Nice and cozy

Every once in a while, someone gives a gift so extraordinary that it actually impacts how I live my life. Last year, Shanta gave me just such a gift... my Bodum Cozy.

From Bodum Cozy

I love my Bodum Cozy.

Thanks, Shan!

Grits ain't groceries

Friday nights I make pizza. Saturday mornings Ames makes a huge breakfast.

This last weekend, it was very hot here in the Northwest. I think it was 90 F on Friday when I was biking home. Not perhaps hot by Southern standards, but people here don't generally have air conditioning. So yeah, it was hot. It was hot enough Ames decided to have a light breakfast: she sauteed some onions and peppers, scrambled some eggs, and cut some fruit.

When she called us all for breakfast, the youngest asked what was for breakfast. Ames told her, and she demanded in her most stentorian, Ghost of Christmas Present voice, ``Are there no grits? Is there no bacon?"

Sometimes I'm overcome with pride.

Happy New Year

I don't usually make a big deal out of New Year's Day, but it seems like this one is significant. I keep having images of Arthur C. Clarke's famous sequel run through my head:


Let's see, we got married in '95, so this will be 15 years. That's something. We moved from Grand Rapids back to Charlotte at the end of '99, so it's been ten years since coming back to NC, and ten years since the Wayne Division that tore our Christian friends apart. Again, a significant milestone.

I stopped staying up for New Year a long time ago: between the realization that the New Year comes regardless of my approval or even my attention and my habits of staying up pretty much until midnight most of the time anyway; the whole prospect loses what appeal it had. But it's fun for the kids.