neurotwitch

Friday, June 05, 2009

off to bermuda

Dad left on his cruise for Bermuda this afternoon. Maureen, Stanley, and I saw him off from the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal. He wanted to take a cruise (a leisure cruise—his stints in the Navy and as a merchant seaman don’t count!) and took the plunge and booked this cruise to Bermuda via Norwegian Cruise Lines out of Boston.

We arrived at the cruise terminal shortly after 1 p.m. and Stanley and I waited with Dad while Maureen dropped the car off. The line was astonishing, at least two city blocks long, and that’s the line to get through security.

Stanley and Dad, the outside line, June 5, 2009. (click to enlarge)

Maureen caught up with us after parking—and the line moved surprisingly fast. We’d already moved up a block by the time Maureen found us. I found out later that, when fully booked, the ship Dad is on, the Norwegian Spirit, carries 2,000 passengers. The lines were intimidating if you’re not used to that sort of thing, and it can get pretty confusing trying to figure out where to go once past security, but we kind of followed the crowd and got directions from the women who seemed to be in charge of keeping the queue in order and moving. Security was no hassle except Stanley set off the alarm and had to be hand-wanded—turns out it was the staples from his heart surgery that the scanner didn’t like. He showed the guard his chest and was waved through.

Looking through the window at the Norwegian Spirit while waiting to check in, June 5, 2009. (click to enlarge)

Dad was both nervous and excited, but the line continued to move fairly fast. To look at the crowd in the terminal you would think the din would be overwhelming, but it wasn’t, and the flooring was made of the stuff, the rubbery layer, that makes standing for a while bearable—and the entire line to checkout took just an hour. I guess we shouldn’t have been so surprised that it went so fast—NCL has been doing this for quite some time now.

Jim Fleming, getting ready to embark, June 5, 2009. (click to enlarge)

We got to stay with Dad until he reached the gangplank. We waved good-bye and then drove around the wharf areas to see what was there and stopped at, I think it was Yankee Lobster Market, for a late lunch—lobster rolls for Maureen and Stanley and I got a scallop roll. The clam chowder is nothing special, but the scallops and cole slaw are really good.

Dad called Maureen about an hour after the ship left the dock, which he said happened around 4:15 p.m. He told her he likes his cabin, had already met some people, and was off to grab some dinner. Maureen said he sounded pretty happy. We think he’s going to have a great time and I’m looking forward to his reports from shipboard—I hope he can send at least a photo or two if he wants to. Ah, a cruise ...

posted by lee on 06/05/09 at 10:53 PM
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Wednesday, June 03, 2009

just one photo

It was a dark and dreary day—but I went out to get a picture of the irises because they’re magnificent (the ones that didn’t get mowed down, that is!) Only one shot because the light was so lousy that this is the only one that was decent (click to enlarge):

posted by lee on 06/03/09 at 11:50 PM
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cat proximity and …

Stanley sent me to this site: www.xkcd.com. A definite time sink. Some of it parts my hair: I’m just not geeky enough to get it—I had to look up some terms that I knew were linux, but not what they meant, for example. Stanley gets it a lot more than I do.

So far, these two are my favorites (also read the tool tips, you know, those words that show up when you put your mouse over the image):

Cat Proximity by xkcd.com No. 231

Brakes by xkcd.com No. 582

And here is a puzzle: The Cryptic Canvas. There are 50 movie titles represented on this canvas—enter the movie title and if you’re right, the little box turns green and the related image(s) fade to black. You can save it and return to it. Empire Magazine created it to celebrate an anniversary. So far I have 16 out of 50 figured out. The painting was created by Amie Bolissian, whose work is very weird but interesting.

Stanley recorded Earth 2100 for me. I thought it was really interesting, though very depressing—I’m not as up on humanity as those talking heads at the end seem to be. I’d like to think that we’re not the frogs getting cooked but I see so much complacency I think we probably are. Too many people into sustainability as long as it’s not uncomfortable. But maybe I just need to get out more.

On a cheerier note, we’re taking an early weekend this week—headed up to Boston on Thursday so we can do bingo with Dad and Maureen and then see Dad off on his cruise to Bermuda on Friday. We’ll probably head home on Saturday because we have so much to do, both work work and yard work. Not to mention cleaning the house ...

posted by lee on 06/03/09 at 02:30 AM
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Sunday, May 31, 2009

what a gorgeous day

We’re a little late this year, getting the garden in. The trip to Michigan and wet weather delayed us a bit, but this weekend was great. By tomorrow we should have our tomato plants in the ground. And the corn planted (I mean raccoon treats planted, I think).

We enlarged the garden a bit—we need more space for tomato plants that will get some sun and I want to try corn this year. A fool’s dream, probably, since we have deer this year when we never did before—damn things ate most of my tulips and munched down a lot of peony buds and the top of a burning bush.

The climbing roses are stunning this year—and they smell wonderful. The rugosa has barely started blooming yet, but it’s loaded with buds. And the false indigo plant is really pretty—worth waiting for it to really shrub out and bloom.

Climbing roses, false indigo, a peony bud the deer didn’t notice, and Stanley, May 31, 2009. Photo by Lee Fleming Thompson (click to enlarge)

Stanley rototilling, May 31, 2009. Photo by Lee Fleming Thompson (click to enlarge)

A wider view of the backyard—looking forward to getting our plants and seeds in. May 31, 2009. Photo by Lee Fleming Thompson (click to enlarge)

We put in several pine trees and arborvitae about five years ago and this year they’re quite substantial—except for the blue spruce. Those are still stubby shrubs. The lilac didn’t bloom this year, though it did last year. I think last year was a fluke since it really has another two years to go before it’s supposed to start flowering. You can see our eclectic sorta hedge in the photo below:

Ruby and Bingo had a great afternoon playing. May 31, 2009. Photo by Lee Fleming Thompson (click to enlarge)

Ruby is mostly a mellow, sweet dog. She likes sitting in the shade and watching Stanley in between mad bouts of wrestling with Bingo. May 31, 2009. Photo by Lee Fleming Thompson (click to enlarge)

Bingo is a busy dog—always looking for a job to do. Her favorite thing to do is play fetch—and she actually brings the ball back to us! May 31, 2009. Photo by Lee Fleming Thompson (click to enlarge)

We went to Home Depot on Saturday to get replacement tomato plants for the ones from Burpee that croaked—Burpee sent them way too early and we had to leave them in the sink while we went to Michigan. Some survived. Helene gave me basil, and we got rosemary, lavender, petunias, and marigolds. Still need cleomes—gotta have them!

We need to replace the porch boards this year so I don’t want to load it up with pots as I usually do, but we did put the big pot outside and I planted the rosemary, some basil, some marigolds, and put in Bibb lettuce seeds. Whether or not we get any lettuce remains to be seen—depends on how close the deer and bunnies get to the house. If they get up on the porch, well, I guess it’s good to feed the wildlife, but I love homegrown lettuce so maybe we’ll get lucky.

It just felt so good to be outside, get my hands dirty, watch Stanley with the tiller, play with the puppies. We have lots more to do over the next few days and we have the whole front side section to clean up, shade plants to get in ...

posted by lee on 05/31/09 at 11:59 PM
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Saturday, May 16, 2009

david’s movie

I also made a little movie at David’s house, featuring his brothers (his sister wasn’t home), mom, and dad. He’s a sweetie too, didn’t cry while we were there though he had every right to with all the commotion.

We off back to Connecticut tomorrow, staying at the Holiday Inn in Clarion, Pennsylvania tomorrow night and back at home by Monday night, at my desk by Tuesday afternoon. I’m not really ready to go, but I know we’ll be back in late August (if Dad is in town), and we’ll see Dad again in June when he goes to Boston and takes his cruise to Bermuda (June 5th).

Tonight, though, we’re taking him to dinner at Tait’s Bill of Fare, a restaurant here in Oscoda that I like a lot. Then maybe rent a video. Not ready to go back yet.

posted by lee on 05/16/09 at 05:24 PM
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Friday, May 15, 2009

starting a ticket pool

Well Dad went and got himself a muscle car. It’s sweet:

Dad and his cherry red Dodge Charger Photo by Lee Fleming Thompson (click to enlarge)

Sitting in his brand new car (trying to figure out how to use the satellite radio) Photo by Lee Fleming Thompson (click to enlarge)

I love the color.

Scott says we should set up a pool for when Dad gets his first speeding ticket. I think we should! We can each kick in a coupla bucks ... I’ll send email around and collect picks!

It’s a nice ride. We put almost 800 miles on it driving from Oscoda to Wyandotte, Dearborn, Ann Arbor, and back again. Satellite radio is really cool—you can get NPR all the time!

Now if gas doesn’t skyrocket, he should be happy with his new car for quite a while!

posted by lee on 05/15/09 at 04:47 PM
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Thursday, May 14, 2009

cinderella at skyline high school

The thought of going to see a musical put on by a bunch of high school freshmen isn’t exactly appealing, but when your nephew is the prop manager and made many of the props and your sister sewed costumes for the production, it becomes something you do if you can. We could, we did, and we were pleasantly surprised. It was pretty darn good, with a lot of good singing. The standouts were Emma Griffith as Cinderella and Richa Saran as Godmother. I made a little movie of snippets of stuff, starting with trying to capture the stage hands changing the set. The sets were pretty impressive and I think Leo did a great job managing it all. So, Leo, with apologies for sucking at videography, here’s my little movie:

The blurb in the program says:

Leo Robertson (Props Manager) is a freshman here at Skyline and has been involved with the theatre program here since the first show. He built many pieces for the set for this and the last show.

Kelly was a member of the costume crew and the prop crew.

Leo built the chandelier that hung off on one of the side stages—it was a pretty impressive feat. It was difficult to get any good shots in the theater, but Stanley did his best:

Leo under the chandelier he built for the set

Here is another picture of Leo backstage—he took us on a tour after the show was over:

Leo Robertson backstage after the performance of Cinderella, May 9, 2009 Photo by Stanley Thompson. (click to enlarge)

Leo took us on a tour of some of the areas of the school. Skyline High School is amazing—it’s green, brand new, and huge. Leo’s class is the first class to matriculate there and this year they have the entire school to themselves. It’s kinda nice to be the first, I think, and you don’t have to worry about any of the crap the upperclassmen dish out.

Skyline has a green roof, wind power, geothermal power, solar power, state-of-the-art green materials and controls. It’s huge and impressive though not very, well, warm—I think because it hasn’t been used enough yet it could be any institution if you didn’t know it is a school. Leo says there are windows in nearly every room. The media lab is power by wind power. The swimming pool is gorgeous. The theater is fancier than any I’ve ever been in and it’s also state of the art. You can read about it by clicking the link in the paragraph.

So a good time was had by all—I was very glad we went and it was great to see Leo and Kelly.

posted by lee on 05/14/09 at 04:11 PM
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Wednesday, May 13, 2009

we met riley rose

We finally made it to Dearborn to meet Riley—she’s a wonderful baby. I made this little movie with my Flip:

Well I like it! Here’s GrandUncle Stanley (is it GrandUncle or GreatUncle?) holding Riley:

I need to get a shot of four generations—maybe in August.

posted by lee on 05/13/09 at 03:52 PM
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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

david allen mccaskey, may 1, 2009

Meet David Allen McCaskey, born May 1, 2009 at 10 a.m. in Dearborn, Michigan at Oakwood Hospital:

David Allen McCaskey Photo by James Fleming. (click to enlarge)

I know I’m way behind getting things blogged—blame it on a horrific deadline (two deadlines). But we made it to Michigan and we made it to Dearborn to meet Riley and then to Wyandotte to meet David (aka Baby DAM) and Sunday we have to leave Oscoda and head back to Connecticut.

Here are some more photos, all taken by Dad (he’s pretty good with the camera!):

David Allen McCaskey, mom Tammy, and dad Aaron Photo by James Fleming. (click to enlarge)

David Allen McCaskey and Grandma Carolyn Photo by James Fleming. (click to enlarge)

Leo (in the background), and Aunt Kelly holding David Photo by James Fleming. (click to enlarge)

And one more—Leo took this one and I love it:

PapaJim holding great grandchild number two! Photo by Leo Robertson (click to enlarge)

Much more to upload, such as photos from our baby meets and hopefully some images from our trip to Ann Arbor to see the play Leo was prop manager for—have to process them first.

posted by lee on 05/12/09 at 12:36 PM
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Thursday, April 23, 2009

i’ll post more tomorrow, i promise

Great PapaJim sent several photos today, and so did Grandma Diana, from Aunt Michele. Tonight I am posting ~~two~~ ~~three~~ four of them, and tomorrow I will gather as many as I can up and make another gallery so people can get access to the high resolution versions in case they want to make prints. Riley is at home now.

First, Dad sent some photos of his and Carolyn’s trip to the People’s Market at University of Massachusetts in Amherst—the store that Kate has been working at since she started college in September 2007.

Kate, PapaJim, and Carolyn at People’s Market, U-Mass Amherst, April 2, 2009. Photo by Jeff Silverstein. (click to enlarge)

Okay, now on to the Riley photos. By the way, the photo in the previous post was sent to me by Matt. I’m not sure who took this next photo, but I love it.

Great PapaJim holds Riley, April 21, 2009. Photo by ? (click to enlarge)

And one more tonight, this excellent one taken by Dad:

Matt, Kristine, and Riley Downey, April 21, 2009. Photo by James Fleming (click to enlarge)

Okay, one more, because I really like this one too: Grandma Jamie and her first grandbaby:

Grandma Jamie holding Riley, April 21, 2009. Photo by James Fleming (click to enlarge)

Grandma Diana and Grandpa Pete have news and photos posted on the Downey family website as well. A lot of really nice photos.

posted by lee on 04/23/09 at 11:59 PM
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