Category: Life

My Day in German 1 – A Backhoe in the Street

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Hallo und herzlich willkommen zu meinem Tag in detscher Sprache. ich heiß Edward und ich lerne Deutsch. Ich mache diese website zu helfen mir lernen.

 

A month of so ago, I started learning to speak and read German again. I restarted for two reasons. First to help in my research of my German roots and secondly because dropping my second quarter of German class in college led to my not graduating from the University of Florida on time! So learning the language is to prove to myself that I can do it all be it 46 years later! I have already written about the materials that I have been using in my study of German. For me write now it seems that reading and writing my own sentences and little stories are working best for me. With that in mind  I have started this website. What I want to do in this website is to write little stories of my life with hopes that the writing will help me learn to language.As I move along I will try to expand what I write about as my vocabulary increases. Right now I am using a couple of translation apps and a dictionary to help me put together the stories. I also plan to continue to use the other resources i.e. textbooks and other books with stories in my studies.
So here is my first installment in Mein Tag in detscher Sprache……

Heute Mein Tag begann Ich Mit Yoga. Dann Ich hatte einen Smoothie und einfache Müsli für Frühstück. Nach dem Frühstück begann ich unsere Wäsche. Dann machte ich unserer Bett.Dann sah ich es! Ein bagger! 

German: Die Bagger in unserer Straße English: The backhoe in our street!

German: Die Bagger in unserer Straße
English: The backhoe in our street!

ja,in unserer strasse gibt es heute ein bagger!. Mein Enkel Oliver werde sehr glücklich wenn es ist noch hierher diese nachmittag. Ich habe ein paar Bilder nd ein Video um Oliver später ziegen schießen. Die Arbeiter wurde ein wenig nach dem Mittagessen und der Bagger ein wenig später verließ. Pech fur Oliver!

Wir holten Oliver in seinem Siiter Haus auf 3 Uhr.. Er aufhoren nicht, bis wir ihn bei der Arbeit seines Vaters bei 5:00 geloscht!

Ok so I know it is no literary masterpiece but I am still in the crawling stage!! For me i am learning more just writing simple sentences like the above. than I do just doing exercises in a book! I do know that some exercises are important and will keep doing them!

Now a summarized translation of the above My day started with Yoga – my”New Beginnings Routine” Then I had a smoothie and raisin granila for breakfast. I made the bed and started the wash! Then I saw the backhoe out in the street!  Yes, there was a backhoe on or street Oliver would have loved it. In case they weren’t there when I picked him up at 2 this afternoon, I took some pictures and a video. The men finished up just after lunch. We picked oliver up at three and he didn’t stop until we dropped him off at his father’s work at 5 o’clock!

Some Vocabulary…...

Bilder schießen – take photographs
später – later
Pech fur Oliver – Too bad for Olive
Er aufhoren nicht – He doesn’t stop!
das Bagger – backhoe

RGranddad learns German by Reading!!

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The Texts in Learn German! Get Me  Writing – Ich heiss Edward!

Was Magst du? Wie heisst du?……

The other day I wrote about the materials that I am using to help me learn German, They include regular textbooks, one on verbs and one on grammar, As well as, a more traditional foundation text book. In addition I have also been using a book of story stories, titled German Short Stories for Beginners. I find that reading these short stories is a great way to see vocabulary and grammar put into use! And more fn than doing exercises in a textbook. (actually exercises do have their place, and I will continue to do them) With that thought in mind, I started to look for books with stories. I found Learn German! More than 100 didactic texts to learn and improve your German. Learn vocabulary and grammar while you are reading. by Dominik Waxenberger. I read the introduction yesterday and I when I read the following I agreed with what he was saying and he supported my thoughts about using children’s books as a place to start my study of German. Dominick writes……

….The problem of many students I met was that they didn’t know what to read or better which texts suited their level and wouldn’t make them feel frustrated. I always told them that I would try to find first children’s books, fairytales and suchlike in order to get used to the language and broaden my vocabulary and understanding of grammar. Then I would go for books for 10 to 12 years olds. After a while I would go for books for adolescents. At this point you have actually already won the match. But for many students it seemed harder to find and select literature than I thought. That is why I decided to write this book for them and everyone who would like to learn German

I read the first three texts that were Prasentation in the texts many questions are asked like How are you? Where are you from? Where do you work and What do you like? After reading the texts I immediately set out to write answers to his questions  and I found myself writing even more….. so here are my responses and an introduction to me in German……

Mir geht is gut. Ich heisse Edward Karn. Ich bin 64 jahren alt. Meine Frau ist Kathleen and wir haben vier kinder. Ihre Namen sind Nicholas, Andrew, Peter and Elizabeth. Wir haben zwei Enkelkinder, Zoe und Oliver. Wir wohnen in Riverside, N.J

Oliver and Zoe Driving

Unsere Enkelkinder Oliver und Zoe

Mein Vaters Mutter and ihr Elter kam von Dresden. Sachsen. Sein Grosseltern kam von Hesse and Sweiz.

Meine Hobbys sind: Lesen, Sports, und anhoren von Musik.Ich mag lernen auch Ich mag sehr hot wetter nicht. Ich mag Rap Musik oder Tomaten nicht

Ich spreche Englisch and Ich lerne Duetsch!

Ich bin im Ruhestand. Drei Tage in der woche arbeite ich bei Target. Ich Babysitten oft meine Enkelkinder an meinen freien Tagen aus!

So the above may not seem like much but I did learn several things putting it together. I learned that the verb kommen is irregular and that kam is the past tense. Also that I am Ruhestand (retired). Plus I am still working on where to put words in sentences. So I admit to using Translators for the above!! But overall I think I’m moving along nicely!!

Update:Two Runs, Music From Armik and Stubblefield!

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The Guitars of Jim Stubblefield and Armik Power Two Runs!

The Run – Sunday October 25, 2015

So the last two runs I need to catch you up on are from Sunday and Tuesday of this week. I didn’t get to run on Sunday until almost five o’clock and since I knew the sun would be setting a little after six o’clock and I was a little tired I decided not to run a full 10 K! The first three miles of the run were great the splits were: Mile 1 – 10:00/mile. Mile 2 10:07 /mile Mile 3 10:09 / mile. I started to struggle a little on mile four with the pace dropping to 10:14 /mile. Then the bottom fell out on mile 5 with the pace dropping to 10:42 / mile. Since my overall time was close to an hour I decided that was when I would stop!. The overall distance was 5.80 miles at an average pace of 10:20 /mile. Which is really good! The other good thing was my maximum heart rate on the run was 152 beats per minute (bmp) and the average was 148 bmp.

The Soundtrack – Encantato – Jim Stubblefield

The soundtrack for that run was Jim Stubblefield’s latest release Encantato. The opening track was a great way to start a run! You can read more about the album here.

The Run – Tuesday – October 27, 2015

Tuesday’s run was not the fastest of the year, I just missed going under 40 minutes over my flat Creek Out and Back course, but it may have been one of my most consistent runs. Th splits were 10:07, 10:03, 10:08 and 10:01 /mile!! The good thing was that it was actually a fairly comfortable run with an average heart rate of 142 beats per minute!!

So  overall after 3 months of running I am training fairly comfortably at  a 10 minute per mile pace, which I actually didn’t think I could do back when I started in August!! Now the trick will be to keep it going through the winter! See,. I hate running in the dark! I don’t feel comfortable at all if it’s not the cars, it’s the street and the sidewalks. Even with a vest and a headlamp or flashlight I’m still afraid of falling!! But now I can run in the afternoons (see I don’t like the morning cold either!) either on the days I’m off or the days I work in the mornings!

The Soundtrack:: La Vida – Armik

Armik (born Armik Dashchi) is an Iranian-Armenian world fusion flamenco and Spanish guitarist and composer. I have listened to his music before and enjoyed his playing immensely!!His music interweaves flamenco and classical guitar with Latin and jazz influences. He is one of the top virtuosos of the Nuevo Flamenco genre,. Armik has been among Billboard Magazine’s Top Ten New Age Artists  in  2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2014.

La Vida is Armik’s 27th studio album was released on September 25 and already spent considerable time on Billboard’s Top 10 New Age Chart, climbing as high as No 2! From his website……

With LA VIDA, Armik’s 27th studio album, he offers a new musical calling card that reveals his stunning guitar virtuosity and the magical percussive layers of sound and soul of the Nuevo Flamenco genre. It is a testament to the continued relevance of Nuevo Flamenco sound that Armik’s global fans revere around the world. You will have the most extraordinary listening experience as Armik fuses the sounds of his flamenco guitar with different musical genres such as Latin jazz, and rumba. Read More

So Check out both Armik and Jim Stubblefield!! Here’s is the title track from Armik’s La Vida

Oliver Visits the Sheep Farm Again!!

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Babysitting Oliver Tomorrow – Is it Back to the Sheep Farm Again?

 

So tomorrow it’s back to babysitting Oliver solo, well at least for the morning, Through July and August both my wife and I have been babysitting Oliver on Wednesdays, with the reserves Elizabeth and Nick coming in the afternoon. But my wife started back to work today and Elizabeth started working at her new school job (her last year in her Masters program working a year in a school) last week, so all that’s left is me in the morning and Nick and I in the afternoon. I am sure everything will go fine, a lot of times he is better when there are fewer people around, i.e. there is less to get him stimulated when it’s just DA!

As I thought about this tonight I remembered that I hadn’t written about last weeks babysitting the highlight of which was another trip to the Stratton Hall Herd Sheep Farm. Oliver loves his baas and was excited when we told him we were going to visit them again. When we got there though someone forgot to tell the sheep that we were coming!! They were not in the portion of the pasture where we could see them or feed them, rather they were way on the far side of the field. The owner was at the main gate though and asked me if there was anything we needed, i.e eggs or such. I told him no – we had just brought our grandson to see the sheep. He said ok and that he would go and get them. So he went over to the pear trees and then off to the sheep and soon the Pied Piper of Stratton Hall farm was coming across the pasture throwing pears and with a herd of sheep behind him!!

Pied Piper of the Sheep Herd

 

As we watched the sheep come across the field towards us I saw that one sheep was coming along the outside of the fence alone and soon was at the main gate and staying in the driveway – baaing at us!!

lone sheep

We were concerned that she was out, but the owner said that her name was Helen and she was really bossy so they didn’t keep her with the other sheep. (Well everything about that is true except the Helen part – Helen was my mother’s and her nickname in high school was Impossible and well nothing much changed through the years-enough said!) He also said that she wouldn’t leave the farm. Anyway Oliver got a kick out of seeing her!!

The Farm has three main breeds of sheep: the Dorset Horn sheep, the Leicester and the Jacob Sheep. The sheep in the driveway must be a Leicester sheep Here is a Dorset Horn sheep….

Dorset Horn

 

and here’s a Jacob Sheep that we first thought was a goat!!

Jacob Sheep

Here’s a little about the Jacob sheep from Wikipedia:

The Jacob sheep is a rare breed of small, piebald (colored with white spots), polycerate (multi-horned) sheep. Jacobs may have from two to six horns, but most commonly have four. The most common color is black and white. Jacobs are usually raised for their wool, meat, and hides. They are also kept as pets and ornamental animals, and have been used as guard animals to protect farm property from theft or vandalism and defend other livestock against predators

Generally referred to as an unimproved or heirloom breed (one that has survived with little human selection), the Jacob is descended from an ancient Old World breed of sheep, although its exact origins remain unclear. Spotted polycerate sheep were documented in England by the mid–17th century, and were widespread a century later. Unlike most other old world breeds, the Jacobs of North America have not undergone extensive cross-breeding and selective breeding; their body habitus resembles that of a goat. Relative to their American counterparts, British Jacobs tend to be larger and heavier, and have lost many of their original characteristics Read More

I told my wife the other day I think that the unicorn came from the Jacob Sheep. What do you think?Unisheep

All in all it was a fun short trip to the farm and the more I think about it the more I think we may take another trip there tomorrow!!! Who could resist a grandchild look like this!

Oliver watching Sheep

Kori Linae Carothers’ Music and a four mile run ….

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….Perfect Together

The Morning Run……

So if there ever was a morning that had a good excuse for not running, today was it! We babysat Oliver last night and didn’t get home until 1:30 this morning!! While I knew it would be hard to get up at 7 to run this morning, I thought well maybe 7:30 would work. When the alarm went off this morning I thought “Do I really want to do this?” The answer was less than a resounding yes!  But at least it was a yes! The more  I thought about it I thought well I will be running tomorrow – that will be ok!  No – I said today was to be your long day – it doesn’t matter how fast you go, you just have to make it happen – so just do it!! My pre-run routine was the same as Friday, except for the head smack because today was not a Kundalini/Weights day, so doing the Meditation Preparation Routine was fine!!

Next came the music, I decided that a nice slow album would be great for the run. I had briefly listened Fire in the Rainstorm from Kori Linae Carothers a New Age album that is number 2 on the latest (July 2015) Music Zone Reporter’s Top 100 Radio Play Chart. The album is solo piano and I thought that was perfect for a lazy Sunday run!!

My goal was to just run comfortably and if that was at 11:20 or 11:30’/ mile pace that was ok. The goal was to run for distance, i.e. the four planned miles, and not for time.  One of the tricks that I use to keep my pace an easy one is to make sure that I could talk to someone who was running with me. As a result, I sometimes talk out loud on my runs just to make sure I’m slowing down a little! It also keeps people away from the crazy man!! Anyway I made the four miles and the total time was 44:25 at an average pace of 11:03/mile. Over the first mile the pace was 10:59, mile 2 was 10:45 /mile, mile 3 10:59 and mile four 11:25! Over the first three miles my pace was under 11 minutes per mile which was faster than I figured and the good thing was that I wasn’t really pushing it!!

Kori Linae Carothers

The Soundtrack: Fire in the Rainstorm – Kori Linae Carothers

Kori Linae Carothers hails from Cedar City Utah and grew up listening to the music of Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Carly Simon, Seals and Croft, James Taylor, But the John Williams’ soundtrack to Star Wars, really caught her ear! She says that

. “…the group that made me want to be a musician and compose music was the Beatles. I absolutely loved their earlier material.” –

But her musical journey had a rocky start, at the age of 5 years old it was discovered that she was deaf in her left ear!

From her website….

….. Her young peers found out and the teasing began. In addition, throughout elementary and high school, Kori was constantly told she would never become a musician. Undeterred, she kept learning and practicing, never surrendering her dream. Despite these discouragements, Carothers was passionate about her calling and now, 45 years later, she is an acclaimed pianist and keyboard player with four albums to her credit. Clearly, she is an example of a person following her muse with courage, humor, and determination. – Read More

I really like this beautiful album of solo piano tunes. All of the tracks were composed by Kori who started taking piano lessons at the age of eight and composing her own tunes at 14!! Will Ackerman of Windham Hill Records who co-produced the album with Tom Eaton and Kori says this about Kori…..

Kori Carothers is, without question a brilliant pianist and composer. What sets her apart, however, is the broad range of styles she utilizes so gracefully. Kori moves between the worlds of achingly beautiful acoustic piano composition and lavish keyboard production with remarkable ease. –Read more

So check out Fire in the Rainstorm and the music of Kori Linae Carothers . As for me there are four other albums from Ms. Carothers that may be the soundtracks of future runs!!!

Links to Further Explorations of the Music of Kori Linae Carothers…

Website
Facebook
Twitter
Bandcamp
YouTube

Here’s Kori Linae Carothers performing “Time Passages” from Fire in the Rainstorm

 

Two Fun Afternoons With Miss Zoe

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Babysitting Miss Zoe while Father Pete Went Off to the Doctors

 

This week my son Peter had two doctor’s appointments for his recent bouts with pain in his upper abdomen. The pains sent him to the hospital and left the doctors scratching their heads. All of his major organs look fine i.e.gall bladder, kidneys and liver. The initial diagnosis was pancreatitis. On Tuesday, he had an endoscopy and Thursday he had an appointment with a urologist. Since his wife Melissa went with him, we were happy to step in and watch Miss Zoe.

On Tuesday, she was shy at first and was clinging to Grammie, but after a while she was fine and we had a great time. She really is an amazing child, so calm, nothing seems to bother her. She is  quietly interested in everything, and really studies all that she encounters. My wife always says that she reminds her of Elizabeth in the way she is always quietly analyzing everything!. If she turns out to be like Elizabeth, that bodes well for Peter and Melissa!!

On Thursday when we arrived, Zoe was almost asleep, lying on her Aunt Dolly. She wasn’t ready to give in, and soon got up and was ready to go! You would never have known, unless you were told, that she had only napped for twenty minutes instead of her normal hour and a half! After a while, I got down and started playing with her on the floor. First we were playing with blocks, which she stacks really well. Of course, she also knocks them down and tosses them very well! When she did throw them I said “there’s no clapping for that!” Her response was a hysterical (I’m really tired) giggle!! One of the first that I have ever gotten from her! I added to the giggling by putting on of her stacking rings on her foot!! The result was more giggling and when the ring came off – the foot went up to put the ring back on!! The best thing about her giggling was that the  crash and hysterical crying that usually comes shortly after this type of laughing never came!!

Here’s a picture of Zoe with the ring…

 

Zoe with a ring on her foot

Here she is with two of the little balls from another toy….

Zoe with balls2

hum. I forget what was going on here, but I see the block box in the picture……

zoe with balls

Of course we played peek-a-boo……

Zoe Peek a boo

 

the other game we like to play with Zoe is the “Oh No!

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All in all, we spent two fun afternoons with Miss Zoe. Oh, and the endoscopy found that Peter has a hiatal hernia, at least now we know that it is something that is treatable!!

An Am Walk with Oliver and the Music of Eldad Tarmu!

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Eldad Tarmu – Vibraphone – Born August 26, 1960 in California

 

Today we are babysitting our grandson, Oliver and so far so good. He has been in a good mood, ate his breakfast and we just went for a long walk at the end of which he fell asleep!!

This morning, I decided that I was going to listen to some music when we went on our walk and for the soundtrack I thought about making it some jazz, possibly someone new whose birthday is today!!

Many times when I review the jazz birthdays I look for musicians who play an instrument that I love and today the instrument that was prevalent was the vibraphone with three musician’s sharing today as the day of their birth. The first was Eldad Tarmu, then Patricia Franceschy and finally Peter Appleyard. I chose to listen to Eldad Tarmu

. When I went to Spotify to check out Eldad’s music the first album that popped up was Songs for the Queen of Bohemia. Okay. I said to myself, I  have listened to this album before and liked it. When I went to Eldad’s website I immediately remembered the picture of him. I thought maybe I have previously written a post about him, so I searched my posts and with no results!

I guess he is one of the many musicians, I have listened to and never written about! So let’s do it now…..

About Eldad Tarmu

from his website biography……

Eldad Tarmu

Eldad Tarmu was born in Los Angeles, California, (August 26, 1960) where he started studying drums and percussion. After graduating from Tel Aviv University in Israel, he returned to the US and started touring and holding jazz clinics with various jazz ensembles, mainly in Europe and Asia.

In 2005 he got his Master’s degree in Afro-Latin Music, from California State University Los Angeles. The same year he was appointed Head of the Jazz Department at “Richard Oschanitzky” Jazz School of Tibiscus University in Timisoara, Romania, following a fruitful collaboration with Romanian bassist and violinist Johnny Bota, one of the school founders.

In 2009 he relocated to the US again, in order to continue his education at Stony Brook University, where he got a second Master’s degree, in Classical Composition. He is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Performance from the same school, degree pursued under the guidance of Ray Anderson.

He is a professor of World Music Studies, Intro to Music and African-American Music at Hudson County Community College in Jersey City. He has recently developed a Latin American Music Studies course for the College. He has also been teaching summer music classes (MUS101, MUS308) at SUNY Stony Brook Manhattan, as well as MUS568 Jazz Combo and MUS309 Music After 1900, as a teaching assistant at Stony Brook University. Read More

About Songs for the Queen of Bohemia

Songs for the Queen of Bohemia was recorded by the Eldad Tarmu Jazz Chamber Ensemble. Here’s some information about the Ensemble….From Sonicbids

The Eldad Tarmu Chamber Ensemble began as a septet formed in 2006 in Timisoara, Romania, where the band leader, American vibraphonist and composer Eldad Tarmu, taught Jazz Studies for four years.

The initial members of the septet were Romanian bass player Johnny Bota, Israeli drummer Yoni Halevy and Tabac String Quartet. In September 2006, after their first tour, they recorded Tarmu’s compositions under the album name Songs for the Queen of Bohemia, which was released in March 2007 in Romania and in June 2009 in the US.
This rare formation, comprised of vibraphone, bass and drums in the rhythm section, augmented by a string quartet (two violins, viola and cello), create the ideal palette for the musical styles blended in Tarmu’s compositions. Middle-Eastern melodies and grooves mix with jazz and classical harmonies to make a distinctive cutting edge world jazz chamber sound. Read More

Final Thoughts

Songs for the Queen of Bohemia was the perfect album for a leisurely stroller walk around the streets of the Billingsport section of Paulsboro this morning. I enjoyed both Oliver and Eldad on the walk. So Happy Birthday Eldad – Hope you have a great day!

Links for the Further Explorations of the Music of Eldad Tarmu…..

Website
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Wikipedia.

Here is the Eldad Tarmu Jazz Ensemble performing the Improvisation parts and ending of “Traveling Alone”. Composition: Eldad Tarmu John Lenis – bass, Michael Winnicki – drums

 

A Special 40th Anniversary Night!!

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The featured picture at the top of this post was taken from the rear of the Beverly Presbyterian Church on August 23, 1975 the night Kathleen Anne Clarke and I were married!

It is hard to believe that 40 years have passed since that night! They always say that time flies when you’re having fun and for the most part we’ve had fun, oh we’ve had our share of sorrows, the deaths of our parents, particularly Kathy’s mother who died at the age of 48 from breast cancer, losses of favorite Aunts and Uncles, but those sorrows have been more than made up for by our four children, although much of the fun was at the expense of Dad, now that fun comes from our grandchildren Zoe and Oliver.

Yesterday was a pretty nice 40th anniversary day. I started the day with a pretty good run although it was slightly messed up when I accidentally turned off my GPS tracking app when I turned off the music

. But I did get through a solid three miles at an overall pace of just around 11:00/mile. After the run I went to Target where I did listen to the album that was to be the soundtrack for the run the latest from Royal Hunt. The album did become the soundtrack of today’s run so I will write about it tonight or tomorrow!

When I came back from Target, I suggested to Kathy that we call the kids and see if they could all maybe meet us somewhere for dessert. Kathy suggested The Pop Shop in Collingswood. So we tested them and all could come except for Elizabeth.

We decided that we would go at about 6:00 hoping that it would not be as crowded on a Sunday, particularly close to the closing time of 8 o’clock. It was fairly crowded when we arrived and we had to wait about 15 minutes, which wasn’t all that bad. Well for everyone except Andrew who had a squirming Oliver on his shoulders!! Finally, we were seated and ordered our food some folks got dinner and some just dessert. The piggy me got a very LARGE banana split called The Lost Weekend and it was great! For the most part the kids were good both young and old!

We ended the day by watching an episode of Who do you think You Are?? For me the answer is a VERY LUCKY Man!!

Here are some snapshots from our visit…..

You know I have called Oliver and Zoe Yin and Yang because they are somewhat different i.e Zoe is calm…

Zoe

 

Zoe2

Oliver not so much…….

Oliver Strraw

speaking of bringing us laughter, yes he does!

Zoe Oliver Andrew

Andrew whispers to Zoe: Yes, he is your cousin…..Oliver: I can’t hear you!!!!

All in all it was a VERY nice 40th Anniversary Day! The day was made extra special by our children and grandchildren!!

Grammie and Granddad Babysit Zoe……….

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.…..and have a great two days with Zoe, can’t wait for the next two (Monday and Wednesday)  with Oliver!!

 

My son Peter and his wife Melissa spent an anniversary weekend in Boston this Friday and Saturday, so my wife and I go to spend some extended time with our granddaughter Zoe. While Miss Zoe is a lot more active now that she can get around on her own, she is still a sea of calm compared to the whirling dervish that is grandson Oliver.

It’s fun watching her play, she takes in everything very seriously and plays well by herself. The bad thing about yesterday was that she didn’t want to nap. She shortened her morning nap from two hours to about 45 minutes and then she shortened her afternoon nap to about 30 minutes. Even with not sleeping though, she was still pleasant and we had a great day.

Today,I’m resting up, because tomorrow we are babysitting Oliver!!  Okay, I’m taking bets on the time that he will first point to the stroller and want me to take him for a walk…..forecast for tomorrow calls for 60% of scattered thundershowers all day!! The plan is to borrow my son Andrew’s car seat just in case, so that we may be able to substitute, a ride say to the Deptford mall and a walk inside!! What a plan!! Either way I’m sure we’ll enjoy the day!!

Here are some pictures of Zoe that my wife took yesterday!! I love it when Zoe puts her hands up on the sides of her head!!

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The featured image at the top of this post shows that new fiesty side of Zoe. First, she dumped out all of her blocks and then put the box on her head. Now if you think that you’ve seen that before you have only it was Mr Oliver doing the dumping and the putting of the box on his head. You can check it out here, Now I want to know how Mr Man Oliver taught his cousin that trick or is it just in the genes

Zoe turns 10 months – Oh My!

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The Ever Quiet Zoe is getting a little  Fiesty at 10 Months!

 

So over the last little while I have posted more about my grandson Oliver, than my granddaughter Zoe. The main reason for that is Zoe’s mom Melissa left her job several months ago and I haven’t been babysitting Zoe twice a week like I was back in the winter. My wife and I see her at least once a week, or so, and she is a wonderfully happy little girl. She is standing by herself now, and walking several steps,all with the small great smile she has always had. Every month her mother has posted a picture on her monthly anniversary. As a sign of growing independence Zoe wasn’t much interested in having having her picture taken last month…..

11407203_10207493930170160_3904179849186755156_n

 

Then this month,she seemed to be amazed at how old she was., exclaiming “I can’t believe I’m ten months old!”

Zoe oh my!

.Her Grammie says that she is just channeling her “Inner Munch”

Zoe Channels Munch

 

But then again, she may be just thinking, “That painting sold for HOW MUCH?” ‘The Scream’ Is Auctioned for a Record $119.9 Million

It took 12 nail-biting minutes and five eager bidders for Edvard Munch’s famed 1895 pastel of “The Scream” to sell for $119.9 million, becoming the world’s most expensive work of art ever to sell at auction.

Bidders could be heard speaking Chinese and English (and, some said, Norwegian), but the mystery winner bid over the phone, through Charles Moffett, Sotheby’s executive vice president and vice chairman of its worldwide Impressionist, modern and contemporary art department. Gasps could be heard as the bidding climbed higher and higher, until there was a pause at $99 million, prompting Tobias Meyer, the evening’s auctioneer, to smile and say, “I have all the time in the world.” Read the Full Story….

So Happy “10th Month” anniversary to a great granddaughter!!  Here’s Miss Zoe celebrating by doing a little dancing to the Minions singing “YMCA” and “Barbara  Ann”……

 

 

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