Jim's Service

Just a quick note to mention that Jim's service will be in the chapel at the VA in Prescott at 1pm this Saturday afternoon. Later on, there will be a get-together back at the house.

Grandpa Jim

Heather's step-dad, James Clark, passed away at 4pm today at the VA Medical Center in Prescott. This followed a long illness that ultimate started when he fell from his ladder and was admitted to hospital last year.

H is naturally very upset but bearing up. She and baby Jimmy flew over on Wednesday. Owain and I will be joining them soon. No news about the funeral yet. I'll post more info when I get it.

Here are some snaps of Jim from the times that Heather took me to visit him in Prescott.

Painting is Fun

Lately Owain likes to get out the watercolors once or twice a day and sometimes mom and dad have to join in. My paintings mostly consist of rainbows and dinosaurs (at Owain's request). John did a self portrait. Frighteningly accurate wouldn't you say? Seeing this laying out on the table was like finding a prize, a prize that makes me laugh EVERY time I see it.

Like Mother Like Son

My Aunt found this old picture of my mom holding me when I was about as old as Jimmy is now and was nice enough to scan it and send it to me. I was really struck by how similar we look as babies. I was also struck by my mother's "shady lady" glasses and daisy couch. That mug on the armrest is still in the cupboard back in Prescott.

Rugby on my telly!

Oh happy days!

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Cry It Out Part Deux

Now it's Jimmy's turn to cry it out at night. We've been at it since Friday 01/22. It's going pretty well. Tonight he only cried for 15 minutes. Unfortunately he doesn't stay asleep for very long. I think that will happen in time like it did with Owain. I feel that this is a pretty big milestone. It's something I've been looking forward to yet dreading at the same time.

It means that John and I get a couple of hours to ourselves at night but it also means my little tiny baby isn't so tiny anymore and time is going by so fast. Before I know it he'll be crawling, walking and talking and then he'll be a grumpy demanding toddler.

The weather has been great for a week now. Owain and Daddy got to play out on the playset this weekend.

Oooooolala, Owain prancing around in my shoes.

Owie had the stomach flu 2 weeks ago and puked all over the carseat, the car and himself. I cleaned up most of it but John got the pleasure of completely taking apart the carseat and washing it putting it all back together again. Owain had to test it out in the kitchen to make sure the straps were adjusted properly.

Owain really likes his little bro.

Phones and Viruses

Last week, I upgraded my phone, which is to say I got a new phone despite my old one working perfectly well. It had a typically cruddy phone camera which frequently came in handy when Heather's proper camera wasn't to hand. Here's some of the best of the crop of pictures I backed up from it today.


Its successor is a fangled new Google phone which renders most of the items in my living room, kitchen and garden shed obsolete. It can inform Heather as to my exact location at any time of day which means I'll be needing to leave it in the office when I go out drinking after work every night. Then I'll need the old one to say I've 'missed the bus'. Why do relationships and modern technology have to be so complicated?

Owain came down with stomach flu yesterday and we've since been fighting a war on two fronts, so to speak. He's hardly eating anything and is mostly on the water so he'll probably be famished come the morning. He seems pretty nonchalant about the whole thing. I wish I was two whenever I got ill.