Christmas Day 2006

So, Christmas Day was more unusual than ever this year. The picture shows the moment, but does not explain how or why I am in a hospital room with all the accoutrements. The picture was taken December 25th, 2006, but I am now (December 27th) at home and inflicting this on y'all.

"What is going on?", you ask. Well, the story is not that long, somewhat convoluted, and an emotional roller coaster that continues. To explain: I had a routine medical test scheduled for mid-December - a colonoscopy - set up many months prior. More on this later. Anyway, the "routine" test turned out to be anything but routine and resulted in my undergoing bowel surgery December 21st with an expected hospital stay of 5 to 8 days. The early diagnosis was a serious colon cancer, but that is now on hold as the operation went very well and found something less than expected. Lab results will not be back until next week sometime, but the expectations have improved considerably.

The doctors are not certain what they found. A very good buddy opined it was probably the burr I have had up my ass these past many years. Not a bad guess (or observation).

On the colonoscopy front, Penny had this test done over a year ago and has had some bowel problems ever since. The concept of the test is disgusting (Are we there yet? ARE we there yet? Are we THERE yet?) and rather invasive (In some states we would be legally married by now, doc.). I came very close to cancelling my test. DO NOT DO THIS. Have this test done on the regular 10 year or so basis. Not all doctors recommend or request the test. Talk to your doctor.

Penny's father will be here tomorrow, Andrew and Alison are already here (all this planned as Christmas visits before we changed plans), and we will have a family Christmas then. For now, I am just taking it easy, walking short distances and healing quickly.

Enjoy the winter solstice celebration. Penny and I both are!!!

Chess crisis

OK, Houston, we have a problem. I made a great move and Andrew said it was foolish because nothing was guarding my queen.

Here's the board as I see it.

Here are the moves that got us there:

1. d4 ... d5

2. c4 ... e5

3. dxe5 ... d4

4. Nf3 ... Nc6

5. Nbd2 ... Bg4

6. g3 ... Qe7

7. h3 ... Bf5

8. g4 ... Bg6

9. Bg2 ... 0-0-0

10. 0-0 ... Nxe5

11. Qb3 ... c6

12. Nxe5 ... Qxe5

13. Qxb7!

And the board looks like this --->

It may be just me, but I don't see the difference. Methinks Sonny Boy is up to his pits in doo-doo.

Of course, there has been a roaring debate going on through all this. Maybe someone (other than me) lost focus. More on the debate anon; it is fun!

Hmmm. Seems if I make the second half of move 11 properly we get this position at the end of move 12. May have to call the director for a ruling.

A day or two off

No new pictures, I forgot to take my camera to Penny's concert in Sharon on Sunday. Probably just as well as we (Dana, Eri, Hannah [aka Shirley] and I) were off in a corner and could not really see Nan. The joint was sold out! May have had something to do with the True North Brass playing; the concert was a great success. You can always tell the pieces the choir likes and those they sang under duress. One in particular was an obvious favourite; they truly filled the hall with joyful sound and did not even need the wonderful brass background.

The True North Brass are definitely professional players. They did not over-power, but also supported as needed. The other end of the spectrum was "wassail", a piece with a difficult beat and sharp bursts of notes in half-tones. I think the choir was quite happy to have the brass holding the line.

Goodies afterwards as always - cheese, crackers, cookies and such. Hannah liked that part. Then off to Swiss Chalet for dinner with three families (table for 10). The kids were great. A lovely time of year, catching up with Mike and Jason and teasing Hannah (aka Shirley).

Today is a no food day as I prepare for medical tests tomorrow. I will not over-share, but I will be ready, perhaps, to eat anything that moves by tomorrow afternoon. Maybe.

We are supposed to meet the Creese gang tomorrow at Station. Tammy and Ryan have just moved into Cornell, so there will be much chatter.

And so to another glass of water before downing something ugly.
Speaking of which, no move from Andrew yet. They will be here in 13 days. I had expected to clobber him by then, but it may take longer with his delaying tactics.

Chess and trees

To the left is the position as White (Dear old Dad) has made move 11. We await the response from Black (Andrew), with a strong suspicion (hope?) the guy on the right will be featured in that response.

I probably should list the moves that got us to this point. Let me know if anyone cares.

So today was the St. Louis' "holiday tree" decorating. Total mayhem and fun with the three familys and 4 grandkids in attendance. Just gotta love digital cameras, keep shooting and no development costs. Dana probably has better, but here are some of the better Dad shots with the point-and-shoot.

We start with the "and they're off" as the kids attack the ornaments, then fast-forward to the finished product. Dana and Jason moved quite a bit of stuff up from the bottom 4 feet!

Bennett loved the lever on the front door.

Penny enjoyed sitting in the sunshine and watching.

In all, a very fine hour or so before getting back to home and out to dinner with neighbours.

Santa's parade day

Crazy day that started with a missed phone call from Dana - it's the Santa Claus parade and the St. Louis' are launching in 10 minutes because Hannah and Jack are in the parade and have to be dropped off early and if we want to go with them that would be great and they will be somewhere near T&T Bakery. Dana sometimes leaves messages like that.

Penny couldn't go, but I figured it would be a great idea and walked over to Main Street. A really foggy day that suddenly cleared up and we had a grand parade. Lots of kid fun and many good pictures because Dana was shooting quite a bit. I got a good shot of Hannah. No, I got a shot of the back of Dana's head and Brown Owl's elbow. So I will let Dana post the parade pictures. My favourite Brownie leader was always Horny Owl.

Here are some shots in the fog walking over to the parade and down the street to find Dana, Jason and Henry. Henry and I had fun! The weird crane thing is the tv camera set up. I loved the fog.

Since I walked over to the parade because the local traffic was crazy with the streets being blocked off, I did not take my keys for the truck. Or for the house. Locked out and waiting for Penny to get home, I saw some nice fall pictures: magnolia buds promising Spring, wild rose hips and the Dana and Jason Tree from their wedding. Sometimes being locked out of the house is ok.

We have been cooking up a storm all afternoon. Company coming for a wonderful dinner tonight.

Coming undone

I started this on the weekend, but will post tonight - Monday.

The game with Andrew is progressing on a couple of fronts. This is the current situation with white to move. Either Andrew has made a pretty big error, or I am about to be suckered. The obvious move is to grab the black bishop at g4. Seems too easy.



And it is. I have once again mis-communicated a move. Instead of moving my pawn to h4 as shown, I wrote the move to g4. Bummer!!


That gives us a position like this (see photo on the blue grey towel). Not nearly as pretty for the Old Fart. In fact, Andrew is licking his chops at the prospect of once again clobbering the Old Man. This may require some further thought and, maybe, giving the correct co-ordinates for the next move. There was supposed to be a turning point at about this stage, but this was NOT the plan.

The new photo studio in the laundry room is a big improvement, n'est pas?

I had trouble responding to the comments (See the "Challange" post). Blogger changed and I forgot how to sign in. But we are back.

So, Erika says she will be ready to run in the summer. And Jason is making some kind of non-commitment. Hmmm. For my part, I tried to run for 45 minutes at the gym today (Sunday). Saturday night we had a lovely dinner and raucous card game . Went to bed about 2 am after much wine. So, after running a couple of miles, the tank ran dry at the gym. Not a very good idea (or workout). But we will continue tomorrow (Monday) and Tuesday. I am running a couple of hard sessions (see how far I can get in 20 minutes) during the week. Every Sunday I try to extend the long run by about 5 minutes while maintaining a pace of at least 6.2 mph. Except for the very tired and rather hung-over Sundays, the plan is working.

Off to see the foot people in a week to get new implants. The orthodics are about a year old and showing as much wear as I am. The shoes need an upgrade too.

We are off to dinner at Byzantium in The Village of Toronto. Looking forward to this as we went there last winter and said we should go back. And I have to watch the Muppet Christmas Movie. Busy, busy, busy.

Oops, Penny just got back from a fitness class. Later, gater.

A Challenge

OK, here it is; a challenge to Eri and Jason and any other people who feel up to the adventure.

The Old Fart (that would be me) is now hitting 4.5 miles at a crack and beginning to up the speed during the week. I can practically feel the excitement and smell the finish line. Eri and I ran in Ottawa - nice flat course except for the one bit that goes up and over and down. Eri ran in Toronto - great net down hill except the last kilometer or so is straight up University from Wellington to Queen's Park. We both ran parts of Aurora - very nasty and hilly. Eri ran Burlington. Is the picture becoming clear?

Well, here's the picture. I will be up to a half-marathon next summer. I doubt the younger group can get their fatty acids in gear for the run, but who knows? Stranger things have happened. Toronto in October sounds perfect but quite a long way off. The Bob Hartwell in Aurora is in March, maybe too near and quite difficult. Ottawa is a rather long drive, but would be fun at the end on June.

Any takers?

Queen's Gambit Declined

The new chess game is underway and Andrew has left the tried and true at move 2. I am pretty sure this creates a weakness, but I am also quite sure he is just tempting me to advance too quickly or engage in some unsupportable attack.

Here I am pouring over the texts to fathom the best strategy at this early point. Perhaps the Albin Counter Gambit? The moves thus far:
1. d4 , d5
2. c4 , e5

More on this and pictures of progress later.

On to housework and projects. 'Tis Sunday, the long run at the gym is under the belt (40 minutes, 4.11 miles) and the afternoon awaits.

Starting again

This was the inciteful birthday card from #1 son. Very cute, droll, on the mark. So the blog is being re-instated with modifications. We will now work more eclectic themes: not just travel, but many other waves including (but not limited to) family functions, current rants and concerns, interesting readings (or wanna reads), chess games in progress with yelps for assistance from the world at large as needed.
The last bit is also triggered by #1 son and his subtle gift of two (being more than one but less than three) books on chess.


On which topic, the new game starts. I am in complete control at this juncture. OK, so I have only made 1 move. And I will have to work on reducing the background noise. Picky.



And here are some silly shots from the 3-way birthday.

May 23rd, 24th - Leaving Venice for home

This is the final post for the Italy 2006 voyage. It is our last day in Venice. These are the final feelings of Venice, probably too many pictures.

We walked from the hotel through the San Marco area to cross the Rialto bridge to the other side of the Grand Canal. Back through the twists and turns of narrow streets and route changes to access bridges over canals all the way to Academia bridge. As we stroll along, we suddenly see the Grand Canal from a bridge crossing a smaller side canal.

Another surprise is a view of wisteria growing along the balcony of a small restaurant. The sights of Venice are astounding.

After re-crossing at Academia, we strolled (for the 3rd or 4th time) through the area between the Grand Canal and our hotel.

Then really lost (again) behind the Fenice. The Fenice opera house is somewhere in here amid a strange crisscross of small canals where this picture was taken. Even with a map we have trouble getting this part of Venice figured out.

We had a lovely lunch at the other restaurant on the Fenice square. We were here last night at Antico Martini, but lunch at the Ristorante al Theatro is much better.

Back to the hotel to pick up our luggage. Drag the luggage over the two bridges to San Marco, through the square one last time (there are now more than 1000 people with us). Take a water bus to Marco Polo airport and a cab to the Marriott hotel.

Up at 4 am the next morning and away to Paris and then Toronto. Must go back some day soon.

May 22nd - back to Venice

Up quite early, onto the road to Venice. Finally hit the highway the first try!

Return the car at the airport (again found 1st try) and on to the water bus to San Marco. Find our hotel easily (because we had cased the place 3 weeks ago).

The hotel room is wonderful: quite large, very comfortable and it has a small balcony overlooking a small canal on one of the gondola routes. Here, to the right is a sample view.

Off for a walk toward the Opitale area at the back side (non-tourist) of the islands. We pass many of the familiar types of sights - the working gondola carrying goods down a side canal, the amazing views that appearing as we round a new corner.

The destination of this stroll is the restored Santa Maria di Miracali church. This was a successful project of teh Save Venice fund (see City of Falling Angels). We wander many back streets well off San Marco square, but still within the San Marco area. The crowds are thicker than they were back around May4th.

The church is not visible until we are almost standing on its stairs. There are small plazas at either end with a narrow passage and a narrow canal down either side. The church is a jewel.








































Keen observers will have noted the murky colour of the water in the canals from time to time. Some complain of the aromas in mid-summer, but we did not notice that. The tide moves the lagoon, and thus the canals, in and out but we could see problems at high season.

More roaming about.
We go through some classic neighbourhoods where the people live. Just love these views, and there were so many variations.

Even some ham-bone gondoliers. This one saw me lining him up and struck the pose!

Eventually we wound up at the hospital that Opitale is named for. It is an enormous edifice that now houses some kind of international health research centre.

Back to the hotel for wine and cheese on "our" balcony. Waving to the passing gondolas with the gondoliers pointing us-wards and saying "That is the way to live". Amen.

We have practiced going to and from the Fenice (opera house) so we will not get lost tonight in the dark. No, we are not attending the opera (closed, alas), we are having dinner at Ristorante Antico Martini; a disappointment at great cost, but a visit necessitated by Montreal history. One of Penny's father's favourite restaurants in Montreal has the same name (but not the same prices). Interesting sentence. Hardly ever get to use a double possessive.

Tomorrow will be the last day (sob).