Gam

This is turning into a disturbing trend - posts about the deaths of dear, beloved people in our family. Hopefully, I won't have to write one of these posts again anytime soon.

Last Saturday, Gam lost her fight with Picks Disease. It was terrifying and unexpected. It isn't fair - not in the least. How could someone so wonderful, someone who did so much for others & who loved others so unconditionally be stricken with such a terrible syndrome? And someone so young? And someone so vibrant? These are the questions we've all been asking over and over again for the past week, month and year. These are the questions we'll likely ask the rest of our lives. It just doesn't make any sense.

I don't really know what to write - or I should say, I don't know what to write that hasn't already been written. But I know that I feel privileged to have known Gam, privileged to have been able to be a small piece of her life and hopefully to have made her last days, weeks and months just a little more bearable. I'll really miss her.

The Ol' Ballgame

I only vaguely remember Hank Arron breaking Babe Ruth's HR record in 1973. It was probably around that time that my father & grandfather took me to my first big league game, at the then state-of-the-art Veteran's Stadium. And there have been 100's of games since then - mostly at the Vet, though Lisa & I did get to Wrigley Field last month while in Chicago. The game that stands out the most to me is the 6th game of the 1980 World Series. I remember hanging out the sunroof of Dad's Impala w/Tina, screaming at the top of our lungs after Tug & the Phils finally won the Series.

And I've had many, many favorite players: Greg "The Bull" Luzinski, Tug McGraw, Pete Rose, Bob Boone, Thurman Munson, Gary "Sarge" Matthews, Larry Andersen, Jim Eisenreich, Curt Schilling, and more recently, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino. Still, no player, team or ballpark means more to me than the games that we would play in the back yard at Nanny & Pappy's. We'd often field teams full of ghost runners, b/c at most, there'd only be the four of us kids staying in Honey Brook at any given time. Sometimes we could get the adults - my dad, Uncle Larry & Pappy involved in the game - and those were the best.


Yesterday was Nanny & Pappy's 60th Anniversary. I am very sad that we couldn't have Pappy here to celebrate. I miss him very much. I miss him every day. Mary sent me this picture of him as a young man playing baseball. Thanks, Pappy. I love you.

What's a five hour drive to celebrate 90 years?

A few weeks ago, actually, nearly a month ago, it was Nanny's (my paternal grandmother) 90th birthday. The Northern Miles were on our way back from a mission of mercy to New Jersey & we were able to stop by to wish Nanny a happy birthday and make a few faces at the camera that Aunt Mary was carrying around w/her.


This is what Choddie looked like when he heard he had to share w/his old dad the batch of forgotten cookies that Nanny had baked (or, er, forgotten....).


Thompson's response was no less refined. These faces aside, we had a nice time before making the grueling five hour drive back to the frozen tundra of Western New York. Thompson was very happy that I remembered how to get home, Choddie was very happy to see the dog & I think cousin Lucy is still amazed that we came all the way from Rochester to go to Nanny's birthday party.

I think it has been a long, long time...

It has been a really long time since I've posted anything up in here. Wow. Sorry about that - life has sort of been getting in the way for the past year.

It started w/my back surgery in May 0f 2006. The good news is that my bionic back

has never, ever felt better. The bad news is that my scar is not as cool as I'd have hoped.

Much has happened in the past year - some good, wonderful & terrific; some horribly awful & sad. I'm going to try to focus on the good, wonderful & terrific here, because after the loss of Pappy (my grandfather) and w/Gam's (Lisa's mom) terrifying medical issues, I'd really like Egg's Adventure in Peanut Butter's Funny World to be a little island of solace; a place to crow about the kids and to keep in touch w/family & friends.

So please watch this space for more frequent updates - we've got lots of stories to tell!

Glass Spiders

OK - So the title "Glass Spiders" has nothing to do w/what we did in Corning, but it has the word "glass" in it & is a really kooky yet cool David Bowie song & tour. I remember seeing him on this tour - at Vet's Stadium - and a big ol' glass spider hovered over the stage. And he did "Wild is the Wind" with Peter Frampton on guitar. And Squeeze opened for him. Squeeze? Yes. Squeeze.

Anyhow - I was supposed to post the pix of our 1st-day Corning art in 24 hours of about a week ago. Time moves slowly so quickly.
Without any further delay - check out what we made! First up are the boys' creations. Choddie's is the orange, yellow and red tear-drop globe. You will note that it maintains a position of prominence in his room on his cluttered dresser top. You can see his pack of gum atop his set of liquid-coolio pens, one of which sits just ahead of the delicate tear-globe. A trumpet lesson book leans precariously to the left of the tear-globe, as if to say, "Glass? Have ye taken the place of brass in the heart of Lord Chodsworth?" For a day, perhaps, yes, fair coronet - for a day. A day in Corning, New York.
Next we see Thompson's tear-globe. The Tugger chose purple, yellow a nd wipe as his glassy tones. His presentation area is only slightly less cluttered than that of his elder sibling. Note the mini Hess truck - still in the box, mind you (unopened? define unopened, nerd) and the gold-framed art behind the tear-globe. To the right, you can see the corner of a picture taken in Ocean City (NJ, not MD - how many times do I have to tell you that, Monica?)

Comments. Duh.

Duh. Or should I say, "Ah-doy, you duh-head"?
My friend Sarah pointed out to me that the reason we aren't getting any comments from her (and I'm sure from others) here at Egg's Adventure in Peanut Butter's Funny World (2 points to whoever can give the origin of the blog name) is that I hadn't disabled (or enabled (glass half-full or half-empty?)) the little do-hickey piece of blogger.com that allows for non-blogger.com type-people to add comments.
Well - as I say more than I probably should at my age - done & done. So please add comments. It's the only way we can keep score on this end. Oh yes, we're keeping score.
Also, please check out some of the links over there ->
...especially "et seq." & the "Ross-McLeod Family" - two excellent deals populated by good friends of mine, Dave & Brad. Fun for the entire family - maybe even the dog.

What the?

A brief respite from the Corning saga:

Apparently Wednesday was Give-Your-Teacher-Some-Candy-Too-Show-Your-Appreciation Day. So, on Tuesday night, Lisa took Thompson out to the store to pick out something for Ms. Collins. Thompson thought that giving the teacher an apple was a more appropriate way to show his appreciation for all of Ms. Collins' patience and hard work. The following is only slightly inaccurate because I wasn't there (so I paraphrase).

Mom: OK Thompson, pick out a piece of candy for Ms. Collins.

Thompson: I don't want to give her candy! I want to give her an apple!

M: Look, sweetie, this is supposed to be Sweetest Teacher Day or something like that. You're
supposed to give her some candy. They sent a note home.

T: I don't want to give her candy!!! I want to give her an apple! An apple!!! An APPLE!!!!

M: Thompson! That's enough! You are being a very naughty boy! And Mommy has had a rough
day! Pick out a piece of candy!


T: No!!! Apple!!! Apple!!! APPLE!!!!!

M: Thompson - you need to calm down. This is ridiculous. Pick out a piece of candy for your
teacher.

T: Mommy, you're bothering the hell out of me.

M: What?!?! What did you just say to me?!

T: I said, Mommy, you're bothering the hell out of me. Yes. That's right. I said "hell."

Through the Looking Glass (Looking Through the Glass?)

One the coolest things to do at the Corning Glass Museum is to get up close and personal with the stuff. After our recent trip, we've determined that no journey to Corning is complete without a visit to the Stuido that the Museum runs. For a small fee, you can participate in a wide variety of glass crafts.

On Thursday, we signed up to make a flower and some globes out of molten glass. It is really incredible to work with a substance that is pushing the 4000 degree temperature mark. Once you form the molten glass into the shape that you desire, the stuff is cooled at 900 degrees. The Corning Museum Studio must be a nice place to work in the throes of a dark, icy, Western NY February.

The kids each worked on globes. This involved collecting a mass of molten glass on the end of what amounted to really long, steel straws. The kids didn't do this - remember - 4 thousand degrees. The studio assistants took care of collecting the glass and dipping it in what I can only describe as "glass jimmies" - little fragments of colored glass pellets, added to brighten up the proceedings.

What the kids did get to do is one of the coolest things in the world: they got to blow the glass. It is a one of a kind feeling to take something in a raw, yet fantastically dangerous, state and essentially blow bubbles into it to create beautiful, solid works of art.

I had a slightly different experience in making a flower. Initially, Lisa was going to do this, but she insisted that I try it out. I told her I would only give it a shot if I could give her the final product, so the matter was settled. Lisa agreed to man (wo-man?) the camera.

To make a glass flower, you begin in much the same way you do to create a globe, but instead of blowing the glass, you pull it and squash it and mold it; with awesome steel tools. This was definitely my kind of art.

After we finished our projects, the studio assistants placed them in the cooling oven. If glass cools down too quickly, it places too much stress on the material and causes what I thought were actually pretty interesting looking spiderweb-like marks to creep through the piece. We had to wait 24 hours to see the final results of our efforts, so you're going to have to wait too I'm afraid. I'll post pictures of the final products tomorrow!