Niagra 1

Today we left our mid-way-stop Howe Caverns. It actually turned out to be pretty much a middle of the way stop! I woke up at about 5:00... typical... and went out into the field across from our hotel. The view was really beautiful. At that hour in the morning, the sun was just peeking over the rim of the valley behind me. Morning and evening sun are my favorite: yellows and warmth... beautiful. I even saw a rainbow, which would be a precursor to things to come. Eventually, Henry got up and stumbled out of the hotel room. I looked back at the sound of the door, and there he was standing, all squinty eyed and morning faced. "Dad.... could you help me across the street?" "Be right there Henry." It was actually a small parking lot, but this behavior is much improved over the non-acknowledgment of the existence or roads and cars in general. We walked down to a small herd of cows that left as we approached. As we walked back up, Henry careful to not step on the thistles hidden in between the grass tufts (he was wearing sandals) A small deer shot out of the woods and ran up to this yellow-shirted girl back up at the hotel. It must have come within a few feet of her. Then it took off behind the hotel. I had noticed the girl previously, actually, down near the cows, which had come amiably up to her. I think some people are just animal magnets.

We left pretty early as we had a four plus hour trip through New York up to Canada. The trip wasn't to bad. The Canadian border police were nice enough actually bordering on lackadaisical. I was told that the Canadian side of the falls was superior to the American, and I have to tell you, I agree. The big deal is that the Canadian side actually faces the wall of the falls. The American side sites behind it. It makes a pretty dramatic difference. Also, the Canadian side is so well manicured and filled with old parks and such. Very pretty. We stayed in a nice hotel, the Embassy Suites. It was pricey, but the view was pretty breathtaking. This is the view from our hotel window on the 37th floor. If you aren't into views though, go with something cheaper. Every amenity the hotel could throw at us, minus breakfast and a mid-day snack, was incredibly expensive and therefore not worth the trouble. A perfect example is the bottle of Evian water that was sitting on the top of the small bar in our room. An insignificant little, printed paper  sign said that if I opened the bottle of water my room would be charged $9.00's. IT was a plastic bottle of water. No kidding. There were also four "Complimentary" tokens left on our desk below which the sign instructed us to use in the pop machines in the hallway. Each token was for one soda, and each soda costed three dollars, to be billed to our room if used of coarse. It was enough to make me paranoid and to drive Jenn almost completely out of her mind. She didn't really enjoy the trip, and one of the reasons was because of the mindless cost of seemingly everything.

I enjoyed it though, inspire of the nit-picky things, because of the real grandeur of the falls. Today we got to our hotel room and stared at the falls till night, with a brief break for a less than average supper at Margaritaville. The kids got the bed closest to the window.
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Two things of note

Well, one mini-vacation accomplished. Of course in this house, mini-vacations are considered standard vacations, but, thus is the way of a teacher's salary. We went to Howe Caverns today. We have actually gone there before, a couple of years ago. It only takes a little less than three hours to get there... totally dooable for an, adventure-seeking, day-tripping, young family. The caverns are pretty amazing: over 150 feet under ground, carved out by a downward driving river. Its kitschy, and a bit old-world, like those old "Country Inn's" in New Hampshire that have no real reason for existing. You can tell that this was built in the 20's and was built around some strange anomaly. The town around it hasn't really grown in industry at all. So there is this one thriving spot, in the middle of some amount of poverty. The Schoharie Valley, in which the cavern runs under, is, in some places, breath taking. It is agrarian and feels as timeless as you could imagine.

Henry and Nora completely loved today. The cavern is always 52 degrees, so they had to wear sweatshirts. Jenny forgot hers, so she froze, I have....extra reserves of "insulation" and was fine in shorts and a t-shirt. Even if you aren't into kitschy, kinda zany, vacations, the cavern itself is nothing if not impressive. Real stalagmites/stalactites. Really deep under ground. Very fun for a family with young kids. They even have an adventure tour that allows for real spelunking in the less explored areas of the cave. (I think that was new this year). This was of course, a bit too much for our family, so we stayed on the brick walkway, but I know everyone really liked our time there.

I also personally have had strep throat for the last four days. I also rocked out an "Under Oath" song publicly while having strep throat. The doctor called today to tell me that the strep test I had a few days ago came back positive. Super... guess I should start taking antibiotics. I think I was just beating it naturally, well hopped up on motrin to keep the fever down and the woozy feelings at bay. I think I also may have lovingly given it to Jen as well. :) I am a generous man.

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outathegame

I have been sick for the past couple of days.... I thought the flue flew north for the summer?!? I am feeling better, so I thought I should post the last pictures I took. (none for the past two days though)

I woke up Wednesday morning to Henry tented on the couch. This is the first time this has happened, and it led me to thinking about his teen years. Actually, before we start in on that at all, let me say that Henry didn't spend the night on the couch. He got up early and fell back asleep. No forgotten sons at night on the couch...

So, Henry is 8. That's edging up on teen years. OK... fine... it isn't really, but I am dreading... not dreading, that's too harsh of a word... sincerely wary? of them. I know that they can kinda go either way. I hope, with everything in me, that Henry's, and Nora's for that matter, teen years are smooth. I have had so many students and have seen about equal divisions of bad experiences and good. I think that parenting has something to do with that, but not everything. In my head, I know that rebellion is a good and natural process. It is essential in developing individuality, and without it, people turn out kinda weird. (I think we all have encountered a few of those types of people). And in my head, I am ready for that process when it begins. Right now, Henry still wants to like all of the same dinner foods that I do. (I love that) He still sees me as the judge of good and bad things. And while that is good, and I very much love it, if he remained that way through his teens, he wouldn't be his own. I just hope he doesn't hate me too much.

I hold on tight. I know I do. It has everything to do with my own experience. I see kids fly everywhere every year, and I desperately want Henry to choose the right paths. I want both of them to CHOOSE the right paths... and that is going to take some letting of his choosing. There are so many things that can go wrong here. Drugs, sex, violence, poor self image,  I have seen the effects of all of these things every year. Also, I have seen kids rise above it all, care about other things than themselves. Its almost a hero's errand in middle school to care about others more than yourself. I want both of my kids to somehow escape those years unscathed. We debated homeschooling for a while specifically for that reason. We eventually came to terms about sending them through the gauntlet, to let them change... to have them bounce socially through that  place, as long as things didn't get bad. I still reserve the right to take them out if I think it would benefit them. I must say that so far, Henry's experience has been great, and that is almost completely due to the excellent teachers and assistants that he has had. Still, eyes wide open, that is how we decided to allow them both to go through.

Both of my kids are getting older. I want, more than anything, for them to know how important they are, and to know that it is in finding the importance of others around them that will truly find all that this life can offer.

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Independence Day

I figured I would just load up a bunch of pictures from the parade today. Parades, cookouts... its all good.
Instead of throwing up (nice visual) a bunch of pictures, I decided to put them into a little movie... no big deal... nice and short.

the third of July

Up to the center of town, kind of early, around 7ish to sit casually in front of the band (country... and that's is ok) and watch the people mill around. I remember when Chuck and Mud, and the Jolly Coppershmits used to play at the center. I guess I kind of miss that towny feel, but it was great anyway. I sat and looked around, and for the first time really, was kind of shocked at the amount of people that I knew. I think it might have been the diversity of people that I knew really. I sat next to the librarian to my left, and several parents of kids that I have taught to my right, actually, kind of everywhere. I also knew a whole bunch of other people from Henry's cub scouting. I am not social. I don't go to parties... actually ever if I can help it. I don't even like to go to playdates or birthday parties with my kids. I am not social. So it is a very strange thing in my mind for me to know all of these people. It's...........nice...... a little. Maybe even a bit more than a little.

My family was all around and friends came later that night. Henry found his beloved Celia, who I think might be becoming his best friend as well as his cousin. The Silvas came later and sat near us. Fourth of July, for me, might be exactly what our founding fathers would have wanted, its about being close to my family and friends, along with an occasional flash and boom in the sky. David and Asima's (the Silvas) kids are so incredibly cute. Yasyn sat right next to Nora and Megan and they chatted and screamed and oooo'd throughout the entire fireworks.

Rutland's fireworks are short and a bit towny, but I love them for other, better, reasons.

In the ground

Well, I finally planted my garden. Shocked? Overcome with pity for my late start this year? I think it will be ok though. I planted a bunch of short time crops that should do just fine. Here is the run down. Row one: sage( still there from years past) and Cilantro
two: two types of carrots (yellow and red)
three: two other types of carrots (purple and normal)
four: rutabagas, parsnips and turnips
five:  beets
six: radishes and dill
seven: cucumbers ( I don't have a lot of hope for these cukes seeing how late I planted this year, but who knows)

Its all in, and I am happy with that.

I am also getting some returns on my gooseberries this year. I planted last year and had to wait a year for them to fruit. I have pink and green this year. I remember these from when I was a kid and used to walk down the road from my Aunt Paulette's house. They used to grown on the stone walls on the dirt road by her neighbor's house. They should be ripe within a couple of weeks.

This morning I walked Chauc, scared up some rabbits, and stumbled across old smokey again. He had a new camera with him, that was causing all sorts of problems. Still, he had managed to take close up pictures of a bobcat and a flurry of birds I had never seen before, plus a sick fox that came up to him for help. He is amazing. He said today that he felt like the birds followed him around. I totally believe it. While we were standing there, this little Yellow Throat kept chirping around (they are typically pretty shy) and all of a sudden, its babies come out of nowhere. One dove headlong falls into the tall grass at our feet and the other stays aloft clinging to a branch over head. This never happens, but as long as Smokey's around, who knows what could happen. We walked around for a while and he kept showing me pictues of things he's taken photographs of. He is a sweet old guy. He always has a treat for Chaucer. Chauc actually sat at his feet for a while while we were talking. I like running into him now and then. Here are some pics from my walk.

gumption

Saturday was the fist of the Fourth of July festivities in Rutland. I love the fourth of July in Rutland. I actually am sure not to schedule vacation plans or anything else around it. I am really a transplant when it comes to this tradition. Jenny's family has lived in Rutland forever. They have a certain place they always sit in the center to watch the fireworks, a place to watch the parade, a place to avoid the horrendous parking and traffic... not really, I think that last one might be kind of unavoidable. I know a lot of people scoot off to boston to watch the fireworks. I've even seen them in DC. But there is something truly pleasing about knowing where I will be and even to a degree, who will be around me every year. Honestly, and this sounds about as old man as it gets but, if someone were sitting in my spot, I would be mad.

This Saturday held a few events, the junior olympics, the road race, and the lip-sync contest. I didn't make it for the first two, but I did go to the last this year. Jenny actually volunteered at the burger trailer for the boy scouts. She really is a trooper about this whole cub scout thing. She is a den leader and supports their effort when many, many, many other parents see it as an hour of babysitting time once a week. Trust me, as a teacher, I know how that whole thing goes. Parents really need to be more involved in what their kids are doing and less about seeking "self-time." Jenny is pretty cute as a burger slinger. Although greasy, she has admitted that she kind of likes it.

The lip-sync is truly something to behold. There were, of course, thousands of my students strewn about the place. I enjoy that. I really do. I know many teachers that would run the other way screaming, but I really like to be around my students and their families. So, I sat watching overly energetic preteens, and a few overly ambitious teen-agers lip-sinc their hearts out to a narrow variety of similar sounding songs. The first few acts were tentative... they got up there, moved their arms, shrugged their shoulders around and nearly moved their mouths to their sugary pop music of choice. Then, when the thing really got rolling, thats when the whole thing took on a life of its own. Kids started showing up in full regalia. Shining yellow tutus, flashing blue sequined leotards, full blown costumes. And the kids themselves seemed to be loving it. There were five-year-olds breakdancing, this girl that had to be younger then four, flailing her arms and body in energetic attempts at choreographed dance moves, groups....battalions... of pre-teens that one could tell had practiced for hours in front of their bedroom mirrors. They were dying for the opportunity to be up there. Even Henry got caught up in the spirit of the whole thing and asked if he could perform Queen's anthem, "Another One Bites the Dust" next year. Go ahead Henry... honestly, if you can work up the gumption, have at it.

I am the antithesis of all of this angst. I have not a single bone in my body that craves that stage. I never have... never. I don't even understand the notion of wanting it. I can't imagine the thoughts that prompted that yellow and black polka dotted girl to get up there and shake herself around. I loved watching it. Well, in complete honesty, at times I couldn't. I just couldn't take the empathetic pressure of watching these kids flap around for the greater good. Other times though, it was a lot of fun to watch. I don't know what on earth I will do if Henry actually carries through on his "Biting the Dust" plans. I think I would grind my teeth to dust. My Henry, dancing to Queen's death anthem, on stage, trying to convey the violence in the song to the audience. I know that's why he loves it too. "another one's gone and another one's gone." Would he throw punches in some air-karate fight? Yes, he would probably throw punches in some air-karate fight. I would let him do it though. Because he wanted to. And I would watch in terror at the entire time he nervously flailed himself around. Gah.... the things we do as parents.

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