Anniversary pics

As her gift for our 29th anniversary, Diana got a professional photographer to take several portraits of her--looking quite adorable--and print them on canvas. We'll send one each to Willa, Mom & Dad, and Josh&Gwen, and that leaves two for here.

Wedding

Josh and Gwen were married at St George's, Metis Beach, Quebec, with about fifty guests from the US, Canada, Australia, and England. The celebrant was Rev Malcom Evans, assisted by Dr James DeBoe; Emma Dillon was flower girl, and Daniel Rees the bell ringer.

Reception at Jardins de Metis.

Engaged

Josh and Gwen called to say "I asked her, and she said yes!"

Close Action

Josh and Gwen drove down from Blacksburg last night, and then this morning Josh and I drove up to DC for a Close Action battle with Mark Campbell (with the battle report onthe Battle Honors blog).

It's fun traveling with Josh. We had a variety of "You May Be A Redneck Space Marine" jokes:

• "Them critters was tyrannids? Ah thought they was revenooers. Well, reckon it's all the same."
• "You may be a redneck space marine if all your tanks are painted orange, they're all numberd 01, and they all play Dixie"
• "We wuz so poor, our chapter paint scheme was black and white. And we didn't have no black paint either."
• "You may be a redneck space marine if your Chapter Librarian is illiterate."
• "When I was growing up, we walked to school, barefoot, through waves of tyrannids that was chin deep..." 

We talked about D&D and other RPG campaigns he wanted to run, and monsters he'd designed for them. His monsters for the most recent campaign were designed to function together, with teamwork...it would have been nasty to go up against them. We want to do a Monster Hunters International campaign, and a Dark Heresy campaign, and a D&D or Fantasy Hero campaign, and....

Box of Money

Josh and Gwen arrived from Blacksburg tonight, so his main birthday present was somewhat delayed, but he seemed to like it: a box of cash. I'd gotten 260 bills (denomination unspecified) and broken up the bundles so what he saw was not "a couple of small neat stacks", but more "one big pile". He chuckled, he threw handfuls on the floor, he chortled, he rolled around in it, waving handfuls and laughing maniacally. We were all tickled. :-)

Thanksgiving, with Australians

We had 18 people for Thanksgiving: Mom and Dad, me and Diana, Josh and Gwen, David and Elizabeth and their kids plus a couple extra, Tabitha and Chris and their kids. And Gwen had her laptop, and got her family in Melbourne on Skype, and it turns out that Marguerite, brothers Chris and Nick, Nick's son, cousin Duncan, and a couple of friends, had gotten up early on Friday morning and joined us with their Thanksgiving turkey and trimmings--can't really call it "dinner" because it was 6am for them.  Gwen had planned for the video call but the whole "we're having Thanksgiving dinner with you!" was a surprise, and quite touching. So we had a total of 27 for Thanksgiving.

Snow at the Farm

We drove up to Blacksburg on Sunday night to spend a little time with Josh and Gwen, then headed to the Farm on Monday evening. And it snowed Wednesday morning. Everyone (Dad coming in from his contract office, Chris and Tabitha, Josh and Gwen) made it to the Farm; fortunately no one had to fly, as airports were a mess in the midAtlantic. Roughly five inches, and the first time we can remember snow accumulatig before Thanksgiving--it's more commonly January. Diana and I and Josh and Gwen went sledding.
And then the power went out, around 1pm. It looked as if we might have peanut butter sandwiches for Thanksgiving, or else haul the whole clan over to Elizabeth and David's place on Thursday morning. But the lights came back on at 7pm, and we were able to go back to cooking, washing, setting places and playing Skip Bo as normal.

Homestead

Diana and I wanted to take Josh and Gwen to the Homestead resort, and decided that this was the weekend. We left a day early in order to visit Mom and Dad in Monterey, where they're renting a house. Monterey is a village--I'm told there are about 100 registered voters in town--in Highland County, on the border with West Virginia. The weather had just turned crisp, meaning 35° at night, and the leaves were turning gaudily gold and red. We saw one maple where the outer portions of the leaves were red, while the parts by the stems were still green. Some of the people up there raise sheep, and we saw a few flocks that had a llama or two added to protect them from dogs or coyotes.

The Homestead is a huge hotel--perhaps not in comparison with hotels in Vegas or New York or such, but it dominates the town of Hot Springs.  Apparently it's a little less ritzy than it used to be; they still have English style tea every afternoon, but you no longer have to have jacket and tie to take tea. A couple of restaurants, two arcades of shops, a pool, a theater--this is all inside the hotel itself, mind you--and they also have a couple of golf courses, a stable, a hawks mews, a shooting range, hiking trails, ski slope, archery range, and probably other stuff I didn't get to.

Saturday morning we started with a trip to the mews, which held an eagle owl, a pair of Harris hawks, and some saker falcons. These are birds selected for their ability to tolerate strangers; the instructor said that it's possible to train a redtail, for instance, but they won't cope with having other people around. She got out a Harris hawk and we walked around the area, with the hawk gliding from tree to tree, waiting to see if we might flush a rabbit or squirrel. This bird didn't mind getting close to us--once her wingtips brushed my wrist as she flew past, and she passed close by a couple other people if they happened to be between her perch and the trainer. The trick to getting the hawk to come to you is to hold up a piece of meat--chicken, in this case--and the hawk will pluck it out of your hand as she lands on your gauntlet. We all got a chance to try that. She weighed a bit over two pounds, although she felt lighter; she only stayed on our hands for a minute or so before going back to a tree.

That afternoon James met us and took us to the shooting range. Josh and I got an over/under 12 gauge shotgun, with about 100 round between us; Diana and Gwen had a Beretta 28 gauge shotgun, with 50 rounds. It was the first time shooting for the ladies, and they did pretty well; Josh and I managed to break a few clays as well, although some were a bit tricky. There was one that simulated a rabbit running along the ground, and I don't think I ever did hit that one; it always seemed to bounce at just the wrong moment. We had dinner with James and Heather at the local Italian place, then followed Sunday church with a hike up the Cascades trail, a couple of miles following the creek uphill and seeing the falls. Finished with a picnic at the upper end of the trail, before heading home.

Moving Day

Josh was changing from his own apartment to renting a room in a house, and called at 1:30pm on Friday to say "Could you come up this weekend and help move?" So by 3:40 we were on the road. Stayed at the Farm on Friday night, drove to Blacksburg and made a couple of trips back and forth to the new place in Christiansburg, then back to the Farm for Saturday night; stuffed a few end tables and such into the back of the CRV and drove back to Blacksburg on Sunday morning; then home to Virginia Beach.  870 miles in 52 hours. Did not see a bear this time; however, the dense fog/light drizzle while coming up Bent Mountain was enough excitement to last me a while.

Independence Day in Williamsburg

Hurricane Arthur having passed and the sky cleared by late morning, we--Diana, Josh, Gwen, Gwen's brother Chris and I--went to Colonial Williamsburg. At the Courthouse, Josh served as a Justice of the Peace ("Guilty!", he cried); Chris presented a complaint about the Inpector of Roads not doing his job, and ended up as the new Inspector himself. An hour or so later, Josh enlisted as a private soldier in the Continental Army; Chris declined to renounce loyalty to the King or to swear allegiance to the Continental Congress, and was on the verge of being blacklisted until the Major questioning him decided that he must be drunk and from New Jersey. We visited the Magazine and saw the muskets, fowlers, halberds, and a couple of guns; we sat through the court session; and we visited the gunsmith. Listened to the Fife and Drum Corps for an hour. Picnic dinner behind the Visitor's Center. Got out light sticks and then went to the Palace Green, where the orchestra was playing; they started out with the Star Spangled Banner, and just about everyone stood with hand on heart. After that, we went back to the Visitor's Center beside the pedestrian bridge, and watched a spectacular fireworks display; as far as I could figure, we were only about 1000ft from where the rockets were bursting, including altitude.  Diana and I gave our glow sticks to a couple of wide-eyed little girls, then we bundled our crew back into the car and headed back to the Beach.

Mother's Day

We went to the mountains for Mother's Day weekend, to visit Josh & Gwen in Blacksburg and Mom and Dad at the farm. Josh and I unwrapped Command and Colors: Austrians on Friday and got in a 4-man game of OGRE with a couple of Josh's friends on Saturday.
Sunday afternoon we went to the farm, where Dad and James and I tried out the .22 Dad had gotten for Christmas, and I also tried James' 9mm. None of us are exactly prize-winning marksmen, but I did manage to tag a potato with the .22 at about 15 yards, after a couple of rounds.
Restaurants for this trip included the London Underground Pub, where burgers with baon-onion marmalade were the unanimous choice; Boudreaux's, for drop biscuits with andouille sausage gravy; and in Clarkesville on the way home, The Lake House--which is a renovated house, although it's not actually on the lake--for the California bacon burger with carmelized onion and avocado.

Yet More Snow For My Birthday

We went up to the farm for the weekend, with Mom & Dad, Gwen & Josh, and Tabitha and her kids. It snowed on Saturday night--not a real nuisance, but enough to dissuade us from going to Whitetop Mountain and enough to say "winter isn't quite over yet". Josh and I put Ironclads on the pool table; he trounced me, but I had him laughing when my ship aimed for a riverbank and I ordered "Stand by to portage!"
We had poundcake and butterscotch pie for my birthday, and good family time. Drove back by Floyd, Fairystone Park and Bassett, which is a few minutes longer but much less windy and twisty than going by Laurel Fork and Bent Mountain. The countryside apparently decided that enough was enough and it was going to be Spring; trees were flowering and beginning to bud.

Endings and Beginnings

Today was the closing for our selling Mum's house in Montreal. It was a bit sad, not because I particularly liked the house myself, but because I know Diana and Josh had fond memories of it and will miss it. You can say "It's just a house", but a place that you've known for 25 years or more has a personality of its own, to you.

In good news, today Josh got a job offer, and specifically a job doing economics rather than lifting boxes. He and Gwen went to an Econ Department ski trip, met a professor who needed someone for a project, and behold, a week later, he's employed. Huzzah!

Snow in Blacksburg

Actually the snow arrived last week, about 20" of it, but we didn't arrive until Saturday afternoon. Josh and Gwen had built a snowbear; today, we helped them build Mrs. Snowbear, complete with skirt and pearls.

Wrapping Up 2013

Notable Events of 2013:

• February: Diana and I went to Costa Rica
• February: Diana and I had our 25th anniversary
• March: Josh and I saw most of the major caves in Virginia together
• March: I turned 50. 
• April: My birthday party, delayed a week since my actual birthday conflicted with Easter
• May: We refinanced the mortgage, which is not something I'm likely to reminisce over but took a lot of attention
• June: Buffy passed away and we attended her funeral in Montreal
• July: Gwen arrived from Australia, huzzah!
• July: tiled the kitchen backsplash, another forgettable item which took much attention at the time
• August: Josh and Gwen moved to Blacksburg
• August: Diana turned 65
• September: I took a vacation to Utah to see national parks, attend SLC ComicCon, and meet people.
• October: Zoe Mutt diagnosed with cancer
• November: my grandmother passed away
• November: spent much time with the Muttling
• December: Diana got the braces off her teeth after 26 months
• December: Zoe took her last sleep, with us beside her
• December: sold the house on Trafalgar Avenue.

Zoe

On Monday. at the farm, Josh, Diana and I put half of Zoe's ashes on the meadow and stream where she liked to play. Today, Diana and I took the remaining ashes and went to the beach. Zoe would trot down to the edge of the water and if the surf wasn't rough she'd wade in to about knee deep and then plop herself down in the water for a few seconds. So, after we shared some memories, I took off my shoes and waded in about as deep as Zoe would have--the water was quite cold, but I didn't really notice at the time. Then, as three waves came up on the sand and ran back out, I gave her ashes to the water. Then we petted a cute Welsh terrier who came trotting up to us, agreed that we didn't want another dog, no matter how cute, as no one could replace Zoe. We walked up the beach for half an hour and then went home.

Home on the farm

A slow morning with rain all night, but at least not frost. Toronto had an ice storm on Sunday and Willa's farm house is without power, including power for the well. They're having to haul water 20 miles to water the horses, and they're nearly out of firewood. When last we looked, Ontario Hydro said there were over 200,000 people affected in the Toronto area.

In the afternoon, we spread half of Zoe's ashes on the meadow and creek on the farm; in the summer, the grasses and wildflowers are waist high and she would bound across the field and then plunk herself into the creek. Looks like there is a new creek forming, with a tiny rivulet running down a gully so small it looks more like a slightly sunken footpath.

Josh and Gwen decided to maximize the utility of a pair of their Christmas presents, and opened them early. Josh's gift from Gwen was a copy of Fred Jane's wargame rules, best used with another wargamer (ie me) around; Gwen's gift from Josh was a jaffle iron, best used with a fireplace around. Although instead of Jane's, Josh and I played a scenario from Josh's birthday copy of Yaquinto's Ironclads; Gwen made jaffles with salami (not "slimey") and cheese and tomato sauce.

On This Day

On December 16, 1689, Parliament passed the (English) Bill of Rights.

In 1773, the Sons of Liberty dump crates of tea into Boston Harbor as a protest against unfair taxation.

In 2013. Joshua turned 25. Huzzah!

Zoe

CS Lewis says, in Perelandra, that sin not only choosing the bad over the good, but clinging to the lesser good that we have rather than accepting the greater good that God wants to give us.

Since Thanksgiving, Zoe has been lethargic. She's spent most of her time on the couch; her walks have been only to the nearest patch of grass, and she's resisted going any farther. I took her to the beach, and she went maybe 30 yards across the sand and turned back; that was clear sign of trouble, as usually she prances right down to the water. In the last week, she's had trouble climbing up on the couches, or going up and down the stairs, and she lost her balance and fell at least twice. And the cancer was spreading quickly.

We, reluctantly, released the lesser good that we had. I fed Zoe mini-sausages, and dipped my finger into eggnog and put it to her mouth, and she lapped it up eagerly. And then we carried her to the vet, and told them what had to be done. Zoe wasn't nervous at all. The vet put the IV lead into Zoe's leg, and brought her back in to us, and told us we could take as much time as we needed; I said "Two years, please...". We petted her and told her we love her and she is a good girl. I tried to tell her what I'd thought about six weeks ago--"when you wake up you'll be in a sunny meadow, with wildflowers you can bound through, and open lawns where you can run, and streams you can splash in, and other happy dogs you can play with. And not very long from now, we'll come to you and play Peek a Woof with you" --but I choked up and couldn't finish. I kissed her nose and her forehead, and we held her as the vet gave her the sedative, and the second syringe, and she splashed through the waters to the green fields beyond.

(Please don't leave comments. If you've been here, you know).

Braces Out

Diana's braces come off today, huzzah! She got them in September 2011, so it's been somewhat more than 26 months of the tin grin. They were supposed to come off on the 18th, so getting rid of them today was a happy surprise. "Happy" in a painful way, that is--I gather having the clamps knocked off was an unpleasant half hour. But now, of course, we can have spicy food! (Yes, "braces" means "cuts on the inside of your lips" which makes hot peppers a problem).