Hmmm

Figure 2.6 Amount of space required to transport the same number of passengers by car, bus, or bicycle. (Poster in city of Muenster Planning Office, August 2001).

Eco-Baby

For those of you who were curious, this is what Simeon's cloth diapers look like. We've got the whole spectrum of vibrant colours in these little marvels. They work wonderfully; we're so happy with them, and they sure save a pile of money!
(Those little white things are the adjustable snaps.)

Get in my belly!

Came home earlier this week to find two lobsters in the kitchen:) These were courtesy of my father, who generally heads back down to Dipper Harbour at the opening of each lobster season to crew a boat with old friends. Thanks Dad!

Happy Birthday Ruth!

Well, Ruth's birthday fell on the 16th this year - 24 years! In honour of this, some friends came over at supper time bearing gifts and Chinese food:) And Simeon ordered an ice cream cake, so we were all set!

Fun With Ligatures

Well here's something that blew me away, linguistically speaking. I had always assumed that the ubiquitous "and sign" - I'm referring to the "&" - was just a random scribble that had somehow weaseled its way into modern orthography. READER, THIS IS NOT SO!!
Before I continue, I should say that tonight Ruth told me that the sign in question is called an ampersand, and that word has a fascinating origin in itself. But then I found out that it is actually a combination of letters (ligature:) and those letters are "et" - Latin, of course, for "and." Take a look!

C'est groovy, non?

Simeon and Grampy

Our little man enjoying a nap on Grampy Carroll's shoulder. Give Simeon a place to nap and you've made a friend for life:)

Interlude

I just want to say, while you're waiting for more pictures of Simeon (which I can only assume is how you pass your time these days), that I dropped the ball on something. A few days ago I added the link in the upper right-hand corner, "Best of Yemeni Cricket." However, in a moment of profound mental oblivion, upon creating that page I accidentally omitted some very important images. They were discovered today and added on to the bottom of the page. All this to say that the "Best Of" collection is a lot better now. Ciao.

Eyes Open

Simeon opened his eyes a little more today, trying to take in his new world (and take a look at his new subordinates:)

Tired Boys

They slept like this for hours:)

Home Now

Simeon came home with us this afternoon -still healthy, still thinks day is night and vice-versa. Ruth's rapid convalescence means that we're all ready to show off the little guy, so come on over! More pictures soon.

Announcing:

Simeon David Carroll
b. 11:11 p.m., November 8th, 2007.
(8lbs/12.5oz)

This second one is a very rare picture, as it is exceedingly difficult to catch this little fellow with his eyes open during his first couple days in the outer world:)

The labour passed very quickly, if not painlessly. Ruth did an AWESOME job on no meds and all the nurses were super impressed with how she handled it. We're still in the hospital, and will be until at least tomorrow (Saturday), for routine checkups and such. This means we may not post again until we're all home together, so hang in there - many more pictures to follow. As of now though, Simeon is a very healthy and strong little boy, scored an unusual perfect 10 on both his Apgar tests, and is catching on to breastfeeding just as brilliantly as we'd hoped. We welcome any visits you may wish to pay us!

Simeon's Favourite Things: sleeping, squawking, and the smell of his mommy's skin. (There may be more, but he's too tired to tell us).

See you soon!

Thursday Morning, 5 a.m.

We have awoken early this morning, with a sudden and urgent desire to go to the hospital.

;)

Aaand, we'll post more later!

Once a Tree

This was a surprise for Ruth. I kept lying about the time I was spending up at Mom and Dad's in the barn:)








We decided not to put any finish on it at all, mainly because it's all cherry and cherry darkens beautifully on its own (if you're patient enough:)

Still no occupant, though.

PS- Ruth here. I had no idea that this project was in the works. Sean's been working on this in short increments since the summer as an early birthday gift for me. I LOVE it and I'm very excited that it's not only functional but a keepsake that can be passed down to our children when they're starting their own families. Makes me wonder what other secrets he's keeping though ;)

D'oh!

Ok, well, more than four sleeps then. Ruth's overdue (do we get a fine for that?) but we'll let everyone know as soon as the little critter makes his/her debut.

4 More Sleeps! :D

All Hallows' Eve

Our Jack-o'-Lantern: House on the Hill

St Paul's Anglican Church, Hampton

Scheduled for demolition:(

Quote of the Day

"They act stupid but they're right smart."
~Grade twelve student on the little ghosts in Pac-Man.

Yep...

After the Rain

Kingston Peninsula, 10/13/07.

Messing About in Boats :)

Thanksgiving Monday: the great feast was preceded by a glorious afternoon on the water. Most of the extended family took to the Bay of Belleisle for a paddle across the water, portage across the marsh, and another paddle down the creek. Beautiful.

Rob, Simone, and Ruth with two classic canoes at the start of the portage.

Dad and Dustin in the pram.

And this is an eight-man search party for a cell phone in a marsh (portage gone wrong). A needle in a haystack? Maybe, but we found it. Eventually someone had to paddle back across the bay and call it from the house, which was also a long shot because there's no cell service in the area, but it rang and we found it:)

The Spoils of Apiculture

So I was up visiting mom and dad, and who should show up but my father-in-law. It was, apparently, time to take the honey from those bees that have been pollinating the property all summer. Here he is smoking the little critters down into the lower tiers so he can remove the honeycomb from the upper ones.

Et voila, the moment we've been waiting for:Let me tell you, that was some goooood honey.

Trio

No pun intended:)

Five weeks to go!

Hmm... which one's bigger? :D

Friends

Brandon getting a kiss from a young alpaca late this afternoon.

By the way

I have to say a word about this profile picture of ours. Some of you have voiced your concerns that we stole it from somewhere in cyberspace:) Well we didn't, beautifully composed as it is. Ruth took it. So there.

;)

~S. <><

Morning Glory

Spent Friday night/Saturday up at Mom and Dad's. I ate breakfast on the porch, watching the sun rise over a forest wrapped in fog, and thinking that everybody who does not live in the country must be, in some sense, kidding.

The day gradually evolved into a sailing trip, as all good days do. I think I found evidence of a stowaway.

This was Dustin, my little brother, who invariably makes straight for the cabin the moment you hoist his reluctant self onto a boat. Some vain hope he harbours, I think, that if he can ignore the water around him it will go away. The poor boy has yet to learn that, in the words of the very wise Ratty from Wind in the Willows, "There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."

And so, since we haven't posted in over a month, I think you probably ought to know that we have less than six weeks remaining until the birth of our first child. Ruth is doing very well, in spite of the fact that the kid sleeps all day and moves around all night. Poor thing's gonna have jet lag when it's born.