The Dump Truck

A couple summers ago, when Prince Tyger wasn't even two, he visited his doting grandparents to discover that they had somehow managed to find a large dump truck. Prince Tyger LOVES dump trucks. In fact, when he was too little even to talk, his favorite book was called, "I Am a Dump Truck." Prince Tyger used to make Proud Grandmom recite it to him by heart. So when he saw the dump truck, he was the happiest boy you ever saw! Best of all, he could even ride on it, just as he could ride on his bouncy horse. Plus there was a button to press that gave the start-up sound and another that blasted the horn. Prince Tyger was literally in heaven!

Fast forward two years, when Prince Lightning is not even two. Like Prince Tyger, Prince Lightning is fascinated by the same dump truck, that came to live with Prince Tyger after spending a couple months with the doting grandparents. Prince Lightning loves to ride the dump truck and press its buttons. Just like his Big Bro, he is literally in heaven.

What is it with little boys and heavy equipment? Really?

The Littlest Rookie

While Prince Tyger spent his time lost in admiration of the bubbles his machine would produce, once little Prince Lightning could be dragged away from his water sprinkler, he first decided to "sweep" the sidewalk.  Prince Lightning is actually a first-class cleaner and enjoys putting things in order.

Of course, the usual reason that things are out of order is because Prince Lightning was playing with them!  So the cleaning intervals don't usually last long, especially because Prince Lightning likes to do so many things, such as here, where Proud Papa is showing him how to hold a lightweight mini-baseball bat.

Proud Papa has attached a lightweight ball to a string at just the right height for the Princes to practice swinging the bat. Prince Lightning looks very serious as he prepares to try his hand at hitting the ball.

Here he is - all ready to strike at the ball.

Still waiting ...

and here he is in full swing!

Look at the determination on that little face!

Someday, perhaps, we'll see this little rookie in a Big Game such as little boys' dreams are made of. 

The Bubble-Blower

Our precious Prince Tyger was enraptured last week by his bubble blowing machine.

I'm not sure whether it was the machine itself

because our Prince is very much "into" machines.

Or whether it was simply the fascination of the bubbles - those light, iridescent films of soapy liquid filled with air -

that are endlessly fascinating.

Our Prince was lost in his own world, especially when his bubbles were interspersed with the sprinkler favored by Prince Lightning.

I'm definitely going to have to teach him the song "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles."

Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing for us all if the world were full of machines that blew beautiful bubbles rather than guns that spew death and destruction? 

Prince Tyger's Tiger

Prince Tyger has been enjoying his first year of pre-school. He loves playing, exploring, singing and reading.  But he loves painting the most. Here is one of his recent multi-media oeuvres.

His proud parents liked it so much that they have had it framed. Now it hangs in their hallway for all to see. When the Tyger was asked what the painting was called, he answered, "The Tiger." Proud Grandmom wonders whether he even knows that is her special name for him particularly when the painting resembles a tiger less than it does a boy. Interestingly, the painting does remind me of him.

More Boys of Summer

Oh frabjous joy!  To be in the middle of waterworks ... sheer bliss indeed!

Uh-oh, little Prince Lightning is going to make an unauthorized adjustment.

Oops, what happened to the water? Methinks Proud Papa is trying to make a point.

Prince Lightning protests and

the water comes on again.

Hooray - all's right with the world!

The Boys of Summer

Over the weekend, I went into Washington, DC to visit with Princes Tyger and Lightning. I knew that they would have grown since I last saw them in person and even had an idea of how much they had grown from video conversations with them on Skype. But the real impact didn't hit me until I saw them firsthand. They are not "babies" any more. Not at all. Those days are long gone. Sigh.


Because we have been so afflicted with scorching temperatures lately, the Princes have spent a lot of their outdoor time at local swimming pools. But if a swimming pool is not handy or if no one is disposed to take them to a pool, a hose and sprinkler will do in a pinch. After all, WET is good. In fact, WET is wonderful! So, first they discuss protocol with Proud Papa Big T before actually settling into the wetness.

Prince Tyger is determined to man the bubble blower.

Blowing bubbles is also a fun occupation for hot days, in his opinion.

Prince Lightning, on the other hand, is more fascinated by the hose and sprinkler.

But he is less interested in following the protocol, which is that once the sprinkler is placed in position, it should NOT be moved. 

Prince Lightning, now approaching his second year milestone, has a real problem with "No."

But here is one moment of bliss, when everything works as it should.

And two little boys are enjoying the moment.

Randomly Miscellaneous Thoughts

After getting our respective exercise this morning (HWMBO to play tennis; me to take a brisk walk), which was no small thing considering that the temperature was already in the 90s and climbing, we decided to make a run to a new supermarket that has opened nearby: Wegmans.

As I discovered while surfing the net, Wegmans has been in business since 1916 and is still a family-owned business. This fact may at least partially account for its generally excellent business rating. It has appeared on Fortune magazine's list of "100 Best Companies to Work For" since the list's inception. In 2007, it received an award for "Best Grocery Store" in 2007 from the Food Network. In 2012, Consumer Reports ranked it as the top large US grocery chain.

In size and offerings, it was impressive, with an excellent selection of seafood, wonderful imported cheeses and organic products. There was a multi-faceted food court. One could either order from one of many counters and take one's purchases upstairs to eat or could be seated at a counter, as we decided, and order there. On the menus, we were specifically directed not to leave a tip for the server. This got me to hoping that this meant that the staff were actually receiving decent hourly wages and benefits. After learning that the company is considered an excellent place to work, it appears that may indeed be the case. I'm due to prepare dinner tonight and I'll be utilizing some of our purchases.

*****

Most businesses and households in the area are now connected and functional, thank heavens, and most roads have also been cleared of debris. Crews have been working nonstop since Friday night's storm and high winds struck. Just before my return, our neighbor's teen-age daughter had been involved in a serious fender bender when the car in front of her braked suddenly to avoid a large fallen branch and her reaction time was just too slow to avoid a collision. Although the car was impressively damaged, it appears that no one was hurt - which is the most important concern.  And during our visit to Wegmans, we ran into one of HWMBO's fellow voyagers from his trip to China who shared with us that her household had been without electricity for three days. She was very relieved to be re-connected.

Today's online Washington Post has an interesting interactive here, showing the before and after images from last Friday night as viewed from space. Click on the link and drag the slider shown there to the right for the "before" image and left for the "after" image.

*****

This being a Presidential election year, there is a lot in the news about the doings of the two major candidates. President Obama, as the incumbent, has the "bully pulpit" advantage and is making excellent use of it. Mitt Romney, the GOP candidate, appears less and less knowledgeable about anything that would actually help move the country forward every time he opens his mouth. Perhaps someone should do him a favor and tell him just to zip it. Another real problem for him even though he has oodles of cash: his own party apparently finds him "boring."  Here's hoping that things stay that way for him and that the President wins a second term. I personally believe that anything else would be devastating, not only for the US, but for the world that must live with us.

*****

Courtesy of one of the online groups I follow, I have found a very interesting website for anyone who, like me, loves to read and also loves to imagine the geographic locations of where the action in a novel takes place: Maps of the Classics. Take some armchair journeys and enjoy! After all, journeys of the mind can often be the most satisfying of all.  

Travels and Jet-Lagging

Yesterday morning, the alarm clock went off at 05:45 and I arose to begin the first part of my trek to the US.  The preceding evening, I had dropped off my suitcase in the left luggage section of the train station at the airport. The taxi fare from my little town to the airport runs about CHF 80+ per trip so I like to avoid paying that. While friends have often kindly offered to drop me off at the airport for morning flights, requiring them to arise at the crack of dawn is not, IMO, a good way to maintain friendships.

Prior to the mega-security measures introduced in the last decade in large part due to the previous US Presidential Administration's completely dropping the ball and ignoring the intelligence they received about terrorists who ultimately flew airplanes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, flying used to be a much more pleasurable experience. Our travel-friendly climate in Switzerland also offered many conveniences, such as overnight check-in, which allowed us to leave our large suitcases at the airport the night before. While some airlines still follow this policy, the carrier I generally use does not, so leaving my suitcase with the left luggage at the train station is the next best policy if I do not want to pay an expensive taxi fare - or, of course, bother friends. The fee is reasonable: CHF 10 per suitcase per day. The train fare is another CHF 3.20. So it is quite a savings. But the logistics do require some planning.

Thus, yesterday, I spent the early part of my day in completing the packing of my cabin luggage and packing up my trusty laptop. Arrangements have been made for the apartment in my absence and hopefully all will remain well there. Then, off I set to catch the 07:30 train, only to discover that for whatever reason, certain trains had been "suppressed" yesterday and the 07:30 was running late. Still, I made it to Geneva in fair time, only to discover that the next two trains to the airport station had also been "suppressed." Fortunately, I had already done my check-in on-line so the only thing remaining was to pick up my bag at the train station and wheel it over to the airport counter to "drop" it off.

After those initial glitches, everything proceeded on schedule and without problem. I made my connecting flight in good time and arrived in Maryland last evening, thankfully to find HWMBO waiting for me at the airport. As expected for this time of year, the flights were completely full. All things considered, we were comfortable enough. But by the time we had gotten home and relaxed a little, it was around 10:00 pm, which was already 04:00 Central European time. So yes, it was a LONG day, although HWMBO had little sympathy for me, having recently endured his own odyssey to China and back. After that experience, trips back and forth to Europe in his opinion warrant a "meh!"

Today has been a day of getting used to being on the West Side of The Pond again, as well as realizing that my day is now six hours later than what I'm used to. As usual, I find adjusting to the time change in this direction much easier than having six hours lopped off my day, usually from my sleeping time, when I return to the East Side. Thankfully, I slept through the night and didn't wake up until 08:00 so that HWMBO and I could catch the Wimbledon men's quarter-finals!

Now, I'm going through the mail that has accumulated here for me and nursing what jet-lag I seem to have. Our various families are celebrating the holidays in various locations and we have opted for calm. After all, our area has a celebrated fireworks display to which people drive from miles around. We can enjoy it without even having to deal with the traffic.

"Mem'ries ...."

There are few nuisances as frustrating as trying to find something that you absolutely know that you have but that is somehow missing from where you thought it was. Believe me, that is something that happens more often than not as my years climb inexorably higher and "senior moments" become ever more frequent.

Healer Sis, prompted by years of Catholic theology, insists that she has often had success by calling - somewhat informally - on Saint Anthony, the patron saint of lost things, to wit: "Tony, Tony, look around, so that what is lost can be found!"  Because I'm not too sure of how my stock in The Hereafter is perceived, I usually do not call on Saint Anthony but follow what I believe is an old adage: "if you want to find something, look for something else." It more often than not works for me.  Unfortunately, neither "Tony" nor the looking for something else has yet helped me to retrieve the wedding ring I misplaced - or that slipped off my finger unbeknownst to me - in June 2011. But I still hope.

But last summer, I needed to locate my diplomas to complete my faculty file. Employers in Europe like to see facsimiles of the actual "sheepskin," so to speak. I was sure that they were here, but when I had looked everywhere I could think of, I came to the conclusion that I must have included them in the shipment of personal effects that was sent to the US in early 2008. Luckily, that was true of the most important - the highest value diploma academically - which had been framed. That, together with transcripts from the other universities I had attended, were satisfactory to my employer. But I still wondered where the others had gotten to, that is, until a few weeks ago. To prove the adage, I was searching for something else entirely, and eureka! There they were, together with several other papers from my penultimate employer! The pesky things have now been scanned so that if I ever misplace them again, at least I have the facsimiles.

Among the other treasures that I discovered at the same time was the photo below. HWMBO and I were visiting Venice together after he had just spent three weeks with a group, cataloging the condition of Venetian bell towers as part of an Earthwatch "public art" project.

If he looks tired, it's because there were a LOT of bell towers that needed to be located, cleaned off well enough to decipher dates and inscriptions (lots of pigeon droppings were involved), described in detail and rung so that their tones could be recorded. Still, he had a wonderful time. Once his project was finished and I was able to get a few days off to join him there, we both enjoyed our visit to Venice very much. As I recall, the Doge's Palace is to the left in the picture.

Those memories are still quite fresh so I was amazed to see the date on the back of the picture: August 1996! That is 16 years ago. Where on earth did the time go?

More importantly, what has happened to the world in the meantime? That was a comparative Age of Innocence. 

Summer Cyclones

Summer weather has struck in the US with a vengeance. Mother Earth must be out of sorts and is certainly reminding us humans that whatever we do and however we may do it, there are simply times when we must bow to greater forces. Thus, in the arid West, forest fires, whether caused naturally or by human agents, have literally been leaving scorched earth in their aftermath. It is unfortunately not only scorched earth, but the wreckage of well-loved homes, with dreams, aspirations and hopes also having gone up in smoke. Thank heavens that the loss of human life has not been a major factor. The State of Colorado, for example, has been declared a "disaster area" by the President, making it eligible for federal assistance in combating fires there.  

Earlier in the Spring, there was a spate of flooding in various locations. People were just beginning to catch their breaths - in labored fashion to be sure because the East Coast has recently been suffering from a heat wave with temperatures at record-breaking highs, e.g., 104 degrees F (40 degrees C) in Washington, DC. But whammo! This past weekend, ferocious thunderstorms hit the area, killing a total of 13 so far. There are still around 750,000 households in the area without electricity, with emergency crews working around the clock. The heat has not let up and, believe me, the Washington, DC area in the summer is an area where it is almost impossible to survive without air conditioning! Those whose power is still out but who are able to travel are seeking refuge in shopping malls, coffee shops and emergency shelters.

It looks as if I should have timed my travel plans to the DC area a bit better. After all, Switzerland's summer climate - even sans A/C - is certainly preferable to that of DC. But I am anxious about family and how they are coping with the situation. I know that what can be done is being done, but still ....

I took heart today, however, when I noticed that one grandson, Prince J, had posted some recent photos of his latest summer baseball game on Facebook. While I haven't quite understood whether his team, quite aptly named the "Cyclones" considering the weather of the moment, actually won their game, I loved the photos so am sharing some here, beginning with a photo of the playing field, aka the "diamond," with the Maryland state colors and coat of arms. 

And here's Prince J, in his pre-game glory, with black designs under his eyes to prevent glare.

He poses again here with some fellow team members, each with a different eye design.

Here he is in action, running to prevent a bunt from turning into a base hit.

Game over, the team prepares to walk off the field

and give the ritual handshake to members of the opposing team.

Summer Cyclones indeed!