Parry Sound photos

Here are a couple of photos that Scott took while we were at their place in Parry Sound the weekend before last. Kate with Jacob and me with Molly (in Helen's fantastic sweaters again).


Kate's home today for the first time in a week, after a busy work schedule plus a very hectic weekend on call. So, we're having a quiet family day at home.

The kids turned 8 months old yesterday, if you can believe it!

And for anyone reading this in Mexico (i.e. my parents), it's a frigid minus 20 here today.

Oscar Recap

My favourite moment was the Once song win. I loved them bringing Marketa back out for her speech, which was fantastic (some similar content to what the insufferable Russell Crowe said a few years ago, except she was sincere). As my friend Tiff would say, "I'm so proud of my guys!!". Also liked Diablo Cody's win for the Juno screenplay. And the fact that all the winners were likable - no blowhards like James Cameron, Halle Berry, or the aforementioned Crowe.

Oscar Night

For the first time since we were in Kenya, we haven't seen any of the leading Oscar contenders - No Country, There Will Be Blood, and Atonement. I didn't think Michael Clayton or Eastern Promises offered much that hasn't been done before. Marion Cotillard was overrated (enough of the musical biopics already - how did Edith Piaf, Ray Charles and Johnny Cash all end up with the same lifestory?). I was impressed with Casey Affleck in Jesse James and in his brother's movie Gone Baby Gone.

My favourites of 2007 were Once, Juno, Away From Her and The Wind That Shakes The Barley. Plus, funniest movie was Superbad and best action/sequel was Bourne Ultimatum.

My Dad's Not Like The Others

Here's a little kids' story I wrote on the weekend.

Click here to get to my new documents website and then click on the title, My Dad's Not Like The Others. It's not illustrated yet because, frankly, my drawing is even worse than my writing!

It's my first effort, so it's obviously not The Gruffalo just yet.

Who Needs To Crawl?

Using the slither and the rollover, Molly makes her way over to Jacob and the much-treasured stacking cups. Who needs to crawl when you've got this kind of mobility?

Domestic Crisis

What's the worst thing that could happen in a twin household?

- Internet going down, thus cutting me off from the outside world? Nope, I'm still connected.
- Running out of baby food? Not in our 24/7 shopping universe.
- Snow going unshoveled leading our postal worker to miss our house several days in a row and then leaving me a nasty note? Not really a problem - what, I'm supposed to be sad that my pizza flyer and bank statement got delayed? Please.
- Washing machine breaking? Yup, that's our crisis du jour.

We had a washing machine induced flood at the beginning of the week. Then, due to my unflagging and irrational belief that technical problems will just go away, we had a second, more biblical flood a couple of days later. And the laundry pile grows higher.

Who knows how many loads of laundry get done per week around here, but it's a lot. Orders of magnitude more than when I was in undergrad and did a few loads per semester at mom's house. Is that why we all wore Drakkar in university - to cover the delicate odour of underwashed clothing?

So I trekked down to Barrie this morning and bought us a new washing machine. Delivery next Friday. Crisis averted. We're off to Parry Sound for a weekend of cottage life. And I'm bringing lots of dirty laundry.

Video Reaction to Kate Dancing

In this video, the kids are watching their mother dance back and forth, performing spins and leaping arabesques. They're clearly impressed and amazed with her balletic genius.

Okay, in truth Kate was at work and they're just watching my hand waving. But the video is far more amusing if you picture Kate dancing.