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Thirty years in the waiting...

2008-08-21T02:12:29Z

It was only as an adult that I came to hear of my mom's prowess in the realm of sponge cakes. Apparently her powers to create delectable, gâteaux towers were renown. Just not to me.

Although I would be the first to defend her baking skills, my spontaneous recollection of mom's baking was of more-ish arrays of biscuits (a.k.a."cookies"), fruit and nut bars and breads, and paradigm-defining trifles (a layered cake/fruit/custard dessert.)

It turns out that her sponge cake phase pre-dated my birth. And so it came to be in recent years, that sponge cake was top of the list whenever she offered to make something. Yet for years it failed to rise to the occassion. Until now...

Having consumed the golden delight fragrant with the lightest of lemon touches, I can attest that the title of sponge cake queen was well deserved. And now if you'll excuse me, it's time for seconds.

Strolling along, singing a song, side by side

2008-08-20T03:11:00Z

For months Calvin has been eyeing (and borrowing) other mini-strollers. Finally he has one to call his own. That's thanks to an extended Sunday stroll through my ex-ex-neighbourhood on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

State News, a toy shop on E86th Street that I remember as being uninspiring, is more on the other end of the spectrum. I suspect that las less to do with a merchandising change than it does a significant change of perspective on my part. Having unsuccessfully sought a minature pram that was not a lurid shade of pink, we happily happened upon this one. The result, I think, speak for themselves.

Swing shift

2008-08-16T03:10:16Z

Calvin loved hanging out with his aunt and cousins. He remembered his aunt from her recent visit where she helped us with our move-mentous relocation, and enjoyed swinging with her at the family reunion. But maximum fun was had playing with his cousins C & P. He and P spent two days yelling, "Allo!" at one another to mutual delight.

Hey polly-wiggle

2008-08-15T01:27:06Z

Calvin personalified the tadpole stage addressed by the lyrics of this children's song. It continues,
"Hey polly wiggle and hey polly wog,
One of these days you'll be a frog,
You'll kick your legs and swim around,
With never a splash and never a sound.
(Make rhythmic croaking sounds)

He got to enjoy zooming about a large pool balanced in various athletic postures on dad. And with me, he got to try out proto-swimming moves akin to wiggle, wriggle and kick. Calvin became quite fascinated with the idea of blowing bubbles in the water and was quite cavalier about getting his face wet.

Undoubtedly, his favourite pool time was in the baby pool... But you'll have to wait for the next installment to hear more about that.

In the swim

2008-08-14T03:32:35Z

For me it wouldn't be summer without some blue skies, braaivleis (BBQ) and daily immersion in a big body of water. Promises of all the above were kept and for an entire week, I got to swim to my heart's content, along with the big guy and the little guy, the latter sporting his new spring suit. (For reference, this 17-month-old is in a size 4T wetsuit! With some room to grow.)

More pool side and pool-immersed tales to come.

Too much fun

2008-08-13T02:21:24Z

There are worse reasons for inexplicable absences. But really, these past weeks have been chok-a-block with all moments (spare and otherwise), accounted for in a whirl of getting into a new strategic planning job, a pedestrian commute that's killing me (seriously, speak to my physical therapist about the litany of pains that start with rotated vertebrae and ribs and go all the way down to someting that sounded like 'decrepit' knees), and most importantly of all, a healthy dose of fun and family as my mom is here. We even have the family portrait to prove it! This one taken by my mom-in-law at a family reunion.

Keep tuned, more tales of recent high jinks to follow.

Arrivals and departures

2008-07-23T23:16:03Z

A theme of the past few weeks has been movement. Moves, arrivals, departures, suitcases, boxes, luggage. Happily there remain a mere 8 boxes in our midst, all of which are heading off to storage. (To those who enquired, there were an estimated 150 boxes, but at some point we simp,y stopped counting! Out target is if we move from here, we will have less boxes!) Sadly, there are a number of suitcases and their owners who stayed only temporarily, but what a difference those visits made.

At some point we pondered whether anyone would visit us in our new digs on Roosevelt Island. Our guess? No. Reality check? Yes! To date we've not been in our new home a month and managed to assemble guests including a pair of excellent Australians, a superb Canadian and my mom fresh off the plane from South Africa.

No pictures though... we still have to figure out where the camera charger is. Two possibilities: 1. It is somewhere among the insane number of chargers and cords that seems to have been replicating exponentially in one corner. 2. Calvin took a liking to it and...

So instead, for your visual delight and care of dear CR, a photo of Calvin from a recent barbeque we attended. (Which I would have blogged about had I invented hour 25 of a day.) Suffice to say, warm summer afternoon, backyard and "Dogga!"

Dogs are Calvin's creatures "du mois." Any sighting of any furry, four-footed animal both real or illustrative solicits yells of delight at a high decibel. For the record, he does distinguish "Gatto" or cats in Spanish, from dogs. Cows, pigs, sheep and such are distinct animals, but not squirrels, mice, or donkeys.

This was his first up-close and personal encounter with a living dog. We helped him gently pat it and... the very next thing he tried to do was ride it. Needless to note, Spike the dog was very affronted and spent the rest of the party studiously avoiding hi would-be rider.

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Moves aplenty

2008-07-15T04:10:38Z

You may have wondered why the blog stalled for weeks, but I can easily explain with a simple, three-lettered word: box. Or a four-lettered word (now, now): move. Happily, I can also report that all but about 10 of the former are out of our lives and that we have pretty much successfully achieved the latter.

Yes, we've moved. And it would not have been possible without sister-in-law R (seen above with an able-bodied assistant), whose optimism and sheer heavy lifting kept me sane and kept us on track with the seemingly endless packing and unpacking. *PROPS to R!* Thank you, thank you!

As will be revealed over time (and now that our wireless router has ensured we can get online again after 10 days of going cold turkey!), our lives are now filled with twice daily riverside strolls, waking up to the sound of birds tweeting, and being constantly amazed at the size of our living space. Example? Calvin can happily run laps in it, and we even managed to host an impromptu Aussie sleepover this weekend featuring two six-footers.

More later, for now it's time to head to bed without the Ninth Avenue symphont/cacophony of alarms, hooters and sirens. (Though there is much else to evoke Ninth Avenue nostalgia.)

Technorati tags: moving relocate pack box

Something stinks!

2008-06-25T02:34:42Z

In between packing books this evening, I've been keeping an eye on my guilty pleasure a.k.a. HGTV (Home and Garden TV.) Between the engaging 30 minute makeovers are a range of home adverts which, this evening, seem to be dominated by a bad smell. Folks, I have to ask: what on earth is this US obsession with fake scents?

The options to assault your airways with all manner of fabricated odors is almost unlimited. I humbly submit the folowing evidence:
* A scented candle craze that ranges from Yankee Candle to uber-expensive designer candles priced in the hundreds of dollars for a single average-sized pillar candle.
* Aerosol scent dispensers that mask smells by spritzing out "nature-like" smells or, even curiouser, eliminating all odors.
* Linen scents that you can dispense by adding balls or sheets to your laundry during drying, and layer it on afterwards with linen spray.
* Oils and fluids that evaporate and carry their nuggets of nose-titillation throughout the immediate environment.
* And finally, power-operated scent dispensers that include fans, heaters, lights, and now, up to three different scent cycles so you can switch from one fake scent to another every 45 minutes.

How about ye good olde fashioned way -- opening the windows, bringing in a bouquet of fresh flowers or a wreath of herbs and lavender? I hope informed consumers are considering the additional air pollutants they're snorting and making the connection between this and the asthma epidemic. FYI, typical ingredients of most of the abovementioned options are formaldehyde, petroleum distillates, p- dichlorobenzene, and aerosol propellants. I think that stinks.

Measuring up

2008-06-23T04:39:49Z

A few weeks ago Calvin and I took a trip out to the new apartment. We wanted to refresh our memories as to the size and possible layouts of the rooms, and to figure out our closet situation. It helped us identify that we're losing kitchen storage space, and hopefully the fact that we've now put formal glassware and linens into storage will alleviate this somewhat. (One day those fancy dinners will be back!)

Predictably, the little guy was fascinated by the tape measure. But surprisingly, he was a tremendous help! He immediately worked out what I was trying to do and had a steady grip in keeping the tape level and didn't bend it or let it go.

Countdown...

2008-06-21T02:39:51Z

What has been happening over the past week? Simple... packing. It's amazing how moving 21 boxes to storage -- huge shout out to Jay who did that single-handedly -- can make things seem less cluttered. But more packing looms, this time everything that goes eastwards across Manhattan with us.

Diverse digits

2008-06-15T03:16:58Z

Numbers of various kinds are running through my brain...
* 33 and some number of less than one additional inch = height of C at check up, which puts him in the the 99th percentile for height.
* 25lb 10oz = the little guy's weight at his 15 month check up. Although to pick him up you'd agree he must have the specific density of lead! Imagine if he were heavier than the 75th percentile for weight.
* 1 = Number of weekly massages required by me to ease shoulder, back and elbow tendonitis pain... from handling aforementioned plumbum parvulus
* 14 = number of boxes we've packed
* 126 = number of boxes to be packed
* 15 = number of days we have to get everything packed for our move
* 5.11miles = physical distance we will be moving
* 1,000 miles = psychological distance between move origin (happening Hell's Kitchen) and destination (rustic Roosevelt Island)

And now you'll have to excuse me, we've run out of newspaper so it's time to hunt down some packing material.

Technorati tags: moving relocate pack box

Slow but sure...

2008-06-11T03:07:17Z

Tuesday 10 June
Target: 130 boxes

Packing goes better when there are two of you with sleeves rolled up.
And moreso, the rational musings on what to move to the new home and what to store. After all, why leave in harm's way (read: a certain exploring toddler) something best retired for a few years and returned to duty later when we can all enjoy it safely?

Packed: 12
To go: 118...

Technorati tags: moving relocate pack box

Pack-rastination

2008-06-10T02:27:23Z

It's moving time again. This time from West to East. After having leaned on two awesome sets of friends the last move, I vowed never again. That's just not fair. I still don't feel like I've ever fairly expressed my thanks to K&A and S&L for their generosity and mucles!

So this time, we've had three moving companies in to quote on moving us across town. Apart from the astounding cost -- one has to lay down, never mind sit -- the more astounding thing is the amount of boxes involved. Two of the three companies estimated between 130 and 140 boxes.

So far, I have packed 7. No others have been packed. As I'm the kind of person who likes to be well prepared, I am planning to try and accomplish as much as I can incremmentally -- no procastination if possible! So forgive me if the next few weeks bear only a progress count as I try to move the contents of our apartment.

Monday 9 June
Target: 130 boxes.
Packed: 7
To go: 123...

Technorati tags: moving relocate pack box

CSI Playmobil

2008-06-07T02:25:08Z

One of the few pleasures of my parental life is watching TV on occasion. My limited roster of viewing pleasures includes Home and Garden TV, PBS and the odd episode of 'Law and Order.' It also includes catching any flavour of the CSI franchise.

If you're unfamiliar with the latter show, Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) is basically a high tech, who done it with funky production values. Calvin unwittingly constructed the type of scene that might start any CSI episode: Using some new, little minature people (part of a Playmobil set) he placed the man, woman and car upside down inside his toy aquarium. Is this what educators think of when they talk about 'imaginative play'!

What amazed him was the idea that objects other than the balls he is used to placing in the aquarium also activate the splishy sounds and Caribbean tunes. Evidence? The random assortment of objects that quickly joined the crash scene which included lids, a pig trough (did I mention this was a Playmobil farm set?) and a butterfly rattle.

Technorati tags: TV CSI Playmobil toddler