected by the town leaf collectors already.

Anyway, I didn't get it all done, but by the time I was finished there was a good mound of leaves along the whole length of our front yard - including a pretty good pile at each side of the driveway. I had just taken my shoes off when we heard the collection truck approaching with its industrial vacuum cleaner/shredder (aka. the Noo-Noo) I couldn't let my efforts go unrecorded, so I rushed out to take a picture or two of the piles. Then took the opportunity to film the removal of the leaves and finally took a picture as they were leaving. They do a pretty thorough job.

This afternoon, we were at a 2nd birthday party at a neighbour's house which was really nice. The weather stayed kind, and the fairly large group of kids spent a good deal of the afternoon playing outside.

Day 2.300: Story time

2009-11-06T23:45:00.002-05:00

I took this picture during story time yesterday evening. The girls are reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and E5N1 is sitting on my knee pressing whatever buttons he can reach and drawing on anything that doesn't move. Such are our evenings.

At lunchtime today our little group of engineers went to lunch at Latham '76 Diner, which is effectively a US-theme restaurant. The '76 is for 1776 when the USA declared its independence from British rule. These days taxation without representation is a thing of the past - except for us foreigners living on US soil that is. The menu contains a feel-good sentence or two about each president from George Washington to George W Bush who is listed as 'incumbent'. In fact, someone pointed out that the facing insert-page contains a small panel labelled 'Our New President' with a little story about Barack Obama's high-security Blackberry smart phone. The menu is extensive as is the way with this kind of diner. The decor is in keeping with the theme and the food is pretty good. Not my favourite place, but a local experience to cherish for an old colonial like me.

Day 2.299: The mug tree

2009-11-05T21:30:00.002-05:00

The other day as I was reversing out of the drive, Exile #3 said, "Why is there a cup hanging from that tree?" I had no idea what she was talking about.

She was right though. It turns out that Exile #2 took it out when she was waiting for the bus with the girls one day while I was sick. Having finished her cup of tea, she wasn't sure where to put the mug down to ensure its safety, so instead, she hung it on a hammock hook. It's been there ever since - still safely out of E5N1's reach as you can see.

Although I'm doing much better, I'm still coughing and getting tired. An early night is calling for sure. I also recommend avoiding getting this flu if you can - it has not been kind to me.

Day 2.298: Go Yankees!

2009-11-04T23:59:00.000-05:00

Yes - I watched the New York Yankees win the World Series tonight. Some of it in picture-in-picture while we were watching Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares and Mary Queen of Shops on BBC America, but still...

True - I probably wouldn't have turned it on if it hadn't pre-empted a lot of the programmes we watch regularly over the last couple of weeks, SYTYCD, Fringe, House, but still...

No - I wouldn't really call myself a Yankees fan, the local interest definitely made it interesting, but still...

I haven't forgotten that the 'World' that they are now champions of contains exactly one country, but still...

Go Yankees! World Series Champions 2009.

Day 2.297: Leaf it out!

2009-11-03T22:24:00.006-05:00

When his activities went too far towards undoing the hard-work that Exile #2 had been doing raking leaves into piles, she put him in one of her bins.

He responded by throwing leaves out of the bin as fast as he could.

We took him out again. E5N1 - 1, Parents - 0

Exile #4 saw this picture earlier today - her suggestion? Put him in upside-down next time.

He may have met his match.

Day 2.296: Trading-in?

2009-11-02T23:50:00.005-05:00

Our local TV news station seems to be promoting a trade-in service for young children. Or perhaps a self-help group for toddlers. Or maybe advertising for kids willing to adopt a kid of their own.

I managed a full day back at work today which was great. Exile #4 seems to be doing fine and E5N1 is still on the road to recovery. No need to trade in after all.

It's actually an organisation called 'Toys for Tots', but you'd probably already realised that.

Day 2.295: H1N-on-and-on?

2009-11-01T22:17:00.003-05:00

The kids enjoyed running around in some very warm rain yesterday. Today has been dry and cooler. I managed to do some raking in the most leaf-covered section of the back yard where there was no sign of grass at all. All in all, I've had an OK day - able to function fairly normally for a few hours at a time, but then needed a sit/lie down. Exile #2 will probably say, "Sounds like every weekend!" E5N1 also seems to past the worst but, right on cue, Exile #4 appears to be just coming down with it and so Exile #2 and Exile #3 were the only ones who made it to the church gathering this evening.

It seems I've taken a significant step towards wellness every other day, so here's to waking up feeling great tomorrow!

Day 2.294: Healthy Halloween!

2009-10-31T23:21:00.004-04:00

Well, maybe 'healthy' is going a bit far, but despite my slowed-recovery malaise and sending two of the kids to bed dosed with pain-killers last night, we were all much better than expected today.

We carved pumpkins (rather last-minute in the end), made some Christmas decorations (traditional Halloween activity anyone?) and then the kids did a good job of trick-or-treating in the rain. E5N1 debuted his turtle costume made out of a leaky turkey roasting tin (and a smile - most of the time) and the girls reprised their cute kitties. Mind you - maybe next year we should be dressing them up as witches, devils and other foul fiends.

Later, we had a few visitors who were greeted first by the morning's craft project...

...and then by two excited cats - just as happy to be distributing goodies as they were to be receiving them earlier.

Day 2.293: Enough!

2009-10-30T22:30:00.002-04:00

Well, I wasn't well enough to work from home today - in fact I wasn't noticeably any better than yesterday which is not cool.

Before I realised that, I sent Exile #2 off to school without E5N1 - she snapped the girls taking part in a special assembly. I hear they did well so the utter terror on Exile #3's face was presumably only transitory. Meanwhile, I bored E5N1 so much he fell asleep on the sofa. In fact, as it turns out it was probably an early indication that he has what I have. Assuming this is indeed the swine flu, he's in a marginally high-risk group of serious complications given his age, but at the moment he seems tired and grumpy rather than seriously ill.

So, more drugs, more sleep and more hopes for a better tomorrow.

Day 2.292: Getting better

2009-10-29T23:06:00.003-04:00

I've been feeling almost human for most of the day today. At some point I remembered that along with having the shakes, I was delirious on and off yesterday too. It's really hard to believe that I didn't have a fever, but the thermometer doesn't lie.

Anyway, today was much better - I didn't attempt to work except for a very brief on-line conversation. I don't think I was really up to it, but I hope to be able to work tomorrow - I'll stay at home though, I really don't want to give this to anyone else. So far, the rest of the family is doing OK - I hope that continues too.

I spent part of the day playing Assassin's Creed - it's ages since I spent any time playing that sort of Xbox game. I gave up on that particular one a long time ago, unusually for me, leaving it only partly complete. I think it didn't completely make sense to me until I sat down with it today - maybe it needed a partially absent mind to let me in. I also made it outside briefly as you can tell - I even felt well enough to try to get a picture worth posting here.

This evening Exile #2 and I watched Lars and the Real Girl after I happened upon it while channel-surfing earlier in the day. I thought it was great - a real surprise and recommended to anyone with a heart - although an experience of living through a northern winter might help too.

Day 2.291: Missing school

2009-10-28T22:10:00.003-04:00

I felt OK this morning and headed off to work as normal, but by late morning my brain was turning to mush. I left and came home and slept for most of the afternoon. I don't have a fever, but as one of my friends kindly pointed out that doesn't rule out the possibility that I have flu.

I also missed out on a trip to school for the K-3rd grade pot-luck. Exile #2 gamely took all three kids on her own. The picture is at school, but not tonight, but I imagine there may have been shots of Exile #4 eating to be captured if I had been there.

Day 2.290: Aim...Fire?

2009-10-27T22:05:00.005-04:00

It's not a great surprise to me to find a member of the family coming down with something at the end of the day today. I'm slightly more surprised that it is me. However, I think that the symptoms suggest a normal seasonal cold (AKA man-flu) rather than its more serious cousin.

I was fine for most of the work day, just getting tired at the end. I thoroughly enjoyed the first night of competition for Season 6 of So You Think You Can Dance tonight, but my energy levels are way below normal. Perhaps a nice warming fire would help, but not this one made by Exile #4 a few days ago - beautiful though it is, it's not going to give off much heat.

Day 2.289: H1N-wan

2009-10-26T22:36:00.003-04:00

Exile #3 was out in the front yard in this fantastic outfit yesterday - causing a few double-takes from passers-by. She may have been looking out of place and a little pale, but considering that, of her eighteen class mates, only six were at school today - we should probably be happy she is on her feet at all. Apparently one of the absentees - who was also at the party on Saturday - 'has H1N1'. No direct word on the symptoms or condition of the other eleven. Not to worry - in the next few months they will all be able to vaccinated as supplies become available.

I'm inclined not to be too worried, but even if we get the normal fairly mild symptoms, the thought of the whole family coming down with flu is not exactly filling me with joy this evening.

Everyone is fairly healthy going to bed tonight - long may it continue!

Day 2.288: A team effort

2009-10-25T20:43:00.003-04:00

We all pitched in this morning to mess up the girls' rooms. They were looking shockingly tidy, but Exile #2 suggested if we all helped, we could probably blitz them in five minutes each. It took a little longer than that even though this time-lapse version shows both rooms' transformation in only two and a half minutes. Even though it took a while, I think we can all be satisfied that we did a thorough job.

We were listening to Mark Ronson's Version - great messing-up music. The video has some different music (although it works fine in silence) - not sure why I chose it! I hope you enjoy the show.

Most of this is true.

Day 2.287: The tails of two kitties

2009-10-24T20:20:00.005-04:00

We took two cats and a spider to the party this evening. E5N1 has a different costume for Halloween, but this seemed a bit more practical for an indoor party.

The sun was just about out when I took this picture which is fairly miraculous because it has been raining all the rest of the day. It was rather heavy as we were driving home in the dark - a last sting in the tail of this front as it passes.

Talking of tails, Exile #2 made these (and Exile #3's ears) out of some old holey tights. She also suggested today's title pun. E5N1 still pronounces some 'c/k' sounds at the beginning of words as 't', so cookie is 'tookie'. I think that we really should teach him to call cats, 'cats,' before someone gets the wrong idea.

Day 2.286: Peazai seetonanee?

2009-10-23T23:59:00.002-04:00

It's very cute and all, but sometimes it would be easier to use the computer without him sitting on my knee - however nicely he asks.

Tomorrow we have our first costume party of the Halloween season. I will be going as 'man with short hair' thanks to a quick visit to get it cut on my way home. I'll keep you in suspense about the kids costumes. Watch this space.

Day 2.285: Hands down winner

2009-10-22T22:15:00.002-04:00

The raking season is currently in full-swing and with the wind getting up tonight, even more leaves will be falling. Exile #4 was commenting to me yesterday that a lot of the leaves on the driveway were brown - she said they were mouldy and wouldn't be persuaded otherwise.

Many of the leaves that have fallen so far in our yard are from the maple trees - and they seem to hold on to their autumn colours much more effectively than most - even when piled by the side of the road. Exile #4 found these this morning and then noticed the likeness in her gloves.

Today the temperature got up to 70 °F - quite a shock after the cold weather of the last couple of weeks. Tomorrow's high is predicted to be 46 °F - it certainly pays to keep an eye on the forecast at this time of year.

Day 2.284: Percy Vierance

2009-10-21T23:31:00.006-04:00

Exile #3 spent some of her sideshow winnings on this ball-bearing balancing game at the Fall Festival on Saturday. Exile #4 was determined to master it yesterday and had tried for some time before this triumphant moment (captured by Exile #2). When I got home she was able to demonstrate her new-found skill to me and complete it a couple more times.

Day 2.283: Lapses of judgement

2009-10-20T21:50:00.004-04:00

When I posted the time-lapse of E5N1's first two and a half years, I commented on his fans out there in Internet-land. What I hadn't realised was that his biggest fan was right here in the house - E5N1 himself. I dread to think how many of the 59 views that video has had are him watching himself growing up.

The other effect has been some measure of "What about me?" from the girls, so without further ado, here are Exile #3's first seven years and Exile #4's first five, set to music and each compressed into about two and half minutes.

Exile #2 is still standing firm in her desire to be left out of the fun!

Day 2.282: Please tidy up...

2009-10-19T23:44:00.002-04:00

Girls - did you tidy up the playroom like I asked?

Did you put everything away?

OK good. Where is your brother?

That didn't happen. Exile #3 was off school today after throwing up this morning. She has been fine all day since then, so we can hope to get back to normal tomorrow. Having said that, Exile #4 was just complaining of an earache, so - maybe not.

Day 2.281: Red and amber...

2009-10-18T22:20:00.003-04:00

This morning we went for a walk in the woods.

Exile #3 was wearing red:

E5N1 was wearing orange:

But Exile #4 was not wearing green (where was our forward planning?).

That reminds me of the red+amber phase of UK traffic lights and their polite, "I'm going to change to green, but don't do anything about it yet..." Here of course, it's red one moment and green the next, although most people have an idea of what the sequence is doing and are forewarned just the same. Of course traffic lights are one of US drivers' special areas of expertise - along with stopping on the far side of the street for a stopped school bus and knowing when it's their turn at a four-way stop. I like to think I've gained these skills without losing the ability to navigate a three-lane roundabout or sit in a traffic-jam on the M25, but only an extended period in the UK will tell I suppose.

On the way home from our walk E5N1 fell asleep, but woke up when I lifted him out of the car and sat him on the garage floor. Not so yesterday after our trip to school when he was so fast asleep that this happened:

Not that I don't know how he feels.

Day 2.280: Going up & my estimation

2009-10-17T23:08:00.004-04:00

A few images from our visit to the school Fall Festival:

Exile #3 conquered the climbing wall four times.
E5N1 played some soccer with one of the big kids.
Some lovely Indian-dance story-telling.
The huge pot of candy corn I won by guessing the number of them (I guessed 1495 - real answer 1413).
The cake Exile #4 won in the cake-walk.
The girls enjoying some of the cake at tea time and Exile #2 missing out.

We had a really good day with much fun besides these things - walking the school trails with their architect (me), bouncing on the bouncy-bounce (Exile #4 and E5N1), retreating from the bouncy-bounce when the power temporarily went off (Exile #4), buying five tickets and winning four items in the tombola (Exile #3).

Day 2.279: Fall snow fall

2009-10-17T00:50:00.006-04:00

We stood in the snow to wait for the bus this morning - quite surreal considering that it is only the middle of October.

Further south in Pennsylvania they had more snow - enough to make it look something like the picture above (but with more leaves on the trees). That picture was from last December.

Today, it snowed steadily for five or ten minutes - but so slowly and such tiny flakes that I don't expect anyone who was indoors would have noticed.

Here are the kids trying to catch snowflakes.

Can you see any?