Dad And June Visit

Hey--so those of you who don't know my dad is going through some state of the art protron treatment at the Loma Linda University Medical Center in California. He is doing really well (he drove 6 hours to get here) and it is the place to be in the US. 

Anyway, it was great to see them. I have not seen them in over a year. Time flies when life happens. They got into town about 7:30pm Friday night and hung out all weekend. We hit a couple of the usual eating spots, Farm at South Mountain and Stax, but mostly we hung out by the pool and watched June swim. The water is still too cold for Ross and I to swim, we did get in up to our belly buttons though. Dad jumped in on Sunday, we heard the scream and we were inside! 

On Friday night we called Jeff to sing to him. He got married in a small ceremony on the front porch of Ronnie and Heather's house. Sam surprised Jeff by being there. We sang "This is your wedding song, It isn't very long" that's it, nice and short. I did not feel so bad I could not make it since I was with Dad. 

It was great to just hang out and relax by the pool reading a book while dad was inside watching golf with the volume blared. I think Dad and June had a good time too. I hope so, and I hope they can make it back soon. 

Funny At School

I play music for my students through a site called Pandora. It is a great site. You put in songs and/or bands and it plays those and stuff like those. I had it on, a song was playing, a male student asked me if it was Brett Michaels (or some other late 80's rocker). Boy was he wrong, I looked at him with a smirk on my face and said, "No, it's Cher". The guys sitting near him busted up laughing. 

It has to be one of the funniest things to happen to me this year. 

High Court Hang Ups

Very funny (and possibly made up) British court transcript, in which a man named Chrysler is accused of stealing more than 40,000 coat hangers from hotels round the world...

Pt.1: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/miles-kington/high-court-hangups-747313.html
Pt. 2: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/miles-kington/theres-no-place-like-a-hotel-747330.html

Otter Attack!

I recently sold my Folbot kayak on craigslist. Funnily enough I sold it to a girl (Dee) who lives in Portland, OR of all the places :-) Over the couple of weeks it took to sort out the details of getting the kayak to her, we chatted over email about Portland and scooters and all kinds of stuff really. I guess it's the modern equivalent of having a pen-pal, all thanks to email and Craigslist. Anyway, Dee sent me a great couple of photos from a recent kayaking trip she did in the Bay area, which I thought you'll all enjoy, and she's let me share them with you. Check out this sea otter that they ran into out on the ocean, he actually climbed up onto her kayak and hung out with them for an hour!

Uncle Colin

My uncle Colin died recently (3/13) at the age of 74, and while Sally & I were in Portland, the rest of my family back in England was attending his funeral. My mom sent me a great email about it, and she's allowed me to share some extracts with you. Wouldn't we all want to be remembered like this...

The place was absolutely crowded with family and friends of Colins. Men he worked with at British Rail (he was there from age 15 to 65 except for 2 yrs National Service.)  Men he played football with, played Cricket with, played golf with, played darts with, played bowls with. All the seats were full up & people were standing 3 deep in all the aisles and at the back of the Crem! I didn't think you could say a funeral was lovely, but this one was.  It was a beautiful service, as we walked in they were playing "Unforgetable " by Nat King Cole. Georgies daughter Sharon read a Eulogy of Colins life, being born in India, playing for Southampton "Saints" football team for a short while & Hampshire, British Rail & Pirellis and playing Cricket for his local team at Durley. The Vicar was great and picked up on India and that the English had brought the Railway to India, and the fact that Colin played for the Saints etc. It really was a lovely service ... Every time we spoke to someone and asked who they were, they would say "Oh I worked with Colin" or "I played football with Colin" or "I played Cricket with Colin" or "I played golf withColin" etc etc. He was SO popular, the whole town knew him.