John & Anne Wiley

2011/02/26

Personal Favs

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,People,Random,Relationships,White North Adventure — John @ 03:54

I’m smiling, typing this. Another wonderful family day, this time starting with an incomplete medical appointment. Turns out we needn’t have worried about arriving a few minutes late due to an especially frustrating car seat (I’m becoming an unwilling expert). After waiting over an hour watching each woman in the full waiting room called by name to go in ahead of us, the nurse’s assistant came out and called, “April.” My muttered reply, “Oh no, they’re only up to April!” We had a jolly stifled laugh and carried on with small talk and memories of my daughter’s infancy.

After the only other woman waiting was called in, I went to get my famished daughter a snack and returned to find that we’d been told the doctor was called away to the hospital and we’re rescheduled for next week. I only relate this as context to share how kindly my remarkable daughter received this very unwelcome news. We had a good time joking about it afterward, and after some fun stops returned to her place to complete our shared enjoyment of Pride and Prejudice (the unsurpassed Colin Firth version). This then to introduce one of my fav pix from those thus far not shared here.

5728 Family Time

5728 Family Time

I hope you can get some impression from this snap how joyfully pleased I am to see them so happy together, cuddled up to watch one of our fav movies with us. Were it not for alert Anne I might have missed this photo that will forever hold a special place in my heart.

The other new fav I’m sharing tonight is this shot of a man who loves hockey, and though not having skated for several years was ripping up the ice when we found the inexpensive rentals next to the pond downtown. His delightful freedom and exuberance on the ice matches his tenderness in the cozy shot above. It brought my daughter and me much joy to see such happiness in the hard-working man who daily brings such happiness to her, building a strong new family for my grand daughter.

5586 Free Skate

5586 Free Skate

2011/02/25

Toe Toy

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,People,Random,Relationships,White North Adventure — John @ 06:00

I’m very happy to report that grand-daughter is completely healthy, doing extremely well, and seems to have grown measurably every day. I know you’ll understand when I soberly assure you that this is the second most beautiful infant I’ve ever seen, and the little nuclear family is exceptionally delightful to be with. Since you already know I’m not boasting, hopefully it’s ok to share a new photo.

She’s been vocalizing a lot more and developing elementary hand-eye coordination so quickly now that we can see the progress every day. Even during the day when she wakes from a nap, often there’s some new behavior or skill. This dream learning is presumably why babies sleep so much, as their brains re-wire from the previous waking period’s stimuli. Well, yesterday and today she’s discovered she has feet.

5669 Foot Fixation

5669 Foot Fixation

She will stare at them, as in this photo. She’ll move them and try to grab them. She’ll kick the dangling toys in her playpen with them. GrandDad loves to watch and facilitate this process. 🙂

Bob

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,People,Random,Relationships,White North Adventure — John @ 05:32

A wonderful friend used to enjoy sharing one of his favorite jokes: “What do you call a man with no arms or legs in a swimming pool?” You’ve probably heard the joke, since it was one in a set of similar quips that were really quite crass and cruel but we seemed to laugh anyway. In case you haven’t heard that joke, the answer of course is the name of this post and the reason I snapped this pic flying the vast expanse somewhere between Red Deer and Edmonton.

5401 Bob

5401 Bob

I thought of Bob Zitzer when I saw this, then wondered what was going on for the Bob who presumably scrawled his name with a tractor. There is an immeasurable bleakness in the landscape we traversed that could give this message a pathetic quality. At the same time, the people we’ve met have such a depth and strength of character it also conveys a sense of boundless and courageous playfulness.

As you can see, the sight also got me waxing philosophical (doesn’t take much 🙂

How many times did I once feel like the hapless swimmer of the joke? Limited in the ability to keep my head above water, encouraged from the shore by a helpful suggestion. It seems so long ago, before meeting delightful Anne and studying (and painfully practicing) interpersonal tools like NVC.

Now sometimes I glide effortlessly above what would once have seemed daunting or insurmountable and seeing signs of someone struggling, want to help. To share what I’ve learned. To shout a suggestion. Of course, most often unsolicited advice is less helpful than simply empathic silence. As I tipped Tripp back on course, I wondered if Bob were down there somewhere looking up at the sound of our passing and smiling as I once did at the musical hum of passing small planes.

2011/02/24

Family Day

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,People,Random,Relationships,White North Adventure — John @ 07:43

People here celebrate a holiday named Family Day, and ours included a visit to the riverfront park downtown for skating on a frozen pond. Anne hasn’t done that since childhood so she was really excited about it, and our family now includes a hockey player who also enjoyed it greatly (and kindly offered pointers to the wobbly-legged Californians).

5618 Young Skater

5618 Young Skater

After dark we strolled a large sculpture garden of colorfully lit works in ice. Here’s a collage of just a few that I liked.

5630 Ice Collage

5630 Ice Collage

We rode the ice slide, which pleased the other kids because we only had jeans on so we melted the ice. That made their rides much faster in their insulated snow suits. Another branch of the family kindly posed on the ice throne.

5647 Adoring Husband

5647 Adoring Husband

Then we stopped for warm treats in the Good Earth cafe that Anne found.

1555 Warm Moment

1555 Warmth

It was an especially warm Family Day.

2011/02/23

Secret in the Garden

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Nature,People,Relationships,White North Adventure — John @ 00:47

It’s a bunny. A big bunny. It left tracks. We actually saw it at the hotel, and today after a somewhat brief sleep and a day helping with baby we came home before sunset to find these tracks outside our window.

5683 Bunny Trail

5683 Bunny Trail

Update: the bunny just hopped across the yard, so I jumped up and slowly pulled the blinds apart with one hand while snapping this:

5685 Big Bunny

5685 Big Bunny

I don’t know if you can get the scale from the corner of the fireplace, but this critter is big enough to pull a wagon. I haven’t seen a hole, so I guess it jumped over the fence.

Anne’s hopping like a bunny herself, excited at the prospect of donning our SuperBoots (Edmontonians know how to keep feet warm!) and hiking the river trail just beyond the fence.

5682 Beyond the Garden

5682 Beyond the Garden

The B&B we’re at now is named A Secret Garden, and as you can see by clicking on the name it’s a cozy place. We hadn’t realized until yesterday that it’s nestled right next to the large Blackburn Creek Park along Blackmud Creek. So the satellite view below shows what we’re seeing beyond the garden fence above.

Blackburne Pk. - Sat.View

Blackburne Pk. - Sat.View

That access path at the top-center of the sat.view is where my bunny wants to go hippety hopping sometime soon.

Well, I was offline last night so maybe I’ll blog again later to try catching you up on the fun we’ve been having. I’m also still behind schedule on sharing pix from the rest of our flight. Just wanted to share our backyard since I just now snapped it.

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